Adonis patted his jacket pockets, cursing as he realized Theron had taken his weapons. Then he remembered his backup and pulled out the dagger he'd slipped into his boot. Before he had a chance to do anything, Sage rushed at the creature, stabbing it in the chest. In the heart.
When the letum collapsed at her feet, dagger embedded in its chest, Sage glanced up at him. "Did I kill it?"
Adonis could only gawk at her. He never wanted to see her put herself into danger like that again, but he was proud of her all the same. He didn't have the heart to tell her she needed to behead it as well—he'd spare her that by doing it himself. The dagger in his hand wouldn't cut the thing's head off easily, but it had to be done or the letum would heal and attack again. Immortal creatures rarely survived the combination of removing or damaging both the brain and heart. Or fire.
"That was close." Sage moved to stand next to Ariston. "Are you okay?"
There was no time to warn them. A disheveled woman came out of the bushes and grabbed his brother by his long hair, sinking her teeth into his shoulder. Ariston's eyes were wide as he wrestled her to the ground and shoved her mouth off him.
No! No! No! Adonis' thoughts were awash with the repeated rejection of what was happening before his eyes. Ariston was mortal now. A bite from a letum would undoubtedly turn him. He couldn't allow this to happen. Roaring with rage, he abandoned the male letum Sage had stabbed and charged at the female, stabbing it over and over in the chest. It stopped moving, and he went about severing its head, sloppily. The carnage sickened him but served a minor distraction from the fact that he was about to lose his brother the moment he'd gotten him back.
"Adonis, behind you!" Sage yelled.
He didn't move fast enough as the letum he'd hadn't yet beheaded lunged for him, wrapping his fingers into his shirt. The blood-soaked dagger fell out of his hand as Adonis fought to get free, gasping in an attempt not to breathe in the rotten stench of the creature. Ariston tried to pull it back, but the letum jerked its arm free of his hold, and his brother lost his footing, tripping over one of the cement parking blocks. Sage pelted the letum with rocks out of the bushes nearby, attempting to distract him, and Ariston rolled out of the way of the projectiles. Her actions didn't help much, but one blow to the temple confused it enough to give Adonis the opportunity to shove it hard in the chest. The fabric of his T-shirt ripped loudly. When the letum toppled over, Adonis grabbed Sage's dagger from its chest and stabbed it in the heart again, then beheaded him.
Sitting back on his haunches, Adonis breathed heavily, sticky and soaked with blood. He absolutely never wanted to do that again. Unlike so many of the other satyrs, he'd never been a soldier. He hadn't ever killed anyone before. Technically, the letum had already died. Though it didn't seem that way in the heat of the fight.
A strange sensation rolled through his skin, and he looked down at his arms. His hair stood on end as though filled with static electricity. What the—?
Realization dawned the same time as it did for his brother. The sudden stench of ozone overpowered the rot of the letum corpses. Ariston struggled to his feet and grabbed Sage. Their hair was also sticking up, which might have been comical in a different situation. As Ariston dragged Sage farther into the empty parking lot, Adonis rolled away from the bodies as two bolts of lightning struck them simultaneously, igniting them in flames that quickly consumed the remains. Scorch marks were all that was left when the smoke dissipated.
"Holy shit!" Sage shouted, wide-eyed. Thunder rumbled in the distance as several more bolts of lightning flashed around the downtown area, knocking out the power and frying the other letum one by one. Adonis made it to the others and pulled Sage into his arms. She clung to him, trembling as the city went dark. They were both dirty and bloody, but it didn't matter as long as they were together. In the background, drunk cheers mixed with cries of confusion as residents and tourists alike reacted to the electrical phenomenon.
He rubbed her back and whispered, "It's over now. Pan called his grandfather. Zeus has gotten rid of them all." His voice cracked on the last word as he met his brother's gaze, fear an icy pit in his stomach. "Your shoulder?" Was he about to witness Zeus smiting his brother into a pile of ash right in front of him?
Ariston pulled his jacket and shirt aside to reveal smooth, slightly bruised skin. "The benefit of real leather. She couldn't break through the fabric. Pinched like a motherfucker though."
"You ass." Adonis let out a huge sigh; he had never been so relieved. "I thought you were a goner for sure."
"It's going to take a lot more than a zombie lady to take me out. I've been bitten by that winged menace Pegasus enough times to learn how to avoid a nasty wound," he teased, then scanned the dark street. Amazingly, they hadn't drawn attention with their struggles, but people were starting to come to their windows and out onto the street to look around after the show of power from Zeus. "Let's get back to the inn." A lot remained unsaid, but there was time. Adonis could wait a little longer.
He took Sage's hand in his and kissed her knuckles as she smiled warmly up at him. "I couldn't think of a better idea."
They hiked back in silence, the full moon peeking out from behind the clouds. Sadness gripped him as he
