Holly's Pledge

by Anh Leod

  “You’ve spent time here before?” Holly asked, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd.

  Hades’ eyelids lowered to half-mast. “Occasionally it is necessary.”

  Holly noticed Hades didn’t need to raise his voice to be clearly heard. Must be some kind of god thing.

  “We’re glad you could visit,” Cherokee said, leaning against the wall.

  Hades ignored the polite comment. “Have you seen this Nos individual yet?”

  Cherokee shook his head. “You?”

  Hades’ lip curled. “No. And I dislike mysteries. Nos is not my get.”

  “Is this club really in the mortal realm? I saw some strange things the night Glaukos…well, went home with Torc,” Holly said.

  Hades chuckled. “I would imagine so. You were lucky not to join him eternally if you were present for those strange things.”

  Now she really did want a drink. The image of Glaukos having his throat cut flashed into her mind. What could she say to get him released?

  “I’m very fond of him,” Holly said. “Actually, spending eternity with him doesn’t sound bad.”

  Hades made an uninterpretable noise in the back of his throat. Thankfully, Dylan brought the drinks. As Holly took her first sip of strawberry margarita, Hades eyed his bourbon.

  She made a face. “Too sweet.” Cherokee didn’t stop her when she pulled out her flask. “Needs a little something extra.”

  She poured a bit from her flask into her glass. Dylan held out his and she poured into his, then Brandi’s, then Cherokee’s. Hades narrowed his eyes but accepted Holly’s offer to pour as soon as he tossed back his drink.

  When he saw the ruby fluid, he started to laugh. “You can’t trap me here with pomegranate juice.”

  Holly took a sip from her glass to give herself a second to think. The juice added tartness to the margarita, making it taste even better. It didn’t stop the desperation though.

  “Glaukos gave Holly that pomegranate,” Cherokee said.

  Holly blinked back tears of frustration. Hades had identified the beverage before he’d even sipped, meaning if it had any magic power it was wasted. Hopefully Dylan or Brandi could get their doses into him somehow.

  Hades raised a thick eyebrow and took a sip. “It’s just an ordinary pomegranate. Nothing special.”

  Holly felt a surge of rage. She wanted to throw her drink in the god’s smug face but he’d probably smite her or something. “It was a love token, ordinary or not!” she cried.

  Two women in thigh-high leather boots and miniskirts stopped to stare at her before continuing to the bar.

  Dylan put his arm around her. She shook him off. “I hoped you would see that it was a gift of love. It was meant to keep us together, like the pomegranate seed you gave to your wife. Instead, Torc killed him!”

  “Didn’t my son have that right since Glaukos was trying to do the same thing to him?”

  “Could Torc be killed by a mere mortal? He’s your son. I think Glaukos simply wanted him taken for your judgment.”

  “Perhaps. I’m glad to have him back. We are long past the age where we should meddle in human affairs, yet these forays never seem to end.” Hades sighed and his glass magically refilled. He knocked back the second shot.

  “Glaukos is human,” Holly said, bemused.

  “He was human thousands of years ago, child. His time is long over.”

  “You sent him back,” Holly insisted. “And he became relevant to me.”

  “Tupped you, did he?” Hades smirked.

  “He gave me my confidence back,” Holly said, ignoring the question. “He has friends here. And he died young. He never had much chance to live. Doesn’t he deserve a reward for bringing your son home? Instead you made him a guard. He didn’t even get his job back. Work he did with his father. His fate is worse than Acalle’s.”

  Hades narrowed his eyes at Cherokee. Cherokee let his gaze drift toward the bar. His look of innocence was worthy of an acting award.

  “You belong on Olympus,” Hades said softly.

  “My father would rather keep me on the mortal plane,” Cherokee said. “If he had allowed me free rein on Olympus in the first place, I’d never have left.”

  “Ares is a madman,” Hades said, grimacing. He tossed back his shot.

  The lights in the club flashed and colors began to sweep the dance floor. The group walked to the edge of the floor as many of the customers moved onto it so they could dance now that the live music was beginning. The canned music stopped abruptly in the middle of a song and the sound of drums began. The curtain in front of the stage rose. Rotten Tomatoes was front and center. Lights flashed, making Joe’s lime green suit flash. When Niall finished his drum solo, Sam launched the band into a thrash metal version of Jingle Bells.

  Hades winced. “I accepted your invitation, Cherokee, because I wanted to see the appeal of the bar scene. I do not understand what Torc saw in it other than perhaps a parade of female flesh. It is not for me.”

  Cherokee smiled. “Welcome to Hollywood.”

  As Rotten Tomatoes began one of their original songs, mist seemed to envelop Hades’ feet. A few bars in, it had drifted to Hades’ waist. Holly forgot she was holding a drink. It splashed to the floor as she reached out to him. Was something wrong? Then his face was obscured. Dylan pulled her back. There was a moment when Hades’ form was entirely obscured then the mist seemed to clear.

  Instead of Hades behind the mist though, Glaukos stood blinking.

  Chapter Ten

  Glaukos was insubstantial at first but as the mist cleared, Holly was no longer able to see through Hades’ black, shimmering suit, which had somehow been transferred onto her lover’s body. His eyes were wide with confusion.

  Two dancers careened off the wood dance floor, giggling drunkenly, and crashed into him. Glaukos stumbled and nearly fell. Cherokee and Dylan darted forward to support him, each taking hold of an arm.

  Holly felt too numb to move, hardly felt Brandi’s arm go around her waist as Glaukos stared into Cherokee’s face. She could see the thin red line of a scar around Glaukos’ neck where his white shirt gaped open. Was he alive?

  As if reading her mind, Dylan reported, “He has a pulse.”

  “There is no blood,” Cherokee said. “Whatever Hades had in mind, it was not death for my friend.”

  “I do? I did?” Glaukos shook off the two men and pushed his hands through his shiny black hair. “I’ve been made mortal again? Why?”

  “I believe it is your reward for bringing Torc home,” Cherokee said, straightening his suit jacket.

  “I asked no reward.” He was still looking at Cherokee.

  “Did you ask for the punishment of guarding him?” Holly asked, finding her voice. Why hadn’t he noticed her yet? She twisted her hands together, her heart sinking.

  Cherokee noticed and turned Glaukos in her direction. He smiled with obvious delight, as if spotting her for the very first time. She felt like she could breathe again, seeing that smile. He was happy to see her. Maybe she hadn’t done anything wrong after all.

  “My rodi,” he said. “I am happy to see you again.”

  “I’m glad,” Holly said. “Because you’re stuck with us now.” She touched his arm gently. It was solid and warm but he made no move to embrace her.

  The band struck up another holiday tune, reminding her where they were.

  “Have you heard of Nos?” Cherokee asked. “The club was shut down for two weeks then it was opened again, fully restored, with this Nos running it. Hades didn’t seem to know who he was.”

  “You’ve spoken to the Invisible One?” Glaukos asked in an astonished tone.

  “He was here tonight at the club.”

  “Nos must not come from the Underworld then. Have you seen him?”

  Holly thought Glaukos seemed all business now. Had she been dismissed until the time came to offer her bed again? Could she have imagined what she thought they shared and the significance of that?

/>   “No,” Cherokee said. “Perhaps it is someone we know, using a pseudonym.”

  Glaukos nodded.

  He was impossibly handsome, in or out of that shimmering suit. Holly watched two young women stare at him as they left the floor to go to the bar. She wanted to put her arms around him, take possession, but he wasn’t her property. He wasn’t even her boyfriend. Greg had called her that to his brother, so she knew where she stood in that relationship. But Glaukos, not so much.

  Two could play that game. She had fulfilled her pledge. Now Glaukos needed to decide what he wanted.

  “Is it difficult to call Desdemona?” she asked. “Now that your laptop to Olympus is dead?”

  Glaukos frowned and turned to her. “Desdemona? How do you know about her?”

  Holly felt flustered under the weight of his downturned lips. “I just wondered what would happen if you didn’t want to stay. She said she was Hades’ messenger when she came to accept the invitation Cherokee sent the god.”

  Glaukos turned back to Cherokee. “How long have I been outside Torc’s cell in mortal time?”

  “Just two weeks, my friend.”

  Glaukos shook his head. “It seemed longer. No matter what Desdemona is commanded to do, she always seems to have her own agenda. I would never ask her to intercede on my account if I could avoid it.”

  Holly nodded. “Okay.”

  “Did Hades make any pronouncement about the terms of me being here?” He fished around his neckline. “I do not have a medallion this time.”

  Cherokee raised his eyebrows.

  “You do not know either,” Glaukos said softly. “I am in a different kind of limbo now.”

  “Holly will take care of you,” Dylan said. “She’s been sick with worry.”

  “I admit life as a guard was isolating, dull and unwanted,” Glaukos said. “But a gift from the gods must always be met with suspicion and a firm grasp of the parameters.”

  “Exactly like we didn’t get with Panacea,” Holly muttered. She wondered if Ellery would be as displeased with their bargain on her behalf as Glaukos seemed to be.

  Cherokee narrowed his eyes. “We did not have time to negotiate with her for Ellery’s life that night. And Hades moved very quickly just now. I would have had you behave with more caution but what is done is done.”

  “You didn’t stop me!” Holly put her hands on her hips, then folded them, then reached for her flask. She had the sense she’d done wrong, though with the best of intentions.

  “Such fire,” Glaukos said, touching her hair. “Passion is quite lacking in the Underworld.”

  “It’s not lacking here,” Brandi said tartly. “Holly, you’re going to have your hands full.”

  “If I can handle two jobs, I can handle two men,” she shot back then thrust the flask at Glaukos. “Here, we tried to use the pomegranate you gave me to trap Hades into helping us. It didn’t work but he sent you back anyway. I’m sorry it was a mistake.”

  “Two men?” Glaukos asked, frowning at the flask and ignoring her point. “I thought you had no man.”

  “Things have changed,” Holly said. She checked out the way the suit draped over his wide shoulders and felt a zing of interest zip through her body. It reminded her of why she’d done this. “But not everything.”

  The band launched into another original song. Holly saw that Sam and Greg had switched places on stage and Greg was standing at the front with Joe playing a complicated bass line.

  “That’s Greg,” she said, pointing.

  “The man in lime green?” He opened the flask and sniffed then took a sip.

  “No—the tall, lanky one next to him. We met in October but when I saw him again the day you first came to Los Angeles, he had a girlfriend. He helped get me out of the club the night you retrieved Torc.”

  “She was mostly naked,” Cherokee said with a grin.

  “Thanks to your hanky-panky backstage,” Dylan added. “As her brother, I ask you that not leave her naked next time.”

  Glaukos blinked. “I am overwhelmed. Pomegranate juice? Naked?”

  “I started out with a coat and shoes,” Holly said. “Things happened.”

  “That’s for sure,” Claudia said, joining them. “How did he get back?” She pointed at Glaukos.

  “Hades made a snap decision,” Holly told her. “But we don’t know the consequences.”

  Glaukos put a hand to his forehead. “You thought to entrap a god with pomegranate juice?”

  Cherokee shook his head. “It is going to be a long winter.”

  “We’re not going to have time to get too involved,” Brandi warned. “My dad’s movie starts shooting in mid-January.”

  “That gives you a month before you go on location,” Dylan said, “to protect Holly and Ellery if the gods come asking for favors.”

  “I can protect Holly,” Glaukos said, taking another swig from the flask. “As long as I am here. You know, this is not bad.”

  “You haven’t had food for weeks,” Cherokee pointed out.

  “I’m starving,” Glaukos agreed.

  His ravenous look at Holly made her unsure of what kind of starvation he meant.

  “Without a medallion, I think you are going to be here for a long time,” Cherokee said. “No need to rush.”

  Holly rubbed her eyes. Not that long ago all she’d wanted was a boyfriend and shoe money. Now she had everything she wanted but it all came with complications.

  “You look exhausted,” Glaukos said. “We should get you to bed.”

  Holly’s senses perked up immediately at the thought of what bed and Glaukos meant together. Then she heard a growling noise and realized it was his stomach. “Hades sent you here with a mortally empty belly. Let’s find a late-night spot to get some food. By the time we’re finished eating the band should be done.”

  “I would like to get him out of the club as soon as possible,” Cherokee agreed. “It’s dangerous to be in a place with Otherworldly strangers.”

  “I agree,” Glaukos said. “Tomorrow is another day to do battle.”

  Holly waved at the stage though she knew the guys couldn’t see her then followed the others.

  * * * * *

  Glaukos found the sight of Holly’s small bedroom comforting as he entered it an hour later. The restaurant meal they’d eaten hadn’t been to his liking but surely the people here didn’t consume such greasy meals every day.

  He pulled back the covers, sat down on her bed and toed off the hard black shoes Hades had placed on him. They weren’t nearly as comfortable as sandals. Now he knew how Acalle must have felt, sent to the mortal plane at a time and place so unfamiliar to live out her days. His short visit before had been temporary and he’d been focused solely on battle and sex. Now he needed to learn how to interact with this time. If indeed that was what Hades intended.

  Still, to keep sanity intact a long-lived being learned to manage in the moment. He didn’t know what the future held so the present was what was really important. For now he had a clean bed to sleep in and a warm woman to share it. She might have another man now but that would not be a problem. The other man had multiple professions, it seemed, and wouldn’t be present often.

  Of course, he would need a profession too. He hoped his father’s court wouldn’t suffer without him but Hades had already stripped him of his job and given it to Desdemona. Has she been after my post all along? That thought was flushed from his brain when the door opened and Holly stepped into the room. She wore a simple cotton gown that hung loosely on her shoulders and only fell to mid-thigh.

  Glaukos rubbed his hands up and down the suit fabric on his legs, feeling strangely nervous. He had been with her before in a mortal body, so what was different now? A sense that things weren’t so temporary between them?

  What was she to him? A brave soul, to be sure, and a passionate one. They were no longer strangers, bound by nothing more than the lust of strong young bodies. She cared for him enough to persuade Hades to send him back. Th
at was enough to treat her with care. This woman had battled for him and was obviously concerned with his welfare.

  “Do you think that suit is magic?” Holly asked. “I’ve been staring at that fabric and it’s still shimmering.”

  Glaukos looked down. “It’s much softer than it should be considering how sturdy it seems.”

  “One of my friends from work, Mya, knows a lot about fabrics. She’s assistant set designer but her real interest is costumes. Maybe she can tell us something.”

  “You should contact her.”

  “Oh sure.” Holly’s hands fluttered at her waist. “I’ll see her at work on Monday.”

  “Good. It is wise to understand a god’s gift.”

  “Yes.” She sounded dreamy.

  “What should we do now?” Glaukos asked softly.

  He was gratified to see her cheeks flush. “You said you wanted to stay here, rather than at Cherokee’s.”

  “Cherokee’s life is often interrupted by the gods. I would prefer a simpler existence.”

  “No gods here,” Holly said. “We did get that demoness but that’s it.”

  “Yes. Her.” Glaukos thought of their long-dead relationship and hoped Desdemona wouldn’t make trouble. Hopefully taking his job was revenge enough for ending their affair so long ago.

  “Do you think we’ll hear from Hades again soon?”

  Glaukos shrugged. Enough talk. “Who can say? Come here, Holly, I’ve missed those freckles.”

  She swayed toward him until she was close enough that he could pull her between his legs.

  “You’re overdressed,” she said.

  Since he completely agreed, he tugged at the suit jacket with only the most momentary hesitation, fear that without the potentially magic suit he might be sent back below. But it came off without a problem, as did the too-white shirt.

  Light fingers traced his throat.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You have a scar along your neck now.”

  Glaukos touched the base of his throat. “I can’t feel it.”

  “It isn’t raised. Just a red line.”

  “A reminder then.”

  “I guess. Or maybe a reminder to Torc since you guarded him.”