Fallen Gods Page 4

  “Mortal weapons cannot hurt us, or not fatally anyway.”

  “What are you?” Luca asked.

  “I am Thanatos.”

  “And what, you’re a demi…god, too?”

  “Not demi,” he snapped.

  Aaron shook his head, trying to make some sense of it all. “This is crazy. This can’t be happening. It’s ridiculous.”

  “You don’t believe what your eyes are seeing?”

  “Not right now,” replied Luca.

  A scream rang out down the corridors. A loud shriek in pain that finally went silent.

  “What the hell is going on out there?” Aaron went to the door with his weapon in hand. But Thanatos reached across and locked onto his arm, bringing him to a dead stop. He tried to pull away, but Thanatos’ grip had him like a vise, and he seemed to weigh twice what he looked.

  “If they find her, they will kill her,” said Thanatos sincerely.

  Another scream rang out, as someone else was finished off.

  “Who are they killing?”

  “Other loyalists, fighters that fought with her, for Zeus.”

  “And that is what you are? A loyalist?”

  “Not exactly,” he replied with a pained sigh.

  “Are you going to give me any straight answers or not?”

  Thanatos smiled with a wicked grin, his mischievous side kicking in. They could hear sirens rapidly growing louder now as several squad cars approached.

  “Yeah, you hear that, the cavalry.” Luca pulled a blind aside to see the first car slide to a halt outside.

  “Who are they? Your allies?” Thanatos asked.

  “Cops like us.”

  “Cops?”

  “Police officers, we look after the city. Keep law and order. What rock did you crawl out from under?” Aaron asked.

  “Do they mean us harm?”

  “No, they won’t try and hurt you unless you pose a threat to them.”

  Thanatos was deep in thought when they heard footsteps out in the corridor. He pointed for them to get down, but there was no time to move Theodosia. He moved to the edge of the doorway and backed up against the wall. The steps were growing nearer. Luca looked terrified. He’d got a glimpse of strength and power that seemed inhuman. Any other time he’d have found some comfort in the knowledge he had his service weapon, but now he wondered if it would be of any use. He felt powerless. Aaron didn’t look so fearful as he watched, trying to learn everything he could about their bizarre situation.

  Finally, the door handle creaked, and the door swung open. A hulking figure stepped into the room. He was wearing modern body armor and carrying an AR15, but on his side was slung a bronze-handled sword. He smiled wickedly as he spotted the passed out Theodosia. He stepped forward slowly, as if to cherish the moment, but as he did so, a blade pierced his armor from his back and burst out through his chest. He collapsed down to his knees with Thanatos’ hand covering his mouth to stop him calling out with his last breath. He drew out the bloody blade and lay his victim down. Neither of the two cops argued with him. The man didn’t seem to want to do them harm, but they were still struggling to understand what they had walked into.

  A loud gunshot rang out, and they heard something crash out into the street outside. Aaron rushed to the window to see a uniformed cop flat on his back in the middle of the street. He was bloodied, and his partner was running out to help him, firing back as she went.

  “Come on. We have to do something.” Aaron rushed for the door.

  Gunfire echoed through the museum, and explosions rang out. It sounded like an all out warzone.

  “You can’t fight them. You can’t win,” said Thanatos as the two cops reached the door.

  “We have to try.” Aaron briefly stopped, hoping he would get some support from the mysterious Thanatos, but he would not move. Aaron sighed, picked up the rifle from the body of the fallen soldier, and ran out to engage the enemy. For that is what they were.

  “What the hell is going on here? This is New York, not Basra,” whispered Luca.

  “I don’t know what’s going down, but those are our people out there. We stay close, and watch your ass, you hear?”

  Luca looked terrified, but also focused. They took a bend to find someone coming right for them, dressed in black and looked much like the one Thanatos had killed.

  “Police! Stop right there!” Aaron ordered, lifting the muzzle of the rifle he had taken to bring the man into his sights.

  There was an aggressive response as the man lifted his weapon to fire. Aaron quickly snapped off two shots, and the man staggered back a pace, but didn’t go down.

  “He’s wearing armor!” Luca yelled, as he thought back to the one that had come for them. Aaron quickly lowered his aim and fired two more shots at the legs of the man. To his relief the shots ripped into the armed man’s legs, and he went down heavily. His head struck the hard floor, and he was out cold.

  Luca rushed forward, drawing out cuffs as he went. Aaron was surprised he even had them on him, as he never bothered off-duty. It was a pain in the ass.

  “Leave him. Get his weapon.”

  Luca looked surprised, but he didn’t argue as he picked up the rifle and holstered his off-duty weapon.

  “The bullets went right through him?” he asked, seeing the blood on the floor.

  “Yeah.”

  “So, he’s not one of them, whatever they are?” He gestured back from the direction they’d left Thanatos.

  “I don’t know anymore. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like we just walked into a goddamn bad movie.”

  * * *

  Theodosia began to open her eyes. She was dazed and confused, even more than the last time she’d been awoken and had to defend herself. The first thing she spotted was the body of the fallen soldier on the floor, and her eyes widened to a look of alarm. She turned over and tried to get up, but could not find the energy. That’s when she spotted Thanatos standing over her. Her hand reached for a weapon that would normally be by her side, but he laid his hand over her, pressing down on her shoulder to keep her put. She didn’t have the strength to fight back.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay,” he insisted.

  There was fear in her eyes, and she was breathing heavily.

  “Okay? You are my enemy,” she snarled.

  “No, he’s your enemy.” Thanatos gestured down toward the body beside them.

  “One of Hades’,” she snapped, “You…” she went to snap at him further, until she realized she hadn’t killed the man lying dead beside them.

  “You killed him?”

  “Yes,” he replied as if surprised.

  “But you’re with them, with Hades.”

  “We fought together because we had to. Zeus had to be stopped, but that’s over now.”

  “Over?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “We’ve been fighting Hades here on Earth for two months now.”

  “Two months? I…I…”

  “When Zeus smashed his crown, we were scattered. Different times and places,” she winced as she tried once more to get up but was unable to.

  She stopped fighting and looked down at the body of the man who had come to kill her. She took some comfort in how calm Thanatos was. He didn’t look like he’d come to do her harm.

  “Why did you do it? Why did you protect me?” Theodosia whispered.

  He looked surprised that she even had to ask.

  “We may not have agreed when it came to the Allfather, but we are one. This fighting needs to end. It’s over now. We did what we had to do.”

  She was already shaking her head as he spoke.

  “You believe this will ever be over while Hades lives?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He wants the crown.”

  “It’s gone, destroyed.”

  “No, it’s shattered. But whoever can recover all the pieces, they can make it one again. Hades wants that power more than anything, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”

  Gunfire rang out, and it visibly panicked her. Thanatos had seen what those weapons could do, and he didn’t understand why they would bother her, but clearly she knew a lot more about this world than he did.

  “What were you even doing here?”

  “Recovering a piece of the crown. We have to stop Hades finding all the parts. Do you understand me? You must have had your reasons to do what you did, but you have to see this is wrong now.”

  Further gunfire rang out.

  “Those ones in uniform with badges on their chests, those cops, they’re good guys.”

  “What do we care about that?”

  “If we’re gonna win this war, we’ll need all the help we can get. Hades has already recruited many mortals to his cause, far more than we have. Thanatos, there is good in you. I know it. You didn’t save me for nothing,” she gasped, growing weak once more.

  “What do I do?”

  “The cops, help them.”

  He nodded in agreement as she reached out for his hand.

  “This is about more than any of us now. Hades cannot be allowed to succeed. You don’t want to imagine what would happen if he could have Zeus’ power. I know you don’t want that. You can’t want that,” she pleaded.

  Gunfire was ringing out louder than ever before, and Thanatos knew he had to make a decision. He had to pick a side. It had seemed so obvious to him before. But with Zeus gone, he was conflicted more than he’d ever been.

  “Help them, help us all,” Theodosia begged him as she faded into unconsciousness once again.

  * * *

  An explosion rang out as if an artillery shell had struck the floor beneath Aaron an
d Luca. They paused for a moment before carrying on toward the sound of gunfire. Aaron came to the edge of a room and peered out carefully. He saw one uniformed cop get riddled with bullets. His eyes closed as he looked away with sadness, before forcing himself to look out once again.

  The cop killer spotted him, and he had no choice but to act. He darted out from cover and advanced toward the killer, firing on the move. Three shots struck its body armor, and it staggered back. The fourth hit it in the head, and it went down. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked back to Luca. He appeared to be in shock. He’d been in a few firefights during his career, but his younger partner never had that experience. There was an almighty crash, and the floor-to-ceiling windows beside him shattered out across the floor. He quickly ducked down. The glass showered them both, but two were figures stomping along as if they’d walked right through it.

  Both men wore long flowing coats with partially concealed armor beneath. It was like the bronze armor Thanatos was wearing, but only in shape. It was matte black and blended well with their clothes.

  “Where is the shard? One of them demanded.

  He was a young dark-haired and chisel jawed athletic man, with a wicked and scornful look about his face.

  “Tell us, or die,” replied the other, who had long dirty blonde hair and was in his mid-forties. His face was deeply scarred from both wounds and a very hard life.

  Aaron had his rifle trained on them even though they were empty-handed. He felt a sense of security, and also dread at the same time. A firearm seemed not to hold the same power it had all the days before this one.

  “Enough of this!”

  The younger one impatiently leapt toward him. He opened fire. The first few shots glanced from the armor, and the man moved quickly, ducking and weaving. It was difficult to get a better shot on him. One finally glanced his head, but still he came forward. He grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and ripped it from Aaron’s hands. He reached for his handgun, but the man gave a powerful push kick into his torso. It was far more powerful than any human could have done. He was launched back and crashed into the mound of glass. Luca looked on in horror, before turning to engage the target, but it was too late. The stock of the weapon Aaron had been using was smashed across his face with such tremendous force that he crumpled to the floor, dazed and bloodied. He looked up from the flat of his back to see the rifle being lifted high over the head of his attacker, as if to strike him once more.

  Out of nowhere a voice roared, “Put it down!”

  The man staggered back, or what looked like a man at least. Luca watched a figure approaching through the shadows, and he recognized the voice instantly. He scrambled and backed up against a wall, but he was too weak to stand. He drew his pistol as he got upright, but he wondered if it would really do any good, so didn’t even lift it to take aim. Thanatos strode past him and into view of the two who had attacked them.

  “Thanatos, where have you been all this time?”

  “You’re here to recover the shards of Zeus’s crown so that Hades may lay it upon his head, is that right?” Thanatos snarled.

  “Yeah,” replied the younger one incredulously.

  “Come on, Thanatos. Kill these pathetic wretches, and let us be on with our work,” the older said one in a friendly but hurried tone.

  “You will not harm them,” he growled.

  The younger of them gasped as if in shock. “I don’t believe it. He’s gone over to them.”

  The older one could not believe it either.

  “Surely this cannot be. Tell me it’s not true?”

  “Hades must not rule,” he scowled.

  The older man’s faced turned to scorn and anger. He was fuming.

  “Then you are no brother of ours!”

  He drew a bronze blade from beneath his coat and rushed at him. Thanatos stepped aside the first strike and ducked under another, coming up the other side of the blade. He struck a straight and powerful punch to his opponent’s face. The blow hit like a freight train and sent him reeling back toward his compatriot.

  “You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life,” snapped the man, as the other drew his blade, and Thanatos followed suit.

  The older man smiled as three others rushed in to support them. They were dressed as the rest of the other soldiers had been, entirely in modern clothing and body armor. Luca couldn’t understand who any of them were, but the two in coats were something very different to their henchmen, as was Thanatos. They let out a battle cry and charged him all at once, each with a sword in hand. He moved off to one side and quickly parried one downward blow, returning a powerful backhanded strike to the thigh of one of the henchmen. It took his leg off just above the knee, and he collapsed to the floor. Luca couldn’t believe it. He’d never seen such blood curdling violence.

  Thanatos leapt forward and kicked one of the others out of the way. He parried two more blows from the next one, slashing his arm off at the wrist, before decapitating him in one powerful stroke. The last one got hold of his wrist as he turned back to face them, and brought a powerful blow down toward his head. He lifted his left hand and took the blow on the bronze bracer along his forearm. But in the time it had taken him to defend himself, the two long-coated immortals had closed in for the kill. He ducked under one thrust and leapt out of the way of a cut from the other, but he was met by a punch from a closed fist tightly clutching a bronze sword. He was thrown off his feet and slid across broken glass. He shrugged off the blow, angry at getting caught by such a shot. He wasn’t on his game.

  He'd also lost his sword in the fall. He looked across the room. Someone else was leaning down to pick it up. It was Aaron, who had laid down his rifle and picked up Thanatos’ blade.

  “End him,” spat the younger immortal to the last of their henchmen.

  Aaron was upright with the blade held low as if he had no idea how to use it, but nothing could be further from the truth. From the moment he had picked up the blade he’d felt more than a decade of experience kick in. He could also feel energy in the blade that he’d never felt before, as though it were powered by something magical. The henchman gave out an angry roar as he rushed at him furiously. Aaron lifted his blade at the last moment and parried off the attack with the back edge of his blade. He stepped out of the path of the attack, and his thunderous attacker clumsily shambled past. The blades sparked and fizzled with energy, but he angrily came right back at the cop. Aaron parried off two strikes and returned a thrust that the man barely warded off. Another powerful cut came back at him.

  He parried with the hilt high and tip low, crossed over his body. The energy of the heavy blow was completely absorbed and projected his own blade around as he stepped around in a circular fashion, slashing into the cheek of his opponent. The blade opened a deep cut as the man staggered back, nursing his wound, and looking at his own blood in disgust.

  Aaron had never been in a sword fight with someone who genuinely wanted to do him harm, but he’d been through enough experiences with knives and firearms that it didn’t faze him at all, and his skills with a sword had been well honed. His angry opponent rushed back at him as the others watched on in amazement. He parried one shot after another until one firm bind of the two blades was found, and he rotated his blade over his opponent’s. The tip of his sword came under and then over his attacker’s, bracing and locking his arm. His blade came onto the neck of his opponent, and he leveraged him downward so that he dropped to one knee. The man cried out in pain as his shoulder was nearly dislocated, but he wouldn’t give up. He drew out a knife with his left hand. Aaron quickly responded by drawing back his blade. It was a slicing cut. Not a killing one, but nonetheless it cut deeply, and with the blade released, he drove the thrust home. It went through the man’s Kevlar body armor like it was nothing and drove up to the hilt.

  For a moment a wave of guilt came over Aaron. Doing real harm was the thing to be avoided more than anything in the many years he’d been using swords for sport. But then his police training kicked in. He didn’t kill because he wanted to. He was defending himself and his partner, just as he had been trained to do. He drew the blade out, and his victim slumped down dead. Thanatos looked genuinely surprised and impressed.

  “This isn’t over,” said the older of the immortals, “Fall back!”

  They turned and fled. Several more fighters rushed past in between them in pursuit of their masters. Aaron kept his guard up, but no one made any attempt to strike at him. As the last one left, he peered around the room at the bodies and devastation of the museum, finally spotting his partner who looked to be in shock. He put the weapon down on a counter top and rushed to help him. He hauled Luca to his feet.