“I honestly don’t know. I assume so, but I can’t tell until that mark goes.”
“Then if this is the end, it was a pleasure to know you.”
Erebus stood and offered me his hand. “The pleasure was mine, I assure you.”
I shook Erebus’s hand, and he vanished.
“If this doesn’t work,” Tommy said. “If this goes wrong—”
“It won’t,” I assured him. “Hera screwed around with the runes when the blood-curse marks were added to me. They were meant to vanish naturally over the years, but it never happened. My death is a reset. I know that for a fact. It’s why Gawain made sure not to kill me. He knew that if he couldn’t kill the nightmare, too, then I’d return even stronger. Same with Mordred, and others like us. Erebus, my nightmare, believes I’m right.”
“So, are we all meant to say something to you?” Diana asked. “Because I’d honestly, from the bottom of my heart, like to call you a fucking lunatic.”
I laughed. “Can’t argue with that.”
She leaned down toward me. “You best not die, Nate. I don’t want to come down to the afterlife and kick your ass to get you back here.”
“Noted.”
Selene kissed me on the lips, and I had to force down the hate and rage that burst into my mind. Rage and hate that Ares forced me to feel about the woman I loved. I regretted a lot of things in my life, but his death wouldn’t be one of them.
“I love you, Nathaniel Garrett.”
“I love you, too,” I told her. “More than anything or anyone I’ve ever loved. Tommy included.”
Selene sniggered and kissed me again. “You best come back to me in one piece.” She stood and walked over to Diana, who was on her phone.
“Your turn, Tommy?” I asked.
“You know what I’m going to say,” he said. “You know it, and you’ll say what you say and I’ll cry like a baby. Damn you, Nate. Don’t you dare stay dead for long, you understand?”
“I’ll try my best.”
He turned and took a step away before pausing and turning back to me. “I love you.”
I looked up at him. “I know.”
Tears fell down his face, and he smiled. “See, this is some bullshit right here. Goddamn Han Soloing me.”
It was Atlas, Mordred, and me left. I turned to Atlas. “Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“I don’t like you,” he said. “But I’m not going to join the insane ramblings of a psychopath, either. This isn’t a them-or-you situation. This is a what-side-of-history-do-I-want-to-be-on situation. Besides, Hades told me that if I helped him, he’d make sure that you and I could fight. Fairly, no powers. Gawain just promised to let me kill you. I don’t want you dead, Nate. I just want to beat you.”
He removed a key from his pocket and knelt beside me. “When I remove this sorcerer’s band, your power, and by extension whatever shit Ares put in your head, will flood back.” He looked at Mordred. “Pick up one of the rifles here.”
Mordred removed a gun from a holster against his back. “I brought one with me.”
“You knew this would happen?” I asked.
“I had a good idea it would come to this, yes. I’m sorry, Nate, but when I heard that Ares and Abaddon had you, I figured they’d try the same thing on you that they did on me. I didn’t want you to try and murder your friends, and I thought that maybe killing you would work the same way it worked on me. I guess this is where we find out if we’re right.”
I nodded. “If this goes wrong, Mordred, I want you to know it’s been an honor being your friend. I know he’s your brother, but kill Gawain, and burn everything he controls to the ground.”
Mordred took a deep breath and nodded. “In your name, my friend. But nothing is going to go wrong. I’ll see you real soon. What about Arthur?”
“I don’t know. Gawain was saying things I didn’t understand. It sounds like they tried to do the same to him as to us.”
“I’ll look into it. We’ll try to find him,” he promised.
I turned to Atlas. “Take it off.”
He removed the band, and my magic flared up, as did the hate and rage I felt for Mordred and my friends. I growled something incomprehensible and was about to spring toward Mordred, a blade of fire on one hand, when everything went quiet, and I blinked. An instant later there was an explosion of sound, followed by another. Darkness folded over me, enveloping me in its peaceful embrace. And then nothing.
CHAPTER 35
Mordred
Wisconsin, USA
Mordred fired three times, putting two rounds into Nate’s chest and one into his head. The rounds were silver and designed to create the smallest wound possible while still exiting out the back of the body. Nate fell to the snowy ground, which quickly turned red.
“What now?” Atlas asked.
Mordred turned back to Selene, Tommy, and Diana, half expecting to see anger and hate on their faces, but Selene hugged him tightly. “Are you okay?” she whispered in his ear.
Mordred dropped the gun in shock and held on to Selene as the hurt of what he’d just done threatened to overwhelm him. He pushed it down. Nate was not dead. Not for good, but things needed to be done.
“We need to bury him,” Mordred said. “My nightmare didn’t come out for several hours after I died. I was in a morgue when it happened. And the power I unleashed almost destroyed it.”
“Burying Nate feels a lot like finishing something,” Diana said. “I didn’t expect to have to bury a friend today.”
“Before we do that, I need to do something,” Atlas said, removing the phone from his pocket and taking several pictures of Nate’s body.
“What are you doing?” Diana asked.
“You need to be quiet,” he told the others before making a call. “Gawain, it’s done. Nate’s dead. The nightmare got loose, killed the blood elves. Fought like a damn demon, but he’s dead. I’ve taken photos for you, and I’ll bury the body.”
Atlas was silent for a few seconds, listening to Gawain.
“Yeah, I’ll be back soon,” he said before hanging up. “Right, let’s get him buried.”
Atlas did most of the work to create a grave before pushing Nate into the four-foot pit. Selene, Tommy, Mordred, and Diana helped to cover Nate’s body with soil, just finishing as the sound of a helicopter broke the silence of their work.
The modified Black Hawk landed in a nearby clearing, and Hades hurried out before the engine had finished powering down, while several bodyguards remained at the helicopter.
“Are you sure this will work?” he asked Mordred, who nodded.
“How long has it been?” Hades asked.
“A half hour,” Selene said.
Two hours passed by without anyone saying another word while they stayed at their vigil watching the freshly dug grave.
“I need to head back,” Atlas said to Hades. “I’ve dumped the blood-elf bodies in the back of the van. I’ll dispose of them somewhere away from here. If I can, I’ll keep you updated on what Gawain does. Don’t expect regular chats, though.”
“Thanks, Atlas,” Hades said, shaking the larger man’s hand. “We wouldn’t be here without you.”
“Make sure Nate gets healed up okay. I want my match.”
“You’ll get it when this is all over,” Hades promised.