Chapter 273

As I stared at Apollo, I had to swallow my urge to vomit in disgust. My hands trembled, but not with fear like the arrogant idiot thought. I was incensed and out for vengeance. One of us was going to die, the abomination had hurt too many people I cared about, and he would suffer. I glanced at Daniel, he looked menacing and beautiful in his wolf’s form. He brushed up against my arm, and I heard his voice in my head like the most comforting melody.

“I will be right beside you if you need me. I love you.” I couldn’t help the smile that lit up my face as I broke eye contact, but it morphed into an angry smirk as I caught sight of the vile being who would believe himself a King.

“I love you too, be careful?” I knew he wouldn’t be reckless unless I was in danger. The loathsome being actually smiled, like my wrath amused him. I considered hurling a warning shot at his face, but Hyacinth beat me to it, as a flash struck his right cheek, the skin sizzled and melted. His smile turned into a scream of agony, as he gripped his face, as if it were a battle cry, his minions attacked. I gathered the magic inside me, ready to unleash it all at the repulsive army he had brought, but Daniel stopped me.

“Save your energy for the king, we’ve got this.” I could picture the smile on his face as he said it. He pounced in front of me and growled. As one, the wolves attacked, intercepting the twisted creatures. I watched in awe as the wolves ripped several of them apart, the spray of their corrupted blood soaked our once beautiful meadow, as they worked together to destroy as many of them as possible, while our snipers picked off any that strayed from the horde. The king let out a snarl, and leapt, his power propelling him, he must have been 10ft off of the ground and covered a distance of at least 20ft. He landed with a grunt, his cheek still devoid of flesh as he stood, his cold dead eyes searching for me. I couldn’t resist a sarcastic wave of my fingers; he didn’t scare me. He should fear me, I fully intended to make him pay slowly and painfully for everything that he, his brother and father had done. My smirk seemed to anger him, he let out a growl of warning. I laughed and watched the ire blaze in his eyes.

“Are you waiting for an invitation?” I called, I enjoyed watching his smug mask slip, as more and more of his followers died, and then his face contorted into something else, something evil. He turned and sent a golden spear he pulled from thin air towards Hyacinth. It was impossibly fast, too fast for me to stop, and she shoved Miranda away from her as a warning scream broke free of my throat. At the last second Hyacinth bent, allowing the spear to imbed itself in the ground behind her, before she retrieved it, and launched it at Asclepius. With more power than I thought she physically possessed and the precision of a surgeon, it pierced Apollo’s son through the sternum. A spume of blood flew from his mouth before his head was ripped from his neck by one of our wolves. A smug smile of satisfaction bloomed on Hyacinth’s face as she faced the would-be king. He let out a roar of anger and pain, then rounded on me, ready to strike, he pulled another spear from wherever he kept them. Spinning it with deadly accuracy, he circled me, his teeth bared, and his eyes shone with malice. I raised an unimpressed eyebrow as I watched him, studying his footwork as I had been taught, looking for an opening as he moved. I drew my power into my hands, allowed it to build, and then flung it at his torso. He blocked it with a shield spell and the blast sent both of us and everyone in a ten-yard radius of us sailing through the air. I hit the ground hard, rolling over the blood-soaked snow until I felt dizzy and sick. I forced myself to look towards where Apollo had been, praying it had been enough to end his pathetic existence, but he was gone. My eyes scanned the field quickly until I saw him back behind a wall of bitten, where he was having his damaged armour removed, by two of Asclepius’ daughters. He was weakened, that much was obvious, but nowhere near as badly as I had hoped.

“Charlie? Are you okay?” Daniel’s slightly panicked voice came through the link.

“I’m okay, I just wish that had done more,” I replied, letting him feel my frustration, but not my fatigue. It had taken more out of me than I anticipated. He didn’t get a chance to reply as several bitten charged at me. Hyacinth and Theia had taught me how to make the sunlight orbs the witches had used in Ireland, so I rapidly threw them at the creatures’ chests, their screams were inhuman and terrifying, but I refused to feel anything for them, Theia’s words again rang in my ears.

“The bitten are not human anymore, they are not anything anymore. The vampire will have drained their spark until it is little more than a dying ember, and then bitten them. From that moment on, they are just shells, their brains barely functioning... They are just puppets, controlled by the toxin and the vampire that infected them. Have you ever heard of the zombie-ant fungus?” She asked.

“No, should I have?” I asked a little disturbed.

“The spores of the fungus are picked up from the forest floor by the ant, the spores attack the brain, forcing the ant to abandon its nest and climb a tree. Once it has found a suitable leaf, it attaches itself, and the fungus uses the ant’s body to flower and create more spores. The bitten are no different, being controlled until they eventually die.” She explained as we buried the unakite around the meadow, creating a circle that covered nearly all of it.

“How are we going to activate the cage without them noticing?” I asked once the circle was complete.

“As you will be inside, Hyacinth and I will charge the circle from the outside, while your powers draw it in. Here let me show you.” She said, she retrieved a dozen different gemstones out of her pockets and placed them around herself. Hyacinth stood opposite her and began shining a pink light from her hands, it flowed into the stones until they lit up the snow around them. Theia then began drawing the light out of the crystal, and into the circle, until it surrounded her, before it dissipated. “Your turn.” She smiled. I went to swap places with her, when she picked up the stones and walked to the edge of the field with Hyacinth, leaving me alone in the unakite circle. It had taken a while, but I was finally able to draw their power in before the first scout arrived. Then before the battle had begun, Hyacinth and Theia had poured massive amounts of energy into the circle, and unlike the stones Theia had used in her demonstration, unakite didn’t glow, something Theia neglected to tell me until after I had gotten frustrated thinking, I wasn’t doing it right during our practice. So, while Daniel and the snipers kept Apollo distracted, I was able to draw in their power and form a cage covering the vast majority of the battlefield. Theia’s voice was drowned out by a cry of fury from one of Asclepius’ daughters, she had finished removing Apollo’s damaged forearm coverings and was given the nod to attack me, her sister followed closely behind her. They ran at me, both equipped with daggers, they slashed the air around me as Athena and Diana’s training took over. I used my forearm to block one attack, then spun between them to avoid another, one tried to slash at my legs, while her sister sliced through my coat, leaving an incision along my left shoulder. I hissed in pain, and the other one caught my right thigh with her blade, I stumbled to the side as my leg threatened to give way, both sisters had their daggers raised, ready to stab into me again when one of them was hit from behind. I sighed in relief when they turned to face the unseen attacker, giving me time to heal the injury to my thigh. Between their bodies I could see Hyacinth, from her position with the wounded, hurling spells at the sisters, advancing towards them with a fury in her eyes. With my leg sealed if not completely healed, I got back on my feet and gave Hyacinth a small smile as I moulded my powers into daggers of my own and sent them hurtling through the sisters' backs and out through their chests. She gave me a nod before going back to the injured, as their knees hit the ground, and their limp bodies keeled over and hit the snow with a dull thud. I turned back to Apollo, I intended to draw him back out from behind his army, my face displayed my disdain for him. He smirked, but only half of his face moved, the spell Hyacinth had hit him with seemed just as difficult to heal as Hermes’ claw marks. Without warning, he turned his back to me and launched the spear into the battle. I lunged forward instinctually, afraid for my people, but as I watched the arc of the spear start to fall, I realized the target, Daniel. An anger I had only felt once before burst out of me with my fear, and outrage, it forced its way through the wall of bodies protecting him, like the rage in my voice became tangible. It compelled those around him to their knees as it sought him out and surrounded him. I helplessly watched the spear pierce my Alpha. My legs buckled beneath me, and I gripped fistfuls of the ground as I let my pain and power collide, and converge, building inside me. “NOOO!” I screamed into the air, tears flowing down my cheeks. As if the world around me melted away, all I saw was the monster that took Daniel from me. I screamed a primal, gut-wrenching howl of misery, my power expelled by my lungs, it burned his skin and armour, knocking him to the ground, as I forced myself to stand. I cut through his barrier of bodies before he could get to his feet, I felt my power slip down my arms, it moved over my hands to my nails making them claws. I ran at him with all the strength I could muster and brought my arm down, slicing through his unmarked cheek, his neck and torso. Not enough to kill but definitely weaken, I raised my other arm, determined to rip the being who took Daniel from me to shreds. When he hit me with a spell of his own, knocking me backwards as he attempted to retreat behind his foul creations. My rage overtook me, I used my power like a whip, slashing through the leather covering his back, another crack of my power and the covering was only held on by the decorative arm and shoulder coverings. Abandoning his attempts to get back behind his creatures, he spun around to face me, conjuring another spear. The whip became a baseball bat, that I swung at his head, disorientating him, then his arm, forcing him to drop the spear, that seemed to evaporate before it hit the ground. My eyes went to Daniel automatically, and as I saw Ethan treating him, I realised my mistake as our eyes met, something hit my spine with the force to knock the air from my lungs. I reached out to Daniel, my arm freezing halfway as the oily, revolting substance spread quickly over my body, its viscous consistency began to solidify and trap me. I screamed as I tried to draw on my power and blast through the cocoon that was rapidly forming around me, but against whatever spell he had used, it felt like it was burning the skin from my body. Although I could see my uninjured arm stretched out in front of me, the skin unblemished in any way, I could feel it melting off of my arm, exposing the raw nerves beneath to the searing pain. I heard my cries muffled as the substance moved up my neck and my mouth closed instinctively, a shadow moved behind me, but I couldn’t move a muscle, the only part of my body responding were my eyes. I tried to link Daniel, but a blinding pain that felt like I had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer, made bile rise to the back of my throat. I saw Daniel’s panicked face as he was pulled back, the vampires surrounded us blocking my view of all my allies. The burning pain had subsided thankfully when I released my power, only to be replaced by shards of glass digging into my skin, as Apollo ran his hand along my back, moving me so I was facing the south end of the meadow.

“My, my, my cousin, you certainly are attractive. I understand why my father lied to my brothers, it could be all but guaranteed they would do anything, for a breeder like you. With your lineage, their son could challenge Zeus one day, which is why he would never let us have you. But what he doesn’t know...” He chuckled darkly. “I will put a babe in you before he can, even if I have to keep you locked up until you carry to term. I will become the One True King!” He ranted, I tried to look for Daniel again, but Apollo's malevolent smile faltered. “I knew if I injured your pet you would lose control. We have been watching you for weeks, he is your greatest weakness.” He whispered menacingly in my ear, each caress of his hand felt like dozens of needles being dragged across my skin. “Get her to the ship.” He ordered to his men; I could hear the commotion as they realised, they couldn’t teleport. “You think this is funny you fucking cunt!” Apollo spat in my ear. I couldn’t even cry as I searched for a familiar face, or flash of fur, anything to give me hope I wouldn’t be taken.