6. Hades
Hades
M y heart ached because when he looked into my eyes, he didn’t recognize me.
I knew it wasn’t his fault. He’d gone way too many lifetimes without me, yet it still hurt.
I’d hoped he would remember me. I hoped once we mated, his memories of our life together would return.
For now, I could take pleasure in having put a smile on his face.
It was quite an adorable smile if I’d ever seen any. It was aimed at his dog, most certainly, but it was a beauty to behold and perhaps the only genuine one I’d have to treasure.
You’re so melodramatic. Are you sure you’re not the god of moping?
I wasn’t going to answer the insolent man. I wasn’t letting him ruin my moments with my lover.
So, instead, I focused on getting the bunch of clothes that had been left for me in a basket and putting them on.
They appeared to be faded and rough to the touch. As if they’d spent years in storage.
Of course they did. I’ve been dead a long time.
Again, I ignored him.
I put on the undergarments on top of the pile—at least those looked fresh—and followed them with trousers. I put on the black pullover at the bottom of the pile last.
“I think you’re forgetting I’m the god of souls.” My god, you’re such a show-off. I can’t believe you said that to him.
I know who and what I am. It’d do you good if you realized the same.
Oh, is that a threat, Mr. Death?
I didn’t insult you. Don’t insult me.
How was that an insult? You’re literally the god of death.
I am not. I’m the god of the dead. There’s a difference.
You say potato, I say fuck you.
“I would watch your tone if I were you. I can still send you to Tartarus!”
Forsaken chaos and unholy mother, I’d said that aloud.
Yeah, you did. Ass.
“What was that?” My lover asked behind me, and I turned to face him, dressed for the first time in his presence. He had also put on clothes that were snug over his body.
It seemed counterintuitive for both of us to be dressed when we were going to have to take them off again very soon, but alas, I didn’t think walking around naked in Gaia would do. Humans were a prudish kind, and if the souls I’d judged were any indication, they hadn’t gotten any better.
So many of the souls suffering in Tartarus had ended up there simply because they’d made life harder for those who hadn’t shared their moral values, whether on a spiritual, social, or sexual level.
Yeah, there was a special place in Hades for them, and I enjoyed torturing them the most, along with the murderers and abusers.
“Apologies. That wasn’t directed at you,” I told my lover.
He narrowed his eyes and looked around him. “Who was it directed it to?”
I flattened the pullover over my chest and stomach and shook my head, approaching him to take his hands again.
I couldn’t get enough contact with him. We’d been apart for far too long. Two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-three years, to be exact. And I’d been waiting all this time for her to return to me. And she finally had.
Whoa. Talk about blue balls.
I huffed. “There’s a voice in my head. It belongs to the human whose body I’m using. He’s got quite the tongue.”
My lover grimaced and bit his lip. “You mean…how is that possible? I thought he was dead.”
I put my hands up and smiled.
“Oh. Duh. God of the dead. I’m such an idiot. So…do we find you a new body? What do you want to do?”
Yes. Yeah. Find a new body. And I can take my life back. Or what’s left of it.
“I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work that way. If I find a new body, this one will perish. He’s dead. He can never come back. This body can’t sustain him anymore.”
Oh.
I could detect the sadness in his voice, and I tried not to empathize. I’d had no choice in the matter of which body I possessed, and I couldn’t bring him back to life. That wasn’t my domain. My domain was death.
“That’s sad. What’s his name?”
Tao. Lu Tao.
“Why?” I asked.
“Maybe we can find his family and let them know about him. Perhaps they don’t know his fate.”
Oh. He’s a sweet man. But tell him my family is dead. Victims of the Triad. Like me.
Triad?
The Chinese mafia? Hello?
“They’re dead too.”
My love closed the distance between us and studied my face as if he were trying to talk to Tao himself.
“Then don’t you want to reunite with them?”
I didn’t even need Tao to answer to know he did not.
My family was Triad. They got me killed.
I shook my head for my lover’s benefit.
You should ask him his name.
I know his name.
Knew his name. He’s not Persephone anymore. You should find out what name he goes by in this life. Come on. You’re a melodramatic sap. Surely, you know that already.
“Don’t worry about Tao. I can deal with him,” I reassured my lover. “But he does have a point.”
Deal with me? Deal with me? You’re acting as if I’m the intruder.
“What is that?” He hugged himself under my watch.
Was he uncomfortable around me? Was there something about me that scared him?
You mean something other than waking up to you telling him you’ve been waiting a million years to see him again?
“I still don’t know your name. Your name in this lifetime.”
“Oh.” He smiled with a breath, and as he brought his fingers up to his ear to tuck some errant strands of hair behind it, his pale cheeks turned pink.
Uh-oh. We’ve got a blusher, mate. Not gonna lie. He’s kinda cute.
Mine , I all but growled.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I’m just saying. You got yourself a charmer.
“I’m Sandro. Short for Alessandro, but if you ever call me that, I’ll eat you alive.”
Mmm. I hope he means it.
I huffed, balling my fists.
This is getting old.
“Is he very chatty?” Sandro asked.
I nodded. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Well, is there any way you can make him quiet? A way to make him give you some privacy?”
I take it back. I don’t like him anymore.
“I could pull him out of this body, but if he’s not judged in the afterlife, he’ll cease to exist.”
“Really?”
Really?
“If spirits are not judged, the Wraiths come for them.”
“The Wraiths?”
The what?
“Shadow creatures that come to claim unjudged souls.”
Sandro tilted his head to the side.
“What about haunted places? Why don’t the Wraiths get them? I’m sure there’s a house in North London that’s been haunted for decades.”
Yeah. How about I haunt your arses.
“Some spirits can be…stubborn and attach themselves to places or objects and become one with them, becoming phantasms. Ghosts. The Wraiths can’t touch ghosts.”
Sandro tapped his chin with a finger and hummed. “Can’t you get the Wraiths to go away? I mean, you’re the master of death, right?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not the master of the Wraiths. If they get him, there’s no life or death. He’ll just cease to exist.”
Sandro shook his head. “Well, then, no. We can’t have that.”
No, we cannot.
My lover went from tapping his finger on his chin to biting it, deep in thought.
“One sec. Didn’t you say the Wraiths only get unjudged souls? Why don’t you…judge him?”
I shook my head.
“My place is here now. With you. I can’t go back to the Underworld and leave you here to die.”
But me we don’t care about, huh?
“You’re already dead.”
Sandro stared at me, and I pointed at my head.
“So, let me get this straight. You can ‘pull’ him out of this body, but unless he’s attached to something and becomes a ghost, Wraiths will come get him.”
I nodded.
“Never mind the fact ghosts can become pesky when they can’t communicate with the living.”
“Okay. So basically more annoying than he is already.”
Excuse me? Is he talking about me?
“That’s right, my love.” I took his hand in mine and kissed his inked knuckles.
Intricate tattoos wrapped around his fingers like rings with sharp teeth-like designs on his knuckles that linked to vines that climbed up his arms and disappeared under his sleeves.
“Okay. Then I’ve got a solution.” He put his free hand in his back pocket and retrieved a black device.
Oh, hell no. I’m not going inside a phone. That is demeaning as fuck.
A phone. That sounded familiar. I’d dealt with my fair share of humans who had been addicted to a device called a phone and wanted one in the afterlife. As if eternal bliss and happiness weren’t enough.
“Humans use it to contact each other, is that right?” I asked, testing my knowledge of the human world.
“That’s right. So he could still talk to us, but if you wanted privacy, you could just put him on mute.”
Okay, I’m saying it. We hate Sandro.
Speak for yourself.
I took the black device in my hands and touched the screen part with my thumb, taking a deep breath and focusing on Tao.
Please don’t do that.
Hades!
I thought you were a good man. Don’t do this to me.
God, I hate you two.
I beg you ? —
A cool blue fire encompassed the device and the voice in my head stopped.
“How is that? Did it work?” Sandro asked me, turning to pet his dog absent-mindedly, even though his hand kept going through him.
I turned from side to side, thought whatever I wanted, and there was no…feedback. Just silence.
“It’s peaceful. That was a great idea, my love. Thank you.”
As soon as I spoke, there was a two-toned beep, and the device flashed blue.
“I think you just got a message from the other side.” Sandro smirked.
I lifted the device, and Sandro leaned in closer to me to read the message on the screen.
It wasn’t a message. Or if it was, it was just a bunch of symbols and numbers.
But they were all shaped like a hand across the screen with the middle finger up.
“Sassy. I’m sorry, Tao. But I need H to save my life. Then we can deal with yours,” Sandro spoke to the phone, but if Tao had an opinion, he kept it to himself. “Now that it’s quiet in your head and you’re all dressed, can we go and start this ‘ritual?’”
I nodded.
I could finally enjoy the presence of my lover without intrusive thoughts distracting me. I could enjoy the peace and quiet both in my head and between us.
“What do we need to do first?”
“I need to meet your parents or any living relatives.”
He grimaced.
“What? Why?”
“I need to ask their blessing to mate with you.”
Sandro watched me for a few moments, during which Pluto took the opportunity to bark and get the attention of his master.
It was really sweet to see he’d bonded so well with him. I wasn’t surprised in the slightest, knowing who the dog really was.
“Are you…are you trying to say you need to ask my mothers’ permission to…fuck me?”
The profanity took me by surprise, but he didn’t seem to use it in a negative manner. More in a playful way.
“If you want to be blunt about it.”
Sandro shook his head in disbelief, his eyes so narrow they may as well have been shut.
“But why? Is that really part of the ritual?”
I sighed and took his hand—to kiss and to hold. “In all honesty, no. But I remember the last time I didn’t ask your mother for her blessing. She took me away from you and cursed our relationship. So I’d rather not have that happen again.”
“O…kay. I guess we’re paying my moms a visit. When I thought of ways to save my life, asking my moms for permission to have sex was not on my bingo card.”
The phone beeped.
Tao
It wasn’t on mine either.