29. Hades

I was right that Harper was very powerful, those two crispy corpses on the sand were proof. The death of Ares's twins seems to faze him for only a mere minute before he is taking his rage out on me again.

"Who did that to my boys?" he wails as he tries to land a hand, but I counter with my sword.

"You can thank your half-sister for that," I reply.

"You'll have to be more specific than that." He rolls his eyes with another attack.

"The same one that marred Hermes face, Harper," I say.

"Once I'm done with you, she will be the next head I take," he vows.

I have to pause my eye roll this time, "You don't remember the last time we fought?

Before he can reply, War interjects, "She kicked your ass."

"She got lucky that's all," he mumbles.

Ares comes in to attack me once again, he still hasn't figured out that I'm just defending myself. He is the one that came here to fight. If he does land a blow, it will piss me off enough to attack him, but I am doing my best to control my anger.

"Where's this ‘Hades's' temper I always hear so much about? Is that a story just to scare little gods and Demi-gods so they don't realize that you are just a push over?" Ares taunts.

"Oh, it's bubbling inside of me, but you haven't pushed me far enough to feel my wrath." As if on cue, I hear a groan come from Frank. The smirk on Ares's face tells me I'm not going to like what I see when I turn around. How can I turn my back on Ares? He will use that to his advantage and I can't have that.

"Pyro, what is going on with Frank?" I call out.

"Some chick got the upper hand and has her sword to his neck," he replies.

"Fuck," I mumble, "War, you want a go at Ares? I have to go save my damsel in distress."

He chuckles a little at that and comes and takes my place.

I whirl around, and it's Enyo that is holding Frank hostage.

"Ugh, I knew that your ugly mug was near when I saw the twins," I say, pointing at the now pile of ash near her feet.

"Bring their souls to me!" Enyo screams.

"Now, why would I do that? They fucked with the wrong goddess and she served her judgement. You can't come to my house and disrespect me. I won't give you what you want," I add, doing my best not to let my voice crack.

She, just like her twin, is a cold-blooded killer. Enyo would slit his throat with no second thought before coming after me.

"If you want to fight, come on," I tell her, waving her over. "You have my attention."

Enyo smirks as she lets go of Frank. "He wasn't worth staining my blade. But you, Ares will be eternally grateful when I mount your head on the end of it."

"You sure you can back up that mouth?" I taunt .

One thing about Ares and his twin, their anger can be blinding and that's the time to strike.

She doesn't say anymore as she stalks toward me, she now talks with her body and sword. Enyo comes at me swinging and I almost let her land a hit because my eyes flicker to Frank for a brief second. He is fine and I deflect her blow.

Enyo once again attacks. I deflect with a yawn.

"All you got?" I ask.

Her face reddens as she pulls out another sword from her back.

"Nah, I was going easy on you."

I parry the next blow but this time, I disarm her of both her weapons. There is shock and awe written on her face as I take the sword from War and use it to cut off her head. I was a little surprised that it came off so easily. The metal melted through the skin and neck bones like butter.

Before I retrieve her head, I wipe her blood off my sword on her clothes until I'm satisfied it's clean, I grab it.

I raise the bloody, dripping thing towards Ares as I approach him and War. Ares nearly drops his sword when he realizes it's his twin sister's head I clutch.

"Is this what you wanted? Death to your family that cares for you? Your own sons are dead? Now your sister. When will it be enough?" I ask.

"When you and your men are lying next to them! They knew the risks of taking you on, their deaths aren't on my hands," he states dismissively.

He is trying to push my buttons but it isn't going to work. I have to end this now. I toss the head at his feet and when he takes his eyes off me, I use my magic to bind him with chains.

"This is cheating!" he wails as he wiggles trying to get free.

"You want to live here so badly, fine. I will keep you in the fields. The souls of the men you killed will be your only friends and when you beg for me to free you, I won't. You will suffer down here until I say so."

Aphrodite takes advantage of the tied-up Ares and approaches him.

I don't see the glint of silver until it's too late, a blood-curdling scream later and she calls Cerberus over.

"Here's you a little snack," she coos, tossing Ares's dick to my pup.

Each of the heads give it a little sniff before backing away from it.

This gets a laugh from Aphrodite, "Yeah, probably best not to put that in your mouths. No telling when it was last washed."

I turn my eyes from the tiny thing in the sand when I get a flash of wings near Harper's head. There is no time to scream for her as Hermès grabs her and they are gone.