by Melody Rose
“I am simply answering the questions that I myself thought when I first saw this place,” she replied as she descended a small steep hill. Hearing the confirmation from Clotho, I examined my surroundings with a little more curiosity. I had never seen nor been on this hill before. The hill was roughly a mile from the main door, but it was completely hidden from the daylight. This place was the only part of the Elysium Fields that embraced the dusk. Here, the sky was a riveting shade of deep lilac and maroon.
“What is this place?” I wasn’t aware that I had spoken out loud until Clotho replied.
“The Garden,” she said bluntly. Soon, Clotho and I stopped at the edge of a clearing that was surrounded by a ring of silver Anemones. Within the ring, a glistening black pond sat reflecting the stars from its sleek surface. Growing from the center of the pond was a white tree with golden leaves, and sprouting from the branches were plump apples in silver and gold.
“The Garden?” I repeated as I stared at the tree in awe. “You don’t mean the Garden of Eden, do you?”
Clotho smiled over her shoulder at me and crossed the ring of flowers to step into the pond. As she did so, the ripples from her footsteps began to glow as though she had disturbed bioluminescent organisms with each step. I paused as I allowed my brain to catch up with the information.
“So, if this is the Garden of Eden, these must be the fruit of knowledge?” I asked, following behind her but not daring to step into the water. Clotho’s laugh sounded like tinkling bells as she shook her head and reached up to stroke the branches gently.
“No, no, Lord Hades. You see, the stories are false. When ‘God,’ your brother Zeus, first created man, he made them in his image,” she explained. “The first man he had ever sculpted from clay was a young, beautiful, and obedient godling. Unlike Zeus, this young godling was not very powerful. He was more akin to a demi-god, but with immortality. When Zeus decided to make him a female companion, he had assumed that they would both rule the human world together in a powerful union without question. However, the young female godling did not want to be forced to worship a God who would frequently attempt to lure her into his own chambers. Instead, the young female godling prayed for someone to help her escape this life she did not ask for. Hecate, the granddaughter of the Titans, Phoebe and Coeus, was not very fond of your brother during this time. It was she who answered the prayer of the young female godling. She brought the young woman here to this tree. At the time, there were only a few apples on this tree: one gold apple for each soul of the Olympian gods, and one silver apple for each of the two godlings.”
Clotho stopped in the water suddenly, the hem of her himation dragging softly along the top of the water. As she had spoken, I found myself walking closer towards the edge of the water to examine each and every apple. None were named, and none had any golden strands like the souls of the humans on the globe within the temple. Instead, the apples hung delicately above the pond, swaying gently with each passing breeze.
I looked at Clotho, who was watching me curiously. What was she waiting for? I had never heard the story of how my brother had created man, and now that I had, I was curious. By the time this all had been started, I was in the underworld, wrangling the souls of monsters and demons while trying to keep the Titans locked in their small cell. This Garden wasn’t even a part of the underworld during this time.
I raised a brow. “Then what happened?”
Clotho smiled before she continued. “Hecate led the young woman around to the back of the tree where her apple sat beside her mates. She told her, ‘If you wish to be free of your life of servitude, you must surrender your immortality and live a mundane existence.’ She then plucked the woman’s apple from the tree and told her to eat it. When she did so, her immortal soul died. Over the course of a few hours, as every ounce of immortality left her. After the woman had become a mortal, she called upon her mate and offered him the chance to live a life with her unburdened by Zeus. The young godling was hesitant at first, but he was also quite taken with the young woman. As obedient as he was to your brother, the man ultimately chose his bride. When Zeus learned of this betrayal, he labeled Hecate as a snake and banished his first two mortals from the Garden of Eden. Distraught, Zeus nearly destroyed the earth in one fell swoop. But Hera had convinced him to start again.”
The Fate paused for a moment in thought. “This time, when Zeus remade his mortals, he did not grant him the gift of magick and immortality because he feared that the humans would leave him like the first two mortals had and squander their gifts for a simpler life. Instead, he forced the humans to praise him and the pantheon in exchange for protection, harvests, and for giving them life.”
When Clotho finished, I whistled. “Well, then… that was an intense story. But what does that have to do with why we’re here?”
Clotho waved me over to her. “Come here, Lord Hades.”
I took a breath as I eyed the water. I really did not enjoy being wet, and this was going to force my jeans and feet to be wet. With a sigh, I kicked off my boots and socks and set them off to the side. When I finished rolling my jeans up to my ankles, I followed her into the water.
I carefully stepped past the ring of flowers and placed one foot into the water’s dark surface. I felt a tingle run up my legs and spread out throughout my entire body. The water almost felt like it was alive. I shivered as I made my way to her side.
Clotho took my hand and led me to the back of the tree. When she stopped, she pointed up to a branch close to the trunk where a beautiful golden apple hung. However, the apple was different from the others around it. I frowned and looked down at Clotho with confusion. From the core of the apple, a crimson red thread grew. The thread twisted over branches and ducked under leaves until it connected to another apple; this one was black. Clotho smiled wide at my reaction.
“In all the years I have tended to this Garden, I have only seen this thread a handful of times. You see, Gods, like humans, all have a soul. Because we have souls, that means we can all die. However, even my sister and I do not decide this. If you eat the apple, your immortality is taken away, but if the apple falls or rots, the soul attached to it dies… and so does its bodily form. And this thread, well… this thread is quite the rare find. You see, the last pair that had this thread were the two godlings that Zeus first made. It labeled them as soulmates.”
I froze. I had a terrible feeling that I knew where this was headed now. “So… what does that mean?”
“Do you see that black apple?” Clotho asked as she gestured to the apple in question.
“Yes,” I nodded as I swallowed at the growing lump in my throat.
“That apple is yours, Lord Hades. It has been black ever since your brothers tricked you into becoming the ruler of Tartarus,” Clotho said, her voice falling to a whisper.
I took a shaky breath, afraid of what Clotho was going to say next. I was the King of the Underworld, damn it. Why the hell was I so fucking terrified? I shouldn’t be afraid of something like this, should I? I mulled it over for a moment as I chewed my bottom lip.
I had never been in love before. But after being around Persephone, I felt the winds of change blowing around me like a tornado. Everything that I had ever known had been ripped from the deepest recesses of my cold heart because of Persephone. Now, where once there was darkness, a single violet grew from the ashes like a Phoenix. Clotho’s eyes were sparkling now as I looked down at her. She could see the understanding in my terrified gaze.
Finally, I whispered, “And who does the gold apple belong to?”
With a broad, toothy grin, Clotho replied, “Persephone.”
18
Apollo
The Poppy Seed wine that Dionysus had given me had me feeling like I was cruising over the world on a luxurious silver-lined cloud. I laid my head back against the golden leather seat of my private booth, reveling in my high, as an extremely attractive succubus gave me a lap dance. Eros’s club, The Olympian, was by far the best strip clu
b for me to go to unwind. Unlike most of the clubs in the mortal realm, Eros had a wide variety of strippers of every race and species employed here to suit one’s fancy.
The pulsing rhythm of the music was perfect for every bounce and grind the succubus made against the growing erection beneath my jeans. When I opened my eyes and blinked past my hazy vision, I hungrily watched as she turned around and straddled me. Her large bare breasts jiggled hypnotically with every move she made, which made my erection twitch in anticipation. The succubus moaned under her breath as she closed the distance between us and grazed my neck with her fangs, using enough pressure to draw blood. I hissed at the pleasure that coursed through me as she licked at the wound with her hot tongue.
It was because of kinky shit like this that I struggled to keep my hands to myself. Every time that I drunkenly touched one of the strippers after they got me worked up, Eros threatened to kick me out for being disrespectful. I mentally rolled my eyes at my cousin. He might have been ugly, and he might have been terrible at his godly duties, but he was an excellent businessman that cared about his employees. Be that as it may, I inched my hand towards the succubus’s thigh and just barely touched it before she swatted my hand away with her long, clawed hand.
“Ouch,” I hissed as I stared into her pitch-black eyes. Her cherry-red lips turned up into a deadly smile, and her fangs grazed her deliciously plump lower lip.
“No touching or I hit you again,” she breathed as she ground her body into my crotch with more pressure than before. I couldn’t help but moan at this.
“Is that a promise?” I asked as I let my gaze trail down her beautiful face to her mouth-wateringly large breasts. Those had to be at least a triple D, right? I stifled another moan. My hands were itching to clamp around those beautiful breasts of hers, to feel them overflowing in my hands.
Damn, was I horny, I thought to myself.
As the succubus continued to dance, I couldn’t help but admire her. Her long brown hair tumbled down her back in thick, springy curls, and her skin was a very light shade of gray. From her forehead, two small curved horns grew and curled back into her dark curls. But while the rest of her body looked very much human, her long muscled legs ended in hooves, much like a satyr. Not that this bothered me in the least, mind you. I would bang her brains out if she let me. I had never been very particular to who I brought into my bed.
However, I had chosen this particular succubus because she looked like a demonic version of that little minx, Persephone. I moaned low in my throat at the thought of her. I wanted that Persephone with a fiery-hot passion I couldn’t even begin to describe. In fact, I wanted to sleep with her so badly that I had been fucking anything that even remotely resembled her.
Ugh. I desperately needed to get laid by Persephone already.
As the succubus was about to lean into my neck again, the curtains of my booth were thrown back with a snap. Aphrodite, Eros’s mother, stood there with a glare as she looked down at the succubus and me with disdain.
The succubus hissed at the tall, blond beauty. “We’re a little busy in here.”
Aphrodite rolled her eyes and entered the booth anyway, then sat down beside me. I glanced at the succubus with an apologetic smile. “Maybe next time?”
“You’re paying full price next time,” the succubus said irritably before she got up and stormed out of the booth. With a snap of her fingers, Aphrodite closed the curtains again, leaving just the two of us together. I looked over at her and smiled. Aphrodite was wearing a tight-fitting red cocktail dress with an unbelievably sexy slit that left her entire left hip exposed. I reached over and ran the pads of my fingers over her thigh.
“So, what brings you here, Aphrodite? You looking for a good time with me tonight?” I asked, flashing her my sexiest, boyish grin. Aphrodite rolled her eyes and tossed her long blond braid over her shoulder with a scoff as she smacked my hand away from her.
“Please,” she hissed with disgust.
I threw my head back and laughed. While I didn’t have any trouble luring a woman of any species into my bed, I had always had the hardest time convincing this particular goddess to come with me. Ironically enough, however, Aphrodite always came to me when she wanted a quick fuck. I rolled my eyes at her.
“Okay, so what do you want? Because if you’re not here for sex, then please feel free to leave. You ruined my chances with the succubus already,” I said, downing the rest of my Poppy Seed wine. When I finished my drink, I set the glass down on the small table to the right of the booth. As I did this, Aphrodite slid closer to me and smiled.
“You’re never going to believe the rumor that I just heard from a good friend of mine,” she whispered.
I took a deep breath and looked over to her, already starting to feel an inkling of boredom brewing. “Pray tell, Aphrodite, what did you hear?”
“Well, it turns out that Hades and sweet little Persephone are meant to be soulmates.” I could hear the disgust and hatred that laced her tone as she said this.
I glanced over to her with wide eyes, suddenly feeling quite sober as I processed this information, then I scoffed. “No way,” I said, waving a hand dismissively. “Who told you that bullshit?”
Aphrodite chuckled lightly as she placed a hand over my knee and started to draw circles on my jeans. “I have close friends in the underworld. They were informed about this little discovery this afternoon. Can you believe that?”
I shook my head and jumped to my feet quickly. Persephone and Hades? My uncle?! No. No way, I hissed to myself as I started to pace the small booth. That was impossible. That grumpy old bastard had been hiding his face almost as long as Persephone and I were alive. We were just a couple thousand years old when Hades had vanished. And now that he came out from his under his fucking rock for the first time since then - the one time! – he gets to be paired up with Persephone for life?
The Fates were cruel bitches indeed.
“And what’s worse,” Aphrodite continued, “is that Persephone was seen in the underworld with him. Apparently, these two have been sleeping together for a little while. Her mother was right at my party. Can you believe that? He really was tainting the poor girl. It would be a shame if her mother found out.”
I spun to face Aphrodite with my eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, ‘a shame’?”
Aphrodite shrugged nonchalantly as she came to stand, adjusting her dress as she did so. “I mean, if Demeter ever found out, she would quite literally kill Persephone. No one would ever see the poor girl again… literally. But you can keep a secret, can’t you?”
Persephone’s large, clear blue eyes locked on mine as I ran a hand through my long blond hair. No. I was not about to lose my chance at Persephone because of Hades. I had met the girl first! How the hell had she allowed him to sample that creamy flesh instead of me?
But now there was another problem on the table. If Demeter found out, she would kill Persephone. Well, I couldn’t let that happen, now could I? I looked back at Aphrodite, who was eyeing me with amusement. I sucked my teeth at her before relaxing my shoulders in feigned indifference.
“Of course I can,” I replied.
Aphrodite smiled and took a step towards me, then placed both hands firmly on my chest. “Good, because I would hate to see her killed over a nobody like Hades. Well, I should be going now! I have to find my son.”
Aphrodite placed a chaste kiss on my lips before slipping out of the booth as quietly as a shadow. As I stood alone, I took a deep breath. How could I make sure that I could get Persephone away from Hades without her mother finding out that she was still sneaking out? What could I do?
Taking my uncle head-on was a no go. He was much older and much stronger than I was by a longshot. What if I threatened him with going to her mother with this information? I shook my head. No, I’m sure Hades would pummel me into the ground just to keep silent about this. I plopped myself back down on the leather seat and placed my head in my hands, then balanced my elbows on my knees while
I thought. If I couldn’t get the threat across to Hades or Persephone in person, then who else could I entrust to do it for me?
That was when I finally had my moment of clarity.
I snapped my fingers and manifested myself into my sister’s room in her temple on Mount Olympus. Artemis, who was busy reading a book on her daybed, rolled her eyes at my presence. “Oh, no. What do you want?”
“Hey, sissy,” I said as I threw myself onto Artemis’s bed. I ran my hands over her silken sheets and let out a low moan of delight as I buried myself into the soft pillows that littered her bed. She glared at me over the top of her book.
“What is it, Apollo?” she asked, her tone laced with annoyance. “What do you want now?”
I smiled, rolled onto my stomach, and placed my chin in my hands as I locked eyes with her. “Have you heard what Hades has been saying about Persephone?”
19
Persephone
If my feet were firmly planted on the ground, I couldn’t feel them. After four blissful nights of absconding with Hades, I was completely positive that I was definitely falling in love with him. I threw myself back against the grass of my mother’s garden and sighed happily as I recalled the last four days.
On the first day, Hades had taken me to a city called Paris. While in Paris, I savored the most delicious dish called the Coq au vin. After that, Hades took us for a midnight skyline view of the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The sight was one I wouldn’t soon forget. From the highest point of the tower, we gazed down upon Paris. The city lights sparkled throughout the entire city, making the ground look like a blanket of stars. Even the stars themselves must have been jealous of the beauty of it all.
Afterward, as we wandered through the sleepy Parisian streets, Hades told me about his tragic past and how he came to be the God of the Underworld. My heart broke for him. Hades’ sole purpose in his youth had been to protect his younger siblings, and yet they still betrayed him when they reached adulthood. Now Zeus and Poseidon treated everything Hades said or did as if it was a joke. Hades deserved better than that. He shouldn’t have had to live in the shadows without love, respect, or sympathy from his own family. It was cruel. If I had been in his shoes, I probably would have hidden away from them as well.