Feathers and Blood (boyxboy)

Chapter One

Time in Hades was irrelevant, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was three months since I'd first met Phobos. Since then, I had learned that 'assistant' just meant 'lackey', but as Phobos constantly reminded me, it was better than being in Hell.

There was a difference between Hades and Hell, apparently. There were Nine Rings of Hell, and the top eight were known as Hades, home to demons. Each Ring was the domain of a different King or Queen, and the deeper the Ring, the more powerful the demon. Phobos, of course, was in the lowest level. The last Ring was where humans were tortured and where the ultimate source of evil, Lucifer, lived.

It got more complicated than that, I was sure, but Phobos didn't tell me much. Truth be told, I didn't even see him that much. I just cleaned up after him, taking my orders from another demon of Fear, Ajax.

Ajax was a rare type of demon. He had been a human first, long ago, but he didn't speak of that. He was huge and muscular, certainly frightening, but he was actually pretty nice. You know, for a demon.

There were a few rules I had to follow. I couldn't leave the palace, and I couldn't enter a room I didn't know without Phobos' permission. I wasn't to ask too many questions and the Demon King's bedroom was off-limits. Most importantly, Ajax warned me, I should never ask about Phobos' love life. Ever.

"He's been through a lot," Ajax had muttered. "Don't remind him of past pains."

I was in my room, a stone, barren cube the size of a walk-in closet, when Phobos called for me. This was relatively rare. I hadn't seen him in several days.

Phobos' palace was huge; it took me 15 minutes to get from my room to his study. When I finally got there, I found him leaning back on his chair, his feet up on the desk. His tail was drooping lazily on the floor, but it perked up when he saw me. He grinned.

"Jesse!" he greeted warmly. "How have you been for the the past... week?" He frowned. "Five... four days?"

I rolled my eyes. "Three days, my lord," I said stiffly. "And I'm fine, thank you for asking. What is it you need?"

Phobos sat up, his smile fading. "I need to go to the Surface. I'm having a meeting with one of my brothers, and we wanted to have it on neutral ground."

I was interested. He'd never talked about his siblings before. I knew they were the other Kings and Queens of Hades, but that was all Ajax told me. I didn't know their names or what they were demons of.

"Your brother?" I echoed, trying not to sound too inquisitive.

Phobos scowled. "Morpheus," he agreed. "Idiot, really. Will you come with me?"

I frowned. "Why are you asking me to go? I thought I was just a mere human." I said this last part with a bit of bitterness.

The demon's mouth twitched. "I thought you'd appreciate getting some fresh air. Surely you must miss the Surface?"

I didn't remember anything about my personal life, but I did remember generic facts about Earth. I didn't miss it, but I was curious. "Yes, my lord," I said eagerly.

His easy smile came back. "Well then," he said, sounding pleased. "Let's go."

"What, now?" I was taken aback. I was wearing simple black pants and a servant's shirt. My feet were bare. Phobos himself was wearing skinny jeans and a black shirt with a pentagram on it. It had the caption of "Bitch. Jerk." on it, making me think it was a reference to something, but of course, I couldn't remember what.

"Why not?" Phobos replied, raising an eyebrow.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Well, we're dressed kinda..." I didn't know how to finish that sentence without being offensive, but luckily, I didn't have to.