Endangered

by Dani Hoots

  DANI HOOTS

  Endangered

  Daughter of Hades, #1

  © 2016 Dani Hoots

  Content and line edits by Justin Boyer of Bibliophile’s Workshop

  Content edits by Desiree DeOrto

  Cover Design Copyright © 2016 by Desiree DeOrto

  eBook Layout and Design by Marcy Rachel

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN for paperback: 978-1-942023-40-1

  ISBN for ebook: 978-1-942023-41-8

  Other works by Dani Hoots

  The Sanshlian Series:

  The Quest

  A Falling Starr:

  Forgotten

  Found

  Free

  A World of Vampires:

  Hooh-Strah-Dooh

  Baobhan Sith

  Strigoi

  Jiangshi

  Asanbosam

  Lilith

  Peuchen

  Aufhocker

  Soucouyant

  My Broken Heart:

  Hanami

  Last Summer

  Professional Secret

  Fraudulent Love

  Shattered Engagement

  Once Upon a December

  Hello and welcome to the Underworld. My name is Chrys, and I am the daughter of Hades. May I take your coat?

  I really wanted to say that to the group of recently deceased that stepped up to my father, begging him not to send them to Tartarus, the place of eternal torment, pretty much where all the bad people went. Beside Father was Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Abacus, the other judges of the dead. I, sure as Cronus, didn’t want to be judged by that deadly trio. First off, they have been here longer than I have, since Zeus appointed them, and although nothing really ages here after death, they seemed to be older and grumpier than ever before. And I, unfortunately, had to witness today’s session of pleas because “I needed to learn the ins and outs of the business in case anything ever happened.” At least, that is what my father, Hades, kept telling me.

  Father sat there, quiet, as the three stooges (that’s what I called them in my head, if they knew, I would be in so much trouble) examined the next contestant. The man before them was on the fence of being sent to either Tartarus or the Asphodel Meadows, which was why he was being judged. I already knew my father’s decision, since he was quite predictable when it came to judging people.

  It was going to be Tartarus.

  Father always took a long while, as if his decision hadn’t already been made. He could have finished judging today’s deceased already if he didn’t take his time about it. It annoyed me tremendously, which I knew he could tell as I sat there nervously fighting with my dress sleeves.

  One of the men went down on his knees. “Please, have mercy on me. I never meant to do those things, had I known— “

  “Had you known, you would have been perfect, right?” Hades interrupted with a scowl. “Done everything you could to be in paradise? There are no second chances here, the gods have given humans a chance to obey them, a chance to live in paradise. It is not our fault you don’t see the signs.”

  I let out a brief yawn, trying to cover it with my hand, but my father noticed right away and gave me one of his cold looks. I tried my hardest to sit up straight, to appear as though my mind hadn’t drifted off to thinking about meeting up with my friends Huntley and A.J., or what I told father was being tutored about modern Earth affairs by these friends of mine. Really we just hung out and tried not to get into trouble.

  Tried was the key word there.

  “Tartarus. Send in the next one,” Hades ordered.

  Loud barking echoed through the throne room. I smiled as Cerberus came galloping towards the dead human. He screamed in terror as everyone did when greeting Cerberus. No one saw how clumsy this puppy really was, but thought it as one of the most terrifying beasts in all of the Underworld. But I guess if it was taking me to my horrible fate, I would be scared of him too.

  Nah, he’s not scary. He’s adorable.

  The man screamed again as all three jaws bit at his clothes, dragging him out the door and down the chute that would send him to Tartarus. His soul would circle there in the deepest part of nothing for all of eternity.

  Yawn. When would this be over?

  I never knew anything else besides this life, as I have never traveled to any of the other worlds. A big complicated mess, to say the least, but irritating nonetheless. Which led to why my friends and I got into just a bit of trouble every once in a while. But only in the Underworld, mind you. We couldn’t leave.

  My father judged different humans, demigods, and creatures for another hour. I tried not to let my stomach grumble, as that wasn’t something the goddess of the Underworld should ever let happen. I wasn’t to show any weakness, I wasn’t to show anything less than divine perfection.

  Well, at least Mother wasn’t back yet to make matters worse.

  Cerberus dragged his last victim for the day while Father clapped his hands together. “Well that wraps up today. The three of you are dismissed for the day. Chrys, come with me.”

  I felt as if my heart stopped, which would have been pointless even if it did because I was already in the world of the dead. So dying wouldn’t get me out of the conversation I was dreading, the conversation of how I would eventually become goddess of all this.

  It was way too much responsibility if you asked me. I just wanted to be a normal teen, even though I had been a teen for quite some time. I never really got to do what most teens did in any other world. I just wanted to be able to explore, be able to go out into the worlds.

  To be known.

  “Yes Father.” I followed after him as he headed towards the hallway. Knowing him, he was going to the patio that looked out at his entire world for a “talk.” He was so predictable, especially after all this time. When you only have Hades as your father, you’re bound to know him more than you want to, and spend more time than needed in the drab underworld.

  I was a few steps behind him, watching as he had his hands folded neatly behind himself, his short hair nicely trimmed, a new style the mortals were sporting. I didn’t blame him for wanting to try and fit in with those that had recently died, that way they felt more at home. Except those who went to Tartarus. He didn’t really care to fit in with those souls.

  Cerberus sat in his corner of the hallway, next to the patio door, gnawing on three bones that I had given him the other day, ones discarded in the River Acheron. Father bent down and patted Cerberus on one of his heads. “You did good today. You deserve something a little special.”

  With a snap of his fingers, a large bone appeared in front of the puppy. His eyes widened and he howled a thank you before biting down on the new bone. I tried not to appear frustrated as it had taken me weeks to find the bone I had already given him. But it didn’t matter, Cerberus looked so happy as all three of his heads tried to snap at each other, wanting the bone to itself.

  I stepped outside with my father, looking down on all of the Underworld from the patio. The dark sparkling water of Oceanus made up all of the sky, and beyond that Earth laid, the human world I had never seen. It was where all the deceased came from, a place that I only learned about in books and from tutors. Coming down in the middle of the clouds was the waterfall of Phlegethon, souls in a blue fire all destined for Tartarus, the big gaping hole that didn’t seem to ever h
ave an end. They were all the bad souls, the souls that had no chance at redemption. If I listened closely, I could hear their cries for help. Then again, that could have been the River Cocytus. It sounded like the wind, or at least that was what Huntley said, I wouldn’t know.

  Next, around River Phlegethon, was the palace itself. This was where I lived and spent most of my time. Since we had visitors every once in a while, Father was hesitant to even let me venture outside the palace. The palace was big, of course, as it held many of those who were more like guests than the deceased, although some weren’t dead, like Hermes for example. How he got into the Underworld, Father could never figure that out. I always had to be cautious, though, as Hermes couldn’t know I existed, especially since he was a kiss-up to Zeus, at least according to Father.

  A lot of the others had been my tutors over the years, ranging from teaching me languages, history, culture, math, etc. I never understood why I needed to know these things, especially since I never got to leave this realm.

  The palace itself looked like something out of Van Helsing. One of my tutors called it ‘a late gothic German style architecture like that of Eltz Castle’. Huntley simple said ‘holy fuck, it’s Dracula’s castle!’. I liked his description better. Also, it made it easier to spook him that way.

  I loved it here and I could watch some human movies here. It was confusing though, as none were consistent with each other. I never could tell fact from fiction either, especially since those on Earth say the Underworld is a fictitious place. I loved seeing their faces when they found out the truth.

  Beyond my home were the Elysian Fields and the Fields of Asphodel, where the good souls along with okay souls went. The Elysian Fields were nice, but I definitely preferred the palace. And I wouldn’t know what Tartarus was like because no one ever came back from there, at least not very often.

  I stepped up to the railing next to Father. He wore his normal all-black suit and tie. Don’t get me wrong, he looked good in black, but sometimes I just wished for a little more color. I was wearing an all-black dress, so I couldn’t really talk. Then again, I only wore it because he insisted on it.

  Also, my father wasn’t bad looking. He had a chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, and good teeth. I mean, I wouldn’t really know if he was good or bad looking, but that was what the maids said. Many of them didn’t think my mother deserved such a beautiful god, as she was gone from this place nine months of the year, not to mention she snuck countless men in here during the three months she was here. Most of the workers called her a whore and I didn’t blame or correct them really.

  “Why do you even have those sessions?” I decided I would be the first to talk. I hated it when we just stood there in silence. “You always sentence them to Tartarus.”

  He smiled, as if my question was comical. He wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be. He was quite kind actually, and it wasn’t his fault that Zeus sentenced him to rule over this part of the world. Although, when given the circumstances, he could turn dark in just a blink of an eye and show absolutely no mercy.

  Which was why I never got on his bad side. At least, not completely.

  “You know it’s not that simple, my precious flower. There are some that are judged that do, in fact, deserve some sort of paradise instead of eternal torment. I can’t let them get wrongly judged. You understand that, don’t you?”

  I let out a brief sigh. I understood, as we had gone over this many times before. I just hated sitting there, watching those stooges be idiots. I wondered whether or not I could pick new judges when Father passed on his legacy to me. Probably not since they were appointed by Zeus himself, and they were Zeus’ sons, as were a good chunk of souls down here, and if I fired them, then Zeus would find out and I would be screwed.

  Because I was never supposed to be born.

  “I know,” I mumbled.

  He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed my forehead. “Your mother will be coming home tonight. Are you excited?”

  I tried not to roll my eyes, I truly did, but yeah, I rolled my eyes. Hard. Yes, I loved my mother, for the most part, and yes I knew she cared for me in her own little way. But after hundreds of years of dealing with her drama, I started to get sick of her.

  Hades seemed disappointed with my lack of enthusiasm. “What’s that look for? Don’t you miss her?”

  I looked up at the souls that came raining down into the Underworld and toward their destination through the River Acheron. “It’s just hard to miss someone who, while here, only talks about Earth, all the things she sees and buys. She’d rather be part of that world than this one, even when the two of us are here. It doesn’t make me feel like she wants to be around me.”

  “Your mother cares a lot about you, she’s just bad at expressing it.”

  “And what about you? Do you really think she cares about you?” It was a harsh thing of me to ask, but it was also harsh of him to give her the benefit of the doubt.

  “She does… in her own way.”

  I couldn’t believe he was defending her after all these years. “She leaves for nine months of the year, Father. Nine months. In those nine months, you know she is sleeping with other men. Along with that, while she is here, she sneaks men in and has affairs with them. You know how many men of hers I have run into over the years? She doesn’t want to be here anymore than I do—” I covered my mouth. I didn’t mean to say that, it just slipped out.

  Hades looked at me, his eyes alert, waiting to see if I would say anything else. His body seemed tight, reacting to the words I had let out by accident. “You… you don’t like it here either?”

  “No, I do. This is your world, Father, everything you have built. I would never want anything else. Except…” I began, trying to find the right words. “I would like to see the Earth, or Olympus. I want to know what else is out there. I just learn it from tutors, but I would like to experience it for myself. See the ocean, the sky… It’s my dream.”

  He studied me closely. “You know that isn’t possible, you know if you leave this place you will no longer be under my protection. The gods would be able to hurt you, they will find out you exist and they will take you away from me.”

  I gave him one of my “don’t worry I’m not going to do anything stupid” smiles. “I know. I didn’t say I was going to leave. I’m just saying that hopefully someday I can.”

  “So you won’t leave me like everyone else?” For the first time, I saw the sadness in his eyes, the loneliness that came with his title being brought to the surface. It was why he didn’t care what Persephone did behind his back, why he was willing to put up with it for the short time they had together during the year.

  Why he cared for me so much and why he hid me from the other gods.

  “No, never. I love you Father, nothing will ever change that.”

  He wrapped his arms around me. “The other reason I could never be mad at your mother is because she gave me the best thing I could ever ask for. My little flower in this dark world.” He stepped back and smiled as he moved a piece of hair out of my face. “Now you better get going or you will be late for your tutoring lesson.”

  I smiled and nodded, hurrying off before he questioned what we would be tutoring, making me lie yet again. He couldn’t, no he would never know, that Huntley and I would be playing some soccer instead of learning current earthly events.

  But soccer was current right? Yeah, I would keep telling myself that, otherwise I fear I would losing my mind being stuck here.

  I kicked the soccer ball towards A.J.; Chrys still wasn’t here yet, typical for her. You would think being the daughter of the Dark Lord of the Underworld that she would be on time every once in a while. But n ope. Never. So instead I was stuck passing the ball back and forth with A.J., a blond pretty that had lived over four thousand years ago as the King of Tyre, son of Poseidon, or something like that. He kept telling me about how great a king he was, but I never listened for too long. I honestly didn’t care. I was a little
sick of all these “sons of such and such god” who boast about their heroic tales while I, a mere human, would never understand.

  They got that right.

  A.J. and I, what could you say, didn’t get along very well. He saw me as a pipsqueak, someone who wasn’t worth his time. Although humans and demigods coexisted in some areas of the Underworld, a lot didn’t get along, at least that’s what Chrys explained to me when I first came here. A.J. and I were prime examples of that. But we both wanted to be friends with Chrys so when she was around, we kept our cool. Or, at least, we tried our best to keep our cool.

  We didn’t speak a word as we kicked the ball back and forth. As more time passed, the ball seemed to be going faster and faster, as each of us were kicking it harder and harder. Suddenly the ball jumped up and hit me straight in the face.

  “Oh, sorry. My bad,” A.J. said a bit too flat toned.

  I wanted to punch him. I wanted to punch him so bad. He was just like the jocks in my old school, the ones who had made my life a living nightmare. Well, in reality A.J. wasn’t as bad as them. Not to mention that living in the Palace of Hades was better than my life before I died. Before—