Page 50 of Merciless
Don't forget that I am also a goddess of death, she reminded me.Death is the greatest sacrifice for love. This anger you feel now is a result of your love, dear daughter. Your passion and devotion to the men who were taken from you. Let it fuel you and guide your hand.
Am I right, though?I asked in response.Or am I way off base about the Sha being so afraid?
I have never had the pleasure of meeting Set in any of his forms.Freyja’s mental voice bristled.In any case, it does not matter. You have found a source of strength. Now use it.
Before long, we approached a set of massive wooden doors carved intricately with hieroglyphics. At any other time I would have liked to study the symbols, run my fingers through the deep grooves of the wood. It’d be even better if Shadow was with me, book in hand as we tried to decipher the ancient language together. But the thing that took him from me likely resided on the other side of those doors. I’d blast those intricate carvings to splinters without a second thought if it got me any closer to my men.
Gunner, or Horus rather, looked back to face me, those blue eyes like slivers of sky. “The Sha is in there,” Horus confirmed with a jerk of Gunner’s head toward the doors.
Jandro turned to me next, focusing those endlessly black eyes on me while extending a palm in my direction. “Stay back. Let us go through first.”
I wasn’t sure if it was Jandro or Hades speaking but I nodded regardless, tightening my grip on my handgun. We’d used all of our big guns on the initial swarm, and I prayed to the gods inhabiting us that 9mm and .40 caliber rounds would be enough to kill the Sha.
Gunner and Jandro approached the doors, flattening their palms against the wood as they began to shove. The doors gave only a centimeter with a heavy groan of wood before it halted them from pushing any further.
“It’s braced from the other side,” Gunner remarked. He only gave a nod to Jandro, who returned the gesture, before they began pushing again.
“Guys, what—“
I ate my words the moment I heard a massive crack, like a tree branch breaking off from the trunk. The doors moved inward, the seam between them widening as Gunner and Jandro pushed harder, arms straight out in front of them and muscles taut with effort.
No, not Gunner and Jandro. Horus and Hades.
Because no human man had the brute strength to push open twenty-foot tall, solid wood doors that were barricaded from the other side. That cracking sound must have been the bracer, snapping like a toothpick once the gods decided to give my men a huge boost of strength.
“Shit, man, can I keep this?” That was definitely Jandro.
I didn’t know if Hades answered. Once the doors were all the way open, ten figures awaited us on the other side. These people wore loose-fitting pants and tunics, their heads and mouths covered, and gold pins of the Sha affixed to their shoulders.
Each person also held an assault rifle pointed directly at us.
“The General’s Council, I presume,” Horus said with a sneer on Gunner’s beautiful face.
These were the Sha’s most loyal followers, his mouthpieces and representatives for dealing with humans. The pulse of death could not come soon enough for these traitors to humanity.
“Smoke ‘em, Hades.” Jandro’s expression morphed just as the words left his mouth, and I knew something was wrong the moment Hades took over.
“I can’t.” Hades sounded dumbfounded through Jandro’s mouth. “The Sha has—“
They opened fire before he could answer.
Pain burned through my body before I realized what was happening. I looked down to see holes through my stomach and chest, blood spreading quickly from the open wounds. I opened my mouth to scream but couldn’t breathe. Blood erupted from my mouth in a wet, hacking cough as I fell to the ground.
Freyja, heal me! Heal them!I cried out in my terrified, pain-stricken mind.
Shoot them, daughter. Use your weapons. Use that strength that was just fueling you moments ago.
But I’m shot! I’m dying!
I will not let you die, daughter. But my abilities are limited, and they will only shoot you again if I heal you completely. Shoot them while they think you’re not a threat.
The goddess went silent in my mind, but I knew she was still present and protecting me. It was that knowledge that drove me to reach my shaking, blood-soaked hand to my holster. The pain was excruciating as I wrapped my fingers around the pistol’s grip and used all of my strength to pull it out.
Fuck, everything hurt. Everything was burning, even my lungs. I was still coughing up blood as I tried to take in gulps of air. How I wasn’t suffocating to death, I had no idea, but could only attribute it to Freyja keeping me alive.
I rolled to my stomach, every bullet wound feeling like a knife sinking deeper into my body as the ground pressed into those areas. I needed to brace my forearm on the ground to push up, but I didn’t even feel strong enough to lift my head. The ground beneath me was soaked with my blood, the sight of it spreading out around me cementing how close to death I really was.
Can’t do this. I can’t…
