The Return (Titan 1)

I whipped back around. As the first Sentinel toppled over face-first, I got an eyeful of…good gods, breasts and a whole lot more I wasn’t expecting to see. I stumbled a step back.

Artemis stood in front of me, wearing a gauzy white tunic. I’d seen thongs cover more flesh than her outfit did. A bow was leveled on me, loaded with her extra-special silver arrows.

“Hello, Apollyon,” she said, her full lips curving up at the corners. “I wonder, do you guys ever get tired of me saving your asses?”

“I can see your nipples,” I told her.

Her laugh was like wind chimes. “Like these are the only nipples you’ve seen recently, eh?” Her arm shifted an inch and her finger squeezed off another arrow. The fleshy smack told me she had hit her target, and I just hoped it wasn’t Solos or Luke.

“There went the ‘not killing them’ part,” I sighed.

She shrugged as she waved her bow. “But do you see a shade making an escape? Nope. You don’t. Not with my arrows. Sacrifice the few to save the many.” Artemis’s all-white eyes glowed as the air around her shimmered. The see-through gown disappeared, and in its place were fewer nipples and more bubblegum-pink camo get-up. “I am sure you understand that battle practice.”

I ignored that jab, mainly because the marks of the Apollyon were speeding around my skin, forming multiple warnings. Another god was nearby.

Well, weren’t they just dropping out of the freaking sky?

My gaze shifted up the walkway and I ground out, “Fuck.”

The marble walkway was scorched, black marks forming as the stone cracked and the shape of big-ass bootprints formed, one after another. Foliage and shrubs shrank back, withering as two leather-clad legs formed, finishing off with a massive torso and chest, and then a head full of black waves.

Forming out of nothing but thin air beside him was a massive dog, like a mutated Rottweiler—if a Rottweiler had three heads and smelled like sulfur and rot.

Hades sneered in my direction. “Boy.”

“I don’t think I’ve been a boy in a long time,” I replied, eyeing the dog.

The god cracked his neck to the side and spoke again, and for some reason, his accent was British. I could never figure that out. “You have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy you later.”

“I doubt it’s something I’m going to enjoy.”

Artemis cleared her throat. “Really, can we save the snark-off for another time? We are here to handle the shades. You have…” She trailed off as one of Cerberus’s offspring trotted up to me, sniffing my leg.

I swear to the gods, if it pissed on me it was losing one of its heads. “Nice puppy,” I murmured.

It lifted its three heads and snarled, baring sets of shark-like teeth before it moved beyond me.

Solos rounded the corner, skidding to a halt as he saw the two gods and one of Hades’s “puppies” prowling along the edge of the courtyard. “Holy balls…”

The god of the Underworld smiled. “Funny you mention balls…” He looked at me pointedly.

My eyes narrowed.

Shaking his head, Solos refocused and his stark face caused my stomach to drop. “A group of Sentinels who’d been protecting the dorms made it out of the campus. It’s believed they were possessed.”

I didn’t even stop to think.

Pivoting around, I took off toward the dorm, running past bodies that didn’t move, others that moaned in pain. My heart was in my throat and I was vaguely aware of Luke behind me, but the space between us grew larger.

I raced up the dorm steps, my stomach knotting as I saw the glass doors blown out. There were no Sentinels in the lobby. The place was a ghost town. Veering to the right, I hit the hall at a dead run.

The moment I saw the open door, I knew—I fucking knew.

Rushing inside, I struggled to catch my breath, and I’d never been out of breath before in my life. The living area was a mess. The coffee table was shattered. A stupid painting of a god was on the floor, broken.

A soft moan came from the bedroom.

Stumbling back, I pushed through the door, gripping its frame. The blanket from the bed was pooled on the floor. Red blotches were sprinkled across the sheet. Pillows were torn, the down filling lying on the carpet. And there was the dagger I’d given Josie.

Dread exploded in my chest as I made my way around the bed. Deacon was struggling to sit up, the side of his hair matted with blood.

I dipped down beside him, gripping his shoulders. Unfocused gray eyes drifted over my face as I held him up. “Where is she?” I demanded. “Deacon, where is she?”

“They were Sentinels,” he said, gripping my arm. “We thought they were safe. I tried…to stop them.”

A potent kind of terror gripped me. “Dammit, Deacon, where is she?”

His pained eyes met mine. “They took her.”

Chapter 31

MY TEMPLES throbbed and my jaw ached as I came to. It wasn’t the only part of me that hurt. My stomach was still recovering from a vicious kick. I started to sit up, but a hand pressed down on my center of my back, getting my face smushed into what felt like vinyl.

“Stay down, or I will put you down.”

I sucked in a sharp breath at the sound of the guy’s voice. They were Sentinels. They were supposed to be good. Deacon had opened the door… My sore stomach seized as concern for Deacon flooded me. It had been quick and brutal. With the minimal training I’d had, I sure as hell hadn’t been prepared for it. They had taken out Deacon first, slamming his head into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

Oh God.

They smelled like death, like the guy back at Radford had. My mind raced. They had to be shades and that meant—

The vehicle rolled to an abrupt stop and my heart seized. I had no idea how long I’d been out, but from what I could tell, it seemed darker than before. I had no idea how in the hell they’d gotten me out of the University and into a car, but we were here.

I already knew who was waiting for me.

Hands landed on my shoulders as several car doors opened. I was yanked out, and my knees cracked off cold, hard ground as I fell forward onto my shaking hands.

The thin nylon pants were nothing against the icy, night air. I was lifted up onto my bare feet—what’d happened to my shoes?— and pushed forward with a rough shove in the back.

“Go,” the man said.

In the dark, I could make out a set of steps that led up to a porch. Trees crowded what appeared to be a cabin. I had a feeling we were still in the Black Hills, or at least I hoped that we were.