“Once I know why I’m being bullied,” he says teasingly, “I’ll consider releasing you. I already said I’d help, and then you had to go pull this kind of prank. If I had feelings, I’d be really hurt by now.”
I flinch as a wasp stings his bare arm not far from me, and I’m suddenly not trying to fight him. His legs are on either side of me as I sit on the ground, and I sink lower, trying to think of the best spell that won’t send the entrapment spell into chaos.
Allie snorts from behind me. “Well, you don’t. The thing is, we don’t have time. We need you to ask Hades right now.”
I begin whispering a spell to paralyse the bees hovering nearby, but before I can even utter two words, Theo clamps his hand over my mouth.
I struggle, but he doesn’t budge, holding me tightly with one arm around my waist, trapping me completely. His chest presses against my back, and heat blooms through me despite my annoyance.
“Hades isn’t a dog you can summon at will,” he says, voice low and mocking. “Well… not without a treat, of course. To call him, there’s a price to pay. And if you girls are so desperate, I’m willing to prepare that price right now. Might go faster if the three of us work together.”
I stop struggling, blinking at him, realisation dawning. I yank free of his hand and look up at him. “What do you mean by ‘prepare’? What do we need to do?”
He leans closer, a smirk curling across his lips. “What else? Send a couple of souls as tribute.”
I freeze, and Allie’s frown deepens.
Theo chuckles, low and dark. “What did you think? That you could just bake him coffin-shaped biscuits? He’s Hades, God of the Dead. So, let’s go kill.”
My stomach twists. Unease and fear flare through me. Kill someone?
“I told you, there are consequences for everything. You were confident there weren’t. I told you, you aren’t prepared for this, no matter what you both think.”
He lets the words linger like a blade hovering over the throat, and I realise the bees have stopped trying to attack us; a soft hue surrounds us, deflecting them.
“Fuck,” Allie mutters.
“And remember,” he adds, tightening his hold slightly, “I’m doing you a favour here. Cross me, and it won’t be just the souls that pay the price.”
The smirk never leaves his face, but there’s somethingin his eyes, gleaming amusement wrapped in a shadow, that makes me realise this game just got far more dangerous than I expected.
Within Six Minutes
Theo
Ilet go of Heaven and sit back, scoffing when she doesn’t move from between my legs for a few moments. And here she was acting like she was prepared for anything.
She isn’t.
I flick my finger, draining the glimmer of life from the bees; one by one, they drop dead to the ground.
Allie’s eyes widen before she frowns at me.
“You didn’t need to kill them.”
I cock a brow. “Did you want me to politely show them out? I take lives. I don’t save them.”
“Wrong. You saved Dante,” Blondie says as she stands. Her scent is earthy, floral, fresh, like a garden, when I’m used to the smell of death. Even Allie’s scent is darker.
“I’m not in the mood to discuss things with the two of you. So, how about you go get changed into something a little moreappropriate for a midnight walk?”
“Where are we going?” Allie asks, frowning sharply.
“I told you to go get a few souls as tribute for summoning Hades.” I stand up and grab my T-shirt, pulling it on before grabbing my jacket. The girls exchange looks as I check my pockets, pulling out my keys. “Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later,we’re in my car, and both are quiet as they sit in the back. I’m enjoying the peace. Usually, they keep going on and on, and it drives me bloody mental. I know where I’m going to take them, to the most depraved part of the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon, where they’ll have to select who dies.
This is going to be a lot of fun. I smirk as I park up. I’m on a narrow, grungy street. Women stand around smoking, waiting for their next clients. A man is passed out against the wall, probably overdosed on some crap or other.
