The god backhanded his brother. Blood and pain exploded as both their noses were broken and their lips split. The god set on Acheron with the same ruthless fury he'd used the first time he'd attacked Styxx after battle. There was no way to defend against Apollo's onslaught. Acheron was just as helpless as Styxx had been.
"Artemis!" Acheron shouted.
"Don't you dare say my sister's name, you filthy whore!" Apollo grabbed a dagger from his waist and snatched at Acheron's tongue. He sliced it off.
Styxx choked on blood as he lost his own. Tears streamed from his eyes as unimaginable pain throbbed. We're going to die.
Apollo wasn't about to let them live. And he knew it wasn't because the god had loved Ryssa. It was because he viewed this as a personal slap to him.
Just like their father.
Styxx panicked as he realized he would never see Bethany again. Never breathe in the precious scent of her body. Or be there when his son was born.
I won't get to say good-bye.
Acheron tried to crawl away from Apollo. But Apollo grabbed him by the throat in a grip so searing it burned the god's handprint into his skin.
Styxx arched his back as he felt it on his own flesh.
"Akri! No!" Suddenly a demon appeared and dove for Apollo. With dark wings and swirling skin, she knocked the god back from Acheron and put herself between them.
"Out of my way, demon," Apollo demanded.
Her response was to launch herself at the god. The two of them tangled in a flurry of light and feathers as they pounded each other.
Styxx fought against unconsciousness. He didn't want to die. Not like this. And not now when Bethany needed him most.
She would be devastated. He didn't want to leave her with the legacy of birthing a child while knowing he would never see his son. Most of all, he didn't want to leave them unprotected in such a brutal world that would never take mercy on either of them.
Please don't let me die....
Not for him, but for them. He had to live.
Styxx tried to rise so that he could join the fight while Acheron crawled to where the god's knife had fallen.
Apollo blasted Styxx back.
Acheron seized the knife and spun on the combatants. The moment he touched it, the blade of the knife began to glow. His brother raced toward them.
Styxx pushed himself to his feet just as Acheron reached Apollo. The god knocked the demon back, into Acheron, impaling her on the knife in Acheron's hands. Eyes wide, the demon stared down at the knife then staggered away with a small cry of pain.
Acheron grabbed her against him as she struggled to breathe.
She lifted a bloodied hand to place it to his cheek. "Apollymi loves you," she whispered in Charonte-a language Styxx somehow understood even though he'd never heard it before. "Protect your mother, Apostolos. Be strong for her and for me...." And then the light faded from her eyes as her final breath left her body.
Acheron threw his head back and let out a strangled cry. Grabbing the knife, he spun on Apollo.
Apollo caught his brother's hand and wrested the knife from him. The god seized Acheron again by the throat and threw him down to the ground. Acheron kicked him back and rolled to his side.
Styxx felt another Olympian presence in the room. Expecting Athena, he was stunned to see Artemis cowering in the shadows.
The bitch who'd played with his brother wouldn't even stand up for him now.
Yet he knew if Bethany was here, she'd fight for them both. Him and Acheron. She would never be able to stand back and watch this.
I'm sorry, Acheron. Artemis's thought repulsed him.
In spite of everything that had happened, his brother deserved more than this betrayal. Just as Styxx deserved to see his son born.
Acheron reached a hand out toward the only woman Styxx knew his brother had ever loved.
She shook her head no and stepped back.
Oh, bitch, you better be glad I can't fight. For that alone he'd have cut Artemis's throat if he could get to her.
No one deserved to be annihilated and denied like that. Not by the woman they loved. It was beyond cruel.
And with that action, Styxx knew she'd condemned them both to die. He saw the fight go out of his brother as Acheron rolled over onto his back at the same time Apollo appeared before him. Blithely, Acheron met the god's angry glare and made no further move to protect himself.
Styxx lunged at them, but slipped on blood and fell.
Growling in rage, Apollo sank his dagger deep inside Acheron's heart and sliced him open all the way to his navel.
Unmitigated agony burned through Styxx as the god slowly and methodically gutted his brother on the floor, no more than three feet from Ryssa's body. His own body registered every brutal cut and slice.
As his vision swam, Styxx's last thought was of the day Bethany had told him she was pregnant, and the happiness he'd held in that one perfect moment as he'd laid his cheek to her stomach and felt her gentle touch in his hair.
I'm so sorry, Beth. I should have been the man you deserved me to be.
Tears fell as the light and pain began to fade for the last time.
June 25, 9527 BC
Tartarus
Hades, the Greek god of death and the Underworld, stood in the center of his throne room, staring in disbelief at their newest arrival who lay in one of the darkest cells of Tartarus.
And he hadn't put his "guest" there ...
Which was one of the more disturbing facts about this whole scenario.
He looked down at the timepiece on his wrist and ground his teeth. It was still three months before his wife would be returned to the Underworld to be with him. But honestly, he had to speak with her.
And, mother-in-law be damned, it couldn't wait.
"Persephone?" he called, hoping her mother wasn't close enough to hear him. The old bitch would have a stroke if she caught them together during her visitation time. Not that it would be a bad thing for her to have one ... if only it would kill her.
An image of his beautiful wife flickered in the darkness by his side. Blond and petite, she was the only light in his darkness. "Butterbean!" she breathed. "I was just missing you something terrible."
He really hated the nicknames she came up with for him. Thank the gods that she only used them when the two of them were alone. Otherwise, he'd be the most mocked of all gods. "Where's your mother?"
"Off looking over some fields, why?"
Good. The last thing he needed was for Demeter to come in and catch them talking.
But that brought him back to his current "dilemma." Anger swept through him as he gestured toward the wall that showed the cells where his prisoners were kept. "I'm getting really sick of cleaning up the messes of the other gods, and right now I'd love to know whose ass I need to bust over this latest fiasco."
She solidified before him. "What's happened?"
Taking her hand, he led her to the cell where they could see inside, but the occupant was completely unable to see them.
At least that was the normal case. In this one, who knew what the occupant could and couldn't see?
He pointed to the blue-fleshed god who lay in a fetal position on the floor. "Any idea who killed that and sent it here?"
Eyes wide, Persephone shook her head. "What is it?"
"Well, I'm not completely sure. I think he's a god ... Atlantean ... maybe. But I've never seen anything like him before. He came in a short time ago and hasn't moved. I'd try to destroy his soul and send him into complete oblivion, but I don't think I have the powers to do it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that just by trying all I'd do is piss him off."