Emblazed (10 page)

Some of his spit managed to land on my chest before the barrier went up, and it burned
tremendously as it corroded my skin. “Fuck!” I screamed.

Brielle darted over, dodging Cerberus’ tail twice before reaching me and encasing
us in another force field. She placed her hand on my chest where the saliva had landed,
and the pain began to gradually alleviate. Taking her hand, I kissed it before we
returned back to the battle.

Cerberus’ attention was on Kimber as she flooded the earth beneath him, causing him
to slide around in the mud and fall several times.

Brielle took off towards her, throwing fireballs that bounced harmlessly off Cerberus.
Of course, he would be impervious to fire since he lived in the fiery Underworld.
I would be of no help, and that pissed me off. I hated being useless.

Looks like fire’s no good. I’ll watch your back,
I communicated to Brielle through our bond.

She didn’t respond, too busy focusing on dodging around Cerberus’ legs as he tried
to stomp her. Positioning herself under his belly, she shot her Akasha into his stomach.
He bellowed in pain before swatting Brielle through the air with one of his front
paws.

Rushing in the direction Brielle careened towards, I fought through her pain that
was being duplicated in my throbbing arm. Just as she was about to hit the ground,
she stopped in mid-air, hovering about four feet above the earth.

She stayed like that for a few seconds before falling to the dirt and clutching her
arm. I ground my teeth from the pain, knowing Cerberus probably broke Brielle’s arm
when he smacked her since it felt so intense.

Kneeling beside her, I gently held her forearm and examined the bone that protruded
out of the underside. I grabbed her other hand, which she squeezed tightly as her
face scrunched in pain.

This is going to hurt, mi amante. I’m sorry.
Placing my hand on the exposed bone, I pressed down, mending the injury as she screamed
in pain. Her grip on my hand tightened to the point where I thought one of my fingers
would break, but as the pain diminished, so did her hold on me.

Pulling her to me, I embraced her in my arms. Both of us needed the prolonged contact
to replace the energy we had expended throughout the whole ordeal. We were both exhausted,
and Cerberus was barely affected by all of our efforts. I was worried about how we
would ever defeat him.

This is good practice for Uranus. We can’t give up,
Brielle said, responding to my thoughts.

We turned our attention back to Cerberus, who was trying to stab Zane with his tail.
As we raced back, Brielle’s mother intercepted our path.

“Mom, get out of the way. You need to hide somewhere safe, somewhere away from here.”

A sad, but determined look crossed her mother’s face. “Baby, you can’t do this forever.
You’re all exhausted. I know how I’m supposed to help you. I love you, baby,” she
told Brielle as she caressed her cheek with her palm.

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Brielle asked, her question laced with confusion
and fear.

“Take care of my baby,” she said, directing her statement to me. Then, she darted
off, racing towards the part of the Acheron that flowed into the Styx.

Brielle and I stood there, confused by what transpired until Cerberus suddenly jerked
to a stop. All of his heads snapped in the direction Brielle’s mom ran, and he roared.

Realization clicked, and Brielle followed after her, screaming, “Mom, don’t! Come
back!”

“Don’t follow me! Go in the opposite direction!” her mom shouted back.

She had already put quite a bit of distance between us, so much so that we could barely
see her on the horizon. I guessed shades were faster than humans, since they didn’t
have the weight of a body to worry about.

The ground shook as Cerberus ran. Brielle tried to get his attention, throwing orbs
of Akasha at him, but he ignored her attacks, concerned only with the soul attempting
to escape.

I ran after a frantic Brielle, who was unable to keep pace with Cerberus as he pursued
her mother. I caught up to her before grabbing her around the waist and stopping her.

“Let me go, Jace!” she cried as she pounded her hands on my arms and struggled to
free herself from my grasp. If she really wanted to, she could have turned her powers
on me and gotten away, but I knew she wouldn’t.

“Baby, she’s trying to save us. She’s trying to distract Cerberus so we can escape.”“

“No! I just found her! Mom, come back, don’t leave me!” she sobbed loudly as she slumped
in my arms.

The others had reached us, and I scooped a distraught Brielle in my arms. I quickly
explained what was happening before we ran towards the Acheron.

We reached the opening of the Underworld and there was no sign of Cerberus. I wondered
if he was still pursuing Brielle’s mom, and I hoped she was okay.

We stood along the banks, debating our next move. “Is the Acheron acidic?” I asked
Zane.

“Nah, just normal everyday water. So are we jumping in?”

“I think that’s our only option,” I replied.

I looked down at the water, then at Brielle in my arms. She was fixated on something
off in the distance, quietly sniffling instead of sobbing.

I felt her anguish morphing to rage slowly. She wiped her eyes with her palms before
looking up at me. “Put me down,” she gently demanded.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but she raised her hand and spoke first, “Don’t. I’ll
get over it. You were only doing what you needed to, in order to protect me. So was
my mother. Let’s go home.”

She threaded her fingers through mine as
a deafening roar sounded in the distance, followed by a light tremble in the ground.
Turning to look behind us, I saw Cerberus barreling in our direction from about a
mile and a half away. “Shit! Let’s go!” I yelled before jumping in with Brielle.

The water awoke all my senses, and I gasped from the coldness when I came up for air.
Brielle popped up after me, pushing the hair back out of her face as she sharply inhaled.
The others jumped in after us, and we all swam away from the Underworld.

As we rounded a corner, several splashes echoed behind us. I craned my neck around
to look back around the corner, and wished I hadn’t. Dozens of demons were swimming
after us, along with what I assumed were mermen.

Men with pale green dolphin tails and long green hair leaped in and out of the water
after us. “Zane, what the fuck are those?” I yelled.

Zane looked around the corner, as well. His eyes widened before he answered, “Tritons.
They’re what the mermaid legend is based off, but they’re definitely not like ones
from the movies. They have teeth like a shark, and the ones down here are evil and
carnivorous.”

Shit.
I grabbed Brielle’s hand and towed her with me through the water, swimming as fast
as possible. Everyone swam frantically, desperately trying to distance ourselves from
the Tritons and demons pursuing us.

The sounds of their splashes grew closer, and dread filled my body. They were gaining
on us, and were much faster than we were in the water. I pushed Brielle in front of
me, wanting to put her the furthest away from the creatures.

“Jace, stop. We have to face them. There’s no way we can outswim them. Kimber, let’s
do this,” Brielle called out to her best friend.

Brielle and Kimber positioned themselves in front of our group, facing the creatures
that had just rounded the corner. The girls raised both their arms in the air, causing
huge waves to swell and careen towards our pursuers.

The demons floundered under the assault, being pushed down deep under the water. The
Tritons, however, swiftly maneuvered through the waves, mimicking how a dolphin effortlessly
leaps in and out of the water.

“Kimber, move back! I’m going to end this!” Brielle yelled.

Kimber did as Brielle said, but continued controlling the waves that were drowning
the demons.

The Tritons were close, only about fifteen feet away from where Brielle floated. A
whirlpool began to form in front of where they swam, increasing to span the width
of the whole river. The Tritons were sucked in, swirling around the outer edge before
being swallowed into the center.

After a few seconds, Brielle dropped her arms and turned to me with a beaming smile
on her face. Demons floated lifelessly in the water, but there was no sign of the
Tritons.

“Where’d they go, Brie?” Kiera asked.

“I made my own sinkhole underneath the whirlpool and trapped them deep in the earth
before covering it back up. Badass, ri—”

Brielle was abruptly ripped underwater, and I immediately plunged down, blinking through
the grit floating in the water until my eyes focused on her retreating form. I darted
after them, but felt myself being pulled back by a current.

I came up for air to see Kimber making a pulling motion with her arms, maneuvering
the water to flow back towards us. A flare of light under the water flashed from where
I had seen Brielle, and then she popped up, gasping for air. Kimber continued to pull
the water towards us, making Brielle float back faster.

I swam to her, wanting to get to her as soon as possible. She wrapped her arms around
me as we crashed into each other roughly, smacking our foreheads together.

“What the fuck, Kimber?” Brielle yelled.

“What? I didn’t do anything,” Kimber replied innocently before bursting out laughing.

“Yeah, right. You didn’t just slam us into each other with the water,” Brielle sarcastically
retorted.

“I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I just can’t control my powers,” she teased, somewhat
mocking Brielle.

“You okay,
mi amante
?” I asked after we finished laughing at Kimber.

“I’m fine. That bastard bit me though,” she replied.

“Where?”

She raised her arm out of the water, showing a gaping bite mark on her bicep.

Zane had been right—it looked just like a small shark bite. Water and blood dripped
from the sharp, teeth-shaped lacerations. I placed my hands on either side of her
bicep to heal her. She winced as she hissed through her teeth, but soon wore a look
of relief as her skin fully mended.

“Better?”

She nodded as she chuckled, “You always have to heal me.”

“Well, stop getting hurt and I won’t have to,” I teased.

She smacked my shoulder before quipping, “It’s not like I ask to get hurt. It just
happens.”

I laughed softly before replying, “C’mon, let’s get the hell out of here.”

We swam back toward Kimber, Zane, and Kiera before continuing through the Acheron
towards home.

We made it back to the dock several hours later. Charon’s boat was there; he had passed
us along the way. The asshole wouldn’t give us a ride, quoting his statement from
earlier as he floated by, “No return passage.”
Dick.

We trudged up the bank of the river, thoroughly fatigued from our stint in the Underworld.
I wondered how long we had been down there, but I couldn’t tell from that deep in
the cave.

We plodded slowly through the mass of shades still congregating around on the pier.
Brielle lagged behind, and I knew she needed to rest. She had expended so much of
her powers, and even though my touch helped to replenish her, she desperately needed
sleep.

I picked her up and cradled her in my arms, causing her to protest, “Jace, you don’t
have to carry me. I’m fine. I can walk.”

“
Mi amante
, why would I let you walk when I’m able to hold my whole world in my arms?”

A smile graced her beautiful lips as she wrapped her arms around my neck. She pressed
a soft kiss to my collarbone and nuzzled into my chest, right over my heart, right
where she belonged. Within seconds, she was softly snoring.

Images of Jace being killed by demons tainted my dreams, causing me to jolt upward
in bed as a scream ripped through my throat.