บท 122: Chapter 122: What a Waste

Jude POV

Gasping, he awoke on the pressed-down grass.

The Dark Goddess' realm had left an ugly stain on him. Thank the Moon Goddess they were all–

"HADES!"

Cyran's howl of anguish made Jude forget his tired muscles and the way even the coarse grass seemed like the best bed in the world right now. He sat up and glanced in Cyran's direction.

Cyran knelt over Melisande's lifeless body.

What was left of it.

Hades inhabiting her had sucked the life out of her, leaving a dried-up corpse with flaking skin. She looked ancient, the way she probably was, but without showing signs of age as a witch. Naomi gently touched the corpse, and it broke up into a pile of dust.

William clung to his mother, a haunted look on his face. He'd clearly never seen such a horrible death. "Why do I feel sad? He was bad, wasn't he?"

Ravyn answered gently, her voice groggy. "That you feel sad says a lot about you, William. It's a terrible fate. And in the end, he sacrificed himself to atone for what he did."

"I can't sense him," Patch growled. "I can't feel his spirit anywhere."

Anneliese laughed darkly. "Don't look at me. I'm burnt out."

Ravyn concentrated, and so did Kelara. After a moment, sorrow flitted across their faces, and they shook their heads. "He's gone," Kelara said. "Maybe … maybe he was sent to oblivion."

"Or maybe she's keeping him trapped in that Wall of Pain she has," Talon muttered. "Until she selects a new body."

Cyran just sat silently with Naomi's arm around him.

Naomi shivered. "Talon … please. No gory details. I can't take it."

"We shouldn't have confronted her," Kelara moaned. "Going to her realm! What was I thinking?"

Surprisingly, Cyran didn't have anything to say. He just stared at the mounds of dust that had once been Melisande Bracknell/Hades.

Anneliese collected the ashes in an empty vial. She'd drunk a healing potion and used the empty vial to store Melisande's ashes. She handed them to Cyran with a shaking hand. "What a waste, Cyran."

Cyran nodded, not uttering a word.

Naomi helped him to rise. "Let's all go home."

Anneliese also tended to Pascalline, who managed to get to her feet. "What … what happened?"

William, surprisingly, burst into tears.

Jude pulled the boy into his arms to give his parents a moment to collect themselves. This was the beauty of packs. Wolves looked out for each other, and especially when pups were involved. "Ravyn's right," he murmured. "To feel compassion is worthy of an Alpha. There, there. It's been an ordeal."

The boy buried his face in Jude's chest, just like Jude's own children when they were younger. Jude stroked the messy, wild, damp hair. Over William's head, he saw Talon give him a grateful look, father to father.

"It's a waste," Ravyn murmured. "Just such a waste."

"What is?" Pascalline blinked. "Can somebody tell me what's going on? I feel like an orc flattened me."

Jiro, normally one to sum up any situation, looked pale and drained, his turquoise eyes more striking. "Let's just go home."

Jude picked William up and carried the boy. Talon looked at him questioningly. "This is my job as a father. You don't have to–"

"Shut up, Alpha to Alpha. You're family."

Jude carried the boy, holding him close, and selfishly wishing his own children were this age again so he could hold them and cuddle them like this. That was the beauty of having such an extended family. Especially in times like these. Family and pack forever.

What a pity Hades only realized that truth just before he died. What a waste.

Ravyn murmured, walking beside him, "If only we–"

"RAVYN. Not now."

It was in her nature to console, to discuss feelings … but this was not the time.

He felt her mood like a prickly porcupine. "But Jude–"

He nodded at the boy clasped in his arms, and Ravyn fell silent. As a mother and grandmother, she understood. But as an opinionated witch Luna, she had very strong feelings about being told to keep quiet. He sensed her simmering frustration while they walked.

* * * * *

Kelara POV

How could she have thought she could challenge a demon and win?

She'd done it before. She and her family banished the Gloom, an ancient entity dwelling in the mines that the Blackthorn family owned and jointly operated with the Frostbeard Clan. They'd gone toe to toe with nightstalkers and wraiths.

But the Dark Goddess was ancient, cunning, and patient.

"She wanted us to enter her realm," Kelara muttered to Talon. "She was ready for it."

His arm went around her. "Please don't … not now."

"But–"

"ENOUGH, Kelara. Now is not the time. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Anger flared inside her. After what they'd just been through, he dared to go all Alpha on her?

In stormy silence, she walked beside him. She'd just be as mute as Cyran.

Her conscience needled her, reminding her that Hades' death was just the latest chapter in Cyran's years of trauma. This death would make his healing more difficult. The least she could do was be sensitive, for his sake, and the sake of her son. William had the sensitivities of a Lycan and a mage. He felt deeply when people suffered. Even evildoers.

In death, as in life, Hades didn't make things easy on anyone. His sacrifice might have made up for his past sins, but he left a deep wound.

* * * * *

Patch POV

He couldn't make any jokes.

He couldn't even find the words.

How was it that Hades, the most hated being in the world, could make them all sink into a deep swamp of despair when he died?

The villain had to go and die heroically, that was how. And not just die. Wherever he went, even Tulaska didn't know, She just shook her head, genuinely at a loss, no cryptic words of wisdom that they'd understand later.

He understood Ravyn getting all sloppy. But he didn't understand Jude and others not letting people howl in grief. They'd all just been to h*ll and back. Even Jiro didn't shush Ravyn and Kelara. Patch liked Jude, and Talon, but he didn't understand them.

Leave it to Hades to make life miserable, even in death.

Cyran walked silently, and Patch put an arm around him. "Promise me you're not going to let her get to you like before," he whispered, meaning the Dark Goddess. "I'd have to kill you, which would mean a pack war. Well, maybe not kill, but lock you somewhere until you came to your senses."

Cyran didn't respond with his usual fire. He just walked mechanically, eyes in front of him.

Patch darted over to Ravyn and Jude, lowering his voice. "Look … I don't care if Jude yells at me. Cyran looks like the walking dead. Do we need to worry about him going rogue again?"

Ravyn and Jude chorused, "Not on our watch."