Olympian Elemental Trials Series

Chapter 8: Bring It

Dion

Paige's eyes rolled up in her head and she spun to the floor, but I caught her before she hit the worn carpet. At once, a tingle like a thousand needles prickled across my skin.

Hecate. She must have put Paige to sleep so she could slaughter me and take her without the human knowing what happened.

Fuck, f**k, f**k! I'd hoped my swift brothers Hermes and Poseidon would've shown up before she did. Hecate wasn't just a god or goddess...she was a f*****g Titan. The only one Zeus had allowed to live and retain most of her authority. She ruled the crossroads, witchcraft, and was a personal friend of Persephone.

Fact that I'd kept this human from her minions was stupid. Honestly, I didn't know why I'd saved the human. Dumb luck. I was so sick of everything anyway and ready for life for me to just end. "Bring it."

The air before me shimmered in a black curtain as I held Paige closer, trying to shield her from Hecate as if a mere god like me of earth and alcohol could stop one of the most powerful beings in the air, earth, or underworld.

A black dog with hackles raised burst from the portal. Its fangs protruded out of its mouth and it stopped a hair's breadth from my throat, lingering there as though waiting for an order to bite through my flesh. Then Hecate emerged and the portal closed behind her. She wore black skin-tight pants and a black sequined halter top.

The last time I saw her, she'd worn her official black robes of Ancient Greece. Her dark hair was swept up in a long ponytail, emphasizing her pointy chin. Good to see that she was embracing modern times.

"Dionysus," she nodded to me like acknowledging a slug she was fixing to step on.

I inclined my head slightly. "Hecate."

She snapped her fingers and the dog whined, backing away from my throat but staring at me like I was its new favorite chew toy.

"Why have you stopped my servants from collecting my prize?" Her gaze flickered to Paige in my arms.

"This is hallowed ground, Hecate. Even you must adhere to the rules of sanctuary." My hope was she wouldn't turn me into a goddamn donkey or something.

She clenched her jaw so hard the muscle in her jaw twitched. Her black eyes darkened like hard coals and I swore the underworld's draft brushed across my flesh.

After several moments of staring at me, she relaxed her jaw. "I don't think you understand. You are holding onto my property and I want her returned to me."

"Why? She's only a human...a foreigner." It didn't make sense why she'd go to so much trouble over one mortal when there were thousands outside the door.

"A Greek descendant in both lineage and spirit."

I stiffened at her words. Spirit? Coldness spread through my chest. "What do you mean?"

Hecate's laugh rang through the bar, echoing in my ears. "Is it not obvious? How you're drawn to her? How you felt the need deep within your marrow to help her...save her from the threat you saw when my Empousa came to collect her for me?"

No, it wasn't possible. I'd sworn never to get involved with another reincarnation of Pandora...of Ariadne, my wife. I couldn't entangle myself in another woman. Part of me didn't quite believe it when Hecate had told me before. I'd chucked it up to the goddess' wishful thinking.

But, what Hecate said made sense.

No, I go through this again. Lose my heart only to watch her eventually die no matter the long life the gods had promised her when we wed. All of them had been cruel. Zeus himself turned me away when I begged him to make her truly immortal. A few centuries had not been enough time with her.

My mind drifted back to why I'd helped Paige. How she'd tried to save that old man from being run over. How she stood up to me and hadn't cowered or swooned. Bravery, even if ill-placed, was something I admired. And there'd been something under the surface with Paige like a magnet drawing me in. I was starting to fall for her little by little and I couldn't stop myself. s**t!

"Ah, so you've finally realized the truth that your heart secretly knew the moment you saw her." Hecate ran a hand across her massive dog's head.

"I will not be played by you or Hera or anyone." I wrapped a metal vice around my heart.

"So Hera is in this too?" She tilted her head to the side as though considering. "Ever since Pandora, she's held a grudge against Zeus for turning her gift of curiosity into a curse that has plagued mankind since that box was opened."

"I've heard this story before." How the first woman, Pandora, was given to mankind by Zeus. He had all the goddesses bestow gifts of beauty, intelligence, bravery and more upon the hand-crafted woman. Then on hearing his wife's gift of curiosity, gave Pandora a decorated, locked box...instructing her never to open it. Her need to know what was inside burned so hot that she couldn't stop herself and unleashed all the sorrows.

Then she was given a chance to open the box once more, this time for hope. The only gift that didn't cause mankind to suffer. And since then, all of her descendants every five thousand shitty years or so, had to overcome the four elements and learn to control their magic.

"But even if Pandora is Paige's ancestor, what does that have to do with you," I asked. When would my two brothers hurry their sorry asses up and get here? I was facing one of the few beings who could destroy me if she wanted to. Every piece of sense I had told me to give her Paige and walk away, but I couldn't. It felt like I'd be digging out my own heart that had just started to beat again. "Why do you want her?"

Hecate let out a chuckle. "Little god, I do not answer to you or anyone but myself. Give me the girl and you can go on with your life. Drink, f**k, frolic with dozens of women as you choose."

"And if I refuse to let you take her?" I didn't want Paige, especially now that I knew who she was exactly, but I didn't want Hecate to take her either. Who knew what the witch would do to her. And if Paige failed in any part of her mission to tame the magic of the elements, then mankind would be destroyed with things worse than Empousas. It would make Armageddon look like an amusement ride. I couldn't allow mankind to be destroyed. All the gods would get bored with no humans to meddle with and would turn on each other. Besides, I'd made a promise to Ariadne to protect mortals whenever I could.

"You already know the answer to that, little god." Hecate smiled revealing rows of sharp teeth like a shark's.

I ground my teeth at the insult but didn't charge her like I bet she wanted. She could tell my brothers and all the other gods that she'd killed me in self-defense. The b***h was smart but I was also the god of the theater and saw through her falseness.

"Enlighten me." I played with her, stalling for time, but I felt like I was juggling nitroglycerin that might explode me into a thousand fragments any second. If I survived this, I was going to strangle Hermes and Poseidon for taking so f*****g long to get here. Not that they'd beat Hecate but together we'd have enough power to give the Titan a fight.

"I will destroy you. No longer will you be able to live on Earth and enjoy the luxuries of women, wine, and feasting. Afterward, the great Persephone herself will dole out your punishment in the underworld for defying me."

Inwardly I tried to figure a way out of this shitty mess. But I couldn't leave Paige to Hecate because I didn't trust the Titan. Who knew what she'd do with the human? Even turn her over to Zeus who wanted all mortals to die and had since he placed those vile things in Pandora's Box when he discovered Hera had given the first woman curiosity.

Persephone wasn't any better than her longtime friend. That little goddess had everyone convinced she was the victim when in reality she had planned for Hades to capture her to escape her overbearing mother.

By the time Hades realized the truth, Persephone had found and eaten six pomegranate seeds from the underworld, allowing her to live with him six months of the year and then return to the surface to live with her mother the remainder of the time. If he hadn't stopped her from eating all twelve, Persephone's mother would've refused to allow crops to grow and killed every living thing on this planet.

Persephone was a conniving little b***h with major passive, aggressive issues. "I can see why you two like each other. Give her my best, will you?"

"Enough of this nonsense." Hecate straightened and her black dog growled. "Give me the human or die."