Son of Hades (Redo)

Fall Fall Falling Down

        Turns out, I  didn't go entirely unnoticed. A woman in white, with a pin up hairstyle approaches me uneasily. She plunges a filled syringe into Lainey's neck.  "Ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to leave. You're disturbing the patients."

           "No! No! No!" Delaney wails, flailing around on the bed, and when the needle digs into her skin, she goes completely still. Her eyes roll to the back of her head, and she sleeps.

           I don't have to be told twice.

           Without much of a choice, I return to my room a little disappointed. Between now and tomorrow morning, Lainey will be out cold on her medication. She can't convince Castiel. Nobody can, and I can't say that I blame him. Xavier and I killed his parents. We killed the gods that killed millions before them. We got ourselves into this mess. We should be able to get ourselves out.

          But we can't.

           I really want to know what Castiel has in store for tomorrow morning. I already visited the bath house, the infirm, a small stop at the library. I don't have my all access card anymore, and only the gods know where that could be now. I didn't have much of a choice but to stay here.

            I know why Castiel left Xavier in that cell with Oscar. If he hadn't, I would've helped him escape. I wouldn't have let him get hurt. I wouldn't have allowed him to face his worst fears.

         My worst fears.

I manage to catch a wink of sleep. I have nightmares. Flashbacks. I could feel the heat from the lake of fire. Xavier's touch. Hades booming, deep voice telling us that our touch is forbidden. I dreamt of Tartarus, and Xavier screaming. In the morning, someone woke me up by touching me on the shoulder.

"You always were a restless sleeper," It was Anna, and she brought in a food cart behind her. "Castiel has important news. Get ready, meet him in the Dungeon in an hour."

Anna turned to go and pretended like her betrayal never happened. "You don't get to walk away," I snap. "What have I ever done to you? What have I done that made you — "

"The reason I'm dead," She grit through her teeth. "is because of you. So, don't go acting all innocent."

This is about Tyler? Even in the afterlife, Anna still thinks I want his cock. Last I checked, Tyler is still alive, unfortunately alive and heroine-addicted. It helps him numb the pain of what he's done. Ridiculous shit. And this was about Tyler? If only she knew. "You got yourself involved with Tyler Morganstern. That's what got you killed. I warned you he was bad news, didn't I?"

          "You said he was bad news because you screwed him before I did." Anna turns away. "He wanted you, but didn't want to break my heart, so he broke me instead."

           So, she found out. Tyler and I had sex — "that was before you even knew him. He's now a heroin addict with two kids. I wanted nothing to do with Tyler, and you — you were my best friend. I would have saved you if I could have."

          Anna studies my face, narrows her eyes and tilts her head. She crosses her arms over her chest, and bites her lip, a habit she does when she knows she's wrong. "Good luck today, Princess. You're gonna need it."

          "Anna, the real reason why you betrayed me. There's more to it than just Tyler."

          "You were always better than me in competition. Any competition. You didn't stop until you got the gold. And here we are, again. I am a servant, can you imagine the humiliation? Serving this suave, sexy, spoiled prince and his family. And hey, here comes Ariel Caverly and more people we must wait on hand and foot, any time of the day. But you? You being here surprised me more than anything. And now you love a servant while the prince wants to marry you: you are not the girl I knew all those years ago."