Chapter Four
Over nine thousand years ago, I fought alongside my brothers, my sisters, my pantheon, against the Greek Titans. It was a battle that still gnawed at my bones years later. After the Titan Iapetus had attacked Lea, Atlan had finally had it with the Greeks taunting us and launched a full scale attack against the Greeks.
The battle lasted only until I sunk Atlantis. But even then, it was several years of long hard fighting that killed off a huge percentage of mortals. We had disrupted the natural balance of the world, the death gods screaming for us to stop, but we didn't.
Atlan was on a rampage. He'd lied to our pantheon and claimed it was revenge for Lea's attack, when in actuality, Atlan wanted to start his conquest of the universe, starting with the one pantheon that refused to bend over backwards for him. The Greeks were a stubborn, powerful race with rooted that dated deep into the B.C.E. Their pantheon had existed for centuries before their people did, but back then, they weren't the Greek pantheon. They were just a tiny cluster of gods that had been spat up by the Source.
The battle against the Greeks had been bloody and hard. I was often paired with Xenon because his powers complemented my own. A god of protection and a god of rebirth went hand in hand, but despite our somewhat peaceful realms of rule, we had our darkest realms. The realms of retribution and death. For there to be protection, there must be revenge. For there to be rebirth, there must be death. Xenon and I cut a stormy path through the Greeks, and it only worsened when we met with the Greek's greatest trump card.
Hannibal.
Only back then, he was referred to simply as "the hybrid". His battles couldn't even really be called battles because he bulldozed straight through entire armies, tore them to pieces and bathed in their blood with a sick relish that had always terrified me. Xenon had insisted there was something inside him, something that didn't want to kill, but no one had believed him.
At least, I didn't until the day the hybrid had saved Xenon's life.
It was a hot sunny day on a beach when Hannibal's brother, Menoetius had attacked Xenon and I while we rested on the beach. He'd been intending to capture and take us to his father, but Hannibal had come out of nowhere and fought his own brother back. For many years, I had never understood it.
Even when Menoetius and I had fought again later on, without Xenon or Hannibal present.
It was another hot day in summer, two armies had clashed and I had chosen my champion in the mortal war and Menoetius had chosen his. We launched our own war within the fray of mortal bodies being tossed aside, hammered and beaten bloody, until death. Menoetius had fought hard.
I still remembered that killer gleam in his eye, his fangs bared as he slammed his sword against mine, such a loud crack that it echoed around us and a few mortals had the intelligence to scrambled out of our way to avoid being killed. Thinking us simply powerful soldiers, they had left us alone, and with good reason considering Menoetius's violence. He fought like Hannibal; again and again and again without a breath for break, like he was set to auto-pilot and had only one goal in mind.
Kill.
He'd slammed his sword against mine repeatedly, breathing labored and blood oozing from a gash in his brow, dirt smeared across a face that was far too young to be in war.
Atlanteans started training their men at the age of seven for war, however, they certainly were not sent into war until their late teens, even then it was rare. The fact that Menoetius was a god still should've meant he should wait, yet here he was, a wild jaguar of a beast slashing and attacking me as if he had fought for centuries.
I still remembered the stroke he dealt that split my side open and spilled blood out onto the battlefield, a hot gasp leaving my lips as I cursed inwardly and fell to one knee. Menoetius looked down at me, dark eyes dead as he drew his sword back to attack me, but I shot up at the last second and grabbed him by the throat, swinging him around and throwing him against the ground.
I had him there, in the perfect position to kill him, and he knew it too. There was an odd acceptance that came onto his face as his eyelids fluttered, almost as if he would relish the feel of my fist ripping his heart out, but I had never gotten the chance because Hannibal, once again like some kind of ghost, came out of nowhere and threw me away from Menoetius.
However, unlike the last battle where I'd seen Hannibal fight, his eyes had been a mismatched set of blue and white. Now they were red and blood thirsty and it took me a full minute to realize that the fighting around us had stopped... because Hannibal had killed every last soldier around us, like an animal and he crouched low, growling and baring his fangs at me.
"Hybrid, heel!" Menoetius shouted, scrambling to his feet, but Hannibal had ignored him and lunged for me. I spun out of the way and kicked him hard in the back, sending him sprawling onto his face, but he only landed there for a second before leaping back up and whirling to face me. He stalked toward me like a panther on the hunt, his muscles rippling in a symphony of murder, red eyes glowing like the harvest moon, fangs already dripping with blood that must have come from the other soldiers.
"Hybrid, heel!" Menoetius shouted again, this time there was a note of fear in his voice.
Even his own brother had been terrified of him, I remembered.
Hannibal had snarled and went for me again, but this time, Menoetius had caught him around the waist, throwing him down and fumbling in his pouch for something as Hannibal writhed and bucked beneath him, screaming as if he were possessed. Menoetius shoved something into his mouth and clasped a hand over his mouth.
Now's your chance!
Without even thinking more than that, I snatched up the nearest sword and lunged for Menoetius, who was still straddling his brother, whose frantic writhing had slowed to light squirming. Hannibal's dazed mismatched eyes stared right past Menoetius at me as I drew the sword up and his eyes widened and he gave a muffled choke. Menoetius scowled, then screamed in pain as I drew the sword down straight through his shoulder and into his torso. He choked, blood pouring past his lips onto Hannibal's clothes, but whatever Menoetius had shoved into Hannibal's mouth had left him in an odd dazed state.
Menoetius slumped over and fell to the side, choking up blood. I went to him, kicking him onto his back and reaching down, yanking the sword out, making him howl in pain. I went to deliver the final blow, when a hand grabbed my ankle and I snapped my eyes to see Hannibal's hand wrapped around my ankle.
"No." Was all Hannibal muttered before he passed out, slumping into a pool of Menoetius's blood. Menoetius choked, wheezing past blood that bubbled between his lips and slid down the sides of his face. I narrowed my eyes, lifting my sword higher, intending to sever the Titan's head from his body when he closed his eyes and sucked in a shuddering breath.
A strange fissure went through me in that moment.
Something told me not to do this. I had no idea what. It was like... a small voice in the back of my head, neither male nor female, distorted, almost mechanical, telling me not to do it. Against every instinct in my body, I didn't go further. I stepped back, leaving the brothers in their blood.
I hadn't seen Menoetius since that day.
Not until he knocked the Cruentius off me and stood in its place, watching it shoot through the trees and slam into the river. My eyes widened in shock at the sight of him, but instant hatred flooded me as I remembered all the times I'd fought him and he'd managed to get away from me, and how badly I still wanted to decapitate him. It was a strange instinct that I loathed, loathed Atlan for instilling within me.
Denarius and I were on our feet a second later, and Menoetius paused to look at us for a moment, and he scowled at me.
"Don't I know you?" He asked.
You've got to be kidding me.
"He's the one you were hired to protect, I'm assuming." Denarius said dryly. Menoetius nodded, then turned back as the Cruentius struggled to its feet, stumbling and nearly tripping. I scowled, annoyed by Menoetius's calm visage, that same cold glint in his eyes that said he didn't care who he killed, as long as he was killing, he was satisfied. Denarius gripped my arm tightly.
"We need to move," Denarius told me sternly, "Leave the Cruentius to the bodyguard... Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to have a partner?" Menoetius pinned Denarius with a withering stare that made me tense.
"I don't need a partner." He deadpanned. Denarius looked miffed at the comment, tightening his grip on me to try and urge me back toward the temple, but I yanked my arm free and Denarius made a noise of distress as I stalked toward Menoetius, who arched a brow, but other than that showed me no facial expression.
"That's a Cruentius demon, do you have any idea what you're dealing with?" I demanded. Menoetius looked at me, then looked up at the demon that was knocking trees down out of his way as he stormed his way back to us. Then he shrugged.
He actually shrugged.
"Not really, but I'm assuming lopping his head off kills him since it kills everything," He answered, then paused, holding up a finger, then shook his head, "Scratch that. It doesn't kill everything. Hannibal's been known to throw a few choice curse words when someone cuts his head off." I stiffened at that, baffled and angry that he would dare bring something that touchy up as a joke, as if Hannibal's immortality was a joke, when it most certainly was not, but I didn't have time to argue with him as the demon charged us and this time, Denarius threw his spear and it slammed straight through the Cruentius's leg, pinning him to the ground.
The Cruentius threw its ugly bald head back and released a scream that made everyone flinch away from it. It struggled to wrench the spear from its leg and Denarius grabbed me again, forcing me to face him.
"Callias, we can't stay here," He said angrily, "Your life is in danger. That thing—"
"That thing killed my sister," I snarled, snatching myself from him and making him go still, Menoetius watching us in silence, "And as a god of retribution, it's my duty to make that monster pay for what he did to her." Denarius ground his teeth together. I could tell he wanted to just toss me over his shoulder and take off without another word, but he was thinking about his sister, the way his eyes flickered back toward the marketplace. That and he knew that I could take him if I really wanted to.
"Does this mean you don't need me?" Menoetius asked, with a hint of hope in his voice.
"Yes!"
"No!" I shouted at the same time Denarius shouted his response. We glared at each other and Menoetius looked between us, then finally showed a facial expression— a grimace as if he had just eaten something foul.
"You remind me of my brothers." He grunted. Now if that wasn't an insult, I didn't know what was. Thankfully, we didn't have time to argue because the Cruentius had torn the spear free and was lunging straight for me with its teeth gnashing hungrily. Right when he would have reached me, Menoetius delivered a harsh upper cut punch to the creature's open jaw, causing its mouth to slam shut and the massive beast stumbled back a few steps, stunned by the outright attack.
It hissed and lunged for Menoetius, who sidestepped and spun around, planting his leg across the creature's back, making it slam forward on its face. The creature recovered quickly and leapt to its feet, whirling around so fast it was a blur as it delivered a harsh backhand that sent Menoetius slamming into the ground.
Denarius lunged to tackle it, but barely budged it and it caught him by the back of his neck, throwing him into a tree where a sickening crack rang out and he hit the ground. Fear pierced me like an icy blade, but I quickly swallowed it down, summoning up the numbness that I'd cradled close all these years, all those years of battle. I embraced it and my eyes snapped open as the creature lunged at me and I did a backwards cartwheel to gain some distance, delivery a sharp kick to its face in the process, so it stepped back.
It lunged for me, but I twirled out of the way and crouched down low before leaping up off the ground, using enough energy to give me a hover so I could gather up the strength to kick it straight between the eyes, sending it keeling over where Menoetius was waiting to reel his fist back, slamming it into the creature's face again.
I landed on the ground and hissed as Menoetius reached for one of his weapons, which looked almost like a sword, except there was no blade, much to my confusion.
"Stop," I snarled when Menoetius gripped the sword handle, then looked up to scowl at me, "It's my kill! I didn't ask for your help!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Menoetius said with enough sarcasm to drown a river nymph, "You're right. I wasn't hired to protect you. I was hired to stand here and watch you die. Here, let me just step aside." He actually sheathed his weapon and retreated to lean on a tree, his arms folded over his chest. I scowled, suspicious of him, but had no time to deal with his brattiness when the Cruentius lunged to its feet and swiped at my throat.
I gasped, just barely reeling my neck back out of the way to avoid a paralyzing swipe. I cursed and spun out of the way as he lunged for me, barreling past me before rebounding off a tree and moving to strangle me, but I spun around and ran up the side of a tree, flying through the air and landing in a crouch behind it as it spun around, screaming angrily.
I snuck a quick glance at Menoetius, who watched with narrowed eyes as we fought. His muscles were twitching, those dark angry slits watching me as if just waiting for me to screw up. He was doing exactly as he promised, staying out of my business. But I noticed Denarius still wasn't moving out the corner of my eye and a moment of panic hit me.
"Check on Denarius!" I commanded, then spun around to duck a swipe from the beast.
"I thought you didn't want my help."
"I don't! But Denarius does!"
"I dunno. I don't think he likes me very much."
"Who would?! Help him, you egotistical scumbag!"
"Wow, that's encouraging. Did you go to the same psychology school my brother did? Oh wait, you're related. Assholeishness must run in the family." Menoetius decided, pushing off the tree and walking over to Denarius with a laidback calmness I certainly did not feel. Aggravated by the Titan and his obscene rudeness, I whirled back to the Cruentius just as he grabbed for my throat and managed to catch it. I choked and Menoetius froze, whirling back toward me, taking a step in my direction, but I kicked out at him.
"Fuck off!" I shouted, gasping for breath. Menoetius tensed angrily.
"You really are like Hannibal." He seethed, then completely ignored my protests and came at the Cruentius, jamming his fist straight into the creature's side, probably puncturing his liver the way it screamed. It dropped me and I hit the ground, gasping for breath before scrambling to my feet at the same time the creature whirled around and grabbed Menoetius right up off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
Menoetius snarled and brought his hands together, bringing it down on the Cruentius's head, making it screech and sink its teeth down into Menoetius's shoulder. Menoetius gasped and I cursed, reaching up and yanking the strange sword handle from Menoetius's holster.
"Button," Menoetius choked through the pain, "On the handle!" I looked at the handle in confusion for a moment, ignoring the way the Cruentius moaned and gurgled up Menoetius's blood, gnawing on his shoulder. For a second, I thought I would just have to use something else, until I pushed the underside of the handle and a blade of crackling electricity shot loose from where the blade was supposed to be.
My eyes widened, impressed by the weapon when I remembered the Cruentius was currently trying to make a meal out of Menoetius. Part of me should've just let it happen, but again, that same little voice told me not to kill him, so for what felt like the hundredth time in my life, against that killer instinct, I plunged the electrical blade into the Cruentius, who screamed and dropped Menoetius like a rag doll to the forest floor. I thrust the blade up into its chest cavity and drew the blade to the side, slitting open its chest, blood and innards pouring out onto Menoetius, who cursed.
The Cruentius choked and gurgled, growled for a moment, then collapsed and fell backwards. I breathed hard, stepping toward the creature and looking down at it hesitantly. It didn't move or breath, but I wasn't going to risk it. I'd seen the movies Apollo enjoyed.
Double tap.
I swung the blade down and severed its head from its shoulders before turning to Menoetius, who struggled to his feet, shaking off blood and guts.
"That was officially the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me," He growled, then paused to cock his head, then shook it, "Nope. Never mind." I scowled at him, annoyed, but he seemed fine, despite the bloody bite mark in his shoulder. I went past him to Denarius, breathing hard with a wave of panic when I realized Denarius wasn't breathing.
I dropped down beside him, pulling him over onto his back and leaning down to press my ear to his chest. I could very faintly hear his heart beating, but it was slowly. I cracked my knuckles, shook my hands out, then placed them on his chest and sent a blast of energy through his system to heal his wounds. I could feel bones knitting together beneath my fingers, flesh stitching back together and organs closing up. It was taking up an epic amount of my energy and by the time I was finished, I was exhausted both physically and mentally. I felt like I was made of Jell-O and I could really go for some sleep, maybe two days worth, but I knew Apollo wasn't going to go for it, especially now.
Denarius was still unconscious, but he was stable and a sigh of relief escaped me until I remembered Menoetius and I cursed, shooting to my feet and whirling around to face him where he was peeling a piece of meat off his face. He made a face at it and flicked it aside before he realized I was watching him and his expression went to stone.
Before I could speak, however, the air around us rippled and crackled with power and I watched the blood drain from Menoetius's face. All the years I'd known Menoetius, I had never seen such an ashen look of horror on someone's face.
"Well, that was fucking gross." Zeus's voice stated, making me stiffen and whirl around to see him standing there with Apollo beside him, looking agonized.
Damn it. And I was so close to finally ignoring that little voice in my head and smashing the Titan's skull open.
But from the look on the Titan's face, he would much rather have his skull broken than to be standing here. Apollo made a noise of distress, coming at me and yanking me by the arm, checking me over with a fretfulness befitting a mother. He caught my face in his hands, his thumbs smearing the dirt away from my cheeks and Zeus interrupted with a barking laugh, which I saw made Menoetius flinch out the corner of my eye.
"Well, well, well," Zeus said with supreme interest, his arms folding over his chest as he came to stand near us, but his eyes were locked on Menoetius, "Don't you look familiar? What was your name again? Sounded like some kind of disease." I frowned, glancing at Menoetius and waiting for one of his sarcastic remarks, but Menoetius had completely clammed up. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the Titan was about ready to puke. He looked ill and shaken, and I would've thought maybe it was the fact that he was still wet with Cruentius innards, but something told me it had to do with Zeus.
"Menoetius," Zeus said, snapping his fingers and pointing a finger at Menoetius, making him take a sharp step back as if waiting to be attacked, "I could've sworn I tossed your ass into Tartarus." Menoetius didn't answer. He just looked like a cornered rabbit, and that deep buried protective instinct reared its ugly head.
"Hades resurrected him to fight in the coming war," I blurted, and Zeus cut me a stare that almost made me swallow my tongue, and I cleared my throat, lowering my eyes, "My lord." Zeus looked back at Menoetius, and his lip slowly curled.
"And the other soldier I requested?" He asked. Menoetius was still frozen. Now I was extremely intrigued. The Titan looked terrified out of his mind. Zeus was rather intimidating, but to the point of scaring a Titan?
"Quit picking on him," A voice said a second before a column of red smoke twirled through the air and appeared beside Menoetius, who snapped his head to see Ares appear beside him, "Hades could only send one soldier right now and this guy was the only one available." Zeus's eyes flashed angrily.
"I was expecting him to send two of his sons. Theo and Ambrosius." He said through tight lips, his anger permeating the air and causing clouds to stir in the sky, blotting out the sun and ruining a lovely day all over again. For a split second, from my position, I could see Ares's eyes flash red, then blue again as if Zeus's suggestion infuriated him, but he kept a stoic expression.
"Nope. Hades is on vacation with his sons."
"He is not."
"Sure, he is."
"In the middle of a war?" Zeus demanded like he wanted to grab Ares's head and slam it into a tree. Ares blinked innocently over the top of his sunglasses.
"Well, the war is technically our problem now, not Hades's. So yeah. He's on vacation. In the middle of a war." He answered. Zeus actually shook with anger, and his cheeks mottled red. Menoetius looked like he was going to be sick any second now and Apollo just glared at Ares, obviously peeved that Ares was riling Zeus up on purpose. Not a very smart thing to do, but Ares wasn't exactly the smartest of the gods.
Zeus was seconds from blowing, then abruptly he cooled. He stood there in silence and everyone else seemed to be waiting for him to just kill someone, but a sick smirk twisted his lips as he looked at Menoetius, who actually shrank back from him.
"We have much to discuss, you and I. For now, you'll be staying with Apollo and protecting the slave until we can think of a decent way to capture Atlan. I'll be making a visit soon." He started to turn away, then paused and ran his tongue over his bottom lip, teeth scraping it before he gave Menoetius one last smile, vanishing and not even bothering to ask about the eight foot demon of ugly sprayed all over the ground.
Not that it mattered, because a second later, Menoetius vomited and Ares cursed, catching him by the arm. Baffled, I stared at him and Ares shot me a quick look.
"You guys go on ahead. I'll take care of him." He said. Menoetius made an angry retort that I couldn't quite hear and he snatched himself away from Ares, storming off into the forest. Ares sighed and went after him. My eyes followed until I realized Apollo was glaring at me, and I dropped my eyes to his feet.
"Master, I—" He cut me off before I could speak, the back of his hand kissing my cheek so hard my head snapped back and I hissed, stepping back to clamp a hand over my cheek, but Apollo caught me by the arm and yanked me hard.
"Do you have any idea how fucking freaked out I am?! That thing is huge! It could have killed you! You should've let it eat the nymph and ran to the temple!" He snarled angrily, jerking on my arm to emphasize each word. My body was still weak from healing Denarius, and my anger for Menoetius continued to simmer, so the last bit of my patience snapped and I whipped my arm out of Apollo's grasp, making his eyes widen before I snatched at the front of his t-shirt.
"My friend almost died! I live on a god forsaken mountain with gods I could pick my teeth with! I just fought a high-class demon and found out my bodyguard is one of the Titans I fought in the war. I am fucking tired, filthy, my friend needs my help, and I am going to sleep as soon as I get back to the temple and if you want to beat me for it, then so be it!" I practically shouted in his face. Apollo was frozen in dismay, his mouth opening and closing as if he had no idea what to say.
Much to my relief, he didn't retaliate as I roughly released him and stalked over to Denarius, dropping down to gather him up into my arms. I held him close, cradling him to my body and walking past Apollo, who still appeared confused by my actions, but recovered a second later.
"Callias!" He shouted, and against my will, my entire body halted and I clenched my teeth, refusing to turn around and face him. There was a short silence.
"He can use one of the guest rooms until he wakes up." Apollo said at last, but he sounded unsure. I frowned, this time risking a glance over my shoulder, but as soon as I did, Apollo was gone.
I sighed.
I've just given the sadist what he wants— my anger.
My resistance.
Damn it.