Hades' warrior

24. Five minutes and I've already pissed off the King of gods

"You owe me big time," I grumble as I adjusted my very uncomfortable dress. "I agreed to the dinner. Not the attire."

"You'll thank me once we reach the venue," Ansel replied. I pulled my jacket closer to feel warmer as we stood outside my apartment building. I was dressed in a long, strapless, red satin dress. I knew he was right. I was going to have dinner with gods and goddesses, I doubted they'd just arrive in their sweatpants.

Apollo jogged up to us. "You're coming with us?" He asked Ansel, who shook his head in response.

"I should get back to Hades." He replied. Ansel kissed me on the cheek slightly. "I'll see you there."

I nodded. Ansel closed his eyes and then slowly disappeared, leaving black mist.

"Why does Hades need a bodyguard? Surely he is a lot stronger than Ansel." I asked Apollo.

"He doesn't. Hades...well...he doesn't really get along that well with the rest of the gods. He brings Ansel along for company and to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Apollo replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "Stupid?"

"Hades wasn't always the guy you think he is." Apollo sighed. "Three decades back, you would have hated him...despised him."

"Why?" I asked.

Apollo opened his mouth to answer but shut it immediately. "We need to leave. We are going to be late. I'll tell you once we come back."

"Not a chance to just ditch the whole plan and have a happy meal in McD?" I asked with, what I believe to be, puppy dog eyes.

Apollo shook his head, a smile tugging his lips. "I know you. This isn't nervousness of meeting my family. This is laziness."

"Damn," I replied sarcastically. "You a god or an agent from the behavioural analysis unit of the FBI?"

Apollo rolled his eyes. He placed a hand on the back of my neck and the other on my shoulder. "Ready?"

"If I poison your food, would gods get at least an upset stomach?" I asked. Apollo ignored me and closed my eyes with his hand and I felt my skin getting hotter.

A few seconds later I opened my eyes and my jaw dropped to the ground.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not very short. At a height of 5'6", I am average height. But let me tell you, standing beside the entrance door, I felt like an ant beside Shaq.

Apollo touched the door and it opened noiselessly. The scene that was in front of me was like any other elegant party. A table arranged for about thirty people, filled with delicacies, some in the shape of animals I didn't know existed. Luckily for me, none of the gods was walking around wearing nothing but a leaf covering their junk (what was I supposed to think? All their statues and pictures are of them naked).

Apollo offered to take my hand but I turned it down.

The first point in gaining respect. Don't be someone's someone.

My eyes scattered around the room, learning each of their faces while searching for a few familiar ones. My eyes landed on Ares, who stared right back at me. He raised a champagne glass filled with a gold liquid that looked thicker than champagne, I gave him a nod and moved on.

"Apollo!" A voice boomed in the hall. I turned to see an old man rush towards the sun god. He had a long white beard that was tied down in the end, like Dumbledore.

"Hello father," Apollo muttered, clearly embarrassed at the joyful moment.

"You're Zeus?" I asked.

The old man turned his gaze to me. "Yes, my dear."

"Why do you choose to look old?" I blurted out.

Zeus became still. He looked like he was trying to figure out if I was important and how to deal with the press if he chose to smite me. "Excuse me?"

By now, the entire hall had gone silent, all watching the scene unveiling before them. I sniffed as I smelt popcorn but that was an issue for later.

Apollo stood behind Zeus, shaking his head so stiffly and quickly I wanted to pour some oil around his neck.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, sir. I just wondered why you chose to look old." I replied calmly. "Not a soul here looks like they were a day older than thirty. Yet here you are looking like Bernie Sanders's elder brother. And that guy looks old enough to be the guy who invented fire."

Zeus stared at me, his face full of confusion and anger.

I took a deep breath as Zeus opened his mouth to respond, looking furious. But he was cut off by laughter. From a single person.

Hades stepped forward, sandwiching me between the brothers. "I did tell you that you weren't pulling off the 'wise man' look."

Sorry for the late update. I wasn't satisfied with the chapter so I kept rewriting it till it got better.

Also, thank you for the 3K reads!

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