Hell, even the clothing is significantly different. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to jeans.
It’s eerily silent when we step into the compound, though I’m not surprised. At one point, there were hundreds and hundreds of supernatural teams training here. That all changed, though, when the gods and goddesses got involved. Everything is a competition between them, and our lives are no different.
As of now, there’s only one elite team awake at a time, and we’re in charge of policing the entire supernatural world.
Cold rage surges in my chest at the injustice of it all, though I force myself to breathe past it.
This is my purpose, after all. What I was born for.
But sometimes, I can’t help but wish for more.
“Ares!” Everett throws his duffel bag on the ground as he steps farther into the room. “We’re back.”
The compound itself is massive, but it doesn’t feel spacious. The walls, made of dark stone, stretch up high, their rough surface jagged and uneven in places, making it feel like the room was carved straight out of the mountain itself. The dim light from the overhead bulbs barely cuts through the gloom, leaving long shadows dancing across the floor.
The bunks are arranged in neat rows—over one hundred in total—though the majority are empty. Each bunk is just a simple iron frame with a thin mattress, the kind meant for functionality, not comfort. What’s the point when we’re barely ever here to begin with?
All of our beds are in opposite corners of the open room. We love each other like brothers, but being cooped up for days at a time… We need our space. Desperately.
“Ares!” Everett calls again.
“Hold your goddamn horses,” a familiar gruff voice calls, and a second later, the god himself enters through a side door.
At first glance, you would think Ares is in his late thirties, early forties. His eyes burn like twin coals, dark and smoldering with the fire of an unquenchable fury. He wears a pair of ripped jeans and a dark Henley, the outfit complete with a leather jacket that squeaks when he moves. His hair is wild, as dark as the night sky before a battle begins, and moves with the same restless energy that he does, caught in an invisible wind.
I can’t help but both admire and fear Ares, our creator.
He’s terrifying, but he’s also the closest thing I have to a father.
I don’t remember my life before I joined my brothers on our tenth birthday. Ares warned us that the deep sleep would leave holes in our memories, but sometimes… Sometimes, I get flashes of faces.
My birth family, I think.
“How did the mission go?” Ares’s keen eyes travel over us, his lips twitching upwards when he notices Rafe covered in blood.
“Target neutralized,” Everett says formally, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and his chin notched in the air.
“I see the target resisted,” Ares says with a pointed look in Rafe’s direction.
The tentative smirk from before transforms into a full-fledged smile. The crazy psychopath lives for this shit. His domain is the blood-soaked soil of the battlefield, the sound of weapons meeting flesh, the cries of dying warriors.
“We took care of him,” Everett says, his voice and expression still carefully impassive.
“Good. Good.” Ares taps a finger against his chin before seemingly coming to a conclusion. “Get some rest. You’re being sent out in a few hours. Here’s the case file.”
“Yes, sir.” Everett grabs the manilla envelope while I grit my teeth together.
We’ve only just got back from this mission—and before that one, five more. We haven’t been able to sit still in fucking months.
This is your job, Zaid. What you were trained for.
As Ares exits the room, I move towards my bunk with a sigh. I’m too high-strung to sleep currently.
I hear the others moving around as well, and I can’t help but think of the compound years and years and years ago.
Apparently, before the elite teams came to fruition, there were hundreds of supernaturals who trained here. Then, when the gods and goddesses decided to involve themselves, all of the select teams were chosen at once. We trained alongside Athena’s warriors. Artemis’s. Hades’s. Zeus’s. Aphrodite's. Hermes’s. We were all put into a deep, catatonic sleep at the same time, with one team at a time being called to action.
Most of them are dead now.
