Chapter Thirty-Six

"Someone pissed in your cornflakes this morning."

Zeus's comment had me snapping my head to look at him as he stood outside one of the meeting rooms, waiting for a family of four, the parents fighting for custody of their dog and flat screen television. He leaned against the wall, looking aloof and cool in his black on black suit, a pair of sunglasses sitting on that damned perfect blonde hair, cold blue eyes sweeping the hallway with an air of cool boredom.

I let my eyes drift back toward the entrance to the building, arching a single brow as I folded my arms over my chest.

"There's a war going on at the same time as your therapy session, and unfortunately, I am involved in both," I answered. Zeus rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall, putting a hand on his hip and giving me a droll look.

"Boo hoo for you. I'll take over your war planning job if you take over my other twenty thousand jobs," he said, to which I snorted.

"No way. I'll take Atlan over marital disputes any day," I assured. Zeus nodded, appearing to completely understand the sentiment. He looked up as the family approached the front doors, using their day pass to get inside, and the entire time, the parents were yelling at each other and the children were fighting over something that looked like a robot doll with a missing eye. Cringing inwardly, I turned to Zeus, who took a deep breath and glanced up at the ceiling, silently praying to a greater power to give him strength.

A smile tickled my lips. Well, I was a greater power in comparison to him.

We disappeared into the meeting room as the family came in. It was several rounds of wife accusing husband of cheating, husband having proof of wife cheating, kids crying about ripping their toy in half in the background, and Zeus rubbing at his temples before he finally confiscated both the dog and the television set and splitting the price of the items to go to husband and wife, neither of whom was happy with the results, but too terrified of Zeus's snarl to actually protest it.

After junking the television and sending the dog to Ares's place, we headed back to Zeus's palace for lunch. I watched him go into the kitchen on the second floor to the side of the living space, preparing a meal on his own.

It was interesting to watch him move around the kitchen, appearing to be oddly comfortable, even in his suit. Although, he draped that black jacket on the back of a chair at the breakfast bar while he worked. His sleeves rolled up and those eyes locked on the ingredients, he moved quickly and threw a bunch of vegetables in a pan. As he worked, I meandered closer to watch his hands crack open a couple eggs single-handedly while his opposite hand moved the skillet.

"And here I thought you had a servant for that," I commented, to which he scoffed.

"I'm not completely helpless," he drawled. Even as he spoke, however, I read the truth loud and clear in his thoughts. He didn't learn to cook because it was a hobby or because he wanted to; he learned to cook after Hera tried to poison him six times in the past.

Six times, I thought, impressed at Hera's persistence. Speaking of the goddess, she had yet to return to Olympus. The only word from her in the past few days was a simple "fuck you and go to hell" letter, plus a "return my items to me" list. To which Zeus responded by not only burning her stuff and pouring the ashes into a box, but adding an exaggerated dildo and a note wishing her well in her life. It appeared these two gods had hated each other for a while, though, if Hera had been poisoning him in the past, while they were still married.

I kept the interesting tidbit about Hera to myself, watching as Zeus broke open a couple of peppers, scraping the insides out onto a paper plate before he chopped with expert skill until they were neatly julienne sliced. He snapped his fingers and started a fire in another burner, getting out another pot and a bag of rice.

"Asian?" I asked.

"Teriyaki chicken," Zeus answered absentmindedly as he washed the rice out in the sink, "Saw it on the food network last week and wanted to give it a shot."

"You prefer not using recipes."

"Recipes are bossy cunts like my ex-wife. I can do it myself." I stifled a laugh at that, watching Zeus pour the rice in the pot and add in a few seasonings. He moved back to the skillet, sliding everything around. It was when he brought the pan back that his sleeve rode up and I noted a peculiar scar running from his inner elbow to his wrist. At first, I hadn't noticed it since the end near the wrist was faded, but the part at the elbow was deep and very permanent.

Most gods could heal well enough to get rid of scars. However, sometimes things kept them from healing them. There was an emotional root to it. It had been caused in childhood, when their powers of healing weren't so great. It was a reminder of a dark time they didn't want to forget.

I reached out, taking Zeus's arm in my hand when he released the pan, and he scowled at me, but I ignored him as I brushed my finger over the raised scar and felt a vision grab hold of me. One moment I was standing in the kitchen and the next, I was in a beautiful home so many centuries past.

Made of high quality wood and stonework, the home was two stories with several bedrooms, a massive kitchen, and and a large sitting room where several chairs had been pushed back against the wall. A moment later, a family of nymphs appeared in the room. Most of them were laughing, sharing drinks. A couple were kissing on the floor, another couple disappearing toward one of the bedrooms.

I instantly recognized the female nymph that had taken Zeus in, his foster mother, standing near the entryway to the home with what appeared to be her husband, given the way he grabbed her backside. She stifled a smirk at him, and instead pinched his cheek hard enough to turn it pink and he growled. Her smirk vanished as she appeared to catch sight of something behind her husband.

Hissing through her teeth, she quickly shoved her drink at her husband, who followed her with a look of utter disgust. I saw something dart into the hallway by the rooms and followed them.

They didn't get far.

Zeus's foster mother had him by the back of his neck and was hauling him into a small narrow room... upon closer inspection, it was a stairwell, very dark, with only a single light lit downstairs.

"What did I tell you about coming out when we have guests," the nymph snarled at him, dragging him down the staircase while her husband shut the door behind him and followed them down. At the bottom of the stairs, she slung Zeus to the floor. Zeus, only about age six at the time, scrambled across the ground, breathing hard before he looked up at her.

"Jericho tolds me it was safe to come out!" He exclaimed, looking puzzled as he rubbed the back of his neck. That speech impediment was still there, and somehow, I found it sweet and endearing. Unfortunately, his foster parents did not. His foster mother covered her ears, making a noise of distress and her husband came over to snatch at Zeus's hair, making him squeak in pain.

"Jericho isn't that stupid," he snarled, yanking hard at Zeus's hair, "You know you're not to be seen by anyone! Or do you want Cronus to come and eat you too?" Zeus shook his head, eyes tearful, but thankfully they didn't fall this time. His foster father shoved him against the floor again, turning to depart, with a quick hissed threat at his wife to keep Zeus locked inside the basement until the party above was finished.

"If you dare to fucking leave this room again, I will cut your little legs off and feed them to your daddy," she snarled at Zeus, who flinched and shrank back from her. She raked him with a disgusted sneer before she took off up the stairs. This time, she slammed the door shut and a heavy block of wood was put in front of the door to keep Zeus contained.

My eyes drifted to Zeus, who sat on the floor, staring up at the stairs. A strange gurgling sound echoed in the room and it took me a moment to realize it was Zeus's stomach. And in the process, I scanned the room and realized... it really wasn't a room. It was more of a prison. In one corner was a bunch of scattered hay, in another corner, a wooden pail, and no windows. The only door was the door up the stairs.

Fuck, this was his room? There was literally nothing here, but a bed of straw and a wooden pail that doubled as his latrine, and from the smell of it, it hadn't been emptied out in ages. The stench of the room was horrid; feces, urine, sweat, and blood. The hay in the room had also begun to mold, considering the basement was damp.

This was cruel, even for an animal. And Zeus was a god.

I looked back over at the small child in the middle of the room, watching him stare up at the door longingly, his mind going through several possible ways of getting upstairs to get something to eat. After a long moment, his expression slowly became hopeless, tired. He got up slowly, and I watched him favor his left leg as he limped over to the bed of hay and dropped down in it. He looked around, back up at the door for the longest time, then he reached into his tunic and pulled out what appeared to be a rusty old pocket blade. He studied the rusted blade in the single lantern that hung from the ceiling, swinging every so often from the activity upstairs.

He moved the knife back and forth between his hands before he pressed it into his arm, just inside his elbow. He bit back a cry of pain, tears welling up in his eyes, and he drew it down hard, but his grip faltered near the end and he dropped the blade. Panting hard, he scooted back against the pile of hay and laid down, closing his eyes.

His intention was to die. He was a child. Yet he knew what death was, he knew death would be far kinder to him than anyone else. He was prepared to accept death.

Unfortunately for him, it never happened.

As if sensing the danger to his life moments after, the nymph named Jericho came down the stairs, peered over the railing, and shouted up to his mother before he sprinted down across the room and snatched Zeus up under the arms, dragging him toward the stairs, only to drop him like a rag doll to the floor and rushing upstairs to get help. He didn't appear to really care that he'd dropped Zeus's head against the stone floor, enough so that a little crack sounded.

The vision faded out just as Jericho was coming back down the stairs with a handful of sheets, his mother and father running in behind him.

"What are you doing?" Zeus asked me suspiciously, yanking his arm from my grasp. I blinked a few times, then cleared my throat, shaking my head. I found it difficult to speak after the vision.

I looked at Zeus now, seeing him so tall and muscular, so strong and proud. Instead of a dirty old tunic, he wore a fifteen thousand credit suit, used twenty hundred cred hair gel, wore a pair of twelve thousand credit loafers, a matching watch, those sunglasses. And instead of being messy and tearful and starving, he was standing in his very own kitchen, clean and healthy, making his own food.

Shit. His past was intense. I hadn't expected to be so... cold. Empty. No wonder Zeus had no idea what affection was. No wonder my touch frightened him. He had no idea what it was. He literally had no concept of love or affection, of tenderness, kindness. In a sad way, he reminded me so much of his siblings, of Hades, and even Hannibal.

Why was the world so cruel? Zeus had only wanted to be loved, to be taken care of. Hades and Hannibal, too, had been desperate for affection, and not just from their parents. Their siblings as well. Hannibal had tried to play with his brothers, tried to earn their respect at the very least, but no matter what he'd done, they'd scorned him. Hades had tried so hard to be kind to people, but he was slapped for it, and he could no longer remember what it was like to be kind, to accept kindness.

I recognized that balance was part of everything in this universe. From the big picture of good and evil, to the smaller details, like a person's life. I recognized suffering was required as part of the balance, but goddamn. Why did it have to be so painful? Wasn't it bad enough that these people hadn't received the unconditional positive regard from their parents, that they had to receive cruelty and punishment and misery from everyone else?

In the end, however, Hades had found love. He found it in Lucifer, who was willing to do anything to protect him and love him, even if it meant pissing him off. And Hannibal had also found love. He'd made horrid mistakes, fallen down so many dark holes, been slapped by everyone around him, yet in the end, he'd found Akin, who loved him and adored him and worshipped the very ground he walked on.

It was Zeus's turn to find that happiness. It wasn't his fault that his parents were sociopaths. It wasn't his fault his foster parents saw him as nothing more than a show dog for their people. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know what love was.

Unfortunately, in order to reach the stage that Hannibal and Hades had, Zeus would need to tread treacherous waters. He had to open his heart. He had to learn what love was, and not only love, but regret, remorse. He had to learn to accept that pain happened, but it could be healed. He needed to recognize his actions in the past as wrong, and forgive not only himself, but those who've scorned him.

And something told me Zeus was going to have difficulties. He'd been hardwired for this. Not only were genetics crushing his hopes, but his upbringing. He'd been reared to be a warrior. Bloodshed, violence, victory, determination. Those were bred into him. Rewriting all of that was going to be huge, and could quite possibly take longer than I anticipated.

But it was going to happen. One way or another, I was going to help Zeus find happiness. If it was the last thing I did, I was going to fucking make this happen.

Zeus finished cooking and plated the food on the breakfast bar, going to a wooden door that revealed an opening in the wall where several bottles of vintage wine sat in wait. He pulled a bottle out, and I watched him make his way to the bar.

"Not a wine cellar?" I asked. Zeus's eyes flickered at that and he frowned as he popped the cork and poured the wine.

"I don't like cellars, and I prefer having my wine right where I can get it," he answered. I nodded, though, something told me his aversion to cellars went a bit deeper than that. I said nothing about it, however, as Zeus pushed the wine glass down me, then sat down beside me to eat. Glancing at him out the corner of my eye while I ate, I watched him eat. Somehow, I was expecting him to stuff his face and eat like a caveman, and I suppose that was regretfully due to the rumors that flew around about him, but he ate quite elegantly.

His table manners were ridiculously on point. And look at that, he even ate with his mouth closed. He paused every so often to take a sip of wine, letting it sit in his mouth for a moment so he could savor the taste, before swallowing and continuing with his meal. At least until he caught me staring, and he scowled.

"Alright, what the fuck are you doing? Reading my mind? Sucking out my soul?" He demanded. I smiled.

"Is that what you think I do, Zeus?" I asked. Zeus grunted, looking back down at his food, taking another small bite. Chew, chew, chew, swallow. He glanced at me.

"Either that or just fucking creeping on me. And here I thought we were just gonna fuck for six months," he snorted. I shook my head.

"Fucking doesn't happen until I say it happens. Do you understand that, Zeus?" I asked. Zeus blinked, then looked up to pin me with an irritated glare.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," he answered in a growl. He went back to eating, but his chewing was much harder, angrier. I resisted the urge to laugh at him. I'd already riled him up enough. It was time to get down to business and start helping Zeus. And it all started with hiring people to take over his "twenty-thousand" jobs. Actually, that was hardly an exaggeration given everything he had to do on a daily basis.

For the afternoon, we'd cancelled all of Zeus's meetings and scheduled in interviews with possible candidates to help Zeus. Starting with several law firms to be implemented on Olympus, a new hospital administration board, and a veteran soldier from Hell hoping to start a law enforcement agency to keep tabs on the rest of the community. Since Zeus's eyes weren't everywhere at once and it would really help, both in the long run and for the war that was on our heels.

Once we finished lunch, we returned to the meeting building to meet with the first law firm board we'd planned a meeting with. As we sat in wait in the office, Zeus began to fidget. And I mean, really fidget. He was squeezing the arms of his chair, bending the corners of his papers, straightening his tie, pulling out his pockets, stuffing them back in.

"Zeus," I said suddenly, making him jolt in his seat at the interruption before he pinned me with a glare, "Stop. You're nervous."

"I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous."

"Everyone gets nervous."

"I don't."

"Then why are you fidgeting?"

"I'm not fidgeting."

"You're wiggling around in the seat, you're folding your papers and ruining them, and you've brought your thumb to your mouth like ten times in preparation to chew your nails, but decided against it. Also, if you tap out the tune to Queen's Another Bites the Dust with your foot, I'm going to burn those loafers and your Queen albums." Zeus stiffened in his seat, gripping the arms of the leather seat again. Apparently my observations made him extremely uncomfortable.

"It'll help if you talk about it," I offered, making him narrow his eyes, "You can vent on me all you want. I won't even make a commentary, and for the record, everything we discuss is strictly between us. I will not speak of anything that goes on between us." He didn't believe me. I could see it in his eyes. Hear it in his thoughts.

"I have no reason to talk to anyone else about what goes on between us," I assured, "Currently, I am not speaking to Lucifer, because he's an asshole that cares more about chasing after Hades than he does about anything I have to say." Why did I just say that. I hadn't meant to say that. I meant to comfort Zeus by telling him Lucifer was too busy to discuss things with me. I found myself momentarily fascinated at the disclosure of being angry with Lucifer, because I hadn't particularly felt angry until now.

Zeus raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who needs to vent," he said dryly. I took a deep breath, counted to ten, then looked at him.

"Even I get stressed sometimes, Zeus. Every living, breathing creature in this universe becomes stressed, can get nervous, weeps, and laughs. It is part of who we are. It is what makes us soulful," I explained calmly. Zeus studied me for the longest time. His eyes searched my face. His thoughts were filled with questions. His heart hurt. He was scared. He didn't want to talk about things. Any time he'd opened his mouth to talk to someone before, they'd shut him down faster than he could finish the first word.

Even Hera had shut him out when they'd gotten married. His idea of marriage was innocent in the beginning. His thinking was that he could trust Hera, she was not only his sister, but his wife, his partner in crime during the Titanomachy. He may have destroyed his chances with Hades, but Hera would be different.

Unfortunately, Hera was the exact opposite of what Zeus had been hoping for. She'd instantly used her position as queen to get back at her siblings for apparently treating her poorly in Cronus's stomach. She'd also killed several nymphs from the clan that harbored Zeus, including the husband of the female who trained Zeus. She also tried to poison Zeus during their first meal together as a couple in order to take full control of the pantheon. While she denied it to Zeus, Zeus knew the truth. He'd watched Hera do it. So, in order to avoid another attempt on his life, he'd hired a cooking staff to make his meals.

Hera had paid off the chef and poisoned Zeus again. Zeus fired the chef, then hired a new staff. Once more, poisoned. He fired the entire cooking staff, hired a new staff. Poisoned again. Fired the staff and hired a single chef recommended by Poseidon. Poisoned. Fired. Another chef. Poisoned. Fired. In the end, Zeus realized that he would have to prepare his own foods. Poisoned again, because Hera poisoned the ingredients. He had to actually go out and purchase his own foods. Poisoned. He started his own garden. Poisoned. Conjuring his foods was the only way he could protect himself.

Everyone he hired could be paid off, or intimidated into harming him. He trusted no one. Not even his own wife.

"This is stupid," Zeus said at last, looking frustrated as he once again began to toy with the edges of his papers. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's stupid?" I asked. Zeus tapped his finger on the table, and a second later began to once again tap out Another One Bites the Dust. Fed up, I reached across the table and grabbed Zeus's hand, stopping him mid-tap. He froze, then looked up at me, those eyes sharpening, becoming angry and offended and terrified all at once.

"Will you stop doing that?" He snapped, yanking his hand away from me.

"You're nervous. I want you to talk about it."

"Why? So you can record it and take it back to Lucifer?"

"I told you, we're not speaking right now."

"Why?" Zeus challenged. I studied him intently. His mind was set. He was not going to speak if I didn't speak first. I had given him no sign of trust, not really. Trust was earned. He needed to know that if I should betray him at any time, he would need something to throw back at me. He needed to know that I was as nervous as he was at some point, or as angry as he was.

I sat back in my seat, steepling my fingers for a moment in front of me before I dropped my hands down in my lap.

"Lucifer is trying to protect Hades," I said slowly, watching Zeus frown, immediate alarm flickering through his eyes at the thought of something trying to go for Hades, and I found that extremely interesting, but continued anyway, "Hades hates it. He doesn't want to be protected. He doesn't need it, he says, and to be honest, he really doesn't."

"And what does this have to do with you?" Zeus asked. I looked at him.

"It fucking pisses me off that I'm brushed aside so easily," I admitted, clenching my fist and unclenching it to keep from breaking something in the room, "And before you snicker about jealousy, it's not. Jealousy would indicate I share a position with Hades in Lucifer's eyes, and I do not. Lucifer is my brother. I've been with him through several marriages, deaths, the birth of his children, and so many wars. Frankly, I'm glad Lucifer found someone to love who won't die, who won't leave, who won't be frightened of him. Unfortunately, Lucifer forgets that Hades isn't the only person who exists in this world."

"So you're jealous," Zeus deadpanned. I glared at him.

"Not jealous. He's not just ignoring me. He's ignoring his children. He's ignoring his duties. The war he conveniently forgets is looming over our heads. I understand he feels Hades needs him, but right now, Hades wishes to be alone. He wants Lucifer to accept his judgments, and love him despite."

"But he doesn't," Zeus agreed smoothly, making me raise an eyebrow as he looked down at his perfectly manicured fingernails, "Lucifer will never be able to love Hades the way Hades deserves to be loved."

"But you can," I filled in questioningly. Zeus hesitated, but didn't look up. He swallowed.

"I never said that."

"You implied it."

"I didn't."

"Do you love Hades, Zeus?" I asked. Zeus stared intensely at his nails, like they would hold all the answers to his problems. I tilted my head, put my hand on the table to get his attention. He looked up, appearing startled out of his thoughts.

"Zeus?" I asked. Zeus stared at me. I stared back. I could feel him getting ready to answer. I could see it in the words on his lips yes. Yes, i fucking love him. I fucking adore him. I'm obsessed with him. I want him. My heart bleeds for him. My soul screams for him. Fuck, i want him-- no, I need him. The words were building up, his lips parting--

"Good afternoon, my Lord." I resisted the urge to throw my hand out and blast the lawyer and his board into oblivion. Instead, I stiffly sat back in my seat and Zeus was on his feet. Gone with his desperate hungry expression, the terrified gleam in his eyes. He was all business, cool and calm. He stood up and shook the hands of the five board members coming in. He sat down and they began a discussion of possible offices in the area, payment plans, and so on.

It was boring garbage, to be honest. I mean, I was thankful Zeus seemed open to the idea of having assistance, but goddamn it, I was close to a real breakthrough. Unfortunately, we'd been interrupted and Zeus had retreated deep inside himself once more.

I may have gotten his honest thoughts, but I wanted to hear it from his mouth. I wanted to hear him vocalize the one emotion he was forbidden to feel by those nymphs. I wanted to hear him, for once, speak honestly, to bare his soul to me. Oddly enough, that was far more arousing than his smack talk last night.

The only thing that could douse that sudden raging hard-on was the reminder that, in order to almost draw that conclusion out of Zeus, he'd succeeded in drawing something out of me.

Something I'd never paid much mind to, and thinking about it only aggravated me.

Lucifer was casting me aside. Not just me, but his duties as ruler of the realm, his duties as a father. It was frustrating, watching Lucifer pine after Hades like that was all that mattered in his life, and to be honest, I could see it was beginning to stress Hades out as well.

Hades was serious about his position as lord of the Greek underworld. Maybe not at first, but recently, he'd thrown all of his concentration into it. He was even focusing more on his sons, all of whom appeared surprised, but very welcoming of the attention, even in their age. Hades was picking up in all aspects of his life... and Lucifer was falling backwards. While Hades was improving his general lifestyle, Lucifer was slowly narrowing his focus in on Hades.

Which was fine, for a time, as they adjusted to a new relationship.

But Lucifer was ignoring everyone else in favor of Hades. And even Hades himself knew this was unhealthy.

I suppose it made sense, if I looked at it from a different point of view.

Lucifer had lost all of his wives, and near the end, he'd learned not to become too attached. They'd all die in the end, or worse, leave him because he was dangerous. He'd finally found the perfect partner in Hades; someone who challenged him, someone who couldn't die from a mere feeding, someone who was just as smart as he was, someone who understood his pain and shared it. But if someone threatened Lucifer, he went into panic mode. He'd finally gotten the ideal partner and he would be damned if anyone would take him away. The problem was... if Hades left of free will, would Lucifer let him, or would he become the monster he feared so much?

Gods, what a headache.

Zeus, Hades, Lucifer. Fuck, myself. I could help as many people as I wanted, and I enjoyed it, truly, but there was one person I couldn't help and it wasn't Hades. It was me.

Stressed and suddenly wanting to jump into a jacuzzi, I was relieved when the meetings with the law firms were finished and we had a good two hours before the next meeting with the hospital board.

"So, what did you think of them?" I asked Zeus as we walked out of the building. Zeus walked with one hand tucked into the pocket of his pants, reaching up to bring a pair of sunglasses down over his eyes to block out the vibrant sun overhead.

"I don't like them," he deadpanned, and I sighed, making Zeus curl his lips, "I hate lawyers. Blood sucking bunch of bastards."

"Well, one of them was a vampire."

"You know what I mean," he muttered, "I don't want lawyers who are gonna bleed my people dry. I don't want them to ignore the needs of the people for the sake of a pay day. I don't want them to destroy another person's life to make a case. Unless the person fucking deserves it. I don't want to do this whole jury and judge bullshit. I want the cases presented to me." I raised an eyebrow, interested in his reasoning. I had expected a whole spiel about not trusting lawyers, and while that was certainly the case, its roots went deeper than just your usual distaste for lawyers.

A quick peek at his thoughts confirmed his words were honest, sincere. I was beginning to wonder if Zeus could even lie. Given that he truly did not care about social acceptance, he said what he honestly thought. If someone hated him for it, he didn't care. He was a god, for fuck's sake. A king.

No, his concern was the citizens. I found that oddly... sweet. He may yell and snarl at them, but he didn't have to help them, didn't have to hold meetings to help them solve their problems, but he did anyway. He took time out of his day, out of his life, to come out here and help people with even the most menial things, from dealing with custody battles to business licenses, to making sure someone received the health care that they needed here.

The reason he didn't want to bring someone else in? Because he didn't want someone who didn't care about his people. He didn't want greedy dicks taking over the place. He also didn't want perpetrators to get away with their crimes. He wanted punishments for child abusers, he wanted to be lenient with first time offenders. He wanted to make sure order was restored, and he also wanted to keep his people happy.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do both. He couldn't make everyone happy and he couldn't fix everything. He also couldn't do everything by himself. He was working himself to the bone, stressing himself out, frustrating his people having to line up appointments with him that are probably scheduled all the way out until the next century. He had no time to think about himself, not really, he had no time to relax and recover. He had no time to figure out who he was, now that he finally had the freedom from those nymphs, from the war against the Titans.

"Then we'll keep looking," I told him as we walked down the path toward the marketplace to pick up ingredients for dinner tonight, "We don't have to choose the ones we met today. We can just schedule meetings with more people tomorrow. I know a lot of people who would be interested in doing business in Olympus, and they're not blood sucking bastards either. Not really." They were vampires, but that was besides the point. Zeus sighed in frustration, reaching up to rub at his temples before he nodded.

"Alright, fine. But can we do it the day after? I'm taking tomorrow off."

"Sure your citizens will appreciate that?"

"No. I'll leave my emergency call line open, though," he muttered as he reached into his pocket and took out his phone. No sooner had he turned it on did the phone suddenly blare with a creepy siren sound that made him curse. He vanished on and the spot and it took me a moment to locate him, and when I did, I went immediately to his location.

The place was further down the mountain. It appeared to be a neighborhood with most of the houses looking to be the same with white paneling and tall Doric columns, sleek black metal roofing, and gardens that belonged on the front of Homes and Gardens. One house in particular had gotten Zeus's attention, one at the end of the short gravel path. It was a tad smaller than the rest, but still beautiful and well-kept. The large blue front door was busted open and laying across a hardwood foyer, and inside, I could hear a woman screaming and a child wailing at the top of his lungs.

Frowning, I quickly made my way into the house, stepping over the door and the broken glass of the small peeking window. I looked up through the house, an interior at odds with the exterior with its old Victorian furnishings and cherry-wood decor. To the left in the living room, a female was cowering in a corner, clutching a small three-year-old child to her chest. Across from them, Zeus had Jericho pinned to the wall by his throat and was squeezing so hard, it was a miracle the nymph's head didn't pop off.

"Where is she, you bastard?" Zeus snarled. He picked Jericho up off the wall, then slammed him in again, this time destroying the ugly red on red rose wallpaper and smashing wooden planks inside. Jericho bared his fangs, reaching up to sink his claws into Zeus's beefy palm.

"None of your damn business," he barked, "She's my daughter!"

"I asked where she is, now tell me before I paint your fucking walls with your entrails!"

"Fuck off!"

Zeus threw Jericho clear across the room so he skidded across the hardwood floor and came to a stop at my feet. He wheezed and coughed, clutching his throat. Zeus stalked over to him and he scrambled on the floor, only to back up against my legs, jerking his head up to stare at me. Seeing temporary salvation, he leapt to his feet and got behind me, grabbing at my arm.

"He's fucking nuts," Jericho exclaimed incredulously, tugging at my sleeve in a way that was going to tear the fragile material, "He just barged in here for no reason!" Zeus glowered at him, but stopped when he reached me.

"Move, John, I have a skull to smash."

I didn't move, nor did I speak. Instead, I read the room and let it tell the story. Jericho's wife, Molly, had called Zeus after she'd discovered Jericho had sold their daughter to a traveling merchant. Horrified, she'd attacked Jericho, but she had no idea what sort of monster she'd married. Jericho had easily subdued her and threatened to kill their own son, who was now hollering at the top of his lungs, face streaked with tears. Zeus had come right at Molly's call and was intent to find the daughter. Unfortunately, his hatred of Jericho was interfering.

Jericho had tormented Zeus as a child. He'd taken every chance he could to make Zeus feel inferior, from tattling on him to their parents to catching him in the dark to assault him. He'd even attacked him psychologically; one such incident being read from Zeus's mind was the time Jericho had made Zeus believe Jericho's cousin, one of the few who knew of his presence in the village, had a crush on him and sent him a love letter. Zeus arrived at the house, having risked sneaking out to see her, only for her to laugh at him and slam the door shut in his face, effectively breaking his nose.

Now the rage Zeus felt for Jericho had surfaced and was boiling over. He was more than ready to finally kill Jericho, and why he hadn't done it in the first place was beyond me. It seemed so like Zeus to kill Jericho the moment he took the throne, but for some reason, he'd allowed him to live.

That was about to change.

"Zeus," I said calmly, watching him go still, "Stop for one moment. You will never be able to find the girl if you kill him. And I realize you want to kill him, but the girl is more important. She's why you came here in the first place, isn't?" Zeus said nothing. Simply glared. But he'd stopped his advances on Jericho and was now still, aside from breathing raggedly.

Satisfied that he wasn't going to attack now, I turned to Jericho, who glared at me as he took a step back.

"She's my property," Jericho told me sternly, "I am to do with her as I please. We need the money and it's far more important than blood ties. My parents would've sold me on the spot for the greater good. Besides, Melina was stupid. The only good quality she had was being attractive." I studied him to see if that truly had been his intent, if he truly did feel that way about his daughter... and much to my disgust, he did. Jericho's upbringing had soured him. He'd become greedy. Worse, their money was not going towards the support of their family. It was going toward gambling, Jericho's current vice. Amongst others.

"May I ask to whom you sold her to?" I asked. Jericho curled his lip.

"Why? You prepared to pay a higher price for her?" He asked. I stepped closer to him. He tried to move away, but I froze him in place and he blinked, eyes widening in realization. He struggled against the invisible hold as I approached him. I put my hand on his chest, slid it up slowly before I could plant my hand over the bruised palm mark of Zeus's grasp around his neck from earlier.

"I am prepared to slice out your organs to pay off the debt you've sunk your family into," I said, watching him stare at me in shock at knowing what he had told no one, "Now, give me the location of your daughter or I'll flay you while you still breath and relish the sound of your screams as I keep you alive through the entire process, until I cut out the very last piece of you." Jericho's mouth fell open, closed, then opened again. He gaped like that for a moment, looking past me at Zeus, who came over to stand beside me, looking more than ready to cut Jericho alongside me.

"His name is Guster," he said at last, his voice hoarse, "He left this morning. I think he said he was headed to Hades."

"Shit," I cursed, stepping back and releasing the magic on Jericho, who collapsed to the floor. Zeus wiped a hand down his face in frustration, stepping back as he put a hand on his hip.

"If he feeds her food from that god forsaken realm..." Zeus's voice trailed. I nodded grimly, then took a deep breath to calm myself.

"I'll go get her," I said, turning to Zeus, who frowned at me, "It won't take long."

"I'm going with you," Zeus said, making me raise an eyebrow, "I want to see the sick pervert who took my niece... and watch him choke on his blood." Jericho curled his lip at him.

"Why do you even give a shit? She's not your daughter. She's property. You're stupid for going along with this silly trend of giving a shit about females. They're property, Zeus, you--"

"You clearly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about," Zeus said dryly, reaching down to snatch Jericho up and shove him at a table in the foyer, "In case you haven't realized, my sisters survived a realm that would have you shitting your pants and killing yourself within two hours. They survived a decade there. In case you haven't realized, your mother scared me shitless because she was ridiculously badass. And, once again, in case you haven't realized, your wife withstood your bullshit for the sake of her children, because they were more important to her than saving herself. And she could've left at any time. So before you feed me pussyass complaints about how females are nothing, you might want to watch yourself. Something tells me she, whoever she is, will be your downfall."

Jericho swallowed at that, said nothing as Zeus led the way out of the house. I paused to look back at Jericho's wife, watching her expression change as her face went from soft and fearful with Zeus, to cold and hard when she locked eyes on Jericho, who stared back at her hesitantly.

I waved my hand, repairing the door and closing it shut behind me as I made my way over to Zeus, who stood at the end of the path, taking his sunglasses out of his pocket to put them on before he paused to look at his reflection in the lenses. One would mistake it for narcissism, but the expression on Zeus's face was anything, but adoration for himself.

He looked exhausted. Angry.

"She's going to kill him," I told Zeus, making him blink and look up at me, "His wife. It's like you said... She knows when she's fought long enough. She knows when its time to go in for the kill." Zeus looked past me at the house, his thoughts conflicted between letting Jericho's wife kill him and saving the cold-blooded bastard who helped him become the warrior that he was today. He turned away after a second, tucking his glasses into his pocket.

"Won't be needing those where we're going," he muttered. I inclined my head. We teleported from Olympus to the realm of Hades. We appeared at the main entrance, mostly out of respect of Hades's realm and his laws. Not to mention, Zeus couldn't get past the barrier on the realm anyway. The moment we appeared in the deep trench in the mountains, there was a deep rumbling in the ground and smoke exploded out in front of us, making Zeus take a step back.

The smoke began to fade, revealing a freakishly tall beast. Thick black hair that fell in haphazard waves around a ruggedly handsome face, eyes the color of blood, skin a rich shade of olive. Decked out like a poster boy for a goth band with black leather pants, v-neck top, leather jacket, and buckled boots that touched his knees, Cerberus, the Guardian of Hades, made quite a friendly sight when one attempted to enter the realm without permission.

"Yo," Cerberus paused, then wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Ah, fuck. What the hell are you doing here? And who's the pretty dude?" He looked at Zeus, then glanced at me, arching a brow. True enough, I had never met Cerberus in this form. He'd only ever seen my snake form. I offered him a smile, then flicked my tongue out like a snake and Cerberus made a noise of distress, taking a step back.

"St. John! Yeah, that's who you are, right? Damn, man. That tongue thing is freaky. You should stick to this form. Much more attractive," he added, folding his arms over his chest, though shuddering one last time as if the idea of snakes frightened him. Highly amusing considering in his final form, he grew a tail made of snakes.

"We're not here to flirt," Zeus snapped, making Cerberus cut him an irritated glare, "We're here to find someone. She was sold to a local merchant and he came to Hades, according to our source." Cerberus frowned at that. He looked at me to confirm the story and I nodded. He sighed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.

"First of all, what a stupid place to run to if you've got a slave. It's illegal here. It'll be easy to just take her back home. Unfortunately, that's where the second part comes in," he said, pausing for effect and making Zeus glare at him, "Finding her is gonna be a pain in the ass. While we do have a list of registered merchants that come and go in the realm, a lot of them just use shitty aliases. We won't be able to find his exact location, unless maybe you have his alias."

"We were told the merchant's name is Guster, if that's of any help," I answered. Cerberus grimaced.

"Not by much. But we'll see what we can do. Most of the records are at Hades's palace."

"I know where they are," I answered, making Cerberus eye me warily.

"You ever been to his palace?"

"No."

"Then how do you--"

"I know literally everything."

"Except what Tumblr is," Zeus put in, making Cerberus screw his face up as he looked at me, apparently finding it strange that I knew everything, except social networking websites. I rolled my eyes and walked past Cerberus, who sighed and leaned back against the side of the rock wall, folding his arms over his chest.

"For the record, big guy there isn't allowed in the palace," he called out, making Zeus come to an abrupt stop and I frowned, "Granted, Hades hasn't actually made that decree, but the rest of us have." Zeus gave him a sour glare.

"On what authority do you have to make such a command? In case you're forgetting, your bastard father may be the ruler of this realm, but I am the ruler of him," he said. Cerberus pushed off the wall and came over to stand in front of Zeus, and while the king god was a good half a foot or so shorter than Cerberus, he didn't appear too intimidated by Cerberus's riding up on him. Though, those glowing red eyes with enough hate to burn like acid was a little unnerving.

"I don't give a fuck who you are," Cerberus spat at him, and Zeus's eyes narrowed in anger, "Fucking be the Source for all I care. You are not allowed in Hades's palace and you sure as fuck are not allowed in his presence. If I even think you're within a hundred feet of him, I will find you and I will rip you open and feast on your insides." Zeus raked him with a less than approving glare.

"Tsk. You're all bark and no bite, dog."

"You wanna test me, asshole?" Cerberus challenged, getting close enough to bump their chests together. I sighed, coming forward and inserting myself between them, placing my hands on Zeus's chest. Somehow, that actually managed to get his attention as he dropped his eyes to mine, his jaw still clenched hard and his eyes still narrowed and cold as ice, but he appeared to relax considerably.

"Zeus," I told him gently, "We're not here to fight. We're here to get your niece back. You can wait outside the palace. It won't take me more than a few seconds." Zeus appeared less than pleased as he looked past me at Cerberus, who curled his lip to bare his fangs. Zeus's anger surged, and I could feel him tempted to blast Cerberus into oblivion. I patted Zeus's chest to get his attention and almost immediately those eyes met mine once more.

So this is what it's like to have a dog.

"Focus. Come on," I urged. Zeus ground his teeth together so hard, it was a miracle his jaw didn't just rupture under the pressure. Finally, he stepped back and Cerberus frowned slowly, glancing between us. I cut him a chiding stare.

It's not what you think, pup. It's strictly a business relationship. I sent to him.

Cerberus rolled his eyes, obviously not believing a word of it as he retreated and vanished in a column of smoke. I waited until I was positive his presence was gone before I turned to Zeus to ensure his temper was reined as best as he could get it. After a moment, we teleported together to the main entrance of Hades's palace.

The palace itself was massive. A combination of evil goth vampire and caveman rolled into one demonic package. Built into the side of a gigantic mountain range, it was carved out of the black rock of the mountain, windows chiseled in with colorful stained glass, and the front door was a towering pair of golden doors with legends and glory carved into it, many of them recent, including the recent Titan war. A quaint little stone bridge went across the river of Acheron, a row of black skeleton soldiers running the length of it all the way up to the front door.

"How can he possibly sleep here in peace?" Zeus demanded. While I'm sure he was offended by Hades's choice in decor and style, it sounded like he was genuinely horrified by Hades's current lifestyle. I gave him a droll stare.

"Believe it or not, Hades is extremely old school in decor."

"By several centuries?"

"His fascination with Goth culture is obscene... Zeus, how often do you speak to Hades? And I say speak, actually having a conversation, not harassing him," I added. Zeus cut me a sour glare, then looked away to stare up at the foreboding castle that towered before him. His expression only became more confused, more angry, more frustrated. His thoughts were a whirlwind of frustrated screams and personal bereavement.

I know he loves this garbage, his most pronounced thought was, I know everything about him. I'm the only one who knows everything about him... I just... can't imagine him sleeping here at night.

He technically didn't. Ninety percent of Hades's slumber was spent in Lucifer's palace. However, I wasn't about to shove that in Zeus's face. He seemed confused, his normal pattern disrupted, his thoughts tangled in one another.

I really didn't want to leave him alone here. When left alone with one's thoughts, one could find themselves digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. That was exactly what I was trying to save Zeus from.

It's only a few seconds. I couldn't tell if that was my thoughts, or Zeus's. I glanced at him and he simply went over to the bridge to lean on it, reaching into his pocket and taking out his phone. I frowned.

"Are you going to be alright out here?" I asked. Zeus glanced up, pretending to be nonchalant.

"As long as you hurry. The longer we wait, the longer..." His voice trailed. He didn't finish, simply looked back down to begin organizing his schedule. I sighed.

"Please, behave."

"I'm always well-behaved," Zeus answered snidely. I shook my head went inside, bypassing the skeleton warriors without issue. Normally they'd be triggered to kill me or threaten me upon approach to the doors, but I masked my presence from them, and Zeus's as well, before I went inside. I was greeted by a long narrow and tall hallway. The walls were made to start black at the marble black flooring and fading to a vivid green near the ceiling, a ceiling that was lit up by a beautiful reproduction of the Aurora Borealis. Modern sconces also ran the length of the walls, looking like black triangle shaped boxes holding flickering candles.

Far more modern inside than the outside. Zeus would probably approve of its interior. Too bad Cerberus had unofficially banished Zeus's ass. Though, I was mildly surprised Zeus even listened to Cerberus and stayed outside. Seemed more like him to just barge in and take the place over. Pleasantly surprised by his compliance, I continued through the long halls until I located the records room. I opened a pair of double wooden doors painted black on one side and white on the other, coming into a room that was so well organized, it was truly OCD heaven in here.

Large rows of steel cabinets were numbered all the way down the room, a room that was the size of a high school gymnasium. Of course, those were only the paper files. On the other side of the room was a large computer system with a screen the size of a home theater screen, with a panel of letters, numbers, and other strange buttons just down below it.

I went to the computer and touched my hand to the panel, feeling the electricity pulse through it into my fingertips. I blinked, searching for the name Guster, only to pull up six thousand results. I sighed, reaching up to rub my forehead. I closed my eyes and thought back to Jericho's frantically whirling mind back at the house.

A fuzzy image came into my mind's eye from Jericho's memories, of a stout flabby man with a thick beard and low brow, dressed like a plumber, but there was a gleam in his eye that told me it was a front. I plucked the image and dropped it through the computer, watching the computer screen become static before it cleared and ran through an image search. I watched the screen flicker and rush through a row of pictures before halting on three images that appeared similar to the computer.

I located "Guster" immediately. His real name was Ivan Voslovic. Age 800. Species: Vampire. Category: Energy Vampire. Class: Criminal. Charges: Assault, murder, child abuse. Family: N/A. And a whole bunch of other information I could care less about. It wasn't until I got to the more recent information that a smirk curved the corner of my lip.

Current Occupation: Plumber for Zeke's Plumbing Company.

And the address in bold letters after it.

I memorized the address before shutting the system down and heading out of the palace back to where Zeus was still, much to my surprise, waiting for me while tinkering with his phone. He looked up from his phone with a frown as I approached.

"Did you find him?" He asked. I nodded.

"His location is in Inferi, two blocks from the mall. His real name is Ivan Voslovic... And he's an energy vampire," I added the last part quietly and the look on Zeus's face was one I had been hoping to avoid. One of utter disgust and horror mixed into one. It was one of the few creatures who actually scared many gods shitless.

Few creatures in the universe could kill a god. Gods who were directly connected to the Source, either by blood or having been created by the Source itself, couldn't die without rupturing the balance, unless the Source deems them unfit for the universal balance and had them done away with. However, some gods had blood so diluted over time that it really didn't do much in killing them. A good example would be Hades's son, Malachi. A god in every sense of the word with an oneiroi for a mother and a Greek god for a father, Malachi could be killed and it wouldn't rupture the balance. His blood was diluted of direct Source born power.

It was more complicated than that when you got down to the nitty gritty, but the point was that energy vampires terrified many creatures. Vampire itself was a species, and within that species, there were categories. Energy vampires didn't feed on blood, though they were known to partake in it for a sick thrill-- No, energy vampires fed on just that. Your energy.

The crackling electrical power your soul gives off. The water in your glass. And over time, that water would slowly dwindle until the glass was empty... and you were dead. The worst part of it all was that vampires never killed their victims quickly. They took their time. They generally took their victims into their lairs and fed on them for years, even decades if they truly enjoyed their victim.

It was a reality that, unfortunately, had been lived by Raven, Lucifer's son. My skin still crawled at the thought of one of those mutants getting their hands on Raven. I'd been there the day Lucifer held Raven as an infant in his arms. I was there the day Raven lost his first tooth. I was there when Raven said his first word. Raven was as much my own son as he was Lucifer's. And seeing the cold twitchy shell that had returned from Hades all those years ago had broken something inside of me.

Energy vampires were the kind of creatures humans dreaded. The kind they feared at night as they lay in bed, the kind they whispered stories about around a campfire.

"We have to find her. Now." Zeus didn't need to repeat the command. I inclined my head and we teleported from Hades's palace to Inferi, clear on the other side of the realm. As soon as we appeared, we were almost instantly drenched in rain, and Zeus cursed, stepping back under a shop awning to avoid ruining his expensive suit anymore than it already was. I stepped back with him, frowning as I scanned the streets.

"You need to change into something less businesslike," I told him, searching for the address from the file. Zeus glared, wiping water angrily from his sleeve and reaching up to try and salvage his hair, but it was really too late for that.

Good. His hair was fucking adorable all wet and sticking up like that from his hand yanking at it.

"It's hard to look intimidating dressed like an Abercrombie and Fitch model," he said, raking my body with a glare. Although, his eyes lingered on my backside and I cast him a droll stare.

"Says the person eyeing my ass like the last steak in a meat house," I answered. Zeus tsked, but didn't deny it, simply folded his arms over his chest and gave up trying to fix his appearance. Smirking, I looked away before I started down the sidewalk. Zeus made a noise of disgust before following me. We were drenched from the rain that poured down from the dark sky that rumbled with black storm clouds, lightning glimmering in between them. It puddled at our feet, ruined Zeus's shoes, splashed our pant legs, and it became grimy and greasy the further we walked.

We came around a corner and found ourselves in a less than appealing side of Inferi. While the rest of the city was a lovely combination of old-fashioned Gothic architecture and postmodernism businesses, this part of the city looked like a slum yanked out of a Victorian era English slum. Windows were busted, some boarded up, some covered with drenched flowery tablecloths. Doors were nothing more than industrial metal doors with a cranking door handle. Above, clothing wires went from one window to the next, nothing, but bouncing laundry clips occupying the narrow space. Garbage disposal chutes were stuffed full to the brim and overflowing out onto the street, broken bottles and old cigarette butts spilling out into the muddy oil ridden streets. The cobblestones here weren't nearly as cute and pretty as they were in the rest of town, but rather old and cracked and some missing.

"This is disgusting," Zeus muttered, lifting his foot over an old bedpan that had toppled out of a garbage chute. I ignored him as I scanned the street, then moved down the block, passing several homeless folk, who peered up with interest. And I couldn't blame them.

Zeus was right. I, as well as himself, were dressed rather pompously given the area we were in. There was no way we were going to be able to sneak up on Ivan dressed like a couple of rich boys from Olympus. So I continued until ducking into an alleyway, yanking Zeus in with me and making him open his mouth to protest, but I touched his chest and changed his clothing.

Gone with the upscale rich business man look and in with the don't fuck with me or I'll murder you fashion that would probably actually make Cerberus raise an eyebrow, impressed. Of course, I didn't want to completely put Zeus out of his comfort zone, so I stuck to his classy style and changed every single color of what he wore to black. A black three piece suit with a black fedora to protect that pretty hair of his, a pair of matching gloves, and steel toed boots that did much better in the wet puddles he splashed into when he stomped his foot at me.

"Why am I dressed like an Al Capone cosplayer?" He demanded. I shook my head at him and threw my hand up over my head, tossing a spiral of pale blue magic into the air and letting it settle over me as I changed my attire as well. I swapped out my Abercrombie and Fitch outfit for a pair of black leather pants, a black spandex turtleneck, a matching leather jacket, and boots and gloves to match Zeus's. I finished off by streaking black paint across my face over my eyes and pulling my wet hair up into a ponytail.

"We can't go after a wanted criminal dressed like a couple of rich boys," I answered, stepping out of the alleyway, mildly pleased at the way the rats who'd followed us fled at the sight of us decked out like a couple of mobsters, "If you want to get the job done, look the part. Besides, you make Al Capone look good." Zeus paused as he stepped out beside me, looking down at the leather gloves on his hands before he grunted, reaching up to adjust his fedora to a slight tilt.

"Normally I'd beat the living crap out of you for getting rid of my clothes," he said, then paused to scan me up and down, "But... I think I can manage." I rolled my eyes before gesturing for him to follow me. We made our way down the street with long confident strides, heads up and eyes locked on the target at the end of the street.

A quaint building, better kept than the others around it, though it did appear to have a roofing issue given the tarp draped over the left side. Once red brick, now more of a rusty muddy color that faded to black at the foundation, Zeke's Plumbing Company was definitely a much nicer name for a place that looked like a dirty toilet.

I opened the door, listening to the tell tale sign of a bell alerting the owner that company had arrived. Inside, the place reeked of sewage and something dead. Across the room that once had been designed in blue and white was now more gray, black, mold green, and a hint of blue wallpaper peeling on the walls. The front desk was managed by a tall portly man wearing overalls and picking his teeth while watching what appeared to be an episode of the Golden Girls in black and white. The moment we walked in however, he shut the television off in a rush and threw it on the floor with a curse before looking up.

"Can I help... Damn," he paused to scan me from head to toe. I let him and Zeus narrowed his eyes, moving past me to approach the desk, giving it a kick to make the man jump in his seat before glaring up at him.

"We're looking for Ivan Voslovic. And before you tell me there isn't anyone working here under that name, I'll break all your teeth and shove them where the sun don't shine," he threatened, getting down near the man's face. The man swallowed at that, glancing back at me and I smiled, folding my arms over my chest.

"Might wanna listen to my male here. He's not real good at communicating," I added. Zeus appeared startled that I'd referred to him as my male because he looked up at me, brows going up before he quickly reverted back to bad guy mode so he could glare at the owner, who swallowed as he quickly scooted on his seat over to an old clunky computer that he typed a few things into before he turned the screen to Zeus.

"He's at home today, called in sick, lives right here," he said in a hurry. I came over to look at the address.

"Got it," I said, turning to Zeus, who arched a brow.

"You memorized it that fast?"

"I'm as old as time itself. I've learned to memorize things pretty well."

"I'll say," Zeus muttered, turning for the door. I followed him and we walked out, only having to head a block deeper into the slums in order to find Ivan's house, or rather, apartment. It was a shoddy apartment with the same exterior as the plumbing building, except half the windows were busted out and the stench of horror and fear was so much stronger here. I could sense Ivan inside and Zeus started to charge past me into the building, but I shook my head and put a hand on his shoulder, making him scowl.

"We need to sneak up on him. If we go charging in there, he'll threaten to kill her. I've got a better idea that involves you waiting here for the right moment," I said, releasing him to go to the alley to peer up at the rickety fire escape. Zeus frowned, looking annoyed.

"Ditching me again?" I didn't answer as I approached the fire escape and reached up to bring the ladder down as quietly as possible, putting a dampening spell on it to make sure it wouldn't alert Ivan overhead.

"How will I know what the right moment is?" Zeus demanded. I flashed him a smile as I started to climb up the ladder.

"Oh, trust me, you'll know," I assured. Zeus appeared doubtful, then finally sighed in frustration and went to wait at the front entrance. I crept up the fire escape, stopping at the third floor window where Ivan's bedroom window was. I didn't go inside, but rather, stood outside and slipped my magic inside to feel around the area.

It was a three bedroom apartment, but one bedroom was in poor shape with a caved in roof. I felt Ivan's presence lumbering around in the kitchen, and a smaller, weaker, and helpless presence just inside the bedroom, in a closet with folding doors. Narrowing my eyes, I waited, listened, felt, as Ivan made his way into the bedroom with a mug of hot chocolate that he set aside before he went to the closet, where a little sharp cry of fear rang out.

I moved quickly, reaching out to slip the window up into an open position. Ivan had thrown the closet doors open and crouched down, revealing Melina in the closet, weeping and clutching an old ratty pillow to her chest. She was still dressed in a pink frilly nightgown, now torn up the side and one sleeve ripped open. Ivan smirked and reached for her when I came up behind him, and his eyes widened as he sensed my presence.

He swung around to attack me, but I flung my leg around and side kicked him hard, sending him exploding through the doorway and into the living room. I watched him leap to his feet and scramble for the front door. I wanted to go after him, snatch him up and break his spinal cord and floss his damn teeth with it, but I didn't want Zeus to be bored outside.

Instead, I softened my expression and turned to Melina, who stared up at me with an open mouth, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Ssh, honey," I whispered gently, kneeling down in front of her, "I'm not going to hurt you." She sniffled, clutching the pillow tighter to her chest and slamming her eyes shut.

"I'm waiting for my mommy," she choked out. I smiled.

"Your mommy is the female who wanted me to come get you," I said, and she opened her eyes to look at me suspiciously, "Your mommy looks a lot like you, doesn't she? Really pretty, small, but strong? And your brother, he looks kinda like you, right?" She swallowed and nodded. I relaxed, holding my hand out to her. She flinched. I hesitated, then pulled the glove off my hand and held it out to her.

"Come here, sweetheart, I just want to take you back to your family. If it makes you feel better, your uncle is outside waiting for you," I added. Her eyes widened.

"Zeus?"

"Yup, he came all the way here to get you."

"Really? Daddy always told me he hated me."

"Your daddy doesn't speak for your uncle, precious. Your uncle Zeus was very scared when he heard you were taken away. He wants me to help him bring you home. Is that okay?" I asked after a while. Melina sniffled some more, whimpered, then finally put her hand in mine. I smiled, taking her into my arms and picking her up with ease, her eyes going wide at that.

"Wow, not even my daddy can pick me up anymore. He says I'm too big," she added sadly. I smiled, tilting my head in to give her cheek a little nuzzle.

"You're never too big to be held, Melina. Come on, let's go see how your uncle is treating the bad guy," I added, carrying her out of the room. She clung to my neck, hiding her face against me as I went down the rickety old steps in the apartment, hearing doors lock behind me. I smirked at that, and it grew wider as I made it to the bottom of the steps and approached the front door to find Zeus standing outside, looking perfectly calm and chill... Aside from his lack of a fedora.

"What happened to your hat?" I asked. Zeus looked at me coolly, folding his arms over his chest.

"My parting gift to our dearly departed vampire."

"What'd you do with him?"

"Part of him is in the drain over there, part of him is in the dumpster in the alley, and just because he pissed me off, I sent another piece to his boss," Zeus answered dryly. I sighed, shaking my head at him before I looked at Melina, who pulled back to look at Zeus shyly.

"See? He's happy to see you," I said, shifting her in my arms so she could look at Zeus clearly. Zeus stared at her and Melina stared back before she leaned in to my ear.

"He doesn't look happy," she whispered nervously. I smiled, looking at her, then meeting Zeus's troubled eyes.

"Zeus isn't very good at smiling. He never learned how. But he's very happy to have you back. You just have to look at his eyes and feel his heart, precious," I explained, watching her eyes widen as she turned her head to look at Zeus. I don't think I'd ever seen the king god look so uncomfortable as he did in that moment, rigid and alert, like he had no idea what he was supposed to do with that information, or Melina, who was smiling at him now.

"Hello," she greeted, reaching a hand out toward him. Zeus's expression became confused. He looked at me and I nodded to him encouragingly. He came forward within Melina's reach, and she stunned him by throwing herself in his arms, and he caught her with ease, making her giggle as she practically hung on him as he appeared to struggle to figure out how to hold her.

"You can hold me too! Wow, you're super strong!" She exclaimed. Zeus frowned.

"I'm the King of the Greek pantheon. I have to be."

"Daddy said that. He said you're stronger than your daddy was."

"I am," Zeus said, puffing his chest out like a proud as fuck peacock. Melina grinned and I smiled at him before I glanced around, noticing the few faces peeking out windows, some of the rats crawling out of their drug hideouts to spy on us.

"We should probably go now. Her mother is going to be worried sick," I added. Zeus nodded. We teleported together as a group back to Olympus, right outside the small house. I led the way to the door, giving it a knock as Zeus finally appeared to find a comfortable position to hold Melina in, which was against his side with an arm underneath her and another wrapped around her while she clung to his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I like you, Zeus," Melina said with a big smile, "You're nice! And you smell good!" Zeus stared at her, then looked away. Wow, you'd think I just stuck a porcupine in a balloon factory with the expression on his face.

"It's Dimon No. 1 Suavemente," he answered blankly and Melina gave him a look of confusion as I smirked.

"Zeus, I don't think she knows the name of male cologne quite yet," I said, leaning over to Zeus, who scowled, the thought baffling him. I leaned away as the door opened and Melina's mother stood in the doorway, petite and fragile and dainty looking, and the moment she saw Melina, she burst into tears. Zeus set Melina down and she ran to her mother, who dropped to her knees and embraced her tightly. I stepped back to give them space and her mother looked up at us, her eyes darting back and forth between Zeus and I.

"Thank you, oh my gods, thank you, thank you. My lord-- My lords, thank you so much," she sobbed, then squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in Melina's hair. Melina smiled as she hugged her mother back, then she looked up at Zeus and I and gave us a thumbs up. I inclined my head to her and her mother before I turned to Zeus, who continued to stare at them with a stern frown. His expression was clearly disapproving, but he didn't seem inclined to stop them from embracing.

We turned away and headed down the path, taking our time to return to the main city of Olympus. On the way there, I noticed Zeus contemplating the recent event, frowning at the ground, shifting his jacket off and draping it over his arm. He reached up every so often, fiddling with his hair before he gave up. But his mind wasn't on his appearance for once, so much, the thought of Melina and her mother hugging. The image appeared imprinted on his mind.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Zeus blinked, then frowned at me.

"Nothing. Pissed I had to reschedule all my appointments today."

"Bullshit," I stated instantly, and Zeus glared at me, "Don't play games with me, Zeus. You can't lie to me. And for the record, again, anything you say is private, between us. I will tell no one. Not Lucifer, not Hades, not the children."

"Why, because you're mad at them all for ignoring you?" Zeus asked dryly. I shrugged, looking ahead as I reached up to take my ponytail down and waved a hand across my eyes to clean the make up from my skin.

"Perhaps a bit. But the main reason is that I genuinely care, Zeus. It's why I offered to help you in the first place. Because I want to help you," I answered, and Zeus snorted, hooking his jacket on his finger and tossing it over his shoulder, hooking his thumb into the belt loop of his pants.

"No, you don't. You don't care who you help. As long as you help someone to satisfy some existential crisis."

"You can say what you want, Zeus, but I'm giving you a chance here. Talk to me. Think of me as a journal. Tell me everything you've wanted to say out loud, but you couldn't. Tell me everything you feel, but were never allowed to feel. Tell me everything, Zeus. Because this may be your only chance, and once I'm gone, I'm gone," I explained. Zeus stopped walking to pin me with a cold stare.

"What'd you mean gone?" He demanded. I frowned.

"Gone, as in, if you do not want my help, there's no reason for me to be here," I replied. Zeus glared at me, clenching his grip on his jacket before he started past me. I watched him, clearly sensing him not wanting me to follow him.

"Zeus--"

"Fuck off," Zeus snarled, making me tilt my head curiously at his behavior, "If you want to leave, then fucking leave. You wouldn't be the first." Without another word, he continued up the mountain. He could've easily just teleported, but something told me he wanted to work his anger off with those long angry strides of his as opposed to teleporting to his home and possibly destroying everything in sight.

I wanted to go after him, but clearly he wanted to be alone. Reluctantly, I teleported back to Hell, appearing in my room once again to find it untouched. I wasn't entirely sure what to do in that moment, caught between wanting to help Zeus and wanting to figure out more behind Atlan's actions in having that desdios killed and those nightmares Menoetius had been having.

But at the moment, my mind was oddly crammed full of thoughts of Zeus. He was so close, so close, to admitting how he truly felt about Hades. He was so close to speaking those words out loud, the dreaded three words, I love him. He'd shut down so fast that my head spun from it, and he'd just done it again, cutting me off when I was offering the help he accepted.

He wanted help, I knew that. I could feel it. He wanted something to make him genuinely happy for once in his long life. However, he'd never known it. He had no idea how to achieve it. He had no idea how to work his emotions, how to feel what he felt. He was scared to delve into the haunted emotions brewing beneath the ice cold surface he'd built on top of his soul to protect it from further harm.

But he wasn't entirely cold, not as cold as he wanted to be, and I knew that. Why else would he attack Hades so viciously, so persistently? Why else would he have an entire library dedicated to books Hades would adore, yet read none of them?

And Melina, her mother. Zeus didn't have to save her. He didn't have to go all the way to Hades himself and save her. He didn't need to attack Jericho.

And the look in his eyes, when Melina had embraced her mother, and they held each other and wept. The look on Zeus's face was absolute confusion. As if the sight was not something he was accustomed to seeing, as if he didn't understand it. And I thought back through Zeus's memories, trying to remember a time he actually held someone... And the only time I could think of was the day Apollo's body had been dropped before him and he'd screamed out in anguish. That cold facade had shattered and he'd fallen to the floor to gather Apollo in his arms, weeping over his body. He'd clung to Apollo with a terrified desperation I'd never even imagined he'd have.

And when I'd allowed Apollo to return to this world once more, Zeus had quickly hid his emotions once again. Apollo was safe, and that was all that mattered to him. He'd shut his emotions back inside the closet and locked them up, tossing the key away. But that one busted open emotional door had made him curious, had made him feel something, and he wanted to understand it.

He just didn't know how.

And he wasn't going to open up to me. Not right away. I needed to understand him more to be able to work with him from here on out.

I rinsed off in the shower, heated some oils to fill the air with a calm relaxing atmosphere, changed into a pair of flannel pajamas before I climbed into bed, taking a few deep breathes. I lay comfortably on the bed with my feet slightly elevated and my hands out at my sides, closing my eyes as I listened to the soft hum of the Source around me. Its power purred through the air, tickled my senses, my soul, and drew me deeper into a relaxed state. I meditated with its power, felt the universe moving around me, tilting back and forth in a constant struggle to maintain balance. It reminded me a lot of those little water level tubes; where the water moved back and forth in the tube, attempting to find balance so the water would settle and become calm once more.

Once I'd found the right state of relaxation, I allowed myself to drift off into sleep. I could feel my soul shifting, lifting, rising and sitting up until I found myself floating over myself. I sent my soul straight through the universe and disappearing into Olympus. I navigated through the air, drifting into Zeus's palace at the top of the mountain. I went straight to the living room where I found Zeus reclined on his black recliner, holding a bottle of Jack in his hand while the stereo to his right played some song on the radio called Little Did You Know by Alex and Sierra.

Oh yeah. Not exactly a good situation.

His jacket was tossed over the back of the sofa, shoes kicked off and laying scrambled aside on the floor. His tie was laying tossed across the table, his shirt buttons popped open and the vest laying on the arm of the chair. He sat with his eyes closed, his hand gripping the bottle.

He was miserable. I could smell it in the air. It was rancid and powerful, like soured milk. His emotions were a clusterfuck of confusion, his soul too exhausted to deal with them and too exhausted to hide them as well. He took several huge gulps of the Jack before he sighed long and loud. At least until his phone went off playing Buckcherry's Crazy Bitch and he groaned in disgust, setting the bottle aside.

He looked down at his phone for the longest time until the phone stopped ringing. He started to set it aside when it rang again immediately after. He pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath, rising to his feet and clicking the screen.

"What?" It came out sounding more like the sound of a pair of scissors snapping shut. I watched as he went to the wall of windows on the other side to look out over the mountains, his frown deepening before his lip curled.

"Okay, for the fucking record, you vindictive cunt, we don't need to do a custody agreement. All our kids, or should I say mine since almost all of them are mine, are adults and on their own... I don't give a shit if they visit you once a month. Why would anyone want to visit you once a month? Look... No. Hera. Hera, stop... Jesus Christ." He stopped to wipe a hand down his face and turned away from the window, looking frustrated for a moment before he paused. He averted his eyes toward the phone, frowning.

"Are you... Sorry. It's just... Yeah. I know that," he said dryly, "I was just... So what if I fucking am? Do you have a fucking problem with that, Hera?" He waited, listened, and slowly began to tighten his grip on his phone. His teeth clenched together tightly, jaw ticcing, pacing around the room becoming angry.

"It's none of your fucking business, Hera. You divorced me. This is the part where you ditch me... Yes, you do. We're not going to be that awkward couple that stays friends after our divorce. You left. Go find someone else who'll give a shit when you cry. Try Hades. I hear it's one of his hobbies. In the meantime, fuck off with this custody agreement bullshit. The only thing that shows those kids are mine in the first place is basic biology. I don't need anything else. If you're fucking done whining to me about stupid bullshit, then I'm hanging up. I have more important things to... Yes. Drinking Jack is one of them. Fuck off." He hung up and threw the phone across the room where it smashed into the wall and broke into a hundred pieces.

He ignored it and stormed back over to his bottle. He chugged the entire thing, tossed the empty bottle on the sofa where it bounced twice and rolled to the side to leak droplets out onto the floor. He strode back to the wet bar and snatched up another bottle before he retreated to the recliner, throwing himself back into it and squeezing his eyes shut. His grip tightened on the bottle and he began stiff, rigid, uncomfortable.

I cocked my head, watching curiously as he took deep slow breathes as if to calm himself. I attempted to reach into his mind, but it was a scattered mess. All I could pick up on was that Hera's call had been about more than just a child custody dispute. She'd called to ask him why he didn't even go to see her, if not to apologize, then at least to admit he was a bastard towards her. When she'd begun to cry, Zeus had tried to think of a way to comfort her, then immediately chastised himself for it.

Why should he have to comfort her? Why should he feel guilty? She was the one who left him, not the other way around. Why should he be the one to apologize? Why did she want from him things he couldn't give? The questions spun in his head and only depressed him further.

"I know you feel something, Zeus," Hera's voice rang in his head from the phone call, "I know you're not cold hearted. I saw the way your heart broke when Apollo died. I see the way you help people, when no one asks you to. I know that you're not as bad as you pretend to be. Why do you keep putting up this front? Why can't you just let go? We're not the nymphs, Zeus. We won't hurt you if you feel something." His response had been rage. She was confronting him with the idea that the way he was raised was incorrect. She was confronting him with an overflowing amount of emotion, and despite breaking off their relationship, something told me Hera still loved Zeus and she wanted to help, but she knew she wasn't the one who could help him.

And even though I'd offered Zeus my assistance, in the end, only Zeus could help Zeus.