33. Sandro
Sandro
H ades froze and turned to me, darkness across his eyes.
“They betrayed us. They betrayed you, my love,” he said, and his flames erupted from within as they tended to do when he got angry.
I reached him and draped the robe over his naked body, and he eased under my protection. He’d always been nonchalant by nakedness, but that didn’t mean I liked him flashing his assets at everyone. They were for me to admire and play with.
“They’ve learned the error of their ways,” I whispered in his ear.
Thanatos and Hypnos glared at me with wide eyes and gaping mouths, and when I turned to them, they bowed their heads.
“My lord, you’re back. Forgive us,” they said in a jumble of words.
I ran my hand down Hades’ arms, and with a gentle tug, I uncurled his fingers and took his Sais away.
“You can’t be serious, my love. They turned on us.”
I set the daggers down and then wrapped the knot around the robe so he was decent—or hidden, to be more precise—again and kissed his left cheek.
“And they turned back,” I said.
“They stole your life and gave it to Hermes.”
I turned to the other cheek and planted a kiss there too.
“And we took it back from him.”
“They rebelled against me.” Despite the words, his tone was quieter, more reserved than before, and I grabbed his head to kiss his forehead.
“And that was an awful, terrible thing for them to do.” I couldn’t conceal my smirk as I whispered, but he knew I wasn’t making fun of him. “But we all make mistakes. For example…” I turned to look at the twins, and they raised their gazes to meet mine. “We made a mistake when we assigned their roles all those years ago. We didn’t think it through. And because of our mistake, they ended up stranded on Earth, stuck with their duty for all eternity.”
Before I took my life back, I didn’t care for any of that, for the politics of it all. All I cared about was the same thing as Hades. The fact that both brothers had betrayed their masters. But now, I knew things weren’t quite as black and white.
“Well, tough. We all have to do shit we don’t want to,” Hades said, staring at the brothers.
Both flinched at their king’s words, and I felt sorry for them.
“They weren’t trying to kill us. They fell for Hermes’ charms and reasoning. As soon as they realized the truth, they stopped. They helped us. They helped me. I don’t know if I would have made it here without them.”
They were the ones that took Hades back to my home on Earth, and they had taken me to Hermes to speak to him and the Moirai.
They were the ones who informed me that Hades had returned to the Underworld. They’d played an important part in reclaiming our kingdom. They may be assholes for stealing my life from the Fates, but they didn’t deserve oblivion.
“What do you suggest we do with them then? I was quite keen on killing them.” Hades grinned from ear to ear as he conjured the Sais back into his hands, and I laughed.
“How about we give them the very thing they wanted?”
“Which is?” He raised an eyebrow and inspected the two of them closely.
I grabbed his daggers and addressed them.
“Do you truly want freedom? It will come with a cost?”
Thanatos nodded, and Hypnos narrowed his eyes.
“Fine. Then take it.” I stabbed them both in the heart, all three parts of the Sais digging into their bodies and creating a three-pronged mess of blood.
With a deep, concentrated breath, I pulled them out and handed them back to Hades. The gods fell to their knees and then to the floor as they died. Then, both of them took a deep breath and blinked as if they’d been in the darkness of their demise for a long, long time.
“You’re free now. Go and live the mortal lives you’ve always wanted.”
“Mortal?” Hypnos asked.
I shrugged.
“For now. You’ve got some crimes to make up for. If you make good choices, you may get your powers back. But for now, you get none.”
Hypnos pursed his lips and lowered his head in respect.
“What about the dead? What about the nightmares?” Thanatos asked.
“Let me worry about that,” I told him and turned my back to them, giving Hades the signal.
He flicked his wrist and sent them away, back to Earth, where they could live their lives as humans. Where they could work, fall in love, and die free men.
“Are you going to tell me how we will deal with our two little problems…” Hades asked.
He made the daggers disappear and cupped my face.
I leaned into his touch like the starved god I was and slipped my hands under his robe to give his cheeks a good squeeze.
His cock twitched in response.
“I’m going to recruit psychopomps. We can’t have just one person doing all the work. And the same goes for dream hunters. It was repugnant of us to think one person can do this job alone.”
He kissed me. No tongue. No force. Just love. Pure, eternal love.
“I’ve missed your kindness. You’re so right.” Then he pulled away and held my hand. “We should get to work then. Before the Wraiths claim more spirits.”
He attempted to take us to our thrones, but I pulled him back into my arms.
“We’ll get to that. But aren’t you forgetting something? Or should I say someone?”
He dropped his head to the side and watched me closely.
“What? Who?”
I poked a finger at his chest and smiled.
“Tao? What happened to him?”
Hades’ eyes opened wide, and he sighed.
“Yes. Of course. Tao. I don’t know what Hermes did to him. Let me see if I can call him.”
He raised his hand and his flames erupted from his fingertips, burning a spot on the floor in front of us where Tao appeared in his spirit form. He was crouched on the floor, his face creased in fear, and it took him a few moments to realize where he was.
When he did, his eyes went wide, and he straightened.
“About fucking time!” He slapped me on the chest, and his hand met some resistance for a second but then passed through me. “Those ghouls almost got me.”
“You mean the Wraiths?” Hades asked him, and Tao nodded. “Where did Hermes send you?”
“Back to Earth, of course. And since Hela was so kind to take me out of the phone, I guess they thought it was dinner time as soon as they noticed me. You’re alive again?” He pointed at me with a grimace as if he wasn’t happy about it.
“Indeed I am.”
“Good for you, dude! How do I get me one of these?” he asked.
“Actually, I’ve got a proposition for you.” I peeked at Hades, who gave me the go-ahead, and I put my hands on Tao’s shoulders.
“What proposition? It’s not for a threesome, is it? Because as appealing as that would be, I don’t think I’d like to be fucked by myself.”
I chortled a laugh so loud it gave me a coughing fit and a bellyache.
Yeah, Tao would be a perfect recruit.
“No. Not a threesome. Great as the suggestion may be, we don’t share each other.”
Tao’s face dropped.
“Shame,” he mumbled.
I rolled my eyes at the cheeky spirit. “I thought you didn’t want it anyway.”
“Darling, only an idiot would refuse two gods.” He crossed his arms and looked from me to Hades and back to me. “What’s that proposition, anyway? And what happened to Hermes? Is he dead? Can I spit on his dead body?”
“Hermes is paying for his sins as we speak,” I said. “And as for you… How would you like to work for us?”
I walked around his side and put a hand on the small of his back.
“Work for you? In…in what way?”
“You don’t have to say yes. I can give you another chance at life if that’s what you want. But if you’d like?—”
“What’s the job?”
“There are two to choose from.” Hades crossed his hands behind his back and stepped forward with soft-set eyes and a slight hunch to his posture.
I could see it from his point of view. He had taken Tao’s body from him, and now that I’d reincarnated him as the king of the dead, the body belonged to him. We’d fucked Tao over, and as annoying as he could be, he didn’t deserve that.
“You can help us with death. Mark those whose time is up and guide their spirits to the afterlife where they will be judged…”
“And keep them away from the Wraiths,” I added.
“Or you can help fight the monsters in humanity’s dreams before they claim the souls of the sleeping.”
I joined Hades on his side and watched Tao.
He rubbed his chin, taking our words into consideration.
“You can pick neither if you want. I can give you another life—a different body, unfortunately—but it’s another chance to live a life.” I wanted to make sure he knew that was also an option and he didn’t have to pick one or the other.
“I think…” he started. “I think I’d like the dream thing. Yeah. The monsters sound good.” He smiled at us in a cocksure way that looked just like Hades when he was being overconfident, and Hades smiled.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah, I don’t want to deal with those Wraiths ever again. Disgusting creatures. I’d rather help with the dreams. That sounds more…romantic.”
I shook my head.
“Oh, it is not romantic. It’s not romantic at all. You’d be fighting people’s wildest nightmares.”
“Yeah, and the people get to live. I don’t know. It sounds quite nice to me. I don’t think I can deal with death anymore. I’ve been stuck in my dead body for so long that I could do with the change of scenery.”
“If that’s what you wish,” Hades said and bowed his head as if Tao himself was his king.
“Great.” I hugged the young dead man and kissed him on the cheek. “We just need to find you a body.”
“I think we know someone who can take care of that,” Hades said, and I knew exactly who he was talking about.
The old witch in Camden that had reunited us had her grim ways. And a collection of dead bodies, apparently. Or, at the very least, a way to get a fresh supply if needed.
Tao wagged his finger in front of my face before he turned it and pointed it at Hades.
“He better be Taiwanese! Or East Asian at the very least!” he shouted.