Page 48 of Merciless
Do it! Do it!I screamed inside my head as I could feel the life draining from me. Who knew what the consequences of this would be, but they certainly couldn't be any worse than the fast-track toward death I was on now.
Hades went silent and for a moment, nothing was different. My vision was mostly black and my lungs had all but lost their desperate battle for air. Then a single pulse of energy thumped from my chest, like a heartbeat but different. It spread throughout my body and then everything was still.
And I mean,everything.
No more hits came down to assault me, and the arm around my neck was gone. Instead of the chaos of a swarm piling on to attack me, there was only eerie, death-like stillness.
I rolled to my side, then onto my knees to look around.
Death surrounded me, the swarm of soldiers was lifeless and scattered around everywhere. Mari was just rolling upright from where she had been dragged to the ground.
"Shit! Jandro, your eyes!" Mari cried out, stumbling to her feet and hurrying toward me.
"What? What's up withyoureyes?" I retorted, scrambling backward on my butt at the sight of them. The pupils, irises, and whites of her eyes were gone, replaced by a single shade of bright, glowing green.
"Your eyes are all black." Mari fell to her knees in front of me, reaching for my face.
"Yours are green." It was so fucking creepy and weird, but honestly the least of my concerns the moment she touched me. "You're not hurt?" Creepy eyes aside, she looked fine, only dirty and disheveled from the ground.
"I was getting the shit kicked out of me but, no. I'm fine." Her fingers trailed from my face over my neck. "How about you? You don't look hurt."
"I was fucking seconds away from dying, I couldn't breathe," I confessed. "But...I feel okay too."
"Gunner!" Mari pulled away from me to look at carnage all around us. "Where's Gunner?"
"Here, baby girl."
We both looked in the direction of his voice to see Gunner standing, turning in a slow circle as he observed our surroundings. When he faced us, his eyes were replaced by a single shade of bright, sky blue.
"The gods are within us," Gunner said in a low, reverent tone. "Can you feel them?"
"Yes," Mari and I answered in unison, then looked at each other. "Hades?" she asked.
"Yes," my mouth replied, but it wasn'tmethat spoke. "Freyja." Hades inclined my head in Mari's direction first and then in Gunner's. "Horus."
"Wait, stop." I slapped my hand over my own mouth, then dropped the hand to my side. "You can control our bodies?"
I trusted these gods, I really did. And in a moment of desperation, I allowed Hades to take me as a vessel. But the fact that he used my mouth and voice to speak hit too close to home, considering we were dealing with a massive army of mind-controlled soldiers.
"Your control has not been removed." The tone of Mari's voice made it clear that Freyja was the one speaking. "Just as you can reach for your bonds between each other, you can remove us from your earthly vessels."
"No," Gunner said. "We're still alive because you've possessed us."
"You're alive because Hades is within Jandro and gave him power over death," Freyja said. She held up a hand, Mari's hand, and rotated her palm from front to back. "Your injuries are gone because I am within Mari and have given her my power to heal."
"And Gunner?" My gaze shifted toward him.
"I'm the sky," Gunner said in an awed whisper. "I can see everything. I know exactly where the Sha is. Our loved ones are in different areas of the fortress, but I can see them all."
"Well shit. What are we waiting for?"
"Wait." Freyja held up Mari's hand again. "There is a reason we do not take human vessels unless absolutely necessary. Your mind will start to deteriorate within hours. We don't want that for any of you, so our possession of you is temporary. Once we leave, you'll no longer have our abilities."
"Fine by me," I huffed. "Let's go."
Wait.Now Hades was speaking to me privately.With your permission, I must do something before we move on.
"What now?" I demanded of myself like a crazy person.
