Last Daughter of the Gods - 9

"Come then, Father! Swear it to me on Styx' ineluctable waters. With one hand grasp your deadly bident, with the other take hold of your sharp spear, so that all the gods who yet remain above or those who dwell with us far below may be witnesses to our pact."

His brow heavy with woe, the words did not come easily to his proud and cruel lips. Mother's eyes were as dark as mid-summer storm, her mouth tight with rage.

I imagined the scene again and again, trying to find a pathway to a noble defeat for Father that did not cost him everything. But in every imagining, both stared with silent accusation and condemnation in their eyes. I could not have it both ways. This could only be total war and only end one of two ways, Father's death or mine.

My stomach churned as I tried to envision killing him, but I failed repeatedly, my revulsion so great that I vomited till my stomach had emptied and still I continued to heave, the acids burning my throat and my mouth as poisoned spittle flecked my lips.

Clinging to the bowl, I impossibly saw David's reflection in the water and my tears began to fall, the micro ripples from their tiny splashes blurring his face as if made real and true.

"So be it," I whispered. "SO BE IT!" I shrieked.

But killing Hades is no simple matter. The secret to His power is the Hound of Hell. It has three ravenous heads and a poisonous serpent for a tail.

Alone, I could never master it. At least not without a monster of my own. Happily, my benefactor, Auntie Hekate, lent me one of hers.

The young smartly dressed woman who met me at the county lockup, is a lot more than she seems. In fact, she's not a woman at all.

There are many names for creatures like her. Soul Eater, Vampyr, Flesh-Witch.... She is all these things and more. She has a lifeless origin, and life she hungers for above all else. Auntie warned me that killing the Hell Hound would increase her power severalfold, making her dangerous and difficult to control even for a God.

But it was always going to be a desperate enterprise. And the longer I waited the better prepared Father would be.

Hardening my resolve, I conjured the wishing well and dropped the Soul Eater into the hound's pen. Then summoning a second well, I entered Father's throne room where I found both Him and Mother waiting for me.

His eyes dark with fury, Father spit derisively on the bones scattered on the ground before Him. "Are you ready to dance with the Devil," he bellowed, his signal to the Hound. Ordinarily its echoing howl would announce its approach. But instead, a pitiful whimper and whine arose in the fetid air, followed by a few weak barks.

"The spirit is willing," I whispered and stared at Father to watch the recognition and horror of his circumstances slowly sink in.

"Betrayer," he spat.

"Where is David, Father? My instructions to Thanatos were quite specific."

"Give up your pretensions on My throne, and you can have him. But not here, neither of you will ever be welcome here."

I smiled thinly. "You're sitting on my throne," I said quietly as the Soul Eater entered the room. Now monstrously bloated and covered in blood, her lips quivered with excitement, the hound's intestines still dangling from her mouth.

"Soma!" Mother cried out in horror.

"Silence!" I yelled in answer. "You can be a partner to Father's perfidy and suffer His fate, or you can be useful. I won't ask again. Where's David?"

That's when I saw them. Thousands of them. Souls that had shivered at the mention of Father's name for a thousand years entering the one place none had ever dared visit twice.

And out of that great host, I saw David, tears beginning to well in my eyes. David, my beautiful dead David, walked into the center of Father's great and terrible hall, his specter standing tall and proud before me.

"All Hail Queen Soma," He thundered.

The host cried out as one, "All Hail Queen Soma! Long live the Queen!"

When I turned back to face Father, both His and Mother's thrones were empty.