Descent into Desire (2 page)

* * * *

Hades stood on the balcony of Zeus’ palace, looking up at the clouds as they moved across the moon. He turned when Ares walked up behind him. “You here for raunchy remarks or dumb blonde jokes?”

Ares chuckled. “Neither. Just being nosy. My girl’s a little upset with you.”

Hades winced. “I’m sorry. If it makes Alala feel better, I didn’t kidnap her best friend.”

“She might not believe that. She scolds me for dumb blonde jokes, but she’s always thought of Persephone as someone who needs to be looked after.”

“She can call her cell phone. Or she could summon her in a pool of water. That still works if there’s water or a mirror around.”

Ares shook his head slowly. “Ah, the old days. Blood and war and magic spells and very odd seductions.”

“Usually involving someone being an animal.”

Both gods laughed.

“Well,” Ares began, “she just might do that. She’s very worried. It’s nothing personal. I think she’s actually more worried about you.”

Hades had wanted to ask that question, but hadn’t dared to. “Persephone is very infatuated. No other man has ever been able to get near her. No real man at least. Just awkward, gauche mortal boys.”

“Alala thinks Persephone is out to prove something. Or just rebel against her mother. I think you should consider that. And don’t be insulted for her when I say you’re probably too mature and complex for her.”

Hades wanted to argue in her favor, but he knew how she appeared to most people. She could be immature and whiney and spiteful. He knew her better than any of them though. He’d talked to her about literature and movies and all kinds of ordinary things. She was smarter than she seemed and more thoughtful than any of them imagined. She was silly and sometimes flighty, but he loved it. She made him smile and laugh. She made him happy.

He finally spoke. “We’re very different, but so are you and Alala. What such a sweet girl sees in you I can’t imagine.”

Ares smiled. “I have no idea either. Okay, I see your point. I’m just passing along Alala’s concern because I think it’s justified.”

“I agree. Tell her thank you and that she can contact Persephone whenever she wants to. She’s not a prisoner, and I’m sure she could use a friend.”

“She mad at you? I hear you haven’t lived up to your sexy text messages.”

“Word travels fast. I’m not sleeping with her until she takes me seriously.”

Ares crossed his arms and gave him a skeptical look. “I think she takes you seriously. She just doesn’t know what she’s getting into or what to expect. But maybe I’m wrong.”

“No, you’re right. She’s upset because she didn’t get what she thought she wanted. I hope someday she’ll truly want it.”

Ares leaned against the railing and looked down into the garden. He spotted a couple ducking behind some bushes. “What is going on lately? If this were a cheesy romantic comedy, or a Shakespeare play, I’d say Aphrodite had a cold or something. Making people fall in love every time she sneezes.”

Hades shook his head. “Yeah. There does seem to be something in the air, but it’s working out for most people.” He reached out to Persephone in his mind. She was asleep, but she stirred slightly and clutched her pillow. He withdrew his mind so he wouldn’t wake her. “I’m heading back. It’s getting pretty cold up here.”

Ares looked up at the gathering clouds. “Demeter trying to make a point?”

“The only way she knows how to.” He shook his head. “We’ll see. She’ll have to see reason soon.” He started to walk away.

“Good luck with that,” Ares called after him.

“Thanks.” He kept walking and mumbled to himself, “For all the good it may do me.” He walked down into the garden and pressed a stone on the wall. The wall opened a little, and he slipped inside. He followed the tunnel and arrived on the shore of the Acheron, at the point where it connected with the river Styx and the Underworld. Charon, the ferryman of the dead, sat on the shore with Cerberus, who was actually quite friendly for an enormous, three-headed, dragon-tailed black hound.

“Excited to meet your new mistress, Cerb?” He patted the hound’s middle head, and the hound’s tail wagged as he stood up to follow him.

The Underworld was the one place only few beings could enter without terrible consequences. Or being dead. Everyone except him and Zeus had to enter the old-fashioned way, walk to the river and be ferried across. Or be brought there by Thanatos, the god of death. Hades had granted Persephone special status by allowing her to enter his realm while still alive. She could also leave whenever she wanted. Only Zeus and the Olympian messengers Hermes and Iris could do this. Anyone else would be trapped until Hades brought them back across himself.

“Getting a bit chilly out there,” Charon said.

Hades got into the boat with Cerberus. “It is. It may get very cold.”

Charon nodded. “Could be interesting.”

Hades looked at Charon, who hadn’t talked this much in the past two hundred years. “Oh it’s going to be interesting. Very interesting indeed.”

* * * *

In the morning, Persephone opened her door and looked down the hall. She thought the dining room was to the right. She’d considered staying in her room, but he might think she was pouting or being stubborn. She’d picked out a very modest pink, lacey dress with lots of tiny buttons up the front. She looked pretty instead of sexy. She thought that might be what he wanted. She didn’t want to be punished further. She wasn’t sure why she felt she was being punished, but she couldn’t deny the feeling that all his actions were carefully planned to produce a certain effect.

Cerberus was in the dining room. She’d never seen the giant hellhound so close before. He stood and walked over to her slowly, then sat and waited to be petted. She rubbed his middle head tentatively. He weighed more than she did, but he was gentler than her mother’s yappy little rat terrier. Cerberus followed her to the dining table and sat on the floor beside her.

“Where’s your master, Cerberus? Isn’t he here?”

“Good afternoon, Persephone.”

She turned, but it wasn’t Hades. Another man had walked into the room, and when she looked at him he bowed to her. He was pale with short white hair and completely black eyes.

“Afternoon?”

“Yes, though time matters little down here.”

Hades had said he would check on her in the morning. Why hadn’t he? “You’re Hypnos, the god of sleep?”

“Yes.”

“You look just like your brother Thanatos, except his hair is black.” She felt like she was babbling. Of the two, she’d definitely prefer having a conversation with Hypnos.

He smiled. “You’ve met the god of death? That’s interesting.”

She wasn’t completely sure what he meant. Why was it interesting? He seemed so serious, but he was smiling. She cleared her throat. “I’ve seen him. He came to see my godfather once when we were together.”

Hypnos nodded. “I believe that was how you first drew my master’s attention. Thanatos mentioned your presence, as well as your beauty, and I believe Lord Hades became jealous.”

She tried to remember. That had been over a year ago. How could he have known anything about her? Had he really been jealous? “You’re both gods. Why is Hades your master?”

Hypnos stared at her for a long moment.

“Is that question offensive? I’m sorry if it was.”

He shook his head. “Just odd. My brother and I are part of the Underworld. Sleep and death are very similar, more so than any mortal could understand. I’m also the god of dreams. The land of dreams is here as well, like the Elysian Fields or Tartarus. Without sleeping or dying, what good would the Underworld be? It would be nothing.”

“Tartarus is real? I thought Hell was a mortal notion. Hades punishes people?” She didn’t like the sound of that. She couldn’t imagine him torturing anyone.

Hypnos seemed puzzled. “Has Demeter really kept you so sheltered? Come and walk with me. Nothing can harm you while I am here.”

“Hades won’t mind?” She stood up and looked at Cerberus.

“He will not. Cerberus will follow us. Will that make you feel safer?”

She moved toward him. “I’m not afraid of you. I just don’t understand this place.”

He offered his arm and she took it. “Or the man you followed down here?”

She nodded. “I wanted to come though. I wanted the freedom only he could offer.”

“Others could have given you freedom.”

She looked at the paintings in the hallway. All of them were beautiful, in their way, but most of the scenes were very dark and grim. “No one ever noticed me before he did.”

“Every god has noticed you.”

She turned back to him, her free hand absently stroking one of Cerberus’ heads. “That’s not true. They all think I’m a silly little girl.”

“You’re a beautiful woman, Persephone.”

“You think I am beautiful?”

He nodded. “Very beautiful.”

“Kiss me.”

He laughed. “You would not like that.”

“Why not?” she asked, annoyed by his laughter.

“You would be unconscious for a long time. Kissing is one thing I cannot do.”

“But you can…”

“Yes, I can have sex, but there’s an intimacy about kissing I’ve always longed to experience.”

She felt her skin warm as she imagined what kissing him might be like if it were safe to do so. “Oh.”
Damn it, I can’t get anything right down here!
“But if you could, you would like to kiss me?”

He stopped when they reached a large black door. “I would love to give you my kiss and live forever in a dream with you, but you are not meant for me.”

“Hades could kiss me.” She looked up into his eyes. “But he hasn’t.”

Hypnos leaned closer, putting his arms around her waist. He brought his lips to her ear. “Perhaps he is afraid of you.”

She felt her heart pounding as Hypnos leaned close to her. His lips touched her ear, and she sighed. He groaned deep in his throat and kissed her neck. Electricity shot through her. His touch was amazing. His lips and tongue found spots she’d never known were so sensitive. She felt the ache between her thighs again. Hypnos’ lips felt amazing.

Cerberus growled at Hypnos.

The spell was broken, and she pulled away from him, incredibly embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

Hypnos gazed into her eyes. “Not as sorry as I am.”

Sorry they had touched? Or sorry they had stopped? She couldn’t tell. “I didn’t plan that. You’re handsome and you said I was beautiful, but that’s a feeble excuse for almost cheating on Hades.” She sighed. “If I’m even in a position to do such a thing.”

He stroked her cheek. “I know you are innocent. In every way. I will carry the memory of touching you in my heart forever. But may I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“Was that brief pleasure worth the guilt you feel now?”

She shook her head. “No. That was my first kiss, and I used someone to get it.”

He smiled. “Don’t feel that way. I don’t. What else did you learn?”

She looked down at Cerberus, who seemed equally anxious for her answer. “I didn’t come here just to find a lover. I came here to meet the man I’ve been sending messages to every night.”

He nodded. “Good. Perhaps that’s why I could not resist you. You needed to see what you wanted more clearly. We’ll leave the tour until later, shall we?”

“Yes.” She blushed. “You’re very kind. You could have gotten angry, or gone to tell Hades.”

“Or ravished you.”

Her eyes widened. “But you wouldn’t have done that.”

He started to say something, but then he stopped. After a moment, he said, “Take Cerberus with you. Hades left him here to protect you. He did just that, waking you from my spell before you were the one to ask me for something you didn’t truly want.”

She touched Cerberus’ back, and he looked up at her loyally. “He did. I’m glad for both of us he did. I won’t tell Hades. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But he will know. He knows everything in this realm.”

Persephone froze. “What?” she managed to say.

“He knows I touched you. As frustrated as you are, he can’t blame you for letting me. He also knows you pulled away. He knows what you said. Don’t be afraid.”

“He won’t punish you?”

“His anger will be tempered because of what this incident made you realize.”

In a whisper, she asked, “How can he love me? I can’t even talk to a man without making ten mistakes.”

“Perhaps he wants to be the one to teach you…everything.”

Her mind filled with images of Hades, the sound of his voice, his scent. “I hope I’m worthy.”

He bowed. “You are. Go find him now. He is here, waiting.”

“Where is he?” she called as he walked away.

“Follow Cerberus. He will take you.”

After he was gone, she looked down at the hound. His dragon-like tail was wagging.

“Take me to him.”

Cerberus led the way, and she followed as she wondered what Hades would say to her.