Chapter Twenty-Two

Mayhem

"W hat the fuck!" I hear Kill exclaim suddenly, and I push through the stalled guys to see Poca and a Poca-sized Meri staring back at us and seemingly standing guard in front of something.

Before any of us can question what the fuck is going on, a figure launches itself from behind them and attacks the person that they're closest to, who just so happens to be Kill. All of us step forward to get involved and stop the fight, but Poca stops us all with a growl.

"Cerb?" Hades questions confused.

"It's fucking Farren!" Loki gasps, gripping his chest like he's been punched in the heart; a quick glance at Storm shows that he's doing the same, and from the grimace on Kill's face, he's feeling the same thing.

Kill has already realised that he's fighting Farren, but she still has her eyes closed, I'm guessing isn't fully aware that we're here.

"Fuck, she's a damn good fighter," Khaos mutters from behind me and I glance back to see an impressed glint in his eyes.

"Just you wait," Zev chuckles, clearly knowing something that we don't. He turns to Storm, "You're going to have to use your voice on her. You know it pisses her off enough to make her stop."

I just stare; I can't actually believe that she's here, although it doesn't surprise me at all that she saved herself.

"Farren, that's enough; you're going to Kill, Killian." Storm's voice is gruff and filled with emotion, but it does the job.

She stops, her hand centimetres from Kill's face, and I watch as she very slowly opens her eyes.

"Kill?" she questions, her voice rough.

"Hey," he replies.

He doesn't get anything else out as she jumps at him, pulling him close and kissing him thoroughly. She gets quickly pulled out of Kill's arms and into Loki's as he kisses her just as fiercely; Storm does the same, getting a kiss as well.

Zev pulls her in close and whispers something in her ear. Whatever it is has her nodding as she buries her head in his chest, and he holds her incredibly gently and kisses the top of her head with so much affection that it leaves absolutely no doubt in my mind that he loves her.

When she pulls back and looks up at Zev, her smile is incredibly fragile, and I know that we're all terrified about that look; Farren is many things but never fragile. The fact that she is showing us that she is or a part of her fills me with so much pride because it means that she trusts us completely.

I also hate that the princes and probably Helliers have put that look there. I want to spend hours pulling the blood from their bodies through every pore possible in the most excruciating way as their organs shut down and their magic turns against them. There's far more that you can do with a water gift than people realise, especially one as strong as mine.

My twin looks at her surprisingly nervously, but she doesn't give him a moment to dwell on it. Instead, she jumps and wraps her arms and legs around him. Her hands go into his hair and his face buries into her neck, even from here I can see the shuddering breaths that he's taking. He's only been holding her for a few moments when he glances up searching the room and his eyes land on me. That's all the prompting I need, and I stride over; he turns her, making her face fill with confusion before her eyes land on me, and she smiles, reaching for me.

I hug her in much the same way as my twin. As soon as she's in my arms, I feel something inside me click into place, her presence soothing the sharp edges of my soul. I want to hold onto her forever but I know that Reaper is standing to the side of me and I'm sure there's only so far I can push it before Ryu takes the situation into his own claws, if he hasn't already.

I turn to give her to him, and I'm surprised as Ryu lets Reaper pull her in for a gentle hug before he comes out to play.

"Mine," he growls, taking a deep inhale of her neck and then rubbing his face there.

It surprises me that when Grey clears his throat, Ryu just rolls his dragon eyes and steps back, allowing Reaper to come forward again and letting go of Farren so that she can go to Grey.

She surprises me when she doesn't immediately hug him like she has everyone else. Instead, she raises her eyebrow, crosses her arms over her chest, and says, "I think I prefer it when you've got your wings out, Hades."

His eyes widen as heat flares through them at hearing his true name on her lips. I can't help but smirk; she has no idea what she just did to him, and that makes it so much better. I then see panic flash through his eyes, like he thinks she's going to be scared of him or something equally ridiculous. Relief quickly replaces the fear as she launches herself at him, and he wraps her tightly in his arms. There's a look of understanding on his face; he's been in the cells before, and he has a better idea than anyone what she's been through. He gently kisses her cheek and then lowers her to the floor, keeping one arm wrapped around her.

"I want to introduce you to someone," he says, and Farren looks up at him curiously, "this is Khaos, my second in command and friend."

Farren's curiosity is peaked, but as he moves out of the way so that she can see Khaos, her eyes widen, and her expression becomes one of pure shock.

It can't be; nothing ever works out that perfectly.

"H?" She mutters, and I have no idea what the hell is going on right now.

Khaos's eyes fill with recognition and I feel his magic reach for hers.

It only takes two strides and he's in front of her, studying her closely.

I remember him telling us that his woman in his dreams was always shrouded in shadows and that he had no idea what she actually looked like.

His hands come up to cup her face and her lips tilt into a smile, as his forehead comes to rest against hers.

"Ren," he says simply.

"Er," Loki's voice interrupts the moment, "I hate to be that guy but what the fuck is happening right now?"

"She's the woman from his dreams," Zev says, his eyes flashing white with a vision.

"Holy shit, no way?" Kill replies, his voice shocked.

Glancing at Zev, I share an amused look with him as I say, "Dude, you called it back at the castle."

"What?" Farren asks as she moves away.

None of us miss the way that Khaos's eyes stayed glued to her and her every movement.

"Zev said that everyone gets enchanted by you," I tell her.

She grins, "What can I say? I'm fucking fantastic."

"I'm just going to put a light up; this half-darkness thing isn't really for me," Storm says.

As soon as the cabin is fully lit and not just in moonlit shadows, I get my first good look at Farren; I have to swallow the knot of emotion that tries to rise at the sight. She is completely covered in blood, from head to toe it's staining everything that she's wearing. It's splattered over her face and dried into her hair, and from the sheer amount of it, I know that she's been put through the worst things imaginable.

She notices us all staring, it's not like we're not being obvious, each and every one of us has the same look of shock and anger on our faces.

She glances down and then grimaces, then in typical Farren fashion she says, "Don't worry not all of it is mine, well most of it is actually, but not all of it."

"That doesn't make it any better, Ren," Khaos says through gritted teeth. "You're still in pain."

"Your magic is fixing it for real now though," she replies with a smile.

"Wait, your magic is fixing her?" Grey asks, sounding shocked. "It's enjoying the pain?"

I'd be concerned about his words, but by this point, we all know that Khaos's gift is pain and that he loves it. It's what his magic needs in order to replenish itself, kind of like a vampire needs blood.

Khaos shakes his head, "No, it hates it. It's healing her."

"Wow," Grey replies, and I'm sensing that there's something more shocking in that than I realise.

"Alright, we have a lot to talk about, but right now, Farren, when did you last eat Love?" Loki asks her gently.

She frowns, "I don't remember."

His eyes darken at her words but he manages to clear his expression quickly enough that he replies with a smile, "Then it's a good thing that we hunted on the way here. Let's get the fire lit and some warmth in here, and then we can talk about whatever we need to. Sound good?"

She nods, "That sounds pretty amazing. Do you guys have any spare clothes with you?"

"Actually, we have yours," Rival smiles as he holds up the bag that we packed for her. He's been guarding it with his life.

Her eyes light up with happiness, "You guys are awesome, I'm not going to be able to get clean here but at least I won't be crusty."

I clear my throat, "I can easily summon you enough water to shower in, if you want me to."

"And I can summon some cleaning products too?" Grey offers.

"Kill, and I can cloak the corner of the room in shadows so that you can shower in privacy." Storm offers and Kill nods in agreement.

"I can make sure that the water that my twin summons is warm enough," Rival grins.

"Zev, Khaos, and I can prepare food for you so it's ready for you when you get out."

"Ryu and I will stand guard, I can promise you that you will be safe. We will simply eat anyone who comes near." Reaper offers.

She looks at us all, her eyes misting with unshed tears, and says, "Yes, please."

Farren

A nd that's how I end up in a corner of the cabin in my own makeshift shower, my men using their magic to help me without a second's hesitation. I wash quickly, not because I don't feel safe but because I don't want to take full inventory of the new scars that are left behind.

Not right now.

The only thing that I do acknowledge is my missing finger, and that's because it's pretty hard to ignore, especially since I need to take the grungy makeshift bandage off it. I steel myself as I unwind it, the warm water soothing the rest of the aches in my body. When the gap is revealed, not even a stump is left behind. I must admit that I allow a couple of tears to fall, mixing in with the water.

I know it shouldn't matter, not in the grand scheme of things, I survived which is not something that I thought would happen, I'm back with my men and shockingly H is here as well. It's turned out far better than I thought it would. But still, I allow myself to mourn the loss of it for a moment before I shutter my emotions again and start to think of it as proof that I went through hell and fucking survived. The healed space where my finger used to be is proof of that.

It's going to take a while for that to sink in, but it will, and I will remind myself of it for as long as it takes. Storm and Kill's magic has obviously sensed my upset because two incredibly cute tiny puppies with razor-sharp teeth and wispy bodies break away from the main part of the shadows. They both rub their cheeks against mine and then play in the water, splashing each other and making me chuckle as they start to play fight. It's incredibly cute and gives me the best distraction.

"I'm done showering," I say, "Thank you, Mayhem. Can you guys keep the shadows up while I get dressed?"

"Of course," Storm replies.

The pups that were messing around in the water melt back into the main shadows as soon as the water turns off. It doesn't take me very long at all to get dressed and I touch the shadows that are surrounding me so that they'll let me through.

"Feel better?" Reaper asks as he's the first to see me. He pulls me under his arm, and I tuck myself in, revelling in how safe I feel.

"Yeah, loads," I reply. "I'm starving, though, which is weird because I stopped actually feeling hungry a long time ago."

There's a chorus of angry growls that sound out throughout the room, and if they react that strongly to me not getting any food, they're really not going to like anything else that I have to say.

Clearing his throat, Storm gestures to the seating area they've set up on the floor in a semi-circle around the warmth of the stove. "Alright, let's sit down and eat."

That's all the encouragement any of us need, and we all take seats and start to dig in. I end up between Loki and Reaper, and they both eat one-handed, with a hand on each of my thighs. Their reassuring presence is making me sleepy, but I know that we need to talk about a few things before we go to sleep for what's left of the night.

As if he's heard my thoughts, Poca huffs like he thinks that it can wait and then lays down behind me so that I can rest on him. Meri ends up underneath the veil of my now clean hair again, and Oryn is sitting on the other side of Poca, resting his head on him as he watches everyone closely.

Once everyone is starting to slow down I figure I may as well start the questions, "So, what the hell are you guys doing here? I'm guessing you can get into the Underworld because of Hades or Grey or whatever, and while I'm interested in that, I'm interested in how the hell you're here in this cabin."

The guys all share a look as if deciding who should start talking first; I've really fucking missed them, more than I let myself feel while I was trapped, and it's just amazing to have them now.

"Monty sent us. We found an exact replica of his store in one of the villages on the way here. He told us that we could only stop two more times and that the last place that we could rest would be this cabin. He said we were running out of time to get to you." Kill explains.

I frown, "You know, I'm not even surprised that Monty has a shop here and knows things that he shouldn't."

"I don't think he knew that you were going to be here though, he was panicking himself about us getting to you in time." Grey adds thoughtfully.

"Well I think that it would probably be a good idea to visit him again to see which door out of the Underworld that we should take, so we can ask him then," Zev suggests.

"We're going to have to be really careful travelling back. The princes are going to have everyone looking for Farren since she escaped again," Rival warns them.

"The princes are dead, they won't be sending anyone after me," I say.

"What did you just say?" H asks, his eyes wide.

I sigh, "They're dead, well I think they are."

"Who killed them?" Storm asks.

"I think I'm slightly offended by that, but not entirely because they are demigods and difficult to kill, and I'm just me," I reply with a teasing smirk.

Loki's mouth drops open before forming into a proud smile, "That's my girl."

Grey shoots to his feet, "Hang on, you killed them by yourself?"

I nod, "Yeah, well like I said I think so. I'm not really sure how to kill them to make sure they stay dead, so I took these."

I open the pockets of the Void where I stored the heads and pull them out one by one dumping them on the floor. It makes for quite a macabre sight.

"Fucking hell, calling yourself a bit bloodthirsty was an understatement Ren," H grins, and then adds, "I love it."

Clearing his throat and staring at them in shock, Grey says, "Erm, yeah, severing their heads and then keeping them separate from their bodies will do the trick."

I breathe a sigh of relief, "Thank fuck for that."

I smile as I look over their dead faces, and then one by one fling them into separate pockets of the Void. When I get to Dagon's head, Meri chirps in my ear.

"You want to give it a go?" I ask her. The guys are all silently watching me as they seem to digest what I've just told them.

"Give what a go?" Zev asks curiously.

"Watch," I reply and then turn to Meri; she launches herself off my shoulder and hovers in the air as I pick up the head by its hair, open a pocket of the Void, and then throw it in the air.

Meri chirps happily as she spins in the air and smacks it with her tail, launching it straight into the Void hole. She rushes back to me, chirping happily and wriggling her butt as I congratulate her and tell her what a good girl she's been.