CHAPTER 15
Zeus was laughing at Hermes when he felt a rush of malevolence. It was so potent, it was tangible and it cut through him like a barbed knife.
Glancing around the hall, he tried to find the god or goddess who would dare feel that toward him. But he saw nothing. No one was even paying attention to him.
Was he hallucinating?
"Is something wrong?" Hera asked from her throne on the right side of his.
"Do you not feel that?"
"Feel what?"
Before he could answer, the door to the temple was shouldered open. Dressed in his full battle regalia, Jericho shoved the doors wide. The long black duster clung to his body, outlining every muscle that had been honed to kill. Sharp spikes stood up on each shoulder, curving in toward his face like a lethal frame.
His wings were wide as his long white hair flowed over his shoulders and down his back. Both of his hands were covered with sharp metallic claws that scraped against the gold of the door like nails on a chalkboard.
His black, silver-studded boots tapped an evil staccato as he walked across the marbled floor with a look of hell-wrath and merciless vengeance carved into his eerily perfect features.
No one moved.
No one dared. Only Zeus knew who his target was. The rest held their collective breaths in anxious fear lest Cratus call them out and they have to face him.
Undoubtedly they all remembered the last time he had boldly strode into this hall.
But today was different. . .
"Ares!" Zeus barked at his son, who was the god of war. "Protect your father! Take that dog down! Now!"
Ares covered himself with his armor, then jumped from his table into Jericho's path. Without hesitating, Jericho summoned his shield and sword before he lunged at the god. Their shields clanged loudly as Jericho used his to drive the god back.
Ares dug his feet in and leaned with all of his weight against the shield, but it wasn't enough to block Jericho. He was like a steamroller with only one destination in mind.
Zeus.
"Your blood won't appease me, Ares. Stand down or feel a wrath the likes of which you can't imagine."
Ares stabbed at him over the shield.
Growling, Jericho lifted the edge of his shield to deflect the strike, then returned it with a thrust of his own. His short sword curled around the back of his opponent's shield and opened a gash in Ares's upper arm.
Sick of the obstacle, Jericho threw his shield down and used his sword to pound against Ares's shield. Faster than the god could counter, Jericho delivered slash and stroke after slash and stroke down on the gold shield, bending it fast and furious until it was melded to Ares's arm. The god cried out as the gold pinched and bit into his flesh.
Jericho kicked him back, sending him sprawling across the floor.
He used his powers to wrench the sword from Ares's hand and brought it into the grasp of his left claw.
Crossing the swords in an arc before he brought them down to rest at his sides, Jericho turned around, looking at all the gods and goddesses gathered. "Anyone else want to bleed for this bastard?"
Zeus hurled a lightning bolt at him.
Jericho deflected it with his sword. "I will submit to you no more."
Another one came at him. This time, he dropped Ares's sword and caught the bolt in his hand. It sizzled against the silver claws, humming and throbbing. But it didn't hurt him through his armor. "Are you mentally defective, Olympian? You never defeated me. I submitted to you, but never again."
Zeus pulled forth another bolt. "You have a human's heart. You can be killed!"
Jericho threw the lighting bolt back at Zeus, who barely dodged it. "Then do it. If you or one of the blind fools who follows you honestly believe you can... bring it on. I'm in the mood for Slaughter. Killing and Murder, too."
Zeus's eyes widened as he caught Jericho's meaning and the source of his fury.
Athena, Apollo, Dionysus and several others stood up as if they would fight on Zeus's behalf.
But before they could, Jericho felt a powerful presence at his back. Expecting an attack, he turned, ready to battle.
Then froze in place.
There behind him was Delphine, with Madoc, Zeth, Zarek, Astrid, Jared, Deimos, Phobos, Asmodeus and two dozen Oneroi. And they looked open for business and ready to defend.
He could barely comprehend what he was seeing.
The other gods backed down immediately.
Delphine and her group moved forward until they surrounded him in a protective arc. She gave him a mischievous wink. "You didn't really think you'd be standing alone, did you?"
"Yeah, I did." Jericho was still aghast at their unfounded show of support. Never in his wildest imaginings would he have seen this coming.
Never would he have asked or expected it.
Madoc snorted. "It's a new world, brother. And we, the downtrodden, are taking it back." He looked at Zeus with a feral snarl. "We won't be tools for you or anyone else ever again. Consider yourself deposed."
Zeus growled low in his throat as he glared at each of them. "How dare you! Do you really think such a puny number scares us?"
Zeth snorted. "We scared you enough that you had our daughters slaughtered. What kind of god fears an infant?"
The Olympian gods whispered among themselves.
"It's tme," Jared said. "He has twice commissioned the death of Delphine, and yet she lives."
Zeus sneered at Jericho. "By your own words, I own you. You swore that if I released the Oneroi's emotions you would bow down to me forever."
Jericho shrugged. "Yeah, I did say that, didn't I? You should have made me swear by my mother an unbreakable oath... oops. Sucks to be on your side today."
Zeus blustered angrily. "You can't renege."
"And I never would have, had you not come after the only reason I made the bargain to begin with." Jericho retracted the claws on his left hand to take Delphine's. "Had you not lied to me and gone after her, I would have left you to live in peace while I upheld my oath. But I will not serve someone who tried to kill the only person I've ever cared about. I will not bind myself to you and leave her vulnerable for you and your subjects to attack."
Delphine's grip tightened on his hand.
Ares pushed himself up from the floor. His shield gone, he cradled his broken arm to his chest. "We can fight them, Father."
"You can fight," Jericho mocked, "but you will never win."
"Father?" Ares asked uncertainly.