to Tartarus and force her to tell them everything. It might go some way towards convincing Hades not to remove his head once he discovered what Thanatos had done with his daughter.
Another shriek sounded, far too close for comfort.
Calindria stumbled.
Of course, he still needed to get her back to her family in one piece to start with.
Thanatos swept her up into his arms and broke out from the cover of the trees, beat his wings and kicked off, launching into the air but remaining close to the black ground. He scoured the route ahead of them, seeking an opening in the next mountain range.
He growled and swept right when a Ker descended upon him, diving from the sky on a keening cry. The wretched female almost hit the ground, beat her bloody wings and stared across at him as she kept pace with him, looking like a grim spectre with her white skin that stretched taut over distorted muscles and too-angular bones. Her glowing all-white-blue eyes narrowed on him and she bared sharp teeth that dripped with saliva.
“Gods,” Calindria muttered and moved in his arms, clinging to his neck as she twisted towards the Ker.
The death spirit spotted the cut on her forehead and her eyes went blood-red as she shrieked and lunged for Calindria, raking sharp talons through the air in her direction.
A series of vines exploded from the black earth and the Ker cried out as one impaled her. Thanatos left her behind, beat his wings harder as he grew aware of the sheer number of them that were closing in on him and Calindria.
The air trembled around him, the currents shifting as Calindria pulled herself up to peer over his wings. He didn’t need to look to know what she was doing. She was using her powers, trying to impale more of the death spirits and stop them. He sensed their numbers dwindling, but there were still too many, and they were closing in fast.
He struggled to fly faster, pushed himself to the limit and dragged Calindria down beneath his shoulder, tucking her to his chest as a Ker dive-bombed him. He grunted as the female collided with him, veered left as his wing dipped, his body twisting from the blow, and flapped his wings harder, righting himself and leaving the Ker behind.
“There’s too many of them.” Calindria moved in his arms again.
“Keep still,” he barked. Manoeuvring to avoid the Keres was difficult enough without her throwing him off-balance or filling him with a fear of accidentally losing his grip on her.
“No.” She wriggled harder, shifting in his arms, and he growled and glanced at her to see what she was doing.
She pushed at his black vambrace, grinned as the dagger concealed there slid upwards, allowing her to grab the small grip of it and pull it free. Another Ker dive-bombed him, dropping from the air above him on a vicious shriek, and Calindria swiped at the female with the blade.
Cold liquid trickled onto his neck.
The Ker shrieked.
Calindria looked disgusted as more cries sounded, as the one she had injured wailed and he sensed the whole group falling behind. “They eat their own.”
That didn’t surprise him. Keres didn’t care where the blood they needed to survive came from. They only cared about feeding, were driven by a relentless hunger, never satisfied by the blood they consumed. He was going to have words with his mother about that when he returned. Nyx could have at least given them a point where their hunger would be sated rather than giving them an endless thirst. He doubted it would have affected their effectiveness on the battlefield.
Calindria swiped at another Ker that launched herself at his back, missing her this time. He gritted his teeth and grunted as the death spirit raked cold talons down his spine. Heat bloomed in their wake. The Keres shrieked in what sounded far too much like joy.
Thanatos flew harder, but it became difficult as several of the death spirits descended on him at once. Calindria tried to fight them off as he banked left and then right, adjusted his speed and did everything he could to shake them as they clawed at him, hungry for his blood now. When one of the Keres caught Calindria with her claws, cutting her hand, he tucked her back against his chest and kept her there, refusing to let her place herself in danger again.
“I can handle it.” He wasn’t sure that he could, but he would rather he