Hunter: The Reckoning

Chapter 4

The silence was deafening as we stood watching the last of the red mist disappear and only the bravest creatures remained. Slowly I turned to look around at the mess I'd made, literally and a little metaphorically. The chair took souls, stored power, and had a mind of its own and that so-called primordial being as well as Hades, couldn't work out how to destroy it or had any idea on what to do with it.

Apparently, I didn't have an issue with destroying my things which kind of matched the theme of my life. Since I have been told so often that I lack any sense of self-preservation, now wasn't the time to prove them wrong. Moving towards the portal that seemed determined to haunt us behind heavily locked gates, the answer was clear as my powers barely even felt like pinpricks against whatever was blocking it. Since just walking out of there was not an option, and his offer sucked, there was only one other thing to do.

"I'm going to kill him." I decide.

Cain came to stand next to me and gave a tiny nod. "We will kill him."

"He's not having our baby." Rage flooded me, my body trembled and I put my hands together in an effort to stop them from shaking.

"No. He is not." He said calmly.

Calm Cain was exactly what I needed despite that meaning the exact opposite. I couldn't hide what I felt as easily as he did, but even so, as he held me I felt the anger inside him making his skin burn. None, have ever been as interesting as us. None, have ever succeeded in destroying him or taking over. To me, that sounded like a pretty big invitation to prove him wrong.

"Where's that book? There has to be a clue or an idea in there about defeating him or like a weakness or something-" I stopped as a loud humming started from the portal before the gates began to open with a groan. "What the hell?"

"What in hell would be more appropriate." Hades mused, stepping out. "Of all the places. Why am I not surprised to see you two here?"

"Hades?" I rubbed my eyes before turning back to Cain. "I'm hallucinating, right, so why couldn't it be someone random like Elvis?"

"You couldn't just be happy to see me." He groaned, cautiously looking at the volcano beside me.

Cain appeared to be even calmer now, possibly resigned that this was our life and crap like this was going to keep on happening while still plotting to have an explosive tantrum about it. His hand twitched slightly, the darkness in his eyes was enough to make even me pause as he clearly saw the same hallucination I did and assessed it. Hades froze, whatever smart-ass comment he was clearly about to blurt out dying in the process as his eyes shifted my way in a silent plea for help. He wasn't a hallucination and as if deciding this at the same time as I did, slowly Cain's jaw unclenched but the eruption was temporarily avoided.

The good news was I was not imagining any of this.

The bad news was it was all still happening.

"How did you know we were here?" Cain sounded exactly how I felt - confused on a fucking enormous level with a side of banished to another realm rage.

"I was at home, refusing to waste my time listening to Circe and Artemis argue over bloody Hermes when something felt wrong. It didn't take me long to find a long-forgotten passage to fucking Tartarus activated and call it a hunch, but with you two MIA, I had a feeling at least one of you would be involved." Hades glares at us, kind of how my Dad used to look at me whenever I'd steal his car. "And I realised I was going to need help from someone up to the task of being my backup".

"Backup?" I frown, realising the chance of him bringing our friends was low but then who else would it be?

It was then Hades' ally arrived, the timing perfect for making an entrance. Instantly I saw a distinct resemblance to Hades, especially once they stood side by side only instead of his vibe screaming Lord of the Underworld, his seaweed-esque dreadlocks, shimmering skin and triton accessories, gave me the distinct impression he'd be very much at home in Atlantis with his seven mermaid babies; including that mischievous red-headed singing one. Something moved by his feet, and looking down I half expected Sebastian to appear and announce his royal highness.