Eternal Rider
Page 43
“Fuck,” Wraith breathed. “Fallen angels.”
“Well,” Kynan said grimly, “you said you wanted to fight.”
“I don’t understand.” Cara peeled her eyes away from one of the winged newcomers—Zhreziel, whose expression said he had an ax to grind, and probably on the Horsemen’s bones.
“The only beings that can harm me and Wraith are angels. Which includes the fallen variety.”
“And they’re hard as f**k to kill, unless you’re another angel. Or a Horseman. Even better, Pestilence probably knows about our charmed status, thanks to David.” Wraith’s fangs flashed. “Man, if I get killed, not even the fact that David is Serena’s brother is going to save him from her.” For some reason, he smiled at that. “My mate can be a total badass. It’s so hot.”
“Okay, boys.” Pestilence’s grating voice rang out. “Kill the human and the mutt, and let’s get this Apocalypse started!”
Thanatos released his souls, and they screeched as they shot toward the evil army. As if rejuvenated by the brief break, the demons swarmed, more vicious than ever. It was a nightmare of teeth, claws, and weapons. Helplessness splintered what bravery Cara held in her reserves, and somehow Ares knew. He tossed her a dagger, a last-resort weapon to be sure, but at least she had something with which she could strike a blow to any demon that made it through the wall of her defenders.
Assuming she had the strength to use it.
Everyone, including Hades—who made demons explode with a mere touch—fought hard, but one by one, the horses went down, and the Horsemen were crushed under the wave of monsters. Despair and fear became the air Cara breathed, so thick she couldn’t even scream when the rain of blows fell on Cara and Hal. Wraith and Kynan leaped on top of them, shielded them with their bodies, but somehow, blades found their way through the pile.
Pain ripped into her, as razor sharp as the weapons piercing her flesh and organs. Deep inside, a weird tugging sensation grabbed at her, and she felt as if she was being peeled like a banana. When the realization hit her, she cried out.
The tugging and peeling was her soul trying to leave her body.
Snarls rang out. Screams. Warm blood splashed on her face. A weight came off her as Wraith and Kynan pushed away. Ares. Where was Ares?
“Holy shit,” Kynan murmured. “Damn.”
Cara couldn’t move, could barely breathe as she lay on her side in a fetal position, wrapped around Hal. She figured she had about five breaths’ worth of life remaining, but dammit, she was going to watch the end come. With effort, she opened the one eye that still functioned, though it felt as if her eyelid was made of steel wool. Through uneven blurs and blood, she saw massive black paws. Teeth. Red, glowing eyes.
Hellhounds.
“There has to be thousands of them,” Wraith said.
The forest of black legs milled and parted. Something massive moved toward them, and before Cara could even blink, a monstrous, three-headed hellhound stood before them, easily twice as big as the largest of the others.
“Hey, Cerberus,” Hades said.
“Cerberus?” Kynan gasped.
“Yeah.” Hades scrubbed his hand over his mohawk. “This can’t be good.”
“And why is that?”
“He hates me for binding him to Sheoul-gra. He only gets to leave when I do. He’s probably here to rip me to shreds. Again.”
The beast shouldered aside Hades, and finally, Cara caught sight of Ares. His armor was mangled, his left hand mashed, and his legs impossibly broken, but he was using his one good hand to drag himself to Cara. She wanted to cry, but that tugging sensation had overcome her, and tears, it seemed, stayed with the body, not the soul.
Ares pulled himself against her as everyone else moved to block Cerberus, who was on a path directly for her and Hal.
Cerberus’s three heads snarled as one.
“S’okay.” Cara’s voice was reed-thin, barely there, but apparently it was enough, because everyone shifted, allowing Cerberus to pass.
The big beast sniffed at her, and then one of the heads licked Hal. Hal opened his eyes, and a single word came to her. Grandfather. He hadn’t said it to her, but somehow, she intercepted the transmission to the three-headed hound.
One of the heads turned to her, its crimson eyes glowing. You are reoush, beast-healer. Rare. You will not die.
Not dying didn’t seem like an option. She sucked in a gurgling breath… and it didn’t leave her. Blackness swallowed her whole even as she felt the warm stroke of a tongue over her lips.
Twenty-seven
Cara wasn’t sure what happened. All she knew was that she’d come wide awake in Ares’s arms, Hal was bouncing around in the demon remains and happily tossing things like arms and legs into the air, while off in the distance, other hellhounds were… she squinted, and then wished she hadn’t. Ares wasn’t kidding when he said hellhounds liked their prey a little too much. Swallowing sourly, she jerked her gaze away from the hellhound playground to see medical people in scrubs patching up the home team.
Eidolon and Shade were doing the glow-thing to Sin, while Con held her hand, his own wounds so extensive Cara was surprised he was sitting up without help. Kynan was patching up Wraith, who kept yelling obscenities, and some black-haired guy Con had called Luc was trying, unsuccessfully, to work on Ares.
Ares, who kept shoving the guy away even as he spoke gently to Cara. “You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake.”
“Where…” She cleared her throat to rid it of the scratchiness that made her voice sound as if she hadn’t used it in decades. “Where are the demons? Pestilence?” She frowned. “Cerberus. Or did I dream it all?” Even as she said it, she knew she hadn’t dreamed it.
“The hellhounds broke Pestilence’s army. He had to retreat. Cerberus and most of the hounds gave chase. Shade brought help from Underworld General.”
“How am I alive?” And damn, she felt really freaking great, too. As if she’d been plugged into a battery the size of Mount Everest.
“It seems,” Ares said, “that you received Hell’s Kiss from the hellhound king.”
Okay, that was… significant, she was guessing. Tail wagging, Hal romped over. All of us. You belong to all of us now. All bonded to you. Except for those bonded to others. You are reoush, our healer.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, wow.”
Ares’s eyes bored into her. “What is it?”
“It um… seems that I’m bonded to all of them. They’ve adopted me as their official physician of sorts.”
Luc froze as he reached into the medic bag next to him. “All hellhounds?”
“As in, every hellhound in existence?” Ares added.
“That’s what Hal says.”
“Holy shit.” Limos’s voice came from behind Ares, but Cara couldn’t twist around to see her. “That would make you—”
“Immortal.” Ares blew out a long, shaky breath. “You’re immortal.”
“It’s beyond that.” Hades strolled over, picked up what Cara thought might be the leg of some creature, and tossed it for Hal. “Fetch!” He turned to Cara as Hal bounded off. “Any injury you sustain would be spread evenly throughout the hellhound population, so you’ll heal instantly. Only Cerberus himself… and God… can kill you now.” He frowned. “I can’t believe that fucker did that. He never does that. I asked him to do it to my girlfriend once, and he refused. Ripped my arm off.” He snorted. “Course, she f**ked me over later anyway. The bitch.”
This was all so strange, and yet, it was all becoming normal. “Wait, why would they need a healer, if I’m bonded to them? An injured hound would take energy from me, right?”
Hades shook his head. “Cerberus’s bond doesn’t work that way. It’s against natural law to alter an entire species. You reap the benefits of taking from them, and they get you as a healer.”
Didn’t seem like a fair tradeoff to her, but she wasn’t going to complain. “Ares, are you okay? Your legs…”
“They’re fine. Eidolon gave me a quick zap when he first got here, and I’m regenerating to heal the rest. So I really don’t need any medical help.” The last bit was aimed at Luc, who gave Ares the finger.
Hiding a smile, Cara reached for Ares’s hand… and noticed that Battle wasn’t on his arm. Instant alarm lanced her. “The horses. How are the horses?”
“They could use your help,” Ares said softly.
“You should have told me!” She leaped to her feet, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to contain her gasp of horror. Now she understood why Ares had held her the way he had, angled away from the animals.
The carnage was… unbelievable. Thanatos was kneeling next to Styx, who was a mass of bone erupting from muscle. His legs were twisted in awkward angles, and he had so many blades and arrows sticking out of him that he looked like a porcupine.
Battle and Bones bore similar injuries, and all of the horses were surrounded by people in scrubs, who were working frantically to save the stallions.
Cara scrambled over to Styx, who appeared to be in the worst shape—though the amount of play in that distinction could be measured in a thimble.
Styx’s eyes were closed, his nostrils flaring as he breathed. Blood bubbled up through the multiple wounds in his chest, and nothing the medical people were doing seemed to help.
“Oh, no,” she breathed, as she kneeled at the stallion’s head.
Thanatos’s hand captured her wrist. His yellow gaze was tortured, and fear had drawn deep lines in his handsome face. “Can you help him? Please? I know I’ve been harsh with you—”
“I understand.” He had the fate of the human world resting on his shoulders, and he’d been justifiably more concerned with that than her feelings.
Gently, she extracted herself from his grip to lay both her hands on Styx. Closing her eyes, she summoned her healing energy. A blast of power slammed into her, and her head snapped back so hard her hands came off the horse.
“What is it?” Ares gripped her shoulders from behind, bracing her as she blinked out of the stunned fog she was in. Thanatos was staring at her with concern, and Limos had twisted around from where she was caring for Bones to watch with just as much worry.
“I don’t know.” Cara shook her head, clearing it of the last of the fuzzy feeling. “Usually I feel a trickle of power, but this was like a river. Like a dam had burst. Let me try again.” Once more, she placed her hands on the stallion, but this time, she opened herself up more gradually.
Energy sang through her with a hundred times the strength she was used to, and that was on the lowest setting she could manage. Tentatively, she let it out through her hands, and all around her, people gasped.
Cara didn’t open her eyes. In her mind, she could see everything. There was no pain for her, but the horse’s wounds were closing, weapons were being pushed out of flesh, and bone was knitting together. A great surge of affection hit her as Styx’s health improved, and within minutes, he was communicating his gratitude to her in words and images and little nuzzles of his velvety nose against her thigh.
Gradually, there was nothing left to heal, and she pulled back her power and opened her eyes. The medical people were watching her in awe, and even Eidolon, who seemed to have a similar ability, was eyeing her with speculation.
“Can you do that with people?”
She shook her head. “Only animals.” Eidolon looked disappointed. Thanatos offered his hand to her, and though she didn’t need his help to stand, she took it, sensing that he needed to do this. Ares stepped back, apparently sensing the same thing. When she was standing before the giant warrior, he kneeled at her feet, head bowed.
“In my time, totem priestesses were honored. Revered as descendants of the aos si.”
“Aos si?”
“The folk. You’d call them… fairies. They possessed the gift of healing animals and killing people when angered. They’re long dead, but you obviously carry their blood.” He looked up at her and placed his fist over his heart. “You have my gratitude and my respect forever.”
Somehow, Cara knew she’d just been elevated to an equal in Thanatos’s eyes. Warmth seeped through her, but she didn’t spend time doing anything more than offering him a thank you. She’d have to ask more about the aos si later. She had two more horses to heal.
The process was the same with both Bones and Battle, and when she was finished, she wasn’t worn out at all.
And there’d been no pain.
“You were drawing on the power of the hellhound pack,” Limos said. “That. Is. Awesome.”
Ares pulled Cara to her feet as Battle came to his. Nearby, Hal and Hades were still playing their gruesome game of fetch, and the medical staff were packing up and preparing the dead for transport.
Cara wrapped herself around Ares and held tight. “I just wish my power worked on more than animals. I might have been able to save some of your staff.”
Thanatos nodded grimly. “I lost twelve vampires.”
“I’ll have to tell Vulgrim that fourteen of his herd are dead.” Ares pressed a kiss to the top of Cara’s head. “But you’re safe. You still bear my agimortus, but since you can’t be killed, you’re no longer a target for Pestilence or his minions. Which means you’re coming home with me.” He cleared his throat. “If you, you know, want to.”
How adorable was he? “Of course I want to. But… the agimortus… I’ll drain you.”
“Well,” Kynan said grimly, “you said you wanted to fight.”
“I don’t understand.” Cara peeled her eyes away from one of the winged newcomers—Zhreziel, whose expression said he had an ax to grind, and probably on the Horsemen’s bones.
“The only beings that can harm me and Wraith are angels. Which includes the fallen variety.”
“And they’re hard as f**k to kill, unless you’re another angel. Or a Horseman. Even better, Pestilence probably knows about our charmed status, thanks to David.” Wraith’s fangs flashed. “Man, if I get killed, not even the fact that David is Serena’s brother is going to save him from her.” For some reason, he smiled at that. “My mate can be a total badass. It’s so hot.”
“Okay, boys.” Pestilence’s grating voice rang out. “Kill the human and the mutt, and let’s get this Apocalypse started!”
Thanatos released his souls, and they screeched as they shot toward the evil army. As if rejuvenated by the brief break, the demons swarmed, more vicious than ever. It was a nightmare of teeth, claws, and weapons. Helplessness splintered what bravery Cara held in her reserves, and somehow Ares knew. He tossed her a dagger, a last-resort weapon to be sure, but at least she had something with which she could strike a blow to any demon that made it through the wall of her defenders.
Assuming she had the strength to use it.
Everyone, including Hades—who made demons explode with a mere touch—fought hard, but one by one, the horses went down, and the Horsemen were crushed under the wave of monsters. Despair and fear became the air Cara breathed, so thick she couldn’t even scream when the rain of blows fell on Cara and Hal. Wraith and Kynan leaped on top of them, shielded them with their bodies, but somehow, blades found their way through the pile.
Pain ripped into her, as razor sharp as the weapons piercing her flesh and organs. Deep inside, a weird tugging sensation grabbed at her, and she felt as if she was being peeled like a banana. When the realization hit her, she cried out.
The tugging and peeling was her soul trying to leave her body.
Snarls rang out. Screams. Warm blood splashed on her face. A weight came off her as Wraith and Kynan pushed away. Ares. Where was Ares?
“Holy shit,” Kynan murmured. “Damn.”
Cara couldn’t move, could barely breathe as she lay on her side in a fetal position, wrapped around Hal. She figured she had about five breaths’ worth of life remaining, but dammit, she was going to watch the end come. With effort, she opened the one eye that still functioned, though it felt as if her eyelid was made of steel wool. Through uneven blurs and blood, she saw massive black paws. Teeth. Red, glowing eyes.
Hellhounds.
“There has to be thousands of them,” Wraith said.
The forest of black legs milled and parted. Something massive moved toward them, and before Cara could even blink, a monstrous, three-headed hellhound stood before them, easily twice as big as the largest of the others.
“Hey, Cerberus,” Hades said.
“Cerberus?” Kynan gasped.
“Yeah.” Hades scrubbed his hand over his mohawk. “This can’t be good.”
“And why is that?”
“He hates me for binding him to Sheoul-gra. He only gets to leave when I do. He’s probably here to rip me to shreds. Again.”
The beast shouldered aside Hades, and finally, Cara caught sight of Ares. His armor was mangled, his left hand mashed, and his legs impossibly broken, but he was using his one good hand to drag himself to Cara. She wanted to cry, but that tugging sensation had overcome her, and tears, it seemed, stayed with the body, not the soul.
Ares pulled himself against her as everyone else moved to block Cerberus, who was on a path directly for her and Hal.
Cerberus’s three heads snarled as one.
“S’okay.” Cara’s voice was reed-thin, barely there, but apparently it was enough, because everyone shifted, allowing Cerberus to pass.
The big beast sniffed at her, and then one of the heads licked Hal. Hal opened his eyes, and a single word came to her. Grandfather. He hadn’t said it to her, but somehow, she intercepted the transmission to the three-headed hound.
One of the heads turned to her, its crimson eyes glowing. You are reoush, beast-healer. Rare. You will not die.
Not dying didn’t seem like an option. She sucked in a gurgling breath… and it didn’t leave her. Blackness swallowed her whole even as she felt the warm stroke of a tongue over her lips.
Twenty-seven
Cara wasn’t sure what happened. All she knew was that she’d come wide awake in Ares’s arms, Hal was bouncing around in the demon remains and happily tossing things like arms and legs into the air, while off in the distance, other hellhounds were… she squinted, and then wished she hadn’t. Ares wasn’t kidding when he said hellhounds liked their prey a little too much. Swallowing sourly, she jerked her gaze away from the hellhound playground to see medical people in scrubs patching up the home team.
Eidolon and Shade were doing the glow-thing to Sin, while Con held her hand, his own wounds so extensive Cara was surprised he was sitting up without help. Kynan was patching up Wraith, who kept yelling obscenities, and some black-haired guy Con had called Luc was trying, unsuccessfully, to work on Ares.
Ares, who kept shoving the guy away even as he spoke gently to Cara. “You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake.”
“Where…” She cleared her throat to rid it of the scratchiness that made her voice sound as if she hadn’t used it in decades. “Where are the demons? Pestilence?” She frowned. “Cerberus. Or did I dream it all?” Even as she said it, she knew she hadn’t dreamed it.
“The hellhounds broke Pestilence’s army. He had to retreat. Cerberus and most of the hounds gave chase. Shade brought help from Underworld General.”
“How am I alive?” And damn, she felt really freaking great, too. As if she’d been plugged into a battery the size of Mount Everest.
“It seems,” Ares said, “that you received Hell’s Kiss from the hellhound king.”
Okay, that was… significant, she was guessing. Tail wagging, Hal romped over. All of us. You belong to all of us now. All bonded to you. Except for those bonded to others. You are reoush, our healer.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, wow.”
Ares’s eyes bored into her. “What is it?”
“It um… seems that I’m bonded to all of them. They’ve adopted me as their official physician of sorts.”
Luc froze as he reached into the medic bag next to him. “All hellhounds?”
“As in, every hellhound in existence?” Ares added.
“That’s what Hal says.”
“Holy shit.” Limos’s voice came from behind Ares, but Cara couldn’t twist around to see her. “That would make you—”
“Immortal.” Ares blew out a long, shaky breath. “You’re immortal.”
“It’s beyond that.” Hades strolled over, picked up what Cara thought might be the leg of some creature, and tossed it for Hal. “Fetch!” He turned to Cara as Hal bounded off. “Any injury you sustain would be spread evenly throughout the hellhound population, so you’ll heal instantly. Only Cerberus himself… and God… can kill you now.” He frowned. “I can’t believe that fucker did that. He never does that. I asked him to do it to my girlfriend once, and he refused. Ripped my arm off.” He snorted. “Course, she f**ked me over later anyway. The bitch.”
This was all so strange, and yet, it was all becoming normal. “Wait, why would they need a healer, if I’m bonded to them? An injured hound would take energy from me, right?”
Hades shook his head. “Cerberus’s bond doesn’t work that way. It’s against natural law to alter an entire species. You reap the benefits of taking from them, and they get you as a healer.”
Didn’t seem like a fair tradeoff to her, but she wasn’t going to complain. “Ares, are you okay? Your legs…”
“They’re fine. Eidolon gave me a quick zap when he first got here, and I’m regenerating to heal the rest. So I really don’t need any medical help.” The last bit was aimed at Luc, who gave Ares the finger.
Hiding a smile, Cara reached for Ares’s hand… and noticed that Battle wasn’t on his arm. Instant alarm lanced her. “The horses. How are the horses?”
“They could use your help,” Ares said softly.
“You should have told me!” She leaped to her feet, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to contain her gasp of horror. Now she understood why Ares had held her the way he had, angled away from the animals.
The carnage was… unbelievable. Thanatos was kneeling next to Styx, who was a mass of bone erupting from muscle. His legs were twisted in awkward angles, and he had so many blades and arrows sticking out of him that he looked like a porcupine.
Battle and Bones bore similar injuries, and all of the horses were surrounded by people in scrubs, who were working frantically to save the stallions.
Cara scrambled over to Styx, who appeared to be in the worst shape—though the amount of play in that distinction could be measured in a thimble.
Styx’s eyes were closed, his nostrils flaring as he breathed. Blood bubbled up through the multiple wounds in his chest, and nothing the medical people were doing seemed to help.
“Oh, no,” she breathed, as she kneeled at the stallion’s head.
Thanatos’s hand captured her wrist. His yellow gaze was tortured, and fear had drawn deep lines in his handsome face. “Can you help him? Please? I know I’ve been harsh with you—”
“I understand.” He had the fate of the human world resting on his shoulders, and he’d been justifiably more concerned with that than her feelings.
Gently, she extracted herself from his grip to lay both her hands on Styx. Closing her eyes, she summoned her healing energy. A blast of power slammed into her, and her head snapped back so hard her hands came off the horse.
“What is it?” Ares gripped her shoulders from behind, bracing her as she blinked out of the stunned fog she was in. Thanatos was staring at her with concern, and Limos had twisted around from where she was caring for Bones to watch with just as much worry.
“I don’t know.” Cara shook her head, clearing it of the last of the fuzzy feeling. “Usually I feel a trickle of power, but this was like a river. Like a dam had burst. Let me try again.” Once more, she placed her hands on the stallion, but this time, she opened herself up more gradually.
Energy sang through her with a hundred times the strength she was used to, and that was on the lowest setting she could manage. Tentatively, she let it out through her hands, and all around her, people gasped.
Cara didn’t open her eyes. In her mind, she could see everything. There was no pain for her, but the horse’s wounds were closing, weapons were being pushed out of flesh, and bone was knitting together. A great surge of affection hit her as Styx’s health improved, and within minutes, he was communicating his gratitude to her in words and images and little nuzzles of his velvety nose against her thigh.
Gradually, there was nothing left to heal, and she pulled back her power and opened her eyes. The medical people were watching her in awe, and even Eidolon, who seemed to have a similar ability, was eyeing her with speculation.
“Can you do that with people?”
She shook her head. “Only animals.” Eidolon looked disappointed. Thanatos offered his hand to her, and though she didn’t need his help to stand, she took it, sensing that he needed to do this. Ares stepped back, apparently sensing the same thing. When she was standing before the giant warrior, he kneeled at her feet, head bowed.
“In my time, totem priestesses were honored. Revered as descendants of the aos si.”
“Aos si?”
“The folk. You’d call them… fairies. They possessed the gift of healing animals and killing people when angered. They’re long dead, but you obviously carry their blood.” He looked up at her and placed his fist over his heart. “You have my gratitude and my respect forever.”
Somehow, Cara knew she’d just been elevated to an equal in Thanatos’s eyes. Warmth seeped through her, but she didn’t spend time doing anything more than offering him a thank you. She’d have to ask more about the aos si later. She had two more horses to heal.
The process was the same with both Bones and Battle, and when she was finished, she wasn’t worn out at all.
And there’d been no pain.
“You were drawing on the power of the hellhound pack,” Limos said. “That. Is. Awesome.”
Ares pulled Cara to her feet as Battle came to his. Nearby, Hal and Hades were still playing their gruesome game of fetch, and the medical staff were packing up and preparing the dead for transport.
Cara wrapped herself around Ares and held tight. “I just wish my power worked on more than animals. I might have been able to save some of your staff.”
Thanatos nodded grimly. “I lost twelve vampires.”
“I’ll have to tell Vulgrim that fourteen of his herd are dead.” Ares pressed a kiss to the top of Cara’s head. “But you’re safe. You still bear my agimortus, but since you can’t be killed, you’re no longer a target for Pestilence or his minions. Which means you’re coming home with me.” He cleared his throat. “If you, you know, want to.”
How adorable was he? “Of course I want to. But… the agimortus… I’ll drain you.”
