I couldn’t afford to grieve. Not now.
We sprinted past the mountains and through the narrow opening of the damned valley that made me shed a lifetime of tears.
A boundless plain stretched before us, strewn with currant shrubs. Amongst them stood an abandoned framework that melded a half-bunker into a cave. Lucifer and Ares dashed toward it with all their might.
“It’s the only shelter,” Paxton said. “We’ll have to get there, too. If we run fast, we might beat the fuckers to it, and we’ll seal the entrance.”
Unfortunately, our enemies had too much of a lead on us. They darted into the cave bunker, their swords thrusting in front of them, bracing for an ambush or any resistance inside the den.
Despite a rift between them, it seemed that the god and the devil had forged a new alliance. Lucifer disappeared inside, and Ares parked himself at the narrow entrance, wielding his broadsword to guard it, a malicious smirk hanging on his cruel lips.
The monsters surged out of the valley, pursuing us. Without the mountains to hem them in, the vast horde spread across the plain. It wouldn’t take them long to encircle us, cutting off all possible routes of escape.
Without that cave for shelter, we were as good as dead.
CHAPTER 2
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“Storm the cave!” Zak bellowed.
My hellhound barked his agreement.
Axel and Zak lunged at Ares, their blades clashing against the war god’s again and again. The god held his ground, hellbent on barring the entrance and not giving an inch.
He really wanted to see us dead, including his own son.
Paxton and I spun to protect Axel and Zak from the oncoming horde. Our blades flashed as we struck down the first two beasties within our range. Angel tore out the throat of a wild boar that had two scaled tails.
“I’m the mighty God of War,” Ares sneered amid the harsh, ringing clashes of crossing steel. “I can keep up longer than you half-blood brats in any realm. Let’s see how long you’ll last when all the beasts of the Void are upon you.”
“Ares, just let them in,” Lucifer said impatiently from inside the cave. “We might need them to get off this plane, especially Princess Celeste. She was born in the Void.”
“I’ll dispose of at least one of them before I stop,” Ares said, his musical voice laden with venom and arrogance. “I gave them everything, and they repaid me with insolence and betrayal for a whore they barely knew!”
“You’re such a bitter, little man,” I said while I kicked away a big cat-like critter that tried to cling to my leg and swung my sword to impale a larger beast. “Can’t get over being rejected by women again and again, sore loser?”
“No woman rejected me!” the god snapped.
“Try that statement again,” I said, severing a monster’s head from its neck when it bit into my hellhound’s rear. “Keep repeating your pathetic lies until you believe them.”
I was the living testimony that women turned him down with ridicule, spit, and violence.
“Laugh again, little hellion, after your illegitimate lovers all fall around you!” He growled. “Oh, how’s Héctor doing? Where the heck is he if you don’t mind me asking? Or is he being digested as we speak?”
Then the god bellowed in pain and rage.
“Get in, Cookie!” Axel shouted. “We got the fucker!”
I brandished my sword to push back another wave of the horde’s onslaught before I stole a quick glance over my shoulder. Axel’s blade plunged beneath his father’s shoulder, and Zak’s sword stabbed into the god’s left thigh.
My mates weren’t unscathed, either. Ares had put a dagger in Axel’s side while he cut a gash on Zak’s leg.
The three of them strained, locked together by their weapons. Axel and Zak pushed in, clenching their teeth, until they gained enough space for Paxton and me to move into the cave.
I charged through the entrance, knowing Paxton wouldn’t get in before I did.
I leveled my demon blade in front of me, ready to stab Lucifer if he came to play, too. But the devil leaned against a sidewall in the far corner, watching us with apathy and cold calculation.