Chapter Fifteen

I woke up to warmth and comfort the next morning.

For the first time in a very, very long time, I woke up feeling refreshed and alive. My muscles were relaxed and soothed by the soft caresses of blankets and sheets, and a very delicate arm wrapped around my torso. My eyes flickered open and my morning was a hundred times better as I woke up to Noe hugging me around the torso, his face buried against my chest as he slept in silence.

I smiled, reaching down to stroke his hair. He sighed in his sleep and snuggled closer, tightening his grip around me. I wanted to stay here and savor this forever, but a tingling sensation at the back of my mind told me someone was trying to contact me through my laptop.

I sighed, reluctantly slipping out of Noe's grip and pulling the blankets over him as he grabbed onto a pillow to replace me in his arms. I smiled lightly, then went to shower before changing into a pair of loose white pants and a matching v-neck shirt with loose sleeves. I went to my office right afterwards and took my laptop out, and sure enough, there was a message from Hades. I grimaced as I popped it open and found several attachments titled "Logs", which meant I'd just been sent two more weeks worth of work.

I resisted the urge to reply with a photo of my middle finger and sat down, immediately getting to work. Part of me wanted to put it off until later so I could at least make Noe breakfast and leave it for him when he woke up, but I wasn't a very good cook and the sooner I got this work done, the more time I could spend with Noe.

Of course, it didn't take very long for Noe to figure out where I was and what I was doing, because a couple hours later, Noe came into my office, dressed in his uniform, and looking upset.

"I knew you'd be in here," He complained instantly, shutting the door and coming to my desk, "Why didn't you wake me up?" I typed my response and turned the screen for him to see. He scanned it briefly, then looked up at me with a pout. I smiled and he relaxed, coming over to my side of the desk and leaning on my shoulders as I returned to work. He stayed with me for a while before his growling stomach urged him to eat breakfast.

A few moments after he'd left, there was a knock on my door. I looked up, frowning as someone entered. The water daemon servant from before came in, wearing a loose green velvet dress over black leggings designed with teardrops. Her icy blue hair was tied up into a loose bun, whisps of hair hanging near her young heart-shaped face, green eyes looking at me expectantly. I gestured for her to come to me and she approached my desk. I typed out the question who are your parents and turned the screen for her to read. She cocked her head, looking down at it with a confused frown before looking up at me.

"Medea and Alexander Prothesius, my lord. They were both water daemons from Athens, but they died, ah, quite a while ago. May I inquire as to why you need to know?" She asked. I typed out a response, being we're searching for someone, but your parents don't fit the description, I apologize for any inconvenience. She read the screen and her cheeks flushed as she reached up to brush the hair from her face shyly.

"No inconvenience at all, Lord Zelios. Actually," She paused to laugh a bit nervously as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, "I've missed being here. I work for Lord Cain now and, well, I'm just so used to Tartarus. Not many people can say that, can they?" I smiled at that and she smiled back before the door to my office opened and Noe came in, pausing to frown at the sight of the servant.

"I didn't know you were here." He deadpanned. I frowned at his rudeness, but obviously couldn't say anything. Thankfully, the water daemon didn't seem to notice and just smiled warmly.

"My apologizes, Master Noe. I'm just used to coming in and out as I please. I'll be sure to check in with you next time." She gave him a polite nod. Noe didn't react to it, just ignored her and looked at me.

"Did you find anything out?" He asked. I shook my head, then typed something and tapped the screen for the servant to turn and look. She scanned the screen at my message that said again, I apologize for taking time out of your day. You may leave now. I hope you enjoy working for Cain. Should he cause you any trouble, come to me immediately and I will handle it. She blushed and nodded before scurrying out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Noe scowled, turning to me as he approached my desk.

"Why were you alone with her?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow, typing a message without looking down before I turned it to face him.

Are you jealous?

Noe's cheeks pinkened and he cleared his throat, pushing the laptop back towards me as he purposely ignored my message, ruffling his hair awkwardly.

"Anyway, so if it's not her, then who else could it be? Are you sure she wasn't lying?" He asked me sternly now. I nodded. I knew when my servants lied to me. It was a tingle in the back of my mind that told me. She had been telling the truth, which meant we were once again stuck with a dead end. Noe sighed, running a hand through his hair as I typed out a message to him to tell him there was a meeting in Inferi in a couple of hours. He read it and nodded, then stepped back to sit down in one of the chairs across from my desk.

"So, until then, you're gonna work, aren't you?" He asked with a heavy sigh. I nodded glumily and he pouted.

"Well, at least take me with you when you go on your rounds today. Please? I won't go near anyone. I'll stay right by your side. Promsie." He added with a bright smile. I couldn't resist smiling back and reluctantly nodded, watching him brighten in excitement.

"Great! I'll go get you something to eat for lunch before we head out." He added, jumping to his feet and flying from the room. I shook my head, amused by his cheeriness before I returned to work, filling out logs and dishing out the punishment that Hades so kindly applied to every single prisoner, simply because he was in a bad mood. I could only hope that this season would go by quickly and Persephone would return to lighten the load that Hades was throwing on everyone, not just myself. I could tell by the way Cerberus had been relaxing yesterday that it was the first time in a while that he was allowed a day off.

He, much like Charon, worked most of the time. Cerberus was forced to guard the gates of the underworld to ensure that all unwanted guests were kept out, and all the souls were kept in. Should even one soul manage to find its way out of its prison and get past Cerberus, Hades would have Cerberus severely punished. It'd only happened a couple of times in the past and Cerberus still had the scars to prove it.

Charon practically lived on the river Acheron with the amount of time he worked, ferrying souls back and forth. While he wasn't as busy as he once was, during the ancient times on earth, he was still pretty busy. It was probably why he didn't have enough time to teach himself how to cook or do laundry or anything else that most people knew how to do. Granted, I also wasn't much of a cook, but I could follow the instructions on packages well. I wasn't even sure if Charon knew how to read, and asking him would be useless.

He purposely avoided the rest of us. If he wasn't working, he was sleeping and even when he worked, if he happened upon us in the process, he'd ignore us. I didn't blame him, however. The rest of my brothers weren't too polite towards him.

After an hour or so, Noe returned to my office, carrying a silver tray with hummus and pita bread with a side of Greek olives. I smiled at that as he set the tray down, clearing his throat. He stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I was gonna make something bigger, but, ah, well," He blushed now, "I almost caught the kitchen on fire, so I figured you'd like something a little... close to home?" I tore a small piece of the pita bread off and dipped part of it in the hummus before placing a greek olive on top, placing it in my mouth. The rich flavors assaulted my tongue, a mix of bitter, sour, and sweet. I licked my lips and nodded in approval to Noe, whose shoulders slumped in relief.

"Glad you like it," He said cheerfully now, "But because it took me for-freakin'-ever, you only get a little bit of time to eat before we have to go to the meeting in Inferi. Sorry, but I'll work on it, promise! And tomorrow, you better be in the bed when I wake up. I don't like waking up to pillows." I smiled apologetically and gestured for him to come stand beside me. He immediately obeyed, looking at me curously as I turned in my seat to face him. I took his hands and pulled him into my lap, watching his cheeks color.

I took another piece of pita bread and ran it into the hummus before bringing it to his lips. He flicked his tongue over his lips before parting them to take the bread into his mouth. A bit of hummus sat on his lower lip as he chewed before he flicked his tongue out to lick it off. I smiled and he smiled back, leaning his forehead down to touch mine. I kissed him gently on the lips before he sat back and grabbed some of the pita bread, smearing hummus on it and placing an olive on it before he put it in my mouth. A shiver of pleasure cut through me as he fed me until the hummus was cleaned off the plate, the pita bread was only crumbs, and all that was left of the olives were the pits.

I turned to my laptop, typing a message to Noe that said the breakfast was wonderful and turned it for him to see. He beamed at that. I swore if he had a tail, it'd be wagging. He looked absolutely delighted.

He took the tray back to the kitchen and I cleaned up my work, separating what I'd finished into one pile, and what I needed to do in another pile. I left my office and met Noe in the throne room before we left the palace. We passed by Diodorus, who seemed surprisingly quiet and glum.

"What's wrong," Noe asked when Diodorus shot to his feet to greet us, "You're usually swearing and shooting zombies with your friends." Diodorus nibbled his bottom lip uneasily.

"It's been kinda quiet without Abel. He hasn't been on lately and even Xenon skipped out on a couple of rounds. Alexion and I are the only ones who've been playing." He added with a helpless shrug. Noe nodded slowly with a frown.

That name sounded familiar, I realized. Alexion. I tried to pinpoint where I knew it from, but I couldn't be sure and Noe cursing cut through my thought process.

"We're gonna be late." Noe told me, walking ahead of me to the stairs. I nodded to Diodorus, who returned to his video games before I followed after Noe. We made it to the staircase before flashing to Inferi, where the rain came pouring down rather violently, flooding the cobblestone streets. We stepped inside to find that Theo, Sept, Charon, and Kyros had already arrived. All of whom looked tired and irritated, even Charon, who was frowning down at the floor as Kyros stood beside him, typing something into some sort of new technological device that looked like a rectangular plate, activated by a touch screen. Theo was rubbing his hip, obviously sore, and Sept didn't look too apologetic.

Abel was also there, and he looked to be in pain. A bruise was swelling under his left eye, gauze wrapped around his neck and shoulder under a loose black elbow-length shirt, matching his tight black leather pants. A new outfit compared to his usual uniform.

"You look banged up." Noe commented, frowning at him. Abel gave him a sour glare, reaching up to subconsciously hide the bruise on his face with his hair to no avail.

"Let's just say you're lucky as shit to be an only child, Noe." He muttered with enough venom to down an elephant. Theo snorted, folding his arms over his chest, pausing to pull his cloak closer to him at the cool temperature inside the building.

"Don't lump the rest of us together with Cain. We didn't kill the prostitute." He muttered. Noe looked at him, confused.

"Prostitute?" He asked. Theo just stuck his nose in the air, ignoring him. Sept glanced at him, then looked at Noe grimly.

"Cain killed one of Abel's regulars and Abel went after him for it, but--"

"But," Abel cut him off angrily, clenching his fists, "Because our oh so wonderful daddykins took my goddamn powers, I got my ass handed to me on a silver platter like a turkey on Thanksgiving. And thanks to the rest of you fuckin' assholes, I had to put up with him and Hades on my own. Ever since the oracle thing, Hades has been a total bitch." Theo scowled.

"It's not our faults. We don't want to get sucked into your dumb sibling rivalry anyway. You and Cain beat the crap out of each other all the time. We can't just put down our work to come to your defense." He responded in irritation, which only seemed to fuel Abel's fire even further. Now I understood why Cerberus told me to ignore anything Abel or Cian said, because Abel was on a roll now.

"You think all of this," Abel gestured to his wounds, "Is from Cain?! Half of this shit was Hades's fault! I think he left an eternal imprint of my face on his floor! Christ! I fuckin' hate this place!" A short spark of power indicated Abel was trying to flash out of the room, but he let out a frustrated yell as Malachi and Adrian came into the room. Malachi shot Abel a deadly glare.

"You're staying here. We have bigger problems aside from Cain killing another one of your one-night stands." He snapped at Abel, whose eyes snapped fire at that.

"Deo wasn't a one-night stand!" Abel protested, his voice cracking. Silence followed as Abel gave up on arguing and just slumped back against the front desk and slid down with his back against the marble, staring at the floor. Malachi frowned, glancing at Adrian, who gazed at Abel in pain. I could tell he wanted to go to Abel to comfort him, but Abel wasn't fond of any sort of comfort or warmth. That had been lost to him a very long time ago.

"Where are the others?" Malachi asked at last, turning to the rest of us. Theo started to open his mouth when Cerberus appeared in the room with Leon at his side, both looking a bit perturbed as well.

"Wow," Cerberus grimaced, waving his hand idly in his face, "Why does this place stink of awkward? Did I miss something?" Leon said something under his breath that I didn't quite catch and Cerberus glared at him for it. Leon pretended not to notice, looking off into the opposite direction. A second later, Cain and Hannibal appeared in the room.

Cain wasn't nearly as wounded as Abel, but he had a deep cut near the far corner of his left eye, his dark hair was brushed off to the left in an attempt to hide the cut. His blue eyes were like shards of glass as they scanned the room with obvious disdain. Of course, despite his mild injuries, he still wore a tight black brocade military style corset with gold buttons and black ribbon lacing with a matching one shoulder bolero to go with his tight black short shorts. Hannibal looked a bit banged up as well, more than usual anyway.

He didn't say a word, didn't even look at Abel, who pinned him with a menacing glare that promised blood.

"Anyway," Malachi said, his voice strained, "Now that we have everyone here. We've managed to figure something out. We looked into every tiny detail that's happened since Xenon warned us about the coming of the new oracle. From shipping transactions to Hermes mail orders and so on and we managed to pick up on one person who's related to a Titan, but not in the way we thought."

"What'd you mean?" Cerberus asked with a frown. Malachi summoned a file folder in his hand and opened it open, taking out a folder and holding up a file. My eyes widened as I recognized the face on the file.

It was the face of the delivery man who had brought me both the Atlantean weapon from Hades and the "gift" Apollo had sent me. The same loose blonde hair that fell over a handsome, masculine face and a pair of piercing hazel-green eyes that held a wisdom so great, it added years to his age.

"Hey," Sept spoke up suddenly, surprised, "I know him."

"You do?" Theo asked him, annoyed. Sept ignored him and came forward to take the file from Malachi, staring at it sternly, nodding slowly.

"He was a worker at the docks," He said, looking up at Malachi, "He worked for Regulus before Epimetheus killed him. Or, well, we assumed Epimetheus killed him." He handed the file back to Malachi, who frowned down at the file. I took my chance and summoned paper and pencil, scribbling down that I too recognized him. He had delivered the Atlantean dagger to me after Hades told me to have it melted down. I handed it to Noe, whose eyes widened as he read it aloud to the others. Malachi cursed.

"Damn it."

"What's wrong? Who is he?" Theo demanded. Malachi frowned, handing the file to Theo as he spoke.

"His name is Alexion. He's a Titan. A lesser Titan, but a Titan nonetheless. He took Zeus's side during the Titanomachy, but Zeus turned on him at the end of the fight and sucked his powers out before throwing him to the underworld. His parents aren't listed, but according to what we managed to dig up, he was a lover of Cronus for the longest time before Alexion turned on him and joined the Olympians." He explained, folding his arms over his chest. Theo scanned the file with a scowl, looking through the rest of the pages. From here, I could make out that there was very little information on this Alexion. Theo handed me the file when he saw me glancing at it.

It was just as Malachi had said. His name was Alexion and his family tree was blacked out. His only connection to the Titans was being Cornus's lover for a while. It didn't even list what his symbols were or what he ruled over, just that he was a Titan and how he came to be in the underworld.

"So, you think he's the spy?" Noe asked with a frown, taking the file from me to scan it. Malachi raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it obvious that he's the spy?" He asked dryly. Noe didn't answer, just stared intensely at the file before looking up.

"I don't know," He said at last, "I just have this really weird feeling. What if he's not the one we should be worrying about? What if there's someone out there who's worse than him?"

"Worse than a Titan," Cain drawled, "What's worse than that?"

"Having your lover betray you." Abel deadpanned. Cain pinned Abel with a glare so chilling that it gave me goosebumps. Abel managed to swiftly ignore it, looking at Malachi with a frown.

"It doesn't sound like Alexion would have a reason to return to the Titans, though, or to let them loose. He turned on them. There had to be a reason. Cronus may have loved Rhea, but that doesn't mean he was a cuddly bear. He probably treated Alexion like crap until he couldn't take it anymore. That sounds reasonable." He offered, but Malachi looked very reluctant to push aside the idea of Alexion being our spy. Well, granted, he was, but I remembered what Xenon had told Noe and I back in Apollo's temple.

"The spy may be helping the Titans, but he's not the one you should be worrying about."

Alexion was the spy. He was helping the Titans, but he wasn't the one we should be worrying about? It meant there was another spy, or some sort of informant and Xenon refused to tell us anything more, so we were trapped.

"It doesn't matter," Malachi decided at last, staring at each one of us, "I'm issuing a warrant for his arrest. Everyone else do the same. We need to find him and put him into custody. So if there are no further things to discuss, this meeting is adjourned." My brothers seemed surprisingly hesitant to leave, but Malachi looked like he'd had about enough of talking, so reluctantly each person vanished from the room. Abel remained, his knees drawn to his chest, his eyes narrowed at the floor. I took Noe's hand and we flashed back to the staircase to Tartarus.

"Alexion," Noe said once we were alone, his eyes staring up at me, "He's the guy playing with Diodorus online all the time." I nodded. Noe grimaced, but said nothing more as we entered the lobby to find Diodorus leaning back in his chair, balancing a small rubberband ball on his nose. The moment he saw us, he squeaked and dropped the ball, jumping to his feet.

"Diodorus," Noe greeted, making the daemon nod timidly in greeting, "Ah, we kinda have some bad news for you." Diodorus's face fell.

"Am I being fired?" He asked. Noe blushed.

"No way! Zelios and I like you, Dio. Calm down," He added with a scowl, making Diodorus turn pink and nod, "It's not exactly about you, but that one guy you play video games with... Where is he?" Diodorus looked confused.

"Which one?"

"Alexion."

"Oh," Diodorus sighed, plopping back down in his seat, "We were playing a little while ago, but he said something suddenly came up and he wouldn't be able to play with me for a couple of days." Noe frowned, glancing at me out the corner of his eye. How suspicious, and strange. Did he know that we knew? How?

"Did he say where he was going?" Noe asked, turning to Diodorus again, who frowned in confusion.

"No. Alexion likes his privacy. He used to live in an apartment in Styx for a while, but he said he was being evicted for missing his rent for three months." Diodorus explained. Noe nodded slowly before Diodorus swallowed hard.

"Uhm, why?" He asked. Noe stared at him.

"Alexion is a Titan. We're putting a warrant out for his arrest." He informed. Diodorus paled, looking back and forth between Noe and I before he jumped to his feet.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know," He blurted frantically, "I didn't know he was a Titan, I swear! He just popped into our game one time, mine and Abel's, and we let him play with us. That's the only way I know him, I promise!" Noe looked at him surprised.

"Calm down, Diodorus, we're not mad at you." He said. Diodorus still looked nervous, but sat down slowly, still glancing back and forth between Noe and myself. Noe sighed, shaking his head as he waved for Diodorus to open the door. Diodorus instantly obeyed, looking a bit shame-faced now. Noe and I went into Tartarus, listening to the door behind us close before Noe looked at me flatly.

"He's such a spazz." He muttered before walking ahead of me. I smiled faintly, but felt a little guilty. The only reason Diodorus was so skittish was because of the way he was treated for being the guardian of the door to Tartarus, and I had treated him rather cruelly before Noe had showed up. I hoped I could right those wrongs some day, otherwise, Diodorus might just have a heartattack one day when I came into the lobby.

"Something's not right," Noe told me as we came into the throne room of the palace, and I paused to turn and face him as he tilted his head to look up at me, "Alexion is the spy that we were looking for, but I can't stop thinking about what Xenon said. That there's someone else we need to worry about. It's giving me this weird, I dunno, tingly sensation? It might be my oracle powers still fizzling, but it still bothers me." I nodded grimly in agreement.

I could feel the stirring in the air around us.

Something big was coming.

Something bad.

And I could only hope that my brothers and I were ready when it came.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Eep, what a solemn ending. I know there are unanswered questions, but that's what the next book is for♥ The next book is called Betrayal in Elysium. I won't say anymore than that ;D I do hope you enjoyed this book, despite it being a bit on the short side. I just felt like this was a good spot to end, so I could have a good spot to start in the next book. Thank you all so much for reading, voting, commenting, and following! See you in the next book♥