Page 31 of Hades

Before I can argue and tell her that my mother is a schoolteacher named June in Minnesota, she touches my forehead with her finger. The moment she does, I know she’s telling the truth, and the motel room fades away as if we were never there.

HADES

“ARADIA!” I scream asI bang on our joined wall. “Aradia!”

I can hear her insistent pounding on the wall, but nothing else, and the moment I attempt to leave the room, I’m blasted back inside.

Anger fuels me as try to break the window that would lead to outside, but the flimsy piece of glass won’t even splinter. Now, I can only berate myself for letting her stay alone. “I should never have left you!” I yell as I bang my fist against the wall.

Fuck it. I don’t care if I break the damn wall to get to her, a small price to pay for her to be safely in my arms. Very few beings in this world or anywhere else could ever contain me, even fewer who would want to, and only one who would use Aradia.

“Themis!” I scream as I beat my fists raw against the wall. Pieces of plaster begin to fall onto the carpet. At this point, I don’t care if I turn the entire motel into a pile of rubble.

I will get to her.

I’m about to go out of my mind when my fist finally punches through the wall and into her room. Argos immediately begins to bark and growl. Pulling my hand back, I kick through the wall with such force that it shatters the window in her room.

“Aradia!” I frantically yell as I burst through the hole I’ve made. But I don’t see her anywhere in the small room. Argos is up off the bed and heads straight for the open door, but it’s too late. She’s not out there or anywhere a human could venture.

“Fuck!” I yell again but refrain from doing more damage to the motel. Themis must have a reason for showing up now, after all this time. For centuries she’s left her daughter without any contact.

“We need to find Alastor,” I say aloud, primarily to myself, but Argos perks up from sniffing around the room to look at me. As far as I know, he’s the only one with any memory of her beside me. Not that he can get into the Heavens any more than I can. Themis seems to be keen on exiling her children.

“You’re not going to find her, buddy,” I inform Argos as I gather Aradia’s things, including him. “But we’ll get her back,” I add, petting his furry head. “You’ll even be able to ditch all this fur.”

Grabbing his leash, which I doubt he’ll need, we head out to secure Aradia’s Jeep. I’ll need to write the motel owner a nice fat check for all the damage I did to the two rooms. Might be easier to demolish it and start over.

“We need to find one of those fucking gates.” I look down at Argos, who might as well say he has no idea. It’s been so long since I had to travel using one, I’m not even sure where to look. But the only way I will get to The Firehouse and Alastor is to locate one.

Glancing around the parking area, I see only eighteen-wheelers and a few women looking to entertain the truckers. Nothing remotely close to a Dimmu gate.

“You need a gate?” I hear a familiar voice behind me. Turning, I see the old waitress making her way to me. “Are you looking for a gate?” she repeats. She must notice my confused look because I know, without a doubt, that she is human. “Yeah, yeah. I know what you’re thinking. This old biddy is human. And you would be correct. But Mr. Old Biddy wasn’t.”

I give her a raised eyebrow. “Is that so.”

“It is,” she confirms, taking a few steps forward. Argos doesn’t care for this new stranger and bares his teeth as he growls out his disapproval. I watch as her gaze moves from me, over to the motel, specifically to the rooms Aradia and I had. “I’ll expect you to pay for the damage you and your lady friend did to those rooms.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I agree, because this woman has thrown me for a loop, and that’s hard to do. “I assume cash would be fine?”

“Cash is king and works for me, and don’t think for one minute I can’t collect just because I’m human.”

“No, ma’am, I wouldn’t think that. Can I ask—”

Before I can toss out the obvious question, she says what I was about to ask. “How I knew you weren’t human?” She laughs. “Not every day someone comes waltzing into my restaurant, dripping in demon guts. Now, I don’t need to know what trouble you’ve gotten into. Just that you’re gonna make good on paying for that damage.” Again, she points up at our rooms. “Where is your girlfriend?” she inquires as she looks around for Aradia.

“Her… mother came and took her. Or at least, I’m pretty sure she did,” I admit.

“Bitchy looking redhead?”

I nod, thankful for the confirmation.

“I knew she was going to be trouble. Waltzing in here like she owned the place, green gown flowing behind her, not a stitch of wind,” she mumbles. “I knew I should have called in reinforcements. Just who does she think she is?” she asks, and I’m afraid to tell her the answer. But she should know just what her reinforcements would have been up against.

“She’s Themis, goddess of Justice,” I scoff, because that woman only knows justice if it serves her. What justice has ever come from alienating your child?

The woman lets out a long whistle. “Shit. Good thing I didn’t. We would have gotten our asses handed to us.”

I give her a nod and a smile despite not having the time to stand around for her small talk. “Do you mind if I leave her Jeep here as collateral? Have the damage assessed, and I’ll pay for it, whatever it costs. Where did you say the gate was?” I ask, trying to get her back on track.

---