Chapter Five

I left Theo's room in stunned silence.

I didn't know what to say, and it's not as if I had much time to say anything afterwards because that was the only thing about this sex that actually stayed the same. As soon as we were both spent, muscles aching and bodies bleeding, Theo had ordered that I leave immediately to let him sleep in peace.

Right after he had let me push him down on his back and have my way with him. I did things to him that I had only imagined in my wildest of fantasizes. Things that I wanted to savor and enjoy with him, things that I hoped he would also relish in. However, something about it all felt wrong, different.

Was it because of what Rara had said?

Was there really a Titan inside Theo?

The more I thought about it, the more I began to believe it to be true. There had to be. Theo, while he enjoyed sex, especially rough sex, was not the type to become intimate and passionate. He never let me push him down. I always took him from behind and he would never let me look at his face while we were together like that. He wouldn't even let me kiss him. He would only order me to ravage his back, dig my nails into his hips in a way that made me wonder how his hips hadn't shattered.

This time was different and I knew instinctively that something was wrong. It wasn't just the fact that I was exhausted, not just from pleasing him, but also myself. It wasn't just the fact that he moaned and writhed beneath me, begging-- mind you, begging, not ordering, but begging-- for more. It also wasn't the fact that he had made my body ache with pleasure at being able to fulfill twisted fantasizes.

It was the fact that the person I had just had sex with was not Theo.

The realization hit me so hard that I almost fell to my knees by the time I reached the throne room, staring at the floor, breathing hard.

Rara had been right. That wasn't Theo. Theo would never have done something like that to me, for me, with me. Theo did not love me. Theo did not care about me. I was merely his servant, one that he salvaged from the brink of death. I was nothing special to him and we both knew that. Whoever was inside Theo now was only using him, using his body.

That thought went through me like lightening and I was caught off guard by the sudden surge of raw anger that snapped through me like the fires of hell.

Someone was using Theo.

Someone was treating Theo like he was nothing, but a puppet. A marionette with no will of its own.

I seethed, saliva spitting out at the marble. I clenched my fists against the marble, feeling my muscles snap taut. I couldn't fight the scream of rage that flew past my teeth. I pushed myself up angrily to my feet, taking long, angry strides toward the kitchen. I threw the doors open, making several of the servants inside yelp and cry out in shock.

I scanned the room for Rara, spotting her coming toward me from one of the side doors. I approached her quickly, grabbing her arm, making her gasp in surprise and open her mouth, probalby to make a sarcastic retort, but I spoke before she could.

"You were right." I managed past the rage that was so harsh that I was seeing red. Rara blinked, her eyes slowly widening before she nodded and grabbed my arm, leading me out the back door of the kitchen to the platform outside that looked out over the field behind the palace, the river gently flowing nearby. Rara turned to face me, frowning as she let go of my arm.

"How do you know? Did you find proof?" She demanded. I glared at her, fists clenched at my sides as I tried to reel in my temper, but it was impossible and I found myself spewing out words angrily.

"I don't need any damned proof to know that the man I just had sex with was not Theo. I know Theo. I've been having sex with Theo since the first day he hired me and none of those times did Theo act as he did today. That was not Theo. Theo isn't... Theo isn't a puppet! Theo isn't a toy to be played around with and someone is in there, using his body as if it were a disposable puppet! I don't know who it is, or what they plan to do and I honestly don't care because I will find tem and I will kill them." I panted hard, feeling a sharp headache pierce my temples.

Rara stared at me, probably surprised that I finally couldn't contain myself anymore. She relaxed after a moment, however, frowning.

"All right. Yes, I know, Sept. I am not very pleased with this either. While I do not enjoy being a servant, Theo has given me what the humans who worshipped me could never do-- and that is eternity. I am as angry as you are, but we cannot go to the others with your statement alone. We need to show them that Theo is indeed being possessed. We need to know how it happened. When was the last time you were sure it was him?" She asked sternly. I was still breathing heavily, so I paced a little to calm myself down, running my hands through my hair as I tried to think.

I retraced back through the last few days, then to the last time Theo and I had sex normally. By normally, I meant with lots of blood and no pleasure for myself. It was the day we went to Tartarus, I realized, coming to a halt and looking up to stare at Rara, who stared back.

"When we went to Tartarus," I said aloud now, "It was just before we left to Tartarus. He was normal then. Or, well, as normal as Theo would be. We attended the meeting with the others and we got the message from Adrian that he received from Xenon."

"Message?" Rara asked. I nodded.

"One, two, three, four, your soul is my door. Five, six, seven, eight, I will infect you with my hate. According to Xenon, one of the Titans had the messaged engraved on their palm. We all went through and looked at their palms, but..." My voice trailed as my eyes widened in sudden remembrance.

Theo had stopped suddenly and asked if I had heard a noise. I didn't understand what he had meant and he went to the nearest cell. He had asked the Titan to see his palms, then leapt back as if he had been electrocuted.

"The Titan," I spoke again, this time speaking quickly, "The Titan in the cell. Theo had demanded to see his palms and the Titan had grabbed his arms. It must have been right then and there when he shoved his soul into Theo's body somehow." Rara frowned, confused.

"Then... What happened to the Titan?" She asked.

"He fell to the ground and didn't move afterwards." I replied, frowning now too. It was something that couldn't be possible, or as far as I knew. A body was made only to accommodate one soul at a time. When it came to a soul possessing a body, the soul that was already in the body is pushed out and left without a host. Sometimes they went and found another body to use or they came to the Underworld.

"Damn it!" Rara cursed suddenly, making me look at her.

"What?"

"That Titan, whoever it was," She began carefully, glaring at me, gesturing wildly with her hands, "They didn't push out Theo's soul or switch it. That Titan forced his way in. His soul is on top of Theo's."

"That's not possible." I stated firmly. Rara scowled.

"Obviously it is. This Titan is a very stupid one. He didn't push out Theo's soul, which means Theo's soul is still writhing inside his body, underneath of the Titan's. He didn't push out Theo's soul because he's feeding off of it." She snapped, making me blink.

"Feeding?" I asked in disbelief. Rara gritted her teeth, clenching her fists before cursing again, turning away to run a hand through her hair before glancing at me.

"Exactly. And do you know what happens to a soul that's being fed on?" She demanded.

I didn't speak.

I didn't have to. A soul inside of a body was like a cup full of water and to feed off a soul was like drinking it through a straw. Slowly, the soul would empty out of the body.

And die.

"It's killing Theo." I managed at last, feeling cold inside. Replacing the rage was a heavy, icy pain that actually hurt my chest. Rara turned to face me fully now, her expression grim.

"And that Titan, whoever it was, just had a full day to feed off of Theo's soul. Remember how we told him Malachi was planning a meeting soon and he seemed so opposed to it?" She demanded. I winced inwardly.

"He's buying himself enough time to completely devour Theo's soul." I answered. Rara nodded.

"And that's not all," She muttered, making my stomach sink even further, "When you devour a soul, you don't just give yourself more room in the body, but you get all the powers and strength from that soul. That Titan is getting powerful the longer he stays inside Theo's body." She explained, making my heart drop into my stomach now.

"He's going to use his strength to spring the rest of the Titans." I stated.

"Unless," Rara said quickly, making me frown, "Unless we can prove that this isn't Theo to the others and trick him to stand before Hades."

"Why Hades?" I asked. Rara gave me a droll stare.

"The only gods that can rip a soul out is a god of death. Hades is the god of all gods of death."

"I thought Thanatos was."

"He doesn't count. Point is, we need Hades. He can take the Titan's soul out without hurting Theo, passing it off to Zelios, who can lock him up again. The only problem with all of this is proving that there is a Titan inside Theo." Rara finished. I frowned at that, going silent. I wracked my brain for any kind of proof.

"We have until the end of the week," Rara said, making me look up to see her pinching her chin between her thumb and forefinger thoughtfully, "We need to trick the Titan into screwing up. It'll help if we know what Titan." I averted my eyes, then suddenly remembered his name, looking up.

"Epimetheus." I stated. Rara snorted out loud, making me raise an eyebrow as she covered her mouth, then dropped it.

"Either this is going to be too easy or extremely difficult. Epimetheus is the Titan of afterthought and excuses. While he isn't exactly known for being the best thinker, like his brother Prometheus, he can be really tricky when the moment counts. He's a last minute kind of guy. We might have him trapped like a mouse, but like any mouse, he'll find some way to dodge the corner and run past the cat." She explained slowly.

I didn't know too much about the Greeks, as I did my own pantheon, but I knew plenty through rumors that Epimetheus was surely not the best of the Titans, especially of his brothers. Supposedly, he was given the responsibility of giving each animal a positive trait, but when it came to mankind and their positive trait, there was nothing left. Of course, then came the legend everyone knew all too well. Prometheus had given man fire and civilizing arts, which resulted in his being chained to a rock for all eternity to have his innards torn out by vultures. Epimetheus, being the dear loving brother he was, stupidly tried to free him by sending Heracles after him. Of course, Zeus was no fool and found out, sending Epimetheus to Tartarus for his stupidity.

Of course, that was only what I had heard. I had tried hard not to be in contact with the Greeks, which is how I had ended up where I was in the first place, but that wasn't the focus right now.

Right now, my master was being used.

And as his guard, I was not going to let this continue.

"Then how do we prove that Theo isn't really Theo?" I demanded. Rara gave pause now, studying the sky as if it held the answers. I also fell silent. We both looked around, probably hoping that the answer would come floating by on the river or through the sky.

"We need him to slip up," Rara said at last, making me frown at her, "We need to do something that'll get him in trouble with Hades. Hades will know instantly that Epimetheus is there and not Theo."

"And how do we do that?" I pressed. Rara frowned for a while before her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers.

"The docks, do you remember the docks? Epimetheus killed Regulus, who was in charge of building the docks. The docks won't be finished in time, something that Hades ordered himself. Epimetheus didn't know that, so he won't be suspecting it. Someone needs to tell Hades that Epimetheus killed Regulus. Hades will summon Theo to his court." She explained quickly. I grimaced at the idea because I knew very well what Hades did to people when he was angry. Hades didn't play favorites. If his sons angered him enough, he would have no problem beating some sense into them.

"And how can we get into Hades' Hall? He'll hardly have time for us." I answered. Rara frowned, then blinked as if an idea struck her, but before she could speak, pain roared up my back with a vengeance and I choked, falling to my knees.

"He's calling you again," Rara hissed, taking back and clenching her fists, "Do not let him know that you know."

"That Titan is using my master as a puppet." I seethed past clenched teeth.

"And he's about to eat him like a lamb if you don't keep your mouth shut, Sept. If you wish to save your master, you must remain silent and ignorant around him. Now go before he suspects." Rara ordered, making me nod quickly before I vanished and reappeared in Theo's room. He was lying sprawled out on the bed, smiling at me very sexually. It didn't help that his legs were open, his foot rubbing along his leg very slowly, sensually.

He was gripping the voodoo doll tightly before he rolled onto his stomach, holding it in his hands as he peered at me past the doll. I swallowed down my temper hard, letting Rara's words echo in my head. I could not risk Theo's life. I had to remain calm, remain ignorant.

It was just damn difficult when Epimetheus was smiling at me with Theo's face.

"Good boy," Epimetheus purred in Theo's voice, his finger stroking up and down the doll's arm, making it so I could faintly feel it on my arm, "I don't think I'm satisfied enough." I had to swallow hard again, holding my breath and counting to five to calm down.

How dare this vermin use Theo's body for his own pleasures, his own gain.

God, and I had sex with him. The thought made me want to shudder in revulsion, but I resisted as I feigned ignorance to his request.

"My lord?" I asked calmly. That obviously wasn't the right choice because Epimetheus frowned; frowned with Theo's lips, Theo's face, Theo's eyes. He dropped his hands, covering the doll, on the bed and gave me a droll stare, lifting a brow.

"Come now, Sept. I'm positive I made your experience memorable." He replied, then slowly smiled again, showing his fangs off.

Oh yes, I wanted to say. It was something that made me want to vomit and cut my own tongue out with it. I bit my tongue on the words and instead nodded slowly. Epimetheus studied me, frowning for a moment.

"You're acting strange. What's wrong?" He asked, shifting forward so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand still resting on the voodoo doll, its eyes glowing. I didn't like that power he had over me, but I said nothing as I shook my head.

"Nothing, my lord. It's simply... Well, I'm a bit tired. I was planning to sleep." I responded. Epimetheus tsked and picked up the doll, looking ready to put it away when his eyes landed on it, then back at me. My stomach sank as a sick smile spread across his lips. No, Theo's lips... Theo's beautiful, soft lips. It only made me feel ill to think that, and it only got worse as Epimetheus brought the doll to his face.

"Let me know if you feel this." He said quietly, then ran the tip of his tongue around the doll's crotch. I gasped at the hot, wet sensation encircling my groin. I bit down hard on my tongue, my muscles going taut as my body instantly reacted to the sensation. Epimetheus laughed quietly, eyeing the bulge in my pants.

"Ooo," He crooned, "This is going to be fun."

My stomach clenched and I ground my teeth together, praying that whatever idea Rara had in mind, that she would do it quickly because I was about ready to rip the Titan out of Theo with my bare hands...