by TJ Adams
I was uncompromising in my gaze. He looked away with a smirk. “Aspects of your life fascinate me. You must know by now your importance in this game we call eternity.”
I shook my head. “Enlighten me.”
“I’m an old man, Matteo. I grow weary of my home, of this eternal darkness, this eternal death. The light my wife shines within my heart extinguishes when she is gone. I cannot bear to be without her for all this time.” He closed his eyes and arched his head back as if to expose his face to the sun. “For once I wish to see the day through my own eyes and not through the memories of the dead, or the richly woven stories my beautiful wife, Persephone, feeds me. Without fresh souls, it has been too long since I saw anything new, so you must forgive me for stealing your memories.”
Hades sounded sincere, for once, and the tale was a sad one. I wanted to believe him. Would that belief be at my peril?
My hand hovered over the cards. As I did, I watched Hades expression, attempting to detect any malicious greed, or other expression that would indicate he lied. He played the perfect poker face.
I touched the cards again. This time I got nothing, so I drew them toward me. They weighed about the same as an ordinary pack of cards although they were larger and seemed thicker. I turned the first over, surprised to see a blank face.
“What’s this supposed to mean?”
“The game will reveal itself the more we play.”
I turned the next card over, exhaling my held breath when I found that also blank. The air around us stilled. A cold crawled through my body like creeping fingers. A warning shot of adrenaline detonated, sinking my heart. Why did I feel like I was falling into a trap?
I looked up from the blank cards to Hades. He lounged back in his seat, chin cupped between thumb and forefinger. His need stretched across the table and engulfed me, an almost tangible desire. Without words, it compressed my chest. I panted shallow breaths.
We remained locked in a dangerous silence; dangerous because he held all the secrets.
I turned over the third card and laid it flat on the table. From marble to fluid motion, Hades sat forward, placing both hands on the table, staring at the blank cards in front of me. I looked down to see what I’d revealed by making my last move. Three pale cream cards stared back at me.
I threw the rest of the cards across the table toward him. Was this a joke? Hades slammed a palm on the table and the cards splayed out in an impressive fan.
“Choose wisely, which card will you discard into the pile.”
“Any, they’re all the same.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Then make your choice.”
I tossed one toward the fan. My mouth dried as Hades quirked an eyebrow at me, smirked and plucked my discarded card from the pile and placed it face down on the table in front of him. He plucked one more and then with an absent wave of his hand the rest of the pile sorted itself into a stack.
He motioned for me to turn my cards over. I hesitated then slammed them face down.
With exaggerated sweeps, Hades drew three cards from the stack and laid them face up between us. My breath stalled when I saw people now decorated the surface of each card. I leaned forward to see better. A hole opened up inside of me and everything sunk through to my feet. My life lay before me, my mom on one card, my junior high English teacher a second card, Marsha Green on the third.
Beside me three tower stacks of silver coins appeared. I picked up my cards and shielded them in my hand. Bethany and my father stared back at me. On the outside the game seemed harmless enough. I understood the rules of poker. I bet with the coin and in the end won my freedom or became bound to Hades for eternity.
“What’s the hand ranking.”
“The hardest thing to lose is number one, and so on.”
While it didn’t sound so hard, I’d already experienced Hades’ poker face and reading the player was the secret to winning.
“You’re the guest, you have the honors.”
I stared at mom in my hand and dad on the table then placed my bet. As I slid the stack of coin to the center I ran through the possible other faces that would appear. Bounty would be there somewhere. At this thought my hand slowed as it pushed the coin to the center, then stopped before my bet made it all the way.
“Have you made your bet?”
Had I? Never before had I been forced to analyze my feelings for her as intently as I did right now. I understood now placing my hands on the cards at the beginning started the game. It was that which gave the cards meaning. If Hades was able to absorb the stories of the soul he would know the hand ranking, perhaps better than me, for reading the soul directly lead to a greater truth than what anyone would compile in their head.
How much did Bounty mean to me? In this game the only question I needed to ask myself was would I be prepared to die for her? Hades already knew the answer, and so did I. I pushed my bet into the center.
Hades was a smart player. No surprises. Playing for a millennium would give anyone the upper hand. The last card was placed on the table, the face an ex work colleague, nothing I could use. But I had the hand I wanted, minus one. With two main cards, mom and dad I couldn’t see how Hades could win.
“What’s your call?” He said.
“Raise.” I pushed more of my coin forward. Hades smiled, and it was at that point my pulse accelerated beyond healthy. What trick did he know?
“Then let us show our hands.”
In unison we flipped our cards face up. Bounty stared back at me from across the table, alongside her Mr. Bracks, mom and dad’s neighbor. My heart squeezed when I saw Bounty’s face on Hades’ side of the table, but he did not have enough important faces to win. I stared at my cards, making doubly sure I had what I thought I had, with dad’s face in the center of the table my hand was higher. Hades appeared pleased with the outcome. That was enough to dampen my elation at supposedly winning.
“Looks like I win.”
Hades picked up Bounty’s card and allowed it to dangle between his thumb and forefinger while he reclined in his chair. “Are you so sure about that?”
I frowned, prickly tendrils of apprehension creeping all over me. “She’s important to me, but so are my parents, and I have both of those.”
“Let’s see how well you deal with this.”
Hades raised his hand, the card of Bounty balanced between two fingers. In a blink Dominic appeared and snatched the card from Hades hand.
“A challenge for you.” Hades looked at me while he addressed Dominic.
Dominic ran a finger down the front of the card. “Pretty. Very pretty. Challenges make winning all the more enjoyable. And this one would be my grand prize.” He said.
“She’s more than you think. But with my help you will succeed.”
Dominic leered down at the card. “And I looked forward to it.”
I launched to my feet, knocking my chair over in my haste. “You won’t touch her.”
Dominic would whisper in her ear, get right into her head and wouldn’t leave her alone until she did exactly what he wanted, such as end her life for him.
Hades didn’t flinch. “But you claimed to have won, so what does this one matter?”
“You will not have her.” I leaned forward and slammed both hands on the table, filled with the conviction of my words. A loud crack rent the silence. I sprung my hands up as splits appeared in the surface of the table, radiating outward from the center of where my palms had been and ran in zig-zags across the table.
Dominic jumped back with a yelp, eyes saucered, while Hades halted the veins I’d created by placing his palm on the table. The cracks stopped within a small radius of his hand.
My face would’ve mirrored Dominic’s, I’m sure.
“Surrender yourself or surrender her. I give you until the next full moon to make your decision.”
Perhaps the table was weak, although it appeared to be made from solid stone.
“I’ll never let you have her.”
<
br /> A blade appeared in the center of the cracked table. Hades leisurely waved a hand in its direction. “Then let us get this done now.”
“You want me to kill myself.”
“This is no ordinary blade. It was fashioned by the gods long ago for a very special purpose.”
“And that purpose is?”
Hades steepled his fingers. “The purpose of the blade does not matter. The most important thing right now is what choice you will make.”
“If I am dead I cannot protect her.” I glanced at Dominic, who stared at me with wary eyes, no doubt cautious after my table splitting feat. “I do not trust him to leave her alone when the deal is done.”
“He will do as I’ve instructed.”
I narrowed my eyes at Dominic. “You underestimate the drive of revenge. Dominic will take her with or without your consent.”
The table exploded into a hundred stone shards as Hades rose to his feet. The energy used to do this sent me skidding backward across the stone floor.
“Your presence is no longer desired. At least not while you are alive.” Hades strode toward me, the knife in his hand. He eyed the blade. “It could be so easy, but surrender is more enjoyable than the fight.”
With the god dwarfing me, while I lay on my ass, it was amazing I spied movement in the shadows behind Hades. I peered through the gloom, trying to make sense of the shifting shapes. Slowly the shapes took form as they moved from the ink of the night and into the yellow tinged light. Four in all, dragging the shadows behind them as they marched in rows of two. Their faces were hidden beneath hoods pulled low, bodies obscured by layers of leather. The wings of their capes flared in a trail of darkness that engulfed the path they had traveled. Eerie of all was the silence in the wake of their footfalls, as if they were the night and nothing more.
Warriors of death, perhaps. I climbed to my feet and flicked a look to Hades, feeling uncomfortable with the sneer I found on his face. This couldn’t be good.
The four surrounded me, a threatening position. My muscles prickled for a fight, legs itching to take flight.
“Perhaps we can discuss another bargain.” It was worth a try.
“Deals are done. Now you face the consequences of your actions.”
“Hardly fair. You forced me to play the game. I wouldn’t have taken you for a sore loser. For a god you disappoint me.”
Hades smug smile dropped from his face. He wasn’t looking so superior now. I goaded him, but there was no deflecting what he planned for me, so no point in continuing the charade of nice guy.
Two of the black figures grabbed my arms with a manacle grip. The other two swiped my feet from underneath me until I hung like a pig for roasting. Without word from Hades, or was it a mental command, they marched toward the water. Not again, that bloody water was cold.
I struggled for the total of a couple of seconds before I realized there was no getting out of this bind. I swung useless between them, powerless to stop as they marched down the bank and then into the water. Hades stood at the edge of the embankment, hands on hips, a face of plaster; there was nothing to read behind that mask.
When the ice of the water lapped my back I gasped and arched upward in their hands, to no avail. As they continued further in, the water swamped me, washed over my chest, crept up to my chin. I gasped as the tickle of cold touched my lips and then I was submerged. But still Hades’ men held me firm and continued further. Down we went into the dark depths. When my lungs burned from lack of air I struggled and felt their hands tighten more.
This could not be happening again. I’d drowned once, so I knew how it went, but I couldn’t stop the hysteria that seized me before I took my fatal breath. When the water froze my lungs, I was released from the warriors’ hold. I glanced either side to see their clothing float freely beside me empty of the bodies that wore them. My guards had vanished. And why was I able to acknowledge that fact.
This time no overly friendly hands came to greet me, but I drifted in an inky black river. What was up or down, where was my way out? All I had to do was ask it seemed. A bright glow lit the water from behind. I rolled to my stomach, somehow finding the buoyancy to stay afloat. Light was good, right? It had to mean a way out of Hades’ domain.
A silhouette shimmered to life, or maybe that was because I viewed everything from under water. Someone grasped my hand and pulled me forward, then let go. I swam using every reserve I had left in my body, chasing my savior. On and on I swam, with my arms working like pistons, until the light was all around me, too bright for me to keep my eyes open.
My body began to freeze, until it felt like I was shifting lead. God, not again. But this time I wasn’t swimming to shore, I was swimming along a river that flowed for eternity. Would I find an end? The overwhelming task made my lead limbs feel anchored. I couldn’t force them to keep up the strokes anymore. I floundered in the water like a toddler. My body began to sink. But I still had the light. That had to mean something; a signal that I was nearly to safety.
Hands clasped mine, lips on mine, the feeling warm, life giving.
Do not believe in your death. If you lose all hope than you will die inside. A warm hand touched my heart.
Was that voice coming from inside my head?
You have drunk from the river Styx. Vulnerability is no longer a part of you. You are immortal.
That was definitely inside my head. A woman’s voice. But what did she say? Stuff about drinking the river, death, vulnerability. I’m sure she also said immortality.
I couldn’t concentrate. The warmth coming from her to me was pleasantly mind numbing. Yep, this was the place I wanted to be, cocooned in her arms, soft lips on mine, floating in the light. There was nowhere else I wanted to be right now.
23
Well, this just totally sucked. What was I supposed to believe? There was every likelihood Trinity said the things she did out of bitterness. But what if she told the truth? Perhaps that was the reason Satan liked me; he knew the evil inside of me. Was that why the Nephilim were after me? Maybe they hoped to resurrect the side of Agnes that was conniving and power hungry.
I fell back onto my bed. I’d hurt the one person that meant the most. Sure it was indirectly, but I still had a hard time forgiving myself. Why did Death save the bitch of the three?
“What are you doing? We’ve been waiting ten minutes for you to show. I’ve got heart attack victims that need attending so I shouldn’t be chasing you around.”
I covered my eyes with my arm and groaned, “go away Cynthia. I’m not in the mood.”
“To bad, honey, reaper meeting. We don’t get the leisure of laying around on our bed deciding when it’s a good time to show.”
I dragged my arm from my eyes and looked at her. “But wasn’t it a couple of days ago?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “I’m not going to dignify that with a reply. You’ve been head reaper long enough to make a timetable.”
I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and heaved myself to standing like I’d aged two hundred years in the last day. With a big sigh I said, “you’re right, I’m sorry. Let’s go.”
Cynthia placed her hands on her hips, brow creased. “What’s going on with you.”
“I can’t even begin.” I could feel my shoulders slump. “But that’s not what’s important right now. I’m a terrible head reaper, placing everything else before my duties because of my selfishness, chasing something that could never be. No more, okay. Let’s go.”
“Whoa, this is not you.”
“It’s the new me. I can’t go on like I have been.”
“This is all wrong. I expected to drag you to the Madison after suffering some ludicrous goose chase of yours.”
“And I never make a difference.”
I turned to head off out the bedroom door but Cynthia grabbed my hand and wheeled me around.
“Stop right there, Missy. I don’t like your defeatist attitude.”
“I’m doing what you wanted me to do ri
ght from the start. I’m acting like I should, Death’s Angel and nothing else.”
“Yes, but that’s not you. You go against the rules, get hounded by weird supernaturals, cause no end of unrest in the void.”
“That’s when I thought I was someone else.”
Although the slap wasn’t hard, it shocked the hell out of me.
I rubbed my cheek, staring at Cynthia like I’d lost my brain, mouth gaping. “What was that for?”
“I don’t know what’s going on with you, girl, but you can snap out of it.”
Just as I was about to tell her to give me a break, or something else equally lame, because now I was angry while still feeling sorry for myself, Akako appeared hovering in front of me.
“I’ve found you, my lady.” He sounded a touch worried and out of breath, but I’m sure, as a spirit, he didn’t need the air. His eyes widened on seeing Cynthia, and he performed one of his over generous bows. “Ah, my sweet lady. I’m quite overwhelmed.”
Cynthia ignored him and stared at me. “What have you two been doing?”
“Don’t we need to get to the Madison.” I said.
“Alas, my lady, I come with desperate⸺”
“Cork it. I have other priorities.”
I yanked Cynthia through into the void and we landed in the middle of the grand hall at the Madison and almost on top of Kira and Malcom, taking a twirl around the floor. Akako popped up next to us. Foolish of me to think I could drop my murderous shadow.
Jackson eyed Akako with a neutral expression, but Malcom screwed up his face. “What is that?” He said.
Marylee came to stand beside me. “A kagi. Haven’t seen one of those in a long time.”
“What’s a⸺”
“A pain in my ass.” I interrupted him. “But he does have his uses.”
“And if my lady could tell me where it was she disappeared that I could not follow.”
“What’s he talking about.” Kiara said.
“No, my lady cannot because she has more important things to do. Can we get this meeting underway?” I said.
Cynthia, looking at Kiara, said, “something’s off with her.” She hooked a thumb in my direction. “This is who I found at her apartment, but I’m sure it’s not the same woman who’s driven us insane for the last few months.”