Hades (Contemporary Mythos Book 1)

For the rest of the concert, I felt numb. Gone were the excited jitters. I didn’t even bother sticking around for the encore, yanking off my lanyard, and tossing it in the closest garbage can. I texted Sara to tell her I was going back to the room and not to worry about me as I didn’t feel right. In reality, I wanted to be alone, go for a walk, and try to forget Hades.

After half an hour of wandering the resort grounds, it was proving impossible. How did he know I couldn’t go to the Underworld with him? He didn’t even try. Maybe he toyed with me like all the other gods. My insides twisted. The night grew chilly, and I rubbed my arms. I passed by a series of rooms.

Clank.

I stopped.

What was that?

Following the direction of the sound, I heard it again. It sounded like chains rattling against each other. I pressed my ear to a door, hearing a man’s pained moans. Either someone was into some severe kink, or they were in trouble. This was one of those moments I should’ve stepped away, but my conscience wouldn’t allow it. I pushed my ear harder, and the door creaked open.

My heart raced as I pushed my fingertips against it. The room was pitch black save for a sliver of moonlight sneaking through the curtains. Against my better judgment, I stepped inside, a chill running down my spine. I held my breath, taking cautious steps forward.

“Don’t come any closer,” a voice said from the darkness. The clanking sound happened again, followed by him grunting.

The voice sounded like several voices speaking at once. One was no louder than a whisper, and the other two were in different pitches. But the tone was deep and husky.

“Who’s there?” I stopped, squinting into the darkness.

“It’s me, darlin’. Don’t come any closer, please.”

The southern accent was too recognizable.

“Hades?” Ignoring his plea, I continued forward. “Why? You sound like you’re—are you chained up?” My heart thudded so quickly I thought it’d burst through my ribcage.

“Stephanie, please. I don’t want you to see me like this.” He spoke low, with a gravelly voice.

I rounded the corner and gasped. The moonlight spilled over Hades, illuminating his half-naked body. He was barefoot and shirtless, wearing only his black pants, chained shackles around his wrists.

“Oh my God,” I stammered, running to him and dropping to my knees.

He lifted his head when my hands clamped around the chains, and I gasped again. His hair was white, flowing down to his stomach. It floated around him as if in water. He had no facial hair, and his irises were a vibrant white. His skin looked inhuman in a pearl-like sheen, and ears that came to a point like an elf.

I cupped his face with my hands, a tear rolling down my cheek. “Is this the real you?”

“Yes.” Those white eyes gleamed up at me, his brow crinkling, and with the staggering whispers of his real voice.

I thinned my lips, staring down at the true him. Should I have been afraid? Aghast from his appearance? Because I wasn’t. In a warped way, I preferred this side of him. “Why are you chained up? Who did this to you?” I pulled on the chains, eyeing the connection to the shackles.

“You’re not afraid of me?” He dipped his head down to look at my face, his hair floating behind him.

“I haven’t been afraid of you since the day we met. Why would this change anything?”

His nostrils flared as he stared at me. His lips parted several times, but in the end, he pursed them together, saying nothing. I opened the drawers of a nearby desk. What did I expect to find? It’s not as if hotels stored toolboxes in each room.

“You won’t be able to remove the chains. They’re cursed.”

I slammed the last drawer shut, fishing through my hair for a bobby pin. I squatted on the floor next to him. “Like hell, I can’t.”

The chains clattered together as Hades’ arms tensed, hands balling into fists. The faint sound of a revolver’s hammer pulling back filled my ears, followed by cold metal pressing into my head’s side.

“Step away, love. No sense in you getting tangled up in all this,” Rupert’s voice said in a hushed tone.

Hades growled, trying to stand up, only to be brought back to his knees. “When you arrive in the Underworld, I will not be merciful. Mark my words, mortal.”

My hands trembled as I held them up and rose to my feet. Rupert pressed the gun harder against my skin, and I pinched my eyes shut.

“As long as I keep you chained, no one has to die. And I’ve got far too many things left to do with my life.”

I grunted. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Oh, come now, love. What kind of a Greek myth trivia winner are you? The story of King Sisyphus and the god of death?”

It wasn’t easy drumming up Greek myths with a loaded gun to your head.

“He tricked Thanatos and chained him with the same chains the gods were going to use to punish him. Without the god of death roaming free, no mortal could die or go to the Underworld.” He chuckled.

And with Thanatos relinquishing his duties…

“Rupert, can’t we talk about this?” I asked, gulping.

He pushed on the barrel. “Sorry, love. There’s nothing left to talk about. I knew as soon as Hades showed me his true face, I was dying. Bloody bleeding ulcers. I didn’t expect this to work, honestly. But a little voice in my head told me otherwise.”

Think. Think. In the story, Ares freed Thanatos. But Ares was a god, capable of bypassing the curse.

“Did you stop to think what happens when you don’t get away with this?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

He poked my head with the gun. “The only thing keeping me from getting away with this right now—is you.” He pressed his lips to my ear. “Don’t worry. You won’t die completely. Remember?”

I never thought I feared death until now. The thought of my life being ripped away by someone else felt unfair. The same way my mother’s life was torn away by a stranger. Was it fate to be killed? Shouldn’t we all die of natural causes?

The faint sound of the revolver clicking filled my ears.

“No!” Hades bellowed. He let out a ferocious yell, wings sprouting from his back. The arches of the wings glowed with fiery embers, morphing into smoke and ash. Remnants of singed feathers floated around him. “These chains may make me weak, but it doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”

Rupert shoved me in front of him, his free arm draping over my chest. His body trembled, and he pushed the barrel into my head with such force it made me wince. “You come any closer, and I will pull this trigger.”

Hades’ chest heaved, the ash from his wings suspended in the air, floating around him. He wrapped his hands around the chain, pulling it taut. He snarled, revealing teeth shaped like a wolf. Sharp and deadly. His hand splayed, and the black fog swirled up my leg before passing over Rupert. It curled around his neck. Hades closed his hand into a fist, and his eyes glowed with a white intensity.

The pressure of the gun against my head fell away. Rupert gurgled and gagged behind me. I launched my elbow into the side I’d seen him clutching. He let out a strangled cry of pain and pulled the trigger. A stinging pain blasted over my shoulder, my blood spraying me in the face.

“No!” Hades roared.

I yelped but caught the revolver when Rupert dropped it.

The fog loosened its grip from him, floating back to Hades. I winced as I lifted the gun, aiming it at Rupert.

Rupert laughed as he rubbed his neck. “It’s no use, love. As long as Hades is in those chains, I can’t die. And none of us can break them. Not even me.”

“How did you even get magical chains?” I said through gritted teeth.

Rupert snickered like a hyena. “They fell into my hands in the right place at the right time.”

“You have a gun pointed at your head. Do you really think now is the time for riddles?”

“I’m already dead, darling. Makes no difference to me.”

Darling wasn’t his word to call me. I growled under my breath and pulled back the hammer, holding the hilt with both hands.

“Stephanie.” Hades’ shades of voices passed over me like liquid silk.

I gazed over my shoulder at the beautiful image of him standing in his true form. Embers, smoke, and singed feathers floated around him.

“Killing him will do nothing but damper the light inside you. He’s not worth it.” The chains rattled as he tensed his arms.

“Now I see why it was so easy to get you into those chains, mate. Threaten to kill your dearly beloved, and bring the god of the Underworld to his knees. Literally. It’s embarrassing.” Rupert shook his head.

I was dearly beloved. My chest tightened, and I released the hammer, lowering the weapon but not letting go.

Hades growled, vibrating the paintings hanging on the walls. “Keep. Talking. I dare you.”

The chains. Break them.

A distant whisper fluttered over my ear. Using only my eyes, I looked around. No one and nothing else were in the room. Where did it come from?

The chains.

I ran over to Hades, clamping my hands around the chain. He looked down at me with a quirked brow.

“What in Tartarus are you doing, Stephanie?”

“Something crazy.” I kept his gaze as I yanked the chain with ease.

Blue sparks flew as each link broke. It turned into dust and fell to the ground in a pile.

I blew out a breath, staring at my palms. There was no rationalizing this one.

“What? How? They’re cursed. It’s not possible,” Rupert stammered, backing away toward the window.

Hades’ wings flapped once, and he stood toe-to-toe with Rupert. Hades puffed his chest and clenched and unclenched his fists. Rupert’s entire body shook as he looked up at his fate.

“You have no idea the torturous eternity you’ve condemned yourself to,” he said, his wings starting to wrap around Rupert. “And your time expired hours ago.”

I looked away, shoving my face into my palms.

A hand touched my shoulder, sending me writhing back on my heels.

“It’s only me,” Hades cooed.

I blinked up at him, in awe at the sight of his hair floating around him and the brightness of burning embers at the arch of his wings. “Where’s Rupert?”

“The Underworld. I’ll deal with him soon enough.” The staggered whispers of his voice were deep. Masculine. Commanding.

“What are you going to do with him?”

“You don’t want to know, Stephanie.” His gaze turned sinister.

I gulped. “Do people try that with Thanatos often? Try to bargain with him for their lives?”

“Everyone wants to go to an afterlife in paradise, but no one wants to die.” He said, shaking his head.

Rupert most certainly wasn’t going to the Fields.

I stood up, groaning from the pain shooting down my arm.

He turned my shoulder. “The bullet only grazed you.”

I stared up at the menacing, yet angelic form of the real Hades. If he would’ve appeared in front of me this way only weeks ago, I may have passed out…again. His appearance was intimidating, but he still had an ethereal quality to him, a gentleness that gripped my very soul.

“I can help you with this, I need to—” he started, but was cut off by a gust of wind.

A figure loomed in the corner, blocking the moonlight from illuminating the room. Hades turned around and moved me to stand behind him, his wings wrapping around me like a cocoon. His nails were black, thick, and pointed.

“Thanatos. You’ve made quite the mess,” Hades said.

I leaned around him, attempting to see into the darkness. Thanatos himself was the night. His tattered black cloak draped to the ground, and he floated forward on a bed of fog. All he was missing was a scythe, and he’d be the grim reaper himself.

“I will not go back. Too long have I been feared when it is you who guides my hand. I am nothing but a pawn.” A hand slipped from his sleeve, pointing at Hades. I half expected it to be skeletal, but it was a pale, human hand.

“I may be your King, Thanatos, but Zeus is king over us all. He gave you your reign. You uphold it.”

“We, who are all descendants of Titans, reduced to following an arrogant man with a lust for power. You are almost as bad as he is, Hades.” It was pure macabre the way he stood motionless, fog wafting around him.

Hades wrapped his wings around me tighter, pieces of ash fluttering against my eyelashes. “We both have our roles. I’ve never marveled in the cards I’ve been dealt, but we do what we must because it’s our responsibility.”

“Says the man with near the power of Zeus.” Thanatos snarled.

“Says the man who can never remain on the surface. I’m not going to discuss whose existence is more pitiful over the others. You are a god! Act like one!” The embers on the top of his wings glowed brighter.

The sound of a sword blade sliding against stone reverberated in my chest. “I will not go back. Even if it means killing you in the process, my lord.”

His wings shifted, spreading wide, but his hand still held me behind him. “Don’t be foolish. You know you can’t win.”

“Has anyone ever tried?”

Thanatos launched forward. The ground beneath me disappeared, replaced by a hole glowing orange and billowing smoke. I started to fall, but Hades wrapped one arm around me, suspending us in the air with his wings. As soon as Thanatos floated through the hole, it sealed up, and my throat tightened. Dark water flowed below us. The surrounding torches reflected flames on the surface, illuminating the wailing ghosts who swam within it.

The animated fog Hades used to show me the Underworld in the spa paled compared to its real appearance.

Thanatos raised a large sword above his head, its blade the length of his body. He propelled forward. Hades growled, diving us toward the water. I pinched my eyes shut, and my back collided with wood.

I expected to feel cold and wet in the river, but instead, I was nestled within a boat, floating on its own toward a cave entrance. Thanatos and Hades fought in the air. Thanatos swung his sword while Hades used his smoke power as a guiding force against him.

A pair of ghostly hands gripped onto the edge of the boat, a gangly head following. The only hair it had was a few strands sprouting from the top of its head, darkened cavities in its skull where eyes used to be. When it wailed, holes formed in its cheek, showing teeth. I gasped, scooting back to the other side of the boat. Would it have been disrespectful to stomp its hands away with my feet? As it pulled itself out of the water, I didn’t care and stomped my feet at it until it fell away, re-joining the other lost souls.

The river Styx. I was in the Underworld. Panic tugged at my insides, but there wasn’t time for it. I needed to focus.

As the cave entrance grew closer and closer, panic tugged at my spine. According to Hades’ explanation, the river was about to end in his throne room. Above me, Thanatos reached for Hades’ wings, but only managed to grab bits of feather and embers. Hades grabbed him, plunging him into the water. The souls crawled over Thanatos, crying in agony, but he shrugged them away, floating back into the air.

Darkness flooded over the boat as it made its way through the tunnel. I gripped onto the edge of the vessel. Just ahead, an enormous throne stood, made of burnt bone. Pillars surrounded the throne with a moat of fire. Sconces hung from the ceilings by chains, blue flames flickering within them.

The boat stopped when it beached itself on a sanded shoreline, black sand. I hoisted myself onto the bank, gripping my arm. I backed away from the water, watching as the souls climbed into the abandoned boat, crying when they found no one inside. All these poor people stuck in limbo with no direction on where to spend their eternal lives.

I walked toward the throne, a chill traveling down my back, trying to imagine what Hades looked like seated on it. All imposing and merciless when he needed to be. Hades came crashing through the cave entrance, his arm clipping the edge of a stone pillar. Rocks flew into the surrounding walls and plunged into the water. I pressed my back against the side of his throne.

“We could do this until the end of time, Hades. Why can you not simply let me be?” Thanatos roared. The sound of his sword slicing echoed through the cavern.

“I need someone on the surface. I can’t do both,” Hades snarled. “And you call Zeus selfish.”

“Very well. You leave me no choice but to persuade you.”

Thanatos appeared in front of me. Red fog eked over my hands, working its way up to my face. When I looked up, the hood of his cloak draped over his head, and his face was nothing but a hollow shadow.

Hades made a shrill whistle. A canine growl followed by several snapping jaws sounded. Three pairs of glowing red eyes emerged from a darkened corner of the throne room. A massive creature with three heads loomed over Thanatos, drool dripping down its jaws. Cerberus.