Lords of the Underworld [malexmale]

Chapter Twelve

"Shit." Demeter gasped in horror.

"Demeter, go with Hestia. Let me deal with them." I commanded. Demeter looked at me, bewildered.

"Are you insane? You can barely stand, let him--"

"He saved our lives, Demeter. We should do the same." Demeter didn't agree at all, but I didn't care. I brushed past her and went toward Cronus, who'd dodged one of Zeus's slashes. He yanked the sword clean from Zeus's grasp and swung his elbow back into Zeus's face so hard that it knocked his helmet flying and Zeus slammed into the ground, breathing hard as blood poured past his lips.

"Zeus!" I shouted in alarm and picked up the speed, racing over to him. Zeus struggled to get up.

"Get back, Hades!"

"You're insane!" I threw back, snatching up his sword.

"Hades, stop!" Zeus shouted angrily, fighting to stand, but his knees buckled and he went down again before I whirled on Cronus, who smirked and twirled his sword before slashing at me. I parried his attack, then rammed my knee into his solar plexus. He gasped and stumbled back before I flung my foot up and kicked him square in the jaw, sending him flying back. He rolled across the ground and struggled to get to his feet. I turned back around as Zeus managed to find his footing. He started to shout at me, but I threw his sword at him and he caught it, appearing bewildered.

To the side, I could see my siblings gaping at us in surprise.

"Go!" I commanded. Zeus tightened his grip on his sword, clenched his teeth and ran past me to finish Cronus off. I went to my siblings, breathing hard as I collapsed to my knees beside Poseidon, who was breathing heavily as he clasped a hand over the bloody gash Hestia was trying to heal.

"You could have been killed." Poseidon hissed at me. I scowled.

"I wasn't... I was... just..."

"Hades?!" Poseidon made a noise of shock as I slumped forward into his lap and my vision blacked out. My memory faded and twisted, but I could still hear someone shouting my name. I scowled in frustration, head throbbing in agony as I felt someone patting at my cheek and other voices murmuring and hissing for me to wake up. For a moment, I swore I was still on Olympus with my siblings panicking and shouting for me to wake up. I could feel someone pushing hard on my chest, hands clasped, a pair of lips covering mine and fingers pinching my nose.

I sucked in a sharp breath of air and my eyes flew open as I saw Lucifer hovering over my face and Mictlan moving in to push on my chest again.

"What the fuck?" I croaked, coughing as Lucifer leaned back on his knees, breathing out a sigh of relief before his celestial blue eyes flashed angrily.

"I told you not to fall asleep." He snapped. I rolled my eyes as Mictlan helped me sit up and Seth just sat across from us, watching with flat expression. Thanks, asshole, I love you too.

"I wasn't asleep." I rasped. Lucifer shook his head, irritated. Mictlan frowned.

"You were choking."

"I was dreaming."

"Dreaming that you were choking?"

"I have a long list of weird fetishes." I assured. Mictlan scowled, unamused. Lucifer stood up and helped me to my feet as Mictlan moved back to his corner of the cell.

"Are you all right?" Lucifer asked. I nodded, grimacing as I rubbed the back of my head and looked around the cell.

"Does something feel odd to you?" I asked suddenly. The air suddenly felt thick and heavy, a strange hot pulse throbbing around us. Lucifer didn't appear to notice at first until there was a strange crack and everyone whirled to the bars of the cell.