Eternal Rider

Hades turned around, his wings spreading and folding again with a soft whoosh. “You are human. If you die in Sheoul, your soul will be trapped here forever. I’m here to escort your soul aboveground.”

Oh, God. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He shrugged. “It’s my good deed for the millennium. And Limos promised to send me Baskin-Robbins.”

“Time’s up,” Pestilence shouted. “And did I mention my secret weapon? No? Ah, well, I’m forgetful sometimes.” He swept his arm in a dramatic gesture, and out of the sky, three dozen winged men dropped in front of Pestilence’s horse.

“Fuck,” Wraith breathed. “Fallen angels.”

“Well,” Kynan said grimly, “you said you wanted to fight.”

“I don’t understand.” Cara peeled her eyes away from one of the winged newcomers—Zhreziel, whose expression said he had an ax to grind, and probably on the Horsemen’s bones.

“The only beings that can harm me and Wraith are angels. Which includes the fallen variety.”

“And they’re hard as f**k to kill, unless you’re another angel. Or a Horseman. Even better, Pestilence probably knows about our charmed status, thanks to David.” Wraith’s fangs flashed. “Man, if I get killed, not even the fact that David is Serena’s brother is going to save him from her.” For some reason, he smiled at that. “My mate can be a total badass. It’s so hot.”

“Okay, boys.” Pestilence’s grating voice rang out. “Kill the human and the mutt, and let’s get this Apocalypse started!”

Thanatos released his souls, and they screeched as they shot toward the evil army. As if rejuvenated by the brief break, the demons swarmed, more vicious than ever. It was a nightmare of teeth, claws, and weapons. Helplessness splintered what bravery Cara held in her reserves, and somehow Ares knew. He tossed her a dagger, a last-resort weapon to be sure, but at least she had something with which she could strike a blow to any demon that made it through the wall of her defenders.

Assuming she had the strength to use it.

Everyone, including Hades—who made demons explode with a mere touch—fought hard, but one by one, the horses went down, and the Horsemen were crushed under the wave of monsters. Despair and fear became the air Cara breathed, so thick she couldn’t even scream when the rain of blows fell on Cara and Hal. Wraith and Kynan leaped on top of them, shielded them with their bodies, but somehow, blades found their way through the pile.

Pain ripped into her, as razor sharp as the weapons piercing her flesh and organs. Deep inside, a weird tugging sensation grabbed at her, and she felt as if she was being peeled like a banana. When the realization hit her, she cried out.

The tugging and peeling was her soul trying to leave her body.

Snarls rang out. Screams. Warm blood splashed on her face. A weight came off her as Wraith and Kynan pushed away. Ares. Where was Ares?

“Holy shit,” Kynan murmured. “Damn.”

Cara couldn’t move, could barely breathe as she lay on her side in a fetal position, wrapped around Hal. She figured she had about five breaths’ worth of life remaining, but dammit, she was going to watch the end come. With effort, she opened the one eye that still functioned, though it felt as if her eyelid was made of steel wool. Through uneven blurs and blood, she saw massive black paws. Teeth. Red, glowing eyes.

Hellhounds.

“There has to be thousands of them,” Wraith said.

The forest of black legs milled and parted. Something massive moved toward them, and before Cara could even blink, a monstrous, three-headed hellhound stood before them, easily twice as big as the largest of the others.

“Hey, Cerberus,” Hades said.

“Cerberus?” Kynan gasped.

“Yeah.” Hades scrubbed his hand over his mohawk. “This can’t be good.”

“And why is that?”

“He hates me for binding him to Sheoul-gra. He only gets to leave when I do. He’s probably here to rip me to shreds. Again.”

The beast shouldered aside Hades, and finally, Cara caught sight of Ares. His armor was mangled, his left hand mashed, and his legs impossibly broken, but he was using his one good hand to drag himself to Cara. She wanted to cry, but that tugging sensation had overcome her, and tears, it seemed, stayed with the body, not the soul.

Ares pulled himself against her as everyone else moved to block Cerberus, who was on a path directly for her and Hal.

Cerberus’s three heads snarled as one.

“S’okay.” Cara’s voice was reed-thin, barely there, but apparently it was enough, because everyone shifted, allowing Cerberus to pass.

The big beast sniffed at her, and then one of the heads licked Hal. Hal opened his eyes, and a single word came to her. Grandfather. He hadn’t said it to her, but somehow, she intercepted the transmission to the three-headed hound.

One of the heads turned to her, its crimson eyes glowing. You are reoush, beast-healer. Rare. You will not die.

Not dying didn’t seem like an option. She sucked in a gurgling breath… and it didn’t leave her. Blackness swallowed her whole even as she felt the warm stroke of a tongue over her lips.

Twenty-seven

Cara wasn’t sure what happened. All she knew was that she’d come wide awake in Ares’s arms, Hal was bouncing around in the demon remains and happily tossing things like arms and legs into the air, while off in the distance, other hellhounds were… she squinted, and then wished she hadn’t. Ares wasn’t kidding when he said hellhounds liked their prey a little too much. Swallowing sourly, she jerked her gaze away from the hellhound playground to see medical people in scrubs patching up the home team.

Eidolon and Shade were doing the glow-thing to Sin, while Con held her hand, his own wounds so extensive Cara was surprised he was sitting up without help. Kynan was patching up Wraith, who kept yelling obscenities, and some black-haired guy Con had called Luc was trying, unsuccessfully, to work on Ares.

Ares, who kept shoving the guy away even as he spoke gently to Cara. “You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake.”

“Where…” She cleared her throat to rid it of the scratchiness that made her voice sound as if she hadn’t used it in decades. “Where are the demons? Pestilence?” She frowned. “Cerberus. Or did I dream it all?” Even as she said it, she knew she hadn’t dreamed it.

“The hellhounds broke Pestilence’s army. He had to retreat. Cerberus and most of the hounds gave chase. Shade brought help from Underworld General.”

“How am I alive?” And damn, she felt really freaking great, too. As if she’d been plugged into a battery the size of Mount Everest.

“It seems,” Ares said, “that you received Hell’s Kiss from the hellhound king.”

Okay, that was… significant, she was guessing. Tail wagging, Hal romped over. All of us. You belong to all of us now. All bonded to you. Except for those bonded to others. You are reoush, our healer.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, wow.”

Ares’s eyes bored into her. “What is it?”

“It um… seems that I’m bonded to all of them. They’ve adopted me as their official physician of sorts.”

Luc froze as he reached into the medic bag next to him. “All hellhounds?”

“As in, every hellhound in existence?” Ares added.

“That’s what Hal says.”

“Holy shit.” Limos’s voice came from behind Ares, but Cara couldn’t twist around to see her. “That would make you—”

“Immortal.” Ares blew out a long, shaky breath. “You’re immortal.”

“It’s beyond that.” Hades strolled over, picked up what Cara thought might be the leg of some creature, and tossed it for Hal. “Fetch!” He turned to Cara as Hal bounded off. “Any injury you sustain would be spread evenly throughout the hellhound population, so you’ll heal instantly. Only Cerberus himself… and God… can kill you now.” He frowned. “I can’t believe that f**ker did that. He never does that. I asked him to do it to my girlfriend once, and he refused. Ripped my arm off.” He snorted. “Course, she f**ked me over later anyway. The bitch.”

This was all so strange, and yet, it was all becoming normal. “Wait, why would they need a healer, if I’m bonded to them? An injured hound would take energy from me, right?”

Hades shook his head. “Cerberus’s bond doesn’t work that way. It’s against natural law to alter an entire species. You reap the benefits of taking from them, and they get you as a healer.”

Didn’t seem like a fair tradeoff to her, but she wasn’t going to complain. “Ares, are you okay? Your legs…”

“They’re fine. Eidolon gave me a quick zap when he first got here, and I’m regenerating to heal the rest. So I really don’t need any medical help.” The last bit was aimed at Luc, who gave Ares the finger.

Hiding a smile, Cara reached for Ares’s hand… and noticed that Battle wasn’t on his arm. Instant alarm lanced her. “The horses. How are the horses?”

“They could use your help,” Ares said softly.

“You should have told me!” She leaped to her feet, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to contain her gasp of horror. Now she understood why Ares had held her the way he had, angled away from the animals.

The carnage was… unbelievable. Thanatos was kneeling next to Styx, who was a mass of bone erupting from muscle. His legs were twisted in awkward angles, and he had so many blades and arrows sticking out of him that he looked like a porcupine.

Battle and Bones bore similar injuries, and all of the horses were surrounded by people in scrubs, who were working frantically to save the stallions.

Cara scrambled over to Styx, who appeared to be in the worst shape—though the amount of play in that distinction could be measured in a thimble.

Styx’s eyes were closed, his nostrils flaring as he breathed. Blood bubbled up through the multiple wounds in his chest, and nothing the medical people were doing seemed to help.