Lady of the Underworld

by Skyler Andra

  “Who wouldn’t run from you?” He gestured to the world around us.

  To my disbelief, I noticed that the scenery had changed. Snow now dusted the logs and rocks rings around the fires, and the flames had all but died. Thick flakes covering the plain burned and stung my feet. That would have been bad enough, but when I spotted shapes underneath the snow, I gasped and recoiled. The dancers who had been having such a good time between the bonfires were laid down as if to sleep, but they had let the snow cover them up. My mind told me that if they rested there too long in the cold, they would die. I tried to run to the one closest to me, ready to shake them and demand they wake up, but Hades snared my wrist in an iron grip.

  “We have to go,” he said, his voice remote. “We have to go home.”

  I woke up with a startling cry, sitting straight up in my bed, stirring Hades next to me. He opened his eyes immediately, but before I could do more than catch my breath, he clutched me in his arms, stroking my hair.

  “Did you dream again?” he asked.

  “I… I did.” Already it faded like a distant memory, but I could remember parts of it. Something had upset me. I’d needed to find Hades, but I couldn’t? Summer had turned to winter. I didn’t understand.

  He kissed the top of my head. “Would you like to tell me about it? Sometimes that helps.”

  I shook my head. “No. I will if I remember.”

  “Of course.” He looked at the clock and winced a little. An adorable human gesture. “We should get up and get on the road. The next one we have to collect is a little more distant.”

  Ah, yes. The mission. Better not leave the dead roaming the world.

  “At least I’m doing this with all my own clothes this time,” I joked, hopping out of bed. “Dibs on first shower. And before you offer to come with me, no.”

  He was behind me in an instant and I spun, pressing a finger to his chest.

  “My shower is tiny and unpredictable, and I can’t dodge the spray when it scalds me if you’re in there with me.”

  Hades smiled, preventing me from moving away by taking my hand in his and pulling me back for a kiss. It almost turned into more than a kiss with the way his tongue roamed my mouth—so warm, so sensual, so inviting. My blood surged south. Arousal hit with the speed of a freight train.

  I giggled, using all my willpower to step away. “Save it.” I waved a finger at him. “You were the one who said we had things to do, and you’re the reason I can’t just keep sleeping, so I’m going to shower.”

  He scowled at me for defying his desire. I shrugged and left him on the bed.

  Under the spray of the shower, I inched further awake as the heat streamed across my skin. It allowed me to remember more of my dream. Judging by the throne I’d sat on I ruled the place. My guests, the dancers, and those who had come to celebrate with me were now dead, and I got the sense they were dead because of me. Despite the warmth of the water, I shivered, shaking my head. My dream didn’t feel right, and I wondered all over again whether I would get used to all of this weird stuff.

  “Hey, Persephone,” I murmured softly, unsure she would hear me. “Think you can take it a little easier on me with all of this dream stuff? If not for my sake, then for his? All of these creepy visions are probably freaking him out.”

  I blinked as I realized I received an answer. Not words, but a sensation that felt like a tender new leaf unfurling—something new coming into being. I knew it hadn’t come from my mind, but it still resonated from inside me, and the reality of what Hades had unloaded on me sunk in a little bit more. The goddess and I were parts of each other. I trembled even more, because this was all a little insane and not my cup of tea. I shook my head, rinsing off quickly, and got out of the shower.

  “Your turn,” I said distractedly to a naked and waiting Hades, but almost shyly accepted a kiss as he passed me to go into the stall.

  The imprint of his lips reminded me that no matter how crazy things got, he was always there. He wouldn’t let me fall any more than he had let me fall in the quarry. Everything was going to be fine. Or so I thought.

  Chapter 22

  Autumn

  His car was waiting for us by the curb, and for some reason its presence made me a little uneasy.

  “Does the world just shape itself around you?” I asked cautiously as we got into the vehicle, still not clear on the limits of his power.

  He spared me an amused glance as he steered the car out onto the road.

  “Would you rather teleport to the hospital to collect it?” I shook my head, remembering how woozy it left me. “Shall we take a taxi next time?”

  “Well, no.” Damn. He had me there. “But aren’t you ever worried about cheating?”

  “No.”

  “Ah.”

  I felt a little silly for bringing it up at all. Who was getting cheated? He wasn’t some guy who ripped off meters or knocked off convenience stores. No one was suffering from what he was doing. It was a strange thing to even think.

  We drove through the darkness, and as he’d said, the hours rolled over from the long drive across the state. I slept for some of it, while the rest of the time I stared out the window or studied him out of the corner of my eye.

  “You’re looking at me,” he remarked without turning his head.

  I smiled at the teasing note in his voice. Wow. Serious and stern old Hades had loosened up, making me wonder about how relaxed he’d become around me.

  “Why shouldn’t I?” I traced his cheek. “You’re handsome. But no, I was looking at your arm.”

  “Oh?” He glanced at the dark cotton of his suit.

  “I remembered that Ms. Mae scraped you up something fierce when you tangled with her.”

  “Thank you for bringing up the fight I lost with a deceased old woman.”

  I chuckled at the wry note in his voice. “That’s not what I’m talking about. She scraped you up pretty well, but you healed completely. Is that one of the privileges of being a god?”

  He hesitated a little before he answered me, cautiously. “It is one of the powers of the Underworld. It’s something that can heal despite originating in a place where the dead linger. It can also be unreliable and strange, but yes, it keeps me from harm. It will keep you from harm as well when you come into your full power.”

  “When Persephone awakens, you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  I gulped, feeling unexplainably panicked.

  Hades somehow seemed to sense this panic and set his hand on my wrist. “She is gentle. Wonderful. She won’t harm you.”

  “Is it going to be weird, having me and your ex here at the same time?” I asked.

  He smiled at me despite the sassy tone I took with him. I warmed at that. Sometimes he had such a stiff upper lip that I had no idea how we could get along, and then, to my surprise, he would smile like that and I knew exactly why we did.

  “It’s not like that,” he said. “I promise you. You are a part of her. She is a part of you.”

  “Do… do you think she likes me?” I asked, afraid of how ridiculous I sounded; but I couldn’t stop myself.

  “I know she will,” he promised. “She wouldn’t have chosen you as one of her avatars if she hadn’t liked you. I believe she will adore you.”

  “I want to know more about the other avatars,” I told him. “What they make of all this god business. If there are people like me, well, I should get to know them, right?”

  I wasn’t sure why Hades’ smile looked a little guarded.

  “You can,” he said. “Though maybe when the restless dead are called to order. I would not like to leave them too much longer given how long some have already waited.”

  That I could understand.

  We rode along in silence for another few hours until Hades pulled up to a convenience store. If I were honest, this whole trip had been full of creepy locations, and I guess I’d been expecting something similar, but this was just your average stop on the freeway. Brightly lit and sl
ightly rundown, with a sign promising us as many cheese sticks as we could eat. A diner was connected to the right side of the gas station. It was the kind of place where you could reliably get eggs, bacon, and toast, all swimming in your choice of grease. My type of place!

  “Really?” I asked. “This place?”

  Hades ducked his head to examine the sign on the diner. “Yes. There’s someone around here, but it feels strange.”

  I bit my lip as he turned to face me.

  “Do you want to try?” he asked.

  “Try the cheese sticks? Sure, I’m hungry.”

  “No. To find the soul.”

  I waved my hands. “No. Maybe next time?”

  While I might have had a talent for convincing the souls to go to the Underworld, sensing one out was a little too much for me. Persephone was Goddess of Springtime. She may have lived in the Underworld for six months out of the year, but it wasn’t like she was part of it. Anyway, the goddess part of the adventure was still giving me problems, so I thought that the last thing I should do was try to force it. Let it come naturally, I believed.

  He nodded, and together we headed into the convenience store. The only person in the shop half of the structure was a young clerk leaning her elbow on the counter, resting her chin on her palm, doing her level best to stay awake. She gave us the kind of bleary greeting I remembered well from being a shift worker, the one that started with the widening of the eyes for a moment. The only thing she cared about was whether we were going to shoplift, and we weren’t.

  We checked the bathrooms for the soul, but found nothing so we moved onto the diner. The combination of food scenting the air and soft babble from four customers in the booths livened the place. A single waitress was completing a crossword at the counter while the cook manning the stove in the back looked like he was taking a nap standing up. I had a lot of affection for places where you could get a meal for under five bucks. They usually didn’t care what you did as long as you were quiet and didn’t cause any trouble.

  “Eating in or taking away?” the waitress asked as she bound up to me, looking glad to see another customer. Her nametag read “Laura,” and she handed me a menu.

  “Eating in,” I answered, flipping through it.

  “Take any table you want.” She left me to decide what to order.

  Hades wandered through the diner area while I perused the menu, his attention focused on sensing the lost soul. Once he located it, and I did my thing, I figured our meal would be ready, so I waved the waitress back over to place an order for us.

  “What’ll you have?” she asked.

  “Some hot tea to share and two bacon and egg rolls,” I told her. “We’re just going to wander around and stretch our legs for a while. We’ve been on the road for hours now.”

  “Driving late’s a chore,” she agreed, and she went to get us our drinks.

  As Hades scoured every corner and each booth, I stifled a smile at how very out of place he appeared.

  The people in the booths were my kind of people. Everyday Joes who worked all year and never made quite enough for rent, bills, and food. He walked through places like, well, some god of wealth, and he must have been visible to the customers this time because his actions elicited irritation from the faces of those awake enough to muster it. They might not know why they disliked and distrusted him, but they did.

  You know, I thought, if I’m staying with you, we are definitely going to work on some of your people skills. You really don’t need to wear a fancy suit everywhere.

  It wasn’t like his suit was hard on the eyes, and if he wanted to keep wearing it that was fine by me. I could put up for a few glares if he looked that good. But he did look conspicuous, especially in a place like this. He needed to fit in a little more if we were to continue this line of work.

  While he further scoped out the place, I lounged at the counter until the waitress brought me two teas and a glass of orange juice. Icy cold and fresh-squeezed. I blinked at it. Hades had put more money than I knew what to do with into my bank account, but I was still mostly used to ordering water or tea wherever I went.

  “I didn’t order that,” I said dumbly.

  She winked at me. “The last of the jug. On the house.”

  “Thanks,” I replied with a grin, taking it gratefully. While it might have been frigid outside, drinking orange juice was like drinking sunshine. It soothed me in a way I was just beginning to understand, but it might have something to do with the presence of the goddess inside of me.

  “Your man’s a bit of a strange one, isn’t he?” She wiped idly at the spotless bar top next to me.

  “He is.” I glanced at him, admiring how good-looking he was, how the dark suit fit him so well. “But he’s a good one too.”

  “Are you sure about that, my lady?” She kept buffing diligently. “Are you absolutely sure?”

  At her words, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I turned to look at Laura. Her hand still moved in a pointless circle on the counter, but her eyes were fixed on me. Her increasingly edgy and jittery movements called to my suspicions.

  “Who are you?” I forced myself to ask, even as my skin broke out in goosebumps.

  “I used to be Delly.” She leaned in, whispering, “I found a good place with Laura here. Please, my lady, just leave. Take the dark man away. I am happy here.”

  I examined her more closely. It took a few moments for what she said to register. Delly had somehow inhabited Laura’s body, but that meant she was wearing poor Laura like some kind of ill-fitting suit. My stomach clenched at standing face to face with a real-life demon. A bit of sour resentment curled in my gut.

  I crossed my arms. “And what does Laura have to say about that?”

  “Laura doesn’t say much,” Delly answered with an absentminded shrug. “She never did. She wasn’t using this life. I will. I’ll do such good with it.”

  I took a deep breath, because hey, this wasn’t much weirder than all the rest of the things that had happened to me lately. Sure, why wouldn’t dead people hide inside the bodies of truck stop waitresses all the time?

  “That’s not the way it works, Delly,” I said reluctantly, fixing my eyes on her, not sure whether to call Hades over or not. “There are rules for this kind of thing. You had your time, and now it’s up.”

  “It’s not fair,” she pouted, and the truth of that statement reared back and struck me. I remember saying that over and over again when my mother had died. But there’d been absolutely nothing I could do about it, nothing at all.

  “It’s not, hon,” I countered. “But it’s time to go. Give Laura back her life.”

  The waitress, or rather, the thing that had possessed the waitress’s body, gave me a stubborn look full of pouty lips. I wondered if it was possible that the spirit inside her was a teenager.

  Delly tucked the rag into the pocket of her apron. “No. My lady, we have missed you, but no, I’m not going with him.”

  I pressed my fingers to my temples. “No, you’ve mistaken me for… Look! Delly. Please. I’m so sorry for what happened to you, but you don’t want that to happen to Laura, do you? It’s not right, and it’s not fair. Please. You need to come with us.”

  Delly shook her head, her lips and cheeks twitching like she might cry.

  The cook behind the counter peeked through the service window, squinting at us. He wouldn’t be much use to her when he was maybe seventeen at most.

  “Is that lady giving you problems, Laura?” he asked.

  “No, don’t worry about it,” Delly said in a voice that sounded a little more normal.

  We both waited until he went back into the kitchen to turn to each other.

  “Laura has a life,” I pressed as gently as I could. “She has friends. They don’t belong to you and you know it.”

  Delly wavered for an instant. It might take time, but I had all the time in the world right now to persuade her. We could sit and talk all night if that was what it took. I’d tel
l her whatever it was she needed to hear to get her to let go of Laura and come with us.

  But then Hades came up to the counter beside me. “There’s no one here but–” He took a closer look at Laura, and the skin on his face paled, then reddened.

  I knew him well enough to have a vague idea of what was coming, so I laid a hand on his arm. “Hades, please…”

  His lips peeled back into a snarl. “You stole her life!” he snapped, his voice low and vicious. “How dare you? You are dead. Your time is over. This is–”

  Although Delly shook like a leaf, her hand was steady enough to reach under the counter and pull out a hidden shotgun. She lifted it and pointed it straight at his chest.

  I blanked. It wasn’t a good stunt to pull against the Lord of the Dead.

  He didn’t flinch, but the rest of the restaurant broke out into horrified shouts. You wouldn’t think there were enough people in the little place to cause pandemonium, but that was what happened. A stampede for the exit started and someone pulled the fire alarm on the way out. All through it, Hades stared at Delly without blinking.

  “This is not right,” he said adamantly, his voice as hard as stone. “You should not have done this.”

  Delly glared at him. In moments of rage, she and Laura seemed to meld together, Laura’s movements more fluid and graceful despite Delly borrowing her body.

  “You can’t make me go back!” she snapped, her finger hovering over the trigger. “Not to your land. It’s cold and lonely! I didn’t have my chance! It’s not fair.”

  “You escaped?” Hades shook with anger.

  Delly clutched the shotgun tighter.

  “None of it is fair,” Hades growled. “Nevertheless, it is the way things are. You cannot expect the rules to bend and break for you. This is pointless. You are only delaying the inevitable.”

  I expected her to keep arguing with him, but instead, she turned her beseeching eyes to me, the gun drifting off target for a moment. “Great lady, Goddess of the Winter. Please! Your husband knows no mercy, but you must have some.”