“You’re killing people so you can be their savior, and thus make it easier to control them.”
“That’s exactly it. All of these people will bow before us, Nate. They’ll learn about Avalon, about the control we’ve had over the years, and about how when that control wavers awful things happen. They’ll welcome us. They need us. Humanity was never meant to rule itself; it can barely go a day without starting a war or screwing up so badly that part of the planet is forever changed. They don’t deserve to be in charge. They deserve to be mindless. They deserve to be food for those who need it, and playthings for those who desire it. They should be on their fucking knees worshipping us like the gods we are.
“I spoke to Deimos about being a fake Hellequin, and he jumped at the chance. When Arthur asked you to go to Shadow Falls, you were meant to jump at the chance. He doesn’t know anything about what’s happening right here. He didn’t know about the kidnapping, or the attack. He didn’t know about us using Deimos as Hellequin. At this moment he believes that we can all live in harmony.”
“You’re using him?”
Gawain laughed and avoided the question. “Hellequin starts to pledge his allegiance to Shadow Falls, and what a surprise, Nate is already there. But you managed to find out about Tartarus before you were meant to, and that blew the plan all to hell. Deimos was annoyed about that. He wanted to play a cat-and-mouse game with you. He wanted to murder your friends, too, but I convinced him otherwise. We both know that your friends would have taken out Deimos, and probably those I sent with him, and the long-term plan was more important than killing them. Make humans afraid of us. And damned if it didn’t work like a charm.”
“Yeah, it was a good plan. Glad you’ve thought this through and aren’t just being crazy or anything.”
“I had to wait for a thousand years while Arthur was in a coma to put this plan together. Arthur has charisma; he has everything you could ever want in a leader. I am not easy to get along with, and people don’t always trust me. Yes, some things didn’t pan out, and you managed to delay it more than once, but then Arthur finally woke up. Do you know it took nearly two thousand innocent souls to feed him? I think we finally healed him.
“When I first started to take control of Merlin’s mind, he had no idea how powerful I really was. I had Abaddon put me through the Harbinger trials at the age of ten. I spent a hundred and twenty years in them. I can’t begin to tell you how I wanted to try out all the awful things Abaddon had me do during my time in there. Merlin fought me at first; he didn’t realize what I was until it was too late, but once he was mine, it was a joy to behold. The paladins helped. They were able to amplify my power to drown out Merlin’s need to fight. They’ll be rewarded for that.”
I sucked down the anger I felt. “Why Lee?”
“Why not?” Gawain asked with a chuckle. “The man was an idiot. But he hated you. And he wasn’t hard to find. I offered him some blood—we told him it was Asmodeus’s, but it was just a vampire master’s we had killed—and sent him through the trials, too. I mostly just wanted to see what would happen. And when he was ready, we sent him off to cause havoc. We just needed someone to get into Shadow Falls, into the mountain, and copy down the elven runes on the dais. Once we had those, we could break in and remove Asmodeus’s body. He needed a proper burial. After that Lee’s entire job was to cause problems, piss off Galahad, and get to the ruins to wait to be captured. Then once you showed up—and we knew you would—he was to escape and get into the tunnels beneath the city. He was going to help destroy some of the tunnels so the blood elves could get up into the city.”
“I saw,” I said. “So, how am I meant to join you?”
Gawain stood. “You’ve seen Mordred. You know how we broke him. I just wanted to talk to you before we started.”
“Very nice of you.”
Gawain shrugged. “You’re going to join me. You’re going to stand at my right hand. And we’re going to make sure that you have total loyalty to me.”
“By beating me up?”
“The process will take some time,” Gawain said. “It would have worked on Mordred if he hadn’t escaped.”
“It took you a century. I don’t think you have that long.”
“No, that’s true.” He nodded toward Abaddon, who left the room without a word. “Your mind almost broke with Galahad’s death. Your rage and grief—that’s something we can use. That’s a state we need to start you in.”
“If you hurt anyone else, I’ll kill you, Gawain.”
“We’ll see.”
The door opened, and Abaddon dragged in a badly beaten Lucie.
“Don’t do this,” I said.
“Lucie, tell Nate what you told me,” Gawain said, ignoring me.
“Fuck you, pretty boy,” Lucie said, and spat in his face.
Gawain attacked her with a furious rage, beating her down onto the floor, as I yelled at him to stop. He grabbed Lucie by the hair and dragged her over to me.
“Tell him,” Gawain snapped. “Tell him what you told me.”
“I don’t like Nate,” Lucie said, staring at me. “I don’t trust him. I don’t trust anyone with that level of power.”
“This is the kind of person you call a friend,” Gawain said.
“Go to hell, Gawain.”
Gawain passed Lucie over to Abaddon.
“Kill them all,” Lucie whispered before Abaddon slit her throat and pushed her toward me. Lucie died leaning up against me, her blood drenching me from the stomach down.
“Now that’s the sort of mood we need you in,” Gawain said, opening the door and revealing Ares, who had a cruel smile on his face. “You know what to do.”
Ares came into the room. “It will be my pleasure.”
“Don’t kill him,” Abaddon said.
Ares pulled Lucie off me, shoving her to the floor. “Oh, he won’t die,” he said. “But he’s going to wish he had.”
Rage and hate filled me until I felt nothing else. “Bring it on.”
CHAPTER 33
Nate Garrett
Ares took my rage and hate and twisted it inside my head. He didn’t change any of my memories like his son had so long ago; he knew that Erebus would react negatively to his presence. He was well versed in exactly what I could and couldn’t do and used it to his advantage.
He pointed my hate at the people I loved, stripping away my feelings for them, and tried to replace those feelings with something ugly, something cruel and vicious. He tried to make me believe that Gawain, Abaddon, Arthur, and Merlin were the only people I could truly trust, the only people who would allow me to achieve everything I ever wanted.