It seemed obvious that it couldn’t be Deganawida because I had watched him die and then spoken to his spirit. But…coming back from death seemed to be a common reoccurrence these days. And Nosh was a lot more than he claimed to be. More than he had gotten from my bloodline.
“Nosh.”
She shook her head with a sad frown. “No.”
I punched my hand into my fist. I really didn’t need to know the answer anyway. I had plenty of other things to deal with at the moment, and the fact that I’d managed to save Lucian and find a few potential allies for Olympians was better than I had expected when setting out for the Underworld. But I still had a few things to do down here.
Hecate was studying Nero. “You misplaced your hand since I last saw you.”
He grunted, pointing his stub at me. “Brotherly squabble. He feels terrible.”
I stared at her blankly. “So terrible that I almost can’t even tell I feel it,” I said, deadpan.
Lucian stared at me, arching an eyebrow. Persephone burst out laughing. “I want a Sorin, Hades. Please?” she asked, clapping her hands together as if begging.
He rolled his eyes. “No. I hear they’re almost impossible to raise,” he said, shooting me a meaningful look. It sobered me right up. He was absolutely right. Because I’d almost been killed many times growing up, even if I hadn’t known it.
Persephone harrumphed, pouting theatrically.
Hecate and Nero had eyes only for each other. “Grow a new hand,” she told him. “I recommend a skeletal one. Real conversation starter.”
He stared at her for about five long seconds, and I could tell that he wasn’t thinking about magic or necromancy. Well, not only those things. “Perhaps you could show me how.”
She smiled shyly. “I can no longer do it myself, but I could definitely teach you.”
Nero smiled, looking as giddy as a warlock at his first demon summoning. “Please.”
“Gladly,” Hecate said, climbing to her feet and holding out her hand to Nero.
They left and Nero grinned at me from over his shoulder before following her between two columns and disappearing into the mist beyond the pavilion.
Lucian began to slow clap, grinning at their departure. I laughed, shaking my head.
“They are most likely the only two who can truly understand each other due to their powers,” Hades said from directly beside me, making me jump. I hadn’t noticed him getting up from the couch. “Well, the powers she gave him. They share a magical bond. Oftentimes, a magical bond can turn into feelings of personal attraction—whether otherwise warranted or not.”
I stiffened instinctively, flicking my gaze towards him. He was staring after Hecate and Nero so he hadn’t noticed my reaction. Had he been referring to my bond with Natalie and Victoria? The strange trinity we had formed? Was there something to be said about our physical attraction to each other being a result of our magic rather than our hearts?
Persephone approached Lucian, wrapping her fingers through his with an empathetic smile. “I may be able to help speed up your speech problem. Cerberus seems to like you,” she said. Despite how she had been looking at him earlier, she sounded as if she genuinely wanted to help him rather than openly flirting with him. As if it had all been a game to get Hades riled up. Lucian nodded and she led him over to the couch, setting Cerberus in his lap and sitting down beside him with an encouraging smile.
Hades pulled me aside. “Walk with me. The women will keep your friends busy.”
I eyed Persephone and Lucian with concern. “You sure about that?”
Persephone latched her dark eyes onto mine. “I’m the queen of fertility, not fidelity. Do not meddle, Sorin.”
I shot Hades an incredulous glance. He shrugged. “She’s all bark and no bite. Trust me. It’s strange, but I’m coming to believe that the Queen of the Underworld delights in tormenting me for some strange reason. I’m not sure where she gets it.”
Persephone laughed, grinning at Hades, but he was already walking away, forcing me to follow or remain behind.
Not feeling particularly romantic—in fact, hating all aspects of romance due to my current shortfall in the area—I followed the Lord of the Underworld.
We left the pavilion and walked into the purple mist. Despite the circumstances, the purple mist reminded me of Aphrodite and the gift she had so vehemently tried to give me. One that had been so important to her that she’d even bragged about it to Persephone.
Why had it been so important to her? She hadn’t even met me yet.
And why in the world had Selene agreed to such a gift?
The purple mist eddied and whorled around me, taunting me, as I pressed on after the Master of Souls.
27
Almost immediately, we had stepped out of the confines of the purple mist. In a way, it reminded me of the mist around my own castle. A protective barrier walling in my most sacred place—my home.
We had walked for ten minutes without speaking a word. Hades seemed to be moving with a purpose, leading me somewhere rather than just trying to get some privacy from those at the pavilion. So, I followed in silence. Whatever he wanted to tell or show me, he didn’t want the others knowing about.
Since I still hadn’t gotten anything immediately useful for my problems in New York, I was feeling hopeful about Hades private conversation. Although what I had learned about my past filled in more blanks than I’d ever thought I would learn.
And I’d saved Lucian. And Nero.
I had my brothers back. Together, we could do anything.
As we walked, I found myself focusing on the wondrously terrifying landscapes of the Underworld. It was full of countless crystalline formations of every color imaginable. I had witnessed hundreds of skeletons and people—looking nothing like wandering spirits, but rather living, breathing labor workers—hammering away at walls of gemstones, and shoveling piles of emeralds, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and amethysts into carts that were then carried away by yet more workers.
No one had been whipping or beating them. Some had even waved at Hades, giving him a weary smile before resuming their work—with renewed vigor. I pondered that, frowning. He sure didn’t seem like a feared ruler.
He seemed to be loved.
I caught up with him, stepping into his peripheral vision as he continued his swift stride. “If Lucian and Nero and this unknown third person sold their souls for power as a result of accepting Hecate’s offer, where do I stand?”
He glanced over at me. “You did not deal with Hecate when you bargained your soul. You bargained with Hades.”
I nodded. “Yes.” I waited another minute, but he remained silent. “Well? Where is my soul and how much will it cost me to buy it back? I have it on good authority that people are considering stealing it to try and control me.”
He glanced over at me, arching an eyebrow. “That’s ridiculous. I already told you that you can have it. I was merely holding onto it for you.”
“Oh.” I frowned, waiting for the catch, but he kept on walking. “What happens if I take my friends’ souls back? Do they lose their immortality?”
He skidded to a halt, frowning at me. “Who hurt you?” he asked.
I narrowed my eyes. “A lot of people, actually. You were one of them.”
He sighed, nodding. “That’s fair.” He continued walking, gathering his thoughts. “Your friends will not lose their immortality when you take their souls back. They loaned Hecate their souls, earning interest over a long period of time. That interest is theirs to keep even after the loan is paid back to them. Like a bank.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. This was all working out entirely too easily for my comfort. There had to be a catch somewhere.
He continued walking. I hurried after him, cresting a small rise in our surroundings.
“Ah, here we are,” Hades said, pointing. “Look at that dumb fucker.”
I gasped to see a wide river stretching out before us. The water was mostly black, but t
here was a perfect circle of bright red water near the shore, and it was diluting downstream, merging with the darker, brackish water. A man stood in the center of it. A familiar man. “Dracula,” I hissed, extending my claws.
“The poor bastard looks frightened,” Hades commented, sounding amused. “Let’s go throw precious sapphires at him,” he said, pointing at two lawn chairs on the bank of the river that I hadn’t noticed. I gaped to find two waist-high piles of sapphires beside each chair. Hades was already hustling over to them, not bothering to wait for my reply.
I laughed in disbelief, sitting down in the chair with a contented sigh. Dracula stood up to his knees in the circle of frothing red water, and his face was frozen in a mask of horror. Because time was different here. He was stuck. I noticed skeletal hands reaching out from beneath the water to grip his legs, holding him in place—at least a dozen of them. He stood in the exact same posture as the vision I’d seen within my castle, except he was now in a river as opposed to a bathtub.
“He slaughtered every single man and woman who trusted him. And he did it for power,” Hades intoned in a cold voice. He reached out to grab a sapphire as big as a grape and then hurled it at Dracula hard enough to break bone. It struck him in the ear and I cringed. But…Dracula didn’t even flinch. “Ha!” Hades crowed.
I shook my head, smirking at the childish, cruel, petty—
I grabbed my own sapphire and hurled it at my nemesis, striking him in the nose with a sharp thwack. My chest loosened and I let out a shudder of pleasure, turning to look at Hades. He nodded slowly. “I know. Feels good to take down an evil tyrant, doesn’t it?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes. It really does.”
He hurled another sapphire at Dracula, missing him this time. “The Underworld isn’t about unnecessary cruelty, no matter what everyone seems to think,” he said, studying the man in the river. “It’s about accepting your dues. Whatever you do up there comes back to haunt you down here. Both good and bad. A man must pay for his crimes, no matter who he is.”
I nodded, trying not to think of what was facing me some day.
“Men like Dracula…they relish in their cruelty. They truly enjoy it. I look forward to meeting them more than anyone else.”
He hurled another sapphire, cracking Dracula in the forehead this time.
“But this man in particular,” Hades growled with an animalistic hunger, “has done worse than most. I cannot wait to meet him.”
I chuckled, somewhat uneasy about my participation. Dracula deserved much worse, no question. It was the fact that he couldn’t fight back that bothered me. “Can he feel any of this?”
Hades shook his head. “Not until he goes back home. Then he will feel the pain all at once, but he won’t experience any lasting physical effects. Just a major headache. We can’t really hurt him. Yet.”
Feeling better, I chucked a sapphire at him, hitting him in the nuts. “Damn. That’s unfortunate.”
Hades grinned. “Tell me about it.”
I studied Dracula, hefting a large sapphire in my palm. “So, he’s not really here?” I asked.
“No. Just an apparition. But he’s trapped here just as surely as he’s trapped in your castle. In this exact pose.” I arched an eyebrow at Hades. He shrugged. “You opened up a connection between me and your castle when you summoned the Eternal Blood to save Victoria’s life at the Statue of Liberty.”
I stiffened in surprise, not having known there was a name for what I had used to save her, and I definitely hadn’t known it was tied to Hades—although it made perfect sense. And…Hades was remarkably well-informed.
“See?” he asked, noticing my reaction. “I’m helping you even when you don’t know it. I needed to talk to you away from prying eyes, and I needed to make it look like it was the last thing you wanted—in case any of our relatives heard about it. So, I reached out to Dracula in his dreams.”
I realized my mouth was hanging open. “You…tricked Dracula into summoning you?”
“Dreams can be dangerous,” he said with a dark chuckle. “Time is fluid in dreams, making them seem to last forever, no matter how much you cry or how much blood is spilled in your torment, the pesky things just never seem to end.”
I nodded stiffly, not entirely sure I liked being this man’s friend. But it was better than being his enemy. “Time. Again,” I murmured.
He pitched another sapphire, striking Dracula in the jaw with a sharp crack. Hades beamed. “Enough about Dracula. He will be waiting for you when you return, remarkably weakened since I am draining all the blood he stole from his followers. Your soul is safe from harm.”
I slowly turned to look at him. “You’re telling me that…all of this nonsense with Dracula and the witches doesn’t matter?” I whispered, feeling as if the ground had just opened up beneath me.
28
He thought about it, looking torn. “Not in the way you initially thought, no. But it is still a great danger. It is much worse than you initially thought.”
“The twins,” I breathed.
“They are out there, planning something that even I can’t see. And that troubles me.” He glanced at me sidelong. “It should definitely concern you.”
“Why am I so hated? Not that I care about their opinions, but on a practical level. What is so threatening about me? Is this all a result of Hera’s animosity over her husband’s well-established infidelity?”
Hades hesitated. “It may have started with Hera’s hatred, but it took on a new life with Artemis and Apollo. You are their brother, and a direct threat to their standing on Olympus.”
“Why? Other children of Zeus have thrived and joined the ranks of Olympians. Heracles, Theseus, and others.”
“Children always complicate things. But you are a wild card. Your older siblings took part in the war with the Titans, so they were tied to Zeus and Hera whether they wanted to be or not. Piss either of them off and maybe you get sent down to Tartarus to silence you.” He shrugged. “And our bloodline tends to murder their parents at any opportunity. Parents do not like that. Although, it is often necessary.”
I shuddered at his last comment and the distant look in his eyes when he’d said it. “You’re dodging the question. Why am I any different from other demigods?” I narrowed my eyes at the obvious answer. “It has to do with my mother, doesn’t it?”
He nodded ever so slightly.
I felt my heart flutter at the thought of my mother. “Who was she?” I asked softly.
Hades glanced over at me sympathetically. “I cannot say. I know you do not like hearing that answer, and I do not like giving it, but you need to remove her from your mind. At least for the time being.”
I gritted my teeth. “We are safe down here, so why can I not hear the answer?”
“Because you do not intend to stay here. You will return to the world above, and certain knowledge stains the mind. That knowledge can then be taken and used against you.” He stopped, turning to face me. He gripped my shoulders. “I swear on my power that it is in your best interest—not mine or anyone else’s—for your mother to remain a secret for the time being.”
I felt a thrum of power between us as his oath seemed to magically bond with his power. The haunted look in his eyes told me he was not stringing me along for any other reason than what he had said. He truly believed it. Maybe knew it for a fact.
I nodded minutely. “For now.”
He smiled sadly and released me. He lobbed another sapphire at Dracula and missed. Then he paused, staring out over the river with a resigned sigh. “Did you know that Apollo threatened to kill the Oracle’s sister, Selene, if she did not lie to you about your fate?” I froze, feeling a sudden bloom of rage deep within my chest. Hades nodded grimly. “Well, to phrase your fate in such a way that it led to murkier conclusions, at least. Then you fell in love with Selene, tightening the noose around your neck even better than he had originally intended.”
It took every fiber of my being to remain seated.
<
br /> “The twins knew that your Olympian gifts were on the cusp of awakening, so they pretended to gift you your abilities by ‘cursing’ you, making you think you were tied to them. So that you never learned about your true bloodline. They attached guilt and pain to your blossoming powers, making sure that you always saw them as curses. They created a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
I frowned, trying to bottle my rage before I exploded. “But they did curse me. Apollo made the sun burn me, and Artemis made it so that silver burns me and that I must feed on blood.”
He nodded. “That is true. Olympians can harm and curse each other. But have you noticed that you are no longer as incapacitated by these curses? That your newfound awareness of your birthright is finally beginning to counteract these curses?” I nodded very slowly. “That is why you are a threat. You…are much stronger than them. Guilt and self-doubt were the real curses.”
I nodded, considering his story and trying to find holes. “But you helped them.”
“I saw what they were doing, so I tried to help you as subtly as possible. You were much too desperate back then for me to tell you the truth. And your powers hadn’t even begun to bloom. You were an easy target.” I opened my mouth to argue and he shot me a warning glare. “Just like you pleaded for Artemis to help you when you failed to steal her bow. You gave me up.” I sighed, nodding regretfully. “Putting you right into the palm of her hand. Selene’s ultimate demise was just sheer cruelty. You could have touched her. It would have infuriated Apollo, but you could have. If only you had known how powerful you truly were. They gaslighted you.”
I stared at him, stunned. I…could have touched Selene? That simple act would have changed my entire life, had I known. I took a calming breath, closing my eyes for a few moments.
I hadn’t heard the term gaslight before, but I understood what Hades meant.
“I’m a stronger man, now, Hades,” I said, opening my eyes. “And I’m not referring to my bloodline.”
Devil’s Blood: Shade of Devil Book 3 Page 18