Fallen Gods Read online

  “I can’t plan that many ahead.”

  “No, anyone who does is a fool. You can’t plan that far ahead, because your opponent can do all sorts in that time. You just need it committed up here.” He tapped his forehead.

  “Muscle memory? That’s what you’re saying?”

  “Damn right I am. You need your body to respond before you even think about what you want it to do.”

  “Yeah, but how do I do that?”

  “Train, a lot.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yep, basically. You have the skill and the knowledge. I’m not saying there isn’t more you can learn. There is always more for all of us to learn, but right now you have to keep working on the basics. You know what you need to for now, so keep working it until it’s as natural as walking.”

  “It can feel like that?”

  “Sure. You know what it’s like for anything you have to learn in this job. You do something often enough, it becomes second nature.”

  They were coming up to the Met, the Metropolitan Museum of Art when a flash burst out from a window.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “What?” Luca asked. He’d not seen it.

  Another even brighter light flashed out at the same window and blew the glass out. It showered across the street.

  “What the...”

  Aaron already had his cellphone in his hand and was calling it in, with his weapon drawn as he rushed forward.

  “Never a dull night, right?” Luca followed on toward the entrance. It was shut with only night-lights on.

  “You think someone is stupid enough to rob this place?”

  “Luca, I’ve seen more stupid in this job than you can ever imagine.”

  “But you don’t think that’s what it is?”

  He shook his head.

  “That light, what was that? Like a flashbang or something?”

  “Something.”

  “Right, but why?”

  Aaron shrugged and looked at his watch. It would be several minutes before a squad car got there. He looked around for any other cops that might be in the area, but it was surprisingly quiet. The few civilians walking by were ignoring all that was going on in true New Yorker fashion. Short of gunfire, they would go about their daily lives. He reached for one of the manual door handles and tried to open it, but it was locked.

  “You really want to do this?”

  “It’s our job. Crime doesn’t just stop when you’re off the clock,” he said to the young officer, “You see a crime happening, you have a responsibility to the city and the people to do what you can.”

  The job had been a lot more intense than Luca had ever imagined. He expected to be truly off the clock, and yet Aaron never was. He respected him for it, but it was also exhausting to think that his life was going to be like until the day he retired. Aaron shook the doors one more, but they were well sealed, and the glass so thick he’d have no chance of breaking it open. He stepped back and looked up to shattered glass above them. It made no sense to him for the upper window to have been blown out.

  “What is it?” Luca asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s the problem.”

  “Maybe we should wait for backup?”

  Aaron looked around. There was no sign of help, and they couldn’t even hear the sirens.

  “We’re here. They’re not,” he replied as he tried the doors once again in a futile attempt. As he did, there was a blinding light from inside the building. They both covered their eyes as the glass of the doors was blown out by an almighty blast. They were thrown off their feet and into the road.

  * * *

  Thanatos opened his eyes. He was groggy, as if he’d woken from a thousand-year sleep. His head was throbbing, and he coughed out sand and dust as he shot up and leaned over, coughing violently. That’s when he spotted the head of his spear. The shaft was broken. Thirty centimeters of it was still left, and his shield was nowhere to be seen. He grabbed what was left of the weapon and struggled to his feet. His body ached, and he was starting to remember why. He was a god, but he’d battled against gods, too. He rubbed his painful head as he tried to piece together what had happened. The battle at Olympus was coming back to him in short violent flashbacks. That’s when he remembered the conclusion, Zeus smashing his crown. His heart sank as he realized it was all true, and the nightmare it had felt like. He remembered reliving it time and time again after having been cast out of Olympus. He wondered how much time could have passed since then, but he had no idea.

  “What is this place?”

  There were ancient statues and artifacts displayed all around him. Some of which he recognized, but he was in some kind of museum. He’d never been here before, but he knew it was man-made. He heard a blast in the distance, like an explosion of some sort, and light flashed through the open doorway ahead of him. He went straight toward it. He had absolutely no idea where he was or what he should do. He turned the bend to find it opened out into a larger hall, full of artifacts, though many of them were smashed. A red alarm light was flashing on a wall, but that meant little to him. Bodies lay scattered across the floor, almost a dozen of them. They were dressed as he was and must have come from Olympus.

  Thanatos knelt down beside the closest body and turned it over. The armor was decorated with the eagle and lightning bolt. Symbols of Zeus, the very same symbols he and the other rebels had removed when the war had begun.

  “Loyalists?” He looked about to see that they were all soldiers of Zeus.

  A groan rang out. One was still alive, but he could not see them. He rushed across the room to find the wounded soldier lying behind a counter, delirious and in a pool of blood. He turned the body over and gasped as he recognized her immediately.

  “Theodosia?”

  She wore bronze armor much like his but tapered to the form of her strong and fit body. Her jet-black hair matted was with blood. Her eyes widened as she recognized him, coming out of her delirious state as if injected with a high dosage of adrenaline. There was fear in her eyes, and bitter hatred leveled at him.

  “Traitor!” She punched him hard in the face. His jaw snapped to one side as he fell back, and her foot connected with his chest, throwing him further back. He crashed into a statue that smashed under his weight, falling unceremoniously over. He was soon back on his feet.

  “Theodosia, it’s me, Thanatos,” he declared, moving back toward her. She staggered to get to her feet and was trailing blood from a severe injury. He could see in her face that she intended to do him real harm.

  “Thanatos,” he said, pointing to himself.

  “I know who you are, idiot. You’re the reason we’re here. You turned on the Allfather!”

  He tried to find some words to explain it, as he was already regretting his decisions. Doubt had filled his mind from the moment he had set foot in Olympus with the intent to overthrow its ruler. But it was too late now. The deed had been done.

  “I don’t want to fight you. I never wanted to fight you,” he pleaded.

  But still she came at him, letting out a deafening war cry as she rushed forward, sword in hand. She slashed with a powerful diagonal cut and then another from the other side. He dodged them easily and seemed unwilling to strike back, but he was backed up against a wall, and had no choice but to parry. He parried the third cut with the remains of his spear. Sparks flew as the godly weapons clashed, but she didn’t stop coming forward, striking him with a heavy punch in the nose. His head smashed back against the wall, and he knew he had to do something to stop her rage-induced attack.

  He dodged the next strike as she tried to pommel him, ducked under, and slipped out from the wall. He took hold of her and launched her over his shoulder. She flew several meters into a glass display that shattered on impact. She cried out as she landed, the pain surging through her grueling wounds.

  “Freeze! Stop right there!”

  Thanatos had thought they were alone, but he turned to see two strangely dressed m
en pointing what was clearly some sort of weapon at him. It was the two off-duty cops. They looked like hell, their clothing ragged and dirty, and Aaron had a deep cut across his forehead.

  “Lay down the weapon!” Aaron ordered in a forceful tone.

  Thanatos looked down to the blood-soaked spear still in his hand. It made him sick to think that so much blood had been spilt on his account. He was no stranger to death, but he had killed his own. The blood of Olympians was on his hands. But Theodosia let out another cry as she ran at him once again.

  “What the fuck?” Luca swore. They watched in disbelief as the goddess like warrior charged toward Thanatos. He ducked under one cut, but she punched toward him with another, knocking a chunk of concrete from a pillar as if it were nothing. Dust and shards of concrete showered the two cops as they ducked down for cover.

  Aaron wasn’t fazed by it, even if his partner was.

  “What the hell are we looking at?”

  Aaron shrugged. He didn’t know, but it wasn’t the time to start second-guessing.

  “Aphrodite over there just punched through concrete,” Luca added in amazement.

  Aaron paused for a moment in surprise that Luca even knew who that was.

  “What? You think you’re the only one who reads about shit?”

  Aaron smiled, as he was always glad to be surprised like that.

  “You know what I’ve seen people do under the influence of whatever crap they shoot or snort? I’ve seen a hundred-and-twenty-pound female punch right through a windshield and not even pause to feel the pain.”

  Luca shrugged as if to accept it, but as he peered up and over the counter they’d taken cover behind, he didn’t look so sure.

  “What do we do?”

  “We have to stop this, whatever it is.” Aaron watched the woman get launched across the room toward them. She was thrown so far it seemed completely unbelievable, but he stayed focused. He could see the blood pouring from the woman and leapt in between the two of them.

  “Cover him!” Luca leapt out from cover as they faced off in opposite directions. It wasn’t exactly as Aaron would have wanted to deal with the situation. It was always better to have two sets of eyes on a target, but at least they’d stopped the fight.

  “Put your weapon down, and lay down with your hands on the ground!”

  “You, too!” Luca roared.

  Thanatos happily obliged. He didn’t fear their weapons, and didn’t want to go on fighting the goddess he had always admired. But she let out a shrill battle cry once more and ran toward Aaron as if to go right through him.

  “Stop, or I will fire!”

  But she continued on. He squeezed the trigger and let off two rounds. Both bounced right off her cuirass, which he had assumed was nothing more than costume wear. His eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly lowered his aim, and fired at one of her exposed legs. The shot went into the leg. She slowed a little but still kept coming. He fired at the other leg, and still she came, sword raised high as if willing to cut through anything in her path. He knew he had no other choice as his muzzle lifted, and he took aim at her face as she reached within a meter of him. He squeezed the trigger, and the bullet struck her forehead. Her eyes went dead as she collapsed, sliding to a halt at his feet.

  “Theodosia!” Thanatos ran forward.

  He had closed the distance in no time, and got past Luca’s gun, who was too distracted by the gunfire to focus on his target. Aaron didn’t try to stop Thanatos, who was empty-handed and seemed to pose no threat at all.

  “I had no choice. She was coming right at me,” said Aaron.

  He wasn’t so much in shock, but angry he’d been forced to fire his weapon. But as Thanatos turned her over, she gasped for air, and her eyes opened once more. The wound on her head where the bullet had struck had already sealed.

  “Impossible…who are you people?”

  “Thano?” Theodosia asked in a soft voice as she reached out for his face, as if having forgotten all the bad things that had happened. But she faded into unconsciousness once again and fell limp in his arms.

  Chapter 3

  “I’ve got to get her out of here before they come back for her,” said Thanatos.

  “Who? Who are you running from?” Aaron asked.

  “Not me, her. Hades and his army will be coming for her.”

  “Hades? What the hell have you two been smoking?”

  “Smoking?” Thanatos asked, as if he had no idea what they were talking about.

  “Better call a bus,” said Luca. He got out his phone to find it was dead, “What the hell?”

  Aaron checked his, and it was dead, too.

  “Blast must have taken them out, damn near took us out.”

  “I have to get her out of here now.” Thanatos went to lift her.

  “You aren’t going anywhere.” Aaron slapped cuffs on to one of Thanatos wrists. Thanatos looked at the metal cuffs in surprise and disgust. He pulled back and wrenched the other one from Aaron’s hands.

  “Look, I’m sorry about whatever happened here, but you are under arrest. I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here, but you have a lot of answering to do, and we’ll sort that out once we get you to the station. Don’t fight me on this. Let me get those cuffs on you. I’ll read you your rights, and no one else needs to get hurt.”

  “My rights?” Thanatos asked incredulously.

  “What is this guy?” Luca asked in astonishment. The man seemed to be from a different planet.

  Aaron lifted his weapon once again, as he could already see this man was going to be trouble. Thanatos looked at the cuff dangling from the one at his wrist, annoyed and frustrated by it. He took hold of the open cuff and pulled it, snapping the chain with ease, as if it were nothing more than a kid’s plastic toy.

  The two cops watched in disbelief as he ripped the other from his wrist. It bent and buckled under his strength until he cast it aside.

  “All right, you’ve seen people not feel pain, but you see drugs give anyone that kind of strength?”

  “They must be defective,” replied Aaron.

  It was the only plausible explanation he could come up with, but it had shaken him, too.

  This was the first time the younger cop had seen Aaron rocked and unsure what to do. He was still holding his weapon up, unsure if it was of much use, and that terrified him.

  “What are you two on? You don’t feel pain, you have all this strength, what is going on here?”

  “Spread out, find her!” They all heard a voice from a few rooms away.

  Thanatos’ face turned to a look of fear. The first time they’d seen it in him, which confused them. He’d shown no fear in the face of cops with weapons that they were willing to use.

  “We have to get her out of here. If they find her, they’ll kill her.”

  “Who? Who will kill her?” Aaron asked.

  “That doesn’t matter right now.” He lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder, “Grab her weapon, and follow me,” he ordered.

  Aaron could barely believe what he was hearing.

  “Look, you’d better start talking. This is the NYPD you’re talking to.”

  He laid a hand on Thanatos. He pushed it aside and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground, even while he carried Theodosia. Aaron was choking while his feet dangled thirty centimeters from the ground. Luca lifted his weapon, but was too terrified to say or do anything. Aaron waved him off, and Thanatos opened his hand so that Aaron dropped hard and gasped for air.

  “Now grab that sword, and follow me,” he ordered again.

  Aaron nodded to his partner as he coughed, still gasping to get air in. Luca reached down for the weapon but was stopped dead as he tried to lift it. It was five times heavier than he’d expected. He adjusted his position and heaved it up like a kettlebell at the gym.

  “Geez, what the hell is this made of?”

  Aaron was shaking his head in disbelief. None of this made any sense to him, but
he was done arguing about it for now. They rushed on room after room until finally Thanatos led them through a doorway in a small dark corner. It was a small office, and they shut the door behind them.

  “You’ve got some explaining to do, and you better do it fast.”

  Aaron was painfully aware he was not in a position of power, and having trouble wrapping his head around what they had experienced. This stranger had lifted him like the strongest man he’d ever met and couldn’t have dreamed of doing. Thanatos ignored his question as he placed the equally mysterious woman down on the floor. Aaron knelt down for a closer view. The wound on her head and leg had completely healed.

  “What the hell is going on here? I put a couple of shots into her, and there’s nothing to show for it. I’ve seen people get hit and run straight through it, but I’ve never seen them come out unscathed.”

  Luca could see and hear the genuine fear in his voice in a way he’d never heard before. Aaron was the calmest and coolest cop he’d ever met. He’d never walked into a situation he didn’t figure out and get through. But this one had him completely flummoxed. That worried Luca. No matter how bad things had got in the past, he’d always been able to look to his veteran partner for the answers. He was steady as a rock, until now.

  “Answer me, damn it! There were bodies all over the place back there. Start talking.”

  “They were loyalists.”

  “Loyalists, loyal to who?”

  “Zeus.”

  Aaron gasped with exasperation that he was getting nowhere.

  “All right, let’s make this a bit simpler. Who the hell is she, and why don’t bullets seem to touch her?”

  “She is Theodosia.”

  Thanatos looked at them in disbelief to see the name meant nothing to them.

  “Theodosia, the legendary warrior and demi-goddess?”

  “Come on, pal, now you’re just making crap up.”

  “But, her wounds? Gun shot wounds, they’ve healed,” said Luca.

  Aaron couldn’t help but go back to that fact, too. They could get to grips with many of the things they had just seen, but not this.