Darkness Becomes Her

Eighteen

“NO!” I SHOUTED AS ATHENA EASED HER LEGS DOWN SO THAT she straddled the roofline of the tomb, her feet dangling over the edge and swinging like a child’s. Her smug smile chilled me to the bone. “Please,” I whispered, hating myself for begging. “Don’t.”

“Ooh!” She clapped her hands together. “I know. How about we just show them instead? A little taste of what’s to come. Just a vision, not enough to hurt them. And just enough to show you, dear Ari, that you don’t belong here.”

Oh God.

I sank to my knees. “No,” my voice choked. “Please. Don’t do this.”

One corner of her mouth twisted up smugly. I knew it was too late. I saw it in the brutal glint and the incredible arrogance lighting the depths of her eyes.

Athena’s hands shot out, and from them came two shafts of crackling, green-tinged bolts. I didn’t even have time to stand, just stayed frozen on my knees as her power swirled around me, ruffling my clothing and lifting the wisps of my hair. The knot at the back of my head broke free. My hair lifted and spread out in white waves. My stomach clenched as I tried to double over, to curl into myself and hide, but an invisible force held me still, held my chin high and my shoulders straight. I fought against it, sweat breaking out on the small of my back.

I screamed, trying to lift my hands, to hold my hair down, to stop what was happening, but they wouldn’t cooperate. My knees lifted off the ground and I spun, facing the pale, stunned faces of my friends. Arms wide, completely open. No way to hide.

And Sebastian — Sebastian, who had one foot in front of him, was pressing forward but unable to move, unable to help. None of them able to move.

The only action I could make was with my eyes. They connected with Sebastian’s and grew glassy. My throat closed. My heart pumped at a frantic, painful pace. Then my hair began to separate into several twisted and swaying strands. My scalp burned fire.

Dear God, I’m on fire!

I shrieked — a horrible sound. I squeezed my eyes closed, forcing it to stop. Please! Just stop!

And then I felt them stirring beneath my scalp. My mouth fell open as I gasped for air that would not come. Revulsion shuddered through me, making my nerves electric with fear. Tears leaked hot from my eyes. No! No! No!

My scalp split, and it felt like smooth, round smoke slid up and out of my skin, turning and twisting around strands of my hair and becoming vague shadows of living things. Terrifying, living things. Smoky visions of what was to come. Writhing, twining together, a halo of sickening, milky white, yellow, and orange apparitions.

My eyes rolled back into my head. My heart thudded hard, one last time, unable to support the panic-driven adrenaline coursing through my veins. My eyes popped open against my will, Athena forcing me to watch. To see my friends.

My friends.

Backing up. Reaching out to one another for support. Horror whitening their stricken faces and dragging their mouths open.

No, I wanted to beg. Please don’t go.

But I couldn’t speak.

And Sebastian. Sebastian who had that one foot out, trying to break the invisible barrier and help me, stepped back.

He stepped back.

My chest deflated, sinking in, collapsing as the truth and the cold realization gripped the last remnants of hope I had and smashed them into smithereens. It shouldn’t have surprised me, really. Don’t get your hopes up and you don’t get hurt. Don’t trust or love and you don’t get hurt. I’d broken my own rules. And what sane or even slightly sane person wouldn’t run, or shit themselves, or become shell-shocked? I couldn’t blame them.

Crank held on to Henri’s arm, her face pressed against it, eyes as round as Frisbees. They all backed away. All but Violet, who stood amazed, slowly pushing up her Mardi Gras mask to reveal an expression of childlike wonder.

Henri rushed forward and grabbed Violet, jerking her back. She whipped around and bared her tiny fangs at him. He dropped her as though burned.

They were through the gate now, fingers wrapping around the bars and yelling at Violet to come, the voices muted and drowning in the chaos that swirled through my brain, mixing with the pain and the heartbreak.

In an act of defiance, Violet sat cross-legged on the ground. They finally gave up. Henri pulled Crank and Dub away from the bars and ran down the street. Sebastian hesitated, giving one last unfathomable look at me, hovering inside the cemetery, and then he hurried after the others.

Athena released me. A breath whooshed from my lungs as the weight of my body hit the ground, sinking into the softness. The side of my face slapped against the wet earth, and it felt good, that chill.

I stayed unmoving, too weak and too hurt to care.

Athena’s feet hit the ground and sauntered the few short steps to where I lay. Her booted toe shoved my shoulder, pushing me onto my back.

I gazed up at the face of the goddess, the cruel bitch who had a special place in hell, if such a place existed. She dropped down on her haunches and tenderly wiped the single stream of tears from the left side of my face, then rested her elbows on her knees. “You don’t belong here, child. They don’t want you. He doesn’t want you. Even the misfits have rejected you. There is no place for you in New 2, no place anywhere in this world that will accept you for what you are. Your home is with me.”

My chest tightened with the most intense despair and loneliness. Athena was right. The Bitch was right.

“You have until dusk to decide. Come home with me, daughter of Medusa. I will give you shelter, riches, your heart’s desire. You have but to submit to my rule, that is all.” She reached out and lifted a strand of my hair, rubbing it through her fingers, a flash of envy and bitterness passing through her eyes. “What will you do when you turn? Where will you go? Perhaps. . perhaps after a time I shall lift this curse from your body and give you your life back. Be a good girl, Aristanae, a good little minion, and I just might.”

Another trail of tears followed in the same wet path as Athena stood and disappeared.

I let my eyes close, rolled my body so that it was curled onto one side, pulled my legs and arms in, and cried silently into the wet grass.

Everything hurt. The outside. The inside. And I finally understood what it felt like to be broken. I let the anguish consume me and take me into a world of numb desolation.

After a long moment, Violet sat down behind me and snuggled against my back. The small act hurt so badly, fresh tears flowed. Violet. Little Violet had accepted me, had shown mercy and kindness and loyalty.

I woke to heat at my back and the lukewarm drizzle of rain on my face. Slowly, every muscle protesting, I pushed myself up onto my hip and gazed over my shoulder to see Violet curled up on the grass, with Pascal stretched out beside her. The kid’s hand rested lightly on the leaves beside her face, the exposed wrist and hand so thin and fragile.

I rubbed the dryness from my puffy eyes and waited for my vision to return. Memories flooded me instead. Of my past, my curse, and what Athena had done to me to bend my will.

A depressed sigh escaped me as I gathered my long hair and shoved it over my shoulder. Now I understood why my mother had ended her life, why so many before her had done the same. I knew why the harpy had fled into the swamp, rather than back to civilization. Being alone was far better than seeing the frightened, horrified faces of those around you, those you cared for.

Music drifted through the cemetery, faint and crass. A brass band. Trumpet. Drums. Cymbals.

Violet’s nose twitched. Her black lashes moved against pale skin. Her small hand dipped into the softness of the ground and she pushed herself up. She tucked her black bob behind one ear and then tilted her small face toward the misty sky.

I scooted back some. Dampness had seeped through my clothes and onto my skin. The drizzle gathered and ran down the side of my face. “Violet, why did you stay?”

Pascal waddled into Violet’s lap. Her slim fingers stroked his back as she turned her face away from the drizzle, large black eyes full of weight and mystery. “I thought you looked beautiful.”

Fresh pain squeezed my sore heart. I swallowed down the tears that wanted to rise again and instead gave a small laugh. “Thanks.” Only Violet, only this small Gothic doll with a penchant for reptiles and sequins was willing to accept me.

The time I had spent with Violet since coming to New 2 was short, but from those first interactions, there was a connection. One, I think, that stemmed from our uniqueness, from recognizing a kindred soul. Her staying here with me. Her acceptance of me. I knew then that I’d do anything for her.

“The parade is coming,” she said. “The kids’ parade. We were supposed to be in it.” Her head angled toward the music. “It’s almost dusk.”

Goose bumps sprouted along my cold thighs and arms. The drizzle had forced a low mist to the ground, a thin gray shroud upon the grass. The sky above was lost in a sea of haze and thick clouds. The gnarled branches of the oak tree nearby spread out like dark lightning across the sky.

“She’ll be back soon,” Violet said. “What are you going to do?”

I glanced at the tomb where Athena had appeared. “I don’t know.”

“You should kill her.”

“Me. Kill a goddess.” Right.

Violet shrugged and got to her feet, wiping the grass and bits of stone and debris from her black dress and her hair before righting the mask on her head, leaving it up so her face was still visible.

The music became louder, but the mist hid the Mardi Gras revelers. I stood, shaking out my long hair and shivering despite myself. Knowing what I was, what I’d become. . I wondered how many of my ancestors had actually been able to live with the change, with being a monster, rather than end their own lives. And how many had died by the sword of the τερας hunters? In the end, the outcome was always the same. So why had Athena decided to spare me?

Going with Athena seemed like my only option. That or disappearing. And where will you go? How can you live with those things on you? Those things that inspired more fear in me than death itself.

Violet bumped me. “She’s here.”

I whirled. Athena perched on the long, thick branch of the oak tree. She jumped down and strolled over. “Have you come to a decision, gorgon?”

This thing, this goddess had caused so much death and heartache to my family, to thousands of women over the centuries. I knew, in that moment, I could never give in. I’d rather die like all the others. But more than that, I’d rather have vengeance. “Go fuck yourself, Athena.”

Violet grabbed my hand, squeezing tightly. I wanted to shove her back, to tell her to run, but doing that would draw Athena’s attention to the child.

Athena struck me across the cheek so quickly, I didn’t even have time to tense. The hot sting and shock sent a gasp through my mouth. My ears rang, and pain shot through my face.

Slowly I righted myself, grinding my teeth together and clenching my fists as I faced the tall goddess. Athena grabbed my chin, squeezing hard, and leaned down close to my face. Her eyes gleamed with an impossible inner light, a beautiful sight if one could get past the cruel twist of her lips. “You should watch your mouth, little one. Or I shall put your head on a stake like I did your mother’s.”

“My mother killed herself,” I ground out, furious that she’d even mentioned my mother.

“And I claimed her body. She looked quite nice outside my temple.”

Anger flashed bright and white behind my eyelids. I swung with all my strength, but she caught my hand and leaned close even as I struggled. “You hear that sound, Aristanae? Those are your friends, those are the children of New 2 who are about to pass by this cemetery and die at the hands of my army.”

Behind Athena’s shoulder, I saw movement in the gray mist, movement that made the fog swirl, revealing bits and pieces, images of Athena’s creations as they gathered from the fog. Lurking atop tombs, walking slowly over the ground, leaping from the tree limbs. Hideous, gnarled things. Things that looked as though Frankenstein himself had been at work. Athena’s army.

“Those”—Athena tossed a nod over her shoulder, dropping her hand from my chin—“are your family now. Made, like your ancestor, of curses and power. They would worship you as a queen, you know. You belong with them. With me. Come, and I shall never set foot in New 2 again.”

The parade music became louder. Closer. I flicked a glance over my shoulder, getting my first gray glimpse of the parade as it progressed slowly down the street beyond the iron fence. Soon they would pass the cemetery gate, and if Athena wasn’t bluffing, they were all in danger.

I turned back to the goddess. “Why not just kill me like all the others?”

“Because you are different from the others, and I’ve found a better use for you.” Her face softened somewhat. “You have the heart of a rebel, Ari. I was once the same, once wanted to fight battles I knew I couldn’t win simply because the reason was just and right. But all those things, hope, innocence, optimism, faith. . They are fleeting, and what do you have left? You must grow up, realize your place, and what is best. Swear fealty to me, and you will be safe.”

My eyes narrowed as a strange sense of confidence rose in me. Athena was trying too hard to make her case and convince me. She’d given me all this time to decide, all this time alive, unharmed. A sharp burst of laughter bubbled into my throat. “You’re really afraid of me, aren’t you?”

Athena blinked and straightened. Her jaw twitched. “I am the Goddess of War, little child. I am afraid of no one, for I cannot die. I am Death, for I murdered the Goddess of Death in her bed. Best you remember that, for your friends are here.”

The parade didn’t pass by the gate, but turned beneath it instead. What the hell?

All masked. All on foot.

Shit.

The masked figures spread out behind me and Violet. The music stopped. My heart pounded as indecision gripped me. Had they gone crazy?

A black-clad figure in a cape strode forward and pushed up his mask. Sebastian. Our eyes locked. He nodded as a light breeze swept past me. Another figure stepped up. Michel. And then eight more. The Novem had come. And Dub, Henri, and Crank. All grim-faced. All prepared to fight.

They’d come back.

Reinforcements continued filing into the cemetery.

A soft blush appeared on Athena’s cheeks as the goddess’s angry eyes fixed on the revelers. “This is none of your business, Novem,” she spat. “I made her. She’s mine.”

“She stopped being yours the moment you turned on your creation and had Medusa murdered. The gorgons have never been yours. They were their own, free to choose. Free to live,” Michel said in a deep, confident voice, walking with Sebastian and the others to stand beside me.

The hideous line of monsters and humanoid creatures behind Athena hissed and fidgeted, ready to fight, to attack, to kill. My skin crawled.

“You would start a war over her?” Athena raged. “She is of no use to you. She is not mature. She has no power.”

“No,” said Josephine. “Not yet, but all we must do is protect her from you, and once her power comes, you will never be a threat to New 2 again.”

Athena hissed loudly, her face shifting into death and then back again. “Then war it shall be.”

“Heed your actions carefully, goddess,” Michel said. “For we are evenly matched.”

Athena ignored Michel and threw out her hands, tossing her head back and issuing a piercing supernatural war cry.

My eardrums vibrated as Sebastian grabbed my hand and jerked me and Violet away from the front line. The Novem and their family members rushed forward to engage Athena and her minions. Their speed was unnaturally fast. Their capes and limbs swirled the mist. Hideous things flew and fought and screeched. Red arced through the mist as blood flowed.

I pulled against Sebastian, tripping over marble as he ran. “Let me go!”

We reached the back of the line near the gate. “You can’t stay here.”

“I have to! This is my fight, Sebastian. I can’t leave.”

“You have to leave! They’re giving their lives to protect you!”

I hesitated. Confusion settled on my shoulders. “Why?”

He moved closer. “My father told me everything. You’re a god-killer, Ari.”

“What?”

“Athena. When she cursed Medusa and gave her the power to turn anyone to stone, she forgot to exempt the gods. When she realized her mistake, she created the τερας hunters to destroy Medusa and all the descendants after her. You alone have the power to turn her and any other god to stone.”

“Then why didn’t she just kill me like all the others?”

“Because before she held the power of the Aegis. It was a weapon that made it nearly impossible to defeat her. But she lost it, so now she needs you. A new weapon to destroy the other gods, to kill us, who the hell knows”—he shoved me—“but you have to run!”

Two creatures broke through the line. Sebastian ducked as one leaped at him. It sailed over his back and rolled. The other one swung a wicked-looking blade toward me. I ducked, kicked its knee, and then backhanded its face, spinning and lifting the sword from its hand, my momentum allowing me to complete a three-sixty and use the extra force to swing the blade down, beheading the creature.

Its head rolled into the mist.

Jesus! My heart hammered in disbelief at what I’d just done. But I didn’t have time to think more. Another one came and I fought, yelling to Sebastian to get Violet and the other kids to safety. But Violet was already scurrying up one of the trees and the others were fighting, using their size to defeat or distract their opponents as the Novem and their families were using their own magic and abilities to fight.

Physical and brutal, the vampires attacked in a frenzy. I froze for a moment, seeing Gabriel — even without the mask, I knew it was him — tear a creature’s throat out with his fangs, just as vicious as the shape-shifters’ claws and jaws as they rushed the line. A figure rushed past, winked at me, leaped into the air, and shifted into a brown wolf before his paws ever landed on the ground. Hunter Deschanel. One of the guys I’d freed from Athena’s prison.

And then my eyes found the goddess standing with a blade in each hand, working them with preternatural speed and cutting down any opponent who came her way. Her eyes glowed a deep, deep green.

Pain exploded in my skull.

I fell, not even seeing the blow from behind as a creature jumped on me. I shouted Sebastian’s name, but he was engaged in a battle against two creatures. Rough hands flipped me over and found my throat, squeezing hard. I kicked, tried to roll, but to no avail. A gray, leathery face sneered at me. Hairless. Small holes for a nose. No lips, nothing to shield the rows of sharp tiny teeth that snapped at me.

And then I remembered Arachne and the harpy.

I needed to get his hands off my neck.

Gathering what little strength I had left, I kicked up with both legs, twisting my torso and catching the creature’s head between my calves. I dragged him off with a downward thrust of my legs. As soon as the hands left my throat I screamed their names into the mist, adding every ounce of force I had to increase the volume.

“Mapsaura! Arachne!”

I felt the air change with the power of their names, charging, electrifying, and shooting into the clouds.

The creature ducked out from my pin. I turned to run, to yell their names again, but he grabbed my head with both hands, his claws digging into my temples. He had a firm grasp, pulling my head up, trying to disconnect the skull from the base of the spine. Christ! I couldn’t hold on much longer, he was too strong. His arm slid around my neck, choking again.

My heart slowed. Pressure built in my face. All around me, the battle seemed to slow as my lungs failed.

Wind blew down, billowing the mist, scattering leaves and debris.

A loud, piercing screech rent the air.

I heard the flap of massive wings just before the creature on me was picked up. I was lifted two feet off the ground before he let go, and I fell onto my back and watched in shock as the mist tornadoed up, pulled by the wake of the harpy and her prey.

Three seconds later the creature’s body came hurtling back to earth to break upon a tomb.

Mapsaura landed at my feet.

I gulped, gasping for air and completely stunned that my call had worked. “Thank you.”

The small nostrils on the beak flared. The harpy’s head swung around and froze, eyes zeroing in on Athena. And then I saw Arachne, flinging bodies left and right, trying to make it to the goddess who had imprisoned her for so long.

Mapsaura bent at the muscular knees and pushed off the ground, shooting straight up, disappearing into the mist, and then torpedoing down, aiming straight for Athena as Arachne broke free and made for the goddess.

Both creatures hit her at once.

But Athena wasn’t the goddess of war for nothing. She caught each creature on a blade and used their momentum to throw them behind her. The harpy rolled herself right, finally stopping with her great talons digging a rut into the dirt. Map-saura stretched her wings wide and a bone-chilling scream ripped from her throat, the sound almost as loud as Athena’s war cry.

As Athena turned, distracted, a bolt of power from Michel and Sebastian, their hands combined, hit her square in the chest.

I blinked, storing away for another time the fact that Sebastian had that kind of power.

Athena flew back from the warlock blast as the harpy took flight again. Arachne lay on the ground, unmoving. But I saw Athena’s quick realization. Her creatures were falling to the Novem. And here in New 2, her powers were diminished. She could be defeated.

“Fall back!” the goddess shouted, glancing up just in time to see the harpy barreling from the sky, her wings folded flat against her back.

Athena vanished.

Mapsaura’s eyes went wide. Her wings unfurled and caught the air for two seconds before she rolled to the side, skimming the ground. Her talons punched into the soft soil, giving her enough room to flap her wings and push her high enough to skid-land atop one of the tombs. Slate roof tiles scattered as her talons dug in for support.

One by one Athena’s creatures disappeared into the mist.

A hushed quality descended on the cemetery, the steady fall of rain becoming the dominant sound.

Bodies littered the ground. Moans and voices broke the eerie quiet. I made my way to Sebastian and Michel near the tomb where Mapsaura perched, but a broken body lay in my path. I stumbled. Jesus. It was Daniel. I dropped down next to him. Blood bubbled from a throat that had been ripped away. His eyes blinked rapidly. His mouth worked, trying to speak, but no sound came out.

“Oh my God, Daniel,” I whispered, kneeling to help him but not knowing what to do. Josephine appeared next to me. “He’ll live, right? He’s a vampire. He’ll live.”

Two vampires, I think, walked forward and picked Daniel up. His head separated from his body, and the thin piece of skin holding him together ripped. My stomach rolled. I scooted back on my ass.

“He’s already dead,” Josephine said without a speck of emotion, and then walked away as the two men dumped Daniel’s body, leaving him in a broken pile. A pile that suddenly collapsed into itself and turned to ash.

I gagged. Bile stung my throat. I swallowed it down, turning and staggering away from the ash as my gaze caught briefly on Violet scrambling down from the tree.

I focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Sebastian turned, seeing me approach. My eyes connected with his, and I opened my mouth just as a tingle of warning pricked my skin.

The hairs on my arms stood up.

Athena appeared at my back, instantly wrapping her arms around me. Her lips brushed the rim of my ear. “You know what they say.” Her voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “If I can’t have you. . no one will.” Her lips moved away from my ear. “Oh, and before you die, I want to thank you for leaving your father behind when you set the others free from my prison.”

My insides shriveled. “What?”

She laughed. “Ironic, isn’t it? A τερας hunter falling in love with your mother, a gorgon, the very monster he was charged with killing. As your spirit leaves you, I want you to think of him, of all the things I have done to him for betraying me and not killing Eleni when he had the chance. All the things I am going to do to him now. Good-bye, little monster.”

Athena shoved me away from her.

It seemed like it happened in slow motion. I stumbled to my knees, getting just a glimpse of the horror sliding over Sebastian’s features and the blur that was Violet dropping out of the tree. Shock. I was in shock.

Athena raised a τερας blade to take my head.

Time had slowed to the point that all the images of my life flashed randomly. But one image seemed to slow more than all the others — the image of me holding Athena’s wrist at the Arnaud ball and making it turn to stone.

I had three and a half years left before maturing into a gorgon, but there was power inside me. I’d used it before, and that was the difference. I was different from all those before me. Time, evolution, the genes of my father. . whatever the factors, I knew. I was a god-killer.

The blade sliced through the air. Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard a shout and a child’s scream. But it didn’t matter. It was happening too fast, too fast for any of them to help me. My blood hummed. My eyes locked onto the blade as it arced toward my neck.

I bowed my head and lifted my tingling hand, opening my palm, releasing all my anger, all the pain of my own life, my mother’s life, and all of the pain I had felt as Medusa, my ancestor.

The blade met my hand.

And broke against stone.

The sound rang out in a deep, echoing pop, an exploding circle of power, the force of it flattening everyone to the ground. I raised my head as the broken part of the blade flew through the air, and I met Athena’s astonished eyes.

My heart sounded slow and loud in my ears.

I shouldn’t have been able to do that; I could see the same thought in Athena’s stunned expression. Yet I had. My hand, I saw, was white like marble, white that was beginning to return to its fleshy color. I could control this power, and I didn’t have to turn into some monster to use it.

Then Athena blinked. Time returned to normal at the same instant that Violet hit Athena’s back from behind, her arms coming around the goddess’s neck and her little fangs sinking into the skin as one of her hands lifted a small dagger and plunged it into Athena’s heart.

A scream bubbled in Athena’s throat.

Shock and dread sent me falling back on my ass as the shout of Violet’s name, by many voices, echoed over the wet grounds.

And then they were gone.

Vanished, leaving behind the swirling mist. The hilt of Athena’s broken blade dropped against a slab of marble as Violet’s bloodied dagger thudded against the soft ground.

“Violet!” I screamed.