Realm of Darkness Read online

  “I’m not suicidal. And, as Tria mentioned, these guys are on the beach right now.”

  “Hm.” His expression was cleared of confusion suddenly; he just seemed amused. “This… great-nephew of mine. What does he look like?”

  Gray weighed his words carefully. “Tall, muscular but very lithe; built like a runner.”

  “Blue eyes? Red hair?”

  “Yes to both.”

  “Makes sense,” he nodded like he understood. “And it looks like you’re screwed. You might as well have sex and stay in the Realm of Darkness. You’re welcome to remain here as long as you don’t bore me.”

  The god turned on his heels and started walking out of his hall, heading to one of the corridors on the left.

  Tria and Gray remained stunned for a minute. She was the first to react to the confusing, mercurial god’s weirdness.

  “Wait, what? Because he’s a redheaded runner, just like that, we’re screwed?”

  “No,” Hades replied without turning around or stopping his walk. “You’re screwed because the scrawny kid is a representation of Zeus, currently possessed by him. Which means he can wield his Lightning Bolt, my Helm, and our baby brother’s Trident. Tell my brother he can borrow the Helm when he gets here. He’d better not get it dirty, though.”

  Oh.

  Fuck.

  Hades had just disappeared when the doors of his palace burst open before Ajax, the Scion inhabited by the sky and thunder god.

  “Ah. Tria. Fancy, seeing you here.” He titled his head to the left when he saw Gray. “And looks like you brought the interesting little godling. Good, good.”

  Each of his steps resounded through the hall.

  Cat tried to jump out of her backpack to do something stupid, but Tria caught him and shoved him back in. Not this time, little idiot.

  “You know, Helen had a cat just like this one, back in the day. Dark as night. Hers could shift to a great beast spitting fire. Only the best for my daughter.” His smile wasn’t that of a doting father at all; he seemed cold and cruel.

  “But you’re not Helen. You’re just borrowing her perfect face. Which is awfully convenient, is it not? I could screw you and no one would find any objection.”

  Gray grimaced. So, she looked like his long-lost daughter and that was where his mind was at?

  “Ew. I mean, I’m not judgy, each to their own, but just ew, man. And by the way? I totally thought you’d be bulkier. Like, by a lot.”

  Gray expected a bolt of thunder to fry him. Instead, when he was done glaring, Ajax replied, “I am. Much, much bulkier. I work out. This is just the body of an idiot who was playing guitar in a rock band before I took it over. Give me a few months to build it back up.”

  Touchy subject, obviously.

  “So, wait a minute. You can presumably kill us all, being Zeus. Mostly. So why do you even want the Infernal Three?”

  Gray actually didn’t think he’d get an answer, but it turned out, gods either liked talking, or listening. Zeus was a talker. And while he spoke, Tria was slowly making her way towards the throne, aiming for the headpiece left on the back of it.

  “I have no interest in whether you live or die. The symbols of our powers are the most powerful objects ever created in this entire galaxy. With them, I can finally blow the spells that have kept us locked in our dimension for the last millennium. I can finally return to the mortal world, and rule over it once more. Which is why I shall take this helm, even if I have to pluck it off your girlfriend’s pretty head.”

  Oh. Looks like they hadn’t been that smooth about it.

  Ajax lifted his hand and blue and gray mists entered the hall, clouding the ceiling.

  “Nothing personal, but you all have to die.”

  That was the last thing he said before Tria grabbed onto the Helm, slapped it on her head, and disappeared.

  Realm of Hades

  She didn’t know what to expect. Not this. One minute she was there; the next, she wasn’t. She didn’t exist. She was immaterial, and yet present. She was everything.

  Tria felt the air around her, inside her. She felt Gray and Remus. She even felt Cat, although he was part of it, hidden by the power of the Helm of Darkness so long as he was attached to the bag she carried.

  Was that it? Did the thing just give her the power to be a ghost-like spirit?

  She was pondering that when Ajax turned to Gray, lightning flashing out on his hand. “Where is the Helm?” he yelled, before a bolt hit Gray full on, pushing him at least fifteen feet back.

  Shit.

  She could feel him breathe, his chest rising and falling again, but he was weak. Remus, changed into his darker form, faithfully stood between his master and Ajax, growling.

  Another bolt at the ready, the god was prepared to strike.

  Tria moved instinctively. One second she was near the throne, the next, she’d run at the speed of light, immaterial, too fast to be seen or felt, and she stole the bolt right out of his hand, throwing it out the doors.

  Ajax was furious and Tria started to appreciate the power of that headpiece, now. Although, she definitely wasn’t into top hats.

  Her smugness didn’t last long.

  Ajax screamed, and every single bit of mist gathered at the top of the ceiling came to him, surrounding him like a tornado.

  “Let’s play a game, little Tria. We’re all very fond of games in the family. I’m going to give you thirty seconds before I unleash my power onto your pretty boy. He’ll die on impact, of course. Unless you take the blow in his stead. Then, I’ll know exactly where you are…”

  Thirty seconds. That wasn’t nearly enough time to think.

  There was no more running, no more hiding in the shadows. Tria placed herself right in front of Gray, next to Remus, and steeled herself. If she moved, she might live for another second, but the rest of them wouldn't. If she stayed, there was a chance...

  Tria's decision to remain where she stood was final, yet so easily overcome. A sudden, devastating wave of red mist knocked her back, throwing her next to Gray. She shook her head, willing her vision to clear. Eventually, she saw him.

  Colossal. Powerful. Unstoppable.

  The god who’d seemed so simple, casual, only a few minutes ago, wore an armor that seemed made of fire and black metal, covering him entirely, face included. Yet there was no mistaking him.

  Not for her.

  The deadly, cloudy wave hit the god, and dissipated at his touch, without making him so much as flinch.

  Then, slowly, he turned to Tria, looking right at her, although she was still wearing his helm.

  She painfully got back to her feet, ready to fight it she needed to.

  “What's your name?”

  His voice was low and threatening.

  “Go on,” said Hades. “Tell me what your treacherous mother called you, daughter.”

  “Tria.” The word stuck in her throat. “Demetria Hades Winters, after her mother.”

  The god stayed still for a long time; finally, Ajax disturbed the silence. “That’s all well and good, brother, but this daughter of yours is keeping the instrument of our liberation away from the hand of the only person who can return us to where we belong. Give me the Helm, and I may let her live.”

  The giant turned to the kid, and sized him up and down, before taking him by the feet, hanging him upside down as he yelled.

  “Threaten a child of mine again,” Hades breathed in warning right to his face, as Ajax disappeared in a black and red cloud.

  Once Ajax was gone, the god returned to his smaller size in a heartbeat.

  “Hades is your middle name?” he asked, seeming baffled.

  Tria bobbed her head. “I’m going to kill your mother. Now tell me the whole fucking story. No fast forwarding. No fucking spoilers.”

  Persephone had been right, it seemed. Her father was alright. He actually seemed to like her well enough; enough to banish the representation of his younger brother from his realm in order to save her life,
anyway.

  He hadn’t stopped looking at her. It was a little embarrassing, actually. Out of the blue, Hades pointed to her and said, “That’s my hair!” or “You have my eyes!” which she did.

  “He’s not going to stop coming for the Helm, is he?”

  “Nope. He’ll send scouts and thieves and spies all around my realm for years. You may as well take it back with you when you go.”

  He was pretty grouchy at the idea of her returning to Earth. So was she, in all honesty, and not just because he had the best cheese and nectar. Or because Cat seemed more interested in Cerberus than her.

  The Underworld felt like home, like no other place had.

  “You won’t mind? I mean, don’t you need it?”

  Hades shrugged. “It helps me focus my powers, but I’m hardly helpless without it. Careful with it, though, daughter. The cousins you speak of? If they’re my brothers’ children, they’ll be able to touch it. Steal it, potentially.”

  Tria didn’t even hesitate.

  “I trust them. They’re family.”

  Hades watched her with some amusement.

  “Yes. I know all about family.”

  There wasn’t much bitterness there, but she heard the warning nonetheless. It wasn’t surprising, coming from someone as old as him.

  “Ajax will also still be after it. For over two thousand years, my kind has been stuck on Olympus - only those like me who were outside of our realm escaped that curse. He’s been trying to come back ever since, and now that he’s so close to an actual solution? He’ll stop at nothing.”

  She figured as much.

  Hades accompanied them down to the beach, and told Bob to navigate them back to Cali. Bob was the new ferryman, on probation. Charon had been fired for misconduct. Apparently, he’d had too many written warnings. Ajax was the final straw.

  Gray, Remus, and Cat got in the boat, but Tria hesitated at the docks for a moment.

  Then, she decided to just say it, Persephone’s agenda be damned.

  “I have a twin. A sister.” Hades’ eyes lit up. “Never met her; she’s in another mortal realm.”

  “Which one?”

  “Gaia. Mother said she’s called Sibelle.”

  The god shook his head, still shocked.

  “Before you go, know that your mother was right to get you away from here, Demetria. There’s nothing but death and despair in this realm. I may have shaped a pretty house, a pretty beach, and entertaining monsters to keep me company, but the Realm of Darkness is no place for the living.”

  He gestured her to get on the boat. “Go. Meeting you was an unexpected piece of summer in one of my longest winters.”

  She had to force her feet to jump in the boat. “Hey?” she called back to his retreating figure. “I’ll come back, you know. I’ll come back to see you every winter.”

  Epilogue

  Three days. It had only been three days since the headquarters of the PIA was blown to pieces, and they’d gone on their crazy quest to claim a treasured possession from one of the world’s most powerful gods.

  For them, anyway. When Gray and Tria returned to California, they were in January; close to three months had passed for everyone else.

  Their world had changed in those three months. Hatred was everywhere; amongst regular humans, for one. A lot of them had been killed, and they didn’t know who was really responsible, so they turned against every sup. The previously few and far between hate groups had grown bigger followings.

  Looking at the mess out there from the balcony of the suite Knox had rented for them as soon as they’d returned, Gray frowned at the prospect of the months, or years, to come.

  “So, what now?” the woman at his side asked.

  She wore a black baseball cap over her head of dark blue-black curls. On their way through the Styx, the top hat had changed shape a bunch of times. First, it turned to a war helmet that seemed to belong to a gladiator and Tria said, “Hell, no,” so it promptly changed again, until they’d found a suitable shape.

  “Well, that’s up to you,” Gray replied. “There’s no news of Jase or Daphne. We could go looking for them. But there’s also a bunch of pretty frightened sups out there - loners without protection, old agents getting hunted down. They have a leader in Knox, but I’m sure they could use a god on their side.”

  Tria chuckled. “I guess we’ll have to think about all that soon. But I figured we’d better discuss that whole mate thing before we go on another suicidal quest across the realms.”

  Gray didn’t need to be told twice.

  “Right, of course. We should discuss this.”

  He had purposefully kept his hands, lips, and everything else, to himself over the last three days because he’d known that, whenever they started claiming each other, they were going to let the world burn around them if they had to.

  Now they had all the time in the world - plus Remus and Cat were getting pampered in the pet spa downstairs.

  Their discussion started with him placing himself right behind her and kissing the nape of her neck, then her shoulder, while he worked on unzipping her suit. Her clothes fell in a puddle at her feet. Fuck, she was perfection, absolute perfection, from her small perky tits to those wide hips and firm, muscular thighs.

  Then the next argument happened when she turned around, getting to her knees and pulling his trousers to his ankles. She made a compelling case, wrapping her mouth around his length, and sucking hard while her tongue curved, teasing, hard and fast.

  He pulled her back when his balls tightened a little too hard, although it killed him.

  “I’m not going to come in your mouth, Tria. Not when I can smell how wet your pussy is for me.”

  Turning her, and bending her over the railing, he placed himself at her hot, glistening entrance and finished the first round of the ‘discussion’ by pounding her relentlessly, over and over, while she yelled and begged for mercy.

  Everything in his bones told him to mark her perfect, smooth back, and he almost did, right then, but Gray believed in making his point. The subject hadn’t been hammered out to his satisfaction yet. He carried her to the California King in the suite and threw her in the middle of it.

  “Now, Tria,” he ran his fingertips along her skin from her neck to her tummy, clawing without marking her, “for the next part of this discussion, you’re going to have to open your legs wide and hold on to your ankles until I’m done talking to your pussy.”

  She grabbed hold of her ankles and spread her legs, only too happy to oblige. Kick-ass Tria didn’t mind taking orders when she was naked, apparently. They’d work just fine. She could wear the trousers the rest of the time.

  He buried his face between her legs and sucked at her clit, teasing her with his fingers, too; she curved her back, demanding, begging for more, until he just had to comply.

  It was time. Gray moved to place his dick at her entrance, while feeling a familiar burst of pain on his back. His eyes stayed fixed on hers the whole time, taking in her reaction when the set of black wings ripped through his skin.

  Her widened eyes held no disgust or fear; only lust. He chuckled. Why had he even doubted it?

  Gray plunged inside his mate as one of his wings curved around his body, and went to her arm. His claw dug deep, from her shoulder to the tip of her middle finger, marking her as his while he panted, thrusting inside her in an unrelenting rhythm.

  Tria pushed her upper body up to reach his face, kissing him without interrupting his fervent pounding. Her fingertips dug in right above his ass and pulled him closer, singeing him on contact. He winced at the burn and unexpectedly pushed over the edge. Gray kept on thrusting, because stopping before his mate had screamed out his name wasn’t, and wouldn’t ever be, acceptable.

  Finally, her muscles spasmed around him, and he laughed.

  “Did you give me a tramp stamp, woman?”

  She shrugged unrepentantly. “You’re my tramp. May as well deal with it.”

  * * *
r />   The Ens.

  * * *

  Next in the series: Realm of Abyss.

  May Sage decides which series to prioritize depending on the review ratings of the first books. If you enjoyed this word, leave a review - even a short few words count.

  The following Spring….

  “Please, please, please!”

  Hades snorted. Yeah right. Like he was going to listen to the woman’s pleas after what she’d done to him.

  “Please, I’ll do anything! Just stop tickling me.” There were tears in her beautiful green eyes.

  “Two daughters, Persy. Two fucking daughters, you hid from me. For twenty-six years!”

  He waved his hand, and the dozen long feathers carried on teasing the fuck out of her for the rest of the season.

  Note from the Author:

  So, time to fess up. Some people have already guessed it.

  Here we go: most of my books are linked and happen in the same universe. Not just Age of Night and Infernal Three, too.

  * * *

  SageVerse–Chronological order.

  * * *

  Contemporary Romance.

  (Current timeline, our world.)

  * * *

  Age of Blood.

  (A hundred years later, our world)

  * * *

  Age of Night.

  (Thirty years later, our world)

  * * *

  Infernal Three.

  (Same Timeline, mostly in our world.)

  * * *

  Not Quite the Fairy Tale

  (Same Timeline. Dimension: Gaia)

  * * *

  Age of Gold

  (A thousand years later. Dimension: Ertia)

  * * *