VERONICA
"Who are you?" I ask. I can't believe he's here. I can't believe he attacked me. What the hell is happening?
"Darling, I think you already know." He said with a smile on his face.
"Humor me." I whispered as I deepened my hold on the dagger, drawing blood from his neck.
He laughed, a sound I'd save and loop forever if it were possible. He smiled while he brought his left hand to touch my cheek, causing me to drive the dagger a bit deeper. His smile grew, finding the blood drawn something joyous rather than deadly.
Darkness that didn't come from me wrapped around us, teleporting us to the throne room I saw in my dreams. I never broke the stare I held with his oceanic eyes, never breaking the hold I had on my dagger.
"Veronica, put the dagger down." Tarrin says from behind me.
Bemused, I turned around to see Tarrin with my team and Hermes. He was waving at me, other hand in the pocket of his blue suit. He looked... happy to see me, as if I were an old friend of his.
I listened to Tarrin just because I was shocked. I let go of the dagger, watching it drop then turn to nothing but smoke that faded out of existence. Warren whistled at the sight of it, giving me a thumbs up after.
I approached Tarrin, noting his gaze had locked with the man behind me.
"What is happening?" I ask him sharply.
"I thought I strictly told you to not associate yourself with the gods?" He asked, still staring at the man.
I snickered, "If you think I approached the asshole, you're deeply mistaken, Tarrin. He attacked me after I killed your wraith."
"Darling, attacking is a bit too much. I did not hurt you." The man said, stepping closer to stand beside me.
I rolled my eyes at Tarrin, stepping away from their reach, then standing beside Olivia who had a look of shock and excitement on her face as she watches Hermes.
"What's going on, Tarrin?" Gideon asks. I realized that they never retrieved Agatha; either they failed to release her or she was never really here.
Tarrin sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Demitricus is now a suspect to the recent fires taking place in London. It seems your missing brother had been in the mortal realm all along."
Demitricus was missing? How come we had never heard of it before? Surely we would have felt the absence of the God of Balance and Beginnings, right?
The man sighed, "I don't think my brother would join whatever petty squabble mortals have with the gods. If he were, he would set the whole world on fire, not giving a fuck about the consequences."
"He's right, brother always was the most dramatic." A man that entered through a door behind the throne says.
"Alec, good to see you." Tarrin says as he takes in Alec, who I presume is Ealdread, now donning a new, more modern name.
"What's going on, Tarrin? Why are you interfering with the mission?" Gideon firmly asks, putting emphasis to his name rather than honorifics to establish that they were equals, not one lower than the other.
Tarrin looks at me, then sighed, "Alec met with me earlier to inform me of what he knew of Demitricus' sudden disappearance. I did not form this unit to simply fix one's attitude or to improve camaraderie. I put all of you together to find Demitricus and bring him back before those damn angels get to him first."
"So? Is the whole Agatha thing fake? Does she even exist?"
"It isn't. I didn't believe Alec when he told me that he would free Agatha in exchange for his request to find Demitricus. I needed to see if he was true to his word; forgive me if I find it difficult to trust gods nowadays."
Gideon scoffed, causing the rest of my unit to voice their questions and reactions. I remained quiet, watching Tarrin as he waited for me to react as well.
Tarrin faced the man I was with earlier then frowned, "Lore, what were you doing with my assassin?"
Lore. Lore.
Hades' new name was Lore.
How pretty, I thought.
Lore smiled at me, then redirected his gaze at Tarrin, who looked terrified.
"I just wanted to see it up close." He said with that voice I had heard in my dream.
I stared at Lore. He knew I was there in his head, I'm sure. But calling me "it"? The God of Death and Darkness was nothing more than a God of Dickhead and Dumbass.
I rolled my eyes at him then walked over to Warren. Grabbing his arm with my hand gilded with numerous golden rings as I said while walking out, "I'll leave the rest of you to gaze at each other's eyes at your little reunion. We wouldn't want to bother the gods."
We walked out of the throne room to return to the room filled with people dancing and drinking.
Taylor, Olivia, and Matt soon joined us, watching the people as we just stood there, basking in the noise.
Taylor sighed loudly, then smiled. "Well, might as well get drunk until our body screams for mercy, right?"
I smiled at her then grabbed her arm as we all made our way to the bar. Time to get absolutely shitfaced drunk.
《♤》
LORE
She looked... interesting. She wore a dress that exposed her neckline, the bottom cut into an upside down V shape to expose her legs. The sleeves were as long as the dress, but it was cut midway to show her arms that were full of battle scars that came from her line of work. The dress was a beautiful mix of gold and black, just like mine I realized. I was wearing an all-black suit tonight with golden rings to match.
Alec had informed me that he went to Tarrin earlier this week to ask him for assistance in finding Demitricus. We were doubtful about his presence in the mortal realm, but we reached out nonetheless. And upon that discovery, I discovered her as well.
I was drinking in my library when I heard them. I teleported in the room to threaten whoever was inside, planning on killing them for trespassing when I made it clear to Hermes that this side of the castle was to be forbidden from the partygoers.
Before I could even step out of the shadows, she stopped kissing him and brought her hidden dagger to his throat. I almost felt bad for the wraith when she whispered words that would make anyone, mortal or immortal, bow to her. There was power in the way she said it, the wraith clearly agreeing as he started whimpering and wetting himself. She then drove the whole dagger through his throat, the impact so strong it also went through the stone wall.
I kept close to the shadows as I stepped closer to see her face. She stepped back to assess what she did and smiled, causing mine to mirror it. Her smile was filled with mischief, which I thought was beautiful.
"What is she?" Hermes asks, cutting me off from my thoughts.
"Who?" Tarrin counters in a defensive tone. He was talking to us about what they've figured out so far about Demitricus' disappearance when Hermes suddenly blurted out my thoughts.
"The girl. Veronica, was it?" I queried, silently asking him to tell me everything about her.
Tarrin sighed, "Yes, Veronica Elvira. She's a half breed; half-witch, other half unknown. She's one of my best assassins, one of the most powerful too."
"We know, we saw her." Hermes says.
"What do you mean?" Alec asks, realizing he was not privy to what Hermes and I encountered.
"For some reason, we were led to her apartment. She was manifesting great power at the time, her apartment nearly filled with darkness that came from her. Her eyes turned violet when she looked at us, then it reverted back to normal and she warded off the darkness like it was nothing. She couldn't see us after that." Hermes explained.
Tarrin stared at us for a bit, then looked up in frustration, "And that was when you first encountered her?"
"Yes" Hermes claimed.
Even Hermes did not know about her being inside my head. I did not realize at first, but as soon as I heard her voice, I knew. I'm sure she also realized that she was in my head as well, but she also didn't tell anyone as it appears.
"I do not know what her other half could be, but it's clearly getting stronger everyday and she seems to become more and more stubborn as well, if it were possible. I'm afraid of what she might become once she spirals out of control." Tarrin says with concern.
I look at the towering doors that would lead me down the hall to the party. Without relenting, I walk out of the throne room, with the others following, I realized. Clearly, Tarrin proved his testimony of fear when he started running to the party that was even louder than before.
There, Warren, from the simple introductions Tarrin had given us earlier after they left, was being lifted by the crowd with bottles of alcohol in both hands. Olivia, the little one, was dancing in front of a raucous crowd on a table. Matt and Taylor were singing a duet to a song that I did not know, accompanied by a handful of people that were screaming the lyrics. Gideon, the leader, was kissing a man in the corner, not giving a fuck as to who might see as it started escalating.
I couldn't find Veronica in the crowd, but Tarrin seemed to have found her before me as he started brisk walking to the bar where she sat, legs crossed with her sharply pointed heels and drink in hand. Her head rested on her hand, acting as if the revelry behind her was boring.
We all approached her warily, Tarrin taking the first few steps near her until he was stopped by an invisible force.
She protected herself with an invisible shield I did not know if she was even aware of.
Noticing the rebound of a solid force upon her shield, she looked up and straightened. Turning the stool she sat on, she looked at the four of us, with eyes of violet.
She smiled at me, a smile that gave me a feeling I haven't felt in years.
Excitement.
《♤》
I really love them <3
I know how irritating it is when authors would show pictures of what the mc wears, but I just couldn't resist since I couldn't give the dress enough justice through words alone. Here's the dress:
Make sure to let me know what you think about this chapter by commenting :) have a good day!