Page 88 of The Cursed Chalice

Elias staggers, but he doesn’t fall. He only laughs, drools and blood flies out of his mouth. “I am going to kill you and fuck your ‘wife.’”

I lunge for him, and my chest burns. My body, my power, is draining.

“Bow to me. Kneel, Ares.” He grips the pendant tighter. My knee drops, my teeth clench, and my jaw aches.

“If you beg, I will kill you quickly, and then I will collect Soraya.”

I try to surge forward, but I can’t.

“Get the hell up.”

I chose to ignore Aric; my mind needs to remain focused.

“After I kill you, I will fuck her and pass her around to my men and kill her.” Elias’s voice rattles. He bends closer to my face. His mouth smells putrid. “But if you beg, I'll give her a quick death.”

My chest burns. I dig my nails into the dirt floor. I refuse to beg. Instead, I roar, “Hecate!”

The shadows answer. The air crackles, and it becomes cold. She steps into the room; her black shit-kickers are the first things I see.

“Why the fuck are you kneeling down?” Hecate asks and looks down at me. “I was about to go to my Sleep Token concert.”

“Hecate, focus.”

She turns and sees Elias pointing his sword at her and gripping his pendant.

“What are you doing, mortal?” She walks toward Elias and pushes his sword down.

He drops the sword and touches the pendant with both hands. “No. You are one of them. You will weaken. She said that it would weaken the Olympian gods.”

Hecate tilts her head, and her lips curl. “You poor summer child. I am not an Olympian god. I am Titan-born.”

I grin, watching the information dawn on Elias. Before he can respond, Hecate lashes out, her claws digging into the medallion. The artifact shrieks as light splits it, and it breaks into pieces. The veins in his body burst open, and blood sprays as she tears the remains of the pendant off his chest. He screams and howls like a broken animal.

I inhale deeply as my power floods back into me, hot and clean. My muscles tighten, rage surges through me. I stand, feeling like my own self again.

Elias drops to his knees. He has a gaping hole in his chest where the pendant tore his skin and bone. He leans forward and coughs up blood that sprays across the room.

Hecate lifts her leg. “Please don’t get it on my boots and jeans.”

“Finish him.”

Elias’s eyes meet mine in terror.

“No…wait.”

“I have killed gods for less, and you are no god.” My hands clamp around his jaw, digging into his flesh.

“Kill him with your bare hands.”

I agree. I hold his mouth open with both hands. He tries to fight me, but it is to no avail.

“By the way, Elias, gods don’t kneel,” I snarl. “We fucking conquer.”

The tearing flesh sounds like twigs snapping. He gurgles blood, and the scent of bile and blood fills the room.

“He deserved his death. Let him rest in pieces.”

Blood spills on the floor and onto my legs. His intestines and other organs spill onto the floor. I drop the halves of his body to the side.