Chapter 115: Chapter 115: The Smell of Fear
Kelara POV
Kelara Blackthorn felt lost in a memory.
That laughter. That dark laughter. The same chilling sound she heard one night long ago when she was twelve years old. The night her house in her village burned down with her parents still inside.
Could the Dark Goddess be responsible?
Kelara used her psychic senses to probe the black mass tormenting Hades. She couldn't get a sense of the demon. Its evil overloaded her senses. Its cold hatred and fury blocked her. Tulaska's welcoming home felt twisted and transformed because of the demon's presence.
Ravyn Faolan had been right to want to save Hades. However much damage he'd done, the fiend was the real threat. Kelara could feel Hades' terror … and something more.
Self-disgust. Self-hatred.
She knew the damage such entities inflicted. She'd lived it. And it was still going on. That ancient hunger for destruction, for suffering, never died. Ravyn Faolan's former husband, Daxius, was living proof. He'd endured twenty-plus years away from his family–lost his family, even though they'd fought for him when it counted. But so many years had been wasted …
Talon and she knew that story in their own lives. She'd lost her parents, and he'd temporarily lost his son. She felt his anger at the fiend. His rage. Especially when it spoke of taking their son and forcing him to be a host for Hades.
She worked hard with her deep magic sense to pierce through the despair she felt, and through Hades' torture. What she discovered made her smile in triumph.
She didn't sense strength or power in the Dark Goddess.
She sensed pure fear.
It made sense. In her years of wandering pre-Talon, she'd encountered her share of ratty, disreputable tavern bullies. Cowards, screaming at the barmaids and challenging anyone and everyone to fights. Arrogant wealthy merchants flashing their money and cutting people down. They were no different than this demon.
Turning to Garnet, she murmured, "Do you sense what I sense?"
With a lopsided smile, Garnet said, "Depends. What is it?"
"What do you sense about the Dark Goddess?"
Concentrating, her perfect face intense, Garnet smiled. "She's afraid."
Kelara grinned. "Talon?"
"I'M not afraid," he asserted, his big, strong hand on the hilt of his sword. "Jiro?"
Garnet's mate shook his head, a defiant snarl on his lean chiseled face. "No fear here, either."
William scrunched up his face. "Me, either. She's not going to play with me. I'm not a toy!"
Out of the mouths of babes came wisdom.
Florinda and Alicia agreed. "She's not going anywhere near you," Florinda declared.
"You all sense that she's putting on a show," Garnet said.
Kelara nodded. "She's weak."
Laughing, the fiend targeted Kelara. Not with magic blasts, but images.
William screamed, horrified, "MOM!"
* * * * *
She found herself in Talon's study back in Blackthorn Castle. She wasn't pregnant. She wore clean, modest clothing as a servant at Blackwood Keep. Not just a servant, but like a member of Lord and Lady Blackwood's family.
Talon, his handsome face looking cold as the Frostpeak Mountains and as cruel as an assassin's blade, pinned her to the stone wall of his richly appointed study.
"You're mine," he snarled, his hands groping her. No finesse, no tenderness, no seduction. "If you want your precious Lord and Lady Blackwood to be safe, if you don't want them and their family and household to be ruined, you'll be mine until I tire of you."
The toughness she'd lived on for years deserted her. Choking back a sob, she knew that she'd gotten herself into this mess, trying to resolve a dispute between two warring noble houses. She'd played with fire and gotten burned. Blackthorn planned to use her loyalty to his mortal enemy to get what he wanted–and afterwards, he'd discard her …
"FIGHT, Kelara."
That was Garnet's voice. And Ravyn's. And Lilia's. And Cyran's. With Jude, Jiro, Dane, and Naomi joining them. If she strained, she could hear the other Crestas too, all encouraging her to resist the nightmarish version of Talon wooing her.
"Cresta?" Talon scowled. "What does that mean? Are you trying to trick me, woman?"
Garnet's voice echoed in her mind. "FIGHT. It's not real. This is not your mate."
Hades added his objection. "This is what the Dark Goddess does. It's when she knows she's losing. You can see past illusions."
Ravyn's motherly voice brought tears to her eyes. "You're stronger than this, girl."
Her Talon's loving voice added, "This is not who we are. Or who we'll ever be. I love you. You're my world. You're my everything."
Kelara looked into Talon's arrogant face …
And kneed him in the groin.
* * * * *
Gasping, she held onto Talon's strong arm as she returned to reality.
He smirked at her. "Kneeing me in the groin? Well, I must say, I deserved it."
That was pure Talon, and she kissed him gently.
Garnet wrapped an arm around Kelara. "Welcome back. Now, let's show the fiend what we think of her petty mind tricks!"
Patch, who had slipped in with Dirge and their mates, shouted gleefully, "Old Dark-Face doesn't stand a chance against us! I'd say she's a glutton for punishment."
Hades smiled in pure joy. It was the first time Kelara had seen that expression on the feminine features of the body he now inhabited.
* * * * *
Hades POV
Leave it to his family to throw off the fiend's mind control.
Kelara was a Sinsworth, was the mother to a Sinsworth pup, and carried another pup in her belly. Recognizing that, Garnet, Jiro, and Cyran had all banded together to tear down the goddess' pathetic vision. Hades shook his head at the goddess' feeble deception. At his worst and most broken, Talon Blackthorn would never behave in such an abominable way towards his mate. After all, Talon Sinsworth, his ancestor, ran off with a human to protect her.
Hades had wanted to destroy mate bonds. Why, he couldn't even begin to understand. Maybe to make people hate him so much that they'd deliver him from this eternal half-life.
He couldn't make sense of his decisions up till now. Maybe he didn't want to.
His hand flailed, reaching for Garnet. "Girl."
"That's Luna Garnet." But she sprinted to his side and knelt before him, holding his hand, ignoring the dark shadowy mass above. "It's alright. I'm here. She can't scare me away–she's already tried. I'm protected by love and faith and my magic. And the Moon Goddess."
Hades' lips trembled, and he couldn't form the words in his heart. His tongue wouldn't work.
He couldn't blame the Dark Goddess this time.
It hurt him to speak the words hovering on his lips.
"I'M SORRY," he howled. "I'm sorry for … for overlooking you."
There. He said it. Not everything he meant to say, but it counted for something.
He heard Cyran's sharp intake of breath and Jiro's shocked howl. The others gasped.
Tulaska smelled proud. "Lost pup," she growled. "Causing so much trouble."
Cyran sounded awed. "That's what you said about me, except with a lot less annoyance."
"The trouble you caused was like an eyeblink compared to all of his," she grumbled.
The misty form of the Dark Goddess thinned out. "You haven't forgiven him," she huffed. "Surely you haven't forgotten all he did."
"Certainly not. Especially not YOUR part in it," Cyran snarled.
Garnet stared up at the Dark Goddess with disdain. "You don't control him anymore."
"HE BELONGS TO ME!"
That hateful sound didn't inspire the terror it had in the past. Hades grinned, and shifted into his wolf form. The Dark Goddess couldn't control the pure, primal spirit of the wolf. She could try to contain it for a time, but it never stayed leashed for long. It had to break free.
Proud, blond, and defiant, Cyran projected his voice. "I forgive you, Hades."
The Dark Goddess screamed in agony, and Hades closed his eyes.
Fenrir's guts, those were NOT tears in his eyes. He opened them, and his eyes locked with Cyran's. No words needed to be spoken.
Emboldened, Kelara, Talon, Garnet, Cyran, Naomi, Jiro, and the others concentrated, sending a flood of pure light at the Dark Goddess. Hades' fur stood on end. Not from fear, but from awe.
The wave coming from them was pure love. Pure joy. Pure harmony.
Patch, Anneliese, Dirge, and Thessalia, as well as Talon's sister Florinda and her mate Alicia, and the little pup William, added their light to the shimmering wave.
Evaporating like steam, the Dark Goddess laughed, a chilling sound. "I've chosen easier targets–but I'll be back for all of you."
When she vanished, Hades clutched his chest, because his heart hammered so hard he thought he might split in two. Tulaska waved her medicine rattle over him. "You'll be alright. Just focus on the sound of my rattle."
"Th-thank you. All of you," Hades stuttered.
Kelara's eyes darkened. "Don't thank us yet. I know who she's targeting next. You do, too."
Hades' eyes opened wide. "NO. We have to get to them. They believed in me first!"
Shakily, he got to his feet, and he and Kelara teleported along with the others.
Please, let them be in time to stop the Dark Goddess.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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