Forbidden To Love (The Erosians)

by D Wills

  He doesn’t show any response to what I'm saying so I don’t stop. “Once we’ve got to that stage, we can see the rest of the aura and start playing with the other emotions” I shudder slightly at the memory of Allana using Amora’s emotions against her.

  “So when can you do it to the Gods?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know how long Allana has been able to do it. My life barely came with any instruction. They didn’t throw me a time line to look over.” My irritation at his sudden detachment from me pushes its way through. It works, though. He comes back to me and takes my hands in his.

  “I'm sorry, but if Hades knows that you can’t help him, he isn’t going to keep you here.” He moves his hands up my arms

  “But if we tell him that I will be able to eventually, maybe he’ll keep me around till I can and he’ll let me be here with you.” Luca closes his eyes.

  “Do you really think if they knew about us they’d just let us carry on together? And Hades has already been waiting since the dawn of time for a shot at Zeus. He is done waiting” I hadn’t thought of that.

  “So what would happen to me?” Luca’s lips lightly press against my forehead. “Nothing, Hades would want to hand you over to the Furies.” I inhale sharply and jump at Luca's revelation. “He’d have to take you from me first. I'm never going to let anything happen to you.” I nod as his arms envelop me.

  “This is all Allana’s fault.” His tone has grows bitter as he looks out of the window onto the fields.

  “What’s Allana’s fault?”

  His eyes snap back to me. “Have they told you nothing of the past?” I shake my head, not wanting to reveal what I know, as by the sounds of it, it’s probably wrong.

  “Allana went running into the arms of another God, a married God. When Zeus gave Eros Amora, Allana was hurt by his rejection so she got consoled by this other God, but they had to escape to the mortal world when Allana found out she was pregnant.” I freeze. That means Amora was telling the truth.

  “So because she betrayed Eros, he’s taking it out on me?” Luca nods. “You, Amora and Allana - he wants none of you but he doesn’t want you to want anyone else - mortal, God or Underworld guard.” I shrink down to the floor and Luca keeps his hands on my arms, guiding me safely.

  “Why didn’t he take it out on Allana?” I ask, and then curse myself for wishing the hurt upon her rather than me.

  “Eros may not have wanted Allana, but he grew to love her as a sister. He was angry at himself for causing her betrayal.”

  I don’t get it and Luca can tell that I don’t. “If Eros could have just loved Allana, Zeus wouldn’t have made him Amora and then he wouldn’t have hurt her.” I am starting to understand their complicated history.

  Luca leans back against the wall as he stares out to the landing. “So Eros and Allana are the only ones who can help Hades. Maybe if Psyche died, Hades would have a bargaining chip,” Luca says to himself. I can almost hear the cogs in his mind turning as he formulates a plan.

  “Psyche is Eros’ true love,” I add, feeling a slight relief at the one part of my history I do know.

  “Yes and the most beautiful mortal woman mankind has ever seen, which riled Aphrodite when Eros fell in love with her. She forced Eros to make Psyche love the most grotesque man she could find for her. Psyche is joined to him until one of them dies.” Luca stops there.

  “So that’s why Eros has so much hate for his mother?”

  Luca nods. “She manipulated him into giving up his only chance at happiness and when he lost this chance, he made sure no one else got theirs.”

  “If Psyche dies, it won’t help Hades. If she dies, Eros will forget all of his feelings for her.” Luca’s face falls as I dampen his plan. “But if Psyche’s husband dies, any feelings she had for Eros would be reignited and they could be together, but that would kill Allana. She was made to love Eros and she’ll only be released if he dies.” I'm talking more to myself than to Luca. I'm trying to make sense of it all. “Who was the God Allana slept with? Where’s the child?”

  I'm not sure which answer is more important but Luca can’t give me either of them. He just shakes his head. “Nobody knows. They left the child with a mortal family and they went back to Olympus.” I can’t believe I never knew any of this.

  “When did this all happen?” Luca looks like he’s trying to think back. “Sixteen, seventeen years ago.” He runs his fingers through his hair, trying to think back.

  “How do you know so much about our history?”

  Luca takes his other arm from me and rests it against the window ledge. “After Eros made Psyche love her husband, he went mad, which I'm now grateful for because it ultimately led to your creation.” He smiles at me and I can’t help but return it.

  “Anyway he came down here begging the Fates to cut Psyche’s husband’s thread of life so Thanatos could kill him, but the Fates refused and Eros couldn’t convince Hades to force them to do it. Maybe he would have done if Hades had met Persephone by that time, but she was still a young child. I was one of the guards who led him to Hades, and then I followed his work as he destroyed the mortal race.”

  I’d gathered that much from what Allana had told me and the threats he made my first day in this life. “Zeus stepped in with Allana, and then Amora. I was given the duty of training new soldiers after that, so never knew you existed.”

  I sit nodding at Luca as he fills the gaps into my history, waiting for some magical plan to appear in my mind to get me out of this mess. Luca distracts me though as he jumps up, staring at something intently through the window.

  “What is it?” I move to get up but he quickly puts his hands to my shoulders, holding me back down.

  “We need to leave.” His voice is panicked.

  “What, why, what’s going on?”

  He kisses me, almost pushing me to the ground with the force of It. It’s a different kiss. It’s not as tender as all the rest. There’s something else to it. It scares me. Luca grabs my hand and pulls me up towards the door.

  “Luca, wait, please.” I pull my arm reluctantly from his grasp but I need to know what’s happening.

  “Acacia, please. I will do everything I can to protect you but if Hades finds out you can’t give him what you want, there’s only so much I can do.” He pulls me against his chest, showering the top of my head, neck and shoulders with kisses, but I don’t feel any of them. Something isn’t right.

  He told me this less than ten minutes ago, but he didn’t have this urgency.

  “I would die to protect you but it wouldn’t be enough. Come with me now and we’ll escape to the mortal world where we can be alone - please.” His voice is mesmerizingly soft but I'm not able to melt into it as I usually would. There’s something under it. I move myself away from him so I can question him properly. His touch is far too distracting for my mind to think clearly.

  “Why would you do this?”

  “Do what?”

  I can hear the anger at my questioning edging through but he’s trying to fight it back. “Why risk your life? You have everything here: power, respect, family. If we leave, you’ll be throwing away your entire world.” His face begins to soften at my words and he edges closer to me once more.

  The familiar sparks of electricity ignite between us as he rests his forehead against mine.

  “Before you, there was no life.” His breath gently caresses my cheeks. I close my eyes as I allow myself to breath in his heady scent which causes my heart to stammer. “I spent centuries blindly fumbling through my existence. I gave orders, I took orders, but I never lived. You brought me to life. You opened my eyes to a world of love when I was drowning in a world of hatred. I need you, Acacia.”

  “But why do we need to leave now?” The subconscious part of me isn’t done with the questions, even though the physically awake part of me is willing to succumb to his every desire as long as he keeps himself as close to me as he is now. His grip loosens and my body becomes rigid. He
stares at me, shocked at my questioning, but I have to know the truth. My head becomes clearer as the distance grows between us and I know I need the answers. Josh and I were based on lies, and look how that turned out. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

  “Hades wanted you up for trial yesterday. I bought you some time but I can’t stall him much longer. It has to be now.”

  I don’t believe him. If that was the reason, he’d have suggested our escape when he first walked into the room. If Hades is wanting me on trial, though, I'm not about to hang around waiting for him to send for me. I allow Luca to take my hand and pull me through the door but then he stops and I almost crash into the back of him. He turns to face me, keeping his eyes stuck to the floor. I lean towards him, looking at the spot he’s fixated on. He snaps his head up and inhales sharply.

  “Promise me; promise me no matter what happens, we will always have tomorrow.” His eyes are burning and his usually cool demeanour is being melted away by something I can’t place.

  “Luca, I don’t understand.”

  He shakes his head slightly. “You don’t need to. Just promise me, Acacia, promise me there will be tomorrow.”

  My name dances across his lips as they have done before but usually I watch them slip down his throat to be kept safe for him to speak my name once more. This time they have twirled and taken flight. My name has been sucked out of his body as if some other force knows he will never need to use it again.

  I don’t understand how or why this is happening but I need to tell Luca yes. I do understand he needs to hear my acceptance that we will have tomorrow, whatever that may mean. I nod at him and his body relaxes momentarily, then he starts to pull me towards the stairwell, but before we reach it, something cold encircles my ankles and pulls me back to the room.

  “Luca,” I scream as I try to hold onto his arms while whatever is grabbing at me is trying to pull me through the floor.

  Luca looks at the bottom of my skirt which is now disappearing into the ground. “Grab my hand,” he urges and I reach for it. The second I grasp it, we are both pulled through the floor.

  Ghost

  ~24~

  Luca covers my mouth as we’re falling to stop me screaming, but he can’t stop me fearing. The wind whips at my hair as a sickness rises inside me. The rusty stench of blood surrounds us, seeping in through my skin until I can taste it at the back of my throat. I look over my shoulder and see the ground quickly approaching. Squeezing my eyes shut, I brace myself for the impact that is surely only seconds away. I crush my body against Luca’s, wanting to memorize the feel of his body against mine in our final moments. His arms wrap further around my body, responding to my need by holding me tighter. The coolness of his skin finds its way through the lightness of my dress, and I feel numb to anything that could be about to hit me. The only feeling I have is what Luca stirs up inside of me. I am grateful for that pleasure now the end has come. We stop. No thud, no pain. I open my eyes and see Luca’s arm wrapped around my waist, holding me inches from the ground. He’s balanced on his toes whilst his body crouches protectively over me. His ferocious growl causes his body to vibrate softly as he looks fiercely across the room. I follow to where he’s looking and gawp when I see Allana, Hercules and next to them, Josh. Josh! How is he here, how is he alive? My body can’t decide how to react. My blood is turning to ice at the horror of what I’ve done with Luca while my pulse is racing with fear that I’m now going to be taken from him. My body doesn’t know who it wants, and the sensible part of my head has kindly chosen this time to shut up, the one time I could have actually used some guidance. “Luca?” Hades' voice comes from the right of us. His face looks bewildered at Luca guarding me. Luca jumps up, grabbing me by my shoulders rougher than before “She has a tendency to try and escape, Sire.” “Ah.” Hades claps his hands together and gestures towards Allana, needing no more explanation from Luca. “As you can see we have some visitors” “I thought you were dead” I cry at Josh, not hearing Hades' words nor caring that he is the Lord of this world so I seriously shouldn’t interrupt him. Josh rushes over to me. I pull against Luca’s restraints to get closer to him. “Stay back,” Luca snarls, holding me against him. Josh hesitates for a second as he takes in my guard. To look at them I don’t know who would win if it came to a battle. They’re both tall and strongly built, but where Luca shows his obvious strength, Josh masks his, so I'm sure Luca isn’t concerned with what little threat he poses. Luca threads his arm around the front of my stomach, holding me with my back to him, then he throws his other arm across my chest, pinning me, so my neck falls back onto his shoulder, leaving my veins, which are now pounding with adrenaline, fully exposed. “Take another step,” he challenges Josh as his breath strokes my throat. That’s all the invitation Josh needs, and he lunges towards us. “Josh, stop!” I hear Allana beg as Hercules reluctantly leaves her side to take a hold on Josh before Luca happily spills my blood in front of the ones I love most. I look at Hades to the side of us. I expect to see him furious at the lack of respect being shown to him, but his expression is an odd mix of bewilderment and pleasure. It’s as if the scene before him is playing out better than even he could have wished for. “Well, this is a surprise,” Hades mutters half to himself as he takes a step towards the two groups in front of him. “Of course Josh isn’t dead. Why on earth would you think that?” Hades addresses me. Luca loosens his grip so I can stand up straight when I answer his master. “I saw his … ” I turn to Josh, “ … I saw your car explode with you in it.” Josh opens his mouth to respond, but we are all silenced as Hades laughs to himself and begins to circle us as he lightly taps the ends of his fingers together. “Yes, a car explosion would appear quite deathly, wouldn’t it?” He stops and stares at Josh, I feel the dampness of fear clinging to my body as I panic about what he might do to him. I know how fast he can move across the ground, and I’ve seen what the people here can do with just a glare, but he just carries on speaking, “ … if he were a mere mortal.” I whip my attention from Josh to Hades. Josh isn’t mortal? Why didn’t he ever tell me? Hades has a twisted smile on his face as he rubs his hands together, smug with satisfaction at the secret he knows he’s just exposed. “Did you not know?” he gasps in mock astonishment as he leans toward me, faking remorse at having been the one who told me. “Young Josh here has Herculean blood in him.” His voice is nails on a chalk board to me, and I wish I could stop listening. “A simple car accident would be no problem for his type.” Hades' smile disappears as he looks mystified at Luca. I feel Luca’s grip tighten around me. Is he trying to hold onto me to protect me, or because he’s jealous of my still obvious love for Josh? “I thought you would have used that information, Luca, in your torturing of our delectable prisoner.” He stares at Luca, a look of annoyance in his eyes, but his face is trying to keep up a calm demeanour. “You tortured her?” Josh yells at Luca as he charges at him, but Hercules grabs him and holds him in place. “Not yet. Patience.” Hercules' low voice rings clear in my ears. They’re prepared to fight, they’re just waiting for the right moment. I can’t let it come to that. They don’t know the full size of the army down here. They’d be outnumbered in a big way. “Wasn’t necessary, Sire. I had more than enough tricks to keep me occupied,” Luca answers, intensifying his hold once more. “I didn’t want to reveal any secrets you might have found useful in tempting Acacia into your deal.” His voice falters at the end, and I know he means Hades could have promised me Josh if I gave him Persephone. Luca wouldn’t like the idea of that. I’d feel sorry for him if I wasn’t so mad. “More like you didn’t want anything getting in the way of me, and you,” I snarl at him low enough for only us to hear. “You’d never understand,” he replies softly, his voice more melodic than I’ve ever heard it. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand,” I tell him as I struggle against his grasp. “I'm not saying I'm sorry,” is the only response he gives me. Hades turns back to Allana. No one but me seems shocked at the news that Josh is actually a God and
a descendent of Hercules no less! “Now, Allana,” Hades addresses her in a sweet tone which irritates me more than the patronizing one he’s just been using towards me, “as you can see, Acacia is unharmed as promised. Now what have you got that makes you so sure I’ll hand her over to you?” There’s silence as everyone waits for what Allana has to offer. I look nervously between Hercules and Josh, waiting for one of them to step forward, but all eyes are focused on Allana. “Me,” she finally says. Luca loosens his grip on me as I fight to look at her. She can’t take my place, they’ll torture her. “Allana, no,” I scream but Hercules is already at her side holding her face in his hands. I can see the burning in his eyes as he pleads with her not to do this. The moment between them is so private I wish I could look away. “Don’t do this, Allana. We’ll get her out another way,” Hercules promises her, but she shakes her head at him as tears begin to cascade down her face. She reaches where his hands are placed gently upon her cheeks and rests her own on top. “You know we won’t be able to,” she whispers. Hercules wipes her tears away. “Then don’t do this - for me. Not again, don’t leave me again.” His voice rises as her decision remains unchanged. “I never left you before. I was never yours to leave you, you know that.” Allana drops her arms to her sides as her words cut through him like a blade. My own heart breaks for Hercules as I watch his love for Allana pour from a wound she created so long ago that has now just ripped open. He must have been the God, the one she had the affair with, but she sacrificed her happiness to save his life. She wasn’t as selfish as I am. She didn’t risk him the way I risked Josh. This isn’t fair. I need to be the one that stays in the Underworld. I don’t deserve to return to the mortal world in Josh’s arms when I have done nothing to deserve his devotion. Allana deserves the happiness; she needs to leave with Hercules. “Hold on a minute,” Hades interjects. “Are you not starting your pleading a little too early?” He clicks his fingers and a majestic throne appears beside him. It’s all black with panthers making up the arms which snarl at Josh, Hercules and Allana. Hades takes his place on the throne and looks menacingly at the three in front of him. A grey mist circles the bottom of the throne, and I can see the persecuted faces of the souls trapped in this world spinning in the fog. “What makes you so sure I want to trade?” “You won’t need to trade you, cruel bastard. I’ll just kill you now and take her from your pawn’s hands.” Hercules races to where Hades is sitting. Luca grunts a sort of laugh at Hercules threat. “Ah-ah-ah, I have her fair and square, and killing me won’t release her, plus we’ve been down that road before, you never win,” Hades retorts. “There’s always a first time.” Hercules lunges again but Allana catches his arm. Allana places her hands calmly on Hercules and pulls his arms gently down, so his hands are by his sides. She moves away from Hercules and edges towards Hades. “You’ll take me because Acacia can’t help you with what you want,” she looks at me as everyone falls silent, “but I can.” I turn my head slightly to look at Luca. He’s staring at Hades and Allana.