After Midnight

by Brandy Greeley

  “I don’t have your cell phone number, as you recall. Do you even own one?”

  “Not with a phone, Amy. With this,” he tapped a finger against his temple. “I’ll hear you as loud as if you were standing right next to me.”

  “So, you come up here, kick some ass and then what? Wait for the next one to strike?”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw. “That’s our only option now, so, yes. Please try not to do anything that would attract their attention.”

  “Such as...?”

  “Refusing to come with me to the Underworld, for one.”

  I crossed to the window, snapping the blinds shut in rapid-fire succession. “If I come with you, I’m safe, but trapped there for the next six months, and if I stay here, the furies will find me and try to kill me. This stinks Gabriel.”

  “‘Trapped’ is such a harsh term. I prefer ‘forced to live with me, in luxury’.”

  I slapped the dish towel to the counter as he stood, depositing his glass in the sink before sliding his arms around me, pulling me up against his chest.

  “I’m trying my best to keep you safe, but I can’t do that if you constantly fight me,” he said, pressing his lips to my hair.

  “I don’t want to fight with you but losing my identity and freedom all in two weeks is alarming. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be anymore.”

  “You be who you want to be, and I’ll do my best to honor that.”

  I turned in his arms. “Do you mean it?”

  “I’ve tried forcing you to be Persephone, so now we’ll try things your way. Memories or no, it doesn’t change how much I love you.”

  “Even when I’m being difficult?”

  “Especially then. You have the same fire I do – the same fighting spirit and I would do nothing to change that about you.” He paused before bending down, brushing his lips against mine once...twice...as I moved my hands over the hard lines of his back. “Let’s go home,” he said, and I nodded, scooping Maddy up and pressing her between our chests as the world around us blurred.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Underworld, one week later

  “That’s a fury,” I said, scrambling across the bed as Gabriel dropped his newspaper, standing in front of me protectively. “There’s a fury in the Underworld.”

  We watched in silence as a bone-thin woman entered the room, sunken eyes scanning over us before tipping her head back, long white hair flowing past her shoulders as she emitted a terrifying wail somewhere between a baby crying and dog howling, and I felt goosebumps chase their way from the top of my head to the base of my spine.

  “You said they didn’t come here; you said I would be safe.”

  “Go.” Gabriel pushed me towards the bathroom, and I dug my heels in, eyes wide.

  “What about you?”

  He reached under the bed, ripping a sword from its sheath in a clang of metal on metal as candlelight caught the steel edge. “I’ll be fine. Go, now.”

  I dove for the door as the woman drifted towards him, scenting the air, long red nails beckoning him closer.

  “You’ll find nothing you want here. Leave.”

  “Hades.” Her voice was as grating as wet nails on a chalkboard and I balked, pressing my hands to my ears as I sank to the ground. “We know you’re shielding the little goddess from us, but you can’t do that forever.”

  “She’s here in the Underworld. You have no reason to chase her.”

  “For now. She’ll return to the mortal world soon enough. What then?”

  “I’ll protect her.”

  She laughed, inhuman eyes finding mine in the dim light of the room. “If you’re smart, you’ll come with us, Persephone. Justice must be served.”

  “You want to kill her,” Gabriel growled, and the woman’s red-streaked wings twitched in response.

  “No, we don’t. We want to punish her for what she did to us through you, but we’re not stupid. It’s not her fault that Prometheus cursed her and sent her to Earth. She’s still the goddess of spring, but because of her, you lost your way, Hades. You allowed her to rule your decisions and you chose poorly. Someone has to pay for that.”

  “Do what you want to me, but don’t touch her.”

  “Gabriel, don’t—” I stood, using the wall next to me for support, and he turned, sword held out in front of him as the fury...shifted...

  “You think you’re so brave but you’re nothing,” She snarled as she knocked into him, launching him across the room where he landed hard on the flagstone floor, sword clattering and skidding under the bed. “You want to save her? You can’t because she’s ours.”

  “I can try,” he said, straightening the lapels of his jacket as she crouched down low, teeth pulled over her gums. “You’re losing your touch, Tisiphone; that should have laid me flat. A little out of practice, lately?”

  “Give us time, Hades. She can’t run forever. You should say your goodbyes now, because when we’re through with her, well, let’s just say she’ll wish we had killed her.”

  “That’s it, you stupid undead freak!” I felt something snap into place as her body undulated, my feet propelling me forward before my mind could stop me, hands outstretched, and for a moment in time, I saw something akin to...panic...float across her pale, withered face. “The only person who decides my fate is me and you’re nothing but a washed out old hag!”

  Roots – I need roots, like a tree but more...binding.

  I slammed the palms of my hands to the floor, picturing her body held into place by limbs as thick as the bedpost, slowly pulling her under until there was nothing left but a distant memory of her presence.

  I might have to ruin your pretty castle, Gabriel.

  I felt the anger, like a raw, living thing, pulse around and through me and she backed up as the ground shook, wide eyes searching the ground. I was done standing by and watching as people made decisions for me and how I should live my own life. That was going to stop – with her.

  “What are you doing? Stop this immediately!”

  I smiled as I crushed the stone to little bits, letting it drift through my fingers.

  “Wanting to obliterate Gabriel – well – that’s expected, based on the hideous thing he turned you into, but threaten me and my life, repeatedly? This is the consequence.” I urged the tree through the ground, inch by inch, and she screamed as it wrapped around her legs, climbing up her body, limbs twisting and fusing together into a solid mass of oak.

  “I didn’t believe Gabriel before when he told me I had these gifts, but I probably should have. They scared me, and still do, but I’m not going to keep denying the fact that I have them.”

  “Amy,” Gabriel approached, extending his hand to me and I ignored him as four more trunks exploded to life, growing and blossoming towards the ceiling. “You’re killing her.”

  Isn’t that the point?

  “This will have...consequences. Stop.”

  She’ll never threaten anyone again.

  The breath caught in her throat as she struggled once, twice, then fell deathly still and I stepped away as Gabriel hacked at the wood, chunks raining down around us. When her limp body tumbled out and didn’t stir again, I gasped, hand covering my mouth as I sank to the ground.

  “I killed...”

  “No, don’t speak.” He ran a hand through his hair as he helped me to my feet, brushing bits of bark and leaves from my dress. “If anyone asks, I did this.”

  “That’s not your gif—”

  “It doesn’t matter. I did this, not you.”

  “I killed a fury...”

  “Sweetheart,” he said, pulling me in close as I clung to him, eyes on the woman at our feet. “You’re worthier than I could have ever hoped for, but this wasn’t your fault. She provoked you…threatened you.”

  “Are the Fates going to see it that way?”

  He sighed, hands resting on my hip. “No, they won’t, which is why we need to do something with the evid—”

  “Hades.” N
icholas stepped through the bedroom door, eyes flicking from the tree to us and back again.

  Well, shit...speak of the devils.

  “What’s going on in here and what – oh.” He skirted around us, pressing two fingers against the fury’s pulse point before straightening. “She’s dead. Who did this?”

  “I did. When she attacked us, I struck and -”

  “It was me,” I said, cutting Gabriel off. “She threatened me, and I lost my temper.”

  “Obviously,” he said, running a hand along the tree trunk. “You know, of course, that only a god can kill another god, though the punishment for doing so is...severe. So, I’ll ask you directly: are you sure you killed her?”

  What kind of question was that?

  Love, let me handle this. Don’t answer.

  You didn’t do this – I did – so it’s my mess to clean up. I’m not afraid of the Fates.

  You should be.

  “I did what I thought was necessary to protect myself so, yes, I killed her.”

  Nicholas sighed, waving a hand around the room, and when the mess disappeared, he turned to Gabriel. “Your wife is unflinchingly reckless when it comes to the safety of others. I gave her a pass initially because of the curse, but we’re well beyond that now, and she continues to show a lack of understanding and sympathy for rules. You share this blame too, Hades. So, what do we do with you now?”

  “She doesn’t remember what being queen of the Underworld entails; give her a second chance,” Gabriel pleaded, holding onto me in a vice-like grip.

  Nicholas smiled, clapping his hands together as a servant entered, bowing first to Gabriel and then to me.

  “That’s an excellent idea! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about this sooner. You don’t mind sharing, do you? No, of course not! After all, you trusted her once before...”

  Gabriel stiffened, eying him warily as I poked at his side, confused.

  “What is he talking about?”

  “You can’t do that to her. She won’t be able to handle it.”

  “Woah, wait just a damn second, okay? Whatever it is, women are just as capable as men. This is the twenty-first century, after all, so I’m sure that I can -”

  “He wants you to be Lady of the Dead.”

  I felt my stomach bottom out as I gazed back at him, eyes widening in shock. “For...how long?”

  “As long as it takes. You took a life, and now you get to learn what that means,” Nicholas said, pulling a tablet from his coat pocket.

  “Gabriel?”

  He winced, eyes staring straight ahead. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but this is beyond me.”

  “It’s all so poetic, really,” Nicholas said, watching us with bright blue eyes. “He came to Portland to be with you, ignoring his duties here in the Underworld, and now he has to stay here without you...again. Gives me chills.”

  “You have no heart,” Gabriel said, stroking my back. “She needs my help figuring it all out, or the souls will overwhelm her.”

  “That’s not my concern. Do you know what is? Making sure no one else dies because of your negligence. Succeed in restoring the Underworld to order, and the slate will be wiped clean.”

  “Clean as in...?”

  “No furies, and no curse.”

  I felt my heart began to pound out a frantic staccato through my chest as I paced back and forth across the room. No curse, which meant I’d have memories of being Persephone...with Gabriel...but did I really want that?

  My first gut-instinct reaction was to yell out a ‘hell no’, but the look on his face – one of hope and joy – dried the words in my mouth. I couldn’t do it – disappoint him when the only version of me he had ever really known was when I was his loving wife.

  “You had the ability to reverse it from the beginning and didn’t. Why now?” Gabriel asked as Nicholas glanced at him with a secret little smile that made me want to pummel his face in.

  This whole thing – toying with our fates – was beyond cruel. And I knew why. “He had nothing to gain from it before,” I said, stepping forward. “That’s what you meant, wasn’t it? When I first came here? ‘This is a means to an end for us’. You knew this would happen. Oh, don’t look so surprised, Gabriel. You’ve been a part of this world for centuries and in all that time, did the Fates ever once do something for you that didn’t benefit them in return?”

  He looked up at me then, love shining deep in his endless green eyes. “Yes – when they let me marry you.”

  “Technically, that union benefitted us, too,” Nicholas said, picking at his nails. “You were so moody when you had no one to share your life with – and it reflected in your work and how you processed the souls I mean, really Hades, creating Tartarus? Putting your father in charge? That was your half-baked way of trying to provide yourself with divine company, someone you could manipulate into doing what you wanted them to do, but you were never satisfied with that. You needed more...always more.”

  Gabriel trailed a finger up and down my arm absentmindedly, eyes on the ground.

  “And even when you noticed Persephone…tried to convince her that you loved her for her, it was about gaining access to the sky, wasn’t it? That way you could torment your brother for giving you what you considered the raw end of the deal, sheepherding human souls forever. You didn’t love her. You used her.”

  “Enough!”

  I felt the whiplash from Gabriel’s anger burst to life and flinched, glad that I wasn’t, for once, on the receiving end of it.

  Nicholas paled a bit, but held his ground, as the two men glared one another.

  “I’ve heard all this before, you know, and while I think it’s bastardly that he kidnapped me in the first place, I’ve moved on from it. He’s different now,” I said, and Nicholas smiled, pulling a phone from his coat pocket.

  “You really think so?” He pressed a button and noise filled the room, a cataclysm of sound and one voice above it all – Gabriel.

  “My queen would like to return to Portland.”

  “She’s needed here, Hades, as you well know, and pleading her case will not change that fact. Our decision is final.”

  “She’s asking for six months. What happens after that is entirely up to you.”

  “And you would stay here, in the Underworld during that time?”

  “Yes, working and preparing for her permanent residency.”

  The recording was scratchy for a minute, and I leaned closer, feeling a little sick to my stomach.

  “Doesn’t her happiness matter to you at all?” That was said by Nicholas and I cast him a squinty-eyed sideways glance as he nodded to his phone, encouraging me to keep listening.

  “Of course, it does – that’s why I’m doing this in the first place. She’s not safe on her own. The furies will find her, but with me by her side, she has a fighting chance. Give her six months and after that, it won’t matter if she wants to leave, because she won’t be able to. You’ll have your king – and your queen – where we both belong.”

  The recording ended, and I felt a sob bubble up in my throat as I stumbled away, clutching the arm of a nearby chair.

  ‘They agreed to six months in Portland. I’m allowed to see you for exactly one week during your time on Earth, and I’m sorry if that makes you unhappy, but it’s the best I could do’.

  I was so stupid.

  “They never agreed to six months here, and six in Portland, did they? You made that all up. You lied to me.”

  Hades grabbed my arm, but I shook him off, crossing to the other side of the room.

  “Amy, I’m sorry, but you don’t understand why I had to do this...not yet, anyway.”

  “No, you’re right – I don’t. I don’t want to. I agree to your terms,” I told Nicholas, who pocketed the phone again, handing me a tablet.

  “Then you’ll need this. When the names on the list turn black, it means that the souls are on their way here, where Hades will intercept them and send them where they’re supposed to go. W
ith luck, you’ll be back before you know it.”

  “Sweetheart...” Gabriel’s fists opened and closed spasmodically at his sides as I turned to him, a couple of fat tears working their way down my cheeks.

  “When this is all over and the Fates restore my memories like they promised they would, I will find a way to escape this place. And then I’ll make you pay. You say you love me, but people who truly love each other don’t do the kind of things you’ve done to me. I refuse to be a pawn for you, or anyone else.”

  Gabriel dropped to his knees on the floor as I strode from the room, slamming the heavy oak doors shut behind me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Portland, Oregon, 2017

  I leaned against the side of the building, pumpkin spice latte in one hand as I scrolled through the daily list: Abernathy, Ackles, Allen, Bernards, Bowman, Declan, Lewis, Luther, Neilson, McMullen, Rogers, Simmons and Summers, all between seven am and noon, but Declan was fifteen minutes late and it was starting to piss me off.

  “Where are you?” I could choose the when, but not the how – so in a way, it was kind of like being my own boss, except that my real boss was an egotistical, narcissistic, lying butt-face...who I never wanted to see ever again, but who smelled like a campfire-dipped cinnamon stick with gorgeous hunter-green eyes and...

  You never want to see him again! You hate him now! Down with Gabriel!

  I separated myself from the shadows when Mr. Declan exited the apartment building, walking brusquely up Marshall Street and I followed at a distance, tucking my scarf around my chin against the crisp autumn air.

  I had to get to his body right after he died, but before someone noticed and called the police. I wasn’t going to get caught at the scene of another death, not to mention that it was awkward as all heck to stumble across someone standing over a corpse...talking to no one in particular.

  That’s why I preferred the nighttime clients and the ones who died peacefully at home...alone...with no one there to witness my routine.