25. Shemhazai
I ’d given Hec a few centuries head start before I truly began to chase her. To be honest, I’d had my hands full dealing with Ares. He was pretty hellbent on catching Hecate before I did, so I needed to spend more time than I would have liked keeping him away from her.
Happily, he’d recently disappeared without a trace. I was stalking him through Egypt when he suddenly just… vanished.
Suspicious as it was, especially considering he wasn’t the only god that had gone missing, it wasn’t really any concern of mine.
I didn’t care what was happening to the vanishing gods and goddesses. As long as Lilith was safe in Hell with Ramel, I was happy.
Speaking of my two favorite people, I’d popped into Hell briefly to visit Lilith and Ramel. Every few hundred years or so, I like to check in on them and help Ramel fuck Lilith’s brains out.
However, I never stayed for too long. I always got this anxious feeling in my chest, like I was supposed to be looking for someone.
So, after a few years, I headed back to Earth to finally give my game with Hec the attention it deserved.
Imagine my disappointment when I found she had been so predictable as to flee back to her homeland. Greece.
Boring.
She must have had some sort of magical alarm system installed at the borders because as soon as I manifested, I felt her energy flicker as she rushed to the border.
I grinned, following the bright, lively spot of energy that marked her movements. My hellcats swarmed around me, their little hellish noses twitching as they helped me hunt her down.
Almost leisurely, I prowled through the streets of Athens with my hands in my pockets, reveling in the anarchy that was erupting around me.
Humans were burning temples, capturing each other, and publicly flogging Pagan priests with gusto.
As much as I hated Yahweh and his followers, he had already taken everything I loved from me, so I simply allowed myself to enjoy the brutality of his invasion for what it was.
Chaos.
I caught up to Hecate at the border of Athens. She stood at a crossroads, waiting for me beneath a velvety sky full of stars, and I cocked my head to the side.
Why wasn’t she running?
“Took you longer than I expected, Shemhazai.”
I narrowed my eyes. My full name rolling off her lips made me cringe. Flashbacks of Raz using my full name to reprimand me for failing his tests threatened to take over, and my hellcats hissed in agitation.
I only allowed my family to use my full name, and even then, I preferred Shem or Hazai.
To her credit, she noticed my flinch, and despite the fact that I was hunting her, I liked her. I think she liked me too.
“I had some things to take care of,” I purred, glancing around us, taking in the rugged Greek landscape that surrounded us. “After a few centuries head start, I didn’t expect you to be so predictable. Greece, Hec? Really?”
She smirked and shrugged. “I came to meet an old friend.”
I took a lazy step closer, and my hellcats flowed around her, encasing her in a shadowy ring of purring felines .
Her gaze darted around, but instead of balking at the fact that I’d trapped her, her smile grew.
My heart fluttered in excitement.
What are you planning, little witch?
“I have a proposition for you, Hazai,” she cooed, and if I didn’t know any better, she was using my preferred name as a sort of apology for her slip-up earlier.
She would have made an amazing demon. Toeing the line of intentional insult and torment while maintaining an underlying tone of sportsmanship.
She knew this was a game. There was no true intent to harm, and it made my fondness for her grow.
“And what might that be, Hec?” I asked as I continued my silent creep forward.
“A game of chance.”
“I like games.” I smirked, and her grin widened.
“I know you do.” She pulled out a golden coin from her pocket and showed it to me. “I’m going to flip this coin. If it’s heads, I’ll submit to you, and the chase ends. If it’s tails, you leave me alone, and we go our separate ways.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why would I agree to that when I already have you right where I want you?”
“Because if I do this, you have a fifty percent chance of getting exactly what you want. If we don’t play, there’s a greater chance I will still escape you.
” She pointed to the ground where the roads crossed beneath her feet.
“I am the goddess of crossroads. Your hellcats cannot keep me contained in a place where two paths meet.”
I mulled her offer over.
After a few centuries of having no one but Art to fuck, it would be nice to stick my dick in someone who was proving to be a thousand times more interesting. As much as I loved the chase, I enjoyed what came after even more.
“Alright. I agree. Flip your coin.”
Her smile widened, and I knew I had made a mistake the second the golden trinket left her fingers .
Time seemed to slow as the coin flipped, and I hissed as the scent of fucking dog flooded the air.
My hellcats scattered as the coin split in mid-air. Two black, wolf-like forms manifested before the mother of witches. Their ears flattened against their heads, and they snarled at me defiantly.
Ugh. I fucking hated dogs… They were right up there with rats, in my opinion.
Hecate smirked at me, running her fingers lightly down the backs of her new guardians to the tips of their bushy, black tails.
“Hmmm. Looks like it’s tails, Hazai. Meet Skoll and Fenrir. They’re very fond of cats,” she crooned, and I glared at her dogs, wrinkling my nose in distaste.
“I think maybe this time, you should run.” She laughed, and despite myself, my lip twitched.
Skoll leapt toward me with a snarl, and I stepped out of the way.
I evaded his attack relatively easily, though my hellcats were acting more skittish than I was comfortable with.
These were not common hounds. They were minor gods.
Not quite as powerful as Lilith and Hecate, but I was certainly outnumbered.
I was thrilled.
Fuck , this goddess was so much fun.
Backing away from the snarling guardians, I gave the mother of witches an approving grin. I gathered my hellcats around me and soothed them as they yowled and hissed at this new threat, shaking my head in amusement.
“This isn’t over, Hec. I will figure out a way to bypass your new pets. When I do, I’m going to fuck you. And there’s nothing your idiot dogs will be able to do to stop me.”
“Bold words from someone who’s backing away,” she sniped, and I chuckled.
“Oh, sweetheart. You may have won the battle, but you’ve just declared war. All you’ve done is make me want this more.”
She shrugged and snapped her fingers, preparing to manifest herself away. “Then come and get me, Hazai,” she challenged before melting into the night.