Leona's Cage: Zodiac Assassins, #4

By Artemis Crow

Thirteen Zodiac Assassins

Forged in the Darkness of the InBetween,
Ruled by the Shadow Side of their Stars,
The Only Hope for the Light of Humanity.


What Would You Sacrifice For Your Child?


Hell is sentient.

After escaping Hades, Zodiac Assassin Leona has entered Hell and found the Key, one of the two souls needed to unlock the Master of the Dark's cage. But to get to the cage, she has to survive the trip that Hell demands she make.

Hell is rage. Hell is violence. Hell is treachery.

Three circles; three visions of her damnation if she doesn't change; three efforts to destroy her. The infernal world torments her, but nothing will stop her from reaching the cage.

Hell is cruel.

The losses she has had to endure to free the Master have been excruciating, but now she must choose: unimaginable power as his apprentice or a cage of her own making - for the sake of life and love and hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Artemis Crow
• Release date: Oct 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781393084204

Book preview

1

This was Leona’s moment.

Soon, power would course through her. She would learn from the Master until she was greater than Circe, more ruthless than Asmodeus and his demonic minions, and powerful enough to destroy Zeus.

Soon, she would have her daughter and the ache of her loss would be a mere memory.

Leona pushed the door with one hand, slowly so she could react in the face of an attack. The interior was crude: a bed, a table, and a hooded person occupying a chair in front of a seriously misplaced fireplace. This was Hell, after all.

Leona stepped inside the shack. Are you the Key?

The hood nodded.

The Master of the Dark’s cage…

Leona hesitated. Mors’s warnings about corrupting her soul had stuck in Leona’s mind despite her certainty about her path, the job she had to do.

The old bitch got to you.

She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her neck, resisting the urge to scratch the sudden itch in her back, right where Asmodeus’s soul had been attached to hers. It was as if he were standing next to her, whispering in her ear, digging his claws into her skin, spreading more of his inky black evil inside her.

You are weak, pathetic. Even her father had decided to join in the let’s-grind-Leona-down party. You had one role to play, be a good mother, and you couldn’t even do that right. You didn’t protect your little girl.

Leona gripped the edge of the crude two-person table, the splinters that burrowed under her skin no more noticeable than a gnat. She tried to take a deep breath. Everything about this moment seemed monumental, yet somehow only skin deep: the goosebumps covering her flesh, the sweat rolling down her back, the itch between her shoulder blades. Her body seemed light, almost faint, compared to the magnitude of this meeting.

She had found the Key who would free the Master. The request was simple, but the rest of her life hinged on the words stuck in her dry mouth.

She cleared her throat and forced them out. You will take me to the Master. You will free him for me.

The figure nodded. I am the Key. I will unlock the cage for you. The Key dropped the hood of the robe. Thick, wavy, blonde hair tumbled free, a river of gold that ended at the small of her back. She stood and turned to Leona, her head still lowered. I will sacrifice my soul in service to you.

After the winding journey Leona had endured in Hades, wondering if she’d ever gain entrance into Hell, wondering how she’d find the soul needed to open the Master of the Dark’s cage, she’d felt triumphant relief when the blood-red cabin had appeared in the empty darkness.

It winked out as the woman raised her head, revealing her lovely face and wide, blue gaze.

Their eyes met and the combined stench of ozone and sulphur and smoke rolled over Leona. The shack filled with a static charge that caused tiny, blue flashes to spark off the edges of its surfaces. The magical power filling the space wasn’t dispersing; in fact, it was growing, but she couldn’t see beyond what was right before her eyes.

Swamped by a tortuous disbelief, Leona’s legs wobbled and her grip failed; she couldn’t support her weight.

She dropped to her knees, wheezing. Mother?

Leona. Her mother took a small step—a delicate smile on her pale face—the movement as slow and graceful as Leona remembered. I’ve waited for this moment for so long.

A loud, buzzing noise filled Leona’s ears; a wave of heat washed through her. She fell forward onto her hands, her palms slapping the rough floor before she collapsed onto her left hip. The static sparks danced over her exposed skin, each charge giving a slight sting before dancing away to discharge somewhere else.

She sucked in air to fill her lungs, but couldn’t get enough to counter the weakness spreading through her limbs. Her vision narrowed to a pinpoint.

A hand touched her head and ran down her hair. Stand, my daughter. I would greet you properly.

No, no. Leona jerked away from the woman. This couldn’t be happening; this must be some cosmic, psychic ‘Fuck you’ meant to stop her. Get away from me.

Leona made a fist and tried to punch the vision smack in the middle of her smile. But the Key rocked back, easily avoiding the attack.

The momentum sent Leona to floor. Her shoulder hit first, the abrupt stop slamming her head against the warped surface. Pain and rage mixed together, trapping her between the need to curl into a ball and the desire to jump up and fight.

Faint or fight. Story of my life.

You aren’t my mother; you aren’t Rhian. Whatever Hell-sent monster you are, show yourself.

The woman stared down at her, a frown chewing at the edges of her smile until it was gone. Her blue eyes narrowed, the gentle expression swept away by a current of wild power; iron will broke through the placid surface.

Leona bared her teeth and willed the beast inside her to take over. Claws broke out from under her fingernails; her canines pierced her lips. She growled long and low. The need to strike and savage the cruel chimera sent her body into spasms, but she couldn’t rise. She was trapped by flesh and bone that refused to cooperate.

She dropped her head and reached for the dark magic she’d been studying, the power she’d used in an attempt to throttle Lyon while still in the InBetween. She hadn’t used the power in Hades because she’d been afraid it would draw more attention to her location, as if the huge cracks in the ground that Spiritus had claimed Leona’s corruption was causing weren’t enough of a giveaway.

I’m not in Hades anymore.

She raised a hand to the creature that dared claim to be her mother, and concentrated on using the power to squeeze her throat.

The woman didn’t react.

Leona growled and tried harder. A slight whiff of sulphurous stench and rotten flesh rose from her body, but not the wave of fetor that normally flowed from her when loosing it.

Your power is disabled, isn’t it?

Leona dropped her arm. What do you know about it?

The rotten-egg, demonic reek gives it away. And since I didn’t feel anything…

Leona growled again, shaking her head, her fists striking the ground in frustration.

The Key squatted next to her and held out cupped hands. Come now, I see the warrior. Where’s my sweet girl?

She opened her hands and revealed a single, purple iris, as dark as the early night sky.

Leona gasped, the magic as beautiful now as it had been when she was a child. No.

Her hands shook; her claws retracted. She couldn’t stop the impulse to reach out and touch the soft flower, but she pulled her hand back when she sullied the delicate petals with her blood.

The Key waited, silent, unmoving, as if assessing.

Suspicion regained traction and pushed aside Leona’s instinctive yearning for the mother she hadn’t seen in years. This was Hell; there was no limit to what this realm could do, including tapping into her memories to break her down.

She slapped away the Key’s hands. Get away from me.

The iris fell to the floor, bounced once, then disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence.

The woman stood, swiping at her voluminous, white robes to straighten them. Quit fighting this.

Leona dropped her head, concentrating to keep her full belly from purging. It took minutes, but finally she pushed off the floor and staggered to her feet, turning away from the Key’s outstretched hands.

But she rose too fast; she wobbled and everything went black.

The Key grabbed Leona’s shoulders from behind.

Leona tolerated the woman’s grip until the feeling in her body returned, until she could see again. But when she attempted to step away, the Key fought her, tried to pull her closer, to envelope her in a hug.

Leona stiffened and jerked out of her grip, turning to face the thing wearing the face of her dam. Keep your hands off me or I’ll use my claws to eviscerate you.

With no warning, the Key shoved Leona’s chest with both hands, the connection solid and powerful.

Leona fell back and landed on the cot. Her brain demanded she jump up and tear the woman apart, but her body nixed that idea. The child that still dwelled deep within her heart wanted to snuggle into the illusion, but Leona couldn’t bear to fall into the longing only to be slapped back into reality. It had taken too many years to forget the woman’s touch, her smell; the carrot dangling in front of her must not be allowed to threaten her mission.

Leona let her body win the argument; she sagged into the bedding, spent.

Are you done questioning what you know to be true? What you can see with your own eyes?

Okay, so the monster is going to play this out.

I have seen much in my life, the weirdest of it in the last few days. So, no, I’m not done questioning. How is it that you’re solid? Why aren’t you just an ephemeral wisp?

I am whole because a Key’s soul must be protected from the forces which seek to destroy it. The woman straightened her robe. Now that you are here, we must prepare to leave.

Leona searched the Key’s face for the love she remembered from her childhood, but she couldn’t see it. The face was the same, the skin as smooth as the day her mother had died, her smile soft and beautiful, but her eyes…her eyes lacked the warmth Leona had basked in as a child.

This creature or vision looked resigned, as if it knew this had been ordained. Its eyes were filled with purpose, as if it had been waiting for Leona for years. As if it were waiting for Leona to submit, to relax and fall into the trap.

Hades had been full of tricks. Hell was already proving to be much worse.

2

Let’s go then, Leona said.

She jumped up and walked the six steps it took to get to the door. She ripped it open, the door bouncing off the wall, and stepped into a wall of fur.

Looking up, all she could distinguish were red eyes, black fur that blended into the darkness surrounding the shack, and teeth—really large, really sharp, bared teeth. She put her feet in rapid reverse and closed the door.

What the hell are those? Leona asked, a finger pointed at the door.

Hellhounds. The Key’s mouth thinned even as the corners lifted, canting up in a cross between a smile and a grimace. As I was saying, we need to leave soon.

Okay. Leona crossed her arms. Explain.

This place has protected me, but it’s constructed for me alone. Your soul cannot remain in Hell without being leached away by the evil and despair. It is everywhere; it is inescapable. And that is why we cannot tarry; we must get to the cage before your soul is irreparably damaged. The Key leaned forward and sniffed delicately. Though it might be too late. I smell a rot on you already.

A haunting howl stopped Leona before she could respond. Deep, woeful, the long notes carried the despair of many lifetimes. She turned her head to the cabin door. More cries sounded, spreading out around the tiny dwelling until they were surrounded.

What do they want?

The Key walked to the door and opened it.

What are you doing?

Introducing you to our escort. It seems they are very eager to meet you. The hinges screeched. Come, meet the alpha.

Leona backed as far away from the door as the small space could afford.

A deep chuff vibrated the air.

Leona’s leonine hackles rose; she gasped when a huge canid head covered in rough, black fur appeared in the flickering, amber light. Red eyes grazed the Key then shifted to Leona; they were far worse in the meager light than they had been in the dark, especially when she was able to get the beast’s full measure.

You know, cats and dogs do not get along, Leona said, her voice soft as if she were talking to herself.

That is not always true, the Key said. In this case, you better hope you can work together.

The beast’s mouth opened, exposing sharp-tipped, jagged fangs. It pressed forward into the cabin until its broad shoulders stopped it, their span too wide to clear the door jam. It grunted and stayed in place, drawing in Leona’s scent as if to judge it, memorize it.

She won’t hurt you; at least not until she finishes assessing you. Being here with me buys you a chance of gaining her allegiance and that of her pack. Come. Touch her. Let her know your soul and hope she deems you worthy.

Worthy? Leona snorted. Like hell I will.

No one tells me if I’m worthy or not, not anymore, not after all the years of never measuring up.

Yes, you have to. She and her kind will travel with us through Hell—they will protect us.

That thing? Leona said, pointing at the beast.

The Key straightened, her scowl less fierce than her cold stare. Do as I tell you, child. Now.

Leona stopped next to the Key. "I am not your child."

The Key grumbled.

The Hellhound growled.

The urge to retreat pulled at the middle of Leona’s spine hard enough that she took a step back to stop a fall; even the piece of demon soul inside her thought getting near the beast was a bad idea.

Anyone brave enough to traverse Hades, and reckless enough to want to descend into the Abyss, wouldn’t hesitate to greet her, the Key taunted.

Hades has its own monsters, but I wasn’t stupid enough to get close to their teeth and rancid breath. And they didn’t look at me like I was their next meal.

If you believe she is a greater threat to you than Hades or Hell, then you are a fool.

Leona took another