On my way to the shops on Saturday morning, a goddamn centaur ran across the road in front of my car. My heart hit the back of my throat as he galloped away, propelling forward, a thundering of hooves resonating in his wake. Muscles rippled from under his chestnut pelt and powerful legs, black hair flowing wildly over his powerful shoulders and back.

I slammed on my brakes, not to swerve out of the way, but to get out and fight the damn thing. Behind me, a car’s tires screeched at my sudden halt, so I swung over to the curb. No one on the sidewalk or in traffic panicked because humans couldn’t see the creature. Centaurs were invisible to humans. All creatures were.

I’d hoped for a relaxing day at the mall, but the Lowes never got a day off. My dad had taught me that at a young age, and it was true as I rarely spent days with my friends and watching TV growing up. I’d always get called to attend urgent missions, like the time we’d had to capture and contain a chimera.

I put on my hazards and locked my car before setting off after the beast. A centaur had the torso of a man and the body of a horse, so with four legs, it could outrun me. But it wouldn’t. They were just another of the creatures sent to battle the Lowes, and as soon as he caught my scent, he would whip around and gallop back for me. I had no plans to hunt the whole day. Finish this fast, I told myself, and go shopping for new lenses for my camera.

We were in the middle of the city, but the humans wouldn’t see us in combat. Another perk of being a Lowe. As soon as we engaged in battle, I became cloaked by invisibility so the mortals didn’t know what was going on. So a supernatural brawl could take place in the midst of a crowd of people, and no one would be aware. Both a blessing and a curse.

No one could come to my aid if needed, but no one would see me be a hero either. Still, I kept my distance from a lot of people for a reason—wouldn’t want to suddenly disappear in case a monster attacked me out of the blue. People would freak out.

Well, if Heracles crossed my path, he’d see me battle, but he kept out of other gods’ business, insisting it was my destiny to eradicate the monsters, not his.

Oh, well.

We ran through the streets, the clattering of hooves so loud on the tarmac, I could almost feel it reverberating down to my soul.

He came to an abrupt stop, grunting in the process, looking like he’d hit the horse brakes, then turned his evil eyes to me, empty pools of black that didn’t have the capacity for sympathy and compassion the way every human inherently did. A centaur was more monster than man, which was why I had no problem looking the creature straight in the eyes and vanquishing it before it killed anyone.

Even though the humans couldn’t see us once we fought, we still needed space. We couldn’t do it in the middle of traffic with cars getting shoved about, or hitting the invisible beast and denting a vehicle, without the people inside even knowing why. But it also made it harder for me to keep track of my enemy with so much commotion. And I didn’t want innocents caught in the crossfire.

But we’d reached Garfield Park, and I smirked, sidestepping the creature, who’d come to a complete stop. There was more than enough space and only a few humans to get in my way. The grass was lush green and short, and we were in a great clearing, where I drew an imaginary circle in my mind around us.

I would stay in that circle to keep the beast exactly where I wanted.

Taking on a centaur was no joke. The damn thing was as strong as a football player with four legs. This was dangerous in a lot of ways, but I was just as strong. If not stronger. Quicker than regular humans. Still, outrunning a centaur wasn’t going to happen.

So I’d battle smart, as Heracles had taught me.

“You know you’re not going to win.” He snorted, hot air wafting from his fluttering nostrils. Thick eyebrows crowned dark eyes, his lips lined thin, and the only emotion in his gaze was that of death. Mine.

Of course, the downside of having a human side to this creature was that he had a mouth, and centaurs were cocky and arrogant.

“Let’s get this over with so I can get back to my life,” I called out.

He laughed, the sound grating on my nerves and that only pissed me off. “I’ve nowhere else to be. We have all day. Then I’m planning on running a rampage through the city, taking as many lives as possible. Should be fun.” He snorted again, his lip curling upward. At a fast glance, one could easily mistake him for a Minotaur with his long face, muscular torso, and horns. Maybe this centaur was more deer than horse. But those Minotaur bastards were in a league of their own.

The centaur lunged for me, hooves digging into the green grass, kicking up clumps of soil. Whoever maintained the lawn here was going to have a field day trying to figure out what had ripped the grass to shreds when we were done.

Because the centaur was bigger than me, I had to attack him Matador-style. I was smaller and had quicker reflexes, so I kept him in my imaginary circle, waiting until he was on me before I jumped out of the way.

“What, no sword?” he asked.

“I don’t usually take my sword with me when I go shopping.” I wished I had weapons, though, as I’d trained with everything from knives and swords to bo staffs and nunchakus. I could hold my own in any battle.

But I also fought hand-to-hand. Or hand-to-hoof as the case may be.

“You humans are so petty with your materialism,” the centaur hissed. He spun around to get to me again. A horse could turn on a dime, but with a long body, it took a hell of a lot of effort.

“Never wanted anything?” I asked. “Surely a new saddle would suit you well. Maybe a muzzle while we’re at it.”

He grunted. “Only your head on a platter.”

“Touché,” I retorted, jumping around the centaur when he came at me again, staying at his flank as much as I could.

The idea was to tire him out and eventually get an advantage. To strike out. These guys were all about acting before thinking.

But on the next turn, I didn’t get out of the way fast enough, and he reached for my head. Dread slammed into my chest. I ducked and threw myself into a forward roll, the swish of air across the back of my head from his swinging hand missing me by inches. Jumping to my feet, I spun around. If the bastard managed to get a hold of me, I’d be screwed. He could strangle me to death. Those arms weren’t bred for beauty; the bulging biceps were deadly.

“You’re adorable when you try so hard,” the centaur snarled. “Almost a pity to kill you.”

“What are you trying to do, flatter me to death?” I teased. But my heart raced, needing to keep my head straight and focused.

On the next turn, I leaped out of the way and aimed a kick at his front leg. I connected above the joint, and the centaur stumbled. His eyes widened, wild, well aware of what was coming next.

A horse’s legs were fragile on a good day, and they didn’t heal quick or well. This creature’s weakness was in the legs.

In a change of our little dance, the centaur turned in the other direction, offering me his rear. I dropped to the ground, my face pressed against the grass. The centaur kicked. Air buffeted across my back. A kick like that would shatter my sternum, liquidize my face.

The smell of the soil was in my nostrils, and the Earth hummed and trembled as if it were alive. This was new. Dirt wasn’t supposed to shudder, but I didn’t have time to focus on what was going on. I rolled out of the way when the beast tried to trample me, and I scrambled up again.

“You’re good. I’ll give you that,” the centaur declared as if he were doing me a favor. “But Heracles didn’t do enough. He never does. Your people all die in the end. And you’re the last Lowe.”

I saw white when he mentioned my family, my entire body trembling with anger.

His evil smile tugging his lips apart revealed yellowing teeth. I burned from the inside out with rage, but he stormed me, the hooves thundering. He knew he could get me this way. The fight was physical, but he was screwing with my head. Ass.

My rage didn’t cripple me as he’d hoped. Instead, it fueled me.

I let out a battle cry and waited for the enormous body to charge. Rather than jump out of the way again, I stayed close to the shoulder and at the last second, grabbed the centaur’s thick foreleg. Instead of going limp, which would have thwarted me, he stiffened, and that gave me the grip I needed.

I swung onto his back, landing with my legs wide over the horse’s body behind the torso. I locked my arms around his throat in a choke.

The centaur clawed at my arms and gasped for air, stomping around. He couldn’t buck me off as long as I pulled the body back. I was going to win this one.

But he kept bouncing about. I clung on. My body slipped as he wrestled me to the side, and I slid off his back. As soon as I dangled from the side, the horse body bucked like a rodeo star, and I lost my grip. Blood fled my face as my pulse thundered in my veins.

I was flung to the side and fell to the ground with a thud, the breath forced out of my lungs. For a moment, I panicked, gasping for air.

The centaur chortled and stormed toward me. He was going to trample me. I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. The ground shook beneath me as those hooves pounded closer.

Before I met my fate, the centaur squealed in a strange, high-pitched voice that wasn’t human at all, despair twisting his expression. Then the creature disappeared right before my eyes.

I caught my breath and scrambled up, spinning around, looking for him. What had grabbed him?

A shadow moved between the trees that surrounded the clearing. I frowned and followed the silhouette into the trees. I tensed, preparing for an ambush. Where the hell had the centaur gone? What new trick was this?

Dark eyes turned on me, shimmering red. The man was tall and lean, but he embodied strength. He was dark, and he had the longest hair I had ever seen on a man, but there was nothing feminine about him. In fact, there was nothing alive about him either. A shiver crawled up my spine in his presence.

“Did you kill the centaur?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said with a voice that sounded like a thousand whispers all around me, and in that moment, something surged through me. A thundering fire shot through my veins, shaking me at the core. An anger that demanded I destroy this stranger, all rationality fleeing my mind, just the insatiability to destroy him.

“I am Death,” he boomed.

“X? What the fuck?” I asked, suddenly terrified. Was this really Death? Yet the earlier anger intensified, but if he came at me now, I would die immediately. I shook my head, trying to clear the anger burning through me, screaming I could take him out. I had to eliminate him this very moment. I gripped the ground around me, bunching up the grass, needing to clear my head.

He laughed, and the sound danced on my skin, brushing against me like velvet. I rubbed my arms, as if that would make the prickly feeling go away, fighting the urge to fight. What was happening to me? Any other monster, and I’d have his head, but this was fucking Death, and yet my instincts were taking over to fight a terrifying foe without strategy.

“I’m sure you know the answer to who I am.” He tilted his head to the side, studying me as if I were a mouse and he the lion about to pounce.

And in a blink, he disappeared as if he had never been. The fury rolled off my body in an instant, and I exhaled loudly as sweat dripped down my spine. I remained alone, feeling as if I would throw up. My stomach turned, and I heaved for a moment, sure I was going to lose my breakfast.

When none of that happened, I pushed up, scanned the park, now barren of both creatures, and walked stiffly to my car. I had been loose and comfortable in the fight, my muscles warmed up and my mind sharp. But now, after seeing X—Death had a pet name, how ironic—I felt like I’d been hit by a bus. My mind was fuzzy, and my muscles ached. And how the hell had he made me feel so out of control?

I reached my car, but instead of heading to the mall, I drove to Heracles’s place. Shit was going down and fast. I’d never met X before and had never hoped to, but if this was who I’d felt coming to Earth, I was out of my league when it came to facing him.

Heracles stayed in a two-story white house on the outskirts of town with a garden filled with olive trees. He actually pickled them, he’d once told me. I visit his place often, and every time it felt as if I had been transported to Greece.

“What happened?” Heracles asked when he answered the door. Concern pinched the edges of his eyes.

“X is here,” I declared, the words blurting out, even though they sounded wrong. Maybe I’d made a mistake. Except I knew that when it came to the gods, they reveled in declaring who they were, their egos always inflated. So I had to believe I had come face to face with Death.

Heracles’s face blanched as he let me into the house. My footfalls echoed across the marble floor as I marched to the red chaise longue in the living room and collapsed on the cushions, my legs giving out. A blue sky with clouds had been painted on the ceiling, giving the room a bigger feel. No television for Heracles, just stone pillars at each corner, an elaborately carved coffee table, more lounges. Extravagant paintings of green fields and different deities lined the walls. He never told me who was who, but my favorite was of a young, beautiful woman in a simple white dress hunting with a bow and arrow. I guessed that she was Artemis. This home was a place for entertaining, except I doubted Heracles invited many people over. Unless he had gods popping over frequently.

“You saw him?” His voice grew stern.

I told him about the events with the centaur, how I hadn’t been able to finish off the fight. I had nearly died, but I left that part out to avoid a lecture.

“X sends them, so I guess with him here, they won’t bother you anymore,” Heracles said. “I know that’s no consolation.” He paced around the living room. “Was X alone?”

I nodded, unsure how I felt about the whole idea of the creatures not bothering me anymore. Was that because X planned to finish me off himself? And if that was the case, why hadn’t he gotten it over with when he’d had the chance?

“I wonder why Hades wasn’t with him. Usually, they’re together.” He scratched his chin.

“Yeah, I heard that,” I said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s big. It’s everywhere. I can feel it just like this overwhelming rage to destroy him, my body shaking with urgency. Is that part of the Zeus blessing? Though I’d never felt it with any other creature I fought.”

Heracles pressed his hand against his forehead. He looked like he was stumped, and it wasn’t a good look on the man I had turned to for answers.

“You have to help me with this,” I insisted. “I can’t do this alone.”

He put his enormous hands on my shoulders, cupping them. Strength lay behind them, and he’d crush my bones in moments if he so chose.

“You must do this alone,” he said. “You have to. I can’t fight with you, you know that.”

“Why not?” I demanded, shocked that Heracles would turn me down after everything we’d been through together, after all the lessons, after he knew my fears and strengths. Sure, he didn’t get involved in usual fights, I got that, but this was Death, for fuck’s sake.

Heracles let go of me and shook his head. “Because if I join you, I’m declaring war against my family. That will have far worse repercussions rippling through Olympus than you could ever imagine. These are your demons to face. I will be there to guide you as best I can. I can’t fight with you without creating a war amid the gods. I am on Earth as a promise to my father to train you, not get involved. Or he’d punish not only me, but most likely you as well.”

I shook my head. “These are not my demons.”

“Yes, they are. Your past terrifies you, but you can defeat them, and you can fight Hades. Zeus wouldn’t have chosen your family if he thought you would fail.” Sorrow wove behind his words, and I hated putting him in this situation. Heracles was a hero, not someone who backed away from someone in need.

But what if Zeus had been wrong about my family lineage? He had to be so disappointed because every other Lowe in the world had failed. Who said I wasn’t next in line to die a tragic death, to ruin a legacy? Who said I could do this at all?

“Maybe I can defeat Hades,” I said, highly doubtful. “But if I run into X and we fight, I’m going to lose. He’s more powerful than me. There’s no question about that.” I curled my hands into fists to stop myself from trembling.

Heracles didn’t answer me or tell me I would be fine, that I could beat him if I fought smart and hard and dug deep to find my true power.

He didn’t say anything because I was right.