Chapter Eleven

Horror swallowed me like an ice cold blanket.

Callias stood in Apollo's garden dedicated to the god's previous lover, Hyacinth. The hot bright sun overhead cast a golden glow across the garden, making colors brighter, including Callias's vivid red hair that fell in a long braid laced with gold tinsel over his shoulder. His transparent white robes fell in waves to the cobblestone path. But what really terrified me was that Dorean stood beside him, looking a little confused, but not panicky.

"What's going on?" I asked through clenched teeth. Callias looked relieved that I wasn't yelling at him like usual, which I should be, but I couldn't bring myself to do that to Dorean. I knew very well that he hated loud noises and my yelling would just make him hate me... or maybe that would be a good idea.

"I figured the only way to talk to you would be to get your imp," Callias admitted, making me seethe hatefully, wishing I couldn't rip every little strand of red hair off his head, "And the best part is that he had a coin on him. Or rather, more than one." Callias uncupped his hands from in front of him and dropped what seemed like endless coins from his hands that had also been hidden in his sleeves. There had to be at least fifty coins. My eyes widened and I snapped my head to look at Dorean, who flushed right to the tips of his pointed ears. Callias looked both amused and annoyed.

"It would seem there is someone else who loves you as much as I do, Xenon." He commented. Dorean frowned, folding his arms over his chest, giving Callias an annoyed glare.

"Yes, but Xenon don't like me that way." He replied. Callias grinned at him.

"But he does. That's why he's not screaming and leaving me like he always does." He replied. Dorean gave pause at that, glancing at me, then looked at Callias with interest.

"Who are you?" He asked. Callias smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off with an angry snarl.

"Shut your damn mouth, Callias, before I rip your tongue out." I threatened. Callias looked at me and Dorean frowned. He gave me that stern look again.

"Xenon, shut up." He stated. I didn't even know what to say to that. Nobody, not even my own siblings nor my father, had ever told me to shut up. No one ever dared to say such a thing to me. And yet, an imp had just done it so casually and without a glint of fear in those silver eyes. Even Callias looked perplexed before his face lit up with delight.

"My name is Callias... And Xenon is my brother." He added. Dorean's eyes widened in surprise before he turned to stare at me for the longest time. I expected him to become angry, but much to my surprise, and annoyance, he turned to Callias brightly.

"I'm Dorean." He replied. Callias smiled even further.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dorean. My brother refuses to tell me about you. We have a bit of a disagreement--"

"Disagreement," I sputtered indigenously, "You...! I can't...!" I couldn't even find the words to describe how much I wanted to murder Callias. So I settled for actions instead and lunged for him, but Dorean came to stand between us and I instantly pulled up short, sucking in a sharp breath before letting it out past clenched teeth.

"Move." I ordered. Dorean glared at me.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Dorean, I'm not kidding around. I'm going to kill him."

"Why?"

"Because! Just move!"

"No," Dorean snapped back angrily, "You're yelling and I don't like being yelled at. What did I say before? About hating people?"

"Yeah, well, I'm not a good person," I returned heatedly, making Dorean wince, "I'm a bad person. A really bad person to the core of my soul, now get out of my way because I'm going to rip that deceitful bastard's fucking head off, like I should have done centuries ago." Dorean still didn't move and my temper was steadily rising, even more so when Callias touched Dorean's shoulder.

"He won't kill me, Dorean," Callias assured gently, "He'll probably just punch me and anger Apollo in the process, though. So if you want to avoid another war against the Greeks, brother, I really don't think you should hit me. Apollo favors me enough to kick the crap out of you." I twitched, clenching and unclenching my fists, wishing his neck was between them. Dorean still looked hesitant to move, and while he unblocked my path, he stuck very close to Callias.

Pain tore through me at that, but I tried to dampen it down, knowing Dorean didn't know what kind of monster Callias was. To him, Callias was a polite entity with a golden smile. But underneath of that, he was a treacherous bastard. And yet, it still felt like someone was stabbing me in the chest, seeing Dorean beside Callias.

"Xenon," Callias said gently, making me bristle with renewed hate, our eyes meeting, "I'm trying to apologize to you. Granted, I won't apologize for what I did, but I will apologize for what it did to you. I said before and I will say it again that it was never my intention to hurt you. I would never want to hurt you. Not after everything you'd done for me. Even when we were children, you defended me against... against the others." He spat that final word as if it were a curse. I wanted to backhand him and break his jaw. The only thing that prevented me from doing so was Dorean's curiosity as he watched me carefully, like he was expecting me to lash out.

"You were always the best brother to me, Xenon," Callias continued, looking relieved that I hadn't interrupted him, "You trusted me with your secrets, and I trusted you with mine. You were my favorite, always have been and always will be. But the thing that you didn't participate in... was Dextius's death." I looked at him in confused anger.

"Dextius?" I asked. Callias looked a little hurt now. He bit his bottom lip for a moment, eyes dropping to the floor before shooting back up to meet mine.

"Dextius. He was... He was the lover I took just a few weeks before we went to war with the Greeks. He was the one you walked in on..." His voice trailed as remembrance dawned on me.

I remembered the Atlantean prince well. The name was a common one on our island, but now that he'd described the man, I remembered him perfectly. A beautiful man with tawny skin and rippling muscles with dirty blonde hair that fell in curls around his chiseled face and fierce blue eyes. It was a rarity amongst our people to have this mix of coloring. Even stranger was the dash of freckles on his nose. He was always very strict about celebrating the holidays in our honor and always made the largest donations to our temples.

But to be Callias's lover? Obviously Dextius's father didn't know, because for a prince to become the lover of a god, while a great honor, was also a hindrance to their attempt at an heir as they were both male-- and neither fae.

"I loved him," Callias stammered, making me tune back in to see the agony stricken on his face, "I wanted to keep him with me forever. I was going to make him immortal and allow him to become my consort, so he could never leave me."

"He was a prince!" I exclaimed, baffled at the one secret Callias had never devulged to me. Callias flinched at that, clenching his fists.

"That's what they said too," He managed, both shaking in anger and pain, "When our brothers and sisters found out about Dextius, instead of backing me up like siblings should, they tricked him to come to my temple, on my fucking birthday. He was coming to bring me a gift. They waited for him inside the temple." Callias's breathing was labored.

"You want to know why I fucking destroyed every single pathetic creature that ever dared to call themselves my family? You want to know why I sank an entire island of worthless cockroaches that whispered foul rumors about my lover?"

Not really, but he was going to tell me anyway.

"They ruined him," Callias snarled suddenly, making both Dorean and I take a step back as a cold power swept through the garden to the point where it was any wonder the hyacinths didn't die from the extreme temperature change, "Those bastards put their hands on him, repeatedly! They made him scream and cry! And when they were finished, they threw him into the ocean and because of their injures to him, he drowned! They used him, killed him, and because I was sooo busy preparing for a war I couldn't give two shits about, I couldn't do anything! I didn't hear him screaming for help or crying for me! I had to have those pathetic wastes come to me, fucking laughing about it!"

"You're lying." I accused, but it felt weak. Because they had done this before. Our siblings, as much as I loved them, could be downright cruel because that was just how gods were. People in general. Give them enough power and they would begin to abuse it. Callias had plenty of lovers before Dextius, lovers that, once our siblings discovered them, would converge on them and torture them until they fled Callias and left him alone.

I remembered each time Callias came running to my temple, crying and screaming about how much he hated them. I remembered telling both him, and myself, that they just did it out of jealousy. He was our brother and we didn't want anyone near him, but the more I thought about it, the more it stung to realize they were doing it just to be vicious.

"It's why I never told you about him," Callias choked on tears that welled up in his eyes, "Because I knew you were going to tell me the same damn thing you always told me. Oh, they're just jealous, Callias. Oh, just ignore them Callias. Oh, you'll find someone else, Callias. But Dextius was the one! He was the one I wanted to keep safe! He was the one I wanted for eternity! He was the one I betrayed our pantheon for! You think I would let them get away with what they'd done to my Dextius?! By the time I found his body, it'd been mangled beyond recognition! I couldn't even return his corpse to his family! So people made up garbage about how our father had taken him away because he was filthy! Those monsters spat on his memory! No one knew how perfect and beautiful and smart and talented he was! No one knew he could shoot a target with his bow from over a hundred feet away! No one knew that he could recite all of our tales by memory! No one knew he cherished every little creature that scampered across his path!"

"Callias--"

"Shut up," Callias cried tearfully, making me frown, "Stop! I finally get to tell you, so shut up! I want you to know why I killed all those worthless bastards and why I don't fucking regret any of it! If I could go back, I would do it all over again! I'd do it slowly and make sure each of those heartless monsters knew what a horrible thing they'd done! How dare they treat him like that! Dextius was their prince! He was chosen by the god of protection....! Protection?! How could I possibly be the god of protection if I couldn't even save the only thing I cared about more than anything in the world? They said that to me, you know! While they laughed about how they violated him until he bled and until his bones broke, they mocked me for being unable to save him because I was assisting them in a war they started!"

I didn't speak now. I didn't know what to say. It felt like he'd punched me in the stomach and I felt sick. Dorean looked like he was on the verge of tears. And much to my agony, and surprise, he went to Callias and hugged him around the torso, his head reaching Callias's chest. Callias broke down in tears and sank to his knees, hugging Dorean tightly around the waist. Dorean hugged him back.

A million emotions tore through me. Jealousy that Callias was touching Dorean. Pain that Dorean was touching the person I spent centuries loathing. Guilt that I had never noticed the extent of Callias's suffering. Confusion that my siblings would be that cruel. And several others I hardly recognized.

For once, I didn't know what to do.

So I just stupidly stood there, watching Dorean hug Callias until his wailing sobs melted into whimpers and sniffles.

"I'm sorry they took Dextius from you," Dorean told him softly, his voice the only thing that could be heard now as Callias tilted his head to look up at him, blinking back tears, "Maybe there are mean people in the world... But there's good people too. Xenon's a good person. He just likes to pretend he's not cuz he's scared." I stiffened at that. I wanted to deny it and tell him he couldn't possibly know that after the little time we spent together, but it would be a lie and I couldn't bring myself to do anymore lying. I just stood there like an idiot as Dorean comforted Callias.

I wanted to find some hole in what Callias had told me, but his reaction was not an act. Not that kind of pain. Not to mention, my siblings had done this kind of cruelty before. They'd do it again, just to watch Callias wail and sob.

But it still didn't change the fact that Callias had killed them and thousands of people. While my heart ached for him, it was still difficult to push away the fact that Callias had taken everything I'd ever cared about as well. As cruel and twisted as our siblings were, they were still my siblings. And our father and aunts and uncles and cousins. All of them were gone, as were the thousands of humans that gathered in the streets to worship and love us. How could I forgive him for that?

"If you want me to forgive you, I'm not doing it." I said at last. Dorean gave me a warning glare, but Callias was standing now, wiping at his eye with one hand while the other ruffled Dorean's hair, getting his attention back.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Callias said in between sniffles, "I just want you to understand why I did it. And why I have no good memories at all of those people."

"You killed them. All of them. You may have hated them, but I didn't." I replied monotonously. Callias winced, wringing his hands together now.

"It was selfish of me, and I'm sorry that I hurt you... But I don't regret it."

"And I don't forgive you. So we're in the same place we were before, except this time, I'm not going to kill you because you're suffering enough and I would rather you suffer eternity than escape punishment in Hell." I responded coldly. Callias bit his bottom lip, lowering his eyes. Dorean studied him for a while sadly and Callias just gave him a sad smile.

"Take care of my brother, Dorean. Please. He's all I have left." He said softly. Dorean nodded, reaching up and taking Callias's hand, placing a little kiss on the tip of Callias's index finger. A hot cord of jealousy squeezed my heart, but I remained silent and motionless as I watched them.

"Is impish," Dorean explained to Callias when he gave him a curious look, "Mean happiness be with you. I promise to take care of Xenon. Always." Callias smiled and leaned down to give Dorean a hug before they broke apart and Dorean came walking over to me, linking his arm in mine, like he owned me. I looked at Callias, baffled at Dorean's boldness. Callias smiled at me.

"I like him." He stated. Dorean beamed at that. I didn't know what to say, so I let the cloak of smoke coil around us and teleport us from Apollo's temple back to Hades's palace, where the baby shower was still going on. The music was still playing, people still chatting enthusiastically, presents already carted away for Persephone to open.

"I like your brother." Dorean said after a moment as we stood out in the hallway where it was quieter, more private. I grimaced at that, then turned to Dorean and put my arms around him, hugging him to me tightly. He gasped, looking a little surprised before he rose on his toes so it was easier to hug him. I sighed in relief, glad to feel him in my arms.

I didn't know what to think at first when I saw Dorean standing with Callias. I wondered if Callias would actually kill him or not, but considering what our siblings had done to him, to Dextius... It made sense now why Callias didn't attack Dorean. I'd probably have to kill him if he did anyway.

Then the Atlantean pantheon really would be extinct.

I let Dorean go and stepped back to study him, double-checking out of paranoia that he wasn't hurt. He seemed to be fine, aside from looking at me with those big silver eyes-- and the fact that he actually liked my brother. Of course, he didn't know the extent of the damage Callias had done. Or maybe he did, but chose to ignore it. I couldn't be sure.

"How did Callias get you to him?" I asked with a frown. Dorean frowned back at me.

"I... don't know." He admitted. I didn't like the sound of that, but I also didn't want to go back to Callias to ask him. In fact, I hoped he lost all those coins he took from Dorean so he would never summon me again. I simply wanted to forget him and go back to pretending I was the only Atlantean left.

"Xenon?" Dorean asked. I snapped out of my glaring contest with the wall to look downat him. He was studying my expression for a moment, then beamed up at me.

"He was right," He said, making me scowl in confusion, "Xenon does like me." I felt heat creeping into my face, so I quickly turned away from him, heading for the throne room. Of course, Dorean being Dorean wasn't going to let me escape and caught up with me in a matter of seconds to link his arm with mine, pressing his cheek against it.

"It's okay. I can wait. I waited forever before, I can wait forever again." He assured me. I didn't know what to say to that, so I chose to say nothing as we reentered the throne room and Dorean let go of me to run to Adrian and Abel excitedly. I wasn't sure what he was telling him. I just hoped he didn't say anything about Callias. But Dorean was smart. He probably knew how I felt about the subject.

"You look defeated." A voice stated. I stiffened for a moment, then snapped my head to look at Hades, who appeared beside me, twirling wine in a silver goblet. I narrowed my eyes at him, then followed his gaze to see he was staring at Dorean. A sliver of fear and anger shot through me, but I pushed it aside and remained stoic.

"You look pissy." I deadpanned in response. The corner of his lip twitched before he turned to face me and I watched him, guarded.

"Blaine's seems to agree to the terms now. But I'm still not letting you off the hook. You'll be there tomorrow when Ambrosius comes." He told me, making me grimace.

"Why do I have to go?"

"To ensure that Blaine hands him over."

"And if he doesn't? What? Hit him over the head?"

"If you have to."

"Then Cerberus will toast my testicles."

"Small price to pay for my son."

"I'm not losing my testicles over an infant that isn't even my responsibility."

"Oh," Hades arched a brow and turned his head to look over at Dorean, "But he might." I clenched my teeth, pinning Hades with a hostile glare that he ignored and waved his hand dismissively as he took a sip of his wine before handing me the goblet. As if I would want to drink his piss after he's drank it. I curled my lip at him in repungence and he just gave me a smug smirk that dared me to defy him. I was almost tempted, but then Dorean returned to my side in that instant, smiling up at me.

"Xenon, come sit with me!" He commanded.

"Yeah, Xenon." Hades echoed him, smirking at me. I gave him one last menacing glare before Dorean was dragging me over to a table to sit down. Instantly there was tension. Abel and Cain were sitting across from us along with Adrian and Noe. All of whom eyed me like a spider in the shower. I had a feeling even Prometheus would be more welcome here than I. But I didn't want to upset Dorean, so I remained silent as the grave, sitting back in the seat with hands clenching and unclenching in my pockets, legs stretched out under the table and crossed at the ankle.

Abel and Cain both eyed me suspiciously. Cain looking all the more like a venomous snake than Abel, even though they were twins. Abel kept his hair dyed navy blue and it was longer than Cain's, resting along the nape of his neck with bangs swept across his face. Cain's was their natural chestnut brown and just an inch or two shorter than Abel's. Meanwhile, Abel was taller by so many inches and a bit more slender. He also wore a laidback loose elbow-length shirt and black jeans while Cain wore a tight red and black boned corset over a black turtleneck and leather pants.

How strange for twins to be so alike, yet so different, but then, I had two sets of twins amongst my siblings and they were always the opposite of one another.

Meanwhile, Noe just glanced at me every so often, like he was afraid of being caught. The same way he'd looked at me when I'd discovered he was the Oracle of Tartarus. Noe was built much like Abel, slender and lithe, more for speed than physical strength. He was also shorter by a few inches, shorter than Cain even. Noe with his dark, nearly black, hair unkempt and touching his jawline, save for two longer strands that touched his shoulders just in front of his ears. His eyes a unique shade of periwinkle. Instead of his usual uniform, he wore fingerless black gloves, a mauve elbow-length shirt underneath a black sleeveless turtleneck and leather pants to a pair of heeled boots that probably made his height match Cain's at least.

"... so nice! And the house is so big and fun to sing in cuz you can hear it echo!" Dorean was saying as I zoned back in, looking away from Noe to see Dorean waving his hands around enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah," Adrian said, cutting me a sharp look that I narrowed my eyes at, "But it sounds kinda lonely if Xenon's gone all the time." Dorean shrugged, getting a wicked smile on his face.

"That just mean I even more happy when he come home." He answered. Noe looked at him, eyebrows going up in surprise.

"The look on your face makes me wonder what you guys do when he's home." This time four pairs of eyes locked on me as if to accuse me of deflowering the imp. I wanted to flip them the bird. If anyone had to be careful, it had to be me. But nobody would believe me if I told them their precious innocent imp got me drunk on purpose so he could feel me up without me flipping my shit, but then again, I did that anyway. So I guess Dorean's plan didn't come to fruition... This time. Who knows when he'd take another shot at me?

As much as I loved Dorean, I still wanted to be careful. I wasn't sure if I wanted this relationship to happen at all. There were too many negatives that overrode the positives.

Dorean became a weakness. People could manipulate me now using him. What if something happened to him? Even when Callias had taken him, I couldn't stop that trickling ice of dread pooling in my stomach. If something happened to him because of me... Well, then Callias would be the last Atlantean in existence.

"Xenon?" I snapped back to attention. Wow, I had a short attention span. I zoned back in to see Dorean looking at me in concern. I looked up to realize that all his friends had left. I frowned, then looked back at Dorean. There was a twinkle of sorrow in those silver orbs that crushed my heart, and I hated myself for feeling that way. But denying what I felt for Dorean would be useless. It was dealing with the feelings that I had difficulties with.

"What happened?" I asked. Dorean raised an eyebrow and gave my arm a squeeze before he grabbed his glass of water.

"You got real quiet and stopped talking."

"I was talking?"

"Yes," He responded sternly, then made a face and changed his voice to sound like a very bad deep impression of me, "It was all his fault. He... And then you got quiet." I felt the heat creeping up against, but I swallowed it back and cleared my throat.

"Sorry." I muttered. Dorean sighed, putting his glass back on the table, running his finger along the side with a pout.

"No... I'm sorry," He said, making me frown at him, "What I did was not nice. Ah, last night I mean. I just knew you wasn't gonna let me, so... I dunno what I thought. I promise next time to do it when you're awake." It took every ounce of strength I had not to laugh at that. So much for his apology, but at least next time he jumped me, he'd do it while I was sober. It amused me to no end. I let a chuckle slip out and Dorean looked at me curiously.

"I was apologizing." He stated. I smirked.

"Yeah. I heard you. Next time, you'll come onto me while I'm sober."

"Yup," Dorean declared, "Cuz that'd be the real thing. Last night you wasn't in your right mind, but next time you will be and I will make you say yes and then we can do the touching again." The touching thing. I didn't know what to say to that, so I only smiled at Dorean, who beamed back at me.

I didn't know how long I'd get to be with Dorean before something happened.

I didn't want something to happen, but I was just a god.

I couldn't save an entire island of people or my pantheon. If I couldn't save them, my chances of saving Dorean...

One more night, I promised myself.

Just give me one more night with him and then I'll return him to where he belongs.