Page 45 of Dark Gods
“Get them out,” I said, turning to Thor.
He looked doubtfully from me to Kore, but there was no time to waste. “Now!” I bellowed.
Barking orders at the teacher was pushing the limits, even for me, but Thor ushered Helle and Daphne out of the room.
Vines had sprouted through the surface of the stone arena, coiling around the stately columns around us. They twisted and writhed as if they had a mind of their own, and several smaller ones were already snaking their way up Kore’s arms and legs.
Fenrir had told me enough about what had happened in the garden to know this wasn’t good. It wasn’t remotely within her control, even if she didn’t seem to realize it yet.
I thought of canceling the simulation, but decided not to. Better to give her something to play off of rather than unleashing whatever the hell this was on the Academy.
“What’s the matter?” Kore asked in a taunting voice that wasn’t her own. At least, not the version of her I was used to. “Afraid of a little competition?”
There was seduction in her every step, her hips swaying gently as her splayed fingers called forth new life from the ground below us. Her vines had already cracked the subfloor of the training room, and all I could do was hope to keep her distracted from the green light shooting through the broken pieces of the grid.
“Just not used to seeing you like this,” I said, refusing to show any sign of apprehension. I wasn’t worried about myself, but if I didn’t dosomething, the Academy wasn’t going to be standing for much longer.
“Enough talking,” she growled, sending a thick vine shooting at me. I dodged and knew from experience that if I hadn’t, it would’ve gone right through my chest, thanks to that thorn on the tip.
Shit, this is bad.
I raised a wall of hellfire to dissolve the vine, but there were ten more in its place. If I played this like the game of endurance she’d set up, I was going to lose. First time for everything.
Any other opponent and I would have just charred her, but she wasn’t any other opponent and even if I was willing to send Little Shop of Horrors into the Underworld prematurely, that wasdefinitelyan expellable offense.
Force wasn’t going to cut it, and just dodging her attacks couldn’t go on forever. Especially since each time she missed me, she took out another chunk of the training room. The coliseum was starting to look like ancient ruins taken over by some verdant hellscape.
She was a lot more powerful than I’d given her credit for. In between the chaos, I stole a moment just to observe her, torn skirt and jacket fluttering in the wind with that ridiculously purple hair. I had to admit, it looked good on her. Complemented the fire in her eyes.
For the first time since we’d met, she looked like a proper Queen of the Underworld, untapped power flaring out of control with the winds of chaos in her hair. She was trying to kill me in earnest, and it was the first time I’d felt anything for her other than spite.
Loki was right. I really was a headcase.
And this was coming to an end.
I usually zoned out whenever Fenrir started talking, since he was all about lecturing me on the ways of old, but what he’d said about the garden stood out, if only because of the possessive rage it inspired. The first time this had happened, albeit on a smaller scale if his story was to be believed, he’d stopped it with a kiss. Easy enough, except that I had to get past all those barbed demon tentacles to do it.
“Fuck me,” I muttered under my breath, shooting up a wall of flame in all directions in hopes of covering my tracks.
I could see her through the flame in her glaring attempts to locate me. By the time she succeeded, I was right on her. With a flying leap, I took her down and pinned her. Her gaze flared like a Fury’s and her long nails dug into my shoulders, biting painfully as she tried to push me off. Meanwhile, her thorny vines crawled up my body and tightened around my chest, intent on crushing me. I had to act fast.
I kissed her hard and while I was expecting the blowback, I wasn’t expecting her to return it. She really wasn’t herself, but the vines around my chest weren’t constricting quite as tightly and I took my chance, pulling away enough to look down at her.
“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you, Hades?” she purred. A smaller vine was snaking its way up her neck and she didn’t even seem to notice. She was losing control fast.
“That makes two of us,” I remarked, forming a bit of Sleep in my palm. I blew the shimmering gray dust into her face and her eyes widened in rage as she threw me off, hard enough to send me clear across the arena.
I landed on the cracked stone and three great vines claimed me, one arching up over my torso and delving into the stone, one around my neck and one around my left leg. I gripped the one at my neck, but my concentrated flame did nothing to ease its grip.
“You tricked me,” she seethed, already on her feet. At first, I feared the Sleep had no effect. Whatever it was running through her veins, it had her coked up and damn near invulnerable, but when she staggered, I realized she wasn’t entirely beyond its effects. That much Sleep would have knocked Thor out for a week, so the fact that she was still standing was at once impressive and unsettling.
Her vines were receding around the room as she conserved her power, but the ones on me were holding fast. I wouldn’t be conscious for much longer and I felt the darkness closing in as she shifted unsteadily on her feet.
“You spoiled bastard…” It was the last thing she said before she sank to her knees and then collapsed all the way.
So maybe she was herself a little bit.
The vines finally went limp and I gasped sharply, filling my starved lungs with oxygen. I untangled myself and walked through the rubble of what had once been the training room. “Halcyon, end simulation,” I ordered.
