Chapter Nineteen
"Leave it to Theo to be the idiot to fall asleep first."
"Fuck you in the ear with a carrot, Cain."
"Hades, I think the rest of his brains leaked out his ears when he was attacked. Does this mean we can kill him?" Cain asked, turning to me. I rolled my eyes and dismissed his offer, though tempting as it was; not tempting enough. I glanced at Theo, who looked incredibly pissed about Cain's jumping all over him, but Cain always jumped all over him, so it came as no surprise. The two together in a room was like mixing gasoline and a match.
However, I knew Theo well enough to know he was just embarrassed by his accidentally falling asleep. Of course, it never would have happened if Sept hadn't of ditched Theo, and I was about ready to give the Egyptian a piece of my mind, but glancing over at him, I could tell by the guilt stricken kicked puppy look that he was already feeling shit without my help. So I just enjoyed that miserable stare at the floor and invisible dark rain cloud pissing all over his head.
"We need to be more careful," Malachi said after a moment, folding his arms over his chest, "We need to have one other person with us at all times."
"Sounds good to me, except Hades and Lucifer are stuck together and last night Hades came home drunk." Ambrosius explained dryly. Eyes locked on me, then Lucifer, who stood on the other side of the room from me. Not his choice, but rather mine. I didn't want to be anywhere near him. Not that I loathed the fucker, but the fact that this morning he'd tried to get close to me while I was sleeping and it freaked me out. Not even Persephone cuddled with me and we shared a bed for centuries.
Worst of all, cuddling was a sign of affection. Affection meant caring, caring meant loving, loving meant Lucifer was going to pretend he gave a shit, then toss it back in my face. Like hell that was going to happen. I had told him last night that it was just a one night stand, he'd agreed, and now he was trying to tail me. It was best to keep some distance between us.
"I can take care of myself." I replied flatly.
"You fell in the hallway on your face," Cerberus scoffed, "That's not taking care of yourself." I looked at him with mock surprise, placing a hand over my chest.
"My god, is that... is that concern in your voice? Get away from me. It could be contagious." I tacked on, folding my arms over my chest and taking a step away from him. Cerberus scowled and Blaine just patted his arm. God, Cerberus was becoming his bitch more and more as time went on. Before I knew it, I'd drop by for a check up on Blaine's health and Cerberus would be sleeping on the floor at the fae's feet and bringing the newspaper in, in his mouth.
How far was my one great powerful beast going to fall?
"Fine," Ambrosius said, voice thick with bitterness, "Then get your brain ripped out. I don't give a shit."
"Yes, you do," Theo spoke up, making his brothers stare at him surprised at Theo's anger, "Otherwise, you wouldn't have brought it up. Don't be an idiot. If you guys are gonna be dicks, then I'll just stop by and check on him every so often."
"You?" Malachi asked for confirmation. Theo's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Yeah, me, you shit. Hard of hearing over there?"
"No, your voice is annoying enough. I'm just appalled that you would even think about being a decent person for once in your unnecessarily long life."
"Hey," I snapped abruptly, making Malachi glare at me, "Just... Oh, forget it. I can't do this parenting thing. Instead, I'm gonna do that thing where I don't give a shit and walk away. Thanks for the help, Theo, surprisingly, but I can handle myself. Go do something that doesn't involve sleeping with the bastard Egyptian who abandoned you last night." Sept winced and dropped his gaze. Theo shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck before I quit the room and went down the hallway toward the kitchen. I debated finding a phonebook to call up that place Lucifer and I had gone too. The food was delicious and I wanted more.
I reached the kitchen and started digging around for some kind of phonebook, but I couldn't even find cook books, let alone a phone book. The place was just crowded with pots and pans, silverware of all kinds, several types of chopsticks, plates. Dishes. Dishes everywhere.
"You were a bit harsh toward Sept." A voice said behind me. I narrowed my eyes and snapped upright, turning to see Lucifer enter the room. I eyed him cautiously as he came to stand behind the island counter that separated us. His hair was touseled from rolling around in his sleep, face still unshaven, and wearing only a loose white t-shirt and sweatpants. I'd be a liar to say he wasn't handsome, but it was all the more reason to stay away from him.
"Yeah," I said slowly, averting my eyes, then scoffing and leaning back on the counter, "But I can be harsh as I want when the bastard leaves my son behind to go drinking."
"Theo said he gave Sept permission to leave, and in fact, insisted upon it."
"And Sept's a stupid idiot to listen to him. Theo wanted him gone so he could cut." I replied without thinking, then instantly regretted it as concern flitted through Lucifer's eyes and I quickly returned to looking around for the phonebook.
"Theo cuts?"
"It's no big deal."
"No big deal? Hades, he's hurting himself."
"He needs it."
"Excuse me?" Now Lucifer just sounded offended to the core of his soul. I sighed, frustrated as I slammed another cupboard open, standing up to turn and face Lucifer with a cold glare.
"Theo's mother was... Okay, you know what? I won't sugar coat it. His mother was a psychotic maniac who I never should have had sex with. It was a complete accident. But she had Theo anyway because she thought she could fling him at me and gain my approval, but I only wanted an heir and... and something about Theo told me to keep him, so I did. It was stupid, though, because at the time, I was kind of too busy to pay attention to the fact that Theo's mother was psychotic. According to Cerberus, Aria has broken every single bone in Theo's body at least twice. She beat him on a daily basis. And when Theo finally managed to get rid of her, he was literally having withdrawal from the lack of pain. He took matters into his own hands and since then, he's been cutting."
"How long?"
"His mother left when he was sixteen. So I'd say sometime around the 1200s."
"And you just... You just let him do that to himself?"
"It helps him cope. I'm not a fucking therapist, Lucifer, and neither are you. You may have gotten Ambrosius, but you won't have Theo. Stay the hell away from him or I might just have to hurt you." I threatened dangerously. Lucifer clenched his teeth, leaning on the countertop before pushing away from it to glare at me. It was surprising to see him so offended.
"He's your son, Hades. He's in pain. He wants someone to be there for him. It doesn't sound like he's cutting just because he's scared of life with no pain. It sounds like he's cutting to get your attention. He wants you to help him."
"He'd tell me if he wanted my help. Theo's pretty honest about what he wants."
"Apparently not. Because he's just like his father," Lucifer said, making me turn to pin him with a menacing glare, "He hides behind a macho man fascade. He pretends to be intimidating to protect himself from getting hurt again. Doesn't that sound familiar to you at all?" I rolled my eyes. He was insinuating that Theo and I had a lot in common, which we did. But he was wrong. I intimidated because that was my job. I was a god. If I just tossed mercy around like free candy, I'd end up like Pan-- lost in the mortal realm because people started abusing the candy. Pan had once been a powerful nature god, full of life and vigor. He'd given humans the wilderness, the ability to seek animals and find food in them. But he'd given too much. The humans had taken advantage of those gifts and tore down the forests he once held dear, destroyed the animals he'd helped them befriend.
I wasn't going to toss kindness in the face of hatred. It'd be like throwing a rock at a cliff side.
Useless.
"Is our therapy session over with, Dr. Phil, or are we still on the clock?" I mocked, then turned back around, fed up with the futile search for the phonebook. I heard Lucifer moving behind me and turned around just as he put his hand on either side of me against the counter so I was pinned against it and his face was in mine.
"And you won't tell me how you felt about last night," Lucifer stated, blue eyes glowing intensely, "You can't tell me you didn't feel something. You made your own personal break through last night when you admitted to not--"
"No," I snapped impatiently, shoving him away from me and pushing off the counter, "Don't give me that bullshit. I was just carried away and, oh yeah. Drunk. Thanks for that, by the way. I love making an idiot of myself."
"You do that quite well on your own," Lucifer returned, making me curl my lip at him, "Hades, don't do this. Don't push me away, and don't push Theo away. I don't know why you're like this and I'm honestly not sure if I want to know, but I do know that I... I find it difficult to dislike you, no matter how cruel you are."
"It's called masochism, which means you need a therapist way more than I do," I told him flatly, making him glare at me, but I ignored it as I snatched a small container of yogurt and moved away from him toward the exit, "And I told you last night that we were only doing it once."
"No, you didn't," Lucifer pointed out, making me snap my head to glare at him over my shoulder, "You said it was just a mutual agreement. You said nothing about doing it again."
"Fine, then I'm telling you now. That's the last time we have sex. I don't want a clingy backstabber for a boyfriend. Especially the father of the bastard who's touching my son." I spat, then turned and stalked out of the kitchen, heading down the hallway and making a list of things I'd like to do to Lucifer in his sleep, which included a disembowlment. I shook my head as I went into my room and closed the door.
A fissure of power swept through the air a moment later and I dropped the yogurt to the floor, whirling around in time for someone to slam me up against the bedroom door. I started to speak, then snapped my mouth shut to see Zeus glaring right in my face.
"You pathetic piece of shit." He sneered at me. I glared.
"Oh, so you can get off your lazy ass to come to Hell to yell at me, but when it comes to coming down here to save your pantheon, it's too much trouble? Remind me again why you become king of the gods?" I asked bitterly. Zeus wasn't appreciative of the tone as he wrenched his fist in my hair and snapped my head back, exposing my throat and making me hiss in pain.
"I heard you tagged Nemesis into the war."
"I distinctly remember you saying something about choosing any ten gods to join the battle."
"Nemesis is a treacherous bitch."
"Yeah, uh, last I checked, she's the most honest person you'll ever meet. It might have something to do with the fact that she's the goddes of vengeance and, you know, truth is kind of her forteit." I offered sarcastically. That wasn't the right answer. Zeus tightened his grip on my hair and swung me around, throwing me into the floor. I seethed in pain, propping myself up as I debated just blasting his ass right out the door, but he had way too much leverage on me. Only an idiot would attack him. So I remained dead silent as I rose to my feet, wiping blood from the corner of my mouth where I'd bit my lip in the fall.
"Nemesis has friends I don't approve of," Zeus began, stalking towards me and I inched away from him, "I heard she's picking two friends of hers to join you. Who are they?"
"I dunno. I was kind of hoping for Charlie Sheen and George Clooney." I offered. Zeus snarled at me, grabbing me by the front of my shirt and slamming me into the bed post. It cracked under the pressure, but managed not to give way as Zeus held me there, twisting his fist in my t-shirt. I gritted my teeth as he leaned in close to my face.
"Don't play games with me, Hades. You're in no position to do so. Don't let Nemesis fight in this battle."
"'Scuse you? You told me I could pick any ten gods. And I chose Nemesis. Because she isn't a piece of shit."
"You can have Ares."
"Yeah, that'll be delightful. Let's have the bloodthirsty god of war charge into a war and go on a killing spree, so he really does kill a Titan and ruptures the balance and poof. Zeus, king of the Greeks, will never exist." I sneered at him. Zeus slugged me in the jaw and I hit he floor a moment later, breathing hard. I wiped my hand across my mouth, tasting more blood before Zeus sank his hand into my hair and I hissed in pain as he tore me to my feet and shoved me back on the bed. Instincts screamed at me to run, so I shot to my feet to move for the door, but Zeus grabbed me and flung me down on the bed again, climbing on top of me and pinning me down by my wrists. I spat in his face and bashed my head against his, causing him to hiss for a moment before bashing his head back into mine.
I saw stars dancing over my head as I slumped back on the bed, blinking rapidly to avoid passing out as Zeus sneered in my face.
"You know as well as I do that if Nemesis goes into battle, she will automatically get revenge for you by punishing the Titans."
"That's not what you're scared of," I said dryly, "You're scared shitless that she'll get together with the Fates and they'll agree on a punishment for you for being a psychotic bastard." Zeus narrowed his eyes.
"I think I've had just about enough out of you." He seethed. I opened my mouth to make another comment, but it didn't matter. I was getting a mouthful of cock one way or another. And killing him would rupture the balance and there was a stupid, stupid part of me that kept whispering how he was my brother, how killing him would only make me feel like garbage. You know, if the whole balance thing wasn't at stake anyway. And beating the shit out of him, while fun for a while, would end in a bloody mess. Worse, Zeus would blab to my sons about what had happened.
And knowing him, he'd add some sort of twist to protect himself. Tell everyone how I seduced him and shook my ass in his face desperately. And everyone would believe him, just like they believed him last time. How he humored me by fucking me raw and how I moaned like a bitch in heat. Just thinking about it made me sick to my stomach, more so than what he was doing to me.
And oddly enough, as I laid there on my back with bones breaking from the force of Zeus pounding into me, I found myself thinking about Lucifer. It hadn't been so bad when I had been on my back with him. It scared me shitless and I hated looking up at someone as they looked down on me, but it was still nice that Lucifer didn't screw me into the mattress. He savored each thrust, each clench of my muscles, each sound. He even waited for me to orgasm before him.
That was kind of considerate, I guess.
Compared to Zeus.
Who shoved me onto the floor and dropped the blanket on me before vanishing with a final warning to tell Nemesis to fuck off, or Zeus would happily tell everyone what I'd done to convince him to let us have ten gods. I clenched my fists againts the floor, glaring down at it and my blood that oozed across the floor. And with Zeus, it wasn't about the sex.
He just wanted the power. To look down on me and to use it as leverage when he wanted me to do something I didn't want to do.
Gods, how I hated being a god. If Zeus and I had been mortals, maybe, just maybe, I'd have the strength to kill him. Maybe. Or maybe I'd have too many human qualities to be able to do it, even then. Which made me even more pathetic. I couldn't kill the bastard who hurt me.
And if my sons ever found out about what I'd done to get here, of anything Zeus had done to me, I would never be able to look at them again. I wouldn't know what reaction is worse. The pity or the disgust. No... There'd not even be pity. Zeus would tell them I'd seduced him and they would believe him, like they believed all the other rumors. That's what made rumors such a powerful weapon.
I heaved myself up off the floor and struggled to clean up the mess without using my powers. My body ached too much, now from Lucifer and from Zeus.
I should've never had sex with Lucifer. There were so many reasons why it had been stupid. First of all, if the angel betrayed his own family in Heaven, he'd be just as likely to do the same thing to some random dude he slept with. And second of all, in my eyes, he was just Zeus. He thought he could use our relationship to get inside my head.
Well, fuck him. And everyone else.
I climbed in the tub to soak, my body still aching and sore. I wanted to sleep; I really did, but I couldn't risk it and I didn't dare go to Lucifer for him to keep me away. And while I knew Theo had offered, I couldn't go to him right now, especially right now. I would just have to keep myself awake by staying in my room and wishing I was dead. I sighed heavily, climbing out the bath and wrapping a towel around my waist, putting my hair up in a hair clip as I walked out into my room, then jumped when I saw Nemesis leaning on the frame of the balcony.
"Damn it, Nemesis," I snapped, making her turn to smirk at me over her shoulder, "Don't do that wizardry shit with me. I'm not in the mood."
"I know." She answered grimly. I glanced at her, then looked away as I went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
"Can I know the names of your friends?"
"Will you tell Zeus their names to protect your sons?"
"That's a dumb question."
"It was worth a shot," Nemesis sighed, moving away from the balcony and coming over to plop on my bed, cocking her head, "Doesn't matter anyway. Either way they're fucked... Nyx and Philotes will be happy to help." I froze for a moment, then turned to stare at her as she stared back at me.
"Did I hear that right or did all that sex make me deaf?" I asked. Nemesis just raised an eyebrow. My skin crawled at the thought of having Nyx and Philotes fight with us.
Nyx was one of the primordial gods. All powerful and mighty and definitely more than enough to help destroy the Titans. However, she'd gone into hiding ages ago and no one had heard from her since. She was also Charon's biological mother. She, and her husband Erebus, had abandoned Charon shortly after I arrived in the underworld. To make matters worse, she was Nemesis's mother... and Philotes was Nemesis's sister. And, because Greek family trees are nightmares, Nyx was also Adrian's grandmother. Of course, last I saw of her, she definitely didn't look like any grandma I'd ever seen, but we were gods, so aging creams weren't as good as just stalking the aging process.
"And Erebus?" I asked grimly. Last I checked, wherever Nyx went, Erebus went. Nemesis smirked.
"Daddy's not in the mood to fight, but I have a feeling he'll jump in the moment he realizes Nyx is seriously about facing the Titans."
"No wonder Zeus told me you had horrible friends."
"It's my mother and sister, sweet."
"Yeah. The goddess of night and the goddess of affection. I can see how Nyx would be dangerous, but Philotes? A goddess of affection and sexual intercourse for that matter. What's she gonna do, rip her clothes off and cause spontaneous anime nosebleeds?" I asked dryly. Nemesis scoffed as she rose gracefully to her feet and moved to stand beside me as I pulled my shirt over my head, casting her a wary stare.
"Oh, Hades. My sister may be a goddess of affection, but she's also a mother. She'll do anything to see her son again, and she'll do anything to protect him. Even come out of hiding to face down her own family." She explained. Well, when she put it like that... Nemesis caught my uneasy stare and smiled.
"Don't worry, Hades. We've got this. Zeus won't be able to touch you after this war, I guarantee it."
"I don't care what he does to me. Just keep him the hell away from my sons and he can do whatever he wants to me. I didn't like the way he was eyeing Ambrosius when we were on Olympus."
"And neither did Ambrosius," Nemesis agreed, making me frown, "Ambrosius has some revenge he wants to dish out too, sweet. I see all betrayals."
"So shouldn't you be against me?" I asked. Nemesis smiled sadly.
"Ambrosius, for all those nasty things he says, because it's obviously genetic, he would never want to truly cause you harm. He's just doing what children do. Sulk."
"Yeah, for over a year?"
"It'll pass."
"Sure." I muttered. Nemesis pecked me on the cheek before taking a step back and vanishing from the room. I watched her go, then turned to stare down at the dresser as I slammed it shut, clenching my fists and screwing my eyes shut tight.
Damn it. Don't let this go wrong.
Please.
My sons' lives are at stake.