Free Unchained: An Eternal Guardians Novella by Elisabeth Naughton Page B

casting...a spell to stop him.”
    His gaze shot up to the rocks. Adamant was the strongest ore in all the realms. It didn’t just block her spells, it was weakening his gift, keeping him from healing her.
    A clicking sound echoed from beyond the open door. His gaze shot in that direction. Beneath his hand, Circe stiffened.
    “It’s him,” she said in a shaky voice, one filled not just with fear but with terror. “He’s come back. He’s early. You have to leave. You have to go before—”
    A low snarl sounded from the doorway, followed by a growl that was both man and beast at the same time. “The witch is my prize. Back away.”
    Prometheus let go of Circe and slowly pushed to his feet. She reached out, trying to stop him, but she was so weak from the blood loss, her fingers grazed his arm and dropped away. Focusing his eyesight, Prometheus zeroed in on the monster only to realize it was human.
    No, not totally human. Part of it reeked of death. It was a shade. A death shadow that preyed on blood. It had attacked her. Continued to attack her, Prometheus realized when he remembered the way she’d been abruptly drawn away from him several times.
    “Leave her or there will be consequences,” Prometheus said to the shade. A promise, not a warning.
    The shade moved into the room, its long nails clicking an ominous sound against the floor. “And who will provide them? You? Your powers are useless down here, god. Adamant doesn’t affect the dead, but it does the living.”
    “Titos,” Circe called in a frantic voice.
    “Then it’s a good thing I’m not just any god. I’m a Titan.”
    The shade’s eyes widened, then it snarled and lunged.
     

CHAPTER SIX
    The shade knocked Prometheus back into the rocks. His head hit the wall with a crack. Near his feet, Circe shrieked.
    The shade was strong from drinking the witch’s blood. Prometheus, on the other hand, was weakened thanks to the adamant in the walls around him. Grasping the shade at the shoulders, he managed to keep the beast from ripping into the flesh of his arms and shoved the monster back.
    His Titan strength may be weakened, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t stronger than this piece of shit.
    The shade hit the far wall, bounced off, growled, and charged again. Prometheus waited until it drew close, then captured it by the waist, whipped around as he lifted it off its feet, and slammed it to the ground.
    The shade whimpered but struggled under Prometheus’s hold.
    “The only way...to kill a shade,” Circe managed from the corner of the room, “is to pierce its heart.”
    Pierce its heart. That clearly could only be done when it was in human form. Which meant Prometheus had to work fast before it used up Circe’s blood reserved and morphed back into a death shadow. Which it was doing quickly as it exerted its strength to fight.
    Pressing his weight into the shade to hold him still, Prometheus scanned the room for anything he could use to stake the fucker. The room was empty except for a wooden chair in the opposite corner from where Circe sat.
    Dragging the struggling shade with him, Prometheus shoved the shade against the wall with one hand, held it tight by the throat, and broke a leg free of the chair with the other.
    The shade snapped and snarled as the rest of the chair fell into a pile of wood against the floor. “What do you think you’re going to do with that? You can’t kill me. I’m already dead.”
    “You’re right. I can’t kill you. But I can send you to Hades once and for all for what you’ve done.” He jammed the chair leg straight through the shade’s heart.
    The shade’s eyes went bug wide, then its entire body disintegrated into ash and fluttered to the floor.
    The stake crashed against the ground. Coughing, Prometheus fanned the ash away from his face and quickly moved back to Circe’s side.
    “Careful,” he said when she reached for his arm. “You’re still bleeding.” Placing his hand back over the wound