by Dani Hoots
Huh. I considered the Underworld my home. Strange thought.
"You came and started making out with her! I came looking for a drink since you didn't bring anything with you." He looked at the three bottles. "But if you're here then..."
I dropped the drinks and we both ran towards where Chrys was. She wasn't there.
"Fuck!" I wanted to punch something but there wasn't anything I could punch without getting in trouble for breaking it. But then again, would it really matter?
"We have to find her fast,” A.J. said.
"No shit. What could have taken her? What can change its appearance to look like me?" I asked as I glanced around.
A.J. didn't respond at first but his face became cold. "A lot of things. We need to hurry."
I prayed she was still in the house. London was too large to search everywhere. It wasn't like we could alert the police if she was really missing either. She wasn't exactly from around here, or anywhere on Earth. And she might not even be on Earth anymore.
I took a deep breath. ”Ok we will split up and find her. Let's go."
A.J. and I turned our backs at each other and went in opposite directions. She had to have still been here, as the front door was close to where the drinks were and A.J. would had seen her leave. So my doppelgänger and Chrys had to be here somewhere.
It had gotten more crowded in the past few minutes, making it harder to move around and search. I wanted to punch most of these people in the face for not getting out of my way as I tried to get pass them, but that would make it harder to search.
My heart was racing and sweat began to pour off of my skin. I could barely breath but had to focus. I had never been so afraid in my entire life, and death. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if I couldn’t find her. What we would have to do? Would we have to go tell Hades his daughter was missing? God, I didn’t want to give him that news. It wasn’t just fear of what he would do to me, but more I didn’t want Chrys to really go missing for that much time. I had to find her and make sure she was safe.
I searched throughout the entire first floor. I didn’t see any trace of Chrys. I asked around but everyone shrugged. I should have figured since no one ever paid much attention to anything but themselves. I cursed ever being a selfish human like them.
So far there was no sign of her and my heart wouldn’t slow down. I had to find before it was too late.
Huntley pulled me into one of the rooms on the top of the third floor and closed the door, his lips never leaving mine. They were warm, tasting like whiskey. He must have found a drink before coming back some how. He had only been gone for a very brief moment. It seemed nearly impossible, the more I thought about it. But I didn’t care, I had been wanting him to kiss me for so long.
The only thing that had been holding me back was my father. Although he didn’t mind Huntley, that didn’t mean he would have ever approved of us being together, the argument mother and him had about my love life a couple of weeks ago proved that. Though I doubted anyone was good enough for me by his strict standards. It wasn’t like I could really meet anyone else that wasn’t in the Underworld either, so that left no love in my life, or at least in my father’s eyes.
But now he wasn’t here and I could do whatever I wanted with Huntley.
His lips were warm, as were his hands as they started to lift up the back of my shirt. I desired him so much, wanted him to grab me like this. Whatever had gotten into him all of a sudden, the realization this could be our only chance before we were back in my father’s domain, I’m not sure. All I knew was I wanted him right then and there, my yearning for him taking hold of my body.
He pushed me up against the wall, his kisses harder, more demanding. I wanted more than anything to have the pomegranate seeds with us, to experience the most out of this, but nevertheless, they didn’t exist here like they did in the Underworld. Besides, having Huntley like this was more than enough.
I grabbed on to his shoulder, then realized it was where I had hurt him the other day. “Oh, sorry. I didn't mean…” That’s when I noticed that the wound was gone. “Huntley, what happened to…”
“What is it?” he whispered as he kissed my neck.
“Your wound, it’s gone,” I whispered.
Huntley pulled me back from the wall, laughing a little as he stopped kissing me. I looked at him curiously. “What’s funny?”
He shrugged. “Just, with so much passion, so much longing, I thought you would have noticed.”
I shook my head. I had no idea what Huntley was talking about. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about? What happened with the wound? Last time it took over a week—”
Huntley waved his hand in front of his face. It molded into another, into the boy that had invited me to this party.
“Pete? How? What?” I didn’t understand. how could he change like that? Humans couldn’t do that, could they?
Unless…
He bowed. “I am Pothos, an erotes of Aphrodite. The representation of longing and yearning, and boy do you yearn for that human. Why? He can never be like us.”
My head felt like it was spinning. I didn’t understand what was going on, how he was able to look like Huntley for a moment, and then return back to his normal self for another. I had heard of the erotes, part of Aphrodite’s posy. What was one of them doing here? This couldn’t be happening. What was going on? How could he do that? “I still don’t…”
“I can turn into whatever you long for,” he said as he turned back into Huntley. He traced his fingers against my sides, pulling me closely. “And do whatever you yearn for.”
I tried to push him away but he was a bit stronger physically than me. If I had any doubt he was one of the erotes, it was gone now. But it still didn’t answer what he was doing here. “Get off of me you pig!”
“But you want this so badly,” he whispered into my ear. “It may be your only chance.” He kissed my neck, still appearing as Huntley.
The power shot out through my body in an instant, throwing him back against the wall. I was surprised he didn’t through it as my anger kept on rising. The air swirled around me, darkness and light gathering into it. I could feel raw energy resonating through my skin. I tried to control it like Father had taught me, but fury ran through my veins. I had been deceived. My feelings had been used up and I would not stand for that. Not when it could mean Father finding out what I did, or any of the gods finding out I existed. All because some erotes wanted to play a trick on me.
“Wait!” Pothos held out his hands, turning back into himself. Any attraction I had towards him was long gone. I couldn't believe I had thought he was anything like Huntley. Huntley would never do something like this. “I’m not going to hurt you, I just wanted to know who you are!”
Yeah, like that made sense. Huntley had been right about him, I should have listened. Although Huntley thought he was human and was afraid of what a human boy wanted from me. Apparently human men and gods all acted the same. They just tried to use each other in the same manipulative way when they wanted something. They didn’t care who got deceived or hurt in the process. All that mattered was them. I began to understand why my father didn’t want me to leave. And why my mother fit in so perfectly with the rest of them.
“Then why didn’t you ask? Why didn’t you just say that from the start!” I exclaimed. He seriously messed with the wrong goddess.
He nodded quickly. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, I won't do it again. Just calm down! We don’t want to make a scene!”
A scene? Please, he didn’t know the meaning of that word. He was lucky he was still alive at this very minute. If my father was here, he would have destroyed this boy in an instant. Heck, he would have destroyed him even if he thought it was Huntley. “Why the fuck should I listen to you!”
“Because if I’m right, then everyone will know you are Hades’ daughter!”
Everything felt as if it had stopped. The items that had been swooped up in my power simply fell ou
t of the air and landed on the ground. All my power seemed to go away, as if he had just slapped me. Which he did, with the truth. “How do you know that?” I whispered.
He stood up, taking a few deep breaths and rubbed his shoulder. I didn’t feel bad that he had hit it so hard against the wall. He deserved it. “Because I can see what you long for and why you long for it. You love Huntley but your father is stopping you from doing anything about it. Hades is stopping you. And you smell like someone I know…”
I didn’t say anything but just stared at him. My secret was out, I had ruined everything by coming on Earth. I shouldn’t have come, I shouldn’t have risked everything my father had done for me to see what Earth was like. I should have stayed in the palace. I should have just kept on ignoring my mother and stayed with Huntley and A.J. I ruined everything.
I sat down on the bed. “Then Zeus knows and I am dead,” I whispered.
Pothos took a couple more deep breaths and messaged his shoulder. “No, no, no. I wouldn’t tell that asshole. He doesn’t know, or at least if he did it wasn’t from me. I didn’t tell anyone, I just wanted to learn more, to get to know who you really are.”
I gave him a look. “By tricking me into sleeping with you?”
He gave a half grin. “It’s not like every day you get a chance to sleep with Hades’ daughter.”
I punched him. Straight in the nose. He crumbled down on his knees. Huntley and Father would have been proud.
“Ow…”
“You deserved it, you asshole. Did you really just see me as a conquest? That was all you wanted to know about me? My body? You are so lucky my father isn’t here.” Seriously, what was he thinking? Maybe I should listen to Huntley more, he seemed to hint at the fact that something like this would happen. Though, how he knew, I didn’t know.
“So then he really is your father? That’s…”
“Complicated? I know. But as for now, how do I know you are going to keep my secret?” I tapped my finger on my chin. “What could the daughter of the God of the Underworld do to make sure someone keeps her secret?”
“I swear to you that I would never cross Hades. Never.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yet you would try and sleep with his daughter?”
He thought for a moment. “Point taken. I didn’t think it through with that plan, but as for crossing him, giving someone his secret, that I would never do. I know the things Hades has done to people who have cross him. I’m not going to let that happen to me.”
I had reason to believe him. I knew how much my father was feared by humans and gods alike. I really doubted this god was lying. But then again it seemed that more feared Zeus than my father. “Fine. But you should know I— “
Suddenly, out of nowhere, glass exploded from the window. I put out my hand, making the glass bounce off of the invisible shield I had quickly created, something I had learned to do from my father. Came in handy when Mother got really drunk. Pothos had hid behind me.
From the broken window stepped a red-haired woman. She appeared the same age as me, somewhere in her late teens-early twenties, but something about her made me feel like she was much older, just like me.
“Oh fuck,” Pothos commented to me. “Speak of the devil.”
“Pothos, you aren’t cheating on me are you?” she gave me a once over. “Hello, sweetie, let me introduce myself. I am Melinoe, the daughter of Persephone and Hades.”
There was a loud crash at the top of the stairs coming from one of the rooms. I quickly ran up to the third floor to see what the commotion was, A.J. followed right behind me. We both knew it had to be Chrys, there was no way it couldn’t have been. She probably figured out someone had tricked her and had let her emotions get the upper-hand. And if that was indeed the case, this whole house was going to get destroyed in the process.
So we had to act fast.
I almost tripped going up the stairs because I was running and had lost my footing. I cursed under my breath. Damn shoulder, why has thou forsaken me? Pain shot through my arm to the point where my hand felt numb. I did not want to deal with this right now.
We got to the top of the stairs and I was practically out of breath, as I had been running frantically through the room searching for Chrys. With my heart pounding and sweat dripping off of my skin, I quickly opened the door.
And I’m not quite sure what kind of scene I had just walked into. By the look on A.J.’s face, I’m sure he was thinking the same things I was.
What the fuck?
Chrys was fine. She looked shaken up a bit, scared, concerned, but she was fine. That was the most important thing. Peter looked like he had been hit a few times by stuff that had thrown around the room. I knew it was Peter. Well, I wasn't sure he was the cause of all this but I hadn't seen him around when we were downstairs. It was his party after all. But more interestingly enough, both of them stared at the red-headed girl that stood by the broken patio door. And by the looks of it, she appeared angry.
I hurried to Chrys’ side. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do I need to teach him a lesson? Because I will, so help me—”
She wrapped her arms around me. “I’m okay. But…” She looked at the red head staring at Peter. “She said she is the daughter of Hades and Persephone.”
I turned and looked at her. I could definitely see the resemblance of Persephone, but I couldn’t see any characteristics of Hades in her, and it wouldn’t have surprised me if Persephone had more kids that she didn’t tell neither Hades or Chrys about. In fact, I kind of suspected it.
Peter shook his head. “Your father isn’t Hades and you know that. It’s Zeus. He disguised himself as Hades and had his way with your mother, just as he does with every other woman throughout all the worlds.”
“You mean like what you tried to do with me?” Chrys shot back.
“What?” I asked. I wanted to know exactly what this creep tried to do to Chrys so I could beat the shit out of him. I promised her that I would keep her safe and I would. If I failed , I would never forgive myself. So if I had to beat the shit out of this guy, I would. I wished I could tell Hades as well because he could do even more things than I was capable of. But then he would also do those things to me since I had let his daughter leave the Underworld.
She nodded over at Peter. “He isn’t human. He is Pothos, an erotes of Aphrodite. He disguised himself as you to get closer to me. A.J. was there, he can tell you.”
A.J. nodded. “Yeah, I thought it was you, Pothos. I wasn’t entirely sure but it made sense. Huntley doesn’t have the balls to kiss Chrys like that.”
I glared at him, whether or not it was because he let this jackass kiss Chrys or because he said I didn’t have the balls to kiss Chrys myself, I wasn’t sure, but before I could say anything, the other daughter of Persephone spoke up. “And for that, Pothos, you will endure my wrath!”
He held up his hands. “Wait! We aren’t dating anymore! You broke up with me! For Prometheus, of all people! He isn’t even a god, he’s a stupid Titan from before—“
“I don’t care!” she spat out. “You still used me, you still shouldn’t have broken your promise with me.”
So she was one of those girls, one who cheated on their boyfriends, or broke up with them, then freaked out if they moved on. Or just didn’t listen to them when they said it was over. Typical.
I mumbled under my breath. “Psycho-hose beast.”
I thought I had been quiet about muttering that. Apparently I wasn’t as she quickly turned to me. “What was that, human?”
Right, don’t piss off the mad goddess. I needed to remember that.
I shook my head. “Nothing. Go on, have your godly argument. But who exactly are you?”
“I am Melinoe, Goddess of Nightmares and Madness.”
Oh great, that’s all we need. I was about to reply because, seriously, we needed to get back to the Underworld, when the door opened behind us. It was another man, who looked to be about in his mid-thirties, ginger hair poked out of t
he hat he was wearing and scruff covered his face. His green eyes widened in surprise when he saw all of us. Apparently he didn’t expect this scene either.
“Melinoe, what in Olympus are you doing here?” the man exclaimed.
Her eyes brightened and the dark aura that had been surrounding her before vanished. Now she just looked like any ordinary girl. Love-struck, might I add. Yup, definitely one of those girls.
“Prometheus. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” She ran into his arms, almost as if she was about to cry, as if we had caused her so much turmoil. “I missed you so much. You haven’t called me, I thought Zeus may have locked you away again.”
I couldn’t read Prometheus’s face, whether or not he actually wanted to see Melinoe or if he had been running away from her. I presumed the latter from what I had witnessed so far. There was no way he could actually like her. There had to have been something more to it. Being the Goddess of Nightmares and Madness, I could only imagine what she was like in bed. There probably was a reason these two had kept her around for as long as they did.