The warrior looked like some mob enforcer, the dumb muscle waiting for his boss to give him his orders. But she knew he wasn’t stupid. Intelligence shone from his black eyes, but that was all. She couldn’t get a read on what Mordecai was thinking or feeling at all.
She leaned on her sword for support, using it more like a cane. No good for her to try to brandish it before her with her arms shaking as much as they were. She was more likely to cut herself with the damn thing. Still, she tried for a nonchalant pose, bracing her hands on the pommel.
“I’ll pass, thanks all the same.” She was proud there was no tremor in her voice. Heck, she was happy she hadn’t fainted in a dead heap. Her heart was galloping a mile a minute and her breathing was none too steady.
“You had a choice,” he reminded her. “One you turned down.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She tended to be flippant when she was scared and she’d never been quite so terrified in all her life. “Leave and never come back. My ex destroyed, my movie career skyrocketing. Yadda yadda.”
Hades’ eyebrows shot up. “You dare to mock me?”
She shrugged. “Why not? You’re going to kill me anyways.”
His voice turned dark and cold, oozing into her bones. “There is more than one way to die, Kellsie. And once your soul is mine, I can torture you at my leisure.”
The pendant on her necklace felt warm as it pulsed against her chest. To ground herself, she wrapped her hand around the bear claw. She drew strength from the talisman and from the man standing beside her. Marko hadn’t said a word, but he stood at her side, his huge sword at the ready. Maybe it was his presence enabling her to be brave. Or maybe it was because she had nothing left to lose.
She wasn’t getting out of these woods alive. Kellsie wasn’t stupid enough to believe such a crock of shit. This wasn’t a movie where the heroine escaped and lived happily ever after. This was reality and it totally sucked.
“Yeah, well, I have a problem with that.” She found the strength inside her to raise her sword. “My soul is my own and you can’t have it.” She said the last four words slowly, emphasizing each syllable.
If he wanted a fight, she’d damn well give him one. He might kill her, but he wasn’t getting her soul.
Marko listened in awe as Kellsie faced down Hades, god of the Underworld. She was a warrior to her core. Oh, he knew she was frightened. Only an idiot wouldn’t be when faced with such raw power. But she was still standing beside him, tall and proud.
Pride burst inside his chest alongside a love so pure it almost brought him to his knees. He loved Kellsie more than he loved his freedom, more than his brethren or his goddess. She would live. She had to live.
He stepped in front of her, drawing Hades’ attention. “Enough. You have tempted us and been rejected. Some of us don’t fall as easy.” He shot a damning glance at Mordecai who simply saluted him with his sword. He still couldn’t believe his brother-in-arms had gone over to the dark side.
Hades leaned against a stately oak tree, looking slightly bored by the proceedings. “True, but that situation could change at any time.” He flicked his hand and the portal widened. Demons of all shapes and sizes, a dozen in all, poured out of the opening. He recognized all of them from the carnival, except this time they were in their true forms and not their human ones.
The stench of rotted flesh and sulfur poisoned the air around them. Behind him, Kellsie coughed.
“Holy shit,” she gasped. He heard fear, but beneath it was steely determination.
He reached inside himself for his other half. The bear responded immediately upon sensing the danger to Kellsie. We must meld equally, he reminded the bear. There was no struggle for dominance as the animal half of him put his mate’s well-being ahead of all else.
Marko grew several feet taller and his arms and legs thickened and grew more muscular. His sword hand remained that of a human, but his other one morphed into a giant bear paw tipped in razor-sharp claws, ready to tear and gouge.
His jaw grew and lengthened exposing gleaming lethal teeth. He was the ultimate fighting machine—the best of man and animal combined.
Mordecai whistled under his breath. None of the others had the control Marko did or were able to hold both forms in harmony. It was one of his gifts. While in this form, he had the strength and cunning of the animal but the brain and dexterity of the man.
Marko roared his displeasure as he faced the horde of demons. The sound echoed down the side of the hill and spread out to the forest beyond, sending creatures miles from the area scurrying away in fear.
He had to admire Hades. The god knew just how far to push the power surge so as not to attract unwanted attention. Hades couldn’t fight himself, not without garnering unwanted notice from the other gods of his pantheon.
No, Hades would let his demons fight and die. He had plenty more. He’d sit back and watch and assess. The god was more of a tactician, a planner than an actual fighter.
Mordecai was another matter altogether. He was a warrior through and through, a master of warfare, a general without equal. Roric had always relied heavily on him when they had fought together to protect the Lady. They all had.
And now he was the enemy.
The demons in the lead gave a screech that hurt Marko’s ears, but he ignored the pain as the creatures leapt at him. Marko swung his sword with savage intent, lopping the first creature’s head off without a moment of regret. Blood splattered his chest and face, the acid in it burning his skin.
The fight was on.
He sensed movement behind him and knew it was Kellsie. “Run,” he yelled.
“Shut up and fight,” she countered as she yelled and swung the sword he’d given her.
Marko knew then that she wouldn’t break from the battle, wouldn’t leave him to fight alone. The thing he loved most about her—her bravery—would be her undoing if he didn’t win.
Losing was not an option. If he couldn’t win, all he had to do was hold out until midnight. And the time was closer than he’d imagined. The position of the moon and the bear’s natural instincts told him so.
Time passed differently when Hades was around, the god’s power flexing and warping time. Marko wasn’t even certain Hades realized it was happening.
With each passing minute power seemed to hum within Marko, building slowly and steadily like a well-stoked fire. He was getting stronger, gaining back the power he’d once had. He wasn’t at full strength yet and wondered if it would be enough for him to win.
It would have to be.
Kellsie slashed at the arm of a lesser demon. The creature’s talons slipped under her defense, tearing through the flesh of her thigh. She cried out but didn’t falter, following through with a straight shot through the demon’s throat. The creature fell to its knees and clutched its neck. Blood seeped from around its fingers and it fell to the ground with a solid thump, raising a cloud of dirt around it.
Marko was the first line of defense and threw himself at the horde in order to keep any demons from getting beyond him to Kellsie. She had to be protected at all costs. Marko fought tirelessly, slashing and hacking at his opponents. None of them fought with weapons but with their claw-tipped hands and sharp, pointed teeth.
Marko slashed with his razor-sharp claws of one hand and wielded his sword with the other. Sweat coated his body and trickled down his forehead into his eyes. Blood stained his skin and fur. His muscles burned but he never faltered, never hesitated in his mission to protect Kellsie.
The task was endless. He knew he’d slain at least a dozen demons, probably more. It was then he understood Hades’ real tactics. There were never more than a dozen demons here at any time, but another one came through the portal as soon as Marko cut one down.