Gods of War (War of the Gods Series) (17 page)

When am I ever going to catch a break?
Ares thought.

Ares eyes lingered on the bed where both Artemis and Atlanta slept entwined. Ares tried to take his mind off his problems, but couldn’t. The shade hadn’t shown his face since the last time it man handled him, Zeus still hadn’t made his move, the weapon that discharged the enormous amount of power he felt was still out of his grasp , and finding a spy to enter Zeus’ domain proved worthless.

He couldn’t trust Artemis to spy for him. Atlanta would be caught before she even got close to Zeus, not to mention she would turn back into a lion if she ever left his presence. The others gods couldn’t be used at all, as they had already declared their allegiance to him.

I need to get my hands on that weapon. With it, I wouldn’t need the other gods
, Ares continued with his thoughts.
That weapon is more powerful than Zeus’ bolts.

As Ares kept his eyes on the women who filled his bed, a cloaked figure entered his personal chambers. Ares jumped up, summoning his battle axe to his hand but stopped in mid-stride.

“How did you get past my guards?” he asked.

The women strolled in like she owned the place. “You think your guards can stop me? I go wherever I want,” the woman said.

“Well what do you want then?”

“The shade is dead, so I figured I better reveal myself.”

“You were behind the shade,” Ares said with amusement. “Don’t tell me you were his master?”

“No, I am not his master, though I am the one who found his kind. I struck a deal with them.”

“A deal? What kind of deal are you talking about?” Ares said with a curious look.

“One that would get rid of Zeus and put me as queen of the gods.”

Ares started gripping his axe getting ready to attack once more. “So what was I, just some pawn being used in your deal?”

“I am not going to lie,” the woman said taking Ares’ seat. “Yes, you were. But since they failed their part of the deal, I am willing to extend it to you.”

“Oh really? What makes you think that I need your help?”

The woman started chuckling and grabbed a cup filled with wine. “Because I know what Zeus is planning and I know how we can defeat him.”

“What is in it for me?”

The woman looked up and smiled. Knowing she had hooked him. “I was hoping you would get to this. We would rule together, me as queen and you as king.”

“Zeus had that deal with Hera and it didn’t work out so much for her, so how would this be different?”

“Hera was a jealous goddess,” the woman then looked at the women on the bed. “As you can see, I am not. You have your dalliances and I would have mine.”

“What if I get jealous?”

“You can kill them. I would be done with them anyways. Or you could join in.”

“We will have to talk more. So we will fully understanding our roles in this new partnership.”

“Well, I have time right now.” The woman took off her clothes and jumped in bed with the other women. “Come on. I don’t have all day.”

At last the day has finally come. They finally completed their training, although at an unfortunate cost.

Zeus hoped he did not have to divulge every secret he had, but he had to tell them some things. Then there was Jessica and the decision he had to make about her. One choice to follow the facts and let her live. That would go against his instincts that have saved him many times.
If only Hera was still here. I could use her advice.
Even though Zeus would cheat on her daily, he still held listened to her advice tremendously.
Too bad her jealousy led to her death.

Now Zeus was left to deal with Jessica on his own. Zeus didn’t know why she seemed so dangerous; she was only a demi-god after all. The Graeae said she wasn’t the one who would cause his downfall.

With too many problems and not enough time to deal with them all, Zeus had to keep his mind on the big picture. Zeus knew he would have to not only face and defeat Hades and Ares, but he would have to make it so Tereus fell instead of him.

The universe needs me
, he rationalized.
If I go, the Daimōn will certainly escape.
Zeus knew that Terry wouldn’t give up his own life for the betterment of all. He had to show Terry a false vision to even get him to join up for the war.
There is no way that Terry could take my spot.

Zeus knew the other two could be controlled.
They were easily understood. I can control them much easier than my own brothers. Everything is coming together
, everything except the girl. I will have to arrange for her to have an accident.

The door opened to his meditation chamber and Hermes walked in.

“Lord Zeus, they are waiting in the valley. You said you wanted to send them off,” Hermes said.

“Yes, that was what I wanted to do. How are they feeling? Do they feel confident in their mission?”

“I think so. You will have to see for yourself,” Hermes answered.

Zeus detected a hint of uncertainty in Hermes voice. The humans certainly unnerved his gods, especially when they created those weapons.
Who would have thought that gods would be afraid of humans?

“Alright let’s go,” Zeus grabbed Hermes shoulder and teleported to the valley.

Zeus and Hermes arrived at the training compound. They noticed everyone was at the pavilion. Walking the rest of the way, Zeus saw what they were wearing. Nicolai was wearing a black, pin-stripe suit with a white silk shirt and a trench coat. Amadi was wearing the same uniform he had when he was a general, with all rank insignia and ribbons clearly visible. Terry and Jessica were both wearing Marine Corp digital desert camouflage from Terry’s days in the Marines.

“What is this?” Zeus asked when he got closer. “Why are you not wearing the armor we have for you?”

“With all due respect, the armor rather sucks,” Nicolai said. “There is no way I would be wearing a dress into combat.”

“That is actually putting it a little too bluntly,” Terry interrupted. “We just needed something more comfortable. We almost got killed playing by your rules. We are not going to make that mistake again. We are going to play by our rules. That
is
why I had these weapons created. That is why you need us.”

“We also need something visual to help us remember what we are fighting for,” Amadi said. “We are losing our humanity. I lost my humanity. We got lucky in that compound and we need something to push us through the dark times.”

“Is that all?” Zeus said waiting for a response.

“This is ridiculous,” Jessica blurted out, breaking the silence. “What we are all concerned about is that you are trying to turn us into
you
. Didn’t you say the reason you needed us was because of our humanity? If that is the case, why are you trying to stamp it out? I wasn’t on board with all of this, and honestly, I still am not. But as I saw this progressing, the only hope humanity has is us. It is your kind that is causing this.”

No wonder the other gods are taken aback by this. These four do not treat us like gods. They treat us like we are one of them. Perhaps we have been away longer than I thought
. Yes, things are definitely going to have to change after all of this.

“Since everyone has said their piece, let’s get going,” Zeus finally said. “Hermes, you are going to take Nicholaus into the underworld. Aphrodite, you will take Tereus to Ares. Remember, no teleporting. We don’t want to give Ares any indication on what we are doing. Athena, you will work with Jessica and Assaraeus and his men on earth. Do you know what area we are going to liberate first?

“I was thinking we would start with the Americans,” Amadi briefed Zeus. “They are much better fighters and Ares is not dug in that area. The Americans already have an established resistance, whereas the rest of the rebellions are scattered across the globe and have no coordination among them. Trying to coordinate them into something that can defeat Ares would be too difficult. Besides if we land anywhere outside of your protection, Ares’ gods will attack us. ”

“Sounds good,” Zeus replied. “Say your good-byes. We’ve got a war to fight.”

Nicolai could barely see in front of him when they landed. When they finally landed, it was in the middle of a blizzard. He didn’t know what was worse—the landing or the actual flight. Nicolai couldn’t believe Hermes actually flew like that. He just grabbed Nicolai’s arm and took off. Every time Nicolai looked down, the ground zoomed past him causing him to throw up. Now with his hands under each armpit trying to be kept warm, Nicolai wished Hermes would fly them somewhere warm.

Screw Ares,
Nicolai thought.
It’s too damn cold out here.

Nicolai tried to look through the blizzard, but he couldn’t see anything to mark his location.

“Where are we?” Nicolai yelled

“We are in your country. Russia I believe.”

“You believe? You don’t even know where we are at? What are we doing here anyways?”

“I am searching for Poseidon’s lair. It should be around here somewhere.” Hermes said.

“Couldn’t we have gone to another opening, somewhere warmer?” Nicolai yelled as the blizzard picked up.

“I could, if you want Ares to know what we are doing.”

Nicolai clenched his fists and closed his mouths before he made things worse. He sat and tried to watch Hermes. After watching Hermes pass the same spot twenty times he had enough.

“You better find it soon. I am freezing here.”

“Why don’t you walk around and make sure nothing attacks us. When the entrance opens it’s going to make a lot of noise. We don’t want anything following us into Poseidon’s lair. He won’t like it one bit.”

“Fine,” Nicolai said grudgingly. “I will go walk around and see if anything is out there.”

Nicolai slowly drudged through the snow. As he began to walk, the snow began to soak his leather shoes.

He looked back to see what Hermes was doing and he saw him hovering above water looking down. Nicolai continued his patrol as the blizzard started to dissipate. Felling the wetness from the snow starting to go through his trench coat, Nicolai decided to head back.

Hermes better hurry. My suit is going to get ruined and Amadi picked out a nice one.

Nicolai started to walk back where they landed and slipped and fell face first into the snow. Covered in snow, and his suit now ruined, Nicolai picked himself up and shoved his hands into his coat.

“What am I doing out here?” Nicolai yelled out loud. “No one is stupid enough to be out here in this mess.”

We are the only ones who know of the plan. What could go wrong?
Nicolai continued in his thoughts.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nicolai saw a shadowy figure. He looked in its direction but nothing was there
. I must be imagining things. Hopefully Hermes has found the entrance.

Nicolai made his way to where Hermes had dropped him off, or so he thought. The problem was Hermes wasn’t there. The snow had covered up any indication if this was the place.
This was the correct spot, wasn’t it?

It has to be. I was standing in front of that glacier when we landed, unless of course it moved.
A big roar echoed all around Nicolai tearing him away from his thoughts. He turned to where the roar originated from and saw twenty creatures diving from the air. Right in front of them, fleeing for his life, was Hermes.

The creatures were fierce looking. They were lions but with gigantic wings that belonged on a demon. Their tails, as long as their body, ended with a deadly stinger. Each paw ended with razor sharp claws. Seeing the look of fear on Hermes’ face, he knew he had to do something. Nicolai summed his shotgun and started running towards the monsters.

“Bring them closer, I can’t do anything down here,” Nicolai yelled.

Hermes dove towards Nicolai. Having his Nicolai out and already charged Nicolai pictured a buck shot for his round. Hermes, just a few feet away now, banked hard to the right as Nicolai shot. The five that he hit dropped to the ground, torn up from the pellets. Hermes came back around and burned their bodies with his fireball. As Hermes flew off five followed him as the rest came after Nicolai.

Nicolai rushed after them, recharging his shotgun as he ran. Shooting the closest one with a slug, Nicolai used its body as a spring board as it fell dead to the ground. In the air, Nicolai shot at another one but ended up missing it. One of the creatures grabbed him by its claws and started tearing into his body. The tail was about to come down and stick him with its stinger, but Nicolai grabbed one of its talons and used his special power on the monster. The creature’s body started to decay and Nicolai was released from its grasp.

Nicolai fell to the ground and quickly recovered. He put another monster in his sights and shot a buckshot round towards it, tearing one of the beast’s wing to shreds. The beast crashed into the ground crying out in pain.

Hermes flew in from behind and picked Nicolai up, flying straight up in the air the beasts followed them closely.

“I found Poseidon’s entrance,” he yelled. “We will have to fly through the pack. You will have to clear a path for us.”

Nicolai nodded that he understood. Hermes switched directions and flew straight down in a head-on collision with the monsters. Nicolai aimed his shotgun and began blasting away as fast as he could. The beasts fell from the sky as they were hit with the pellets.

Passing through the pack of beasts, Nicolai saw the body of water getting closer. Nicolai noticed Hermes wasn’t slowing down as he aimed for the middle of the body of water. Nicolai closed his eyes and braced for the impact that never came. When Nicolai opened his eyes they were inside some sort of tunnel that the sea covered. Nicolai watched in awe as the marvels of the sea were revealed. A pack of whales swam alongside them before swimming away. Below him, Nicolai saw a giant squid being torn asunder by hundreds of sharks. As they went further into the tunnel, the creatures grew weirder and more bizarre.
Was that a mermaid he just saw?

What seemed like hours of flying, they finally burst up from the ground and flew upwards. Hermes slowly descended and they landed gently on the water. Nicolai put his foot down and found that the water was solid. Looking ahead he beheld the most beautiful city he had ever seen. It was like someone took the best features of every major city and put them in one place.