The Return
Page 101

I raced through the cluster of trees, jumping over boulders, and clearing the last within seconds. Nothing I’d done was quiet. The cabin came into view, rising out of the gloom, and the five Sentinels were waiting.
The whole “not killing them” thing was dust in the wind.
Summoning akasha, I felt my cells light up as I tapped into the fifth and deadliest element. The coil ripped down my arm, arcing out from my hand. It smacked into the first Sentinel, and look at that, he went over and there was no black smoke pissing out of his mouth.
No wonder they’d run last time.
Moving forward, I took out the second, the third, and then the forth. The last one rushed me, practically ran right into my hand. I gave it to him, right up and close, sending a jolt of akasha right from my palm and into his chest. It lit him up from the inside, turning all the veins amber under the skin before blowing out his eyeballs.
I was already on the steps by the time he went down.
There was no way I was fooling myself into thinking that Hyperion wasn’t aware that I was here, so I didn’t bother ghosting into the house. Entering the enclosed space, the first scent I picked up was blood, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I stepped into a large dark room.
I saw her immediately, and my stomach roiled. Going to her side, I knelt down, gritting my teeth as she drew back from me. The chain around her neck was keeping her here, and as my eyes swept over her, I couldn’t even bring myself to drudge up a flicker of the animosity I normally felt for her kind.
What had been done to her was monstrous, cruel, and beyond anything I could understand. Even in my darkest moments, there had been a line. The Titan had traipsed all over that.
Sliding my fingers under the chain, I called on the element of fire, melting the links in the chain she had obviously been too weak to break herself. I freed the furie, and leaned down, whispering, “Get out of here now, Erin.”
I didn’t wait to see if she listened or if she responded. If she was smart, she would get out. I went down the hall, toward the dimly lit room, unable to mentally prepare myself for what I could see.
If Josie was… If she was hurt…
I stepped into the room, my gaze immediately moving to the chair in the corner. My heart stuttered, and I suddenly thought back to after the fight with Ares, to when I’d held Alex in my arms, up to the moment she’d simply turned to nothing.
Hyperion sat in an old armchair, and he faced the door. He was waiting. In his lap, draped over the arms of the chair, was Josie, her face leached of color. I could barely see her chest move under the thermal she wore.
“I was hungry,” he said, placing a large hand on her stomach. “I’m sure you know, Apollyon, that demigods have such an interesting value to us. This one in particular.”
Rage I have never ever known erupted inside me, intense and violent. “Let her go.”
“Or what?” Hyperion replied, glancing down at her as she began to move. Her lashes fluttered open, and then her chest heaved as her gaze focused on me. She started to sit up.
“Seth,” she whispered hoarsely.
Akasha crackled over my skin, casting shadows. It took everything to not charge forward, putting her at further risk. “What do you want in return for her safety?”
Josie gasped, but Hyperion eyed me, curiosity marking his expression. “What could you possibly give me that I would want?”
“Anything,” I swore.
Hyperion stared at me for a moment and then he stood, dumping Josie at his feet. I started toward her, but he faded out and reappeared in front of me. “What I want is revenge for thousands of years of being entombed. How in the world can you give me that?”
I couldn’t.
Moving lightning quick, I slammed the Covenant dagger deep into his chest, where I assumed the bastard’s heart was, if he had one, and then I dipped low. Spinning around, I kicked out, hitting the hilt of the dagger, shoving it in deep.
Hyperion didn’t even move.
Looking down at the dagger, he looked back at me and arched a brow. “Seriously?” Fuck.
Swinging out, Hyperion threw me through a nearby chair. It collapsed under my weight. I rolled onto my side, trying to get back up.
He was on me in under a second, picking me up by the scruff of my neck and introducing his fist to my jaw, snapping my head back. He let go and I landed on my knees. I lifted my arms to block the kick, but my movements were too slow. His boot landed in my stomach, flipping me onto my back.
I caught his boot before it came down on my neck. Muscles straining, I held him off, an inch from crushing my windpipe.
“I have a secret,” Hyperion said.
Struggling to hold his foot back, I grunted out, “You envy my hair?”
He laughed coldly. “Titans can kill an Apollyon, you silly little fuck.”
Ah well, shit…
“Apollo!” Josie screamed immediately, her voice cracking. “Apollo! Please!”
Hyperion turned from me, laughing. “Yes. Call him. Call him—”
Shoving his foot to the side, I powered onto my feet and slammed my hands down on his massive shoulders, feeding akasha straight into him. The big fucker jolted as the back of his skull lit up. He let out a roar that shook the walls. Using the distraction, I gripped both sides of his head and twisted.
Cracked like a dry board.
Except when I let go, Hyperion didn’t go down. He wheeled around, his neck twisted at a painful and disturbing angle.
“Oh come the fuck on,” I said.