Chapter 12

Hades

I hadn’t seen Demira in more than a century. She’d done a lot to hide her heritage. No one knew the exact details, but Demira’s mother was half-angel. From what I’d been able to discover, the angel in question was not involved with his offspring and might not even know of their existence. Demira being Persephone’s mother complicated matters. Her distrust of angels ran deep, and it wasn’t due to her angelic grandfather. Her past with me had contributed more to her feelings regarding angels.

Demira and Persephone looked a lot alike. Granted, Demira’s hair hadn’t been quite so red when I’d last seen her. Her eyes had also been a pale blue back then. I suspected that, like many angels and demons, Demira’s eyes changed color with her mood or when her angel magic was close to the surface.

Persephone was muttering to herself as she cut open a zellafruit.

“So,” Beatrice began. “It seems everyone already knows each other.”

“We’ve met,” Demira replied in a curt tone.

“You still look incredible,” Ares breathed out as his eyes traveled down Demira’s body.

“Hey!” Persephone called out as she waved the knife at Ares. “Don’t even think about leering at my mother. I’m in a very bad mood, and neutering the god of war sounds like a good way to brighten my day.”

Persephone wouldn’t have made that threat if she knew Ares. My nephew loved vicious women.

“And your daughter is stunning,” he murmured. “She has the same fire you always had, Demira.”

A low growl came from the back of my throat. I’d disembowel the bastard if he didn’t get his lustful gaze off Persephone.

“I’m about to call in the Hellhounds,” Beatrice warned, grabbing Ares’s full attention. “Let’s start from the beginning. With any luck, we can clear this up before Persephone eats the skin of that fruit and turns into Smurfette. She always eats it when she’s upset.”

“It’s very soothing,” Persephone explained as she finished cutting up the fruit. “Someone, start explaining.”

“I was about to tell you that I’d met Hades when Ares arrived,” Demira replied.

“I didn’t realize you were Demira’s daughter. You never told me your mother’s name,” I explained. “You look a great deal alike, now that I see you two together, but it has been a very long time since I’ve seen her. I just never put the pieces together. Her half-sister, your aunt, was named Persephone.”

“You kidnapped my aunt?” Persephone screeched.

“No,” Demira replied, “Poseidon killed my sister before that could happen. When Hades went after her, she fled on a ship. I’m not sure why Poseidon got involved. For whatever reason, several people on Olympus took an interest in my sister. It’s how I ended up meeting Ares.”

“You helped Poseidon kill my aunt?” Persephone asked Ares.

He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t involved with that. I’m not even sure what Poseidon’s issue was with Hades at the time. I met Demira when Aphrodite asked me to see if your aunt was the Persephone to break the curse. Aphrodite was still pissed at Hades.”

“This is all making my head spin,” Persephone muttered.

“Lucifer is right about the fallen angels on Olympus acting like children,” Beatrice said under her breath.

“Your mother has had good reason to want to hide you from all of us,” I admitted softly.

Persephone moved across the room and wrapped her mother in a hug. “I don’t blame you for keeping me hidden. Now, I can see why my choices have been so stressful for you.”

“I don’t know how to keep you safe,” Demira whispered.

Persephone’s mother hadn’t been given a choice in naming her. A seer had told Demira that if she didn’t name her daughter Persephone, the child wouldn’t take her first breath. Even I could feel bad for Demira and all she must have suffered knowing the danger to her daughter even before her birth.

“Why did you let her move away?” I asked Demira softly.

Demira pulled away from Persephone and took a deep breath before responding. “There were only two choices. Either I had to let her go, or I had to hold her prisoner. She wanted to leave. I even considered trying to find Azrael.”

“Azrael is your grandfather?” Ares asked Demira.

Demira nodded.

“Really?” Beatrice asked. She wasn’t one to get overly excited, but this was big.

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?” Persephone asked. “Not about Azrael. I can see why you kept that from me, but why didn’t you tell me about your sister?”

“It was a spell,” Ares replied with a gleeful smile. “I heard from the Fates that none of the women named Persephone could be warned until after they’d met Hades. I should say they could only be warned by a fallen angel, but most aren’t aware of that part of the curse.”

“Beatrice is the one who told me,” Persephone argued. “She’s not a fallen angel.”

“It must be a loophole in the spell,” Beatrice added. “Lucifer had me tell you, so by extension, he was telling you.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Persephone said, moving back to the counter to grab a slice of zellafruit.

“The Fates are wretched bitches,” I grumbled.

“On that, we agree,” Demira replied.

Beatrice pointed a finger at Ares. “What do you want?”

“I came here to meet Persephone and to extend our welcome from Olympus,” Ares replied as he moved across the room to my witch.

“Don’t take another step,” I growled.

“What did we miss?” Xavier asked as he entered the room.

“Too much,” Persephone muttered. “What are you doing here?”

“I messaged Lucy when Ares showed up,” Beatrice explained.

“She and Xavier were at my home,” I added.

“We figured you could handle Ares but that we should stop by to make sure you didn’t get out of hand,” Lucy told me.

“Why did it take you so long to get here?” I asked.

“We weren’t that concerned with what happened to Ares,” Xavier replied. “He looks like the Hellhounds only gnawed on him a little. Why hasn’t someone done more damage?”

“I only came here to talk,” Ares insisted. “Zeus wants to make sure Persephone knows she’s welcome on Olympus.”

“I am?” Persephone asked.

I wanted to kill Ares. It’s not that I thought Persephone was going to be won over by the wonder of Olympus. There wasn’t anything wondrous about it these days. Persephone’s curiosity was the real problem. She wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to see the home of the old Greek pantheon.

“I’ll take you,” I snapped.

“Over my dead body,” Demira ground out.

“I realize you hate me, but I can protect your daughter,” I assured her. “We both know she’s dying to see Olympus.”

And then the most unusual thing that evening happened; Demira laughed.