Authors: Cindi Madsen
Turtle came over and rubbed against her thigh. She absently stroked his fur, and he started to purr. “Looks like it’s just you and me again, buddy. Hope you’re equipped for a demon battle, because I’m sure as hell not.” Her eyes and throat burned from the effort not to cry. “I’m going to fall, and no one’s going to catch me.”
Her chest felt like it was on fire. She glanced down the hallway, feeling the burden of the dagger hidden in her bedroom closet, even though she couldn’t see it. Her eyes moved to the unlocked front door. Years of training made it impossible to ignore, even though she wanted to stay in a lump on the floor and sulk.
She pushed herself to her feet, swiped her palms together to wipe the dirt from her hands, and grudgingly started across the living room.
The door swung open. Jax stood in the doorway, not really outside anymore, yet not committing to coming in either.
For a moment, time froze, and it felt like her heart was bleeding underneath the surface, burning and churning and not sure how to pump blood in and out anymore.
Then Jax turned and locked the door, sending time ticking again. The sound of the deadbolt sliding into place sounded loud in the quiet. He slowly twisted to face her. “Why? How? Just you, or…?” His eyebrows drew together and he clamped his lips, apparently unable to finish.
“All Sentries,” she said, her voice coming out tiny and weak. “The horrified look on your face is why we’ve always kept it a secret. Why I especially didn’t want you to know.”
“I’m not horrified…I’m…processing.”
“You’re horrified.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s just a little shocking, finding out that something you’ve fought all your life is…You’re sure?”
“Not something I’d tell you if I wasn’t. Didn’t you come here that first night because you felt some kind of demon vibe?”
“Yeah. But I don’t…” The creases in his forehead deepened. “I guess I got used to feeling it, thinking it was because of the dagger.”
“Well, it’s me. Bet you’re wishing I would’ve chosen the other guy now.” She’d tried to say it like a joke, but it hurt having it out there, waiting to be agreed upon.
He didn’t agree.
But he didn’t dispute it either.
Cold fingers of despair gripped her chest, and she couldn’t stand there staring at him anymore. “I’ll go to my room while you process. When you decide what you want to do, you can come tell me.” A lump lodged in her throat. “And really, I understand if you need a few days, or if you want to get far, far away from here.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she started around him.
His arm shot out, blocking her from making her escape. “I’ve decided already.”
Persephone froze, steeling herself for him to break her heart all over again. Slowly, she looked up at him. Her tears blurred his face, and she hoped it would help with the rejection.
“You think that a little demon blood is going to change my mind about you?” he asked, voice soft.
“It doesn’t?”
He shook his head. “It just threw me off for a minute. It’s kind of …whoa.”
“Tell me about it.”
“But I know you. And I like you.” He almost seemed to be convincing himself, but at least he wasn’t running away screaming again—not that he’d screamed or ran exactly. The silent storm out had been plenty painful, though. “I know Athena called the Sentries to Stonehenge to perform some kind of ceremony. Like I told you, my grandfather was one of the Warriors called to the meeting. But I don’t understand. How did…? They didn’t have the demon…?” Eyebrows scrunched, he shook his head. “I’m confused.”
“My grandmother’s journal has the account that’s been handed down in our family.” She tested the waters by grabbing his hand.
He didn’t pull away, so she tugged him toward the couch. “Come on, and I’ll fill you in on what really happened the night the gods and the Order of Zeus took back earth from Hades and his Demons of the Sun.”
The drawer on the coffee table squealed as she opened it, revealing the leather-bound journal. The account Persephone’s ancestor, Calista Katsaros, had written in her own journal had been passed down generations, rewritten, then passed down again, so all Sentries would know of the sacrifice their predecessors had made to be protectors. Persephone had been told the story so many times she felt like she’d been there.
“It was back in the Dark Ages, when Hades and his army were gaining control over earth. Members of the Order had tried to get the dagger, but the whole searing-the-flesh-from-their-bones thing happened, so the demons always got control again, most of the time killing whoever tried to take it.”
She took out the journal and flipped to the red-ribbon-marked page. “Finally the war got the attention of the gods, who sent Athena. Calista, a Sentry, and my great-great, how many ever times great grandmother, recorded the events of that fateful night.
1350
Wiltshire County
, England
Stonehenge
Making it to the stone circle hadn’t been easy, but my family and I had slipped past the demons. They’d be coming soon, though. There was no outrunning them for long. Hades Dagger had unleashed the forces of Hell on Earth, and it no longer mattered if it was day or night. The Order of Zeus was losing men right and left. Losing the war. Half the population of Europe had been wiped out by Hades and his demon army, and if the Order didn’t find a way to stop them soon, they’d have not only the Underworld, but this realm as well.
As Sentries, our family was in charge of protecting sacred items and guarding the royalty. That was before the dagger, though. When the sun used to burn the demons’ skin.
The Sentries in the Order of Zeus were going to give getting control back one last shot. Athena promised she’d help us find a way.
Light filled the circle. I blinked against its brightness, shielding my eyes with one hand. The light faded, and Athena and one of her attendants stood in the middle of the circle.
Athena’s white robe swirled around her ankles with the breeze, shimmering like it was made of hundreds of tiny diamonds. “Did you do as I asked?”
Every set of eyes turned to the flaxen-haired Warrior holding the bound demon. As requested, he’d brought Athena one of the strongest he could find—a demon that had cost three Warriors and two Sentries their lives earlier that night.
The Warrior dragged the bound demon to the center and dropped him at Athena’s feet. The beast’s red eyes flashed around the circle, glowing through the dim light. Like the rest of the demons of the sun, strips of his gray hide hung down, peeling away from being exposed to the sun’s rays. Next to Athena’s ethereal beauty, he looked especially grotesque.
He snarled, baring his sharp teeth while thrashing his tied limbs.
Athena pulled the Warrior aside. I caught sight of a flash of gold, but couldn’t make out what she’d handed the Warrior. The goddess whispered something to him and then raised her voice. “Now leave us to do our work.”
The Warrior bowed and disappeared into the darkness, heading back toward the battle grounds.
Athena’s gaze swept over the four families of Sentries. “You all know the risk of what you’re doing tonight. Do you accept it?”
My mother stepped forward. “If this is the only way we can handle the dagger, we will do it. We will go through the ceremony, then we’ll take the dagger from Hades’s army, and protect it all our lives. Our children will protect it. Our children’s children will protect it. Hades and his demons will never have control over it again.
“Then I shall grant your request.” Athena motioned her attendant forward.
Cold crept down my spine as the girl handed Athena a large blade.
“We are Sentries,” my mother said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We guard our people, their rulers, their treasures, their secrets. No one can know what we’ve done tonight. And once we get the dagger, we’ll have to live separate from our people to make sure it remains protected.” She squatted down and gave me an encouraging but strained smile. “We will have strict rules to live by all our lives, but never forget that being a Sentry is an honor. Are you willing to do this for your people? To keep the forces of Hell where they belong?”
The fear didn’t completely disappear, but I knew that if this was what it took to make sure Demons were restricted to night—to send Hades and his army back to the Underworld—I could be strong. I nodded. “I’m ready.”
Athena appeared in front of me, blade dripping with the demon’s black blood. “Then step forward brave little one.”
Persephone closed the journal and twisted to face Jax, tucking her leg under her. “Athena transfused the demon’s blood with the Sentries’ blood so our people could handle the dagger.”
“Ajax Nikas, my grandfather going way back, and the inspiration for my name, was that warrior,” Jax said. “Now I know what happened to the demon he took to the ceremony. I always figured it was an offering they made to Athena.” He put his hand on her knee and squeezed it. “So you’ve got a little demon blood mixed in there with the rest of your blood. That doesn’t change who you are.”
“It does, actually. Jax, sometimes I…” She lowered her chin, afraid to see the horror she’d seen earlier. “I feel Hell tugging at me, like the demon blood is trying to take over. It’s powerful, and I have weak moments where I want to let go. To let it take me, and to deliver the dagger to them like they so badly want me to.”
“You would never actually let go, though. I know you better than that.”
She wished she had his confidence in her. “But what if it gets to be too strong? The nightmares I have…” Images flashed through her head. The demons saying she was one of them, the ceremony, Jax, beaten and bloody.
Persephone whipped her head up and locked eyes with him.
“If I ever seem to be losing control…If I’ve got the dagger and I’m going to hand it over to a demon, cut off my hand and use it to get the dagger away from me.”
His eyes flew wide and he jerked his hand off her knee. “Shit, Persephone! I’m not going to do that. Why would you even say something so horrible?!”
“Because I need that more than I need your protection.” She peered into his blue, blue eyes. “Now promise me.”
He crossed his arms and set his chin. “No. You’re good, I know you are, so I won’t have to.”
“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about, but I want you to promise me anyway.” She put her hand on the side of his face. “I need to know you’ll do it. I need to know I won’t be the reason our side loses, no matter what.”
Jax swallowed hard, like it took a lot of effort. “It’d kill me to have to do that. You can’t ask that of me.”
“It’d kill me to know I was responsible for losing the dagger, so losing a hand won’t seem so bad. Don’t think about it as hurting me, think about it as saving me. Saving mankind. I need to know if I lose control, you’ll—”
“I’ll bring you back. I won’t…” He shook his head. “I can’t even say it.” He gripped the wrist of the hand she had on his face. “I’ll bring you back, I swear.”
“But if you can’t…”
He put his arms around her and hugged her, holding her so tight she could hardly breathe.
The piercing buzz of the alarm filled the air. Jax waited for Persephone to turn it off like she normally did, but it kept making that awful noise. From his spot on the floor, he reached up, feeling around the nightstand for the stupid thing. He slammed the snooze button, then rolled over to see if she was awake.