Hunter: Eclipse

Chapter 28

It didn't take me long to realise that Odin was not like the twins who had come before him. He was not like that mystery woman that I'd clearly pissed off at some point for her to go after me. He wasn't quite like anyone I had to fight so far. There was no, being blinded by rage like Hera, and to a point, Zeus. Even Cronus wanted to brag just that little too much. Odin did little for show, or for his ego. There was no talk, no banter, no goading. He knew his power, and he wielded it with determination and strength. I was slightly in awe and could have appreciated him, the situation, all of it, more if I didn't get a distinct feeling that he was going to destroy me merely because he could.

Alfie and Annipe moved in sync, never backing down despite the way I knew they hurt. The worry and protectiveness that threatened to rise anytime Odin got them was forced down. Just as those who had summoned these creatures used them as weapons, so did I. They responded. I felt their eagerness to obey, their loyalty, their determination. Connected as three, we fought on. I couldn't afford to slip up.

The old Elise would have by now. She would have done more to protect the snakes, those around her. She was have sacrificed it all for them. I was done being that girl. My powers were new, but I knew them. I understood. Hecate had guided me, maybe more than she knew or perhaps that had been her plan all along.

I am a Hunter, that is my gift.

I fight.

I stop the bad guys.

I keep order in this world.

I am good at it; my powers only enhance what was already there. Yet I wasn't a match for Odin. We both knew it, and as Annipe was tossed away and Alfie forced down, so it was just him and me, he smiled as we realised it at the same time.

"You fight well, girl." He leered, not moving from where he stood on the green hillside. His breathing was slightly off, while I struggled as if I had just run a marathon. "Submit to me now, and I may be inclined to offer you small mercy."

"What's your secret? Fountain of youth or my world just get it really wrong again with your legend?" I ask, daring a glance towards the cliff where below I could hear another battle still going.

The light of the portal was still there, Hermes hadn't closed it yet.

"I will teach you how to speak to your King. I will beat respect into you if I must. You will-"

"I really don't think I will. If this is how you make friends, I wonder why there isn't a line to join up!"

His face hardened before he laughed again. "Such a child. Breaking you will be easy, and then we shall see who rules-"

"The world. I know, get a new catchphrase. It's been said before." I cut him off, yet as he has since his arrival, Odin keeps a neutral expression and his calm. "Go back through your little gateway down there, and we can pretend none of this happened. I am inclined to offer you small mercy, should you obey me now."

"How kind of you," He smirks, playing along. "And if I don't?"

"I will summon the goddess Hecate, be her vessel and watch you burn," I promise, unsure why I even said it.

This stopped him. "What has Kara told you?"

Finally a crack in his facade.

"Enough." Or how about nothing. "The witches, fae and their so-called prophet tried to summon her and failed. In the process, I went to the Underworld. I forged an alliance. That is all you need to know. Now go, or I will do what I must."

Lightning struck between us; a sign, a warning, an omen of some kind as now he looked at me differently. Not as the girl, he would break, but as though he'd seen a ghost that would destroy him.