Page 98 of Blood

“Vampires, I know.” And from the vampires came all the other monsters that now roam Earth.

“Having worshipers on Earth wasn’t good enough for him, either,” Zeus spits. “He didn’t just want the damned and the beasts. He wanted the righteous and holy falling at his feet as well. He was going to go after Mount Olympus. My home.”

With an almost blistering speed, he reaches forward and grabs my arm, giving it a shake. I hold in the surprised yelp of pain that wants to escape.

“I understand your—” I begin cautiously.

He squeezes me even tighter. “You couldn’t possibly understand. I always felt inferior to Lucifer, but to know that he planned to take over my kingdom? That he already stole my queen?” He throws his head back in raucous laughter, though the noise is devoid of any genuine humor or mirth. “Did you know that I actually created Hera? She was a human, once upon a time, that I fell desperately in love with. She was smart, beautiful, sweet...” A faraway, almost wistful, expression distorts his features. “I asked her if she wanted to be mine, and she accepted. I used almost all of my power to make her immortal, but in the process, she received some magic of her own. I suppose you can say she stole some of my gifts. But I didn’t care back then. I loved her too much.” He gives my arm another savage shake that causes my teeth to rattle. “But then your bitch of a mom cheated on me with him. With my own damn brother! She never loved me. She just wanted what I could give her—immorality and power.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” There’s something deeply unsettling about the rage swirling in Zeus’s eyes. He’s normally calculated and cruel, but just now, he almost appears deranged. Every hair on my arm stands at attention, as if sensing the looming threat in our vicinity.

“And now, I have to see the product of their affair every damn time I look into your face.” His free hand slips beneath his robe as icy fear skates down my spine, freezing the breath in my lungs. Fuck. He doesn’t even seem to truly see me. I’m merely a manifestation of all his rage, anger, and pain in the flesh. “But no more. Not again.”

A blade glints in the dim lighting as Zeus smoothly extracts a god-blessed dagger.

“Zeus,” I begin, grateful when my voice doesn’t shake and betray my fear. “I thought you wanted me to join you, remember? I came here because I want more power. Do you understand? I want to join you. Hera and Lucifer left me, remember? They hate me.” I’m babbling now as fear sinks its talons deep into my skin. My heartbeat speeds up and trips hastily over itself.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Zeus’s sightless eyes land on my face.

“No more. Not again. Never again.”

He lifts his blade.

I brace myself for pain, for the dagger to embed itself in my skin, for agony to explode through my body...but it never comes.

What the...?

I slowly open one eyelid to see a ball of light hovering directly in front of me, the god-blessed dagger sticking out of its side. I would’ve expected the light to be intangible, but the dagger remains in its side, as if the blob is made out of clay.

Balor.

“Balor?” My voice rises to a screech as I stare at the bobbing entity hovering directly in front of me.

“What the fuck?” Zeus roars.

In my pocket, my phone buzzes with the sound of my alarm.

Time is up.

Hundreds of monsters materialize out of nowhere, my mates standing at the front of the group, their eyes resembling frosted-over blades, their bodies tense, their mouths curled into sneers.

Zeus whirls around to face the army at his back before turning back toward me. Fear and shock war across his features before the former wins out.

He says something into his earpiece too low for me to hear, and then monsters pour out of every building, all of them wearing Zeus’s rune.

Chaos descends.

CHAPTER 33

VIOLET

“Fuck! He’s getting away!” I bellow as I stare after Zeus’s retreating back as he races into his castle, the doors slamming shut behind him.

Fucking coward.

I’m taking a step to go after him when a sword materializes mere inches from my face. I jump back, alarmed, to see an unfamiliar monster girl standing before me, swinging her blade from side to side. Her red gills suggest that she’s part water monster, but I don’t know which one. Sea-green hair cascades down her back in snarled clumps, a few braids woven throughout.

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