When I woke up, darkness shrouded my vision at first. But the blinking clock on the nightstand told me it was nine o’clock at night. The day had not only been consumed by sleeping, but a delicious feeling crept over my body, and I curled in bed and smiled. I turned my head to the side, but the spot next to me was empty. I frowned and ran my hand over the sheets. Cold. Apollo had been gone awhile. Maybe he had never stayed. I couldn’t remember going to bed together.

I rolled onto my back and sighed. I had hoped to wake up in his arms. But if I had to be honest with myself, how would that have worked out between us?

What I felt for him hadn’t been just lust or a spell. Our time together wasn’t about sex anymore, although that was still a big part of it. It was so much more. Even while my body thrummed with desire, beneath the surface I longed for his affection, his attention, his time. My skin still tingled from his touch, and my breath caught as I remembered being under him. My chest expanded with excitement, passion, desire to the point of explosion.

Apollo had an I-don’t-care attitude. The first time we had connected together, he had fucked me from behind without kissing. It had been strangely impersonal. Maybe he’d taken me that way to avoid getting too close. Was he struggling with his emotions as well? The Apollo I had seen last was a very different god from the Apollo I had first met.

This god had been pure and kind and warm and loving. He was the kind of man I could fall desperately in love with. And just thinking those thoughts had my chest clenching because he affected me more than he should have.

I got out of bed, able to understand why Apollo had left. He was scared. What was the alternative? Play happy family, making breakfast together? Talking about a future like there could be one? He was a god, and I was a mortal. Yeah, I had power, and when we were together, our energies merged like they had been forged from the same enchantment. But we couldn’t exactly go changing our Facebook statuses or anything.

When I walked to the bathroom, my thighs ached from last night. Apollo was a big boy—in every way—and the tenderness between my legs was of the fucking-fantastic variety. I stepped into the shower, and when the steam rose around me, the hot water pouring over my skin, the shower filled with the musky spice of Apollo’s skin. I could still taste him on my tongue, feel his echo inside of me.

I smiled and couldn’t help it. I must have looked like a lovesick teenager, but thinking about Apollo brought images of our time between the sheets to mind. Our bodies pressed against each other, Apollo’s large frame covering mine, making me feel small and delicate. The way he was rough and gentle at the same time. The way he had taken me as if he had wanted to claim me.

And how I was okay with that at the moment? I couldn’t say my sentiments had changed in the clear light of day, but he was still Apollo, god of poetry and music, god of the sun. And I was a human. Yes, I was a Lowe, but I was everything but immortal or a god. Years after I perished, Apollo would live on, fucking other women.

Those thoughts drained the warmth and happiness from my body. I didn’t want to think about such things because I couldn’t see a solution any which way I looked at the situation.

“God, snap back to reality, Elyse.” I had to be honest with myself and admit that a relationship with Apollo wasn’t going to happen. Yet my chest ached at the thought.

I shook my head. I had to stop thinking about it, about what we had done. Nothing could come of our attraction.

After showering and drying my hair, it was almost midnight, and my routine was officially messed up. I walked to the kitchen to make something to eat.

I opened the fridge and stared at the leftovers. A sandwich would be perfect, so after making myself a PB&J, I walked into the living room. When I switched on the television, I found only the news was playing on every channel, I frowned.

Ten people had collapsed in town today, all of them dead with no explanation. Ten of them. The bodies had been taken to the morgue, but I knew they would never get autopsied. They would turn to dust and disappear.

I knew exactly what had happened to them. This was the work of X, which meant Hades was to blame for this because he hadn’t stopped him. What the fuck was he doing?

I put the sandwich down after taking only one bite, but I had lost my appetite. What a buzzkill. After I’d had a wonderful day with Apollo, this was the kind of news I didn’t need.

I still couldn’t believe Hades would allow humans to die and X to lose control. He was the god of the Underworld, not of death. And the person I had gotten carried away with that first time had been sexy and likeable. Even when we had been fighting, when I had been furious with him for letting me win, Hades had been constantly on my mind, completely and wholly. The sexual tension had ramped up between us toward the end, and I had nearly given in.

The moment I thought about Hades and our sexual attraction, I felt guilty. I had run away from Hades because I hadn’t been able to handle where our relationship was going. Then I had come home and slept with Apollo. What did that say about me?

Heracles had told me the gods didn’t see sex the same way humans did. They didn’t get emotionally involved. But I hadn’t been able to tell Heracles this was different. I couldn’t tell him emotions stirred within me for two gods. After I’d been with Apollo, I knew it wasn’t one-sided, either. At least not with him. Maybe it was one-sided with Hades. Our power had recognized each other, and there had been something there.

I was sure of it. There was a side of Hades that drew me. I’d felt evil in X. Yet there was nothing about Hades that was like that.

The images on the TV changed, drawing my attention again, and I watched as they showed the scene of the incident near The Bean sculpture at Millennium Park. There were police everywhere, but in the background, amidst the crowds, I spotted Hades. “What the hell?” I leaned closer, squinting at the bystanders. He was on camera, looking like a regular human to the rest of them, but I knew him. He couldn’t hide from me.

What bothered me most was the expression on his face. He had his arms crossed over his chest, his brows pulled together in a slight frown, but the overwhelming feeling that I got was that he was bored.

How could he be so blasé about death, about people dying?

Had I been wrong about him? Was he on Earth to cause mass destruction? Heracles had warned me Hades would make trouble.

I curled my hands in my lap, my pulse racing. Fuck! I actually cared about Hades, no denying it, even if I didn’t want to. I had hoped he would be a hero of some kind, not a villain.

But heroes didn’t look bored when they watched death and destruction.

The more I thought about it, the more riled up I grew, and I sucked in short, sharp breaths. I was born to fight, born to protect people. Right now, innocents were being harmed, and I was going to make sure they were avenged. I couldn’t save the ones already dead, but I could do something about the rest. X was number one on my list of villains to defeat. Hades was the next.

I left my sandwich on the coffee table and marched back to my room, getting dressed for battle. Lately, it felt like I was either dressed up in my leathers and weapons or I was naked. I pushed the thought away. Why had I been naked? I didn’t want to think about Apollo.

I drove down to the Millennium Park to where the murders had taken place and parked a couple of blocks away. The press were still milling around everywhere, with police officers and ambulances lighting up the area with red and blue flashing lights.

X had to be here somewhere. Killers loved watching the aftermath of their atrocities. So why wasn’t Hades doing anything to stop the monster? Or was he involved? I cringed on the inside, my gut hurting, not wanting to believe that. There were hundreds of souls to harvest tonight if he went on a killing spree. X wouldn’t… would he?

I couldn’t track him with all the flashing lights and people running around trying to make a difference with something that was already too far gone. I could feel him, though. It was subtle, nothing more than a shiver that ran down my spine, but it was enough to go by.

Eyes shut, I focused on that sensation. The chill of Death made the hair on my neck stand on end, and I tasted bile in my throat. I was terrified, no denying it. X was stronger than any god I had ever fought. He was pure evil. A small voice in the back of my mind shouted that I was running to my death if I was going to look him up. But I ignored the fear. The power around me rose, swelling, pressing, suffocating, and I knew, as I moved away from the people and toward the darkness, that I was on the right track.

But there was something else in the air tonight…something I couldn’t explain. Fear hung heavily in the night, looping around me, invading my mind. But this wasn’t me… it was someone else’s terror. Not the bystanders near the crime scene because this felt different. It curled over my skin like snakes, my focus changing to a carousel of thoughts about fighting to the end. Rage bubbling in my chest, my breath racing, muscles ready. All I felt was fury in that moment for the lost lives.

Revenge.

Nothing would stop me.

The power intensified as I moved closer, the air thickening. The terror became so strong, my legs moved faster. My own thoughts started to fade, the promise of facing Death propelling me forward. I was the only one who could stop this. If I didn’t, no one would.

“What are you doing here?” Hades barked, stepping in front of me from a crowd of people.

Startled at first, I froze on the cemented path before pushing ahead. “Get out of my way.”

Hades put his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. His power licked me like a giant tongue and revived my magic where it had been gasping for air, breaking through my power.

“You should leave,” he demanded, people brushing past us as if not noticing we stood there.

“Why? You can allow X to kill again?”

“What are you talking about?” Hades growled, his brow creasing into a dozen lines. He was pissed, but I wasn’t going to leave, no matter how scary he could be. What he and X were doing was deadlier. Rage churned within, starved for destruction, the pressure a raging sea forcing me to say things, yelling for me to shove Hades aside.

“The ten people who died here. Or is it so run-of-the-mill for you that you need to be reminded of the souls that were lost?”

Hades shook his head. “I’m not part of that.”

“Sure you’re not,” I snapped, remembering his facial expression on the television. “Now let me pass.”

I stepped forward, and my energy surged to challenge Hades’s if he pressed the matter. But at the same time, his power was a relief. It felt as if I could breathe again as my sexual arousal surged within. Approaching and focusing on X had accelerated my energy in a way that drove my adrenaline while Hades’s power soothed me. But I had to stop the fiend before anyone else died.

“You can’t beat him,” Hades declared, his voice matter-of-fact, as if I were a child who didn’t know any better.

“Because he won’t let me win like you will?” I asked. “You should be encouraging me to fight him. Another death to take credit for.”

His faced reddened, his eyes narrowing. I sensed his rage flare, the scalding heat from the river of lava now palpable right here on Earth.

But I was as pissed off as he was. He snatched my wrist and drew me near the building and away from the flow of people.

“This isn’t my fault,” he snarled. “I didn’t kill them.”

“No, X did. But who brought him here, Hades?”

“I don’t know!” he shouted, and I was taken aback for a second. Hades took a deep breath. “I don’t know what the fuck he’s doing here. I sure as shit didn’t invite the guy. I may be the ruler of the Underworld, but Death is piss-poor company to keep, let me tell you that.”

I paused for a moment. If Hades had no idea how X had come, then he wasn’t the villain after all. Or was he lying to me?

“Fine,” I said, shrugging as if his admittance didn’t affect me or remind me that I didn’t have to challenge him again. “I’ll scratch you off my dance card for tonight, but I’m taking X on, and you can’t stop me.” And with the last word leaving my mouth, the surge of fiery anger flowed through me once again, smoldering underneath my skin.

“Wanna bet?” Hades growled, his shoulders curling forward as he readied to manhandle me. He was determined, his black eyes steely. I wasn’t in the mood for his games. Any other day would have been fine, but if I couldn’t do the one thing I had been put on this Earth for, my existence was pointless.

“I’m going to fight him one way or another,” I hissed. “Especially if you’re not going to do anything about his murderous rampages.”

“It’s not that simple,” he insisted. “I’m not letting you battle him because you won’t win. Stop being so stubborn. Please. But if you insist on acting out with X instead of using your logic, you’ll have to get through me first.” His voice wavered as if saying the words shattered him. Something swam behind his gaze, a dreadful fear that I’d never seen on him before. What scared him so much?

Except he was stopping me from doing my job. From saving innocents. Nothing but blinding wrath throttled me, as if I’d lost control of everything. But that didn’t matter. Only stopping X did. My face burned, my fists clenched. I rolled my eyes, shaking off the shiver clinging to my flesh. What the hell was going on with me? Yet I couldn’t stop myself.

“Fine. If you want your ass kicked, I’m ready.” I drew my sword from the sheath on my back and brought it down straight, aiming for Hades’s face.