Chapter Seventeen

"I think I just went on my first play date."

I sat on my bed with Aria in my lap curled up, her head up and her nose tilted toward the ceiling like the prideful bitch she was. Her kittens were climbing all over the cat jungle gym thing I'd ordered for them online. Laying open on the bed, facing up, Yiuwa was writing away on the first page, and he looked like he was on a roll that morning.

I am unsure what you mean, but it sounds as if you have not yet spent time with another platonically. I am proud of you. You have begun to move forward with vigor and it is amazing to see you grow in this way. It sounds, from what I have picked up from conversation, that you simply were not allowed to grow as one is meant to. You were too busy surviving to learn what others generally learn during those ages. Socializing, magic building, connections, self-confidence. All of these things you are working towards and I could not be happier, and it would seem that your beast is perhaps pleased by this as well.

I smiled briefly at that, then looked down at Aria in my lap. She was purring low and slow as I rubbed her head between her ears, her spooky green eyes lolling shut pleasantly. And oddly enough, there was a supreme sense of peace settling in my chest. All the tugging and pulling the beast had done had gone quiet the moment I started watching movies with Sept, like even the beast was happy that things were relaxed.

"Yeah," I said after a while, taking Yiuwa's words into consideration, "I mean, makes sense, ya know? Reminds me that there was this little girl in the kitchen. Her mother worked for mine when we were kids. And she used to say all these things that made no sense to me. Games she played with other kids, her dad letting her ride on his shoulders, her mother kissing her goodnight. I always thought it was a load of shit, so I always called her a liar whenever she came around and she'd cry and run to her mom, and I remembered getting so angry that when she did, her mother would pick her up and hug her. And I'm like... that's not fair. My mother never did that. I did something wrong."

But you know now, Yiuwa wrote hopefully. I nodded, not sure if he could see me.

"Yeah. It wasn't my fault she was a cunt."

Eloquently put, wee one.

"So what's with the wee one thing? You from like Ireland or something?"

I have no idea what that is. I am from Tekali.

"You're just making up words now."

I most certainly am not. Tekali was a realm of what you now call shifters.

"Wait, you're a shapeshifter?"

I am a demigod. I was born to a shapeshifter and a god, using your terms for them anyway. I was born into royalty and unfortunately took advantage of that every chance I had. It's how I could afford to maintain my drug habit. Also, I was very fond of finding male companions.

"Shit, no way," I said, shifting so I could get down on the bed and cuddle Aria under me and Aria just meowed in protest, but didn't actually make any moves to go anywhere, so she let me rest my head on top of hers as I read Yiuwa's words, "So you're a gay too, huh?"

I am not sure what that means.

"Gay, like, a dude who likes a dude. Or, sorry, male who likes a male, males who have sex with other males."

Ah, then yes. However, in the universe I come from, there is no term for that. It is normal for a male to want a male, for a female to want a female and every so often, the opposites attract, plus we had three other kinds of sexes that existed, who also tended to be attracted to their own.

"Shit, how the fuck did you procreate?"

Normally?

"How did two dudes have a kid?"

By giving birth.

"That is some faerie shit goin' on there," I muttered, and when Yiuwa sent me a question mark, I smirked, "In this universe, faeries tend to be the only male babymakers. Otherwise, it falls solely on the females to produce kids. You know, normally. Of course, you can create babies other ways. My brothers Cerberus and Nikias are artificials, meaning they were made of a combination of science and magic, and were born in test tubes. So basically, a test tube baby. Charon was adopted."

Adopt? As in take the child of another?

"Well, yeah, didn't that happen there?"

Absolutely not. Children were birthed and cared for. They were highly revered in my universe, not just my realm. They were beloved and cared for obsessively. If a child's parent was to be killed, a family member took them. There was no such thing as a child without a family.

"Sounds like heaven. Here, we have a lot of kids that get treated like shit," I muttered, frowning as I remembered Adrian's situation, and my own, "It's why I opened up a bunch of child care places around here. Kids are always getting ditched by their parents, or sold on the market, or fuck, anything worse. The child care facilities are set up to give them a home. They can be adopted too. Charon's situation was a little different, though. Hades adopted him because Charon's parents ditched him. Without telling him any reason, just that they wanted to get out of dodge during the whole Titan thing I told you about before. It really sucks."

Yiuwa proceeded to tell me the differences between our realms, and it made me realize how truly different his universe was. Things were different. They had different words, different laws of fucking physics and shit, the whole works. It was as he said; a whole new universe. I could barely wrap my head around the shit he was saying.

A knock at the door made me groan. Aria meowed in annoyance, leaping out of my arms and jumping off the bed to scamper across the room to her kittens.

"I'll be right back," I told Yiuwa before I climbed off the bed and went to the door. It still wasn't closed, because paranoia, but thankfully no one just barged in on me. I opened up the door and Hades was standing there with a file folder and a grim look on his face. I stepped aside to let him in and we walked to the bed, where I picked up Yiuwa and closed him and set him on the nightstand. Hades's eyes tracked me, then settled on Yiuwa, like he really wanted to get his hands on the guy, but I'd told him to at least wait until Yiuwa was settled in around this place before he went to work poking him and ripping out his pages.

Which was gonna really suck. I liked Yiuwa. The guy had some neat stories.

"So what's up? Am I an all-powerful gross thing?" I asked.

"Yeah," Hades said slowly as I sat on the bed, and I paused when I realized he wasn't sitting down as he looked down at the folder, "Listen, I did a lot of tests on the blood I drew."

"Shit, I've got AIDS, don't I?"

"No, surprisingly, given all that random sex with prostitutes you have."

"Oh, that's a relief. And here I thought you were gonna say--"

"Aria isn't your mother," Hades interrupted sharply. I immediately frowned at that. His words didn't really settle in, and I didn't give them much of a chance to when I replied.

"Well, no shit, she's a cat. I'm a demigod--"

"You're a god," Hades said, cutting me off again and I just stared at him blankly, "Your mother is a goddess." I sat there, staring at him, waiting for him to do an ahhh psych, but he didn't. He just kept looking back at me, like he wasn't sure what to expect from me, and to be honest, I think the fucker broke my brain, because what he was saying wasn't sinking in. When the silence stretched several minutes, I finally scowled at him.

"That's retarded. Of course Aria's my incubator. I practically look like a mini-her. My nursemaid as a child told me everything that happened. My cord was cut and I was dumped in a basket. My mother raised me and brought me here. Your test is bullshit," I stated, folding my arms over my chest. Hades opened the file and handed me a stack of papers, making me frown and thumb through them to see several tests with the same capital print: Negative Match.

"I redid the test twelve times, Theo. I went back and tested your blood against your mother's. Aria is not your mother," Hades repeated. I looked down at the tests, flaring them out in my hands, staring at every one of them, confused.

"That's... That's impossible. That makes no sense. I know she's my mother. We look alike. She raised me," I managed, then looked back up at him, "She's in Tartarus, right? Can we ask her?" Hades shook his head, then averted his eyes as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Ah, no, see, when her soul came to Zelios's door, Zelios contacted me immediately. I went down there, tortured the shit out of her for twelve days, got bored, and sort of wiped her soul out of existence," he explained slowly. I stared at him.

"She's... she's gone? Like, for good?" I asked. Hades frowned.

"Of course she is," he said, like he thought I was stupid for asking. I suddenly felt like I was shutting down. My muscles lost their tension and my heart hurt, a lot. Not nearly as much as when Sept left, but it really fucking hurt. I couldn't really concentrate on anything, like the fact that my vision was going blurry and my nose was getting stuffed up, my throat was locking up. I tried to swallow, but my body just didn't want to obey. There was a heat in my chest, like the beast was reacting to my pain, but wasn't sure quite whether to come out or not.

So I was stuck sitting on my bed, watching the test results get dribbled on from my eyes.

"Shit," Hades muttered, then got down in front of me, taking the results away and setting them aside, "Theo, look at me." I blinked and looked at him as he gripped my knees tightly. I let myself focus on his glowing blue eyes.

"Theo," his voice had gotten so soft, so quiet, "You don't have to cry over her."

"I-I don't... I don't know why I'm crying. She was a bitch," I managed, blinking rapidly as another wave of tears hit me and I coughed, feeling totally awkward and uncomfortable with the whole thing, but Hades wasn't breaking eye contact and he wasn't making fun of me, so I just ran with it, "Damn it, she was horrible, dad. You only know parts of it, not all of it, and damn it, she was the worst mother ever. I just found out Sept fucking killed her, then I find out she's not even my mom, and then you got rid of her? Forever? I'll never see her again?" A sob burst free from my throat and I choked on it, ducking my head down to put between my knees in case I threw up. I felt Hades wrap himself around me, holding onto me tightly.

He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He was there for me, and I knew it. I let loose on that horrible thing called emotion and Hades just stayed quiet the whole time, his hand stroking my shoulder every so often. I finally managed to lift myself up, wiping snot on my sleeve and Hades grimaced at that.

"Anyway," Hades continued, his eyes drifting back up to mine, "I need some more blood so I can figure out who your mother is." I looked at him incredulously.

"You mean you don't know?"

"I am over a thousand years old. I didn't just sleep with one person all those years. I'm a god and I had a pretty wide variety of people to choose from," Hades replied, and I made a face. I did not need to know all of the people my dad slept with. That information I could deal without, thank you very much. Hades pinched at my nose for making a face and I groaned, pulling away from him as he stood up and ruffled my hair, picking up the tests from the bed.

"Look, the blood draw won't take more than a couple minutes. Think you can handle that?" He asked. I nodded slowly, but wasn't really stoked about being stabbed again. So I settled in on the bed, my eyes glued to Yiuwa on the nightstand as Hades got his equipment and came back. He shoved up my sweatshirt sleeve and dabbed the space inside my elbow.

"So what're you going to do when you find out who my mother is? You're sure Aria isn't my mom? Does she have like an eviler twin?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the needle sliding into my arm. Hades made sure to keep his hand over the place so I wouldn't be tempted to look.

"Not sure. Last I checked, Aria was an only child. She was an orphan when I met her, which is why we hooked up, so I wouldn't have to worry about dealing with parental units if she got knocked up. We'll figure out who she is first and decide where to go from there, alright? You don't have to think too far ahead," he explained as he held the vial filling with my blood. I slammed my eyes shut, feeling a little lightheaded at the thought of my blood filling a bottle. I cleared my throat.

"What if she's worse than Aria?"

"Nobody is worse than Aria."

"Your mom was," I muttered, then peeked an eye open when Hades didn't answer. He was frowning at my arm and I cocked my head. He blinked, then looked up at me.

"Rhea was a bitch," Hades answered, "But I knew where I stood with her right off the bat. You didn't know where you stood with Aria. She was supposed to take care of you... I was supposed to take care of you." He looked back down at the needle, then slid it out of my skin and taped a cotton ball over the space. My eyes followed him as he stood up and looked at the blood in the vial. I frowned.

"You took care of me," I said, and Hades glanced at me, "You still do."

"Well... I'm working on it. Being a parent isn't as easy as sitcoms make it seem."

"Glad I'm fucking gay, because there's no way I'd be able to deal with kids."

"Hey, you can still knock up a faerie."

"Yeah, no, thanks. I'll stick to impregnable dudes."

"Good idea," Hades said with a smirk, then sighed and tucked the vial into his bag, "Alright, let me get to work on this and I should be able to get back to you tonight. I'm gonna head out. Need anything before I leave? Porn mags? A bat to hit Cerberus with?" I grinned.

"I won't say no to either of those things," I responded. Hades rolled his eyes, gave my head another ruffle before he left, leaving the door open a small crack. I watched him go, sitting on the bed for a while before I took a deep breath and picked Yiuwa up off the nightstand, opening him up on the bed and rolling onto my stomach.

"You hear all of that?" I asked.

Aye. It would seem you have a whole new adventure ahead of you, wee one.

"It still hasn't really sunk in," I murmured, running my finger along the edges of the page, "I mean... Aria's been there my whole life, but how much did my nursemaid actually lie about? I only remember what she told me. How my mother went through hours of labor, almost died giving birth to me, how they just dumped me in a basket so she could tend to my mother."

That is foul. I cannot comprehend that level of cruelty.

"I mean, it didn't surprise me. See, things like that just don't phase me. It's normal. Or at least, I thought it was. Obviously now I realize none of what I went through is really normal. But I was always sure my mom was my mom, you know? We look exactly alike. I have the same red hair, the same eyes."

Perhaps she researched well before she kidnapped you.

"Yeah... wait, kidnapped?" I asked, confused.

That is my assumption, from what I have heard and been told by you. Your mother wished to rear a child of Hades in order to gain power and status. She couldn't have simply stolen a random child and claimed it as her own. Perhaps she looked into it, searched for the right child she could claim as her own and no one would question. She needed to make it believable.

I stopped to consider that. It made sense. After me, the nursemaid told me that Aria probably wouldn't be able to have any children. What if that was partially true? What if she just couldn't have children at all? So she had to find one and use it to woo Hades. But she kidnapped me, right? So that meant that maybe there was some female out there who did want me.

"Maybe," I said after a moment, both to myself and Yiuwa, "I don't want to get my hopes up. For all I know, my biological mother could be a fucking ogre."

I do not know what that is.

"You don't want to know what that is. Anyway, I'm gonna take a nap. My head hurts. There's too much going on and I don't know how to deal with it," I muttered.

Understood. I shall await you. Sleep well, wee one.

I smiled faintly at that, closing Yiuwa up and leaving him on the bed this time, instead of putting him away. I crawled up further on the bed and plopped down, resting my head on the pillow. I gathered the blankets up and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep because I was so exhausted, but unfortunately, it wasn't really a restful sleep.

I immediately had a nightmare.

I found myself sitting in a wooden chair, my arms and legs shackled to it, and a metal clasp around my throat, pinning my had back against the back of the chair. I blinked at the oppressive darkness, then watched as a bright light flashed on in the distance, making me grimace as it shown through a crack, like a door was opening. I felt a horrid feeling come over me, a heavy feeling of dread and misery. I swallowed hard, watching as black smoke flooded the room, choking out the air, and a moment later, the shifter took place in front of me, except this time, it wasn't taking the form of Tatiana or the buff henchman from the brothel. This time, it was in its true form.

Fugly as hell, a mutated oily black creature that rose up on tall thin legs, long gangly arms with razor sharp fingers, a drippy black smile that revealed rows of sharp jagged teeth, and burning red holes in its head as eyes. It reeked of sweetness, like someone had just opened a jar of spoiled mayo or left a dirty diaper sitting too long in a nursery. Either way, it smelled horrible and I choked on a gag.

"I'll give you credit, you little shit," it sneered in a gross wet mechanical voice that sounded like it was glitching out, "You're awfully sneaky, but unfortunately for you, Viviana may have been able to take off with you, but that doesn't mean I can't find you." I grimaced, turning my face away from it.

"What the hell do you want from me? Your plan didn't work; my beast is activated and everything's still hunky dory," I seethed. The creature laughed, its head snapping back on its shoulders and I grimaced at the disgusting wet cracking sound that happened when it did so. It snapped its head back into place and tilted it at an awkward angle, getting in close to my face so I could make out the length of its long sharp teeth that gleamed in the dim light from behind it.

"I'll admit, I was wrong with my first assumption," it sneered, "I was hoping this whole thing would be so much easier. After all, the universe didn't even fucking need my help with the first few events. Oh, but who gives a shit? I know I'm right now... You have something that belongs to me."

"If you're talking about good looks, those would be mine and always mine," I responded. The creature's mouth twisted from a maniacal grin to a straight up upside down smiley face, all teeth showing, those red eyes narrowing into slits. It growled low in its throat and its hand snatched out, grabbing a handful of my hair and slamming my head back against the seat, holding it there and making my head pound under the pain of pressure.

"I want my book back," it growled, "And you're coming with it."

"Don't think so, asshole," I ground out. The thing pushed harder on my head and I groaned in pain, tugging at the restraints on my arms and legs.

"You think you can stop me? You're nothing more than a puny little creature of the Source. You can't even resist temptation, let alone me, sweetheart," it smirked, grabbing my head and twisting it at a painful angle, making me groan and squeeze my eyes shut, "You think I can't get what I want? You think I just came here to ask politely? Oh, no, see, I am the ultimate level of darkness. I am everything cruel and evil in existence, brat. You think I am above torturing a child? I will drive you mad until you have no choice but to come back to me, and that's if my shadows don't get to you first." I grimaced as it drew in close and a long slimy red tongue came slipping out through its non-existent lips, curling up against my cheek.

"I will truly enjoy this too," it purred, stroking my cheek with its tongue and slithering it toward the corner of my mouth, making me pinch my lips together, "I certainly enjoyed watching you struggle against my shadows... The way you squirmed and screamed."

"I didn't scream," I snarled, snapping my teeth to bite that nasty tongue. The shifter snatched its head back, then laughed and slammed its forehead against mine, making me gasp in pain as I felt something in my head split and I felt hot blood run down the front of my face down either side of my nose.

"You will," the shifter promised, reaching up with its long spindly hands, placing it on either side of my face, and the long tips of its fingers bent down, its nails sinking down into my scalp, "You will scream until I have what I want. So scream for me, precious." Its nails punctured my skin and I felt it pop right into my skull. I slammed my eyes shut, grinding my teeth together until I couldn't take it anymore and a scream roared up my throat, bursting past my lips.

I woke up in bed, screaming and shooting upright, gasping out for air. I blinked rapidly, coated in cold sweat, and didn't even have time to call for help because something black peeled itself off the ceiling and landed on top of me, pinning me down onto the bed. It took me a full moment to realize it was a shadow. It pinned me down by the head and shoulders while reaching out for Yiuwa at the same time. I cursed and latched onto the asshole around his neck, throwing all my weight to the side so we went rolling off the bed and onto the floor.

I could vaguely make out the sounds of fighting out in the hallway, which meant that this shadow guy had some friends on his side. I focused on the task at hand, grabbing the shadow by his head and snapping it roughly to the side. He dropped to the floor, but wasn't dead, just making gross gurgling sounds. I whipped onto my feet and dove on the bed just as another shadow leapt off the wall, followed by two more who came in through the door. I grabbed Yiuwa, ducked into a roll, and jammed him into my pocket, whipping around in time to deliver a spin-kick to a shadow's gut. Another lunged for me, but I ducked and swung around, nailing him in the face with my elbow.

The third guy rushed at me just as I was recovering, slamming me into the wall. I growled as he held me pinned there, but I threw my head back into his face and he grunted, stepping back. I spun around and suckerpunched him in the nose, making his head snap back. Another came at me from the right, so I picked up the closest thing to me; my bronze skeleton statue. I bashed the fucker upside the head with it and went in for the kill, smashing it down repeatedly until the shadow's head broke open like a pinata.

Another guy latched onto me from the back, grabbing my arm with the statue to disarm me. I swung my elbow back up into his solar plexus and he doubled over, giving me time to spin around and bring the statue down onto his back, knocking him flat on the floor.

At the same time, something sharp slammed into my shoulder and I barked out a curse at the same time another shadow scolded his partner for stabbing me. I hit the ground on my knees first, breathing hard as the shadow yanked the knife out, then went for the back of my neck, grabbing me up like a cat.

Which gave me a momentary panic attack about my cats before I realized I was about to die and could worry about them afterwards.

I reached back, grabbed the guy and threw him over my head, slamming him against the far wall. I shot to my feet, breathing hard at the searing hot pain that exploded in my shoulder where I'd been stabbed. Immediate rage bubbled up inside me. I felt the heat of it spreading out from my chest and up my arms and legs, right into my fingertips and toes. It built higher and higher and I looked around at the remaining enemies, watching their facial features disappear, their clothing melt, until they were nothing but red shapes coming at me.

Alright, beastie. You wanna play? Let's play.

The beast threw its head back and roared, then shook itself before going for the first guy who was stupid enough to run at us. The beast heaved that guy up like he weighed nothing and threw him across the room so he went flying out the window and into the thorny rose bushes outside. The next guy was a little more careful and came at us with a syringe, but the beast was having none of that. The guy ducked our first punch and went to slam the syringe into my thigh, but the beast grabbed him up by the head and yanked hard, ripping the guy's head clean off and throwing it like a dodgeball at the next fucker who came at us. As the creature's body hit the floor spewing blood, the next guy came charging at us with a taser. The thing caught me right in the shoulder and I shuddered as electricity pulsed through me and made me twitch.

Unfortunately, it only succeeded in pissing the beast off further.

It ignored the pain quite easily and grabbed the taser, tossing it up in the air and kicking it so it went shooting across the room and landing in a shadow that was recovering from our former attack. The thing went down in a mass of twitching limbs. The beast turned its attention on the guy who'd had the taser before and grabbed him by the arm, swinging him around and throwing him at the wall... without his arm. The arm stayed in our grip.

Gross, I thought dryly. The beast chuffed, like it heard me and didn't give a shit. In fact, it shook the sleeve right off the arm and bit into it, spilling blood to the floor before it shook the thing.

The room now looked more like a giant oil spill than an actual murder scene, but the bodies of shadows begged to differ. And it wasn't over yet. I could hear shouting and panic out in the hallway, and so did the beast. Except I don't think his intention was to go out there and help out of the goodness of his heart, because when I went out, there were only red blobs fighting each other. I couldn't decipher who was family and who wasn't.

That made me panic a little.

Uh, hey, big guy, do me a huge solid? My brothers are total dickfucks, but they don't deserve to be spread around like Halloween decorations, yeah? I don't think the fucker was paying attention. All he saw was food. He roared, blood dribbling from his lips as he crouched down low.

Several of the red figures stopped, like they weren't sure what to do with this. And one made the mistake of lunging at me, wielding a knife. The beast caught him and threw him down to the floor, ignoring the slash at the side of my chest so he could pin it down by the throat. The beast drew its claws back and slashed right through the thing's chest, spilling out innards and black blood.

The beast hoisted himself to his feet and spun around, sensing the approach of another enemy, but he didn't have time to stop it. One of the larger red figures came out of nowhere, pinned the thing down, cut its throat, then stabbed it in the forehead before standing up in front of us.

Don't hurt him! I think that's Cerberus!

Had to be. The figure was gargantuan.

The beast chuffed and bared its fangs, making the large figure take a step back. The beast started to advance on him and for a second, I was gonna panic, until I realized it wasn't Cerberus he was lunging for. It was the bastard who was coming up behind Cerberus. The beast shot past him and landed on the enemy, slamming him down on the ground and clawing his chest open, spilling hot innards all over the floor before spinning around to snap its teeth in Cerberus's direction.

Cerberus held his hands up, then went back to work clearing out the hallway. The beast spun back around and snatched up the next asshole, picking him up and throwing him up against the wall. The thing slid down, then hopped back up to fight, but the beast slashed at his throat and its head came off in the process.

An excited whooping sound made the beast snap around in time to see a red figure coming sprinting down the hallway. The thing landed on an enemy and slammed him into the ground, taking out a dagger and making a huge X on the thing's stomach before punching a hole through it and yanking out the insides. And without a doubt, I knew that was Cain. That excited whooping and the morbidly gross flinging of intestines was definitely him. And stunningly enough, the beast seemed utterly fascinated by this. It stopped to cock its head and watch as Cain tore open another shadow, shredding it from the inside out. Slash after slash, gutting after gutting, Cain was having a field day with these guys, not giving a shit that he was probably staining my walls with black sludge. The beast didn't seem to give a shit either, because he watched like he was falling in love with him.

Ew, gross! Don't hit on him! He's my brother!

The beast growled, then spun around in time to defend one last attack from an offending shadow. The thing plunged a dagger right into my stomach, though. I felt the pain of that roar up my back. The beast and I groaned in unison and it sank down on one knee. The shadow cast the dagger aside, then ducked down and grabbed me up under the waist, heaving me over its shoulder.

The beast was not having it. It recovered quickly from the attack, snarling wildly and thrashing in the shadow's grasp. It began to claw vigorously at the guy's back, knocking him over. We went down together and the shadow went to stab us with a pocketknife, but the beast clamped its jaws down on the thing's wrist and yanked hard. The shadow screamed and went to punch us with his other hand, but the beast caught his arm and broke it clean off, using it to smash the guy in the face so he fell over onto his back.

The beast rose up over top of the guy, then threw his head back and roared so loud that my ears rang with the sound of it. He lunged down, snatching the creature up, heaving him over his head, breaking him in half and throwing him to the ground before stomping on his leftovers.

The beast looked around at the wreckage, appearing pretty fucking giddy about the whole thing as it licked its bloodied lips. However, the excitement only lasted a moment longer as the wounds from earlier began to sink in. The beast whined low in his throat and sank down onto his knees, looking down so we could see where we'd been stabbed right in the stomach. His claws hands grasped at the injury, and slowly those claws began to disappear and the fangs began to retract to my regular ones.

A second later, I was back in control and falling over on my side, gasping for air.

"Fuck! Shit! Theo! Cain, get dad! Theo's down!" Cerberus's voice echoed down the hall. A second later, Cerberus was by my side, grabbing me up and holding me against him as he put his hand over the whole in my stomach. I felt him getting handsy, but only to check me over, and I could hear him suck his breath in sharply between his teeth as he found my shoulder wound and the cut along the side of my chest.

"Hurts," I managed, making Cerberus look down at me in alarm, "Bad hurts. Really bad."

"You're fine," Cerberus assured me, and when I glared at him, he offered me a smile, "I mean, you will be. Right now you look like shit... But fuck, Thee. That beast of yours is, well, a beast, little guy."

"Not... little. Also... thanks... I think," I groaned, tilting my head back as more hot pain pulsed up into my head. My vision was fading in and out, and I caught bits of conversation with Cerberus. He was just talking to keep me awake, saying random shit like how Holly played in the garden and Keros like to listen to Cerberus's old rock albums. He talked about how Malachi and Adrian went on vacation, how Dania called me and wanted to check on me, that one of my orphanages had been cleared out because they were all adopted in the past week.

"Yo, Cerb," I mumbled, making him look down at me, "Sorry about... before."

"What part? Gluing my hands to my ass that one time or for being a prick on Olympus?"

"Being a prick on Olympus... I'd never apologize for the glue... shit was hilarious," I said with a laugh, then choked and moaned a little. Cerberus shook his head, reaching up to brush the hair back from my face before he could grab my jaw, giving me a little shake when my eyes lolled back in my head.

"Hey," he said, getting my attention as he looked at me sternly, "You don't have to apologize for that, Thee. We're brothers. It's what we do. We say stupid shit. Besides, I'm more than just a father and a husband. I'm a brother and I'm a son. I'm here for you, got it? We all are."

"Ahkay," I murmured, my vision drifting into darkness.

"Thee? Lemme hear you say it."
"Mm?"

"Say that you know we're here for you."

"Kay... you're here... for me."

"Good man. Now brace yourself, dad's coming and he looked pissed. We'll get you patched up in no time, got me?"

"Sure," I murmured. I couldn't quite remember what happened after that. Just some voices talking, but they were muffled, zoned in and out between things that sounded like shadow conversation and Cain telling someone to kick me to make me stay awake, while Cerberus told him to fuck off. I barely remembered the pain of the healing. I was too busy zoning in and out until everything went black and I woke up sometime later, laying in a bed I hadn't seen before.

My immediate thought waking up was Yiuwa, and I grabbed for him in my pocket before I realized I was pantless, so I shot up, then hissed in pain. My body was achy and sore from the fight, but I ignored it as I looked around and realized I was laying in Hades's bed at his place.

I recognized it right away because it was the coolest room ever.

The Aurora Borealis rippled overhead, casting a calming blue-green glow in the room. Everything was decked out in black, from the dresser to the canopy bed to the wardrobe and the walls and the door that led to the bathroom. Another door seemed to lead off into a hallway, and I was pretty sure that led to the nursery where Hades kept Holly and Keros whenever he was stuck with babysitting duty. The place smelled like him too; smoke and ashes. Not cigarette smoke, but more like the kind of smoke you picked up from a forest fire or a bonfire. It was a pleasant smell, because it was familiar.

A quick look around assured me of two my major concerns. Yiuwa was sitting on the nightstand, safe and sound. And sitting across the room on a black leather sofa, bundled up in blankets, was Aria and her kittens. Everyone was safe.

I breathed out a long sigh of relief, then fell back against the bed and closed my eyes in relief.

And the moment I did, I heard a spooky mechanical voice in the back of my head.

Don't fall asleep, little brat. I'll be waiting to have more fun with you. Awake or asleep, I'll get a hold of you. Whether my shadows bring you to me, or you come to me on your own to make it all stop.

My eyes snapped open and I stared up at the ceiling, my heart pounding in my chest.

So much for resting, I thought grimly.