I stared at the suffering villain in an invisible prison as she continued to struggle to breathe. The black webs had nearly consumed every bit of her visible skin, but she still breathed.
Twirling Blood Slayer, I lopped off Hera’s head. I didn’t want to make the mistake of trusting poison to do the job. This was the type of villain fight that always came up with some fucked-up plot twist, so I wouldn’t give her the chance to do it.
“No head, no service, bitch.”I turned to Jo, suddenly worried I’d overstepped. “I know you said you wanted to be the one—”
“Double tap. Nice,” Jo interjected with a smirk, slinging her arm around my waist and kissing the top of my head. “We’ve trained you well.”
The Original’s body cracked and splintered into fragments. But just as she started to break apart, the stones holding her to the spot crumbled to ash. Hera’s shadow magic swallowed what was left of her body in nothing but darkness, then it exploded outward.
Jo’s eyes went wide and she pushed me behind her, putting her body between me and the sudden blast. She attempted to construct a barrier, but it didn’t make a difference. She was thrown back and took me with her. I heard someone yell before we both hit a wall. Everything went black, and I lost consciousness.
I blinked and woke with a start. I didn’t expect the faces at my bedside. It didn’t make any damn sense for them to be together.
“Grams?” I rasped.
Her smile was gentle. “Hello, Vivienne. It’s lucky you have a powerful friend here or you might’ve needed longer to recover.”
“Mate,” Aram corrected with a grunt. “You failed to mention you were Rose’s granddaughter of all people. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised with that cleverness and saucy mouth on you.”
Grams cackled like he’d paid her the best compliment. “Still bothered by the fact that I evaded a god?” She smacked him on the arm, and it was the weirdest fucking thing to watch. “Don’t worry, I’ve left a lot of powerful creatures sour over the years.” Her grin grew. “Or dead.”
My eyebrows pinched together. “Wait…you know my grandmother?”
“Unfortunately,” Aram grumbled under his breath.
What the actual fuck, Grams.
“I’m going to need to hear that story,” I directed at my wily old fox of a grandmother.
She shrugged her shoulders, in another outfit that defied her age and sweet old granny reputation. “It’s not all that interesting. This giant visiting god ended up on the other end of Lucille, is all. He refused to announce himself, and I was a bit aggressive in those days.”
“A bit?” Aram scoffed. “You barely let me get a word out before you attacked.”
My eyes were as wide as they could get when I glanced at the all-powerful Nether Royal, convinced it was a joke. “You fought Grams?”
“Fought is a strong word,Nioche. I don’tfighthumans if I can help it.” It sounded almost like he was coming up with excuses for whatever happened. “Of course, this lethal woman is hardly any human I’d encountered at that point.”
“A nice introduction to us top-level Hunters, wasn’t it?” Grams crossed her arms and couldn’t look any less proud of herself if she tried. “Anyway, how are you feeling?”
“Like I took a boulder to the skull,” I complained, my supernatural head throbbing so much so that I almost felt human.
Aram touched my hair, but I swatted his hand away. “That’s a result of overuse and whatever final strike Hera sent at you. It took quite a bit to heal, but I suspect most of that is because of how vulnerable you were after using your power the way you did. It’ll likely fade in the next few days. Your body naturally healed the physical injuries, albeit slower than usual as mentioned by the others. But it was the magic-caused injuries that took longer. So, if you feel anything out of sort, you must tell me.”
“Oh, right…”
I thought back on what happened before I was knocked out, and it all hit at once.
Jo.
I sat up and peered around. “Where is she?”
Clamoring out of bed, I was stopped by another three people. Phillip, Sloan, and Kris. My head pieced it together and I glanced around me. I was in my room back home. We’d come to Grams, not the other way around.
Over my shoulder, Aram dwarfed everyone and everything. He was massive in my little slice of human heaven. Which meant he’d brought me back. Or rather, he’d allowed me to come back.
“Maus, you’ve barely recovered. You should rest some more and let us—” Phillip started, but I quickly cut him off.
“Where’s Jo?”
