Chapter Seven

The brothel removed Atros's body shortly after the discovery and buried him in a cemetery across the city. When I'd asked where his soul had gone, they said Hell. Atros worshipped Lucifer and thus his soul was sent there to join his wife in Sheol, the valley at the center of Hell reserved for regular worshippers of Lucifer.

I left the brothel to mourn and returned to my palace. It was cold and dark inside. The only sounds came from where the servants had their dinner in the servants quarters, their laughter and play echoing down the hallway to the throne room where I sat upon my throne and stared at the colorful plant life Persephone had adorned my throne room with.

I wasn't sure how to react. I kept searching for laughter, over the fact that for the first time in my life, instead of running away from me like Ambrosius had, someone actually killed themself to get away from me. Or maybe rage over the same fact. That I was repungent enough to make him kill himself as opposed to a relationship with me, Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Or maybe even sorrow over the fact that I'd tricked him and hurt him badly enough to commit suicide.

I didn't know what to do.

He said he loved me, didn't he? Why didn't he want to at least discuss it?

Because he hates Hades.

Atros hated me. He loathed me to the core of my blackened soul. Because of me, his beloved wife and son were killed. Because of a war I started, because I neglected to pay attention to my generals and what they did with their power. To make matters worse, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was my fault his wife was forced to resort to suicide. It was my fault that Lucifer's son, Raven, had suffered untold horrors at the hand of my best general, who now rotted in the pits of Tartarus for his crimes. It was my fault that Ambrosius ran away. He was desperate to escape me because I was suffocating him. I was so afraid of him becoming like my other sons that I'd scared him away. It was my fault Theo slit his wrists. He'd grown up his entire life with pain and to live without it was no life at all.

All of it was my fault. I knew that. I've known that, but for some reason, this moment now it chose to come bashing me in the face. All it took was one stupid whore in a brothel to throw everything I'd ever done wrong in my face.

But you have the right to do what you did.

Demeter's voice rang in my ears no matter how much I covered them to try and block it out. Her voice was always there, because it was the only one that was there.

I found myself remembering the way I had stood trembling on that platform just outside of Olympus, blood caking my robes. Demeter stood beside me, reaching out to touch me, but I snatched myself back from her and glared at her.

"Don't fucking touch me." I'd snarled. Demeter nodded patiently, lowering her hand.

"I understand."

"No. No, you fucking don't."

"No, I understand that the last thing you need now is more people... But you have every right to be angry, Hades. You have ever right to do what you did."

"Then why do I still feel guilty?"

"Because you're better than them. You have a heart."

"I don't want it."

"You need it."

"I don't fucking need it. Take it away from me. Burn it, flush it, I don't care, get rid of it."

"No, Hades," Demeter said gently, moving closer to me and how I wanted to slap her back; I couldn't bring myself to do it as she took my hands in hers, then tilted her head up to look into my face, "Hate. Hate them with everything you have. Cling to that hatred and love it, cradle it. Don't give up because love gave up on you. Hate will never give up on you. Hate will always hold you."

Her words would have sounded like poison to anyone else. What kind of person tells you to embrace hatred and forsake love? The type of person who knew what I wanted to hear. Demeter always said the right thing to bring me out of my emotional comas.

But I couldn't go to her now. After I had stolen Persephone from her, our relationship shattered. Demeter no longer saw me as her friend or younger brother, but as cruel and vindictive. The exact thing she wanted me to become, and I knew she didn't blame me for it, but the mother inside her would not let her forgive me. I completely understood and I didn't hate her for it, not really. I just hated her for letting me fall and not being there to fall with me.

I sighed wearily, leaving my throne room and fed up with my own thoughts. I drifted to the kitchen when I was sure the servants had turned in for the night. I ransacked for some alcohol and went to my office where I tinkered with medical charts and designs for the hospital to be built. I struggled to concentrate, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Atros's corpse swinging from the rope in his room.

He'd died so quickly, though. Hanging oneself didn't kill an immortal.

He must have been human.

Human? I had fallen in love with a mere mortal?

I snorted a laugh. Oh yes. I fell in love with a mortal. No... It was his body. His steel muscles rippling under tawny skin, golden blonde hair that felt good sliding down my chest, dark intense eyes boring into mine, long fingers sliding through my hair. Yes, that was what I loved. Someone touching me, someone feeling me everywhere.

I slumped back in my seat, opening my jacket and reaching down to undo the fly of my pants. I reached down my pants, taking a deep gulp of alcohol that burned hot down my throat and sloshed into my stomach. I savored the burn as I stroked myself to hardness, panting as I closed my eyes and happily envisioned Atros's hands wandering my body, his teeth scraping my skin, breath against my lips, lips against mine.

My phone rang, and I growled a curse, but I couldn't stop and the more the phone rang, the more my cock ached. Without quite thinking, I answered the phone without touching it.

"Hades? It's Lucifer."

"Uh huh." I breathed. There was a short pause.

"Are you all right?"

"Uh huh."

"You sound out of breath."

"Just... fucking tell me what you... wanted to tell me." I seethed through clenched teeth, squeezing myself and arching my hips into my hand. There was another short pause as I struggled to make as little noise as possible. I wasn't sure why talking on the phone and masturbating at the same time was so attractive an idea, so I just associated it with the fact that I'd had several bottles of hard liquor. Enough to kill a mortal and enough to get a god wasted. I trembled, tilting my head back and closing my eyes as I went back to fantasizing about Atros's cock buried inside me.

"All right," Lucifer decided after a moment, making me twitch and suck in a sharp breath, "I know I just called you about Alaric, but I wanted to double check. I sent a vile of his blood and some magic residue for you to study, just to be on the safe side. I've also wanted to discuss the situation with the Titans further."

"Fuck!" I gasped, then winced as I came hard into my hand, breathing heavily as I sat up in my seat.

"Excuse me?"

"Uhm, fuck," I said slowly, trying to recover quickly, clearing my throat in discomfort, "Fuck... I don't really give a shit. I already told you the situation is handle. Alaric is healthy. The sun is shining, faeries are singing, and I'm just fucking dandy. In fact, I was thinking about going on vacation."

"On vacation? In the middle of a crisis?" Lucifer demanded impatiently.

"Yes," I replied, conjuring a box of tissue to clean off my hands as I stood up and wiped my pants, "I was thinking about visiting Hell. Would that be a problem?" There was a long silence and I swore Lucifer had hung up on me, but much to my relief, he hadn't.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Ambrosius is here and it's quite clear he has no wish to see you."

"Oh, I don't really give a shit what he does. I'm not even going to be near the palace."

"Where you plan to visit?"

"How about Sheol? I hear it's nice this time of year."

"If by nice, you mean a dark dreary valley of spirits wandering around, then yes. I suppose it is nice. Why are you asking this suddenly? Are you all right? You sound a bit off."

"I'm always off," I assured him, smirking drunkenly at the mess of papers scattered all over the desk, the chair that now lay over-turned on the floor, "So, how about tomorrow morning? I'll just pop in for a quick hello and you can take me to Sheol."

"Hades, that really is not a good idea. I don't want you to upset Ambrosius further. He's happy and he's safe where he's at."

"I just told you I don't give two shits how that back-stabbing slut is doing. I'm coming over tomorrow and you will take me to Sheol whether you fucking like it or not." I hung up before Lucifer could argue and I breathed out along sigh as I snatched up my last bottle of alcohol and took it with me as I wandered into Persephone's garden, basking in the rain that was trickling down from the opening in the mountain above. The rain made soft wet splashes as it fell on leaves and gathered in puddles on the ground, splashing into the nearby stream. Thunder crashed and rumbled overhead, making my eardrums ring. I walked across the garden, taking off my shoes so I could sink my toes into the soft mud the rain had created in the dirt. The grass was soft and wet between my toes, the flowers tickling my legs as I pulled my pantlegs up. I tossed my jacket aside on one of the benches beneath the pomegrante tree and plucked one off the tree, tilting my head up to breath in the cool rainy air as rain pelted my face gently.

"M-My lord, why outside?" I blinked, then turned to see the little hybrid slave standing in the entrance of the garden, wearing an adorable black poncho sort of thing with pockets and an almost military look to it, over a long sleeved green shirt and black jeans. He was holding an umbrella over his head.

"It's nice out here." I told him, turning away from the tree to split the pomegrante open. I paused, noticing the little slave still hadn't left. So I held the other half of the pomegrante it out to him. He swallowed tightly and I saw his eyes dart as if he were debating the idea of fleeing. I just held holding out the other half of the fruit to him before he reluctantly came forward, took it and quickly backed up to put a good ten feet or so between us as he slurped the insides of the fruit out. I did the same, looking around the garden as rain caked my hair to my face.

"I-Is master cold?" The little slave asked timidly. I looked at him and he dropped his gaze. My eyes lowered to the ground before I stared at the flowers that trembled beneath the force of the rain that fell around us. I closed my eyes and tilted my head up to catch more rain on my face, then parted my lips so droplets could land inside.

"No. I'm okay." I took another bite of the fruit before dropping it to the ground and slumping down onto my knees. The slave jumped, looking a bit alarmed, but he made no move to come near me. Of course, he wouldn't. I could have a spontaneous heart attack and he would still stand over there and tremble in fear.

Even if I was dying, no one would come near me.

I slumped down in the mud, pressing my cheek to it. The slave surprised me as he dropped his fruit and came over to me. He got down on his knees and held his umbrella over me.

"Master okay? No be s-sick, please." He stammered. I blinked past the rain and glanced up at him bitterly.

"I don't think you really give a shit. I could lay here and rot and die and the only reason you'd care is because my death would distrupt the balance and destroy the world." I spat. The slave blinked, then tilted his head to look at me.

"No," He said softly, "No, Niki be sad that m-master not here no more."

"Don't fucking lie to me, half-breed," I snapped, making him flinch before I frowned, "Your name's Niki?" He nodded timidly. I said nothing. What a strange name for an imp/fae half-breed. He was more imp than fae. He talked like an imp, was colored like an imp, what with that white hair, and he was stupid like an imp... But he was nosy like a fae, nature-affiliated like a fae, and danced like a fae.

"Who named you Niki?" I asked. Niki smiled.

"Mama Niki."

"You're named for your mother?"

"Yes. She good people... What about master? Did Rhea name you Hades?"

"I don't know," I muttered, still laying in the mud and paying hardly any attention to the way it stuck to me and hardly noticing the fact that the half-breed had ceased his stuttering, "I don't know where that name came from. It's a stupid name."

"Niki like it."

"Niki's an idiot."

"Okay," Niki accepted that with grace and I rolled my eyes, "Uhm, master come inside? Very cold."

"I hadn't noticed."

"Please?" He asked. I tried not to laugh. Who did he think he was? Telling me what to do. Begging me to come inside the house because it was cold out. What was the worst that could I happen? I get sick? I was a god. I didn't get sick. Not unless I went into Recharge and I couldn't do that unless I used all my powers and since I rarely used them, well, there's the problem. But for some reason, I let Niki help me stand and grab my jacket and boots before he led the way inside. He followed me all the way to my room, and despite my insistence that no one is allowed in my bedroom, I let Niki help me into bed after we peeled my clothing off. I didn't even give two shits that he saw me naked.

"Goodnight, Master," Niki said softly as he pulled the blankets over me and I threw my arm over my face to cover my eyes, "Feel better." He left the room and shut the lights off behind him. Without so much as a thought, I changed the ceiling to become lit up with stars. I dropped my arm off my eyes and stared up at the stars that glittered and glowed like they did in the mortal realm. I reached my hand up toward a ceiling that was at least twenty feet high or more, waving my hand to rearrange the stars, making a pretty lame constellation of Atros.

I sighed, rolling over on my side and closing my eyes. I let the thick heavy haze of alcohol lull me to sleep. Thankfully, the alcohol prevented nightmares. Somehow. Someway. I never had nightmares when I was drunk. Just black haze. I was comforted by it. The last thing I needed right now is a nightmare.

Of course, waking up was a nightmare. I woke up to my head throbbing in agony. I groaned, rolling over and almost falling to the floor as I struggled to get out of bed. I made my way to the bathroom and waved my hand to fill the tub, but turned the sink on instead. I cursed the hangover that was screwing with my powers and just turned the tub on manually. Once it was full, I climbed in and soaked. A while later, my headache passed and the hangover all, but vanished. Allowing me to summon shampoos and soaps. I summoned a very small breakfast of cucumber yogurt and pita chips before climbing out and changing into my black battlesuit uniform.

I left my room and headed to the throne room where Niki was eagerly waiting for me.

Yeah, seriously. The little shit looked like he was bouncing up and down excitedly just so he could see me. It was friggin' creepy.

"Can I help you?" I asked dryly. Niki just smiled.

"Master feel better?"

"Like I was hit by one of Poseidon's tsunami's," I replied, making Niki pout before I shook my head, "Cancel any appointments today. I need to go visit someone. I'll be gone all day, but just tell everyone I'm busy in my office." Niki nodded and ran to obey. I took my chance to teleport from my palace to the front entrance of Portius. It was a long path that emerged from the mountains and opened up into an open space between the mountains and the city of Portius. The "gates" of Hell was actually just an open road that connected to the main road that cut through the city. And was heavily guarded by very unfriendly looking soldiers. Or at least, it was until I approached and one of them broke rank to approach me.

I immediately recognized Lucifer's son, Raven. Tall and built like a gymnist, lean muscles, and oddly attractive black curly hair that framed a face that was borderline pretty with long black lashes circling celestial blue eyes. He wore the signature uniform of Lucifer's army; a black battlesuit similiar to mine, however, his was trimmed in burgundy and on the back of his was the imprint of angel wings with an arrow cutting through the center of them. There was also a new addition to the imprint. A crown stitched above the arrow, signifying his being a prince and a general.

How nice of you, Lucifer.

"Hades?" Raven asked, appearing bewildered. One of the other soldiers broke rank to hurry to his side protectively. This man was much larger than Raven, both in muscle mass and height. His brown highlighted hair was swept back from his ruggedly handsome face with a pair of black sunglasses, his hazel eyes eyeing me cautiously. He wore the same black and burgundy uniform as Raven with the imprint of a heart and an arrow cutting through it on the back. My guess was that it signified the fact that he was the Deadly Sin of Lust, and the second-in-command beneath Raven in their unit.

"You're looking a hundred times better," I replied to Raven, then dropped my eyes to the leather gloves he wore to hide his mangled hands from a year of living in torture, "Well, mostly." Raven uncomfortably tucked his hands behind him and his Sin shot me a dirty look that I swiftly ignored.

"I'm here on business. Move." I said, approaching them. The soldiers behind them lined up to block the road, not that it mattered since I could just plow right through them. I was just giving them the courtesy of a choice. Raven frowned.

"I don't think--"

"It's all right, Raven, he's with me." Raven and his unit turned to see Lucifer coming up the road. Lucifer was an oddly attractive angel as well. Curly blonde hair around a face that appeared to need a shave, deep blue eyes the right color to make him even more angelic than the fact that he was decked out in white leather. A white leather jacket with a stand-up collar that clasped at the throat matching his pants and boots that thumped wherever he walked. Worst of all, he was one of the few people who walked the realms that was the same height as me.

I stuck my tongue out at Raven as I passed him to head to Lucifer. His Sin took a threatening step toward me, but Raven held his arm up and shook his head at the creature as I continued my way to Lucifer, who eyed me warily.

"Hades, this really isn't necessary. There's no need for you to be here, unless it concerns the Titans." He told me sternly. I waved him off and kept walking past him. Reluctantly, Lucifer followed me quickly down the road after ordering the unit to return to their duty.

"Why are you here? You're not vacationing if you're going to Sheol."

"Speaking of which, where is that place?"

"You came here without even knowing where it was?"

"I don't make it a habit to visit you, asshole. Take me to Sheol. There's a soul there that belongs to me." I told him. Lucifer narrowed his eyes and quickly moved to stand in front of me, making me smirk at his idiotic overprotectiveness for a soul he'd never even met.

"Hades, we made a deal about souls. Souls that come here, belong here, and stay here. I've sworn not to--"

"Get the fuck out of my way." I seethed. Lucifer glared at me intensely. I debated blasting him out of the way, but we were too close to the military buildings and the moment I did, an alarm would go off and I would be caught. I clenched my fists.

"If the soul doesn't want to come with me, then I won't make it. But if he wants to, then he can." I said tightly. Lucifer frowned curiously at that. I could see him wondering, but much to my relief, he didn't ask. He just stared at me a while longer, reached out to touch my arm, then teleported us from Portius to Sheol.

Sheol was a gigantic valley at the center of Hell. Everything was hued in grays and blues from the cloudy overcast. It was just a grassy bowl in the mountainous region, mountains on all sides. Long grass tickled my legs as we simply stood there in an empty valley. A frown worked itself onto my face as I looked around at the vast nothingness. I started to ask what kind of trick this was when I felt it. An odd pulse in the air that indicated the place was heavily haunted. The temperature drop, the tickle on the back of my neck that told me there were more people around us.

A moment later, the images came. Souls shimmered into being around us as we stood in the field of grass. Couples were embracing tightly, laughing and whispering. Mothers were cradling infants, fathers were playing games with their songs. Families scattered here and there. They were all relieving their greatest dreams and happiness.

I looked around with a frown working itself onto my face before I began to walk through the grass, brushing past souls that didn't seem even remotely interested in me. Lucifer followed close behind. Occasionally a soul would be pulled from its dream to wave and smile at Lucifer before returning to its illusion of peace and calm.

"Who are you looking for?" Lucifer asked. I didn't answer him. Just paused to look around a while longer before my eyes found what they were looking for.

Just a few feet away, Atros was standing there as a pale haze, cradling a small infant in his arms. The infant giggled and reached a hand out to Atros, who laughed and dipped his head down to push his nose into the infant's grasp. Beside him was his wife, Gloria, who smiled warmly at their play as she placed a hand on Atros's arm.

An odd bolt of pain cut through me, but it didn't stop me from coming forward.

"Atros?" I asked. Atros blinked, looking confused for a moment before something dark flickered through his eyes and his image shuddered. He handed the baby off to Gloria, who gave him a kiss on the cheek before drifting away, playing happily with their infant. Atros turned to see me and he glared.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded. I brushed off his hostility.

"I..." My voice trailed as I realized what I was doing. Jesus Christ, I actually came here to bring a soul back to me. A soul that didn't give two shits about me. In a drunken haze, I'd stupidly thought I could just tell him I came to bring him back to life so we could return to our relationship before. I was asking him to abandon his wife and child to be a whore again, my whore. I couldn't find the words to say that without sounding an idiot. Hell, just by standing there, I was an idiot.

But Atros seemed to know what he wanted to say because he approached me, and his image flickered until he was standing right in front of me, his eyes glowing with enough hatred to light up the world for years.

"I finally got away from you," Atros seethed, "I'm with my wife and my child."

"You said you loved me." I reminded. Atros raked me with a disgusted sneer.

"I did not love you. I don't know anyone who could. I loved that fascade you put on. I loved Hector, not Hades. And Hector does not exist, so neither did that love."

"Then why did you say it?"

"You tricked me! That's the only thing you do! Just get away from me! I'm finally happy! Let me enjoy the afterlife with my wife and son, you selfish prick! Leave me alone!" Atros snarled, then turned and vanished from sight. The air was still cold from the souls that wandered around without paying much attention to me. I stared at the space where Atros had been, tilting my head.

Why had I expected something else? What did I expect? For him to come running to me with open arms and forgive me for being a lying deceitful bastard? He was right. He was finally happy. He was with his wife and his son. He didn't need me invading his privacy.

"Hades," Lucifer's voice startled me from my thoughts and I turned to stare at him as he stared back, obviously curious about the scene that had occured, "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" I asked stupidly. Lucifer frowned.

"He was a bit harsh. What did you do to him?" He asked. I looked back at the spot where Atros had vanished, then looked back at Lucifer.

"I... Uh, he killed himself. Something about not wanting to... get involved with me," I muttered, watching Lucifer's brows knit together in concern, which only pissed me off, "I told you if he didn't agree, then I'd leave. I'm leaving. You don't have to fucking worry about me messing with your precious life." Lucifer scowled.

"That's not what I was thinking."

"I'm not fucking stupid, Satan. You want me gone as much as everyone else does. You stand there like a sanctimonious bastard spewing bullshit about how there's good in everyone. Please. You're just as sick and fucked up as I am. Leave me the fuck alone, you self-righteous prick." I snarled. Lucifer frowned, but didn't get a chance to respond as I teleported from Hell to my realm. It was easy to teleport out of Hell, since that's exactly what I was doing. Leaving Hell.

I appeared in my throne room, staring at the trees and flowers for a long moment before I threw my hand out. Fire latched onto the trees and flowers and grass. Hot red flames crackled and swallowed everything in sight, only disappearing into smoke once it'd eaten everything in its path and left only scorched black floors and walls. The ceiling that had been designed to look like a beautiful blue sky was destroyed, changed back to its usualy black empty self.

It looked the same way it had when I first arrived in the underworld.

I took a deep breath, ran my hands through my hair, then clenched my teeth.

Leave me alone!

Fine. Whatever. One whore. I could find another whore.