Chapter 21: Broken bonds
"So what does it say?" Was the first thing that was said since the four demigods left the classical library of Yale university and Sophie was the one to say it. They were all back in the car and Sophie wanted to know what the papers said. She hadn't seen them but if Max and Luke wanted to take them then they had to be important.
"Well I don't know exactly didn't get a chance to read the whole thing yet. But from what I got they're letter between two demigods hunting John Alden." Max said as if everyone was supposed to know that name. Sophie wanted to ask who that was but her sister was first.
"Who is that?" Maria asked. She had never heard of John Alden but Maximus made it sound like he was very important. And even if these letters were about an important guy, still how did it help them right now? These letters were centuries old so what was the point in taking them?
"John Alden is known as the only survivor of the persecution of the cult of Hecate that was active in Salem." Luke answered. Now both Sophie and Maria understood what this was about. The Salem witch hunt had been a recurring subject since they went after Jaeden and this was directly connected. Maybe this could tell them where the staff was, so in other words where Jaeden and Angel were going. Maybe it could tell them more about how to stop Jaeden if he did get the staff. Anything would be useful because what they knew so far was almost nothing.
"What are you waiting for then?" Sophie asked. "Start translating."
Dear Master of the sea.
There is still no sign of the escaped cultist John Alden. As the last survivor of the Hecate cult that have proved to be hostile he must be found There are no signs of him using the gift of Hecate but that might change any second. I ask that you search your father's domain carefully. The cultist has been a sailor for many years and might see your realm as a safe place.
I hope to hear from you soon.
October 14th 1692
Lord of the Sky
The short letter confused Sophie. She didn't understand why it mentioned that John Alden was the last survivor. There were a lot of people that were charged but didn't get executed during the Salem witch hunt. So she didn't understand that very well. She asked about it and Luke explained.
"Well it's actually one of the many cover ups that we half-bloods have pulled across history. There were more than fifty people accused of witchcraft during that time but there were twenty executions. The others weren't part of the cult and we all knew it but they wanted to create a fuss. They were after this cult because they had the gift, or staff of Hecate but they wanted to use it as a scare tactic on any other cult around. So they made it a lot bigger than it had to be by accusing innocent people." Sophie didn't like the fact that demigods like her used to use tactics like that. It seemed savage and tyrannical and she didn't think those were traits that demigods should have. "Alden was the only one that was part of the cult and escaped and he was the one that had the thing they were after."
"Can I continue or what?" Max asked before starting to translate the second letter.
Dear Lord of the Sky
It saddens me to tell you that even after all these months I have no good news. The escaped cultist John Alden still hasn't been found and has either never sailed or has returned to land a long time ago. I hope that you have more luck in tracking him on the land than I did on the sea. I would suggest talking to anyone he is connected to but I don't doubt that you have thought of this yourself.
I hope to hear good news
Master of the sea
February 3rd 1693
"Why are they using those code names? It makes it obvious that they're a son of Poseidon and a son of Zeus." Maria stated. She didn't see the point in using those names. If they wrote their own names instead of code names no one would know what this was about.
"It's quite simple to be honest, they had to hide just like we did which make it seem weird that they would use such obvious code names but they also had to hide what they were doing. Only a small group of people knew what the Salem witch hunt was really about and no one was supposed to knew they were going after John Alden." Max explained. He had researched this subject ages ago. Jaeden wasn't the only one that wanted Hecate's gift. Phthonos and his sorcerer buddies had spent quite some time looking for it and Max was one of Phthonos' slaves that had to find it. Of course he failed, but now the things he discovered then were quite useful.
"I don't get it, why did they have to be so secretive about it?" Sophie asked. Even now they weren't so careful about hiding who they were, they all counted on the mist to show the mortals something they could understand, why wasn't it the same then?
"Not many believed that John Alden was guilty so no one was officially sent after him when he escaped as he would have probably been cleared of all charges anyway. Obviously these two didn't agree with that." Max said.
Dear Master of the Sea
In my months of scouring Salem town and surrounding settlements I have found no trace of the sailor nor the weapon he carries. I have heard rumours of the son of executed cultist John Proctor from his first marriage though. The widow of the cultist John Proctor has sent him away and he is now roaming around. Whether he was ever involved in his father's cult is not known but I have send the child of the anvil to keep an eye on him. I will hunt for the sailor further from the source and still have hope to find him. I would like to ask you if you can meet with the son of the anvil and hear what he found out. He will meet you in the centre of Salem town two months from today.
I hope that I can bring you better news next time I write.
August 17th 1693
Lord of the Sky
Luke knew that this Son of the Anvil had to be a child of Hephaestus. A brother of his that lived centuries ago. It was hard to imagine how the demigods then must have lived. It was hard to imagine that someone like him was supposed to spy on someone and 'report' to some son of Poseidon. Obviously these demigods were a lot more militaristic than any of them were now. Most demigods didn't even report to Chiron when something went down and there was no law that they were supposed to.
"Luke, why don't you take the wheel and start driving. This is a nice little history lesson but it's not getting us closer to our target." Max said. Luke just nodded. He wanted to know what was in these letters just like the others did but there was no point in standing around here. They switched seats and Luke started up the car as Max read out the fourth letter.
Dear Lord of the Sky
I went to meet the son of the Anvil but I'm afraid that he wasn't there to meet me. I can only assume the worst. I do not know if it were monsters or the hunters that got him but either way I believe that we all have to be more careful which means that this will be my last letter to you. I am going to find out who killed our brother in arms and then I will have to disappear until the hunters lose their numbers. I implore you to do the same. If you however continue your hunt for the sailor I wish you the best.
Farewell my brother.
Master of the Sea
October 18th 1693
"Hunters?" Luke asked. It was the first time that there was something that he really didn't know about. He hoped that Max did. If not then he didn't know what killed his brother from the seventeenth century. He had never met him, but because they had the same father he immediately felt that he should find out what killed him.
"Do you think Ethan Raine was the first mortal that has tried to kill us? I guess that's what the guy meant." Max answered. He knew there were more than a few groups throughout history that tried to kill demigods and he figured that these 'hunters' were one of those groups. It was the most logical explanation but to Luke it was a strange thing to acknowledge. He didn't understand why mortals would hunt and kill demigods. After all the times they had saved the world that was the thanks they got? It didn't make sense to him. Max didn't care to explain why people would do that as it was obvious to him. Instead of explaining he chose to read the last letter.
Dear Master of the Sea
I write you only to bring you good news after all these long years. Whether you will ever hear it is a different matter entirely. I don't know if your still alive or if this letter will ever reach you but I want to tell you that I finally found the sailor. After nearly a decade of searching I found him with the son of John Proctor who has followed in his father's footsteps and has sadly escaped my reach. But without Hecate's gift he is no threat. The god of darkness has sealed it away where no one can ever find it except for him and his legacies which will hopefully never uncover a power so dangerous.
I hope you are well, and that I might see you soon, either in this world or in Elysium.
Lord of the Sky
March 10th 1701
That was it, they had uncovered all that the letters could tell them and it wasn't much. No location, no clue's, nothing. Max felt that collecting these had been a waste of their time. They had learned nothing of value. Maximus put the letters in the glove compartment and leaned against the window. He was tired of this, searching and finding nothing. In the quest to find out who he was he had only hit dead ends and in the search for the location of the staff the only clue turned out to hold no valuable information. It had been for nothing and now they were moving towards a sorcerer and a friend that betrayed them without knowing what they were up against. Maximus closed his eyes trying to figure out if all of the information that he had collected over the years could help him but before he came to a conclusion sleep got a hold of him.
Ten minutes after the last letter had been translated Sophie fell asleep too. Luke and Maria were the only ones awake but they didn't talk. Neither of them knew what to say. It wasn't long ago that they were supposed to get married but that day had been worried and now they were here driving towards the lion's den and maybe they wouldn't make it back out. Maria was happy that she was with him though. Last year when Luke was off with Angel and Max and she didn't know a thing had been a horrible experience and she wasn't going to let that happen again.
"You should get some sleep too love." Luke said to his future wife. He figured she was probably tired and there was no reason to keep her awake. He wasn't going to be very talkative anyway. His eyes were on the road and his mind was with the hunters mentioned in the letter. He knew there had been a small order in the middle ages but since then there had been no mention of a group of humans trying to exterminate demigods. But if they were around in the seventeenth century then maybe they had always been around. After all now they had Ethan Raine, and Luke doubted that he was the only one around. No man just decides to start assassinating demigods, not alone anyway. Or at least Luke hoped that humanity hadn't fallen that far. Maria decided to listen to Luke and she closed her eyes. She fell asleep almost immediately and dreamed of her wedding day with the only man she had ever loved. It seemed to be far out of her reach now but she was still determined to drag both her and Luke through until they reached that day. It was a silent promised she made to herself before she was lost in her dream completely.
When she woke up Max was driving and the sun had gone down. Luke was sitting in the passenger seat and was asleep. Sophie was barely awake next to her. She was staring out of the window and every time she blinked her eyes stayed closed longer than they had to. They were nearly where they had to be and Sophie didn't want to be asleep so she was doing what she could to fight the sleep that she felt coming on. Max was well rested from his short nap, he was used to far less so he could function well even with little sleep. They were driving past Salem woods and were nearing the town itself. Once they reached it there it would be looking for a needle in a haystack. Jaeden and Angel could already have the staff for all they knew. That's when Max saw something. He appeared and in an instant he was gone again. Max hit the break afraid that he would hit the person he was hunting before he could answer his questions. Everyone was pushed forward by the force of the stopping car, they were all wide awake.
"Was that...?" Sophie was still confused about what happened exactly. She barely saw it, she might have imagined it, but obviously Max saw the same thing.
"Angel." Max said with a tone of fury. He wasn't going to be intimidated like that. He wasn't going to let Angel scare him off. He was the son of Phobos, the god of fear, if Angel believed that he was going to turn around and let him be than he was a fool. Max undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. He looked around trying to spot him but he saw nothing. "Come out Angel, don't hide in the shadows." He said. He was back to his calm old self even now he was completely cool. Luke on the other hand was not. He was furious as soon as he realized that Angel just got them to stop. He followed Max outside and yelled from the top of his lungs.
"Get out here Angel! Don't you dare act like a coward now that we're finally here!" Luke said. Everyone, especially Maria, was surprised by this sudden burst of rage. Luke had never been like this but lately his rage seemed to be so much more terrible, especially when it came to Angel.
"I'm not hiding from you." Angel said as he walked into the front light of the car. He was made to be in the darkness so even without using any of his powers they couldn't see him in the dark, he had never intended to hide. He wanted this confrontation, they deserved an explanation after all. "You shouldn't have followed me." Angel said.
"Why not!? What are you doing here with Jaeden!?" Luke's furious tone didn't change. Maybe it got even worse now that he saw Angel's face.
"I'm doing the right thing Luke, for all of us." Angel said. He wasn't going to deny that it was a risky plan but if it worked out than they would all be better off.
"Well it's the wrong decision! I don't know what this is about but you're going to get us all killed!" Luke didn't even want to know what Angel was planning. Working with Jaeden was a foolish plan. Jaeden wasn't going to help them, he would take what he wanted and then stab Angel in the back.
"You should be the one talking about making the wrong decision. You must have thought it was in everyone's best interest when you sold your soul to Ares." Angel said. He was getting pissed now. Other than Luke he was the only one he knew about it, and he didn't want anyone else to find out this way but he wasn't going to let Luke sit on his high horse while he broke him down.
"You did what!?" Maria yelled out in shock. She didn't want to believe it but she had to. It explained the rage, the increase in muscle mass and why he had been sneaking out lately. Luke still thought she hadn't noticed but that was something that simply didn't go unnoticed when it happened so often.
"I did what was best for everyone. When the one you depend on leaves you behind someone needs to step up and take care of the threat." Luke said. He still thought he had made the right choice. The strength he had gained was more than he could have imagined. The Dracanae threat was nothing ever since he had made the deal with Ares. It was still the best deal he had ever made.
"You sold yourself to a barbarian to become a blinded fool on steroids, good call Luke." Angel said. Angel knew that it was a decision he was going to regret. Ares wasn't a charitable person. He was going to take something from Luke and that was going to be a price he wasn't going to be willing to pay.
"At least I did what I could to protect camp when it was needed while you were playing house!" Luke said. Angel wasn't surprised that it came back to that subject. He didn't understand why Luke kept holding that against him but he wasn't going to ignore it.
"I had no place at camp, no reason to stay. If I had known that you were in trouble I would have helped you but you just wouldn't let me." Angel said. He was right, Luke knew that. He didn't want Angel helping him, yet he held it against him that he didn't help. It was a contradiction and he knew it but he was still angry. He barely understood why himself.
"That's because I don't need your help Angel. You're not better than me! But you still should have done your part instead of helping some sorcerer destroy us all!" Luke yelled. "I won't let you do it, I won't let you hand him a weapon like that!"
"Then you're going to have to stop me." How Luke was going to react was the difference maker. Neither of the young men were going to back down. The strong friendship they once had seemed to have disappeared completely and their goals were completely opposite. Luke's reaction was going to decide whether these friends had to fight for those goals or not.
"I guess I'll have to." Luke knew that they were going to fight, he knew that as soon as he saw Angel. He wanted to fight him, more than that he wanted to kill him and that was a sinister feeling that he could hardly remember ever feeling but now he felt it, and he didn't reject it. He turned his watch to reveal his sword, Tyche, and his shield materialized from his bronze hand. A new upgrade that made the giant guard easier to carry to the battlefield.
"Stop it!" Maria yelled. She didn't want Luke to fight Angel, she didn't want to see Luke this angry. They were friends, no matter what happened they shouldn't be fighting each other like enemies. Her yell was ignored by the two as they charged each other.
I had to be careful, I knew that the strength Luke gained from Ares could turn me into half a son of Erebus very quickly. Even if I blocked his sword he still had his sharpened sword which could do just about as much damage. His strength would allow him to cut right through me which was bad for me as I tended to get cut up a lot which I couldn't afford now. I couldn't get hit, I couldn't hit him either, at least not with my blade. We didn't agree right now and the extra testosterone made Luke extra pissed off but he wasn't my real enemy. I couldn't let him stop me but I couldn't kill him either. What a dilemma. I stopped thinking about it as soon as Luke swung his sword at my neck though. As soon as that happened instinct took over. I ducked underneath his sword and drove the hilt of my sword into his stomach. I could have stabbed him if I wanted to. But I didn't want to kill him so this was the best alternative. I knew that even though he was stronger Luke had gotten sloppy. I never got such easy shots in before he made his deal with Ares. Of course I was never knocked to the ground when I felt the sting of his elbow in my back. For a second I couldn't breathe, his shot to my spine had knocked the air right out of me. I knew I couldn't just lie there. I rolled over to my back and saw that if I had stayed there a second longer a sword would have pinned me to the ground. Luke had gone for the kill. I knew it wasn't really him, I knew that Ares's curse had changed him, but that he went for the kill so easily, it felt wrong. I crawled back to my feet and hoped to regain some standing in this fight but as soon as I felt earth under my feet I got knocked back down by Luke. He had bashed me with his celestial bronze shield. I could feel the world spinning around me. Getting knocked around like a tennis ball definitely didn't feel good.
"Is this what you've become Luke?" I asked him. "A brute with nothing but strength. Where's your skill Luke? Did you drop that along the road to becoming Ares' minion?" I wanted him to see that he had made a mistake. That this strength that he had wasn't power. He might be stronger but he wasn't half the warrior that he was before.
"You're the one on the ground Angel, the power Ares gave me seems to be working perfectly." He seemed so proud of what he had accomplished. I never thought I would see him like this. I always thought that he was have to look at me with a sick smile on my face and a sword in my hands but the tables seemed to have turned.
"If you think that's power, then I guess I'll have to prove you wrong!" I got up and charged at him. He wasn't as fast as he used to be and if I used shadow travel I could confuse him and take him down but that wouldn't prove a thing. I had to fight him, straight up and without using the power that I inherited from my father. So I went for the weak point in his defences. His legs weren't covered by his shield so that's where I had to get him. I used my sword to try and cut his legs but Luke was faster than I thought he would be. He brought his shield down and blocked my sword attack. Before I could get back his fist had reached my face and left me wide open for an attack while I was trying to regain clear vision. It was a lucky break that it returned to me just in time to see that Luke swung at me. I jumped back and saw his sword pass my by an inch. I had no time to think about what was happening. I had to counter attack immediately. I attacked immediately by slashing at him twice but both attacks were blocked. The first he blocked with Tyche and the second with his shield. Immediately after my sword connected with his shield Luke kicked me down to the ground again. With his incredible strength and his surprising speed I didn't know if I could beat him. But I had to try. I wasn't going to lie down and admit defeat that was certain. I got back up hoping that this time I wouldn't be on the ground any time soon. Sadly it wasn't the last time I had to get back up. I kept trying to attack him but each time he knocked me down again. There seemed to be no way to stop him but couldn't give up.
"You can't beat me Angel!" Luke said. He wanted Angel to stop fighting. He was just about done knocking him down and watching him get back up again. Luke knew that Angel couldn't beat him so watching him try and fail time after time got a bit pathetic after it happened a few times.
"I've heard a lot of people say that Luke and I've developed a habit of proving them wrong." I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. He wasn't invincible. I had beaten him before and I could do it again even after his power up. All I had to do was find a weakness and that was the hard part.
"We have to stop this!" Sophie yelled. She couldn't watch this any longer but she knew that there was no point in jumping in between them. "They'll kill each other if they keep going like this." She said. She saw that Angel was fighting a losing battle and she could tell that he was getting closer to be willing to do what he had to to beat the son of Hephaestus and she knew what damage he could cause when he came to that decision.
"Don't worry so much Sophie." Max said calmly while still staring at Luke and Angel fighting. "No one is killing anyone." He said as Luke knocked Angel back down again.
"I don't know what you're looking at Max but Sophie's right, this is getting worse." Maria said. She was happy that Luke was winning, it was better than watching him fight an impossible fight but she didn't want him killing anyone. This had to be stopped!
"Aren't you two paying attention! If they wanted to kill each other one of them would be dead right now. Luke has had more than a few chances to kill Angel, count every time Angel got knocked to the deck and if Angel wanted to kill Luke he would be using every power he had to his disposal but so far he hasn't used to darkness at all. So stop your whining, your boyfriends are going to be just fine." To Max this wasn't a real fight as they had fought before. This was to prove something, to show to each other that neither of them was going to back down. The winner wasn't going to kill the other, he was just going to use this victory as proof that he was stronger.
"Angel isn't my boyfriend..." Sophie said.
"Whatever, I'm watching the fight." He didn't sound completely convinced but Sophie let it go and hoped that Max was right.
I knew I had to think of a different strategy, obviously attacking and getting knocked down wasn't working out. Just attacking wasn't going to cut it. If I wanted to beat him I had to break through his defence which hadn't been possible so far. So I figured I needed a different target, something that was easier to get to, his weapon. If offence was the best defence than maybe taking away his offence would weaken his defence. It was worth a try. Of course if I wanted to disarm him I couldn't be the one attacking. I had to get Luke to attack, luckily that was pretty easy.
"I guess I have to admit that this is harder than I expected." Luke smiled when I said that. He probably thought I was going to give up. "But if you want to beat me you can't keep playing it defensive." Luke pre Ares upgrade wouldn't have taken the bait so easily but obviously Luke's mind was clouded. He attacked which gave me an opening, at least I thought it would. Sadly he proved me wrong. He moved in differently than I had anticipated which left me slightly confused. He moved in from the right, which meant his sword couldn't reach me but it also meant that he would be protected by his shield. I only understood why he did this when he bashed me with his shield again. I had lost count on how many times I had been on my back this fight. I knew I couldn't give up though, I had to beat Luke, his strength wasn't going to get the better of me. I got up and felt the world spinning around me, a feeling that wasn't unknown to me. I had gotten bashed on the head so many times that this tended to happen a lot. I had to put that aside and fight on though. I couldn't let him use me as a shield bashing target any more but I didn't know how to get passed it. If he was only going to attack me with his shield I wouldn't get a chance to disarm him and win the fight. In the meantime the smile Luke had on his face said that he thought he had beaten me, and that got me angry. If getting him to attack wasn't the answer, than I just had to attack and get lucky. So I charged at him one last time, hoping that this time I would get him. My first attack got blocked, and so did the second attack. After that Luke tried to kick my back like he had done before but this time I was ready for it. I dodged his leg and it left him wide open. If he really was my enemy I could have cut him open and killed him right there and then. But I didn't, instead I just took a step back and gave him a chance to get his defence back up.
"Don't act like you don't have to hurt me to beat me Angel!" He yelled. Obviously he had noticed that I spared him. "Don't go soft on me now and give me everything you have!" It pissed him off that I didn't attack him when I could have. It pissed him off because it was proof that I was better than him and when he attacked me with his sword I knew I could show him that without injuring him too badly. I blocked his attack with shadow edge and pushed the sword down. I cut open his arm, it left only a shallow wound but it was enough for him to drop his sword and leave him defenceless. Now all I had to do was finish it. I kicked him down to the ground and hoped that was it but I knew I had to get rid of his shield before I could be the victor. When he was on the straps of his shield were exposed and I knew that that was the way to end this fight. I didn't have to worry about hurting him because his hand was pure bronze so I cut the strings and kicked the shield has hard as I could making it slide across the asphalt. He looked at me with a slightly shocked look on his face, he thought he had won and now I had beaten him. He hated it but there was no way to deny it.
"Turn back Luke, you can't stop me." I said and I walked away. I had to get back to Jaeden, I had things to do and every second I spent here was a second wasted.
"You're going to get us all killed Angel! I won't let that happen! You hear me!" I heard him but I chose to ignore it. I had to do this, there was no turning back now.