Hades’ Daughter (The War of Fate)

by Charlotte Carol

  He stands up straighter, his face hardening. “That’s not true,” he tells me.

  “Prove it,” I say, waving my hand toward the door.

  He smirks at me and walks through the doorway. I see his muscles lose some of their tension when he doesn’t go flying back like I did. However, instead, an alarm starts to blare and the sound of my loud voice fills the air. Shit! I forgot I set that up!

  “Fresh blood!” my voice repeats. I set this alarm up when I was younger and wanted to taste live human blood. It would start to blare whenever a live soul stepped into the house so I could feast on them. It quickly annoyed my dad as he would have to sometimes talk to humans from Earth, and it wasn’t for always making deals.

  “Shit! Stay there,” I order Reid, putting my hand up to him when he looks concerned and confused, moving toward me. If I was thrown into the air trying to get through the door, hopefully, any demons who will try their luck to feast on the human that they have been alerted to will meet the same fate. I look away from Reid and see demons have started to crowd around the front door and me, all leering at Reid who is standing just in the doorway.

  “Sorry, guys, you’re going to have to go without fresh blood today,” I tell the demons surrounding us.

  They close in, and some of them even lick their lips. I sigh.

  “You’re not getting past me, or even into the house, so back off.” One of the demons tries to run past me, and I let him, hoping my conclusion was correct.

  I’m wrong, though, as the demon is able to step over the threshold, his hand reaching out for Reid. I don’t let him have any chance to get any further, meaning I won’t be able to get to him, as I pull him back by the collar of his shirt, throwing him back and sending him toward a group, knocking them all over.

  “Back off!” I shout in my devil voice. They don’t listen. Unlike when my dad uses it, using that voice doesn’t force anyone to do what I say. I can’t wait until I take over for my dad and get that quality and don’t have to scare them into doing what I say.

  “Oi, bastards, I swear if you come within an inch of me, I will shoot you in the head,” Reid threatens, coming out of his scared phase. Nice try, Reid, but bullets won’t affect them.

  The alarm is still running, and for this once, I agree with my dad: I’m getting tired of hearing my own voice. I create a ball of fire, holding it over my shoulder, getting ready to throw it.

  “Don’t make me use it.”

  The demons eye the ball warily before they all begin to slowly turn and find another soul to satisfy their hunger.

  Once they have all cleared, I breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Very funny, dad. Joke’s over. Now, let me in.”

  My dad appears next to Reid, causing him to jump and his fist to go flying through the air toward my dad, who easily closes his hand around it, stopping it.

  “Hm. What do you think, McDonald’s boy? Should we let her in? Do you think she’s learned her lesson?” he asks, dropping Reid’s hand, my dad’s arm going around his shoulders instead.

  “Don’t touch me,” Reid forces through his teeth, his eyes narrowed in a glare.

  My dad chuckles at him and allows his arm to drop off Reid’s shoulders when Reid shrugs it off. My dad moves from beside him and to the door, where he presses a button. My dad smiles at me.

  “You can come in now,” he tells me.

  I go to step over the threshold and instead of being thrown back, I am met with a wall of electricity. I fall to the floor, my muscles unable to hold me up. I match Reid’s glare at my dad from the floor.

  “I’m meant to be related to you, and you keep trying to hurt me! It’s abuse!” I say, pushing myself to my feet again.

  My dad’s eyes widen innocently as his hand reaches out and he presses another button. I cross my arms.

  “If this is another trick, I will disown you.”

  A smirk comes onto his lips as he tries to stop the laughter leaving him and his hand comes up to rest on his heart.

  “I promise that nothing will happen to you.”

  I watch him cautiously as I take a tentative step forward. When my foot hits the tiled floor on the other side of the door, I don’t hesitate and rush through and to my dad, who I hit.

  “You say I’m the one abusing you, but who’s the one hitting me?” he asks smugly, his blue eyes lit up with amusement.

  I mimic him as I cross my arms forcefully.

  “I know you said dad earlier, but did your brother come down instead?” Reid asks me, looking at us.

  “No, can’t you see how old he is?” I ask incredulously, uncrossing my arms to point at my dad.

  “Old? Old? I’m not old!” my dad says his voice getting louder and higher as he mocks offense and outrage.

  “You act like siblings,” Reid comments.

  “And look like it, right?” my dad asks as he pulls me into his side. I shove him off me as I hear the padding of paws on the tiled floor. I grin and look up for Tybalt. I’ve missed him and wish that I could take him up with me. I watch as he turns a corner and bounds toward us, his tongue lolling out the side of his face in a wolfish grin.

  I bend down to welcome him, but his gaze, as well as his course, shifts to Reid. A loud growl rolls through the air as he knocks Reid off his feet, his head leaning down so he can bare his teeth in Reid’s face. He barks loudly, causing Reid’s ice blue eyes to widen in surprise and fear. I rush toward them, clutching Tybalt’s collar to pull him off Reid.

  “Tybalt, down. Friend,” I command.

  He growls once more before he walks back without my help. I let go of his collar, allowing Tybalt to turn and nudge my hand with his nose, licking it in greeting.

  “Sorry about that. He’ll get used to you,” I tell Reid. I look up to see he is running his hand through his brown hair, his eyebrows raised.

  “Yeah…I think I’ll be staying away from him in the future.”

  I shrug as I continue to stroke my hand through Tybalt’s thick fur.

  “He’s missed you,” my dad says as he watches us. I smile sadly as I look down at Tybalt who has plastered his body to my leg, his red eyes trained on my face.

  “You obviously have a reason for you coming down here. This place is not exactly date-worthy. What do you want?” he continues, looking between both of us.

  “Why do you think I have to have a reason to visit?” I ask innocently, looking back down at Tybalt. I was preoccupied with my dad’s antics and the demons that I forgot the true reason for the visit. Now remembering, I feel all the worries come rushing back. My dad ignores me, knowing me too well.

  “So?”

  “Well, um, we had a problem…”

  “What sort of problem?” my dad questions warily, concern obvious in his tone.

  “It’s not a huge one,” I say, buying for more time.

  “Scar...just tell me.”

  I sigh before mumbling in a rush, “I-couldn’t-make-Reid-forget-me-biting-him.”

  “What?” my dad asks, confusion now replacing the concern.

  “I bit Reid,” I say. A smug look appears on my dad’s face as if to say, ‘What did I say?’ and I stick my tongue out at him, my eyes narrowed. “And then when I tried to compel him to forget, I couldn’t.”

  “What do you mean you couldn’t? You tried to, but when you got ‘round to it, you couldn’t because you got lost in his eyes, or it didn’t work?”

  I shoot him a look of contempt. “It’s not funny. It didn’t work.”

  “Hm. That’s new to me.”

  My jaw drops as I throw my hands up into the air.

  “I thought I would get something more than ‘That’s new to me!’” I exclaim, mimicking him.

  “What can I do? Tell you some bullshit? It’s not from lack of blood as you had some before you tried, so I don’t know any more than you do,” he responds, his dark eyebrows rising.

  “Are you sure you’re not siblings?” Reid pipes up, looking away from where he was watching Tybalt
warily and up to look at my dad and me.

  “Yes,” I answer, still watching my dad. He has not eased my worries at all. I thought he would be able to give me a reason to reassure me that it’s not me, and all I got was something that made my worries heighten. Am I a freak? My dad would have heard about something like this if it had happened before.

  “Yeah, she was the result of…” my dad starts, a cheeky grin on his face.

  “Dad!” I shout, interrupting him as I throw my hands over my ears to stop myself from being scarred for life.

  He lets out a loud, booming laugh at my reaction before he furthers his earlier answer. “It’s most likely that the answer to our problem will be in one of the books in the library. I’ll also ask your uncles and aunts to see whether they have heard of this happening before. Have you experienced this problem before with anyone else?” he asks.

  I shake my head. “I was able to make someone else forget on Earth.”

  He opens his mouth before thinking better of it.

  “I’m not even going to ask,” he mutters, shaking his head. “In the meantime, I will see if I can make Reid forget. If not, we’ll work something out, and it’ll give us some more information to go on.”

  “What? No. Why?” Reid says, taking a step back from my dad. “I can keep a secret, and anyway, I like this side of Scar.”

  I hold back a smile at what Reid said when my dad’s eyes narrow at the wink Reid sends my way.

  “Because I don’t trust you and that’s my daughter you’re talking about. So, if you would, look into my eyes…” my dad says, putting force behind his words, which has Reid doing what he says.

  I tune out, knowing the drill, as I walk through the doors on the search for something to do while I wait.

  ***

  Two minutes pass until I hear my dad’s booming voice calling me back to the house, “Scarlett Hades, to the entrance hall, please. Scarlett Hades, to the entrance hall!”

  I shoot one last ball of fire at a soul before counting the ones that are alight and now running around in panic. Thirty-two: a high score!

  I lift my feet up from where I was dangling them over the edge of a pit and run back to the house. I cautiously open the doors again, waiting for one of my dad’s booby-traps to be set.

  Thankfully, I arrive at Reid’s unconscious side unhurt. I look down at Reid and then to my dad.

  “You compelled him like that, right? You didn’t knock him out?” I ask.

  He chuckles. “Not this time. I made him think that you guys fell asleep, forgetting about the bite and trip down here.”

  “And what else did you do?” I ask him, knowing he wouldn’t pass up on an opportunity to play a joke on me.

  “Nothing,” he says all too innocently for my liking.

  “Mmhm,” I let out in disbelief.

  “You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?” he taunts gleefully.

  “Weirdo,” I mutter, bending down next to Reid, picking him up easily.

  “It’s in the genes,” he responds.

  I snort. “Bye,” I say, looking down to Tybalt who followed me and watched my game with the souls, stroking the black fur on his head. I step back from him so I don’t take him with me, even though I want to.

  “Bye.” I picture the blanket behind the rock on the beach, focusing on the white sand.

  When I feel my heels sink into something soft and feel the breeze in my hair, I open my eyes. Looking down, I see that the blanket is still where we left it, with the basket and food still lying on it. I lay Reid down next to it all, sitting beside him as I wait for him to wake up. I kick my heels off, staring out at the ocean.

  The knots in my stomach from the worry lessen slightly as I force myself to forget about it. It’s out of my hands now. All I can do is wait until my dad is able to find an answer; in the meantime, there is nothing I can do.

  When I hear Reid’s breathing start to become lighter and feel his body start to stir, I curl up next to him, resting my head on his chest. I relish in the comfort and body heat coming from him, listening to his strong heartbeat under my ear which is being pushed up and down with every breath. I almost forget what I am meant to be doing as I feel myself slowly drifting off to sleep. I am jolted awake, however, when I feel Reid move under me, trying to reach for his drink without waking me. I open my eyes slowly, pretending to be coming out of a deep sleep.

  I’ve done a lot of pretending around Reid, first, with the van attack, and now, here. I just wish I don’t have to keep doing it.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m really thirsty for some reason,” he says, his voice raspy, as I bring my head up from his chest.

  That’ll be you visiting Hell, the hottest place imaginable.

  He gulps down the water.

  “You look really peaceful when you are asleep,” he comments. I inwardly chuckle; he’s going to be in for a real shock when he sees me truly asleep. As he looks down at his watch, I inspect him for any differences that my dad could have caused, but he seems perfectly normal. I furrow my eyebrows; my dad must have done something. I quickly smooth my expression out when Reid looks back up.

  “We should go. I need to get back soon,” he says.

  “Oh, okay,” I respond, not wanting the date to end so soon.

  “But first…” He leans in to place a kiss on my lips. I smile, moving forward to meet him halfway.

  Before his lips can touch mine, he pulls back, starting to cluck loudly like a chicken. I turn my head away from Reid, letting out a laugh.

  Thanks, dad!

  “You said you needed to get back?” I prompt wanting to change the focus off what just happened, taking my phone out. I type a message to my dad:Ha ha, you’re hilarious. How long will it last?

  Almost instantly, I get a response:Will what last sugar?

  “Do I amuse you?” Reid asks, annoyance creeping into his tone. I look up at him after typing out a reply to my dad:Don’t try and sweet talk your way out of this. The clucking!

  “No,” I answer him, still smiling. I look back down at my phone when it buzzes.

  You found out already? You haven’t even been gone 10 minutes.

  I roll my eyes before responding,Answer the damn question!

  Reid makes a harrumphing noise, standing up. He extends his hand to me, pulling me up off the blanket. When I am on my feet, I look down at my phone to see my dad’s message.

  It will last the day. :) Have fun! xx

  I groan, returning my phone to my pocket. I look up to find that Reid is smiling at our proximity. He goes to lean in for another kiss, but before he gets close enough to start clucking, I slip out of his grip, moving around him.

  “Oh, look,” I say, feigning shock to try and give an excuse for me moving away from his kiss.

  “What?” he asks, his tone getting more annoyed. I bite my lip, trying to think of a valid excuse. I didn’t think this through very well.

  “Oh, um…I thought I saw a blue turtle,” I explain. His annoyance turns to confusion and amusement.

  “A blue turtle, huh?” he asks, his disbelief clear.

  “Yes, but it was just a rock,” I say, giving him a reassuring smile. He shakes his head at me, his annoyance gone completely now.

  “Okay, I think you’ve had enough sun for today. Let’s go, sweet cheeks,” he says, tapping the end of my nose and I scrunch it up. He chuckles, taking my hand in his. I bend down to grab my shoes, halting when I stand back up.

  “Shouldn’t we take the blanket and basket?” I ask.

  “No, a Grim Reaper will come and collect them,” he says as he starts off again, and I jog slightly to catch up with him. We both round the rock and start up the hill. I pause halfway to look back at the beach and to where I had a date that was definitely memorable.

  Chapter 19

  Meredith

  Once we arrive back at Reid’s bike, we have a little incident. That sounds like one of us wet ourselves (we didn’t). Instead, Reid tries to kiss me
again, causing him to let out loud clucks. After I reassure Reid I am not laughing at him again, he finally starts on our way back to the park and my car.

  We have been driving for fifteen minutes, and for the last five, Reid has periodically glanced over his shoulder.

  “Shit!” Reid swears.

  “What?” I ask him over the roar of the bike.

  “We’re being tailed,” he calls back.

  I try to look over my shoulder, but without turning my whole body and risking falling off the bike, I am not able to see much.

  “Hang on!” he shouts as the bike speeds up, moving between the cars.

  I grip on tighter as he suddenly swerves the bike into an alley. I get an eerie sense of déjà vu to the last time I went to the beach.

  “Get off!” he commands.

  I do so, pulling the helmet off as well. He puts the stand down before he swings his leg off the bike, watching the entrance intently. “Stay behind me.”

  I roll my eyes at him; I’ve faced bigger threats than someone who is tailing us.

  “Hey!” I say getting his attention as I poke Reid’s back. A black sedan pulls into the alley, and Reid raises his gun, not taking his gaze off the slowing car.

  “Not now,” Reid responds.

  I poke him again, this time, harder.

  “What?” he snaps, finally turning from the still slowing car.

  “Do you have an extra gun?” I ask him, raising an eyebrow at his tone. Whoever is in that car has Reid rattled.

  “Yeah, it’s in the compartment of my bike…”

  I ignore his following question of why I am asking as I move to his bike, opening the compartment. I smile when I find a black gun lying there. I grab it, checking the cartridge for the number of bullets, finding that it’s full. I run back to Reid, stopping beside him. He turns to look at me, his eyes going to the gun in my hands.

  “What are you doing with that?” he asks loudly, going to take it out of my hands.

  “I’m protecting myself from an unknown danger,” I reply, moving the gun further away from his reach.

  “You can’t…”

  I’m obviously going to have to show him that I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot with it. I bring the gun up, flick the safety off and aim it at one of the cans sitting atop a trash can. I pull the trigger, watching as the bullet flies through the air and hits its mark in the center. I turn to Reid, who is watching me with a mixture of lust and admiration, and I give him a smug smile and a wink.