I was trapped prey, nothing more. I had no weapons, no escape, no plans. I could only watch as the massive man – even larger than Ajax – came into the cell. The hair on my arms rose, my body prickling with discomfort, like even my organs knew I was somewhere I wasn't supposed to be, too close to something that was too strong.
But I had seen this man before. And I remembered feeling similarly then. He had come into the café and I had been stunned by how large he was. No amount of smiling could cover whatever it was about him that made me uncomfortable then. But I knew now. It was power.
Power that gleamed in his eyes, the irises the colour of blood. When he had come into the café, he must've been wearing contacts. And if his eyes were red, unlike anything I had ever seen, he must've been the creature that chased me out of the royal lands. Hades.
Hades was calm, seeming almost apologetic as he approached me. I don't know what I expected, but this man wearing a tee shirt and basketball shorts with hair wet from a recent shower was not it. He certainly felt the part of an old god, ready to slice life away. It just seemed like he didn't want to look it beyond the features that nature already gave him.
And, while he was the picture of calm, Ryder was losing it more and more.
"Get the fuck away from her!" he snarled. I could have imagined his teeth bared and eyes wild. I could hear his shoes squeaking on the floor as he failed to pull away from Ajax's silver cuffs and tight grip.
But I didn't pull my eyes away from Hades for a second.
"I saw you," I whispered, the words barely leaving my lips as I stepped backwards. "I saw you in the woods that day. You could have killed me." I had thought about the encounter hundreds of times, confused about how the animal seemed to always stay the perfect distance away. Now, seeing how fast wolves could really run when threatened or hunting, I knew that he had been toying with me.
The corner of Hades' mouth quirked up in the feeblest smile. "I chased you away. I wanted you to leave and be frightened enough that you didn't come back. Trespassers are often bad news and usually not treated kindly. It was a warning. I didn't want to hurt you." The words were kind, but the steps he was taking towards me were purely predatory.
There was a grunt from behind him. "Hades!" Ryder barked. "I swear to fucking god, I will kill you if you touch her!"
"Ryder, please," Ajax begged. "For the love of all that is holy, Hades! Hurry up!"
It was then that I realized that Hades had so perfectly guided me into a corner. I was pinned without him even having to put his hands on me. trapped ever so perfectly for him.
"We don't even know if this is going to work. I've only tried it a couple of times before—"
"Just do it!" Ajax ordered.
"Right," Hades turned back to me, offering that apologetic smile. "Sorry, let's just get this over with."
For how gentle and smooth his words were, his movements were sudden and sharp. I only managed to suck in a small breath before he grabbed both of my wrists in one of his hands, pulling my arms to one side of my chest and pinning them against my collarbone. A knee was pressed between my thighs, forcing my legs apart and unbalancing me. As sympathetic as he was, he knew how to fight and he certainly knew how to restrict. I could not kick or knee him. I couldn't claw at his face or swing out a solid punch. I couldn't even thrash about. Short of biting him, I had nothing to use against him.
"I'm going to kill you, Hades!" Ryder bellowed, so loud I wondered if the floor shook.
"You won't be the first to try," Hades sighed, not nearly loud enough for anyone else to hear.
His hand came up. I flinched away as best as I could, but wasn't able to make it very far. I felt all the air rush out of me when his palm pressed softly against my neck. then his eyes began to change. Though certainly red, they had begun as the shade of old bricks on a building. Brown beneath all of redness, still unnatural and bizarre, but earthy, like rare clays found beneath the soil. And slowly, a bloodier shade took over, flickering across his irises. Lighting and fading at varying rates. I felt my heartbeat thunder away under his palm but was almost hypnotized by his gaze, fascinated.
"Hades!" Ryder thundered.
The colour slid back to brick as he let out a hiss of breath between his clenched teeth. The concentration resumed despite all of the threats coming from Ryder and the cursing coming from Ajax. Blood filled those eyes again, fuller and stronger than last time. Hades parted his lips, his gaze unseeing. But I saw the teeth in his mouth. I saw the sharpened edges, the eye teeth that had been much shorter when he smiled at me. I repressed a shriek, tears filling my own eyes.
This was it.
This was how I was going to die. Trapped in a cell with one man desperately trying to protect me, another struggling to keep his community safe, and Hades, the ruler of the underworld who had deemed me unworthy.
This was what I had been waiting for all this time. it didn't seem to matter who ripped my throat out and who sucked my life force from me, as long as I was removed from this world.
I didn't feel panic like I thought I would. And I didn't think about my parents or the other werewolf hunters. I didn't think about the humans that I fought so hard to protect. I didn't think about how my life had fallen apart after the werewolves had ripped the life out of my mom and dad.
I thought about Ryder, sitting on the floor, talking about his mother. He found her. In a pool of her own blood. His father was killed in unspeakable ways.
I hadn't put the knife in her back. I hadn't crushed his father's skull. But I had wielded enough knives and loosed enough arrows to fill a cemetery. I had taken mothers and fathers away from their children. I had broken siblings' hearts. I had ripped apart strong families, lifelong friendships, budding romances. I had taken souls off this earth.
I had killed.
The arm that had been keeping me pressed against the wall slackened. My eyes flashed up to Hades. He blinked several times, his eyes returning to their almost brown colour as he stepped away from me. with his lips parted, I could see that his teeth had returned to normal.
Ryder let out a feral snarl and I saw him jerk so hard against the hand cuffs that Ajax gritted his teeth and dug his heels in.
"Were you able to see anything?" Ajax asked, still straining as Ryder thrashed and fought.
Hades blinked again, still seeing dazed. "Yeah, uh, yes. I was able to get some images."
"Well?" Ajax prompted, frustration clear in his voice.
"I can't...There's no reason to kill her. she doesn't feel bad."
"She doesn't feel bad?"
Hades straightened, chin raising. "Her intentions aren't bad. There's no ill will, no satisfaction from it."
"She's killing us!" Ajax protested, letting out a grunt when Ryder landed a well-aimed kick just above the knee.
"I can't kill someone because they are misguided," Hades shot back. "Given what I saw, killing her won't solve anything."
"Are you actually serious right now?"
Hades ignored him, attention solely on me for a moment. Which was impressive considering it would take one wrong move from Ajax and Ryder would be lunging right for him. "What happened to your parents?"
"So that's it then?" Ajax demanded before I could answer. "We just let her walk out of here?"
"You asked me for my judgement and I have given it," Hades stated, sounding a little more like an old god than someone who looked to be in their twenties.
The sentence was given.
Ajax crumpled with defeat while Ryder stilled with relief.
"I'm going to let you go now," Ajax said, "But if you still feel brave enough to go after Hades, I'm not going to bandage you up afterwards."
It was only when I heard the click of the cuffs that I inhaled deep enough to smell something awful. My stomach twisted, ready to spew the spaghetti that Keiko had brought us all that time ago. As Ryder's wrists fell to his sides, I saw what I had been smelled. He had used all the force he could to try and get to me. in doing so, he had torn the skin on his wrists, blood trickling down his hands into his palms. But what I smelled was the pink flesh. The skin that had been burned by the silver cuffs that Ajax was carefully wrapping in a cloth.
And I was left in a room with a king I had shot, a beast who decided death, and a man who had ripped his own flesh apart for me.
~~~Distraction Section~~~
Hello! Thank you all for sticking with me through my R & R. My trip was great as it always is wonderful to see other parts of the world. I spent most of my time in Holland near a small town that was considered to be 'in the Bible belt' so Amsterdam was quite the contrast at the end of the trip.
Question of the Day: Sand or Snow?