Chapter 9

"A walk? Since when do you take me for a fuckin' walk? You'd better not try and put me on a godsdamned leash. Especially not without my favorite treats. Yes, plural."

Asshole sat at my feet, head cocked to one side, beady eyes looking from my hands to my feet as though he expected me to drop a treat for him.

"Do you see a leash?" I asked, already over this plan. I don't know what the fuck I'd been thinking when I suggested it.

"You could be planning to use your shadows. How am I supposed to know? Now that you're embracing your inner shadow daddy, anything goes."

I closed my eyes and squeezed the bridge of my nose, forcing myself to take a deep breath before I gave in to the urge to punt the ball of fur at my feet across the river.

"You wouldn't dare,"Cerberus growled, reminding me that he could hear my every thought.

"Keep it up and I just might. You really want to test me?"

"You want I should piss on your leg? Cause I will, motherfucker."

"Remember that football player who came to stay in the underworld for a while? Real good punter. He taught me a few things before I finally assigned him a punishment. I got pretty skilled, and you are about the size of a football."

"You keep threatening me with that. Funny thing is, there's not even a river nearby. And this puppy can doggy paddle like nobody's business."

"So then there's no harm in me testing out my kicking leg, is there?"

Asshole bared his teeth and growled at me.

"Oh, calm down," I grumbled, striding toward the wrought iron gates that would lead us off Blackwood grounds and down the path to town. "Are you coming or not?"

He yipped, bouncing excitedly as his tail wagged. See? He wanted to go; he just had to be, well, an asshole about it first. Can't imagine where he picked up that stubborn streak.

Somewhere in the multiverse, the Fates were laughing at me.

"I can't control it. Little dog energy might be more powerful than big dog energy, boss."

I popped the collar on my coat as a soft snowfall began. I was warm by nature, but the last thing I needed was a human townsperson catching sight of me wandering outside in nothing but a button-down shirt and trousers. They'd peg me as a Blackwood resident, and then I'd get the dirty looks and fear associated with my status. I didn't want to deal with all that nonsense today. I was already in a foul mood because Dahlia had work to do, which left me nothing but scraps of her attention.

Scraps I had to share with three other men.

No wonder I was filled with so much restless energy.

"And her favorite puppy." Asshole's voice was filled with longing. "It's okay, boss. Don't be embarrassed. Persephone's been holding you by your balls since the moment you saw her. Makes sense Dahlia would have a vise grip on them too."

I opened the gate and Asshole slipped through first, his little bark letting me know the guard wasn't at his post, just as I'd expected. The man was off somewhere in the woods, taking his usual smoke break.

"Let's go," I said, my steps quick and sure as we put Blackwood in our rearview.

Though his legs were far shorter, Asshole easily kept pace with me, sometimes bounding ahead to sniff at something or lift his leg to mark a tree before trotting back to my side.

"Enjoying yourself?" I asked, barely suppressing my smile.

I'd die before admitting it, but it was nice seeing him like this. I think I might've even been having fun.

The snow began falling more heavily, and the puppy at my feet barked and chased the flakes as they made their way to the ground.

"Gods, has anyone told you how adorable this form is? Are you planning to stay like this?"

"I'm having a blast. You should try it sometime. You don't always have to be the king of the fuckin' grumps, my lord Hades," he said, hitting the last with sarcasm so strong there was no way I could've missed it.

"Real reverent," I deadpanned.

"You know me. Always your most faithful and loyal servant."

"Ha!" I laughed. "You, loyal?"

Asshole stopped dead and glared up at me. "Name one other denizen of the underworld more loyal than me. I'll wait."

One second bled into two.

He and I both knew there wasn't a name I could give, even if I'd wanted to.

"Exactly. I left the underworld twice to be with you in your time of need. Do you know what those bitches made me do to get back here?"

"Sit? Stay? Roll over?"

"Ha ha, very funny. They made me fuckin' beg. You know I never beg."

I had to bite my cheek to stop from smiling. "Did they at least give you a bone and tell you you were a good boy?"

"No!"

There was so much righteous indignation in the single word that there was no stopping the chuckle that burst out of me. "Fuck, I missed you."

"I knew it! I knew you'd be lost without me. Take that, Apollo. Hades is my bitch!"

My palms lit with blue fire. "Watch it, dog. I'm no one's bitch."

"Not even Dahlia's?"

The mention of my mate was enough to put out my flames. "No. I'm her daddy."

"Gross, man. I don't want to think of you fuckin' while I'm out enjoying myself. It's bad enough I have to watch it near daily. Your ass is whiter than this snow. Would it kill you to use some self-tanner? Tor's is all golden and beautiful. Even the damn pirate looks like he gets out and bathes his balls in the sun."

I balked. "Do you readily investigate their undercarriage?"

"From my vantage point, it's hard not to notice."

"Do the respectable thing and avert your damn gaze, then."

"Would you turn down free porn? I thought not. Don't come for me, Hades. Not unless you've got receipts."

We were nearing the town at this point, and even if a lot of the townspeople knew about supernatural creatures, I didn't want to be talking to my dog like he was a fucking person when I strolled past them. "Stop talking unless it's an emergency."

"It's always an emergency. I'm little, but I've got a lot to say."

"Don't I fucking know it."

"You're the one who just admitted you missed me. No taking it back now."

"I'm not trying to."

We walked almost half a block in silence.

"So, you really missed me, huh? Is that what this walk's really about? You wanted some quality time with your best boy?"

"You got me."

A woman bundled up in a heavy coat and scarf frowned at me as she walked past, so I held a hand to my ear and muttered, "I've gotta go. Talk soon," and pretended to hang up a phone call. Asshole could talk to me all he wanted, but I'd need to ignore him until we didn't have an audience.

The puppy's laughter floated through my mind. He loved making me look like an ass.

I hadn't been to Briarglen before, but Caspian had given me the rundown when I'd asked him about the best route to take. He'd warned me to stay on the main drag so I wouldn't find myself alone and outnumbered by the less friendly locals. Ever since the Ripper started killing off folks left and right, they didn't take too kindly to strangers. Understandably so.

Hopefully that would change, though, now that we'd rid the town of their serial killer. Not that anyone knew about it yet. Wasn't exactly like Kai was flying around announcing to all and sundry that he'd flambéed the fucker. Fuck, they'd be screaming and running for the hills if they saw a dragon flying overhead. Dragons were rare, and Kai wasn't even a true dragon shifter. His beast was predicated by his father's curse, not a drop of shifter blood in his veins.

"No, Charlie, I saw it. The beast was running through the woods, snarling and snapping, blood dripping from its maw. I'm telling you, it was the Ripper come back to collect."

"That doesn't sound good," Asshole intoned as we came upon a man chatting animatedly on his phone.

I couldn't help but agree. What the hell had they seen? Cause it sure as fuck hadn't been the Ripper.

"I heard Stacy McGinty got a better look than I did. Saw it outside The Hag's Tooth, she did. Yes, when she was taking the rubbish to the bin last night. She said it had great big horns sprouting from its head like the devil himself. And she kept going on about its black eyes, soulless and vicious. Barely escaped with her life."

Just that fast, it all clicked into place. There was only one person they could be talking about. Tor.

Fuck.

Someone must have seen him while he'd been on one of his hunts. And in the way of all superstitious small towns, they'd turned him into a devil.

"Kai said he was in a bad way after the dustup with his brother. Do we know if he came home last night?" Asshole pawed at my leg when I didn't answer.

I shook my head.

"He should be careful. Place like this, all these scared people, it's a powder keg."

"Mmm," I murmured.

Continuing on our stroll, we passed by The Hag's Tooth, the warm light spilling from the windows making the place inviting. As a patron exited, I heard the sound of the crowd singing a sea shanty accompanied by what sounded like a fiddle and... an accordion?

Before I could investigate further, the sound of someone clearing their voice pulled my attention.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you, Hades," the slightly bored, sonorous voice said from behind me.

Turning, I found a blond man dressed in motorcycle leathers standing behind me, one arm resting on the statue in the center of the roundabout.

"Gabriel," I snarled. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

The Messenger of God looked me up and down before turning his attention to the statue. "Dolores Polk," he read off the inscription. "Founder of Briarglen, the original Hag." He shrugged. "Seems a bit on the nose if you ask me."

"Let's not waste time, angel. You and I both know you're not here to take in a bit of the local flavor."

Gabriel sauntered over to me, looking every inch the cocksure pissant I knew him to be. He and I never played on the same team, and it was safe to say we didn't have a history of seeing eye to eye. If memory serves, the last time I came across the righteous fuck, I fed him my fist. Well, I tried to. Fucker was surprisingly fast and wily.

The angel heaved a long-suffering sigh before reaching down to pet Asshole. My pup growled at him and snapped.

"Good dog," I praised.

"I'm trying to help you, Hades. Not everyone is out to get you."

"That's not how it's felt anytime you and I have interacted... what did Lilith start calling you after War's failed apocalypse? Leather feathers?"

Gabriel bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. He never did know how to take a joke. And he absolutely despised being the butt of one, which was why I always made it a point to do so.

Clearly there was no love lost between the two of us.

"All water under the bridge," he said, adopting his bored mien once more. "Listen, Hades, I'm a very busy messenger. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't a matter of life and death."

"How appropriate for me."

"Yes, well, I suppose that is your domain. Maybe you should pay a bit more attention to what I have to say."

"Why should I listen to you? Everything you've ever told me has done nothing but cause me pain."

"You have to give her up, Hades."

I scoffed, my blood running cold even as I bolstered my facade of indifference. "No."

"I know we've had our differences, but I need you to listen to me. You cannot have her. She's the beginning of the end. We thought hiding her would protect the world. Sadly, it has done the opposite."

My temper flared. "You hid her from me?"

Gabriel's brows lifted. "You may find this hard to believe, but not everything is about you. We hid her from the world. We kept her soul bound until the Siren Coven sent Lucifer back to hell and his apocalypse was stopped. I gave my wings to fight him, and it was all for naught." Shaking his head, he took a deep breath. "We thought Death's daughter was no longer needed. We were wrong." If I was of any mind to feel compassion, I'd have said he looked worn down.

But I was the farthest thing possible from compassionate. I was fucking livid.

"I came to you. I fucking begged you to tell me where Persephone was. All this time you knew?"

"It wasn't time for you to know," he said simply, as if that forgave the very grievous error in judgment he had made.

I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tugged him forward until his nose was less than an inch from mine.

"Your creator is not the only god around, son. If you want to survive past this moment, I suggest you show me some fucking respect."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Don't make me smite you, Hades."

"She was my soulmate!" I thundered. "You've never understood the power of deep and eternal love or what that loss can do to a man, you sexless angel."

The man I held in my grip vanished, then rematerialized, his movement causing my ears to pop as his power shifted the air. Now he was sitting on the edge of the statue's base, expression shattered.

"You think I don't know what it means to lose your soulmate? I've given this world everything I had in order to save ungrateful heathens like you. I found her and left her because if I hadn't, the world would've burned. And you can't even do something as simple as stay away from Dahlia."

My pulse roared in my ears. I couldn't remember a time I'd ever been this angry. Sparks flew from my fingers as I took slow, measured steps to where Gabriel perched. "I don't believe you. Because if you did actually know what it was like to have the other half of your soul torn away, there is nothing that would ever stop you from searching for it and putting an end to that kind of pain. That kind of wound isn't one that can simply be ignored. You don't just decide to get over it and move on with your life. There is no life for me without her."

"And that's just one of the many ways the two of us differ, Hades. I left her so she could live, because a world without her light wasn't worth being in. I'd have watched her exist from a distance, loved her from afar, to ensure she had a future. You're selfish enough to steal her away and let the world die because of it."

I snorted. "You're right. While you suffer on your moral high ground, I have everything I've ever wanted. There's nothing a villain wouldn't do to keep the woman he loves at his side. And you... you heroes will languish in heartbreak and die with nothing but tragedy as your legacies."

Gabriel's cheeks turned a soft shade of pink, the only visible sign of his anger. "I should have known better than to come to you. You will never see past your pride long enough to consider the greater good."

"I serve no master but myself, Gabriel. If my Dahlia is the daughter of Death, who better to be her mate than the god who rules over it?"

"You are condemning this world and all the innocent souls within to suffering without end. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"There's only one soul I've ever cared about, angel. And now that she's returned to me, I couldn't care less about the rest. Regardless of any choice I make, those souls you speak of were always destined to come to me in the underworld. She will sit at my side and we will greet them together. As we were always meant to."

Disappointment washed over him. "Lilith warned me that you were no hero, Hades. I should've believed her."

"I told you as much myself. I've never tried to hide what I am, I have no qualms about being the bad guy. But if you have a problem with my being a villain, Gabriel, maybe you should take it up with the person who made me one."

The angel didn't respond. Instead, he stood and walked past me, straight into The Hag's Tooth without looking back.