Neon Gods (Dark Olympus 1)

I know he’s baiting me, but now that I’m standing here, nothing seems cut and dried. “She’s not yours. She belongs to no one but herself.”

“That’s your mistake.” He laughs. “You put yourself in a position to take it all—my life, that woman, your revenge—and you lose your nerve at the last moment.” A mean glint in his pale blue eyes. “Just like your old man.”

“Fuck you.”

Zeus lunges for me, faster than he has any right to be, and grabs at the gun. He’s stronger than I expect, too. Even though I try to wrench away, he maintains his grip on my arm. I pull the trigger reflexively, but the shot goes wide. Zeus jerks me closer, still trying to get my hand off the gun. The look in his eyes spells my death. I might have hesitated to kill him. He won’t return the favor.

I distantly register the sound of glass shattering, but I’m too busy fighting for possession of the gun to worry about it. I twist my arm in his direction and pull the trigger again, but he’s ready for me and the bullet bites the floor at our feet.

Zeus finally gets a good grip on my wrist and brings my arm down on his knee. Fuck, that hurt. Despite my best efforts, I lose my grip on the gun. I glance down, trying to figure out where it went. Zeus takes advantage of my distraction and punches me in the face.

The room wavers around me. That fucker has one hell of a force behind his hits. Another punch and he might actually knock me out. I shake my head, but it does nothing to quell the ringing in my ears.

Thoughts and plans and strategy fly out the window. Instinct alone rules. I manage to get my arm up to block his next punch, and the impact of the blow sends me sliding back several inches. I slam my fist into his stomach, and he wheezes. He’s fast and hits like a freight train, and I’m hampered because even though I hate the fucker, I can still hear Persephone’s panicked voice in the back of my head.

Hades, stop.

I can’t kill him. I won’t. I just need to get enough space between us so I can move, so I can think. I shove him back. “Why did you kill my father?”

The bastard laughs. He fucking laughs. “He deserved to suffer.” He swings again, but this time, I’m ready. I duck under the punch and hammer a left hook into his side. Zeus bends over with a curse, but it’s not enough to do more than slow him down. “Shame about your mother, though.”

“Fuck. You.” There are no answers for me here this morning. I don’t know why I thought there might be. Zeus is a goddamn bully determined to mow down any threat that rises up. My parents were a threat, fresh to the roles and naive because they thought they could pave the way to a new and better Olympus. Zeus wouldn’t allow anything to affect his power, so he removed them. End of story.

I keep trying to create space between us, but it’s no use. Zeus doesn’t give me room to breathe. It takes everything I have to keep his fists away from my face. As it is, my eye is swelling shut and it’s only a matter of time before I lose the ability to see through it. If the fight is still going by that point, I’m in trouble.

I dodge a right hook and catch his arm, using his momentum to send him spinning away from me. “Stop. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“I’m not stopping until you’re dead, you little fuck.” He shakes his head like a bull and charges me.

I don’t register where we are in the room until the cold wind slaps me in the face. Fuck. “Wait.”

But Zeus doesn’t listen. He winds up for a punch that will hurt like a motherfucker if it lands, but he’s misjudged his proximity to the broken window, just like I have. He teeters on the edge, arms windmilling as he tries to find his balance.

Time slows down.

He’s not to the point of no return yet. I can pull him back. I just need to get there. I dart forward, intent on grabbing his arm, his shirt, something. No matter what kind of monster he is, no one deserves to go out like this.

He makes contact with my hands, but his fingers slip through mine despite my best efforts. Between one blink and the next, he’s gone, the whoosh of air and a fading yell of surprise the only evidence that he was here to begin with. I stare at the broken window, at the empty dark blue air, at the lights twinkling in the distance.