Page 57 of Seeking Hades' Ember

“In my wild and free days, plenty. I’ve been quiet the past 1500 years, you know this.” Vulcan hummed.

“Make a list, no matter how big or small. We can start there and go one by one. Loukas can visit them unannounced and see if we find anything. We aren’t just dealing with Malachi, like you said, Ember. Someone is the head of the operation and Malachi was just stupid enough to go to the front lines.”

Loukas walked in the room, popping a sandwich in his mouth. “What did I miss?” I waved at Loukas brightly who gave a gleaming smile in return as he sat down.

“Her name is no longer Jillian. Her true name is Ember.” Hades growled. Loukas jumped back up from the couch.

“What! You remember!” Loukas came running up to the desk to congratulate me, but Hades let out a loud growl.

“Know your place, demon.”

I tapped Hades on his hand. “He’s just excited like me, you need to lighten up a little.” I kissed his cheek, but he still wouldn’t let me get down from his lap. Grunting I folded my arms while pouting.

“Not going to work.” Hades pulled my lip with his and I flushed in embarrassment.

“Stoooop,” I whined. “Demons and gods are watching,” I said whispering in his ear. Vulcan chuckled while Loukas sulked back to the couch. Getting ready to explain to Loukas how I figured out my name, a large knock came to the door. Ares stood up, baring his large chest, and holding his dagger he was playing with.

“Enter,” Hades spoke loudly, and the pit of my stomach dropped.

Creatures, no, monsters walked through the double doors. They needed both doors wide open for their massive bodies. Their red skin had boils and blisters while some oozed a terrible stench. Black tar covered their backs and it dripped onto the floor, only to disappear after they had moved a few steps away. Large fangs protruded from their bottom jaw, curling upward just enough to touch their high cheekbones. The black hair on their heads ranged from short to long and their horns were large, almost too big for their heads.

I literally stopped breathing in fear.

Hades

Ember was paralyzed in fear so much that she stopped breathing. My torture demons stood up straighter from their natural hunch over forms and grinned ear to ear. “She is impressed,” one of them spoke as he flipped his hair back.

“Yes, look how repulsed she is of our form.”

Rolling my eyes, I slammed my hand on the desk. “Go to your human forms, NOW!” The demons shook as their backs and bones began to break. Ember shivered into my hold as she threw her face into my neck.

“W-what are those things?” Her voice shook so much I barely understood her.

“Demons who manage the dungeons here in the palace. I have them here for special treatment of gods and deities if they piss me off.” Ember’s hand clutched my shirt as I cupped her face. “They won’t look like that anymore around you.”

“We impressed her so much she is shaking,” one of them whispered as they gave each other high-fives.

Ares grunted as he went to the three demons and punched them each square in the jaw respectively. “And everyone thinks I’m the dense one around here,” he spat as he turned to sit on the couch.

The demons sat up straight, placing their jaws back in place. “The Queen of the Underworld is not who you should be scaring half to death. It is my damn prisoners. She is not of this world,” I yelled. “Do not make the same mistake again.”

The demons trembled at my voice as they stood in their human forms. They now looked like average human men, not at all appealing to even the most beautiful of women of Earth. “We apologize for our insolence,” the leader said as they all put their foreheads to the ground. “We did not understand. We are sorry if we caused too much disturbance to our future queen.”

Ember peeked out of my neck to see the three humans. She dared not let go but was able to look at them in the eyes. “Now speak why you are here. You are tracking tar on my floors.”

They all stood up with heads bowed. “We are sorry, our Lord of Darkness.” Shit, when they pull that line it means they did a major fuck up.

“What. Is. It.” I gritted my teeth while pulling Ember back into my hold.

“M-Malachi has escaped.” The whole room went into slow motion as Ares and Vulcan stood to rush towards me, but it was too late. With one wave of my hand the demon in front of me burst into ash while the other two began to hug each other for a lifeline.

“Explain,” I growled. Vulcan and Ares stood beside me as I held Ember’s head to my neck. I didn’t need her witnessing any of the destruction I was about to unfold.

“He just vanished! After you had brought our queen back, we searched the entire palace and there was left over magic residue in the cell. It was foreign and powerful, a type we have not been trained on. It was that of a god, a god must have set them free!” A deep rumble went through my chest as Ember held me tighter.

“Hades?” Her voice rode my anger like a gentle song.

“I’m sending you to our room. Do not leave until I come to fetch you.” Ember opened her mouth to protest but she was gone in an instant. Cerberus was already there watching her, and Blaze wouldn’t be far. They were both more trustworthy than anyone else.

“I’ll go guard her room,” Loukas announced as he headed to the door.

“No, you stay,” I demanded as he stopped his skip to the door. Damn idiot.

“There is something else you are not telling me.” Standing up from the desk, I let my fingertips trail the hard wood. Passing the lamp, I swatted it to the floor as my Italian leather shoes clicked on the floor towards them. Both dropped to their knees, shaking. “What. Is. It? What is it that still has your disgusting hearts still beating so rapidly?” Licking my lips, I grabbed the one on the left by the collar, pulling him up with one arm above my head. His dark eyes looked down as his hands tried to scrape away the rings that dug into his throat.

“My Lord,” the other one pleaded. “Malachi, he took, he took the Helm.”

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