The darkness within her seethed and raged, prowled beneath her skin and goaded her into attacking those who stood between her and her god of death.
Calindria surrendered to it.
Her last thought before it overtook her and stole control was a prayer that she would come back from stepping into the abyss and letting her darker side take the helm.
She kicked off, launching herself towards the wall of warriors that surrounded the old black stone fortress, leaving Calistos behind as she rapidly closed the distance between her and her target. Ahead of her, vines burst from the ground, arcing high into the air before they thundered downwards again to pierce the earth, moving like great serpents.
Calindria sensed it the moment the males noticed her approach, felt the wave of tension that rushed through them and knew they were gearing up to fight her. She focused on the vines and the first line of defence, tried to shun the pleasure that rolled through her when the sharp black spears shot from the ground and impaled two of the warriors, and injured another six. The vines rocketed from the ground in a wave that rippled outwards in both directions, tearing along the frontlines, filling the humid air with the bellows of the warriors.
Other warriors hollered orders, and the males were quick to form groups, to hack and slash at her vines.
A group of a dozen males came at her, charging across the flat ground.
They flew backwards before they could reach her, toppling another group as they struck them, and she glanced off to her right at her brother. Calistos’s eyes swirled like a summer storm as he cast his hand forwards, unleashing another wave of wind at a section of the wall of males, scattering them and sending several of them tumbling through the air. They screamed as they hit the high crumbling wall of the fortress.
Those screams were joined by high keening shrieks that chilled her blood.
“Keres.” She lunged for Calistos, afraid for him even though neither of them were bleeding, and caught herself at the last moment, before she made contact.
“Well, fuck,” he muttered and raised his hand. A vortex formed beside him, causing his hair to stream towards it. It tore at her too as it sucked the dirt surrounding it into it, turning it black.
Above them, the Keres screamed and hissed, their white bodies making them appear like phantoms against the dark sky. They beat their bloody wings and flew higher, clear of the vortex her brother had tried to use to capture and kill them.
He grunted and grumbled something else, evidently displeased the female death spirits were intent on evading his attack.
He grunted for another reason as two males tackled him while he was distracted. He landed hard with one of them on top of him, and she gasped as the other raised his sword. Both went flying before they could cut him, tiny lacerations appearing on their skin as they shot into the air.
The Keres shrieked and swooped on them, fought each other as they ripped the males apart, causing blood to fall like rain. It splattered the ground and some of the other warriors, and several of them turned fearful looks on the sky.
Calindria summoned her vines again, smaller ones this time. They shot from the earth, splitting it open, and impaled those males in several places, spilling their blood. The Keres were quick to descend on them.
Maybe she could use them to form a path to Thanatos.
That no longer became an option when Calistos growled beside her and she looked at him, her eyes widening as he bent over and gripped his thigh. An arrow protruded from it. They had archers.
She threw a glance at the walls of the fortress, trying to spot the archers, hoping it was only one or two.
She counted at least three dozen.
A volley of fiery arrows lit the sky and she was quick to raise her hand. A dense wall of brambles burst from the ground to her left, curving over to cover her and Calistos, stopping both the arrows and the Keres as they hissed and circled them. The heavy thud of arrows and the scent of burning wood shook her.
Calistos looked at her.
“Do you have a plan?” She would follow it if he did.
Their father had trained him well and he had centuries of experience now, had probably fought in countless battles.
He shrugged. “My plan was to wait for the others, but maybe we can work with this. I can handle the archers and their arrows, if you can handle the warriors on the ground?”
That was a lot of warriors. She wasn’t sure she could handle that many. Her stomach sank when she noticed how grave his eyes were. He meant handle them as in touch them with her bare hands. She was quick to shake her head.
“I can’t.” She cursed herself for that, had thought that if she let the darkness seize control that she wouldn’t feel guilty about using that power.
It struck her that it wasn’t guilt she was feeling. It was fear. She didn’t care what happened to these males who stood between her and Thanatos. She cared about what might happen to her brother, and possibly even Thanatos, if she unleashed such a devastating power.
“I will fight as best I can.” She straightened and reached out with her senses, gritting her teeth when she realised they had barely made a dent in the enemy forces and she was already getting tired.
She still wasn’t used to using this power of hers. It was more draining than she had anticipated. Maybe Calistos was right and her only way of reaching Thanatos was to unleash her death touch.
She stared at her gloves.
She didn’t see what other choice she had.
It was them or her and her brother.
Her senses blared a warning and she stiffened as she felt three powerful people appear a short distance to her right, out in the open plain there. Fear sank icy claws into her heart. More enemies? These ones felt as strong as the demigoddess. No. They felt as strong as her brother. Maybe even stronger.
As strong as Thanatos.
They had to be with the enemy, because only members of the demigoddess’s forces could teleport in this realm.
Dread pooled in her stomach to weigh her down and chill her as she turned to face the newcomers, sure that her fight was over now and she had failed.
A beautiful blonde female with large tropical-blue eyes came rushing at her, her shapely figure clad in dark blue trousers and a strange kind of corset made of thin dull orange material with narrow straps that ran over her shoulders.
Calindria braced herself, summoned her strength and readied herself for a fight, unwilling to give up, even when she was sure she couldn’t win against this female.
A female who blazed straight past her, a vicious hiss pealing from her lips as her irises turned violet.
Calindria leaned to one side so she could see past the curving wall of brambles and looked over her shoulder, tracking the female. Her eyes slowly widened as the blonde barrelled into the warriors that stood between her and Thanatos. The female fought them bare-handed, swiftly blocking any blows the males tried to land on her.
She wasn’t an enemy?
Calistos came to stand beside her, an odd smile curling his lips and a light in his blue eyes. “Look at the wife go.”
He grinned at Calindria.
“Marinda is one of the Erinyes and I think she has a little vengeance on her mind. I’ll introduce you later.” He winked and then he was gone.
She stared after him as he sprinted across the black ground to join the fray, teaming up with the female, helping her as she took down almost a dozen of the warriors in less than a handful of minutes.
“Wife?” Calindria whispered, too stunned to do anything but stare.