Taming Darkness: Artemis Lupine #4 (2 page)

HERA

CHAPTER FOUR

My son had left this world before his time. His life taken away right before my eyes. I was incredibly strong, one of the strongest beings in the world, and I had been unable to do anything except watch the blade pierce his heart and see his light fade from the world. It was something no mother should ever have to witness. Part of me blamed that damned halfbreed girl, but the logical part of me knew that there was nothing she had done wrong. Ares was of course the person I was blaming, but that was only natural. He should not even be alive! Curse that werewolf wench and Zeus for straying with her. Had he chosen a weaker wolf I could have gotten rid of Ares before he had become a problem. Now he was too powerful for even me to take on, which was even more infuriating.

Despite my hate for him, Achilles had loved Ares
and Ares had been good for Achilles as they grew up. Even though I knew it was terrible of me, I wished Ares had been the one on this stone slab and not Achilles. I would trade my soul for Achilles’.

I broke down, sobbing into the lifeless hand of Achilles’ that I held. My baby was gone and I felt as though my heart had a giant hole in it now.
His light would never shine again in this world and I felt that darkness surrounding me a little more with each hour that passed.

DRACO BLU

CHAPTER FIVE

Somehow I had connected with Artemis in such a way that when she had died I had felt it. Normally this was only possible with another dragon, but the bond we had developed had been so strong that when she had died I felt it
as though a spear had pierced my heart. It had hurt so immensely that I had actually fallen in midflight. It was then that I realized that we had stayed on the sidelines for too long. We thought that we were the more intelligent beings, the higher evolved and yet all we had done was sit back and watch the decay of the world. We could have helped. We could have stopped Maurice.

It was time for the dragons to take a stance. It was time for us to take part in the world again. I only hoped that the hatchling made it. Her mate was very strong and I had no doubt about his love for her. We needed
her. We needed her to survive.
I
needed her to survive.

APOLLO

CHAPTER SIX

I sat in a cold room surrounded by caskets with dead people
inside of them. Two Sidhe guards stood on the outside of the room’s only entrance and two werewolf guards stood on the inside not looking at me. They did not hide their hate towards me. I could feel it like ants biting along my skin. I did not care. They could not do more to me than I had already done to myself. My beautiful twin was dead and it had been caused by my hand. I felt as though I could see her blood staining my skin and I wanted to scrape it off. It would not bring her back though. She was dead and my only hope was the Alpha. If he could bring her back then things would be alright. Even if I was to be killed for murdering the Sidhe Prince I would not care so long as she lived. How would I have known that she was bound to him?! I was sure that Maurice had known and had not told me. I was sure that this was all a part of his plan.

Now that I was not surrounded by his minions and my father I could see clearly for the first time. How could I have not seen how
evil they were? Why had father separated Artemis and I? It was clear that we were twins so why raise us in different places? Had Maurice forced father to give me to him to raise?

I felt no love towards Maurice as he had never shown me any. He had taught me that love was a weakness and that feelings like that only brought you down. I could see the truth in that, but I could also see how love strengthened you just when you thought you were too weak to go on. If I could see my sister one last time I would be happy. If I could just let her know how deeply sorry I was, but I doubted that would happen. I doubted I would be a
live more than a few more days.

Pain surged through me at the thought of my sister’s death and I curled into a ball on the floor so the guards would not see me cry.
It was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Those words were true, but only because my demise was so eminent. If they tried to force me to live as a slave I could not bear it without my sister. I could not bear to have her death on my hands. Please, let her live! Please! She must live!

MAURICE

CHAPTER SEVEN

My son thought he had chosen the winning side, but he was sadly mistaken. Of course I was not shocked by his betrayal and that he chose that damn werewolf over me. He had never truly been loyal to me, even as a child he had defied me constantly. Now these pitiful creatures would finally see who their ruler really was and now that I had killed their savior I knew they would run graveling to me, asking my forgiveness.

Forgiveness. Such a gross word to even think about.

Mercy. I would show them none.

I would let them wallow in despair for a little while, feel their defeat completely and then I would crush them like the pests they were.

“Sir, they captured Apollo,” said one of the vampires who served me.

I sighed. That idiot boy. “It’s fine. He is of no more use to me anyways.” Not that anyone could really provide me help. They were all so weak when compared to me.

“Keep a spy near them and let me know when they have the funeral for the Sidhe Prince and the halfbreed girl,” I ordered him.

“Yes, sir,” he said and then disappeared into smoke.

Maybe I should pop in during their funeral to taunt them. I smirked and laughed at the thought of their faces when they saw me. Ares would go furry and try to attack me, which would allow time to kill him in front of his pack members and his family. Oh Zeus would be mortified if I killed his last son in front of him. It had promise. It would cause hysteria, devastation and their followers would likely be so scared of me that they would never cross me again.

But…

That would require me to travel there and plus it was too soon. Ares needed to suffer longer. I had a few things to do before then, like pay a visit to a blood whore my son favored.

VICTOR

CHAPTER
EIGHT

I sat dozing in one of the chairs in the room where Ares’ and Artemis’ bodies lay. I had fed and returned quickly, not wanting to miss Ares’ return. Two more hours had passed and I was quickly losing my ability to stay awake.

H
ades gasped. “Victor! He’s coming back.”

I was alert and instantly on my feet. Koda climbed down
from where he had been lying at Artemis’ feet and stood beside me, facing Ares’ body. We stood side by side, both rigid in anticipation and worry. Hades closed his eyes in concentration and grunted just as Ares took a gasping breath and sat up. His eyes met mine and he whispered, “Find me a steak.”

Koda whined happily and Ares frowned down at him. “You thought I wouldn’t come back?” Koda flattened his ears to his head and crawled on his belly to
wards Ares. Ares set his hand on Koda’s head and smiled. “I would not leave you alone, brother.”

Ares turned and looked at Artemis’ still body a moment before looking at me with a small smile. “She’s pregnant.”

I stared at him in shock before comprehending what he had said. Had he forgotten what had happened? Had he dreamed instead of going to Death’s realm? “Ares, she’s not alive,” I whispered to him.

He waved his hand dismissively at me. “She will be in a little bit. I just need to take her outside so she can be resurrected.”

“Resurrected?” I asked in shock.

He
stood up slowly, testing his body and whispered, “Death agreed to let me have both of their souls back.”

That was
not uncommon. Many had traveled to Death and had a life returned, but all was done at an extreme cost. “What price was asked of you?”

Ares walked to Artemis and stroked her hair, looking at her with so much love that it felt like an invasion t
o even witness him next to her.

“Ares, what price was asked of you?” I asked again.

He picked her body up in his arms and cradled her against his chest. “Come, their souls need to return to her body.”

I grabbed his arm and he snarled at me. “Ares, tell me,” I insisted angrily.

He smiled. “None because I demanded their souls back as the God of War.” His smile became darker and he said, “And I smelled Death’s fear.”

I stared at him in
astonishment. “You think Death will leave it at that?”

Ares smiled brightly and said, “I will deal with that when the time comes. For now, let’s go enjoy the moonlight and the last bit of quiet before Artemis wakes up.”

With a chuckle, I followed him out of the room.

ARES

CHAPTER NINE

I hated Artemis feeling, smelling and looking so dead in my arms. I hurried from the room, out of the catacombs, through the cathedral and out to the open grassy area outside. My mind was still reeling from the conversation with Death, but that was something I didn’t have to worry about for a long time. For now I had only to focus on Artemis and our child inside of her. I laid her down on the grass and Draco Blu approached.

“What happened?” he asked.

I smiled at him. “I came to an agreement with Death. Artemis will be alive again as soon as the moon’s and the stars’ lights shine upon her face.”

Draco Blu
lowered his head until it was level with mine and whispered, “I will help you with the price if you need it. I know Death asks a lot of those souls it releases.”

It was the greatest
offering any could give, especially considering I had almost killed off his entire race. I bowed my head and whispered, “I am honored at your offer.”

He snorted softly
, dual rings of smoke rising from his nostrils. “I offer only because she is my friend and valuable to all. You alone should not be forced to carry the burden just because she is your match.”

I had known he was
not offering for me, but I found it amusing that he felt the need to point it out. “Luckily no price was required,” I whispered to him.

He snorted
again, this time in disbelief and I smiled, enjoying the shock on his face.

Th
e sun began to set and a crowd started to gather. Koda, still in wolf form, kept everyone back to give us room. I kissed Artemis gently on the lips and moved a little ways away from her. Zeus made his way through the crowd and sat down next to me on the grass. “I will shield everyone else, but you must shield yourself from her when she wakes up.”

The return of a soul to a being of power was often catastrophic for those nearby. Artemis’ return was bound to be cataclysmic due to her amount of power. Hopefully it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as when she had broken the barrier and regained her memories since we only had four dragons with us this time. I nodded my head at Zeus
and prepared a shield around myself. Koda stepped out into the circle of people and Zeus raised a shield of power around all of us. I raised my shield and spread it to cover Zeus. Draco Blu and the other dragons that had come also put shields around us, singing to invoke their magic. I only hoped it was enough.

The sun set and everyone became silent in anticipation. The moon rose and the stars glittered brightly yet Artemis lay still. I started to move, but
Draco Blu whispered, “Look.”

The moon’s light flared and a beam like a spotlight highlighted Artemis. The stars flared brighter and they formed a unified beam down on to her. Her body twitched once and lay still again. I watched as her chest rose and fell with breath, but dared not move. The stars and moon shone brighter than our eyes could handle, forcing us to close
them. Power greater than any I had ever encountered before pressed down upon us and then Artemis began to scream. I forced open my eyes, squinting against the light, but needing to see what was happening to my mate.

Artemis floated in the air, her wings extended, her skin the source of the shining. Her eyes were orbs of white and her stomach glowed blue. She stopped screaming and sighed as the power left her in a wave of fire that burned through our shields and kn
ocked all nearby to the ground.

I crawled on the ground to her body, ignoring the pain. She lay on the ground, sleeping peacefully. After pressing my ear to her stomach and hearing Artemis’ heartbeat as well as our child’s, I cried. The sorrow I felt at her death, the pain from carrying her lifeless body from the battlefield, the hurt knowing she loved Achilles and the grief I felt at losing Achilles. I released all the pain and wept at the return of my soul mate, my
passt genau
while those around me cheered.