“Tell me,” he said in Elias’s ear, reminding him just how close he was. “Do you know who I am?”
Elias shut his eyes against that voice, figuring if he didn’t see whatever horror was about to happen then maybe he could get through this with some kind of dignity and backbone—providing he doesn’t rip it from my body.
“Yes,” Elias said, managing to keep his voice steady. “You’re Thanos’s Ancient.”
“No,” the vampire sneered, and his cool breath ghosted Elias’s cheek. “That I am no longer. You ruined him. And after centuries of me regaining his trust, you ruined us.”
Elias swallowed as the pointy tip of a fang grazed the line of his carotid.
“You took him from me,” he said, his words trailing off as his presence vanished from Elias’s side. “My Thanos.”
Those two words sounded so sad that the air in the room became thick under the weight of them. As Elias struggled to find purchase on his toes, he questioned yet again what exactly the endgame was here.
Are the gods not seeing this? Can Artemis not feel my suffering? Or does she simply not care?
Where he’d once taken her every word, her every will, as law, blind faith was no longer working for him. He’d changed. He was starting to believe in things beyond what he’d been told, and he was seriously starting to doubt that his purpose on this earth was to destroy a race when he was the one dangling from a chain with a pissed-off vampire who, for every reason, had just cause to want him dead.
Before he could say any of that, however, the vampire was in front of him, his formidable face drawn, his deadly fangs gleaming, and his eyes glowing like two fiery pits of hell.
“You destroyed us,” he growled. “And now I believe it is time for you to suffer the same fate.”
The Ancient’s arm rose then, and the impact of a hand as solid as granite connected with Elias’s cheek, and everything went black.
Present Day—Somewhere…
“ELIAS. ELIAS. ELIAS. I never thought you would be the deserter of our cause.”
Elias squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on the familiar voice of Artemis as it drifted into his subconscious. Fuck only knew what the vampire was doing to his actual body right this second if he was passed out and here.
Then he thought, How did I let myself wind up here?
“You are exactly where you need to be, Elias.”
Elias’s eyes opened at that, and that was when he saw her, his huntress, standing before him with her silver eyes pinned to his face.
“Granted, Eton is in a far worse state than I imagined, but he is getting my point across rather diligently.”
Eton. That was the Ancient’s name.
Elias shook his head in disbelief. “He is going to kill me.”
“Perhaps now you understand why your indecision was so bothersome. It was not time for you to waver in your beliefs, Elias. We needed you strong. Ready to end this the way it was always planned. That is what we had been working towards. Instead, you are busy asking questions you have no place demanding answers of. We are the reason you are here, something you seem to have forgotten in your post-bliss state. If it wasn’t for my brother’s folly and pride causing my uncle to create the exact monster you now face, then you three wouldn’t even exist.”
What? Yes, Apollo, her brother, was the one to initiate the curse on Ambrogio. But she and Hades aided him. So what was she talking about? What monster did Hades—
Eton…
“Yes. Apollo was supposed to destroy them when it was clear they would survive and thrive past the first three. But when his pride got in the way and he refused to end his insufferable revenge, our uncle decided to give him an incentive.”
Elias yanked on the chains above, wondering if he managed to free himself here if he would break loose in his reality.
“So you three did all of this on purpose? My injuring Thanos… And Eton coming for me… You orchestrated those moments? It wasn’t my own doing? Why? I did everything you asked.”
“You did, and this is the final request.”
“To die?”
“To sacrifice yourself. You will be what prompts your friends to retaliate. You were the hunter, the gatherer of the light and the dark. Leonidas and Paris are the two who will finish this.”
“No. I’m not going to just lay down and die.”
“Yes. You will. Because that is your destiny.”
BEFORE HE COULD protest in any form, Elias slammed back to his current reality and was face to face with the menacing presence of the one who was no doubt sent to fulfill his part of the prophecy—Eton.
ETON STOOD IN the dreary office space and watched as the male he had strung up in front of him resurfaced from the blow he’d just received.
Elias Fontana. The one who’d tried to kill his Thanos.
He wasn’t sure why he was keeping the male alive. When he’d first left Thanos’s chambers, his bloodlust had been running rampant, and the only thought in his head was that of revenge. Revenge against this male.
But now, as he stood across from him, his need had settled somewhat at the capture, and he was content for the moment to draw out Elias’s suffering, just as he had Thanos’s and Isadora’s.
He was going to question his quarry before he ended him, and Eton had many questions he wanted answered. First and foremost being: “What is this place?”
When he’d brought Elias to this room, back to where the distinct scent of Thanos’s blood had led him, Eton had wondered where he was. As Elias tried to catch his feet under his dangling self, he lurched from side to side, and Eton let his gaze roam around the space.
“I asked you a question. You would be wise to answer it if you wish to prolong our time together.”
Elias raised his head, and those odd, silver-colored eyes found Eton’s.
“If you wanted to kill me, I’d be dead already.”
“Are you so sure of that? Maybe I wish to torment you a little before I end you.”
“Or maybe you’re full of shit. You want to know about Thanos. You want to see him before I sliced him open. Before you did.”
Eton roared at the reminder of what had been the final nail in his coffin with Thanos, and took Elias’s jaw in a punishing grip as he said, “You know nothing of what I want.”
“I know you won’t kill me.”
Eton’s body shook with his anger as Elias continued to hold his stare, and he was amazed at the brazen challenge in them. “And what makes you so sure of that?”
Elias’s lip curled at the corner, as though he’d worked out the greatest weapon in his arsenal, and when he said, “Because I’m the last one who saw him whole,” Eton realized that he had.
AS THANOS LEFT Vasilios’s bedchambers and thought about the task that had been commanded of him, a feeling of impending dread followed. He leaned his shoulders back against the door, and the weight upon them was a heavy burden to carry as he thought over his options.
It’d been so long since he’d had to deal with this side of Eton that he wondered if he still had the ability to settle that which resided inside the vampire he’d sworn to always watch over. The odds were stacked against him, that he already knew. But he had to try, no matter what, because if he couldn’t reach Eton, the alternative was…well, it was unimaginable.
He knew what Vasilios wanted of him if he were unable to convince Eton to re-establish their bond. He just couldn’t fathom having to do it.
Thanos pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes and cursed under his breath. What he wouldn’t do to be able to go back. Go back and talk things out with Eton instead of acting without thought and closing him out.
But the past was the past. It was over and done with now. And he had no other choice but to live with the consequences of his actions. Even if they had been brought on by years of anger, resentment, and sadness.
That was the story of his life. Even that of Eton’s. The two of them had come together due to violence and bloodshed, and live
d a life where suffering was the only way to survive. It seemed only fitting that they go out in the same manner.
Thanos dropped his arms to his side but kept his eyes closed as he recalled a particularly brutal night with Eton. He let the bloodiness and desperation of it take him over, knowing the perfect clarity of that nightmare was the only way he had a prayer of controlling Eton now.
That night he had come close to giving in. Close to falling under the dangerous allure Eton had always had over him. But instead Thanos had shoved aside any shred of humanity that remained inside of him, and let free the animal Vasilios had hunted down and Eton had turned.
After all, that was what they’d wanted from him all along.
Nuremberg, Germany—1577
THE SCREAM THAT rent the night air was harrowing as Thanos sprinted down a muddied alley just off the main road that led into the town center.
Damn it, he’d lost him.
One second his Ancient had been standing beside him, and the next—he was gone. He was going to cane Eton’s ass when he caught up with him, which would be much more satisfying if the male didn’t enjoy it as much as he did.
Eton had promised he would stay in line tonight. That he felt fine, under control. He had sworn to no shenanigans of any kind, but over the years Thanos had come to realize that that was like asking Vasilios to drop his arrogance for an eve—it wasn’t going to happen.
For while Eton had a heinous and uncontrollable side, he also managed to walk through life with an insouciant attitude that always astounded Thanos, considering what he was tasked to do to the male once a month. But as his Ancient was always quick to point out, it was that which he gave him that kept him so even-keeled. So jovial and good-natured during the…in-betweens.
When the shrill cry sounded again, tearing through the night air, however, the pitch and tone of it confirmed Thanos’s earlier suspicions. Whomever Eton had grabbed on this night was likely close to death, and it was most certainly a female. Something that always struck at Thanos the hardest.
He wasn’t sure why that was, but he remembered back when he’d been turned. The emotional high he’d experienced for the first year, where next to nothing had bothered him as he learned to feed and control his cravings.
But as that initial high faded, it was soon replaced by a hollowing out and all-time low as he realized he didn’t enjoy preying on the innocent, especially those he likened to the one he’d left behind—his Airlea.
From then on, his brain and heart had disassociated with any form of emotion. It was slowly pushed aside and taken over by the darkness that their kind always struggled to see beyond. But this…this was the one thing that still pulled at him. The one thing that reminded him that he did indeed have feelings buried somewhere within him. Somewhere locked up tight.
“Bitte, bitte tu mir nicht weh.”
Please, please don’t hurt me, the woman pleaded with her captor, and the scream that came after had the hair on Thanos’s arms rising. As he came around the corner of a block of stables, he found the one he’d been in search of, and his greatest worry was solidified.
Eton was crouched down low over an unmoving body, his head bent by the human’s throat, and his hands and nails were planted on the dank earth on either side of the figure. But it was the long strands of blond hair tangled in Eton’s fingers that had Thanos’s hands curling into fists.
“Eton,” Thanos said, his no-nonsense tone as effective as the crack of a whip.
The vampire hovering over its recent kill craned its head around, and the red orbs that blazed alerted Thanos that he had waited too long this week. He should’ve found the time and place to tend to Eton, but he’d foolishly believed they could wait a little longer to stave off that which raced through his Ancient’s veins.
Gods, what a mistake he’d made. His eyes drifted to a man who was standing by a wooden carriage filled with barrels, and the look of sheer terror on his face told Thanos all he needed to know. The man somehow knew the woman under Eton. It was in the traumatized expression as he stared down at the bloodied corpse sprawled upon the earth at a warped angle.
“Who is he?” Thanos demanded, knowing he needed to either kill the male or—
“Her husband. A kill is all the more satisfying with an audience.”
Thanos opened his mouth, ready to blast his Ancient, but the demented smile Eton flashed reminded Thanos that this wasn’t his Ancient, but whatever it was inside of him.
“Do not be troubled,” Eton said. “I compelled him to forget what he saw five minutes from now.” And when he turned back to his quarry and latched on to her vein once more, Thanos knew the woman’s death was as much on him as it was on the one who had delivered the final blow.
He’d known they’d been cutting it close this time around, had seen the agitated way Eton had been behaving over the last night or so. But both Vasilios and Diomêdês had insisted on attending the feast being held by the emperor to scout out the royal quarters they planned to raid with their first-sireds.
Thanos, of course, had refused to tag along with his cousins, choosing his own presence over theirs. He wondered if that would ever change, their connection. Because even after more than a thousand years, Isadora’s insistence on using her beauty to get everything she desired and Alasdair’s droll personality grated on him. He much preferred his own company.
“Come. Here,” Thanos ordered as his eyes traced the painfully familiar face now angled up at him. In place of the attractive features, though, Eton’s skin was drawn taut over his cheekbones, making him appear rabid and wild, with those wide eyes the color of a crimson moon and blood staining his lips and chin.
Thanos watched as Eton sniffed the air, and knew that once his scent was caught, the one that emanated from him whenever his own dominant side roared to the surface, his Ancient would come to heel.
As though he’d just spoken his very thought aloud, Eton straightened to his full height then, and when his deadly claws retracted, Thanos knew it was his window of opportunity.
He flashed over and in front of Eton in the blink of an eye and crushed him back against the jagged bricks of the stables, making sure to keep a muscled arm across his Ancient’s chest and arms and a tight, punishing grip on his neck.
His fingers dug in deep under Eton’s jaw, and Thanos allowed his nails to extend ever so slightly to puncture the skin there. “I told you not to leave my side tonight. You were overdue.”
Eton struggled against the hold he had over him, so Thanos allowed his nails to extend even farther, cutting into Eton’s pale skin and causing a growl to escape his lips.
“Are you back yet? Are you hearing me, Eton?”
Thanos’s sheer size, combined with the blood this very vampire had given him, was one of the main reasons he was able to handle Eton. Plus, not much fazed him, and when he’d been offered a way out, offered an outlet for all of his anger, Thanos had taken it.
When Eton didn’t respond, Thanos’s teeth dropped down and he removed the arm from across his Ancient’s body and took hold of Eton’s hair, twisting it between his fingers. The responding snarl sent a thrill through Thanos as Eton shoved forward and Thanos slammed him back against the brick.
“No. Eton,” he barked. “You are not going anywhere until you rein it in.”
Then he shoved into Eton’s mind: Get it under control.
Eton’s blue eyes swirled into focus and sparkled out at Thanos as his Ancient resurfaced from whatever pit his soul vanished inside of in these moments.
“I am here,” he said, his voice torn and ragged. “How bad was it?”
Thanos glanced over his shoulder at the disemboweled body and then grimaced when he faced his maker. “Bad enough that you will not be able to walk after I do what needs to be done to you.”
Eton’s tongue came out to flick across one of his fangs, as though he relished the idea, and the action prompted Thanos to crowd in closer to the male. He shoved a leg between Eton’s and made sure to pin him t
o the stable wall with the bulk of his body, just in case Eton got any more ideas about hunting down a new victim.
“Which pleases you more?” Thanos asked. “Knowing what you just did or knowing what is to come because of it?”
“You already know the answer to that. But after all these years, I am still not sure which part pleases you.”
The taunt and unmistakable pleasure in Eton’s voice was a disturbing confirmation that, just like himself, it was probably both. Which equally intrigued and mortified Thanos, because it was that kind of recklessness that called to the basest part of his nature. It made him want to curb Eton’s appetite, clip his unhinged wings, and tame his monstrous side with both his hand and his cock.
When Eton became this thing, Thanos desired nothing more than to beat it out of him. And what he’d always suspected of himself, that he was beyond saving, seemed more likely than not. Because it appeared that after years of trying to fight for his salvation, it was finally twisted beyond redemption with the male whose body he was currently flush against.
“Do not try to fool yourself, Thanos. You want to do it to me as much as I want it done. I can sense it. I can feel your adrenaline spike at the thought of tying me up in that hole and—”
“Enough,” Thanos growled, hating to hear the truth of Eton’s words. He didn’t like this side of himself any more now than he had back when he’d been human.
“My Thanos. When are you going to accept that you are the light on the dark side of me?”
Thanos shook his head, his nails retracting and leaving Eton’s skin. Then he brushed the pads of his fingers over the blood trailing down his neck. There would be much more of it covering Eton’s porcelain flesh come morning, and the thought did nothing to stop Thanos’s cock from hardening.