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It’s a Sign!!…

The world is jinxed when Hades is forbidden to cross Styx!!…

Hades

“Fuck me!” I cursed, feeling something wasn’t right when the darkness spread over. Then something moved so swiftly that I barely caught sight of it.

Shadow Vampires!

Fucking assassins of Vlad!!

“Gods,” I muttered as they were unlike anything I’d ever seen. There were draped in black cloth that floated around like dark phantoms. Their faces looked like tortured souls, with white dot-like eyes looking dead. They were fast, like a quick blur of shadow.

So, I had to be faster.

“Cerberus!” I mind-linked my wolf, realizing I need his strength, agility and senses to fight.

“Hades, look out!” he growled inside my mind. I quickly reacted when I saw a blur of motion in the corner of my eye. I rolled out of the way of one assassin while slashing the leg of the second one and sliding the blade straight into the back of the third one.

“Jericho!” I shouted at my friend, who joined in the fight.

“Die, you fuckers!” I spurted, spinning around with a long blade and faced the oncoming assassin.

“Damn! Vlad!” I cursed my brother, moving faster, trying to track enemy movement before they overpowered me. They all seemed to work in tandem, so if I pushed one, the other would take its place so that the threat never stopped coming.

“We need to cross Styx!” Jericho shouted, thrusting his sword into an assassin’s neck while pointing at a couple of killers trying to damage the bridge.

“On it!” I snapped, taking in the seven assassins behind me, swiping down my sword and cutting through their bellies.

“You should complain to your parents about your brother,” Jericho chuckled, slashing the thigh of an assassin.

“No use as all they cared about was Vlad, the prince with golden balls, while I was just an abomination to them, ‘A lone werewolf in the brood of vampires.’” I spoke, slicing up the back of an assassin.

“How a werewolf is born to vampire parents. I seriously doubt your paternity-Damn!” Jericho cursed as he was too late to stop an assassin from damaging the bridge.

“Now, think of a way to cross this damn river!” I growled at him, slashing the shoulder of the last one while looking at the bridge going down into the mighty Styx.

“We will have to hide in the Northern Kingdom,” Jericho spoke.

“No way,” I replied angrily, but Cerberus sensed a horde of shadow assassins rushing on our trail like zombies for fresh flesh.

“Fuck you, Vlad!” I released a curse and took off towards the Northern Kingdom’s gate. One of the guards’ eyes narrowed on us. My tall frame of 6’4 and muscular build, which can even put the statue of Adonis in shame, was not helping us to go incognito.

“You both! Here!” The guard motioned us to come ahead. Jericho pressed my hand, silently pleading me to stay calm. We moved forward through the other people’s angry stares.

“Show your faces,” the guard snapped, his eyes scrutinizing us suspiciously. I shoved my hand into the pockets to take out a small bag. His suspicious glare intensified when I handed him the bag. He quickly put it inside his shirt, realizing it was filled with gold coins and opened the gates.

The street was littered with waste, and rundown houses lacked roofs except for a few. A few people were lying on the sidewalk with bloodied marks of fangs on their necks, screaming in agony due to the unbearable pain. The adults guarded their barely clothed, malnourished children against the suspicious strangers.

“Vlad’s army!” Jericho pointed out.

“Fuck them!” I retorted with a half-smirk.

“Keep your anger in check. Remember, we’re incognito!”

“You don’t have to remind me that every five minutes.” I was losing my patience with each passing second. And now Cerberus has suddenly become edgy, creeping and squirming on every inch of the surface of my skin to take complete control over me. I could feel the tingling effect at my fingertips from where my claws tore out. I shake my head, close my flaming eyes, and take a deep breath to push him back inside.

“What is wrong with you, Cerberus?” I snapped at him.

He gushed deeply before growling, “Her scent.”

“I know, but we’ll have to let her go.” My heart was nearly crushed when I asked Cerberus to forget about Proserpina. Maybe, we were never meant for each other.

“Why don’t you claim her?” Jericho spoke.

“I don’t want war with Vlad.”

“Are you scared? Isn’t Proserpina fated to both of you?” Jericho argued.

“I can’t even share a rotten turd with Vlad, and you expect me to share a mate,” I spat, showing my disgust.

“Mates are worth the pain, and the war for them is worth fighting. And you know how her life will be if Vlad claims her.” Jericho’s words struck me like a poisonous dart, but I took a sharp breath and faced him.

“A living nightmare! But I can do nothing!”

“Fine, be a stranger to her rather than a soul mate. But you were her only hope and abandoned her when she needed you most.” I was speechless. I know what he said was true.

A scream drawled our attention to the commotion ahead of us. We rushed, catching sight of a boy barely nine years of age. He was about to be beheaded. A poor mother was pleading at the feet of a soldier.

“Will that scumbag behead a young boy!?” Jericho spoke in shock. I heard what he said but didn’t wait to reply.

“No, Hades! Come back!” His words reached me, but I was busy kicking the ass of the soldier. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed my elbow into his stomach, knocking his back against the wooden pole.

“Shit!” I groaned at the sight of around twenty men rushing at me, holding the blades. I quickly anticipate their moves from their body language. I silently took out my weapon.

‘Bloody immatures’, I muttered, waiting for them to attack first. Just before their blades would connect my body, I dropped to my knees and skidded, whipping my blade around at such a speed that the five men fell before even they realized what had happened. They were nearly split in half, with their bodies hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. I was on my foot again, and with a running jump, I launched myself at the other two. I practically ran up the body of a large man and flipped over, and while landing on my feet, strike my blade into his chest, slicing upwards, splitting him nearly in two pieces. I spun again and attacked the other with an aim, cutting him diagonally across the chest. Then my eyes fell on a sharp glint. One of the soldiers was holding a weapon on a small boy’s neck.

“Surrender yourself, or I’ll kill the boy,” the vile man laughed, showing his brown teeth barely hanging onto his rotten gums. I growled, throwing away my blade and raising my hand. I silently signalled Jericho, who nodded and got lost in the commotion. They handcuffed me, covered my face, and dragged me through the muddy path. I was thrown into the ring in the centre of an arena.

“You’re next,” said a man beside me.

“Damn!” I cursed, ignoring my opponent and looking at the wave of darkness in the sky.

The hordes of vampires!

“Fuck!” I growled, thinking of a way to escape. Then my eyes fell on a big key hanging on a guard’s belt, belonging to a big prison lock where the dreaded and monstrous-looking prisoners were locked, waiting for their turn to fight in the arena. They were desperate to get out because of the way they were hitting the bars and screaming. I jumped on the guard and stole the key. Before they realized what had happened, I leapt near the prison and quickly slid the key into the giant lock. When the lock opened, the horde of criminals exited, attacking the soldiers who tried to contain them.

In all that commotion, I got the chance to run away. Someone blew the siren to alert all the guards of the palace. Now the whole place was swarming with a crowd of people, guards and soldiers, running around.

All the criminals ran towards the gates to escape, where the army would guard as thick as a bloody wall. So, I ran in the opposite direction towards the Northern palace. My bluff worked; the palace was unguarded, as the guards must have run towards the arena. I entered a narrow passage, cursing Jericho under my breath. He was an expert in the sneaky department. He must have found a secret exit by now, and all I had to do now was to search for him. Suddenly, Cerberus started growling and squirming under my skin.

“What is wrong with you?” I growled.

“Proserpina is here!” His words were enough to stop me in my tracks. I lost my mind as her scent invaded my senses.

“Where?!” I asked.

“Behind you, fool!” He retorted, and the next moment, someone bumped into me from behind. I spurned around, and my left foot landed on a booby trap. Seeing how crazy my luck was going today, I was hanging upside down, my eyes facing hers,

Stunning almond-shaped!

Deep jade and consuming like an ocean!!

She was my mate, Proserpina!!

She was shaking in fear because a guard was cornering her, and that idiot signed a death warrant for himself when he slapped her. The rage crept into my eyes, stinging and burning my nerves. Proserpina shoved out a hidden dagger, planning to attack that guard.

“Wrong move; free me instead,” I warned her.

Damn, those eyes!!...

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