Dionysus (Hades Series #1.5)

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Dionysus

updating this early because your comments feed my black soul and made me laugh and feel so bad so here it is xo

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Time seems to slow down, and almost stops altogether as I watch Kenzie's body crumple to the ground in abject horror. Something seems to snap inside me, and uncontrollable anger explodes in my veins. It's no longer just a raging inferno; it's a volcano, exploding white-hot fury on anything that's close enough. I feel the air around me hum and burn, and notice out of the corner of my eye all of Chloe's previously loyal followers fleeing as fast as they can, their eyes widening fearfully when they look at me.

I can only imagine how pissed off I look right now.

I keep my eyes firmly trained on the nymph in front of me, refusing to let my gaze waver and fall on Kenzie's limp body; because I know that if I see that, I won't be able to control myself. Chloe's self-assured smirk tumbles off her lips when she notices the look on my face, and is quickly replaced by complete terror.

"Dionysus please, you've got to understand-"

I'm saved from hearing the rest of her pathetic plea by Evie, who blinks into view in between me and Chloe and sucker-punches her in the face.

"That's for Kenzie." Evie hisses furiously.

Chloe shrieks loudly as she's sent careening backwards into a tree, the force of Evie's punch actually making the tree crack on impact. Evie snatches my thrysus out of the air as it slips out of Chloe's hand and launches it in my direction. As soon as I catch it the air around me crackles with wild, unrestrained power, and a ferocious breeze rips through the clearing. I slam my thrysus down on the ground and feel the unrelenting power of the earth swell up through my staff and surge through my veins. The overwhelming relief I feel at the return of my thrysus is almost enough to make me momentarily forget what happened.

Almost.

But then I inadvertently catch sight of Kenzie's mangled body lying limply on the grass next to Chloe, and the reality of what Chloe just did comes crashing down on me like a tsunami. My violent fury bubbles up over the very thin wall of control I've been trying to maintain, and in response the trees around the clearing start creaking dangerously as vines slowly start snaking through the grass towards me.

"So do tell me again." I tighten my grip on my thrysus as I stalk towards Chloe, taking malicious pleasure at the paralyzing look of fear on her face. "What was the whole point in all of this?"

Chloe scrambles sideways, keeping her eyes trained on me. "Didn't-didn't I make it obvious?"

"Yes." My jaw tightens. "But I want you to explicitly tell me again why exactly you thought snapping my girlfriend's neck right in front of me was a good idea."

She glances to the right. "She doesn't deserve to be your girlfriend. She doesn't know you like I do; she'll never know you like I do."

"See, do you know what the funny thing is?" I fold my arms over my chest. "She only knew me for a few months, and she did know me better than you do."

"Why?"

I lean down. "She wouldn't have killed anybody I cared about to prove that she was in love with me."

Chloe's expression abruptly hardens. She leaps to her feet and dashes past me, grabbing Jasmine off the ground and holding her up threateningly. "I didn't just kill her to prove I was in love with you Spencer! I killed her because she was making you soft and you were too stupidly blind to see that! I killed her because she was distracting you from your Bacchae, who have loved and adored you since you became a god; I killed her because she was distracting you from Bacchae like me! See, look at yourself right now! You're turning against me, one of your own, because I'm threatening the kid of a measly human! You haven't ever looked at a single Bacchae like that. You're letting her control your mind. You need to snap out of it, and see what's right in front of you!"