“Holy shit! You planned for us to get married without telling me!?” I incredulously ask.
“You were taking too long! And we have bigger problems!” Cheza shouts and thrusts the typed letter into my hand.
“Naia found this when she went to the dressing room that Natasha and Reyna were in.” Cheza tells me as I read the printed letter:
Dear Jason,
I have discovered that I cannot go through with this; I can’t marry you. If I did, I would only be lying to myself. I’m running away with Natasha. Please do not try to find us, and know that some part of me will always love you.
Reyna
Something about this letter is off to me, and that something is the fact that this letter was typed. Reyna took the time to type this letter instead of writing it by hand, which shows a level of premeditation inconsistent with bridal jitters… and if this were premeditated, then why did they bother coming to the wedding at all? Why not just leave in the dead of night when no one could stop them?
“Naia, when did you go to the dressing room?” I inquire.
“About ten minutes ago.” Naia says, visibly stressed out by this.
“Were the guards there?” I ask.
“Yes, they were.” Naia replies and I quickly walk out of the room towards Reyna’s dressing room.
“Cole?” Cheza thinks as I see that I’m in the Adlivun section of the Citadel while the girls’ dressing room is supposed to be in the Mictlan section, which should be one to the left.
“Just stay and get ready; I’m going to go talk with the guards and try to figure this out.” I reply as I walk clockwise into the Mictlan section. I head to the combatant’s chambers where I see two guards standing on each side of the hall.
“Halt, we are under strict orders to not let any male into the women’s dressing room, including you, Mr. Treyfair.” The guard says.
“Are you aware that there is nobody in that room anymore because they were kidnapped?” I ask.
“What!?” The guards exclaim and one runs down the hall, throws open the door, and looks back with an ‘Oh shit!’ expression on his face.
“Come, let’s talk down here away from prying ears.” I reply and both the guards look incredibly nervous. We walk down the hall and stop outside the door without entering the room because I don’t want to take the chance of compromising any clues.
“Now, I believe that Natasha and Reyna were taken within the last hour, so you assclowns are going to walk me through what you’ve been doing in the last hour, alright?” I rhetorically ask. The guards quickly nod the affirmative.
“Well, we were guarding the hallway the entire time.” One guard explains.
“Are you sure? You didn’t leave your posts for any reason? Even moving the slightest distance?” I question.
“Oh, well there was a guy that somehow got a camera past security and was taking pictures of the hallway about thirty minutes ago. Since he wasn’t one of the official wedding photographers, we did as we had been instructed and beat the shit out of him before destroying the camera.” The other guard replies.
“But we were less than ten feet away!” The first guard quickly adds.
“Alright, I’m going to take a look around the room. You two are to stand guard at the hallway, just as you have been doing. Everything is business as usual and the bride is by no means missing. Do you understand?” I ask.
The guards both nod emphatically and run back to their posts while I step into the room.
Nothing seems out of the ordinary; there’s makeup on the desk in front of a mirror that has light bulbs bordering it, no chairs are knocked over, the girls’ dresses are hanging neatly nearby, there aren’t even any scuff marks on the floor. I head out of the room and back to the guards.
“How long were you guys absent from your posts exactly?” I question.
“It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds; some other guards came and took over for us so we could return.” The guard recants
That’s not enough time to smuggle Reyna and Natasha out in barrels or something, which is the only way they could do it without drawing too much attention.
(Alright, amateur hour is over, Master)
“Airi? Do you know something?”
(I know that you have just under an hour to find Reyna and Natasha and return here for the ceremony or it will be the end of the Underworld as we know it)
“WHAT!? Why!?”
(Because)
I face-palm before asking “I meant have you noticed any clues?”
(Look on the floor to the left of the door)
I walk down the hallway, over to the door, and notice what looks like a small scuff mark, until I look closer. The mark has residue that isn’t rubber. I get my face closer to smell it and notice a scent that is familiar: pine trees. I’m wondering how that scent got there when I remember that a certain someone would often extinguish his pine scented cigarettes on the heel of his shoe; that has to leave some tobacco residue which could come off after a quick stop, say, after sprinting down a hallway. Thirty seconds might not be enough time to smuggle two people out through traditional means, but it is enough time to port out…
Looking back now, Hades was obviously responsible for the deaths of his brothers and sister too! He was the first person at the scene in two out of three of the crimes, he had blatant motives, and the nice guy is the one you always have to watch out for with serial killings; which is part of the reason why I believed he didn’t do it, thinking that someone was using this fact against him.
“But this doesn’t make any sense! Why did Hades prove my innocence when he killed Jupiter?”
(Think about it; if you hadn’t been proven innocent and had been killed for Jupiter’s murder, who was going to take the blame for the other two he still had to commit to obtain complete control of Olympus?)
“Dammit!” I exclaim; it all makes perfect sense! Suddenly the door opens and smacks me in the head.
“Ouch.” I say from the concrete floor of the hallway.
“Cole? What are you doing here? Where are Reyna and Natasha?” Hel asks with Maria behind her. I stand up and usher them both back into the room.
“Reyna and Natasha have been kidnapped by Hades. I also just realized that he was responsible for the murders of the other Greek/Roman heads. I doubt he went back to his palace, but I’m going to drop by and see if he’s there, just in case. What are the chances that Persephone was in on the plan?” I ask Hel.
“Doubtful. Persephone and Hades aren’t exactly the happiest of couples.” Hel replies.
“Good; she’ll be willing to tell me if she has an idea of where he’d go. Can you guys stall the wedding for roughly an hour? I should be able to find them and bring them back here by then.” I explain.
“We can say that Reyna tripped and ripped her dress so we’re having it repaired.” Maria suggests while keeping her cool; as to be expected from a queen who’s two centuries old.
“That won’t work; gods have the power to fix those things in seconds.” Hel replies.
“We shall think of something; go bring them back, Cole.” Maria tells me.
I nod and port to my room at Niflheim’s palace. I pull out my suit and slide into it when Jason suddenly appears with a swirl of black.
“What’s going on, CT?” Jason asks in a serious manner.
“*Sigh*… I guess I can’t exactly keep this from you… Reyna and Natasha have been kidnapped by Hades. I’m going to the palace in Hades to find out where he’s taken them. Then I’m going to rescue them and bring them back for the ceremony.” I reply.
“I’m coming with you.” Jason says and snaps his fingers, changing his clothes to my jacket and armored jeans, which are a bit too small on him. I strap on my boots, slip on my holster, wrap the Obliterator around my waist, and nod at him. He grabs my shoulder and ports us to the driveway of Hades palace.
“Cole!? What’s going on!?” Cheza asks.
“Natasha and Reyna have been ki
dnapped; Jason and I are going to rescue them.” I quickly explain.
“Come and get me; I can help!” Cheza exclaims.
“No.” I simply reply.
“Why not!?” Cheza yells.
“I know you could help, Cheza… but I’m not going to put you in a position where you have to murder people on your wedding day. Jason and I will be back soon with Reyna and Natasha, so just continue to get ready for the wedding.” I tell her.
“Fine… just be careful.” Cheza quietly replies.
“I will. I love you, Cheza. See you in a little while.” I reply and close the connection.
Jason and I walk right up to the door, give each other a little nod, and dramatically… give a polite little knock on the door.
“Yes?” a gorgon maid answers.
“We need to speak with Persephone.” I say.
“I’m sorry, but Lady Persephone is getting prepared for the wedding.” The gorgon maid replies.
“If we don’t speak with Persephone, there won’t be a wedding.” Jason says.
“Prince Jason! My apologies for not noticing you sooner; come in.” the maid says and ushers us in to a sitting room.
We take a seat and wait a few moments before a woman with curly dark brown hair in her mid-thirties walks into the room wearing a slightly transparent black silk robe.
“Jason! It’s been ages! Congrats on the engagement!” The woman says and Jason stands up to hug her.
“Thanks Sephi, that’s part of why we’re here.” Jason says, but all I can think is ‘Sephi? Yep, they boned.’
“Reyna and our friend Natasha have been kidnapped and I’m almost positive that Hades did it.” I say.
“Fucking asshole… he’s always doing shit like this! Like kidnapping me and tricking me into being Queen of Hades!” Persephone exclaims.
“Sephi, do you have any idea where Hades would have gone if he had kidnapped two women, which he has?” Jason asks.
“Well there is a large house in Sicily that he bought. Quite a lovely view; it looks out over the ocean from a cliff top.” Persephone replies.
“Do you have a photo? Or even a specific city?” I question.
“I believe it was in Syracuse, but I don’t have any information beyond that.” Persephone says.
“Can you work with that?” Jason asks me.
“I should be able to; Sicily’s like the size of Rhode Island, right? Since it’s narrowed down to a single tiny city on an already tiny island, I should be able to manage it.” I reply.
“I don’t think that’s right… anyway, thanks for your help, Sephi! You should go finish getting ready for the wedding, because it’s definitely still on for today; although, you do have an extra hour or so.” Jason says and we exit the palace. Once past the gates, I pull out my phone.
“So how did you meet Persephone?” I ask while Googling Syracuse.
“She was at the first dinner party I went to as Prince of Niflheim. We hit it off because we both really didn’t want to be there. We ended up hooking up in the coat room at the party and then for the next three months until she returned to Mount Olympus. When she came back last November, we resumed our affair and Hades was none the wiser.” Jason explains while I find a suitable picture of Syracuse.
“Or Hades had known all along and we just discovered his motive for doing all of this.” I reply.
“Shit… you might be onto something there…” Jason responds.
I grab his shoulder and touch my Haglaz run to port us to the forest near Syracuse that I found. We appear in the Sicilian twilight as I notice Jason’s faint golden aura growing even fainter by the second.
“Shit! Jason I thought you had some time on earth saved up!?” I panic.
“I do!” Jason exclaims, panicking because I’m panicking.
(Transfuse your blood into Jason and everything will be fine)
Heeding Airi’s suggestion, I twist open the ring on my left hand and slice into Jason’s right palm before grabbing his hand with my left.
“There, that should handle things.” I tell him as I start syphoning some of my blood into him.
“Airi, have you been able to find Natasha and Reyna yet?”
(It’s either them… or a flock of seagulls)
“Why would a flock of seagulls have my blood in them?”
(I don’t know, Master. Have you been giving any of your blood to seagulls?)
“You know that I haven’t!”
(Then it is most likely Reyna and Natasha. What I’m trying to say is that it’s difficult to see from here. Their location is two miles to the south of our position)
“Found the girls. They’re two miles to the south.” I tell Jason. He turns right and starts walking.
“How do you know which way is south?” I ask.
“Well the sun is setting and since the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, this is the right direction.” Jason explains.
“Isn’t the saying ‘the sun rises in the east and sets in the west’?” I question. Jason stops, turns around, and starts walking in the opposite direction.
Some things never change.
Chapter 25: Sicilian Standoff
Jason and I walk hand-in-hand through the forest when I realize that we look like we are in one of those ‘stuck together’ episodes in which I got tree sap on my hand and then pulled Jason out of the way of a falling boulder or a pit of snakes before realizing that the sap had magically solidified so now we have to walk to some sort of absolvent factory that is in the middle of town while holding hands… don’t all episodes of that nature in TV stem from homophobia?
(The transfer has been complete for the past minute…)
“Now I’m just doing it to prove a point that I can hold my best friend’s hand without feeling weird about it.”
(And moving slowly in the process when your friends have been kidnapped)
“Well, when you put it that way…”
“Okay, now that you aren’t going to die in the next ten seconds, let’s get going.” I tell Jason and he nods in response.
We keep up a mild run through the forest until we reach a road, and then we follow the road south, keeping the ocean to our left. About ten minutes after beginning our run, I feel Natasha’s and Reyna’s presence coming from a walled compound on a cape. We arrive within viewing distance of the compound and see an enormous multi-story house through a large cast iron gate; I also see dozens of enhanced vampires with silenced P90 submachine guns, which confuses me.
“Tasha? Can you hear me!?” I call out in my mind.
“Cole…?” Natasha weakly answers.
“Hold on, Tasha; Jason and I are here!” I tell her.
“Cole… Reyna was stabbed… in her stomach.” Natasha softly replies.
My left arm and right leg flush black as my helmet engages and I feel that bizarre sensation in my eyes. Hades will pay for this. I can understand wanting a little revenge on the guy who had been plowing your wife/ niece, but this is going too far.
“CT!? What’s going on?” Jason asks in alarmed fashion.
“Reyna’s been stabbed.” I say with my ‘Sith’ modulated tone as I grip the hilts of both of the Diamond swords over my shoulders, and draw them. “And Hades is going to pay for it.”
I flash towards the gates, vault over them, and cut an X through the torso of a vampire just before landing. As I land in the cobblestone courtyard, I turn and lop off the arms of the vampire behind me before bringing my Diamond sword through her neck. Before the other vampires have a chance to react, I hack apart three more.
(Dodge right)
I dive to my right as a vampire behind me opens fire, missing me and stitching up their comrade. I lop off his arms and horizontally bisect him at the waist before decapitating the vampiress that was just shot, when I hear the pounding of a large group of boots on cobblestone. As the volume increases from the side of the house, I quickly sheathe my swords and whip out my Obliterator. I rip it from right to left as the firs
t of the group rounds the corner. Seven decapitated heads fly through the air as the bodies drop. I bring the Obliterator back around and rip through six more, leaving three vampires that are too shocked to move.
I race forward, jump, spin, and bring the steel toe of my strengthened right foot into the temple of one vampire, causing his head to explode before sending the rest of his body flying into the side of the house with a satisfying squish. After pulping the second vampire with a left hook, I notice that the third vampire is running away. Well, that just won’t do! I cast the Obliterator forward like a fishing pole. The Obliterator punctures his chest before I pull back on the hilt, retracting the blade and dragging the vampire with it. I yank the Obliterator out, leaving a gaping chest hole that I fill with my left arm before starting suction to replace some of the blood that I gave to Jason.
“What are you doing?” Jason asks behind me.
“Draining this vampire of the little blood he has to replenish my own supply.” I tell him and Jason picks up one of the suppressed P90s.
“I’ll cover you while you do that. Let’s move.” Jason says and moves towards the house.
“Why are you using a gun?” I inquire.
“My powers aren’t working too well here.” Jason replies.
I follow after him while keeping up the drain. We head into the house and find that there isn’t anyone here. I feel Natasha and Reyna on the floor below us, but I can’t find the stairs.
(Door on your right)
I drop my blood bag, rewrap the Obliterator around my waist, open the door, and see a tile staircase. The stairs lead down to a concrete basement that is probably about five thousand square feet, with Reyna and Natasha chained to the back wall, one hundred feet away. They both look to be in fairly rough shape, but with the hole in Reyna shirt at stomach level… it’s much worse. Then I notice something that just confuses me.
“Lord Byron?” I ask as he and Hades turn around, both dressed in suits for the wedding that they were supposed to be attending.
“So it’s come down to this, has it? Well, let’s get this over with.” Byron says as he pulls a black epi-pen out of his pocket.
Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 22