It was easy to see Deimos did not want to be near me. He was as tense as Alfie would be, right before he struck and Deimos did not want to release an inch of that kind of power my way. Even if I begged him to do it.

Which I currently was.

"But we had so much fun last time. Please, please, please!" I whined, noticing the twitch in his jaw as I managed to get my voice an extra decibel higher than before. "Come on God of Death Glares."

That was something else I knew he hated. Putting god of whatever was currently happening nearly got him to snap yesterday. It worked even better when I mimicked his look, stance and outfit.

"You really are a child." He snapped back in that I'm not bothered, emotionless way he had mastered.

"Compared to you, yeah. The best part is, now I'm immortal, you will get to see how much I grow and mature in the coming hundred years or so like some wise old grandad type. Then again, based on the rest of you, I don't like my chances of that happening." I smiled as he seemed to bite his cheek. "How did that happen to you by the way? You seem the least complicated, undramatic and sober out of everyone. Between us, Aphrodite put old Elise to shame last night when she got into that wine."

"What exactly do you want?"

"Oh, I know you know." I wink at him, enjoying the eyeroll that followed. Pretty sure I taught him that. "Just a little bit."

"No."

"But Deimos, The Furies are coming. Please?"

"Are you still torturing him?" Apollo came up to the table, looking over the piles of books in front of Deimos. "Anything?"

"No." Deimos sighed, closing the book of biblical proportions which contained just as much doom and gloom as all the others he'd been going through. "I might make some progress if this one wasn't pestering me with her ridiculous requests."

"She kind of makes a point. Will you be willing to have a go with me?" Apollo casually asks, like of course Deimos was going to just agree.

"I see no reason why not."

"Wait, what?" I shake my head. "No. You're being sexist."

"I'm being smart." He shrugs. "Kara will not kill me if I hurt that one."

"Again, it's funny, because you think you will hurt me." I keep poking, praying for a breakthrough soon.

Deimos leaned back in the chair, looking rather smug all of a sudden. "Did I not win last time?"

"Then it's only fair I get a rematch."

He thinks this over and finally nods. I glance at Apollo who shakes his head, clearing forcing himself to keep his opinions to himself as Deimos holds up two fingers.

"Two conditions. The first, it's two against one. The second, no hand to hand combat. Powers only." He decides.

"Why two against one?" Apollo sounds as offended as I feel.

"It will be easy for me. I know you both, I already know what plagues you. It will be over before you could even attempt to fight me." He laughs, clearly impressed by his own joke.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." I stand beside Apollo. "You ready?"

"I was born ready, Bunny."

Deimos follows us out of the library and we go away from the main castle. The forest looms beside us and I wonder if it's the same area Cain and I had gone to see Medusa. It looks creepy and around here, not much else seems to grow. The field is dry grass and weeds, rocky and abandoned, unlike the more lush areas that are found closer to the town. Perfect for a bit of training and already my powers were burning through my body in anticipation of what was coming.

"One more rule." Deimos decides.

"No crying when we win?"

He ignores me. "Do not tell Kara about this."

Deimos struts away and I nudge Apollo, who is just standing there watching Deimos. We move a little in the other direction, and I nearly trip on two rocks in the process so I was clearly off to a great start.

"That's enough," Deimos calls out and we turn around to find him covered in a swirling black mist.

Instantly Apollo seems to shimmer with light as he puts a hand up to the sky and seeing the pair of them all ready to go is quite a sight. Yet, I'm just standing there like a spectator to a superpowered duel.

"I want to sparkle." I pout. "I didn't even put on my shiny boots."

"I don't sparkle." He mutters, clenching his jaw as two hands go up. "Watch this."

I would if I could, but he's too bright and squinting I take a step away from him as a blast of white light shoots for Deimos. It's impressive for the five seconds it lasts as the darkness rears up like a wave and crashes down, twisting around the light as it seeks to consume it. Apollo groans, as his light dims, a black thread forcing its way towards him. Without even thinking it I manage to snap off both his light and Deimos mist, forcing a shield around as Deimos throws everything at us.

Apollo's power hits mine, reinforcing our bubble as he takes a big breath. "He's good."

"How have I never seen you do that before? That would have been super handy against the berserkers!"

"Ever notice how most battles happen at night?" I nod. "Yeah, that's why. The sun is my thing remember but I need to see it. You know I once managed to pull it back into the sky? Nearly fucking killed me, but I managed to heal myself enough to then absorb some and it was a whole thing."

"Wow." Then I realised he had to be messing with me. "That's impossible. Nice try."

"I'm not kidding. Cronus is the father of time, he's still technically within my lineage and I was desperate. However it worked, it did and I was able to technically fast forward time enough to skip the night and bring back the day. It's not something I want to do again, that's for sure." He sounded too serious to be tricking me, and the way he had said it was filled with way too much confidence and ego. "I always had a bit of warmth to my skin, after that, I earned the glow."

"Oh you don't sparkle, you glow. Right. Makes more sense to me now." Distracted with our chat, Deimos nearly breaks through. "Can you focus on this for a sec, I want to try something."

The second I reach out, Deimos is there. He blocks each advance I make as fast and effectively as I can dish it out and each time I feel him attempt to latch on as it had with Apollo. Connecting to us, was how he found a way in and the more he pushed, the closer he got until I had to release my attack. By doing that, he lost the connection, like a fish that got free of the hook.

I kept going, enough to keep him focused and hopefully confident in what he was doing while not actually having a chance to grab hold. Closing my eyes I reach beyond our shield, feeling for the space between us and Deimos; the earth hums with the energy of our powers, welcoming mine as it snakes deeper down only to be released once I sense that pull. It's like a magnet, the frantic beating of Deimos heart tells me this isn't as easy going for him as he'd like us to think.

His shield is weak; he's too focused on the attack before him and not the one that was coming. I was on him without him even knowing I was there. Grabbing onto the Berserkers had been easier than this. I didn't hide from them, and if they knew I'd caught them, they didn't have the ability to fight an invisible foe. I'd gone through hundreds, and I thought back to the sandy cove where Odin's Valkyrie had charged at me with the same blind rage, unable or unaware enough to stop me.

Thinking of them now though, there was something too clear and too real about these memories for them to make sense to me. I breathed in the salty air, breathless, aching but ready for more as the ultraviolet light of the portal made my skin turn blue and the blood that coated my arms altered neon war paint. One by one they came through the portal; my sword poised and ready. Only the Valkyrie altered to more familiar figures, Mum, Dad. Jordan, Raya - everyone and I was prepared to rip them apart with Odin's army.

This is what he thought scared me the most?

Ametuer. I went through worse with Dracula.

I almost laughed and stopped with the distractions to put all my energy where I needed it to be and opening my eyes the darkness that surrounded me caught me by surprise. Almost enough for me to lose my prize, which took shape in front of me as Deimos made his way closer and closer. If there was no shield, that meant -

"Apollo?" I couldn't see him, but I could hear something behind me.

"Give up?" Deimos smirked.

"Why would I?" I smiled innocently up at him, and I saw the flash of confusion on his face, right as Apollo cried out.

"Yes, make it stop!"

"You're taking it easy on me." I glared at him.

"Hardly." I looked at the mist, and just like when Phobos tried, my fears floated like photographs around and around us. "That was only the beginning."

"Good, I was getting worried there for a second." I felt the pressure of his powers as he closed in on me. I wondered how long our shield had been down and could hear Apollos' shaky breaths somewhere in this mess. "Give me your worst."

I looked Deimos in the eye, searching the darkness for what I was looking for. Ever so slightly his powers eased; hesitation, doubt, and as I smiled again at him, disbelief came fast as his eyebrows raised slightly.

And I then struck; like a snare being triggered, my powers tightened and coiled around him. He lost his control, the mist dispersing into nothingness and I finally saw Apollo as it cleared. Sitting on his knees, he had his hands around his throat, rubbing at something only he could feel. I'd check on him in a second, I wasn't finished yet.

Deimos rose up off the ground, and I squeezed, constricting tighter and tighter until those glorious words came rushing out.

"You. Win." He gasped.

"Louder for the ones in the back?" I taunted, easing him down before the release.

Victory had never felt so good.

"You're a terrible winner," Deimos muttered.

"Maybe I'll mature one day?" I head over to Apollo and help him up. "You okay? Why didn't you call out when he got through? We could have tried something else."

"I'm fine, and I did, or I thought I did. He moved fast, and he threw a lot of shit at me," Apollo held out his hand to Deimos, who hesitantly shook it. "You won."

"I knew you were taking it easy on me. Let's go again, one on one."

"I wasn't, you both were hit with the same energy once I got through the shield. I had you, I felt it. So many scenarios and then one seemed to keep coming up so I pulled it up and forced you into it." Deimos explained, looking a little confused as he did so. "And then you kind of let it go as if you simply handed it back to me. If you did that to Phobos, it explains why I had felt him so frustrated and desperate. I'd never felt anything like that before, which is why I decided to find him and see what was going on."

"I'm waiting for Richard to work out how fucked up my head really is and commit me. I've seen too much bad shit for it to cut as it used to and just kind of, look for the things that are wrong and sense the illusion?" I shrug. "Maybe it's the power of positive thought, as I tell myself it isn't real? Either way, thanks for not holding back if you really did. It felt good to play and not have to have a fight for my life situation happening for me to use my powers for something other than convenience."

"I do not think you are fucked up, but rather, your powers are at work, even without your realising. You are The Hunter. Nothing will stop you when you are after your prey. How do you think you are able to distinguish fact from fiction so easily."

"Experience, and The Hunter? Sounds like a D grade superhero and a few things do stop me, frequently. Plus, most of the time I am a mess. You're lucky you don't get to see Panic Attack Hunter on the prowl. You wouldn't sleep if you knew she was coming after you, mostly because of the crying and hyperventilating."

"Or Drunk Attack Hunter, because that usually ends in a load of drunken rambling no one can understand and if you get her at the right time, vomit on your shoes too," Apollo adds super unhelpfully.

I punch Apollo's arm, not holding back. "Asshole."

"I speak from experience, but I also think he makes a point. We already know our powers generally fall back on our strengths and skills." He shrugs.

Deimos opened his mouth then stopped, turning back in the direction of where Olympus sat above the city. He closed his eyes and held up his hands, which slowly turned black as his powers rose up once more.

"Something isn't right. I can feel, terror."

"Kara." I gasp, and yet Apollo grabs my arm as Deimos disappears. "Don't even-"

"You want my help, you need to trust me on this." He begged.

The urge to chase after Deimos and find Kara was strong, but logically, it may not be in my best interest to do that. Looking at Apollo now, I nod.

"Okay."

He takes us back only not to anywhere I've seen before and we run down the abandoned corridor. It's dark here, with the only light coming from the doorway behind us. Everything in this place is so open and it's strange how this has been designed, but I don't think about it as Apollo stops near a small indent on the wall. He looked around cautiously as if he was expecting a crowd to suddenly appear before putting his hand on the wall and mumbling a few words. The space next to his hand crumbles away to reveal a narrow passage and he says nothing as we go in. It's pitch black as we go in and the doorway vanishes as soon as we're both inside. The air is thick with dust, making breathing unpleasant and I give up trying to dodge cobwebs and focus on staying close behind him. I'd never be able to find my way back as we twist and turn, go downstairs and then back up. All sense of direction is lost.

"What was all this made for?" I ask.

"Survival." He whispered. "Art found out about the passages in an old book soon after we arrived here. We played through them as kids, and when we got older, we used them to play different games. The more you use your powers, the easier you are to be sensed. We might stand a chance at not being detected right away like this. Especially if we're not expected."

He mumbles something and again the wall fades into nothing. I know where we are the second we step out and he crouches low, motioning for me to do that same. It's not as easy to hide up here, as it had been when Hades and I had hidden just like this months ago. The statues on the upper level in the main hall still offered some kind of disguise, even if the daylight that poured in from the nearby windows gave us no shadows to hide in. At least that's what I thought until Apollo put his hand up, and a shadow seemed to take over outside.

We kept low and picked a spot where it was easier to keep close together. The balcony helped us to hide as much as the statues, and despite our view being a little more difficult from this angle, I saw Kara immediately. She looked every inch the Queen I knew she would be, poised and powerful on her throne. The gathering was impressive and very much unscheduled from what I knew of Kara's plans today. They appeared more like statues than the cold stone I currently leaned against, oddly lined up in rows and it made me nervous. I spotted Deimos near the base of the stairs up to Kara, separate from the rest yet he simply stood there, vacantly staring ahead like everyone else.

Something moved near the doors, and again to the side of the room. I saw Athena a few rows back from Deimos and something was either in place to block us or it was as bad as I already knew it was and everyone was dead quiet. SOmething moved towards the back of the room, and the woman that came down the aisle made Kara flinch, her hand twitching on the armrest and I knew she was fighting whatever was going on down there. Apollo gasped, slapping a hand over his eyes and another over mine as he awkwardly turned us around.

"Do not look directly at or into the shield in the hands of that creature. It's the Furies, and it's likely they're using it to control everyone." Apollo whispered, removing his hand.

"The shield?"

"I recognise it from our storybooks. Perseus used it when he slew Medusa. Athena put a spell on it, and caught Medusa's power, creating a weapon that would enchant any who gazed upon it as Medusa had in life. The one who holds the shield, holds her power and what is Medusa famous for doing if you look at her?"

"Turning people to stone." Only, that wasn't completely true and Medusa still had plenty of power.

"The God Killer hides what we seek.," We turned back around and sure enough, the woman in the aisle was holding a shield, and it looked as natural there as a bouquet of flowers.

Her dress was white, almost beige as if it had aged badly or was really dirty. A lace cape did little to cover her, the hood was see-through looking more like a veil. It could have once passed as bridal, if not for the blood-red bottom that looked wet and bloodsoaked. Streaks of red covered all of them in various spots; the trio was otherwise identical in every other way and as they moved it was hard to miss the red smear that followed along with their footsteps. I held my breath as they approached Kara, Hecate's words fresh in my mind.

To survive this, you all need to burn as one.

Who did? Just the two of us, everyone in the room - did she mean figuratively or literally?

I was not okay with it literally.

"God Killer, the one who came before you. Where is she?" The woman demanded. She turned to look out over the people. "Do you really value the life of one over that of many?"

"If you truly worked in the name of justice, you would know that no life is worth more or less than another's," Kara responded.

"It is not justice we seek," The one to Kara's left hissed.

"It is vengeance." The Fury on the right continued.

Kara gasped, her face twisting in pain as she closed her eyes. I saw the way her hands gripped the throne, her torso tense as she fell forward slightly with chin tucking up against her chest. Her groan was muffled as the Furies began to hum, and I grabbed Apollo's hand, seconds away from going out there to help her.

"Fight it, Kara, fight," I ordered.

"You-" She paused, struggling to keep her breath. "You are not welcome here. Leave."

I jumped at the scream from the back of the crowd, and Apollo held my hand tighter. Looking at him, he shook his head and turned back, one by one those in the back row fell. They all cried out as it happened, and as silence returned, Kara managed to stand up.

"Your crimes-" She growled, her chest heaving as she fought to speak through whatever was happening to her. "Will be punished. You have no right to come here."

The one with the shield moved quickly to face Kara. From here it was still a struggle to see her face clearly, as they kept angling away from us, but the black marks on her skin were unmissable.

"Do you value your life over another?" The one with the shield queried.

"Where is the one we seek, God Killer!" Lefty demanded, her voice filling the room.

"I don't know," Kara answered firmly.

"Lies!" Lefty screeched.

"This False Queen is as unworthy as those who came before her," Righty declared. "The penalty for her actions is death."

This was it.

Cain had to come now and save Kara.

Only it was him to make the first move as Deimos broke free, and with a roar, he engulfed the trio in darkness. Even from here, I could feel the struggle for freedom, and I was about ready to join him. I wasn't alone as a woman moved towards them from the group. It wasn't someone I recognized but she looked as pissed off about the current events as the rest of us.

She was beautiful; her red hair fell to her waist in loose waves instantly making me think of Ariel, and while her outfit was similar to Kara's outfit, it flowed differently. Her headpiece was leather and jewels, and the anger she radiated seemed unnatural. I expected her to be sitting in the middle of a forest with the animal friends singing songs about springtime, not looking like she was about to go to war.

"Frigg," Apollo whispered.

"That's her?" It made sense. Those in the space she had come from were unfamiliar and different to the usual crowd. She'd come back, and they'd walked right into this mess.

Kara fell to her knees, still fighting whatever hold they had on her and as the laughing echoed through the room, my heart stopped. Deimos mist cleared and the Furies remained, arms linked as they continued to laugh and then I saw why.

Deimos was frozen, his body gone as all that remained was the dull grey stone he'd been transformed into. His face was set into a mask of confusion, mouth slightly open as his hands remained extended, his body poised from the attack he'd sent their way.

No.

No.

No.

I only know I'm standing because I nearly fall back down. My vision blurs and I'm positive they've found me as I can feel a hand around my heart, squeezing it to the point I'm sure it's going to crumble under the pressure. Just as I go to search for the familiar weight of my sword in my hand Apollo has suddenly got his arms around my shoulders with a hand covering my mouth.

"Don't Elise, do not go down there!" Apollo whispers into my ear.

I fight him, but he has the advantage and I'm forced to slide onto the floor as he stays wrapped around me. His mouth is by my ear, his words frantic and I can't stop myself from shaking as my fight eases and lean into him. He's apologising, telling me to think about what I'm about to do. Deimos was a good guy, we'll get them for what they did, but not right now.

Trust.

Wait.

Think.

"He's my friend, I- I can't just," I turned into him in an effort to silence the sobbing that takes over. "I'd almost forgotten what this feels like."

Pain.

Hurt.

Loss.

This wasn't supposed to happen anymore. I had these gifts now; my friends did too. They were not mortals. I didn't have to worry about them as I did for those back home. We'd faced impossible odds against gods and monsters that weren't supposed to exist. This feeling wasn't supposed to still exist. Not here. Not with them.

Not for Deimos.

"I know, and Bunny, I hate what just happened too, but you feel it later. This isn't over because Deimos-" He hesitated. "He needs you to keep going right now. We all have to keep going."

Apollo was right and I nodded against his chest where his shirt was now wet from my tears. No matter how I tried to wipe them away, they kept falling which annoyed me enough to make even more. We're back in the passage, and I can't stop. Sitting against the wall, I fold into myself and let it out without being scared of being heard now. Apollo keeps a hand on my knee, letting me.

"I don't know how to do this anymore," I admit, hating how badly I have failed everyone already.

"You just do, Elise. Every time I thought you should stop, or you've been close to giving up, you just keep going. I've never understood it. I question your lack of self-preservation, but at the same time admire the fuck of out too." He admits. "It's why you aren't like the other Hunters, why are you not like us."

Again I felt that squeeze in my chest, and because I wasn't feeling pathetic enough, I stopped crying but entered the hiccups stage, followed by snot running all over my face and a lack of ability to breathe like a normal person.

"I am so scared right now, Apollo."

I wanted Kara to come and tell me it's over.

I wanted Deimos to be standing calmly just behind her, assuring me he was fine and that was nothing.

I wanted Cain to take me home.

"I know me too. We all are," He said softly. 

But more than anything, I wanted those fucking bitches to pay.

"And I'm fucking angry."