by S. E. Babin
Although when I thought about it, I didn’t know why. Those two seemed to be perfect for each other. He had an immense library, a hermit’s nature, a brain that far surpassed mine in intellect. He rarely got out -
Wait…
“Why are you here?”
Hades’ eyes crinkled in that certain way where you know you’ve genuinely amused them.
“I was waiting for you to notice.”
“I’m quite observant.”
Both Hades and Artie snorted at that one. “I am,” I grumbled.
“The week before and after Halloween is the time when the veil between our worlds and between Heaven and Hell is the thinnest.” He swallowed hard. Hades lowered his voice and dipped his head to my height. “It is also the time I am required to pay a visit to my father.”
“Cronus?” I asked stupidly.
Artie rolled her eyes.
“Oh,” I said, immediately feeling dumb. “The Other Guy. Gotcha.” I paused. “Do you understand how seriously weird that is?”
“I do.” He dropped the subject and plucked three glasses from a passing dryad. He held one out to me and Artie. “To the two loveliest people here.”
Artie preened. I clinked my glass against his and took another sip, finally tasting the drink for the first time. Hades’ presence was so intense and so all-consuming it was hard to think about anything - or anyone - else. For the past few minutes, Hermes hadn’t even crossed my mind. Unusual that. I’d been thinking about him nonstop for the past few months.
I held my glass up to the light, curious now. A pale pink liquid shimmered in the crystal flute. Gold flecks caught my eye as I groaned quietly to myself.
Ambrosia.
I needed an intervention.
Hades caught my look and chuckled. “It is not only ambrosia, fair one. Dionysus has sourced some of the rarest materials I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m drunk, aren’t I?” I already knew the answer to that question.
“Quite. But you aren’t only intoxicated, Aphrodite.”
The hand holding my drink close to my lips stalled. I stared at him curiously. “What else am I?”
A wide, super sexy grin slid over Hades’ face. “In a few minutes, you’re going to be quite high on Mescaline.”
I rolled my eyes and lifted the glass to take a drink of the cool, sweet liquid. “Nice try. Immortals are immune to human drugs.”
The grin never faltered.
“We are,” I protested loudly.
The grin widened. My sense of superiority faded.
“Aren’t we?”
“Normally,” Hades agreed.
The glass lay empty in my hand. Artie moved closer.
“Oooh, science. How does it work?” She didn’t seem to be concerned even in the slightest.
“Artemis!”
“What?” She slid me an amused look. “Haven’t you ever wanted to let it all go?”
I opened my mouth to speak but then shut it. She was right.
“Ambrosia in the right amount will do that for me.”
Hades laughed out loud. “Says the woman who has never been truly high.”
I wanted to argue with him because technically I had been intoxicated out of my wits and that’s what got me into the entire mess with Zeus. But...after everything was said and done, it wasn’t entirely true. Eris had altered the ambrosia I’d drank so it was quadruple the power it normally was.
“This is chemical. Not magical. I still don’t know how it would affect me.”
Artie waved a hand. “If you shut up, he’s going to tell us!”
I pressed my lips together but shoved Artie in the side with my elbow. She grunted but her attention stayed rapt on Hades.
“There’s a cactus grown only in the Himalayan Mountains prized for its medicinal properties. It is quite legal to harvest and use for such purposes, but there’s another purpose for it.”
Artie perked up. She was a trivia buff. “Spiritual ceremonies. Like the Native Americans?”
Hades nodded in approval. “Quite. But, when the cactus is harvested, there’s a thriving black market for another drug.”
“Mescaline?” I added. Because that wasn’t too big of a surprise and I wanted to hurry this story along. He was beginning to get a little bit blurry and I was trying to mentally convince myself it was psychosomatic. I was faking myself out. That was all.
One dark eyebrow rose. “Indeed. But the seeds of the cactus are separated and some go on to become normal mescaline.” He paused.
I rolled my eyes at the dramatics.
“And the other parts travel to Tibetan Monks.”
I snorted. “Mescaline with magical Buddhist powers?”
He leaned in and gave me a wicked glance. “Shush your pretty mouth, Abby, or I shall shush it for you. I am trying to tell a story.”
I bit my lip. That was a little bit threatening but also dead sexy. I did what any girl would have done in my place.
I kept talking.
“There’s no such thing as magical mescaline.” My words were beginning to slur and Hades’ features were beginning to slide into something akin to a Picasso painting. Blurring one moment and snapping back into crystal clear handsome clarity the next.
He placed a finger over my lips.
I bit the tip of it gently.
His eyes went molten.
Artie cleared her throat. “Abs?” she asked in concern.
I watched as Hades swallowed hard and continued. “The Tibetans take the seeds and no one is entirely sure what happens, but it’s believed they are prayed over for forty days and forty nights and when such time is up, their very chemistry is altered. When the seeds are ground and processed, it’s no longer only chemistry. It’s divinity.”
“So we’re ingesting a piece of God?” Artie asked.
I swayed gently back and forth. “How many drinks have you had?” I asked.
She snorted. “Three.”
I pointed my thumb at her and said to Hades. “She seems fine?”
“Are you asking or telling me?” he asked.
Artie’s eyes rolled back in her head as she slid bonelessly to the ground.
“Oh shit,” I said with feeling and began to laugh hysterically.
“And so it begins,” sighed Hades.
Hades slung Artie over his shoulder like she weighed no more than a bird and moved gracefully through the no longer calm crowd. Whatever magical dope Dionysus had sourced was beginning to take hold of the crowd with alarming alacrity. I followed behind him, or at least I tried to, as he shoved his way through the masses. When he finally found a bedroom, he kicked open the door unceremoniously. I tumbled in after him.
Hermes had Dike shoved up against the wall, his hand under her shirt and his mouth on her neck.
A sound of disgust came from Hades as he turned around, my friend still in his arms. He threw a heated glare back at Hermes and took me by the arm.
Tears welled. Rage welled. My emotions swelled to tsunami levels. I wanted to claw her eyes out. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to rail at both of them.
But I didn’t.
Hermes stepped away from her and straightened, wearing a sheepish look. His hair stood up on all ends and it reminded me of the times we’d spent together and woken up beside each other. It wasn’t often, but it was enough and it meant enough to me that I didn’t immediately jump into bed with someone else.
“I hope you two find happiness together,” I said after a tense moment and allowed myself to be led out of the door by Hades.
He slammed the door with a force that rattled the walls. “I’m sorry, Abby.”
I willed the tears not to fall. I smiled falsely. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s everything.”
Moments later we found an empty room and laid my friend down. Hades straightened her Hermione costume and wiggled the wand out of her hand and laid it beside her. I have no idea how she’d managed to hold on to it being out cold like she was.
“I’ll place a magical seal on the door. She should be safe in here.”
“Why a lock? No one would harm Zeus’ daughter.”
“It’s not for her safety. It’s for everyone else’s.”
Even my fuzzy brain could hear how ominous that sounded. “What do you mean by that?”
He chuckled. “Mescaline affects people differently. Some people pass out at first. But not for long. When they wake up...well -”
“Well what?” I demanded.
“Let me just say that Dionysus’ parties are legendary for a reason.”
I frowned as I stared at my friend. “Artie isn’t like that.”
“She’s on a drug laced with divinity.”
“But we are divinity.”
He pulled on my arm. “Darling, your kind is not the only divinity.”
“Will she be safe?”
“Few can make it through my magic.”
I’m not sure why but I wasn’t exactly comforted by that.
Chapter 3
The door glowed with a shimmering white light, but as I looked around none of the other party goers seemed to notice anything amiss. I tugged on Hades’ arm.
“Do they not see it?” I asked, really I slurred, but I was trying to be cool and I was also still firmly holding on to my disbelief about magical mescaline.
“See what?” he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
I waved at the door. “The magic. The...light.”
His gaze sharpened in interest as he stared at me. “No. No, they can’t.”
Mescaline high me wasn’t very sharp. “Why not?”
He took my arm and steered me through the crowd. “Because no one should be able to see my magic unless I allow them to.”
That statement bounced around in my head like a game of pinball. “But...everyone saw your magic when you were trying to save your kingdom.”
His grip tightened on my arm as he noticed me slowing down. “I allowed them to.”
I stopped in the middle of the room, surrounded by the press of bodies and the tingling of magic in the air around us. “What are you trying to say?”
Hades released my arm and stepped into my personal space. Way, way into my personal space. The people around me fell away as I looked into his darkened gaze. One arm wrapped around my bare waist as he pulled me closer.
“Dance with me,” he whispered, “And pretend nothing is wrong. Or curious. Or out of place.”
His other arm wrapped up my waist and around my shoulder. He pulled me so close our forms were melded. Hades swayed with me, and my body responded. My eyes fell closed. My heart beat faster. I had no idea what song was playing. I didn’t care what song was playing.
The beat of the bass pounded against our bodies. His deft fingers undid my braid and magic allowed the rest of my hair to fall free. White magic. Hades’ power flowed around me, surrounding us in a brilliant haze of white. My eyes opened.
We were no longer at the party.
He made no move to let me go. His hand fell lower until it was slightly above the swell of my hips. I opened my mouth to speak.
Tension fell between us. Tight and taut. A wire that would snap our connection if someone made the wrong move. My head swam, high and free. My heart, conflicted.
My body knew exactly what it wanted.
And it wanted this heavenly, hellish, tall dark drink of water that was terrible for me.
And so very, very married.
I cleared my throat and pushed against his chest.
He was a rock.
“Just.” He licked his lips. “Just stay with me like this for a moment.” Hades’ face was stricken. With regret. Hope. Concern. All the emotions that shouldn’t be on his face.
And me. What was I thinking?
I sent a burst of magic through my veins hoping to break down the mescaline. To no avail. The drug was bound into my veins, sparkling with a pink and golden shimmering light.
Hades’ arms were still around me. I tilted my head up. He was so terribly close to me.
I leaned in. I knew it was wrong. I couldn’t help myself.
He was strung tight with tension. The smell of him intoxicated me. I waited. I watched. His face flickered with too many thoughts and emotions.
His lips touched mine.
The world exploded around us.
The touch of his lips against mine was warm and heated. We stayed like that for a moment, both of us afraid to move.
“We shouldn’t,” he whispered against my lips
“I know,” I whispered back.
A light flick of his tongue against my lips.”Shouldn’t,” he whispered.
I blossomed against him like a flower hopeless to unfurl against the warm light of the sun. I opened my mouth and drew him in.
A groan, a shift, a tug in my hair. Lost. Found. Together.
It was over before it had even fully started.
A blast threw us away from each other.
“Well, I see all those declarations of love for my son were absolutely useless, now weren’t they?”
I knew that damned voice too well. I sat up and rubbed a sore spot on my head from my impact against the wall. I still had no idea where we were, but it didn’t matter. Zeus had still managed to find us.
“Your son is currently making out with Dike. They can go have little winged babies for all I’m concerned about it.”
Zeus looked handsome as usual. His dark hair was immaculately groomed and he was dressed like he was on his way to a business meeting. The beard he sometimes sported was shaven this time. He looked far younger than he should for being the semi-retired King of the Gods. Or was he retired? I couldn’t keep up with this crap anymore. His brow furrowed as he took my statement in, but he waved a hand. “Although it’s nice to poke at you about him, that isn’t why I’m here.” His gaze lingered longer on Hades, who had managed to stand up. Grief was written all over his face and I couldn’t tell why. The effects of the mescaline were still making me fuzzy, and I knew had I not been under its influence I wouldn’t have made out with Hades, but it wasn’t the time to think about it. Later was always a good time to examine poor decisions. And in the dark. And with lots of ambrosia.
No. Be strong, Abs. Step away from the ambrosia.
I stood and crossed my arms over my chest. “Then why are you here?”
A quick grin crossed his face. “Ah, but I’m not really here, am I? Thanks to my brother here.” He sneered the last word. “In the few moments you two escaped to play hanky panky, someone managed to undo the seal on the door where you stowed my daughter.” Anger flickered over his face for a moment, but he stopped himself from a full bout of temper. Mainly because Artie didn’t like him all that much and probably wouldn’t be amused by him coming to her defense.
Hades’ mouth dropped open. “Impossible.”
“Improbable,” Zeus corrected. “Artemis has been taken.”
“Taken?” I echoed? “Who would do that?”
Zeus waved a hand and against the wall a series of images projected like a screen. Artemis lay silently on the bed in the exact same position. I frowned and looked over at Hades. How long had we been gone?
The light shimmering against the door fell and the lock turned. A shorter man with blond curly hair entered the room and shut the door behind him. He stopped for a few moments and stared at my friend.
“Cupid,” I growled. Of all the low down dirty things someone could do…
“I’ll kill him,” Hades muttered.
Zeus’s magic stuttered at Hades’ curious words. He turned to him in silent question, but with a sharp hand gesture, Hades waved the pictures on. Moments later, Cupid scooped an unsuspecting Artie up into his arms. He staggered slightly under the weight and I couldn’t help but chuckle even as rage boiled in my veins.
Cupid was not a large guy and Artemis was not a small woman.
They disappeared in a shimmer of soft pink light.
Of course his magic was pink and frilly. “Little girly man,” I muttered under my breath. I was angry, yes, but I had no doubt I could take Cupid on and pound him into the floor if I needed to.
“You’re going to have to use your words with him, Abby,” Zeus said as if he was reading my mind. “He’s sneakier than he looks.”
I’d reserve judgment on that. “Where did he take her?”
Zeus, as helpful as always, shrugged. “No idea. I’m here because you two idiots let your hormones...and mescaline get the best of you. Find the Huntress or I’ll find Persephone and tell her all about what I caught you two doing.”
Hades went white at that, and I immediately regretted our impromptu makeout session. What in the hell had I been thinking?
Zeus hit us both with a burst of magic and his avatar or projection or whatever it was disappeared in a shower of emerald light, leaving us standing there staring at each other in an awkward manner.
Whatever Zeus hit us with had mitigated the mescaline. Thank the gods.
He reached behind him and rubbed the back of his neck. “Should we talk about this?”
I snorted. “Never. We should never talk about this.”
“Abby, I-”
I shook my head. “Zeus is right. You are married. I’m heartbroken. There couldn’t be anything worse than the two of us getting together. Even for a momentary respite.” As pleasurable as that may have been, it was a terrible idea. I rubbed my face and laughed in frustration. “Plus since Hermes is tangled up in Dike, it looks like I’m promised to Typhon.” That hadn’t occurred to me even after seeing them together. There was no way Hermes was going to bother with a battle for my heart. He didn’t care about my heart. He cared about a dark-haired skank who called people honey. Not that Typhon was bad. He was anything but bad. But...my heart couldn’t take it anymore.
Despite the fact that our impromptu makeout session moments ago was completely interstellar and intense, I had no intention of ever repeating it.
“Abby.” He tried again.
“Please don’t. Let’s keep to the letter of my contract. Once I nab Artie and get some things straightened out, I’ll find Persephone.”