Kay reached the compound first, took stock of the situation, and motioned for the men to spread out and attack.

Why were there no guards at the perimeter?

Using her watch, she quickly followed the route to the central grassy area where all the heat signatures were and paused between two trees.

Every member of the household sat on their knees with their hands behind their heads, even the guards.

What the heck? Was this a trap? She glanced at the watch again. The heat signatures matched the ones on the device.

"Delta team leader, the house and outbuildings are empty. Should we advance?" Roshas asked.

"Wait, give me a second," she said.

***

The prisoner she had come to rescue sat ahead of the others on the grass, isolated, with no one near him. It would be easy for someone to kill him before she got to him. 

"We know you are here; please, do not harm me or my family. Take the ancient and leave us in peace," an Indian-sounding voice said, and she located the richly clad man beside a woman and two children in traditionally Eastern garb. "Azera forced us to keep him here and treat him according to her wishes. This was never our will. Ask Hercules, please?"

"It is true what they say," the tall man said. Built like a tank, he was everything the movies said he'd be, but for his strange, almost colorless eyes and the absolute lack of expression. His thick, short hair was almost the same color as Akira's.  

"Artemis, no," Kay warned over her mike as the ancient almost moved forward, and for a moment, their eyes met and battled, but to her surprise, her sister obeyed.

"There is no one out here but us. We are a peaceful people; our only sin was that we were a part of Azera's household staff. King Thane cast us out with her, and we became marked as dark fae, but we are not and were never. We are of the light," the pleading sound of his voice, the uneven beat of his heart, and something about his aura convinced her, and she moved from the shadows.

Hercules jumped to his feet and grabbed a spear from the ground. She froze as she thought he would throw it at her, but then he pointed it at his chest, and she recognized the odd glint of the metal that encased the tip.

"Thane will not get me and punish me as he did my family!" he yelled, his gaze colder than ice.

"Don't, please listen to me," she said as she lowered her gun to the ground, motioning for the others to stay put. "Akira lied to you all of these years. Thane wasn't the one hunting your families, and she wasn't hiding you from him."

"Liar!" he yelled, and the spear's tip slid past the cloth and into his skin.

"I am your sister; can you not tell? Why would I lie to you?" she asked, holding her hands so he could see she carried no weapon.

"Because Thane brainwashed you as he did Akira."

"No, he did not. In fact, until a few weeks ago, my opinion of my maker was not very high either, and things changed."

"Do you think I will take you at your word? I waited two thousand years to die, and I will have my death!" he yelled, spittle flying from his mouth as the spear slid deeper into his chest and blood flowed down the sharpened tip.

"Artemis, Hera, do you want to watch our brother commit pointless suicide when he can finally live life?" Kay asked, and they appeared from the shadows like wraiths.

"Artemis? Hera? Is that really you?" he asked, his death grip on the spear's shaft loosening only slightly.

"Do you not recognize us, brother? Has it been so long?" Artemis asked.

"Cules?" Hera said, and for a moment, she sounded like a little girl, but that word influenced the seven-foot-tall man in a way Kay didn't expect.

He stared at her, and the coldness slowly bled from his gaze as she walked right up to him, took his wrist, and gently pointed the blade away from him.

"Little one," he said as if she were truly five, touching her cheek, and tears ran down her cheeks as she hugged him and his arms folded around her.

"Big brother," Hera said as Artemis touched his shoulder. The bond between Hera and Hercules was clearly closer than the one between him and Artemis, but she was always a little aloof. Only Ananke was more distant than her.

"Is this real?" he asked, almost as if in a daze.

"Do I not feel real?" Hera asked, and he hugged her even closer.

"Is it true what that one says?" he asked, his gaze going to Kay.

"It is true. Azera attacked Father, and Akira killed her. Our stepmother lied to Father as she did to us, and if not for Kay, the truth would never have come out. We owe that tri-ling a great debt," Artemis said.

When would it become easier to have people look at her as if she was more than she was? Kay shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"She's not good with compliments and received a lot of Azera's 'attention' in her short life, courtesy of Father, but it was part of a plan that ended up saving us and the entire underworld from the dark queen," Hera said when Hercules finally let go of her.

"I can't believe she is gone and that we are free. Are we free?" he asked.

"Yes," Artemis said, glancing at the kneeling men and women.

"Then why are you still doing Father's bidding?" he asked suspiciously, that hard glint back in an instant.

"Because there is no place in this world for us, and we're used to obeying orders. Perhaps we even wanted to help save you," Artemis said, frowning at him.

"And because we know things are changing, we want to be part of that change. This one and Akira succeeded in wrapping Father around their little fingers, and they did things I never thought to see," Hera added, sounding proud of them.

"But is Akira not the queen of the dark now?" Hercules asked, a frown tugging at his brow, his face still stern.

"Yes, but that puts her in a position of power," Artemis said.

"Will the dark not revolt against her if she follows Thane's lead?"

"If you were them, would you revolt against the woman who killed Azera?" Hera asked.

"And she is not following Thane's lead—he follows hers," Artemis reminded.

"That seems too good to be true."

"Well, a couple of Azera's minions tried their hand at her chair and found that she would do anything to keep them from continuing where their mistress left off," Kay reminded, unsure if she should participate in the conversation.

"She should be careful that she does not take such measures as to become another Azera herself," Hercules said, and if Kay had to guess, he was the strategist in their family. Akira would get along great with him, or they would bump heads.

"That will never happen," Kay said without a doubt.

"Should you not hate her just a little for creating you to foil Azera?" Artemis asked.

"Yes, I should, but she also saved countless people from ever having to live through what we did, and now, she will stop the casual cruelty of creating seedlings for the odd chance that they might survive being changed. She's done more good than any of you ever have, and even as the queen of the dark and knowing they cannot entirely deny their nature, she will find ways to keep the peace."

"It cannot change what she or we did," Hera said, and the look in her eyes told Kay that, like Akira, she hated the things of the past.

"No, but she can spend the rest of her life making up for it."

"Will it ever be enough?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know, but I forgive her for what she did to me."

"Have you told her that?" Hera asked.

"She heard."

***

"Delta command, respond. What's happening?" Claudia asked over the comms.

"Delta command, package secure. We will be ready for pickup in ten minutes. Delta out."

"What about us?" the Indian owner of the property asked, shielding his two young daughters from the immortals pointing guns at them.

"Why are we pointing guns at these people?" Kay asked, and Roshas motioned for the men to stand down.

"Take me and please leave my family; this is not their fault," the man pleaded, falling to his knees and crawling on his hands and knees to her feet. "Please have mercy."

"Why would we want to take you or harm your family?" Kay asked and turned her back on him, walking away.

"I don't understand?" he asked.

"You are free to go. There will be no consequences for you or your family," Hera translated as she followed Kay.

"But..."

"Hammal, you have been spared," Hercules said.

"But... I harmed you."

"On Akira's orders, and she would have killed you at a whim if you did not obey. I saw the kindness your wife afforded me against your advice, be at peace," Hercules said, following them without looking back. 

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