The Fires of Tartarus Read online

  It was my turn to smile, and I took a step forward. To my amusement she stepped back, though I was under no illusion. It was disgust rather than fear that made her step away from me. “Oh but the thing is, my goddess, there is something that you want, something far more valuable to you than just the key, that only I can provide.”

  She snorted, the disbelief clear in her eyes as she looked me up and down. I could imagine what kind of image I projected right now and it wasn't one that would inspire confidence in anyone, let alone a deity - unless she took the time to look past the obvious. “What on earth could you possibly do for me?” she replied, her voice icy with disdain.

  I tilted my head to one side, unsurprised by her short-sightedness. “Why was I sent to the human world, Hekatê? What was the mission you set me?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You know as well as I do, to remind the world of the old gods. To bring worship and sacrifice back to us.” She leaned a little closer to me, her sweet breath against my cheek a contrast to the stink of blood and mire that clung to me. “You would do well not to remind me of your other failures, Jéhnina. Our powers wane because you spent your time bedding your human lover instead of following your destiny. You could have had everything and we could have regained all that we lost.”

  “My name is Jéhenne now,” I said automatically. “And I don't want everything.” I was too tired to try and make her understand anything more than this one basic truth. “I just want him.” The words caught in my throat, and I knew I was at the edge of what I could take as she looked at the wretched body of the man I loved and laughed. I clenched my fists and held on to my sanity with difficulty. I wanted to kill her so very badly.

  “So why remind me of your negligence now?” she demanded.

  I gritted my teeth and forced the words out because I had to, because I needed her and she needed me.

  “Because I can give you the power you crave, you and you alone, not any of the other gods ... and I can give you the key.”

  “How?” Her eyes were alight with curiosity though I knew she didn't believe me, not yet.

  “Do you know what I am now?” I asked her and saw her frown. She wouldn't concern herself with the trivial details of the human world. “I am the Master of the Albinus Family.”

  She snorted, and I stepped closer, aching with the need to hit her in the face. “Imagine it, Hekatê, hundreds of thousands of vampires - not weak humans - powerful immortals at my bidding and with just a word from me every single one of them ... will worship you.”

  I had her attention now. I could see the need for it in her eyes. A goddess needs to be worshipped or what is it that makes her what she is? My offer was everything she wanted as her name continued to slip further into the obscurity of history.

  “What good is that to me without the key?” she said with a sneer, but I had seen that desire, stark in her expression.

  “There are two keys, Hekatê.”

  I bit back a grin of triumph as I saw the surprise in her eyes.

  “You can't be serious?” Her voice was a whisper, but I could hear how much she wanted it.

  I nodded. “I have sworn to make him pay, and I intend to. No matter what I have to do, no matter how long it takes but you, and I together against him ... We can do it, Hekatê. He betrayed you too. Have your revenge on him! Stand against him with me, and I will make you the most powerful goddess there is and we will rule the Underworld, together, you and I.”

  She stared at me, and I felt the power of her gaze prickle over my skin. She nodded.

  I blinked and held my breath but she said nothing more and turned away. “Wait ... Was that a yes?” I demanded but she was walking away from me.

  “Yes, child,” she said, looking over shoulder at me, her voice impatient.

  “Give me my name then!” I shouted after her. “I need to know you mean this, Hekatê. Give me my true name and I'll give you my family's loyalty. We'll build you temples, altars, your image will be reborn in our world, but I need to know my true name.”

  She hesitated glancing away from me before turning back with a curse of frustration. I could almost taste the desire that bled into her power, wrapping around me as she gave me her attention once more. “Yes, child, you do need to know, and I will tell you but your time here is at an end. Dis Pater is trying to breach the gates to your world. I will distract his attention so you can return to the gate yourselves but you must hurry, Jéhnina.”

  I had been moved through the Underworld by her once before and it was no more pleasant this time than the last. We were swept up in the arms of what felt like a powerful storm, tossed like leaves with no power over our flight and then dropped to fall in a tangled heap in the dead meadow of Erebus.

  I groaned looking up at the deep purple sky overhead as the meadow grasses rustled around me. I pushed myself upright, clutching at my head which I'd banged on Cain's knee in the fall while Inés chivvied us with anxious obscenities and got us all to our feet.

  “Merde, Jéhenne!” she swore. “Not content with bargaining with angels, a god now? Seriously?” She smacked me round the head, which seemed a bit unnecessary in the circumstances.

  “It's the only way,” I retorted, knowing I was right. “Hekatê wasn't going to let me leave without the key and then we'd have been left for Dis Pater to toy with.” The idea gave me shivers.

  “We don't have time for this,” Cain snapped, though I didn't need a prophetic dream to see a row in the near future. He clearly agreed with Inés. “Come on, we need to be over the threshold before Dis Pater realises what's happened.”

  “Come on, Corvus,” I said, helping Cain get him to his feet. He was barely conscious, and I felt terror clutch at my heart as his legs gave out. “Just a little farther, you're almost home, my love.”

  I felt the magic shift around me, prickling over my skin as Cain called the gate and suddenly the oak door was before us. Cain reached forward and pulled it open, and I was hit with a wave of raw emotion as my eyes met Lucas'. For a moment his face split into a grin, the sheer relief of seeing me explicit on his face, and then his eyes widened with horror as he took in the sight of us. My eyes moved past him to where I could see my own body lying on the ground behind him which was too bizarre to consider. I suppressed a shudder.

  “Are you ready?” Cain shouted and Lucas and Dimitri straightened - all business now. They nodded though their horrified gazes were now fixed on Corvus. They held the cuffs to restrain him in their hands. I could see Guillaume and Cyd waiting behind them. Cyd was trying hard to hold it together. I think she'd been further into denial than even I'd been, but that was over now.

  There was little room to manoeuvre in the tiny space in front of the gateway, but I knew there were vampires lining the stairs, just in case. The tension on the other side of the doors was immense, and I prayed everyone was ready for this. Corvus was the rightful Master of the family and even though he'd given me the power willingly it would be hard for some of the older vampires to remember that and treat him as the enemy. I didn't want them to have to but ... I'd seen the look in his eyes. As a mortal man trapped by a powerful spell it was nothing more than a look. As a Master vampire ... He could kill us all.

  “Jéhenne?” I saw Cain look at me and opened my mouth to reply to him but there was a roar of terrible power behind us. We were out of time.

  Shit. “Cain!” I screamed. “He's here!”

  With no further time for discussion or preparation we thrust Corvus over the threshold and screamed for Aradia to bring us back. A bare second later, and I slammed back into my body. I leapt to my feet and forced the door shut just as a scalding wave of power hit. I drew on the power of the key to keep it in place, feeling the swell of energy burn through me, but Dis Pater held the key too. Inés, Aradia and Cain were beside me a few moments later, and I heard Cain screaming at them to help him raise the ward again but my attention was taken by the wave of power beneath my feet.

  There was a growl, a deep low snarl that th
rilled the blood in my veins and made my breath catch. The filthy bundle of bones that had barely looked like a man at all had changed beyond recognition. He was still filthy, his skin black with dirt, his hair matted and those eyes still looked at us like we were the enemy. But the body was one I remembered, one I knew every inch of in intimate detail. The hard muscle and broad shoulders and the sheer, violent power carried by the real Master of the house.

  Lucas and Dimitri had got three of the cuffs in place, one on each ankle and on his wrist, but one wrist was still bare. They lunged at him and there was a blur of movement.

  “Hold him!” Lucas, yelled, struggling with his wrist, but even starved and out of his mind Corvus hadn't been Master for nothing. Cyd flew across the room, thrown off like she was nothing more than a rag doll. She hit the wall with a crash and a shower of mortar as Corvus swiped her away. Guillaume leapt forward to fill the gap and Corvus lunged, his teeth sinking into Guillaume's neck as the big vampire yelled. I let go my hold on the door as I felt Cain's magic swell and hit Corvus with a binding spell, but I was exhausted, and he was just too powerful.

  I screamed and shouted for him to stop. I made it a command as I tried with desperation to help while Lucas and Dimitri fought to get the bracelet in place. Corvus should obey me, I was the Master in his stead, but to obey you needed to understand, and he was way beyond any grasp on sanity. I could see the madness in his eyes, the cold blue of a feral killer. There was no stopping him and Guillaume's blood was only making him stronger. There was nothing any of us could do, and I watched in horror as he drained one of his own family. He released his hold on Guillaume's neck, his fangs glistening with blood and then there was a roar as he grabbed Guillaume's head in both hands and ripped it from his neck. He threw it at us, showering us all in blood and the fierce blaze of heat as the body burned. Despite the heat I was chilled as I heard Corvus laugh, the sound dark with triumph, his strength returning in earnest now. He turned away from us.

  “No!” I screamed as he lunged for the stairs, sending out a wave of power in front of him that sent the vampires in his path to their knees. There was nothing left to do. I called on the key again, called on the powerful strength of the Underworld, even as my brother fought to rebuild the ward. I heard Cain cry out with pain but if I didn't stop Corvus, we would all die.

  Corvus turned and stared, seeing the eyes of everyone who had ever died looking back out through my own and with agony in my heart I saw the terror in his expression as he looked at me. It was enough. Lucas snapped the final cuff into place, and I cast the spell to activate them. The strength of it rushed through me and into him, the magic combined with my will as his Master to force him to his knees. He sank down, his power restrained, his fear of me established. In that at least I'd won. I dragged my eyes from him to my brother who was lying in a pool of his own blood.

  “Cain!” I fell to my knees beside him, but Inés waved me away.

  “Get him upstairs, fast, he needs to seal the ward before he loses consciousness.”

  I glared at her in fury, my stomach turning at her cold reasoning, but I knew she was right. For the same reason that I'd ignored his cry when I had called on the power of the key, even though it had sickened me. If Dis Pater breached the gateway it had all been for nothing. We'd all be condemned to Tartarus.

  “Lucas,” I said and before I uttered another word Lucas had sped up the stairs with Cain in his arms. I looked at Corvus, his eyes on me, watching my every move, wary. “You too, on your feet.” I gestured up the stairs and motioned for him to move and watched as he turned and walked ahead of me. I could feel the eyes of the vampires on him, on the man who had been their maker, their father, their Master ... obeying me. With a heavy heart I followed in his wake as Dis Pater's power thundered with fury on the gates at my back.

  Chapter 13

  I was back in the Château. Back with the family. I had brought Corvus home. There should have been some sense of triumph in that.

  Cain had collapsed, though through sheer pig-headed determination he'd managed to reinstate the ward before he lost consciousness. Guillaume was dead, a loss I couldn’t let myself feel yet, not with everything else. In truth I was just glad it hadn't been someone closer to me and I hated myself for not caring more. Now Corvus was kept from slaughtering the rest of us only by limiting his power with the cuffs and his fear of me as his new Master. Celebrating was not something I felt like doing. I was numb, both from physical exhaustion and with an overload of emotions that I simply could not yet process.

  I watched over Aradia and Heloïse as they flew around Cain, stopping the bleeding and patching up more wounds than I could count. I couldn't understand how he'd kept going. I reached over and laid my hand on his head, noticing the white hair had increased, a streak now that ran from his right temple. I knew he must have sliced another piece of his soul away to strengthen the ward. To keep us safe. How much did he have left? How much longer could he go on, and what happened when he couldn't?

  I looked at Inés, and I knew she was hurt too, but she'd waved away help until Cain had been made comfortable. “He'll be alright, Nina,” she said to me, but she didn't meet my eyes. This time, hung in the air between us, unspoken but all too obvious. We both knew he could be patched up this time, like all the times before, but what about next time, what then?

  Rodney came over to me, his face wary. He knew I didn't like to be hugged when I was upset. That I wouldn't want to lose it in front of everyone, but I could see the need to do it in his eyes and forced a smile. I knew he was heart-broken too. He had worshipped Corvus who had been as much his hero as his boss, as well as a friend. He reached out and gave my shoulder an awkward pat, and I covered his hand with mine, giving it a brief squeeze before turning away. I could see he was avoiding looking at Corvus. We all were. It was too hard.

  I made myself do it. I knew I'd been putting it off. Putting off the moment when I would have to really look at him and truly accept that everyone else had been right. He was a monster that we needed protecting from.

  The sound of his laughter when he'd killed Guillaume was still echoing through my head. I felt like that sound would never leave me. He was kneeling on the floor, apparently docile, until you looked into his eyes. Those cold, blue eyes watched us.

  “Everyone out,” I commanded. I didn't want anyone else to see this, to see him like this. He was safely restrained now, he didn't need an audience. Dimitri had already taken Cain back to his room, with Inés, Aradia and Heloïse following close behind.

  “I won't leave you alone with him, Jéhenne.” I nodded at Lucas, I wasn't about to argue with him.

  I knelt in front of Corvus and put my hands on my knees, a deliberate act, to stop myself reaching out and touching him. I knew what I had to do, and I knew it would confirm what we had already seen - which was why I desperately didn't want to do it.

  I closed my eyes and allowed myself to enter his mind. I was the Master of the family and now, I was his Master too. I could command him if I could get him to understand - and I could look into his mind. A part of me still hoped to find some part of him still intact, even as futile as I knew it was. That hope was quickly extinguished.

  I gasped as I was enveloped in rage. His mind was dark and tangled, with nothing coherent, no memories, no thoughts other than to get free, to feed, to kill. His mind was a seething mass of rage and pain and, underneath it all ... Fear.

  I cried out and stumbled away from him and felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me. The pain and anguish receded just a little, and I looked up into Lucas' eyes.

  “Enough, Jéhenne,” he said, his voice gentle. “You're exhausted. No more today, I beg you. You've brought him back. There is time now.”

  I nodded, and he helped me to my feet and we walked back towards Corvus.

  “Get up, Corvus,” I said, trying to keep my voice strong. He just looked at me, and I knew he couldn't disobey my command, he simply didn't understand it. I swallowed down the misery and put
my hand under his elbow, Lucas was at his other side. We got him to his feet and through the doors of the cage. I set the ward that would keep him in no matter what and released my hold on the cuffs. The result was instant.

  There was a snarl of rage, and he threw himself at the bars, a powerful arm trying to reach out and grab at me but the magic of the ward flared, and he roared with pain, snatching his arm back through. The sheer power of his fury at finding himself free to move and yet still trapped was breath taking, and he ran at the bars again, smashing against them so hard he must have been breaking his own bones, no matter that they would heal instantly. I put a hand to my mouth to stifle a sob and then gasped as the strangest thing began to happen. All around the bars of the cage, all around Corvus himself, fine, delicate threads of magic began to glow. Corvus raged and snarled and lashed out, but the harder he fought the more the tiny threads tangled and caught him up until he was held fast like a fly in a spider-web. I looked at Lucas who was looking as perplexed as I was and then we heard a soft voice, and looked around to see Kai, who had snuck back in despite my orders.

  His eyes were on Corvus as he moved closer, still speaking, his words barely more than a whisper and yet evoking powerful images in my mind of the sea lapping at the shoreline, of vast rocks worn smooth by the constant motion of the waves, of the endless nature of the ocean. To my astonishment Corvus was watching him with rapt attention, his crazed blue eyes never leaving Kai as he spoke, and little by little he stopped struggling. His eyes closed.

  Kai moved to the bars and touched the glittering threads one by one. They glowed and released and lowered Corvus gently to the ground where he curled up ... and slept.

  Kai turned and looked at me, and he smiled. “Promised I would help,” he said simply.

  I stared at him in bewilderment. “How did you do that?” I asked, stunned by the nature of what he'd done, I knew he was a pixie, but I'd never considered what kind of magic he had. I'd just never sensed that he had anything much in the way of power at all.