Endure (40 page)

The other gods repeated the same words and as Elyas absorbed the final streaks of magic, it was over. Serephina pushed her back down to earth, bound to the sanctuary beneath the tree and left to wait for the chosen one.

Elyas moved closer and stared up at me with a gentle smile, and for the first time I could see Serephina in her eyes.

“He remembers,” she said.

I searched her face and shook my head. “Oh, I remember all right. I remember the war, I remember the gods creating the Protector, and I remember the death of thousands of people.” I turned away from her, tears welling in my eyes. “I can feel their pain, their loss…their death. All of them suffered because of your
oaths
. You gods are foolish and cruel.”

Elyas covered her mouth. The words seemed to hurt her and a tear trailed down her cheek, sending faint sparks of light into the room.

“Is she in there right now? Is Serephina listening, looking back at me?”

“My goddess sees and hears all.”

“Good, then tell her to listen up like the coward she is. That they all are.” I stared straight into her bright blue eyes, but I wouldn’t succumb to their comfort and power. I was no longer the human weakened by such spells. I was the monster they’d created. “You sit on your thrones, watching from above. You’ve always been there, safe and out of harm’s way. You watched while the other gods were destroyed beneath Ithreal’s wrath. You claimed you were bound by oath, but that’s a lie. You watched because you knew what was coming. You knew Ithreal would come for each of you and rather than work together to defeat him, you hoped the other gods would do it for you. And when they died, you found good in it. You could use their bits and pieces that became lost in the Fade to add to the Protector’s power, because you were not willing to sacrifice any more of your own.”

Elyas stood frozen, her eyes focused and unmoving. Her hand had fallen from her mouth, and she looked insulted.

“Yes, I remember. You didn’t defeat Ithreal because of the oaths. I remember time and time again when each of you broke those oaths for your own advancement. You didn’t destroy Ithreal because he did the dirty work for you, didn’t he, Serephina? You liked being the most powerful, but you wanted to be seen as a gracious and loving god. As long as Ithreal took the other gods out and syphoned their power for his own, you didn’t have to. You figured one day you’d destroy Ithreal, be seen as the hero, and all that power would be yours! Is that what I am to you? Am I your funnel? Now you want me to destroy him so I can give the power to you!”

The room shifted and quaked. Cracks formed in the concrete, spiraling up through the ceiling. Angry winds rushed through, carrying the scent of fruit and desire. A light blinded my vision and I was torn into the air, my body shimmering as I broke through the ceiling like a ghost sucked into the sky. The air turned cold and bits of wind and ice cut into me. I flailed and tumbled until I hit a white marble floor.

Dots sparkled and faded in my vision and I crawled to my feet, the pain of the impact leaving as quickly as it had come. I stood on a white stone platform and a chaise
lounger
sat across the room adorned in purple velvet with golden trim. Standing behind it was Serephina, and as pure and beautiful as she was, she looked angry.
 

“After everything I’ve given you, you dare speak in such a manner?” Her voice came from everywhere and instead of lust and desire, her words cut me with terror and pain. I felt the warm trickle of blood move down my back, but the skin folded and stretched, closing the wound.

“Given me? You’ve done nothing but take: from me, the other gods, and all the people down there.” I couldn’t reciprocate the same anger she carried in her voice. It had stung and I felt off balance. Her power warped around me but I didn’t succumb. I fought back and kept my eyes focused.

The light blue gown that left her shoulders bare shimmered as she floated over the stone. Adrenaline had been unleashed into my veins, anticipating a fight, but she never struck out. With each step she took to close the distance between us, I felt her anger fade.

I couldn’t move, my legs rooted to the floor as she leaned in. Her lips touched my ear, her breath tickling my skin and filling me with her sweet scent. I fought against her magic but she overpowered me. My muscles eased and I hated her for it.

“Chase, my sweet, let’s not be angry with one another.” Her eyes stared into mine and I wanted them to swallow me whole. I wanted to touch her, feel her touch me, and be one with the goddess. The tips of her fingers ran through my hair and down the side of my face, long nails sending chills down my neck. She leaned closer, her hand sliding down my neck. Her skin was silk along my body. My feet wouldn’t work when I tried to step back. Her hand slid lower, slipping under my shirt. Her nails dragged across my stomach and then my hip. Warmth and magic exuded from her touch and she pushed herself along me. Her hips rocked against me and her lips moved over my face. She whispered words I couldn’t understand, her lips almost touching mine. I screamed inside my head, trying to move away. I remembered her touch and her wrath. A kiss would make me fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness. I wasn’t the one who needed forgiveness. I didn’t want her love or her power. I channeled magic from deep inside and fought the spell she’d pushed over me. Her irresistible presence pressed back, and as she tried to close the distance between our lips, I manage to turn away

Her lips were warm and soft like the petals of a flower against my cheek. Her eyelashes tickled the side of my face and she paused. “You turn from my kiss?” she whispered. “You challenge my power?” She seemed offended instead of angry.

I kept my eyes closed, using the water element to help regain my bearings. When the weight of her magic broke, I tore my feet from the ground and shuffled across the room.

“You think using your powers against me is the answer? You’ve already used me as your pawn. You’re using me right now to fight your battle. You’re too scared to face Ithreal yourself so you sent me instead.”

Anger flashed in her eyes and she turned away, her dress drifting behind her. Her emotions rode the air like a storm and like a shifting wind, they changed. Her demeanor calmed and she turned back to me.

“You know not of what you speak.”

“You’re telling me the memories inside me from all these gods are lies? You can’t expect me to believe that.”

“I…” Serephina’s brow furrowed. “Silence!”

“No! This is the end. It’s happening right now. If you don’t tell me how to stop it, it’ll be your end too. I’m the soul piece, remember? If Ithreal kills me, you’ll be weakened. Then how do you plan to beat him?”

Serephina’s fingernails traced her bright red lips and her eyes studied me. She looked up to the cloudy ceiling and sighed. “I hadn’t expected him to become so powerful so quickly.” She moved to the chaise and draped herself over it. “In the beginning it was about power. You were right. I loved being the Queen of the gods. When Ithreal would wage war on the others, they came to me for refuge. I would deny them, citing how important our oaths were, knowing one day I would destroy Ithreal and take that power for my own.”

“And now that your world is in jeopardy the other gods are holding you to those oaths.”

Serephina nodded. “And I cannot break the oath to defend my own worlds, for if I did, the other gods would see through my past and rise up against me. They already suspect it; I cannot give them more evidence of such things. Nathaniel is the only one who fears what Ithreal can do, but nobody else understands the true power that he possesses should he be truly released.”

“They’re gods, how can they not know?”

“The other gods believe they are holding Ithreal with ease. While they use but a fraction of their power, I’m invested almost entirely in his bindings. If not for that, Ithreal would have broken free on his own long ago. Only then would the other gods see the severity of things. It would be too late.”

“So he breaks free and together you defeat him.”

Serephina shook her head. “One god versus one god, never more.”

“Well, if Ithreal breaks free, you won’t be using all your power to bind him to his world, and then you can fight him at full strength.”

“Perhaps, but I’m afraid my ambitions got the best of me. I let Ithreal have too many of the other gods. He is an even match for me. I’m just as likely to be consumed by him as I am to defeat him. And if you do not succeed, all my magic that lives in you as a soul piece will be his, and I stand little chance against him.”

“No pressure.”

“You do not understand, Chase. My arrogance has put us in a position where the other gods are unaware of the danger we face. The gods have not condemned you to fight their battles for them, but I am relying on you to survive. You must defeat him and return stability to all the dimensions, and to me.”

“So you can have the upper hand once again.”

“I have made my mistake once, I do not plan to make it again. If Ithreal is weakened, I can take some of my power back that holds him and rule justly and fair, like I was once known.”

“Then tell me how to stop him.”

“I’ve done all I can to help you. If the other gods find out you are here, they will rise against me…just as they did your mother.”

“What about my mother?” The demeanor I had worked so hard to maintain was gone, replaced by fear and anger.

Serephina looked up the clouds floating above us. They were shifting from puffy white to a dark gray and they churned in the sky.

“They are coming.”

“Tell me.”

“She was here, with the other souls among the Otherworld, living in her private heaven. But she reached out to you and that is not allowed. All souls are bound by our oaths. She tried to break that and as such, she has been silenced. Her heaven has been taken and replaced with a hell you cannot imagine. And if your friend in the Fade chooses to break those oaths, he too shall be punished. Without more of my power, I cannot help them.”

My heart split in my chest, both pieces trying to outrun the other.

“Hell?” I whispered.

The clouds above grumbled and Serephina looked panicked.

“Look at me, Serephina,” I pleaded. “I’ve gone from being a powerless hunter to a demigod and I’ve lost so much along the way. There are bits and pieces of hundreds of gods inside me, you included.”

“Find Rayna.” Serephina lowered her gaze. “She is the only one who can help you now.”

“But Rayna’s gone! I sent her away to protect her.”

“I’m sorry, Chase, the gods are growing suspicious. If I do not go, they will know we’ve spoken and Ithreal will be the least of our problems. Find Rayna, weaken Ithreal, and ensure he remains in his dimensional prison. If he is weakened, I can take more of my power back and I will save your mother’s soul.”

“Wait—”

A blast of light blinded my vision and the floor beneath me vanished. Cold air bit my face as I fell through the sky. The light vanished as dark clouds swallowed me and then I hit the floor of the warehouse.

The blue glow of Elyas was gone, but I could feel her inside me, whispering Serephina’s final words. I crawled to my feet, surrounded by blank walls and a deafening silence. How did Rayna know the answers? If she knew anything, she would’ve told me…wouldn’t she?

Chapter 31

With my back against the wall, I pulled my knees to my chest. My fingertips ran through the rough, dry hair that was in desperate need of a wash and I stared at the floor. My stomach grew tense, twisting in knots from the thought that my mother was in hell and that Rayna knew how to stop all this. She was my friend, my partner, and more. Rayna was the only person I trusted entirely with my life. Why would she keep this from me? Or was this just another game that gods were playing? Wordplay at its finest.
 

My imagination wandered into all the different reasons Rayna could’ve kept this a secret, and silence drifted around me. It was this silence that allowed me to pick up on the distant crunching of glass. My head shot up and I strained to hear more. The glass cracked and shifted against the concrete again. Someone was here.

I poked my head out of the room. Groups of men and women had crowded inside and more pooled in through the entrance. The room was full of strangers talking amongst themselves, and when I opened the door farther, it creaked and the room fell silent. Growls rumbled and the power of inner beasts being released filled the air. All eyes were on me and the first row of demons stalked forward, but they were silenced by the commands of Chief and Jax.

“And there’s more where this came from.” Jax pushed through the crowd and came to the middle of the room.

“They’re all with you?”

“Don’t sound so surprised!” Chief laughed.

“You sounded so discouraged at the start, I wasn’t sure you’d get anyone to come back.”

“It wasn’t so difficult. Apparently during the past six weeks, Riley and Arian had made their rounds. If you think we responded badly to their advances, you should have seen some of the others. Most of the groups we approached were more than willing to step forward. Others took little convincing.” Jax’s smile faded and he pointed to the entrance. “What happened here?”

“That’s…kind of a long story.”