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Blackness finds me but I hope it is not the end for me, for us.
Chapter Ten
Mayhem
I have died before, but it never felt the way this does. Nothing else even comes close. Having Cari ripped from my arms is the worst pain I have ever known, even compared to hundreds of years of torture in Hades.
“No! Azazel, I will kill you! I will come to Hades and end you!”
The fire that flickered moments ago, that I started to warm us after the cool rain, flickers out. It goes ice cold in the cottage. I try to get the fire going again, hoping I can use it as a portal to go back to Hades, but it does nothing but spark.
“I will come for you, my love,” I shout at the darkness. “I will never let him have you!”
Closing my eyes, I focus as hard as I can. With a whir of air and a pop of sound, I find myself in an unfamiliar room. It is in the castle atop the hills of Moon Haven. It is Gareth’s home. I will need his help to get back to Hades, to go after my beloved.
“Gareth! Luci! He took her! I need you both!”
Pounding footsteps sound before the double doors on the room fly open. Luci comes first, running towards me, her gown billowing after her. Gareth comes after but somehow reaches me first. He gathers his wife to his side, shaking his head.
“Not her. My wife will not go to Hades, not with our child in her belly.”
“Yes, I will,” she fires back, staring up at him defiantly. “That is my sister, my blood, my best friend. We swore, the three of us, that nothing would ever come between us. That includes men, or Hades, or whatever monster land Azazel took my sister to.”
“Absolutely not. Not happening. You’re staying here.”
“Can we not waste time, please? I hate that I had to come to you, to drag any of you into this, but, I have to get her back.”
“We’re a family,” Luci shouts, gaze flying between us. “We will protect each other no matter what. That is what family does. I am going. Bessi is going too, I will get her here. We’ve been training, and together the three of us will be powerful.”
Sighing, Gareth nods as he relents. She speaks the truth. Together, the three of them will be a force to be reckoned with. One that Azazel will never see coming. He will just expect me so having others on our side will certainly be a surprise.
“We have to find a portal, I cannot remember the ones here on earth, as I have not used them in hundreds of years.”
“I can create one,” Gareth tells me as if telling me it’s going to rain again. “I have had to come to Hades before.”
Luci looks at him as if letting him know she will want that story another time. Without a plan other than getting down to Hades with this weird, multi-mystical family of ours, we head out. We find Edon and Bessi outside waiting for us because it seems all the sisters can speak without needing words.
We all follow Gareth deep into the woods. The darkness swallows us up as we maneuver through thick underbrush and twisted limbs. In an overgrown corner surrounded by towering stone is an oval that looks manmade but is nature’s creation.
“While I humored you ladies a little, neither of you will be coming through to Hades with us,” Gareth announces. “We will go to get them both. Standing our ground up here is the safest bet to victory. Battling him in Hades is just asking for a massacre. We will do it on our land, on our earth, our terms.”
“Gareth is right,” I agree, nodding as we step towards the portal. “We will bring him here, where we can fight him together. I will not stop until she is free of him. I swear to you both,” I make another promise to a Mills’ woman, one that I will not break just as I will not break any of the ones made to the woman I love.
Watching them as we step through the portal, I see the fear in their eyes. It is clear how much they love her. How much they love each other. It might be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Thinking I might get to be close to that for the rest of eternity is enough to prepare me for what we’re about to face.
Because that kind of love is worth dying for.
“Azazel plays games. It is how he tortures his pets. It was near impossible to beat him because he changed the rules as we played the game. Cari is a clever, cunning Nymph, he will not be able to trick her.”
“We will bring them both back with us, Mayhem. We made a promise to the girls, one we will not break.”
Nodding, I lead him the way from the portal towards the lands Azazel will be. Hades is not just fire and brimstone. It is whatever we want it to be. Which means it can be a hell of a lot scarier than most could imagine, no pun intended.
“Mayhem...do you truly not remember your life before?”
“I recall very little. I know what I did to be cursed to live eternity in Hades. I was a monster of a man, so I am a monster in death. I recall I had a farm. I loved horses, I think. It was so long ago, up top has changed so much. It is much faster.”
“That is true. It took some getting used to. I got to watch it happen, but it still sometimes is a lot to take in. I remember you, your first go-round in Moon Haven. You were a farmer. A very wealthy farmer who hated most folks. You did, however, take a fancy to the bride you had been promised. I suppose that is why you did what you did.”
