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“Let’s keep going,” I say, and lead her on, the two of us making our way down the path, along the edge of the river. It reminds me of Styx, and the urge to dive right in, taste the cold water, feeling it slick along my skin? It’s intense. Every body of water is, in some way, a portal to the underworld, and as the waves lap up against the boardwalk, I can feel them calling me.
The souls that until recently were under my care. Eternity feels like it should last forever, but really, time ceases to have meaning when you have all of it. The last ten years have seemed like the longest in my entire existence. Looking back, I took for granted every day down in Hades. I only have myself to blame for my current predicament. If I had been more cautious... guarded my feelings meticulously, but no.
I let it all slip, like sand, through my fingers. And now I walk the world, a fallen king among men, although they look at me as if I am powerful.
They have no idea the powers that I once controlled, commanded.
“Oh!” Katy cries out, her arm suddenly tight in mine, and I blink, coming back to the present. “Look! What a good boy! But no one’s walking him.” She’s pointing, and there’s a large, black dog, trotting alongside the water, toward us. Instantly, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I grab her by the wrist, and she lets out a squawk, undignified and surprised.
“We’re going.” I should never have brought her out here. What the fuck was I thinking? There’s a reason I stay in my towers ofglass and metal, surrounded by humans at all times.
The dog pauses, a hundred feet from us, his head lifting, and even from here I can see his eyes glinting gold.
Just like mine.
I turn and pull Katy along like a kite on a string, and she protests, twisting her wrist in my grip.
“What the hell, Hadrion? He’s just a dog. He’s cute!” She’s struggling to get her hand free, and I tighten my grip, not willing to let her go. Behind us, I glance back and the dog is staying where he was. I grit my teeth, sending him a silent snarl to not follow me. I can’t see my plans into fruition, to take my rightful place back. “We need to call someone, animal control, or something! What if he’s lost?”
“He’s not lost,” I growl under my breath, dragging her through the doors of the Renaissance Center, the forecourt filled with people, shops and restaurants. Here, where he won’t follow.
“Hadrion.” She’s hissing at me, and a few people look at us, before glancing away. I turn to her, taking her other wrist in mine. I don’t need a scene right now, but I need to have a run-in with that animal even less.
“Do you want to keep your job?” I glare down at her, and her eyes widen. I bend close, pulling her into me, against my chest. Her nose is inches from mine. “Do you want to keep your life?”
I can feel her heartbeat pounding through her, and I’m breathing hard, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“If you don’t want to die, you will shut the fuck up and follow me,” I hiss, and her lips part, her eyes going wide. The perfume of her fear, her emotion, so strong and visceral, is intoxicating to me. Humans, mortals, will never not be so alive. Her eyes flutter half-shut as she looks downward.
“Alright,” she says quietly, and for a moment she gives in so quickly, I don’t believe her. Then she looks back up at me. “I trust you.”
I let her go, and she stumbles backward, rubbing her wrists.
“Follow me,” I say, and we head toward the elevators. A few more people are looking at us, side-eyes in our directions, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s called the cops after the way I manhandled her.
As we’re riding up the elevator, away from the front doors, I see him.
The dog, standing at the glass windows, looking in, his gaze following us. I bare my teeth one more time, and we step off on the upper floor, just as Katy’s small voice, worn and folded down, but resilient all at the same time.
“I don’t believe you,” she says, as I start walking toward the front entrance. It’ll take that dog longer to get around the building, then it’ll take me to flag down our car and driver.
“What?” I ask, wanting to stop and demand to know what she means, but we don’t have enough time for that. I can dress her down back at the club.
“I don’t think you would have really killed me,” she says, her eyes flicking up to meet mine, and there’s a sad, soft sort of smile on her lips. I pause, frozen, but she keeps walking toward the lobby,her head held high.
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to tell her it’s not me she needs to worry about. Because in a way, I am the demon in the darkness, that’s going to steal everything away from her. But at least, with me, when the time comes, she’s going to offer it willingly.
11
Katy
There’s a phone waiting on my bed when we get back to the apartment, along with a few other small parcels laid out by the ever-efficient Elenora. I haven’t seen her today, given that there was no breakfast served, and I’m hoping she got the morning off. My bed’s been made, my room spotless, and as I glance around my new residence, it’s hard not to think about what Emi would think about me living among all this wealth and splendor.
To start with, she’d have a complete meltdown. She probably wouldn’t believe her own eyes. And then, she’d get over it and demand something shiny, and something expensive for herself.
But Hadrion wouldn’t be the target of her ire.
