Chapter Thirty-Nine

Despite the assurances, the nightmare about the possible future had me on pins and needles. Not to mention, it was the second day I hadn't seen Zeus, or rather, anyone had seen him, and I needed a distraction. So, I decided to drop in on Akin and Hannibal.

According to a text from Arikos, he, Menoetius, and Amenti were also going to be there, which meant I could check on everyone at once. My talk with Hades had assured me Hades was the same as usual; ornery as fuck, but he seemed somehow... more open. While I knew he would have days where the guilt would once again eat away at his brain until he was exhausted, I had a feeling his good days were going to outweigh his bad days. It helped knowing Lucifer was there with him, so I didn't feel guilty about leaving him after opening up such a festering wound.

In the meantime, as the afternoon sun cut a swathe through the moody gray clouds overhead, I dressed in a pair of black jeans, a gray top and a darker gray sweater, sliding into my boots and heading out the door after a lengthy morning run. I was front and center at Akin's penthouse less than half an hour later. After having Akin buzz me in, I passed the front desk man and security guard, both of whom had eyes that were glued to me until I stepped into the elevator and gave them a brief smile.

What was that saying Lea like to say?

I make their hearts go doki doki?

Slang was becoming more and more confusing as the years dragged on.

I headed up to the top floor, passing the only other penthouse up there, which belonged to the Deadly Sin, Greed, otherwise known as Jericho. And I actually liked this particular Jericho. His sense of humor was dry as a cracker and it was shared with his current beau, Constance, the Deadly Sin of Wrath.

I approached the door and only had to knock once before Akin answered. He looked to be in good spirits, judging from his flamboyantly gothic attire. Was that even possible, flamboyantly gothic? I mean, his top was long sleeve, made of black mesh, and appeared to be on top of a lime green tank top that matched the seams in his black tripp pants and the buckles on his black boots. And, finishing off his strangely cute look today, a zombie Hello Kitty scrunchie that he used to put his hair up into a ponytail that streamed down his back and to his waist.

"Hey, John! Glad you're here. I think Arikos wanted to talk to you about something. Hannibal too," he added with a nod as he stepped aside and I came in. I smiled at the lovely modern and clean interior, that was almost similar to Zeus's, except a bit more rustic and a bit more friendly. Instead of bare stark walls, there were photos of Akin and Hannibal, family photos from Akin's side of the family that involved his siblings, and then one of Akin's mother. And, I noted with amusement, all the ones of Hannibal were generally taken when he wasn't paying attention because he was too busy focusing on Akin, or trying to get behind someone else to get away from the camera.

Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to hide a male that was toeing the seven foot line and ripped as a motherfucker.

I followed Akin into the living room where Arikos was sitting with Menoetius at the breakfast bar, both of them watching with twitching smiles as Amenti set up her stuffed toys around Hannibal on the sofa. While Amenti appeared to be having the time of her life, Hannibal sat stiff as a board, watching her warily as if waiting for to suddenly whip a knife out and cut him. It was almost sad, really, to see someone distrust so much that they didn't even trust a child. But then, Hannibal's experience with children wasn't exactly bright either considering his brothers had gone out of their way to torment him every waking moment of his childhood. However, children only displayed what they saw their parents do. And Hannibal's father was a monstrosity that taught his sons well.

My eyes drifted to Menoetius, who was smiling as his eyes followed Amenti running around the living room.

Well, most of them anyway.

"John!" Arikos greeted first, waving at me with a pinkie as he balanced a juice box in one hand and a fork full of french toast on the other. Menoetius looked up, his smile fading to concern. Hannibal immediately snapped his head toward me. The brief moment of awkward paranoia was interrupted when Amenti shrieked with laughter and raced over to me, abandoning her plush toy fort around Hannibal. She threw her arms out and I caught her against me, swinging her up into my arms so I could rest her on my hip.

"Hi, Menti," I said gently and she giggled, "How're you doing? How's school?" Amenti clapped her hands, her dark curls bouncing as those green eyes glittered like a pair of emeralds.

"It's the bestest! Me and my friends, we got to take home the class teddy bear this weekend and it was so fun! We went to a carnival and the mall and to the movies and Menny even let me take him to the barracks and we went to the gym and-and--" She was on a roll that couldn't be stopped. I watched her go on and go about her exciting adventures with her friends and teddy bear. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Menoetius's smile return and Arikos smirked, giving him an elbow and a thumbs up for being a great father. Akin went over to Hannibal to rescue him from the plush fort and offered him a juice box.

Now seeing a massive male like Hannibal sip at a tiny juice box was fucking hilarious.

"Alright, sweetheart," Arikos said, getting up from his seat and walking over to take Amenti into his arms, "Why don't you sit down and eat the lunch Hannibal made you? We haven't seen John in a while either. Mind if we catch up with him?" Amenti hummed as if she were pondering the suggestion, making Akin and Menoetius laugh.

"Mm, okay, but only cuz uncle Hanni makes the bestest food ever," she added with a huff. Akin passed Hannibal a delighted smile. Hannibal just cocked his head slightly, like he wasn't sure what to say to that. I watched Arikos carry Amenti to the coffee table in front of the television and helped her set up to get comfortable to eat and watch her favorite cartoons.

"Can I get you something to drink, John?" Akin asked, touching my arm to get my attention. I shrugged, following him into the kitchen.

"Just some iced tea if you have any."

"Would that be an alcoholic or?"

"Given the week I've had, make it a Long Island."

"Figured," Akin sighed, passing me a weary smile of his own, "Those circles under your eyes tell me you could use quite a few." I smiled at that, giving him a nod as he went to prepare the drink. I turned to Menoetius as Hannibal came over to sit beside him. I watched the two of them together, amazed that I'd never paid much mind to their similarities before. While you could definitely see a lot of Lea in Hannibal, they definitely shared features with their sperm donor. Their noses, their high cheekbones, smooth planes, and even some of their mannerisms.

It was easy to tell that they were brothers.

Difficult to imagine them as enemies in the past, given how close they'd gotten over the past few months.

"Sorry about that," Arikos said, coming over and I shook my head, glancing over at Amenti as she clapped and cheered with the cartoon characters on TV.

"It's no problem. I enjoy her discussions. They're far more cheerful than the ones I have," I tacked on grimly. Arikos grimaced and Akin pushed my glass toward me on the breakfast bar as he came over with one of his own.

"I figured it was gonna be something like that," Akin murmured, taking a long sip of his drink. Hannibal frowned at me and Menoetius averted his eyes, resting his elbows on the counter and his thumb brushing at the inside of his wrists nervously.

"Menoetius, have you told the others about your visions?" I asked. Menoetius nodded silently.

"I had one last night," I said, making him look up, "It matches the last vision you had. About feeling drugged." Menoetius swallowed.

"I hate that one in particular," he said quietly. Arikos reached out, taking Menoetius's hand away from his wrist to kiss his knuckles and lace their fingers together. Menoetius looked at him gratefully. Akin clacked his fingernails against the side of his glass warily.

"What do you think it means?" He asked. I sighed, leaning over on the counter.

"It's a possible outcome if we make the wrong decisions that lead up to the final battle," I informed, watching everyone freeze, eyes locked on me in horror, "But I think I have things figured out. I think what the Source has been trying to tell me, and Menoetius, is that we're going to have to make a lot of difficult decisions. We, and to be honest, I believe that encompasses all of us, are going to have to learn to forgive certain people in our life that could possibly change the outcome of the next few events."

"Forgive?" Arikos asked. I nodded.

"That seems to be a running theme. Hannibal has learned to forgive Menoetius. I must learn to forgive Xiphrus. And... and other people involved as well. We need to clear our minds and focus on the task at hand, and that would be to defeat Atlan. Once we can let go of past transgressions, we can begin to pave a path towards a new future. One that does not involve Atlan in it," I explained. Arikos nodded as if he completely understood. Menoetius glanced at Hannibal, who looked back at him. There was a silent conversation between them before they looked at me, as if confirming my words.

"And... with that we can win the war?" Akin asked, not sounding entirely convinced.

"It has to be," I responded, "All the things that have led up to these moments, that will lead up to the final battle. The things I've been dealing with. I can't go into detail without going into the personal lives of certain people, but I'm sure this is the path. We are being shown what will happen if we don't clean up our acts. Once we can let go of what is weighing us down, we can win."

"I like the sound of that," Arikos said with a shrug, brushing his thumb over Menoetius's knuckles, "Clean and simple. And for the record, I don't hold too many grudges. It gets very tiring and sometimes you mix events up with other events and things like that. Easy just to forgive and forget."

"It sounds too easy, if you ask me," Akin admitted, leaning back against the counter perpendicular to the breakfast counter, his arms folding over his chest, "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be the horse that shits on your parade, but you're sure this is it? You're sure Atlan doesn't have something else up his sleeve? I mean, this whole thing is about balance right? If you ask me, things seem off balance right now." I looked at him curiously.

"What makes you say that?" I asked. Akin shook his head.

"I'm not totally sure. I just... See, Hannibal and Atlan are supposed to face off in the final battle and decide the fate of the universe, right? And to do that, they were each given someone to help them fight. But Menoetius chose to fight for Hannibal, so now Atlan doesn't have his most important piece. My question is, how far will the Source go to maintain balance? Will it see Menoetius's defection as a way of throwing off the balance? Will it... I don't know, give Atlan something else to level the playing field?"

I considered his words. They did make sense. But as far as I knew, the Source hadn't done anything like that. What would the Source try to give Atlan to, as Akin put it, level the playing field?

"Maybe I made the wrong choice already," Menoetius said suddenly, making us turn to stare at him, "What if by choosing Hannibal's side, I put it at risk? What if the Source just gives Atlan an even more powerful weapon to use against us? What--"

"Stop," Arikos said, squeezing his hand, "You didn't make the wrong choice."

"How do you know that, though?"

"I just do. If you were destined to choose Atlan's side, you never would've considered Hannibal's. I think the Source gave you the choice and you made the right one."

"He's right," Hannibal said, making Menoetius look at him warily, "Don't second guess yourself. And I'm not saying this because I want you on my side or some bullshit like that. I'm saying it because it's the truth. You made the right choice. Right now, there's no way we can lose the war against Atlan."

"Exactly," Arikos agreed, "I don't even know why anyone's worried." Akin said nothing now. He didn't look at all convinced about winning the war and that unnerved me. Akin was sensing something the rest of us weren't. His talk about the balance did make sense, but if that were the case, what would the Source give Atlan and when, if it hadn't already done it?

I stuck around for a while longer, just to help ease the tensions of the previous discussion. Thankfully, Amenti managed to get Menoetius smiling against and Hannibal happily sat at Akin's feet once more while Arikos cleaned up the plates from lunch. I bid the family farewell and returned to the palace. Unfortunately, the relief and the joy I had felt upon waking up was gone now. Akin's words rang in my head, and it wasn't just that.

Being alone with my thoughts again caused them to immediately revert back to Zeus.

I told him I'd leave him alone for a couple days, but it was eating me alive not to see that he was alright. I even stopped by to ask Hades if he'd been able to get through to him, to which Hades replied as Hades would.

"I don't fucking know. The asshole won't even answer his calls. You know what? Fuck him for real." Of course, that was only to mask the real concern he felt for him. Even through his rant, Hades's eyes kept darting back to his phone, turning the thing on and off to check to see if he'd gotten any texts or calls. And each time, those blue eyes drifted away from it with a combination of annoyance and worry, indicating Zeus hadn't answered any of his calls.

"I'll go check on him," I said at last, unable to stand it anymore, and Hades looked at me so fast I'm surprised his neck didn't snap in the process, "You may not be able to get past his barrier, but I can." Hades eyed me warily as he sat on the sofa in Lucifer's room, splayed out like he owned the damn place whenever Lucifer went into a meeting. Finally he averted his eyes, pretending to be more interested in his book as opposed to the conversation topic.

"Yeah. Maybe that's better." I smiled briefly before I teleported to Olympus. I appeared just outside of Zeus's palace on the steps, staring up at the massive building that doubled as a gods only meeting hall, a special place for special guests, and Zeus's private domicile on the second floor. And as Hades said, there was a barrier around the palace. It was a tough one, but it was no problem for me to slip and slide right into it, after blowing the lock off the front door.

I stepped inside and the atmosphere was so cold. I felt strangely guilty just walking into his home without his permission, disturbing him when clearly he didn't want to be bothered. I located his presence immediately upstairs in the kitchen and headed up to it.

I approached the kitchen, listening to the sounds of him cooking. A pan clanking against a burner, spoon stirring, and a music player set to some sort of rap station so all I could hear was Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog tossing words back and forth. The delicious scent of food wafted down the hallway toward me as I came around the corner. It was a combination of spices and herbs, cooking chicken, vegetables.

Zeus was standing in front of a cast iron pan full of chicken and vegetables, pouring a sauce over it and a bowl of chickpeas. He went back to stirring, apparently not noticing my presence even though I wasn't attempting to hide it. He seemed completely absorbed in what he was doing. His hair was wet from a shower, swept back from his face, and he wore a light blue button up top with the sleeves rolled up and nice fitting jeans that outlined his perfect muscular ass.

And as my eyes danced down, I noticed that he'd cooked an entire feast.

Zeus could definitely stuff quite a bit away, but that much? By himself?

I reached out with my powers, but only sensed our presences here and no one else's.

"Are you going to stand there or eat something?" Zeus asked without looking up. I blinked and looked at him curiously.

"Were you planning to eat all of this yourself?"

"I cook when I'm bored. Sue me."

Hm. Not what I was expecting to see. I walked into the kitchen to the island counter where the feast was laid out. All sorts of food, from stuffed grape leaves to falafel to roasted lamb shank in a thick red sauce. It all looked so elegant too, smelled just as delicious. While it was all incredibly tempting, I was still a bit concerned that Zeus wasn't reacting angrily, or in fear, or Christ, the least he could do was throw that cast iron at my head, for fuck's sake.

I looked up at him again as he stirred the food around in the cast iron, reaching to turn up the music when I started to open my mouth to speak. I frowned as the rap music got louder and I suddenly found Eminem's voice extremely irritating as I walked over to the music and shut it off abruptly, plunging the kitchen into awkward silence, aside from the hissing of food in the cast iron.

"Zeus. We need to talk." I looked at his face, but he kept those piercing blue eyes on his food, stirring with one hand and sprinkling seasoning in with the other.

"I... I know I said I would stay away, to give you time to recuperate, and I apologize for not following through with that, but Hades is extremely worried about you. He says he came to visit twice and you didn't open the doors to him. He says you've never done that to him before," I added quietly, leaning on the counter. Zeus shut the stove off, stirred his food around a little more, and dished it out onto a plate. He took his time, making it presentable and neat. He studied it for a moment, then picked the plate up and had to move things around on the island counter to make room for it.

My eyes followed him as he turned away from me to the fridge and started to get out more food. I frowned as he gathered up numerous vegetables and a package of steaks in his arms. He started to go into the kitchen again, but I blocked his path and he instantly dropped everything in his arms, taking a step back from me.

"Sorry," I said when he shot me a dirty look and stooped down to pick his things up, and I dropped down to help him, "Zeus, I'm not finished here--"

"Aren't you," Zeus snapped suddenly, making me frown as I sat back on my haunches, watching him glare at me, "Wasn't that all you came here to do? Throw everything in my face, then run away?" I winced before I could stop it.

"Zeus, I really am sorry for what I did, I--"

"It's not that," Zeus snarled, then he slammed his fist down on the floor and took a deep breath, "Fuck it. Just leave. Alright? If you're not going to eat, then fucking leave." I said nothing for a long while, and neither did Zeus. He sat there with a head of cabbage, broccoli, and carrots in one arm and his package of steaks in the other. After a moment, I started picking up the rest of the things he'd dropped. He slowly began to do the same and we stood up at the same time. I looked down at the things in his hands, and noticed for the first time that his hands were trembling. I looked up at his face and his eyes were averted, his teeth clenched so tight his jaw ticced.

"Alright," I said softly, "I'll eat." He seemed to relax at that and I stepped aside as he dropped his treasures onto the counter and grabbed me a plate. He handed it to me in silence and went back to cooking yet another meal. I took a bit of everything and stood off to the side to watch him.

It appeared I wasn't the only one trying to distract myself in the past twenty four hours. There was so much food here, no doubt he'd been cooking all day. Maybe... all night?

It's not that, he said. What did he mean? And, throwing everything in his face... Gods, when he put it like that, I felt even worse. I set the plate of food down, reaching up to cover my face with my hands.

I made a mistake. I should've never pushed Zeus. I should've never gone that far. I should've just... I don't know, pulled an intervention. Maybe I'd completely misread Zeus? Or did my personal feelings get in the way of my trying to help him? Maybe I wasn't the person who could help Zeus. Maybe... this was the first person I couldn't help.

"It's not what you did," Zeus said suddenly, making me blink and look up, watching him continue his completely ninja skills as he sliced through a head of cabbage in seconds, and moved onto the next ingredient, "Not... exactly. So stop standing there and feeling shitty about it. You did what you had to do and maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. I don't fucking know. Just... eat." I looked at him, confused. Was he trying to make me feel better? I still wasn't entirely sure I was up to eating anymore, but I didn't want to hurt him anymore than I already did, so I ate what was on my plate and piled up another plate, adding the new meal he'd put on the counter.

Thankfully, he stopped cooking after another two meals and we sat down at the pretty mosaic table that looked out over the landscape. The only sounds now were forks and spoons clinking against glass plates, bowls, ice cubes singing softly in glasses of wine. I glanced up at Zeus again and he was staring down at his plate, staring at the remaining cherry tomatoes oozing red juice onto the pale blue plate. I swallowed my bite of food and set my silverware down.

"Where are you at, Zeus?" I asked. He blinked, looking up at me. Distrust burned bright in those eyes.

"Please. Zeus. If what I did didn't hurt you, then what... What is hurting you? If you want to make things work, if you want to make things better, you have to talk about it. You have to face it. Face it like you faced the Titans." Zeus scoffed as he looked down at his plate, now pushing the tomatoes around on his plate.

"Bad example, considering I didn't have to face the Titans alone."

"And you don't have to face this alone either," I replied, making him frown, "That's why I'm here. That's why Hades kept coming. He knows you need him."

"Gods, I hate that about him," Zeus growled, and I raised an eyebrow and he sighed in frustration, "Look... You think I don't feel like shit? You think I don't feel like a prick for everything I've ever done? You think I enjoyed doing everything that I did? Of course you do. I'm Zeus. I'm the god that fucks anything with a heartbeat. I'm the god that takes what he wants and leaves the rest. I'm the god that raped his own brother." He stopped. He looked down at his food, then set his fork down and pinched the bridge of his nose. His mind was in completely turmoil. I could barely make anything out. The pictures were distorted, blurred or bloodied. Reading what was on his mind wasn't going to help here.

"I don't know what's right and I don't fucking know what's wrong," Zeus said after the longest time, gritting his teeth and taking a deep breath as he flexed his fingers out on the table in front of him, "Things keeps changing. New things are okay, old things are bad. And I have no fucking idea who keeps deciding which is which. How do you fucking know? I'm a god and I have no fucking idea. I just..."

Was he trying to tell me that he knew what he did was wrong?

... throw things in my face...

"You already felt guilty," I said at last, making Zeus's frown deepen. He glared at his plate for the longest time before looking up.

"I don't have the luxury of being able to curl up and cry about shit," Zeus said coldly, "I don't have the luxury of being able to feel guilty and talk about it. I don't have the luxury of friends, not even family. I'm the king of a pantheon. The second I show weakness, the second my pantheon questions my ability to rule. And it's gone on and off through the centuries. When Apollo..." Zeus stopped for a moment, then blinked hard and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table and covering his mouth with a hand. He glared at the table, then looked at me.

"When Apollo was dead for those few minutes, when I fucking lost it, I was pretty much signing my own death warrant," he said, making me frown, "The pantheon doesn't see grief and it doesn't see a father. It sees a king who's on his knees in tears. And you think that if someone dethrones me that I'll just be sent to a cottage in the middle of fucking nowhere? You think whoever dethrones me will just take my place and things will be right as rain? Fucking look at what happened to Cronus. Not only was he sent to Tartarus, but so were his siblings. And now he's fucking dead. You think of someone dethrones me that won't happen? You think I won't end up in fucking Tartarus, looking my sisters and my brothers in the face while they ask what the fuck happened and how they got here?"

"Are you afraid of letting them down?" I asked. Zeus snorted, leaning back against and raking a hand through his hair.

"I'm afraid of getting them in a worse hell than they've already endured. I don't have time to cry about bullshit. My siblings do the crying for me. I don't get to cry. I don't get to feel. As a king, I have to make decisions that seem shitty at the time. Because that's what I have to fucking do. Shut everything off and do my damn job. But then, everyone else seems to think they can do such a perfect fucking job. I might as well just give the job to someone else."

"Who, like Hades?"

"No," Zeus snarled abruptly, then he scowled and folded his arms over his chest, "No, absolutely not. You think I want to see him do this job? Hades can't even keep his damn mouth shut. He's sleeping with an outsider. He'll be torn to shreds. If not physically, then psychologically."

"But you can do this job better than he can," I murmured, making him avert his eyes, "Because the nymphs trained you to do this job. They trained you to shut everything off. They trained you to be cold and merciless. Hades wouldn't be able to handle the responsibility."

"He's too good for this job," Zeus finished monotonously. I tilted my head.

"And you, Zeus?"

"I'm the right cold heartless bastard for this job."

"You've done well," I admitted, making him shift uncomfortably, "You shut your emotions off. You shut everything down long enough for you to make the cold decisions you've had to. Except that's the problem, Zeus. You can't shut your emotions off, not for long. Sooner or later, you're going to flood that dam and the gate is gonna fly open and you're not going to be able to keep them closed. And that's why you hurt Hades, isn't it?" Zeus wiped a hand down his face.

"Why do we have to talk about this?" He asked, sounding fed up.

"Because it's what haunts you the most. I have no doubt the faces of everyone you've ever hurt haunt your nightmares, but none more so than Hades's. Because Hades was the first person you ever fell in love with, the first person you felt so strongly for, you wanted to protect so much. If you can work through your issues with Hades, you can work through your issues with everyone else, one chapter at a time."

"What makes you think it's that easy," Zeus demanded, "What makes you think Hades should ever fucking forgive me? You think saying sorry is going to fucking fix it? You think working through it will make it go away?"

"No," I answered, "It's a mistake you will have to live with for the rest of your eternity. But that's the thing about gods. You are given an eternity to fix your mistakes. Take advantage of the time you are given and work through it. To be honest, this self-hatred you have for yourself over what you did to Hades is only hurting you, not Hades."

"Why isn't that a good thing? People seem to want me to suffer for what I've done. Lucifer, for example. He seems more than delighted to rip my head off. Wouldn't letting him do it and giving this shit job to someone else make things better?"

"Do you want someone else to take your job and make your family suffer?" I asked. Zeus didn't answer. He glared at the table. We both knew what he wanted to say.

"And for the record, we are in no position to make judgments," I replied, "We are equal. I may be older and I have more power physically, magically, but in the end, our life forces are equal. Our souls are equal. No soul is higher than another."

"And the Source?" Zeus muttered. I smiled at that.

"No. The Source does not make judgments. The Source sees us for what we are. Souls. Our vessels, our powers, have nothing to do with how the Source sees us. And when the end of time finally comes and we are opened up to a whole new reincarnation of this existence, the Source will open its arms to us, every single one of us, and give us peace. That is what is."

Zeus appeared to be considering my words. I allowed him silence for a while as he pondered. His mind was clearing up. He was clearly still angry at me, not for what I thought had scared him, but rather, but I had forced him to face. He had always been guilty about the decisions he'd made. He knew more than half of them were rotten mistakes. But he was also smart enough to know that apologies were simply words, and nowadays, words were cheap. He'd improved over time, tried to find ways to seem as powerful as he always had been while at the same time juggling his self-image.

And it didn't always work, no.

There were days he was sure he'd made the right choice; please the masses and please his inner self. But then it backfired, on himself and on others. He couldn't please everyone. He couldn't be perfection. And he'd rather disappoint himself than the masses. He'd rather become the villain to protect his family, his pantheon, because he was right.

If someone else in the pantheon, or another, sensed any weakness in Zeus whatsoever, they would strike and the chances of Zeus escaping unscathed were slim. And the chances of it affecting his siblings? Very high. It was never simply a captain who went down with his ship. His crew went down with him.

And in our vast universe, morality was different everywhere. Zeus couldn't possibly stick to a single one. He had to test the waters of them all to make sure he kept everyone happy, or so he thought.

Fuck, I was suddenly grateful I had never created a pantheon like the other creatures of the Source. One by one, these ancient beings were making their own pantheons, creating children and wives and even their own mortals. How could anyone be strong enough to create their own pantheon and still want to be loved by all, but hated by many?

"Zeus, you're so strong," I said suddenly, making him look up in surprise, "I like to think of myself as perhaps the strongest person in the universe, but I've been mistaken. Were I in your shoes, I would have killed every single person in my pantheon. Given up on them. It was why I never started a pantheon of my own. I wouldn't be able to handle the stress. I was willing to kill my own brother, to avoid screwing up the rest of the universe. But you still sit on your throne and you still rule, even when your name is seen as villainous, or the equivalent of an aphrodisiac." Zeus laughed at that, and I relaxed, relieved to hear him do something other than snarl or growl.

"Why is my name associated with aphrodisiac when Trojan is associated with condoms?" He asked, to which I smirked. The moment was interrupted, however, when a strange rumbling went through the air around us, vibrating plates on the counter-top and bowls right out of their holding places in racks, shattering as they hit the floor. We shot to our feet just as Zeus's cell phone went off on the counter. He caught it before it could fall to the floor.

"Hello? What the fuck is-- He's what?!" Zeus cursed and hung up and I frowned.

"What's going on?" I demanded as the rumbling became intense for a moment, like whatever had caused it was thrown off for a split second before it continued. Zeus looked at me grimly.

"Atlan is attacking Olympus," he snapped. My eyes widened in disbelief, goosebumps creeping onto my skin.

"He's what?"

"Literally the same fucking thing I just asked Ares, but we don't have time. He's unleashed some sort of dragon creature in the marketplace," he said, quickly heading down the hallway. I followed him as we went to his bedroom and he opened up a panel in the wall to a very high tech array of monitors and dials and keypads. As one of the monitors flickered and changed from a scene of the meeting building to a marketplace, my eyes widened as I recognized the beast in the video feed.

"Son of a bitch," I cursed, making Zeus look at me, "I know what that is. It's a drakus. They're an Atlantean dragon, but there was only supposed to be two of them in existence."

"What happened to them?" Zeus asked.

"The first one supposedly blew up when it ate a mortal Atlantean holding a torch. The second one, Hannibal, Akin, and Arikos took down in Hell. Their skin is completely impenetrable. It's why Hades chose the one Hannibal killed to make his suit of armor with."

"Wait, if they're impenetrable, how did he make a suit of armor from them," Zeus asked, then paused as I raised an eyebrow and he grimaced, "Oh, that's just fucking disgusting. Why does Hades do things like that?"

"In the name of science. Or, as Hades would say, I'm Hades, bitch," I answered. Zeus rolled his eyes as he hit a few buttons and an alarm that seemed to sound off in the marketplace, one so loud I could hear it from Zeus's palace. He stepped back and changed his outfit from I'm depressed and staying the fuck home for a week to I'm about ready to kick some dragon ass and pick my teeth with its ribs. His battlesuit was one of Hades's newest models, I noted. While all the uniforms in the underworld were black, Zeus's battle suit was white with blue accents. Form fitting, sleek, and padded with hydra made materials, it looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, complete with glowing blue lights that ran along the seams and matched the blue keypad on his inner left wrist.

And I looked at the blue, I slowly recognized that color.

"Did Hades make this suit for you?" I asked. Zeus opened a panel on the wall, taking out several weapons and hooking them onto the holster around his waist.

"What of it?"

"Oh, just wondering. He seems to know your favorite color is blue."

"Shut up," Zeus muttered, shoving an electric sword into his holster. I smiled, then transformed my own outfit. As Hell was my home for the past several centuries, I had adopted their military uniform. A black and red color combination with black making up most of the uniform, made of the same materials as Zeus's, and I tied my hair up, adding black paint over my eyes and a pair of fingerless gloves as I held my hands out and summoned my twin swords. They vibrated in my palms, eager to taste blood, eager to be used after so long. I shoved them into their scabbards, looking up to see Zeus eyeing me warily.

"You're going to fight too?" He asked. I gave him a droll stare.

"Zeus. I've been sitting dormant in Lucifer's big pretty doll house for five or so years after the Titan's last defeat, going for morning runs, babysitting a rambunctious five-year-old, and listening to Lucifer and Hades debate whether Star Trek or Star Wars is better. The urge I have to kill something right now is so great, I'm surprised I haven't killed those two yet," I said, walking past him for the door. Zeus followed, shaking his head.

"For the record, Star Trek is better," he added. I rolled my eyes.

"You sci-fi nerds and your completely irrelevant arguments... But yeah, Star Trek is more to my particular tastes," I agreed, making him smirk as we made our way out of the palace and teleported to the marketplace. We arrived just as the drakus tore the top off a building and threw it into the woods, knocking out a good acre of foliage and probably a couple cottages.

The beast was massive, perhaps the size of Zeus's palace, with gold scales that shimmered and glowed in the sunlight. Its narrow face tilted back, its jaws falling open to reveal several rows of razor sharp teeth that were about the size of an average male mortal, and a loud screech escaped its long throat and echoed into the sky.

Unfortunately, we barely had time to admire it because I sensed something moving toward us and spun around, unsheathing my swords in time to slash them together, slicing open the belly of a Cruentius demon. Its green eyes bugged out, its matching claws clasping over its wounded belly and stumbling back into a pile of Atlantean fae, who were riding on usofios, basically a type of vampire unicorn, toward us.

"What in fuck's name is that-- Ugh, it smells awful," Zeus tacked on, covering his nose with his arm as the Cruentius flailed and shrieked, cutting open fae and usofios alike.

"Cruentius," I muttered and Zeus's eyes flashed with recognition.

"They've been here before. One attacked the Atlantean, Anexius."

"And it looks like there are more," I muttered as I watched a whole herd of them coming out of the trees, lunging for innocent bystanders, who screamed and ran or flew away. Zeus withdrew his sword, tapped it against his side and the electrical blade shot out just as a fae tried to spear him. The electric blade cut right through the fae's belly and spilled intestines in a bloody heap on the ground as Zeus kicked the fae off his blade.

"Incoming!" A voice shouted. I spun around as Satanika came out of fucking nowhere, decked out in a white battle suit with her thick hair coiled up in a bun on her head, her black war paint streaking across her face. She swung a sword around and lopped the head off a Cruentius and landed on the ground in a barrel roll that knocked a fae off its feet, and she spun around, slashing its throat open before popping up onto her feet beside me.

"Where's Ares?" Zeus demanded of her the moment she caught her breath.

"Getting as many people as he can to safety," she informed him, "I told him to focus on them first. It should keep him out of the game. We don't need him going psycho right now on that drakus. Which by the way, anyone know how to defeat? Anyone?" I grimaced, glancing up at the drakus as it roared and batted at what appeared to be Hermes flying around in the sky, throwing magical attacks that merely bounced off its scales and flew back at him.

"We need to destroy it from the inside out," I said, just as Poseidon and Demeter came sprinting over in their white battle suits, "Hannibal defeated one of these things in Hell not too long ago. They got the drakus to open its mouth long enough for someone to spew fire into its insides. That's the only way to kill it."

"Oh, yeah, that sounds easy," Poseidon said, then paused dramatically, giving everyone the chance to glare at him, "Not."

"Tell Hermes to keep distracting it," I told him and Demeter, who nodded, "If we can get it to do its battle cry again, we can send fire down its gullet. Anyone do fire magic easily?"

"Does king of the sea mean nothing to you?" Poseidon asked, cocking his head and waving his hand so a stream of water flew up into the air. Demeter rolled her eyes, shoving at Poseidon before she looked at me.

"Fire is my middle name, sweetheart. We got this. You and the others deal with the fugly bitches from Hell," she said, then shot up to meet with Hermes. Poseidon growled, but went after her anyway. I went to ask Zeus if he had a plan, only for a Cruentius to come out of fucking nowhere, bulldozing straight into me and slamming me hard into the ground.

I was momentarily jarred, my body vibrating on all levels of pain as I struggled to figure out what the fuck had just happened to me. The Cruentius swiped at me and I flinched for a split second before realizing, at the same time as the Cruentius, that the battle suit was completely unharmed. While every bone in my body felt like it was broken, at least it couldn't paralyze me with the venom oozing from its claws.

Furious, the Cruentius roared and threw its arm back to slash at me again, only for Zeus to come out of nowhere, plunging his electric blade into the creature's side and dragging it back, splitting it open so its innards poured out and its shrieked for a moment before sinking to the ground.

Zeus ran to me, grabbing me up by the arm and hauling me to my feet.

"Your skull still in your head?" Zeus demanded.

"Mostly. Holy shit. I am pissed off now."

"Good. Take it out on those guys over there. I'm going to go check on my kids. Think you can handle this while I'm gone?"

"I've handled worse. Go make sure your children are safe. I can deal with this," I answered. Zeus nodded, started to leave, then paused and doubled back. I raised an eyebrow at him, opening my mouth to ask him what he was doing, but before I could get a word out, he swept his arm around my waist, hauled me against him, and covered my mouth with him. Immediately, heat bloomed in my stomach and my lips parted eagerly to accept his tongue. The kiss was so hot, so sudden, and holy fuck combined with the adrenaline of the coming battle, I felt like a firework being lit for Fourth of July.

"Next time," Zeus growled at me, pulling back, "We're actually going to have sex. None of this psychobabble bullshit. Got it?" I just nodded numbly and he vanished on the spot. Just beyond where he was standing, I saw Satanika staring at me, her mouth open. I stared back at her before she twirled her finger in the air for me to turn around and I swung around, just in time for a fae to charge me with a sword in hand. I deflected the attack and swung my foot up into the underside of his chin, sending him flying back. Another launched at me from the side and I jumped up with a sidekick, landing it hard in his jaw. I dropped down as another fae swung an axe at my head, and I popped back up to headbutt him before driving my sword into his stomach, drawing it upwards and slicing him open. I kicked him back off my sword and and resumed fighting.

A deep buried thrill arose from my gut, like a hot spear sliding up into my chest, inflating me with power, making all those strikes with my sword, those kicks, those punches, all the more exciting. I was breathless with excitement, swinging around, slashing through faes and cutting Cruentius demons open. I backflipped into the air and landed on the shoulders of a Cruentius, driving my blades down into his shoulders and then throwing my weight back off him, dragging the blades through his body and downing him a second later.

I landed on the ground and went for another attack at another oncoming fae when something slashed into my back and I cursed. I whirled around as a fae leapt back, holding a pair of swords that he twirled at me as if to mock me. Thankfully, the battle suit was holding up find so I wasn't injured, but holy shit that felt more like a punch to the back. The suit could protect against cuts and gashes, but not bruising. And I was still aching from earlier when that Cruentius had pancaked me to the ground. I shrugged my shoulders to loosen up the tension there as the fae narrowed its eyes and lunged for me. I spun out of the way and arced my swords toward his neck, but he ducked, spun around and made a slash at the back of my fucking knees.

I cursed as the pressure of his attack knocked me to my knees. He spun around with a smirk, then tossed his swords aside and suckerpunched me so hard in the face, my head snapped back and I heard my nose crack, blood flying out onto the grass. He snatched a handful of my hair and I shouted in pain as he yanked my head back and drew his elbow up with the intention to crush my face in when suddenly he was yanked off me like a rag doll and thrown clear across the market, smashing through a shop window.

I blinked, stunned for a moment, before I realized Zeus was standing in front of me, yanking me up and looking at my face.

"Goddamn it, why the face?" He muttered, wiping the blood out from under my nose. I scoffed, then gathered the blood up in my mouth to spit out on the ground. I licked my teeth to check they were all there before I raised an eyebrow.

"How're your kids?" I asked, walking over to where Zeus had thrown the fae. He followed me at a jog as we maneuvered gods battling faes and Cruentius, and Poseidon and Demeter and Hermes still working out their drakus situation.

"Fine, mostly," he said, looking at me curiously, "I mean, Apollo's right as rain. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't boot his Atlantean boyfriend. I may not like Anexius, but he's doing a surprisingly good job of not killing my son. Again." I rolled my eyes as I stepped through the shop window and scanned the damage.

"He didn't kill your son, Zeus. Atlan did."

"Yeah, but Atlan never would've shown up if--"

"Well, then it's just a whole long line of the blame game, Zeus. Let's avoid that, shall we?"

"Sure, whatever, also what the fuck are you doing? The battle is out there," Zeus said, thrusting a thumb over his shoulder. I waved him off as I picked my way through toppled shelving and cans of soup that had exploded and spilled everywhere, making the place reek of a sick combination of chicken noodle and New England clam chowder.

"I realize that, but I have one thing to do," I said, then spotted the fae scrambling out of his crumpled heap on the floor. Zeus tsked, but followed me as I stalked after the fae, teleporting from behind him, then in front of him, so he smacked into me and fell backwards, head over heels. I smirked as he slid back across the floor to get away from me, only to bump into Zeus's legs.

Zeus folded his arms over his chest, looking down at the fae with a pitying stare.

"Wow, you really should not have hit him. No, really," Zeus said, waving his hands, "I mean, I just threw you like what? Twenty yards? Him? He's going to paint the walls with your entrails." The fae snarled and tried to swipe at him, but he stepped back and I came over, reaching down to grab him by his dark hair, smashing his face against the wall.

Once, twice... okay, a third time.

Once his face was good and broken, I threw him back against the opposite wall and stomped hard on his gut, making him choke and hack up a mouthful of blood. I crouched down, snatching up a handful of his hair again to draw his face back so I was looking into the bloody meaty mess that was once his face.

"So, hey, listen, before I rip your head off and play fucking dodgeball with it, why don't you do me a huge favor? What the fuck are you doing here? Why is Atlan launching an attack now? Out of nowhere?" I demanded. The fae gathered a mouthful of blood and tried to spit it in my face, but it ended up just dribbled down off his chin and he mumbled a curse that sounded something like thuth thu mother ehther.

"Wow, okay, rude," Zeus commented from behind me. I smashed the fae's face against the wall again and he moaned in pain, slumping back against my arm. I smiled as I drew him in against my chest and reached up with one hand to grab his jaw, making him cry out in pain.

"Answer my questions, child, or I'm going to break your jaw next. And if you think you can't talk now, wait until you try with a busted jaw," I warned. He swallowed, choked up some more blood, and spoke through trembling lips.

"He's... trying... to get... him..." Or at least, that's what it sounded like. I frowned.

"Trying to get him? Atlan's trying to get someone? Who?" I demanded. Surely not the hybrid, or the keys, or Xiphrus. He'd abandoned Xiphrus. And he knew Hannibal, Menoetius, and Arikos weren't on Olympus. They attacked Olympus looking for someone in particular. I opened my mouth to ask who when Zeus suddenly shouted from behind me and I spun around as he was snatched up and slammed into a wall by a Cruentius. Cursing, I dropped the fae to the ground and sprinted hard at the Cruentius, jumping up and landing on its shoulders. I grabbed his head hard in my arms and yanked it to the side until there was a loud crack, a wet popping, and I leapt back as the creature went down... right on top of Zeus.

"Jesus fucking Christ in a fucking goddamn..." Zeus's voice was muffled from beneath the Cruentius's corpse and I went to the side of it, heaving it up and shoving it aside, helping Zeus to his feet as he shook debris from his hair and wiped blood from his cheek.

"Okay, that was ridiculous," he muttered, then looked at me, "What did the fae tell you?" I frowned.

"Atlan is attacking Olympus for a certain reason. He's looking for someone. I have no idea who. And I don't think the fae is going to be anymore help," I added, glancing over where the fae had passed out from his injuries. I looked back at Zeus, who was scowling.

"Looking for someone? Who the fuck is here that he needs? Anexius?"

"No. He hates Anexius, for sure, but not enough to launch a full scale attack on Olympus." And Zeus didn't currently know that Teslius, the Atlantean god of wisdom and fertility, was on Olympus, but again, Atlan wouldn't risk such a large attack for someone who really didn't matter to his cause. And as far as I knew, even Atlan didn't know Teslius was here.

"He wouldn't come after Apollo again, would he?" Zeus asked. I shook my head.

"He's already used that move. He's here for someone else. Something else. Whatever it is, we need to hurry up and get rid of that drakus and what soldiers are left. Then do a head count and see who's missing," I explained. He nodded. Together, we picked our way through the rubble that was once a nice little liquor store and came out into the bright sunlight, just as the drakus was rearing back and roaring into the sky.

Poseidon and Hermes danced around to attract its attention, but its jaws snapped shut before Demeter could take aim with any fire magic. Her streams of fire missed its mouth and struck its scales, disappearing and leaving behind a smoky veil. She cursed and landed on one of the rooftops of the buildings behind us, Satanika taking up position beside her. Poseidon and Hermes backed off as the drakus roared again, shaking its massive neck and charging another building, picking it up and throwing it clear off the side of the mountain. Zeus grimaced and I glanced at Poseidon as he and Hermes sprinted over to join us, avoiding falling rocks and debris from the destruction.

"What the hell," Poseidon growled, clenching his fists and breathing hard as a bloody gash on his cheekbone oozed down his face, "That son of a bitch is smart. It's like it knows what we want it to do and it's mocking us." Hermes nodded, panting for air as he bent over with his hands on his knees, blood and sweat running down his face before he stood up.

"Shit," he cursed, smacking his thighs before looking up at the drakus as it turned and continued a path of destruction that appeared to be making its way up to Zeus's palace, "Fuck, looks like that thing is going for your place, dad." Zeus cursed, glaring at the drakus as he palmed the hilt of his sword.

"If I have to fucking build one more of the mother fuckers, I will literally just live in a box. I'm seriously done with this shit. Do you have any idea how much magic I wasted on building that gigantic place?" He demanded, turning to look at Hermes, as if it were his fault and Hermes threw his hands up in surrender.

"Don't look at me. I only destroyed your palace once, and that was really mostly Ares's fault. Maybe Dion's. You know what? Dionysus. I'm blaming him for it. And the last time, it was the hybrid and that Atlantean harlot. Not me. Besides, look at the big bad dragon who's about to eat the Men's Wearhouse-- Oh, nope. Too late. He ate it. Goddamn it. I just sold some stock in that place too," Hermes grumbled, folding his arms over his chest. Poseidon shook his head at him, then turned to Zeus, who was still glaring at the drakus.

"Where are the kids?" He demanded. Zeus cut him a curious look.

"Athena and Artemis are going to get Hera. Ares is getting citizens to safety. Last I checked, Dionysus was with Apollo and Anexius. Everyone else, kicking the shit out of these motherfuckers. What about Hestia? Is she alright?" He asked. Poseidon nodded, then paused just for a moment so he could whip out a series of throwing stars that glinted in the air before slicing right into a couple of faes that went down like grass to a lawnmower. He walked over, yanked the stars out of their heads and wiped them on his sleeve before popping them back into the trigger mechanisms on his wrists.

"Hestia is defending the east side of the mountain," he answered, "She's got Hecate and several others backing her up, so she'll be fine. Especially once Hera gets here to watch the south side of the mountain. I put my guys on the west side. Right now, we need to focus on the north, where the drakus is headed." Zeus nodded and we looked up as Satanika and Demeter dropped down from above to join us, walking over and crushing fae corpses along the way. Demeter stopped to plunge a dagger into a twitching Cruentius's face before she came to a stop at Poseidon's side, and Poseidon raised an eyebrow at her. She scowled.

"What?" She demanded. Poseidon reached out and wiped a bit of blood off her cheek before he cleared his throat and looked at Zeus.

"So what do we do now? That drakus isn't anywhere near stopping. It's on a mission."

"It's here for someone," I said, making them look at me, "I pinned down a fae and found out the attack is more of a seek and capture mission. Atlan is looking for someone here, a male. That's all I know." Demeter frowned.

"Not Anexius or Teslius?" She asked. Hermes smacked his forehead and Zeus stared at her.

"What?" He demanded. Demeter pursed her lips and winced before looking at Poseidon for help and Poseidon raised an eyebrow.

"What? I had no idea that Atlantean was still here. If I knew that, I would've fucking taken him home in a split second. Speaking of which, where is he?" He asked, looking at Satanika as if he somehow knew she was the one behind this. Satanika narrowed her eyes and for a split second, those hazel eyes flashed white, then became normal again as she cracked her knuckles.

"Fuck off and die, Poseidon. No one touches the Atlantean. He's under my protection. If you want to get off on something, try Mr. Righty and Mr. Lefty, because if you come after him, you won't even have to worry about how to scratch that biological itch of yours, got it?" She demanded. Demeter whistled and Hermes smirked, folding his arms over his chest. Zeus reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose before he dropped his arm down at his side, smacking his thigh for everyone's attention.

"Look, as fucking irritating as that is, we'll deal with it later. Right now, Barney's redneck cousin is about to off my palace for the hundredth time and he's about to smash Hera's place. We need to stop this thing before it gets that far. We need a plan," he said, glancing at me. I nodded.

"Like I said, we can only kill the drakus from the inside out. Fire clearly isn't working. This thing seems to have learned that fire is a huge no-no," I explained. Hermes frowned.

"We could just... use a different element."

"What? Fill it up like a water balloon until it bursts?" Demeter asked dryly. Hermes wrinkled his nose.

"I was gonna say like just stuff him full of rocks, but yeah, water works too."

"That won't do anything. It'll just blow it up to the size of the mountain," I said, shaking my head, "We need something better. Something like fire. And we need to make sure we send someone with perfect aim. If we miss, the thing will probably learn to avoid that too. It's on a learning streak." Zeus chewed at the inside of his cheek, his eyes studying the drakus before he tapped his fingers on the side of his suit, little electrical currents bouncing between his fingers and I smiled, glancing up at him.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked. He nodded, eyes still locked on the drakus.

"You're gonna have to open that thing's mouth again. And hold it open. Think you can do that without fucking up?" He asked me. I inclined my head, then looked at the others.

"Time for you guys to do your little dance routine again to distract it," I said. Poseidon groaned aloud and Demeter clapped him on the buttcheek, making him jump.

"Come on, sweetheart, just another two hours, maybe twenty minutes, and we can all go out for drinks. I'm thinkin' Gregory's Pub on Main. I'm buyin'," she added, and Poseidon paused to stroke his chin before he nodded. The two of them shot off to distract the drakus and Hermes looked at us.

"I'm going to get word to the others about what's going on here," he said before vanishing. Satanika looked at me.

"Just like old times, huh?"

"Oh yeah," I agreed with a smirk. We took off toward the drakus and Zeus got into position for his strike. Poseidon and Demeter threw blasts of fire and rock slamming into the creature. It roared and thrashed around, snapping its jaws at Poseidon, who spun out of the way and drew his hand up, summoning a column of rock that shot out of the ground and caught the drakus right under the chin, sending its head flying backwards on its long neck. It screeched so loud, my ears rang for a moment and I bumped the side of my head with the heel of my palm to try and get my hearing back. I leapt off to the side as it swung its massive head around and I jumped back, scaling up the side of a building via piping and threw myself over the lip of the roof, standing up straight just as the drakus turned its head around and locked those eerie gold and silver flecked eyes on me, its vertical slit pupil became thinner and its teeth clicked. A second later, it lunged for me and I cursed, jumping back and landing on the other side of the roof just as the drakus threw itself onto the building.

The roof gave way beneath my feet and I fell back with a loud curse, flying through the air before landing smack on my back on the concrete. It knocked the fucking wind out of me and I only managed a hoarse groan as I rolled over onto my side. I struggled to gasp for air as the drakus lifted itself from the wreckage, lunging for me. I managed to roll out of the way, but the fact that I could feel its hot breath that reeked of blood and something rotten freaked me the fuck out.

Too close for comfort.

The drakus lashed out at me again, stretching its neck out and jaws snapping in my direction again. I managed to push myself up onto my hands and knees, but there was no way I could teleport out of this. My nerves were tight, drawn to their limits, and I needed some semblance of concentration to teleport. And I had no time to sit there and figure it out as the drakus lunged for me again, and I shot to my feet and ran, despite the pain exploding up my sides and back. My arms pumped at my sides and my feet smacked the pavement as I ran, ducking under fallen phone lines and pipes.

The drakus screamed and started to charge after me. I glanced behind me, and noted with mild relief that the drakus was no longer on a warpath for the palace. No, instead, it was having fantasizes about rolling me up into a fucking burrito and biting my head off. I cursed aloud and kept running as the thing went after me, completely ignoring Poseidon and Demeter now as they screamed and shouted to get the thing's attention. Satanika managed to catch up to us, running along side on the rooftops, leaping over fallen structures and ducking under slashes the drakus made with its claws.

"Joxeia! What the hell?!" Satanika shouted.

"Needed more exercise!" I shouted back. She rolled her eyes, then ran up ahead and spun around in midair, throwing a god blast at the drakus, making it roar and duck backwards to shield its face. I kept running until there was a safe distance, enough for me to catch my breath and clutch at my side. I looked down to see blood soaking my hand and I cursed, looking down at my side to see that something sharp had actually punctured my suit.

Goddamn Hades.

No wonder the thing was after me. Nothing smelled more delicious than fresh blood to a drakus.

The drakus recovered from Satanika's blow and lashed out at the building she was on, tearing out the entire fourth floor out from under her feet. She gasped and leapt off the building to avoid being concrete in the way I had. The drakus swung back around and glared at me, its pupils pulsing as its long slimy tongue lolled out and ran across its fangs. It started toward me slowly, reminding me of a cat stalking its prey the way it was ducked down low, its tail swinging back and forth in the air slowly.

I dropped my hand from my side and flexed my fingers, watching the creature draw closer and closer. I could hear Poseidon and Demeter shouting from a distance and Satanika practically screaming no, Joxeia, you stupid asshole, don't! I smiled briefly at her before I watched the drakus get so close that its breath was blowing the hair back from my face, a hot blast that reeked of rotten meat and acidic stomach juices. Its pupils nearly became non-existent as it reeled its head back, jaws flying open. In that moment, I checked everyone's positions.

Poseidon about a block down from us, throwing stars at a group of faes that had burst from the rubble. Demeter was sprinting toward me, waving her hands for me to get the fuck out, and Satanika had been intercepted by a Cruentius foaming at the mouth. And Zeus was right behind me on a business building, reeling his arm back at the same time the drakus lunged at me.

I leapt back as the creature opened its jaws and I dropped to the ground as the sound of something screeching and crackling shot through the air. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I covered my head as I peered up, seeing a flash of white blue lightning fly overhead and disappear into the creature's mouth. The drakus's head kicked back and it trembled, shaking the earth around us as its pupils vanished and its body wobbled and swayed.

"Heads up!" I shouted as its body wheeled back toward Poseidon, who cursed and ran for Demeter, snatching her right up off her feet and into his arms. He ran right past me with Demeter and Satanika grabbed my arm, yanking me after her as we sprinted for the building where Zeus was positioned. We had barely reached the building before there was a long mournful wail from the drakus and it collapsed on a whole six blocks of buildings, crushing it all entirely, along with a good dozen fae and Cruentius. The ground below us continued to tremble for a while longer and we sought refuge from falling debris and rubble before everything went eerily still.

We stood in an open intersection of streets, staring at the giant dragon, waiting for it to get up and attack again, but it didn't move, merely lay in a crumpled dead heap. No more fae came out of the woodwork, no Cruentius from the trees. Everything was just... eerily silent. Aside from phones ringing in the abandoned buildings, someone's radio playing Another One Bites the Dust, and our breaths coming out in exhausted gasps.

"Get off me! Put me down! I'm not your woman, you asshole!" I raised an eyebrow and turned as Poseidon dropped Demeter on her feet after she'd bopped him on the head twice with her fist. He rubbed his head with a scowl, looking down at her.

"Christ, D, you almost gave me a concussion. Besides, if I hadn't come in when I had, you would've been the goddess of fucking pancakes," he said, dropping his arm to his holster to take out a cigarette box, to which Demeter made a noise of supreme disgust.

"For your information, I didn't need your help. And since when did you start picking up on smoking?" She demanded. Poseidon lit the cigarette and stuck it between his lips, taking a long drag before blowing the smoke into the air over Demeter's head, making her face twist up in repugnance.

"Just now," he answered dryly. Demeter smacked his arm just as Zeus came out of the building behind us.

"Nice throw, bro," Poseidon told him with a nod. Demeter rolled her eyes. Satanika just watched us with an amused stare, then stepped back as Zeus came right up to me and grabbed my face, giving me a fierce kiss on the mouth that resulted in him nipping my bottom lip so hard it bled and I grunted at the pain and force behind the kiss before he pulled back to glare at me.

"Don't ever fucking do that again," he said, shoving me in the chest and I smirked, putting a hand on my hip.

"But it worked, right?"

"I could've hit you."

"But you didn't. Because your aim is impeccable."

"Is it just me or does this seem like foreplay to you?" Poseidon asked, looking at Demeter, who shielded her face from us to glare up at Poseidon.

"You're all terrible... and yes, it does."

"Fuck off," Zeus told them, then shook his head, "Look, we need to deal with the mess those things made and we need to figure out who it is Atlan was after." Demeter frowned, lowering her hands to put on her hips.

"Maybe he's here for your pretty friend?" She asked, gesturing to me. Satanika glanced at me and I looked back at her before shaking my head.

"Atlan knows he can't force me to go anywhere. And why would he come after me anyway? He wants to publicly humiliate me. If he's after me, it's on the battlefield and with his own bare hands. No, he's here for someone else. And he didn't get him this time, which means he'll make another play if it's important enough to launch a battle out of nowhere. We'll figure it out later. Right now, we should tend to the citizens and make sure everyone's safe. And take a head count to see who's missing and what their connection may be to Atlan," I explained. Demeter nodded.

"I'll go let the others know," she said before vanishing. Poseidon put his cigarette out on the underside of his boot before flicking the butt to the ground and looking up at us.

"I'm gonna start a search party in this area and find someone to start fixing this mess up. I'll be in contact," he added before he teleported away. Satanika sighed, folding her arms over her chest.

"I'll go get Ares and we'll set up a medical station for anyone who was injured in the fighting. I'd ask you two to do something productive, you know, like figuring out who Atlan was after and what this move of his meant, but something tells me you guys are going to ignore everything I'm saying. So do what you have to and get back to work. And, Zeus, before you tell me that I shouldn't be bossing around, you'd do well to remember that the only reason I'm in this pantheon of yours is for Ares. Piss me off and you'll find out exactly why Love is the most powerful force on the planet," she explained drolly, then she turned to me, "And be careful, Jo. Something's not right here, and it definitely isn't the gigantic dragon sitting on top of that Macy's over there." She gave us a quick two fingered salute before vanishing in a column of smoke.

I turned to Zeus, who stared at where she was standing before he looked at me. We stared at each other for the longest time before we both vanished, reappearing just inside the doorway of Zeus's bedroom.

One second I was standing, looking at the bed, and the next, Zeus had grabbed me up in his arms and slammed me up against the wall. My legs wrapped around his waist as his mouth connected with mine so hard, our teeth clicked together.

He reached up and yanked the tie out of my hair, throwing it aside and reaching up to run his hand through my hair, twisting it around his fist and holding tight. I seethed against his mouth at the burn there and reached up to snatch at the zipper on his suit. I tore it down his back and wedged my hands inside, breathing hard as I found his hot skin there, sinking my fingernails down into that soft flesh.

He growled and slammed me against the wall again before he picked me up and dropped me back down on the bed. He ripped the suit off his body, then roughly rolled me over onto my back, tearing the zipper down and shoving it off my arms, his hands sliding across my skin along the way. A moan slipped past my lips as he ground his hips against my ass. I reached back to grab at his hair, purposely fucking it up and smirking with satisfaction. He snatched my hand off his head and nipped at my fingertips before he yanked the battlesuit down off my body and threw it on the floor where it fell in a heap with his. He went to grab my hips and mount me, but I reached back and scratched his face, making him hiss. I whipped around, catching him around the waist and throwing him down on the bed, straddling his hips and leaning down to capture his lips. He wrapped his arms around me, groaning as I took control of his mouth.

He moved his hips up against me, but I shoved them back down and moved my kisses from his lips to his neck, savoring the taste of his skin, nicking it with my fangs. He sank his hands into my hair and pulled hard, yanking my head back up so our lips were together again. Distracting him with a deep hungry kiss, I wet myself with a bit of lubricant and dropped myself down on top of him. He gasped and I bit back a cry of relief as he filled me up so completely that I couldn't move right away.

Fuck, he was huge. I knew that, but still, it was nothing like actually fitting him inside me.

And he slammed his hips up against me, making me drop down across his chest, panting hard. He gripped my hair and pulled my head up so I was looking at him, his chest rising and falling with hard gasps.

"Your nose is still bloody," he said randomly. I laughed breathlessly, letting my hair drag across his chest and he groaned, biting his lip. I nipped his bottom lip, drawing a finger up to trace around his nipple before I gripped it hard and twisted and he hissed, twisting his fingers up in my hair.

"Yeah, and you still look too clean for me," I responded. He laughed at that, then drew me in for a deep kiss. This time, I bit his lip open and he cursed, snapping his teeth at me, but I drew back before capturing his lips in a deep hungry kiss. I started to roll my hips and he moaned, arching his back and drawing me close against him now. I moved fast and hard, savoring his hard gasps and the way his muscles twitched under his skin.

I rode him long and hard, taking him deep inside me, listening to him make sounds that were so completely and utterly masculine. It was like being with a lion. The way he growled and roared, and pawed at me like he wasn't getting enough even though he was inside me. Fuck, it was like being a fuse that was lit and we were getting so close, so fucking close--

And it hit me in a huge explosion of colors in my vision. I cried out and Zeus shouted, kicking his head back and reaching up to grab at one of the steel bars on the wall, causing it to crack and bend in his grasp. My body took on a mind of its own, my adrenaline reaching its peak, shooting through my veins.

This was it, I realized in utter euphoria. This was the explosion. The fireworks. The fire burning in my veins. This was the tornado that grabbed me and swept me up into a violent spiral of passion and excitement. This wasn't soft and sweet, this wasn't delicate and thoughtful, this wasn't even about therapy anymore. It was straight up wild animal sex and fucking hell, it was amazing.

And it lasted for what felt like forever.

One orgasm wasn't enough. Two was not fucking enough.

Zeus threw me over onto my back and threw my legs up over his shoulder, ramming himself hard inside me and I shouted, throwing my head back against the pillow, my nails raking down his arms, leaving delicious red scratches from shoulder to forearm. Sweat dripped from his face and soaked the sheets, his breathing ragged and face flushed. He moved hard and fast, feeling the same passionate rush in his veins. He couldn't stop. It was like our bodies were so hungry, so thirsty, for more that even though our minds were exhausted, we couldn't stop. It was the beginning of an addiction and we were going to pop all fucking night if we could.

And we did.

By the time we had some semblance of sanity left, we were laying on the bed in exhaustion, muscles still twitching, breathing labored, bodies flushed and hot, and not even the fan we turned on really helped cool us down. I laid sprawled on the bed, legs exhausted, hips feeling sore, arms like rubber, and my head felt so fuzzy and warm, that feeling you got when you had finally found the right kind of alcohol and knew it was gonna be a fun time.

Beside me, Zeus was laying with his arms and legs out, his chest rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath, his eyes closed in absolute bliss. And a shock of satisfaction hit me when I saw his hair a crazy mess from having pulled at it so much.

I rolled over, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I managed to drape myself over his chest and he moaned quietly as I put my arm around him, resting my head against his pec, listening to his heart go wild.

"Your cell phone never went off," I noted in the silence around us, aside from the fan's soft humming and our breathing. Zeus scoffed, reaching over to his nightstand and fumbling around, knocking over papers and a couple bottles of cologne before he picked it up.

"Set it to silent mode after the second round," he said last, his voice hoarse from screaming as he turned it back on, "I figured this was a little more important." I hummed at that, brushing my thumb over his nipple where I'd bit him. He bit his bottom lip at that and shot me a look.

"I am exhausted. If you start up another round, I swear to the gods--"

"Oh, no. Just toying. Continue what you were doing," I responded. Zeus growled at me, snatching my hand up and nipping at my fingertips before he looked at his phone with a frown. I followed his gaze to see that he'd gotten nearly twenty-eight missed calls. Twenty of them from Hades and about eight of them from Satanika, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Apollo. He groaned, sweeping a hand through his hair before he answered Hades's call first. I listened to the faint drone of the ringing go on and on and on before Zeus hung up.

"He's not answering his phone," Zeus said dryly, as he dialed Demeter's number, "Of course not. Because he loves playing this game."

"What? He call you a hundred times and you don't answer, so he does the same thing to you?"

"Oh, so you know this game?"

"He plays it with Lucifer all the time. I'm surprised no one's learned to just ignore him in general," I answered dryly, propping myself up on my elbows before I crawled across the bed, leaning over the edge to pick up my battle suit from the floor, fishing around in the interior pockets for my cell phone before I pulled it out to check my recent calls. Sure enough, my inbox was a fuckload of calls from Lucifer, some from Hades, several from Akin and Arikos, and one from the police department in Hell.

Frowning, I checked the message from the police department and held the phone to my ear as Zeus asked Demeter what her call was about.

"Hello, St. John, it's Jane Wilder from the 6th District Hell Police Department. I'm calling to inform you that the body of that desdios you came to look at? Gone. It was scheduled for cremation at 1400 this afternoon, but when Chin went in to have the body taken to the funeral home, it was totally gone. We checked the cameras, but there's nothing there. Someone must have used a spell of some kind. Rob's thinking the body was rigged with a spell before hand, to disappear at a certain time. Anyway, I thought you might want to know since this seems to be very important to you. We're sorry we couldn't figure anything out more than that. Give me a call back and let me know if there's anything you might know. Right now, no one has come forward to claim the body. We were gonna put him in an unclaimed cemetery down in Portius, but it looks like someone finally claimed him. Just not officially. Have a nice night, St. John. And be careful. Something real spooky is goin' on." I looked down as I deleted the message, then held the phone to my mouth in my fist, frowning thoughtfully.

1400? That was about... what, the same time the attack on Olympus happened?

Shit.

I sat back on the bed as Zeus hung up, making a noise of utter annoyance. I glanced back at him.

"You got a fun call too?" I asked. Zeus gave me an irritated look as he went through his phone to clean his inbox out.

"Several. Everyone was calling about the attack earlier. According to Demeter, no one's missing, but there's about twenty dead residents and probably several billion creds worth of damage done. And also my bitch ex-wife called to tell me that she's taking her palace from Olympus," he explained dryly. I frowned.

"Taking her palace off Olympus," I repeated. It sounded like she was just going to chuck the thing into a shopping cart and be off. Zeus appeared just as bitterly amused by it as I did. He scooted to the edge of the bed, tossing his cell phone onto the pillow and wiping his hands down his face before settling them on either side of his nose. The tension of stress was back in his shoulders, back in his face, and he looked thoroughly exhausted, irritated.

I set my phone aside and came over to sit behind him, slipping my arms under his and connecting them at his chest. He appeared startled by the action, then seemed to relax. I rested my head against his back.

"We'll work it out. I'm more than responsible for the damage anyway. I'll repair what I can and help you with any arrangements you need to make. That's what I'm here for," I explained. Zeus swallowed, didn't look at me now, and seemed interested in the scratches I'd left on his arms. Scratches he could've easily just willed away, but he appeared to want to keep them since he wasn't healing them.

"Yeah, for how long?" He muttered. I sighed.

"I don't know, Zeus. Honestly, I have no idea." Because for all I knew, the thing Atlan was after could be critical to the war, which meant Akin was right.

Atlan knew something we didn't.

And if he was confident enough to bulldoze a path through Olympus, it was something that would tip the scales in the war.

Shit... Fuck. Something told me things were about to get much worse.