The Underworld (The Atlas Series Book 3) (20 page)

Charon seemed the most offended by Kala’s last statement as that was the only part of her rant he chose to respond to. “He may be king to the Demons, but he is not
my
king! I am the gatekeeper of the Underworld and he doesn’t scare me!”

“So, Grigori? Atlas? Gaia? Still a no?” Kala really didn’t want to fight Charon, but it was looking as if it was a foregone conclusion.

“No!” Charon shoved Asmodeus’s foot off his boat and pushed away from the shore before anyone could stop him.

Kala was about to jump in after him, but Asmodeus warned, “Don’t get any water on you! You’re a god and he can make you promise something! This is the unbreakable oath river, remember?”

Being Atlas and half Gaia made the River Styx a big no-no for Kala, but she couldn’t let Charon go. She needed that boat and Kala wasn’t about to let it float away without a fight. Taking a deep breath, Kala ran and jumped with all of her strength. She landed square in the middle of Charon’s raft, not a drop on her.

Charon was more baffled than threatened: apparently no one had ever
jumped
on his boat before. Before he could gather his wits, Kala took her opportunity and threw him into the water. With a loud SPLASH, Charon was gone.

She waited a few moments to make sure. After a while, when Charon hadn’t re-surfaced, Kala glanced at Talan and Asmodeus with a surprised but happy smile. “That was easy.”

Kala took the abandoned pole and began to steer the raft back to the shore to pick up Talan and Asmodeus.

Asmodeus cringed, “I’d watch out if I were you.”

BOOM!

Uh, oh.

Out of the river, lifted on a geyser that would rival Old Faithful, Charon stood, pointing at Kala. “You
dare
attack me on my own vessel!”

Kala wished he’d stop using the word
vessel
. She agreed with Asmodeus, this rickety, wooden, moss-covered, floating pile of crap could hardly be called a boat let alone a
vessel
.

Despite the fact that she was now facing a monster on an explosion of water, Kala calmly responded, “I told you: we just need it to get across. I promise I’ll give it back to you.”

Yeah, that would work.

Charon waved his hands at Kala and she suspected something was about to shoot out of them so she rolled to the side. White fire, like her vision, seared the spot where she had just been standing, burning a hole in the raft.

Screaming in rage, Charon accused, “You ruined my vessel! I
will
destroy you!”

“Technically, you’re the one who busted a hole in your little raft here.” Kala knew she was making things worse, but couldn’t stop herself. “And any chance you could teach me how to do that white fire thing?”

Charon’s answer was another blast of white fire. This time, Kala was singed slightly on the shoulder, not being able to roll away in time. Another hole damaged the boat. Oddly, no water was flooding through. Being as it was the boat of the dead, it must be unsinkable.

Dodging both Charon’s fire and water from the River Styx was becoming quite the impossible feat and Kala was determined not to get a drop on her. She wasn’t even that concerned about Charon using the water against her, forcing her to make an unbreakable oath. It was the thought of Asmodeus using the river that worried her most though. The things he could force her to promise… She shuddered to think where his mind would go.

Kala needed to figure out a plan. And that plan was to get to the other side on this Swiss-cheese boat any way possible, preferably without getting wet.

Ducking and rolling yet again caused another gaping hole in the boat. With each new injury to his raft, Charon screamed as if he had shot himself. “Stand still,
human!
”

He saw her as human. Interesting. So far everything about Charon screamed loner. Even though Kala had told him she was Atlas with a sprinkling of Gaia, he was too self-absorbed to care. He just wanted his boat back and for Kala
and friends
to go away. She’d almost feel sorry for him if… nope, the guy was a baby. She had no sympathy lately for babies.

“If you’d just let us use your damn boat to cross, you wouldn’t have to blow holes in it!” Kala shouted, trying to reason with the creature.

Charon screamed in rage, making the grotesque streaks down his face appear even more hideous. “Why can’t you just go
away
?!”

“I’m trying! I have fifty feet to go, asshole! Stop attacking me and just push me the rest of the way!” Kala had no patience for stupidity.

“Never!” Charon raged.

“Is it a pre-requisite of the supernatural to be stubborn
and
stupid?” Kala groaned.

This only seemed to anger Charon further. He leapt from the twenty-foot geyser to land in front of Kala with a sneer. “Prepare to die,
human
.”

“I’m already dead, moron.” Kala punched Charon across the jaw. Normally, she’d go for the privates, but seeing as she wasn’t sure a half Demon/half water nymph actually
had
privates, she settled for what was in front of her.

Charon barely moved from her blow.

Ducking, Kala dodged Charon’s arms as he tried to grab her. She turned to
Laurel and Hardy
on the shore. “Some help would be good here, guys!”

Not waiting to see what the boys would do, Kala returned her focus to Charon.

When the monster flew at Kala again, she used the force of his jump to gain the upper hand by grabbing his arms and throwing Charon back into the water once more.

This time, though, Kala knew he’d be back.

TUG!

Charon’s hands wrapped around her ankles and pulled her down into the river.

The water covered her completely and Kala found she was more panicked about the fact that whoever talked to her first would be able to make her promise anything they wanted, than the thought of drowning.

First things first, though: Charon’s hands were still wrapped around her ankles, drawing her down into the depths of the river.

How deep is this thing?
Kala wondered in amazement. It felt as if they had been sinking for hours. No matter how hard she kicked, she couldn’t break loose from Charon’s grip. The need for breath didn’t seem to be a problem, she noticed. It wasn’t as if she were breathing in water, she just wasn’t breathing. In the midst of fighting off the
ferry man
from the Underworld, it was good to note that it appeared as if she could hold her breath indefinitely. Like she had when she had been buried underground. Originally, Kala had thought it was because of her Gaia connection, but apparently, it was more of a “god” thing.

Deeper and deeper.

Kala reached down and tried to pry Charon’s hands loose from her ankles, but his fingers might as well have been made of steel.

Seriously! This river had no bottom!

Then, through the murky grayness, Kala saw a gigantic shadow swim in front of her – and Charon let her go. Whatever creature had helped her, Kala was grateful as she began to swim up to the surface. With frightening speed, Charon and the enormous shadow zoomed past, fighting in the water, the shadow yanking Charon like he was a tiny pebble on the shore.

Kala hurried as fast as she could, wanting to see what creature had attacked Charon.

Still far away, she could see up above the perfect square of the raft with its round holes looking like eyes staring down at her. It gave her a surge of inspiration and she pushed harder for the surface.

Almost there.

Just as Kala burst through the surface of the river, Talan’s hand reached into the water and dragged her onto the raft.

His eyes met hers and there was an urgency that she’d never seen before. “Kala Hicks, you must make your oath to me.” Her heart sank in betrayal. She had never expected that Talan would take advantage of her in this way. It was painful as she felt the power of the River Styx forcing her to agree.

His next words, though, almost made her cry with relief. “You can never make any oath to Asmodeus, Charon or any other supernatural being or human from this moment forward. Do it, Kala, now!”

Kala didn’t have a choice. The power of the River Styx grabbed hold of her and made her say the words: “I give you my oath.”

It was a horrible sensation being forced to promise something you had no control over, but Talan had known her fears and anticipated them. Feeling a surge of gratefulness, Kala pulled Talan in, embracing him while sprawled on the boat’s floor. “Thank you, Talan.” Then realizing her soaked body had gotten him wet as well, she returned the favor. “Make your oath to me: No supernatural being or human can force you to make an oath from this moment forward.”

His hand brushed her cheek and he smiled, “I give you my oath.”

Charon and what Kala could now see was some kind of creature burst through the surface in mid-fight. The beast was at least twenty feet tall and five feet wide. He was basically man-shaped, but his skin was a deep blue with scales the size of plates all over his body and black leathered wings the span of the entire river. Green glowing eyes bore into Charon with hatred. His black taloned claws ripped at Charon’s throat, but Charon fought back, trying to pull the creature under the water.

“Is that some kind of river monster?” Kala asked Talan, then searched for Asmodeus. “Where’s Asmodeus?”

Talan simply nodded at the blue creature.

Kala stared in shock.

“It’s his Demon form,” Talan explained, obviously not bothered by the sudden change.

Asmodeus was both terrifying and exotically beautiful, like a human dragon. Kala always knew he was a Demon, but seeing as he always had the same
GQ
model shape, she just assumed that was what he always looked like. She had been naïve, apparently.

Kala stood up, preparing to help Asmodeus in the fight, but before she could leap in, Asmodeus took both his taloned claws and ripped Charon in half.

Each half flew to either side of the river, lifeless.

Standing in shocked silence, Kala could barely register Asmodeus flapping his enormous leathered wings and pushing the raft to the opposite side of the shore.

Once safely on the other side, Asmodeus transformed back into his human body, completely naked.

As Kala continued to stare, Asmodeus smiled his wicked grin. “It seems I need some clothes.”

Chapter Fifteen

With a snap of his fingers, Talan had Asmodeus clothed in an instant. Kala didn’t think Talan wanted her seeing a naked Asmodeus any more than the Grigori wanted to.

The Demon inspected his t-shirt and jeans with some disdain. “What? Did you get these from The GAP?”

Still reeling from witnessing Asmodeus in Demon form, Kala didn’t even crack a smile at his joke. “So…” was all that came out.

Asmodeus was highly amused at Kala’s reaction. “Pretty magnificent, aren’t I?”

“I was going to go with ‘terrifying,’ but you definitely got the job done.” Kala stepped over the lower half of Charon’s body for emphasis. The creature’s guts were strewn across the shore, a deep purple against the gray sand. It was mildly repulsive, though Kala had seen worse. Kala had
caused
worse.

“I can live with terrifying.” Asmodeus examined his clothes again. “Though I don’t think I can live with this polyester blend. It’s itchy.”

Kala rolled her eyes. “I think I prefer the non-talking Demon form better.”

Talan joined in matter-of-factly, “He should stay in his human form if we’re to face Rhea.”

“I wasn’t serious,” Kala muttered. Talan took everything so literally. “Do you think she’s close?”

Asmodeus closed his eyes, concentrating, then opened them quickly. “She’s close, though I can’t pinpoint her.” He focused on Talan, “She carries one of the Grigori blades. Do you think you can track that?”

Talan simply nodded. His eyes began to glow a soft blue, then flared bright white before finally returning back to normal. “He’s right, she
is
close. Follow me.” He stepped forward, leading the way.

“Um, guys, shouldn’t we have a plan or something?” Kala didn’t like entering a fight without a tactical approach if she didn’t have to. To be fair, most of Kala’s battles had been on the fly, but if she could help it, it would be nice to have
some
kind of strategy.

Talan shrugged, “Rhea already knows we’re here, so there’s no chance of catching her off-guard. We fight. That’s about it.”

Kala sighed in resignation. “Good plan.”

Asmodeus was still futzing with his t-shirt as if it were crawling with ants. She knew his irritation was more to do with the fact that Talan had supplied the clothes and less with his discomfort, but Kala kept her mouth shut and ignored the Demon’s complaining.