Hades’ Daughter (The War of Fate)

by Charlotte Carol

  “What did you hear?” I ask, my tone going higher, portraying my panic even more.

  “Pretty much everything, although, I left when you were getting him to promise he wouldn’t tell,” she says with a shrug of her shoulders.

  “What and you don’t think I’m a freak? Reid sure did.”

  “Yeah, but that’s just Reid for you. Reid is hard at trusting people. He’ll come around soon enough; his ego will take over as he wants a girlfriend that is as evil as him. I personally think it’s quite cool,” she tells me, nudging me in the side.

  I chuckle, relief washing over me. I now have a friend that I can be one hundred percent honest with.

  “You won’t tell anyone will you?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “It won’t be any fun if you’re killed or have to leave.”

  Just then, Reid walks into the entrance hall. I turn to him, waiting to see what he will be doing.

  “I told you to get out,” he snaps in my direction when he notices that I am still standing at the entrance.

  “I have. You told me to get out of your office,” I counter, crossing my arms.

  “Get out of my house!” he shouts.

  “Fine, I’m going!” I shout back. I spin, marching out of the house and to my car. I yank the door open, sliding down into it. I have turned the engine on and am about to pull away when the passenger door opens. I glance over and see Bianca has joined me.

  “Nice car,” she remarks.

  I grin at her, speeding down the drive and out of the gate.

  ***

  “So, how do you survive?” she asks.

  “I usually survive off blood, as well as normal food. If I don’t drink any blood, after about a week, my demon features will stay on my face until I do. The longer I go without, the more pain I feel. I never get to that point, as there are hundreds of souls I can feed on at home,” I explain to her, glancing away from the road.

  “So you’re like a vampire if they exist?” she asks, fiddling with the radio.

  I giggle. “Yeah, they do.”

  She stops and turns to look at me. “Shut up! Seriously?”

  I nod, amused at her enthusiasm.

  “Is it true that staking them can kill them?”

  I look out of the corner of my eyes, hesitant on what information I give her. “Yes, but only with a certain type of rare wood, so don’t rely on it.”

  “Does it kill you?”

  “No.”

  “What does? You’re immortal, right?”

  I laugh, shaking my head at her question, silently telling her I’m not going to answer.

  “Oh, come on, it’s not like I’ll be able to do it. You’re probably much quicker than me.”

  I purse my lips and sigh. “Yes, I am. Decapitation,” I say.

  She looks pleased with me answering before moving onto something else.

  “What about garlic for vampires?”

  “Would you eat it raw? Also, have you smelt it? If it’s bad for you, imagine it for someone with a heightened sense of smell.” I chuckle, as I indicate to join the main road. I tap my fingers on the steering wheel, expecting another question from Bianca.

  “Sunlight?”

  “Myth spread by vampires when they were being hunted. It meant that they could go out and blend in without fear of being found out. However, the myth seems to be seen as true by many vampires, meaning that they stay away.” I smile, remembering when my dad was teaching me about the different species and how he humorously recalled that time.

  “Iron?”

  “Myth. Blood has iron in it. All vampires and demons would be dead if iron were bad for us.”

  “Holy things?” she asks, pressing the button to put the roof down.

  “Vampires and demons can go onto holy grounds, but when you have direct access to the gods, why would you need to? Holy water and crucifixes are other myths spread by vampires which were never passed down. If you’re expecting something to hurt you, or do something, you are going to stay away and flinch when it happens to you,” I explain.

  “So can they, and you, turn others?” she probes, looking out of the side of the car innocently.

  I look again at her out of the corner of my eyes. “Yeah…but I’m not turning you, if that’s what you are asking,” I tell her.

  “I was just wondering,” she says but looks slightly disappointed.

  I hope she’s not one of those people who are only friends with me because of what I am. I’ve had people in the past try and friend me because they want to become immortal. I return my gaze back to the road.

  “Yeah…sure you were. Where are we going anyway?” I ask, leaning my elbow on the side of the car.

  “I don’t know. You tell me. I came and sat in your car. What were you going to do?” she asks.

  “I was going to go back to my house,” I answer.

  “Fine then, let’s go home. I can’t wait to see it if your car is anything to go by,” she says excitedly before reaching for the radio, turning it up, so we are blaring it out as we zoom down the road in the sunshine.

  ***

  When the engine finally stops, she looks up through the windshield.

  “I was right. Nice house,” she comments. I get out, and she follows me up the drive and to the front door.

  “I have a friend staying. He’s harmless, I think, but he can be annoying,” I warn her as I unlock the door.

  “What is he?”

  “A demon and he was a guard for my dad, so if he does act up, I’ll be able to deal with him.”

  “Was?” Bianca asks, picking up on my use of words.

  “Um…Yeah. It’s a long story, and I’m not exactly sure, but he has been accused of something,” I say, turning to her my hand still on the door of the now unlocked door.

  “Do you think he did it?”

  “I didn’t, but now I’m not so sure,” I respond honestly, thinking back to Kyle saying earlier that the search for Adrian is now public.

  I enter the small entrance room, poking my head into the living room when I hear moans. I see that Adrian is sitting on the couch, drinking from a girl. I clear my throat to get his attention before walking in to allow Bianca in after me. Adrian looks up at us both, blood surrounding his mouth. I raise my eyebrow at him. He looks down to my blood-soaked shirt and then up to Bianca, his eyes widening.

  “She knows,” I tell him.

  “She knows?”

  “Yes.”

  The girl sitting on my white couch, a wound still on her neck open, whimpers as she tugs on Adrian’s arm, showing him to her neck. I roll my eyes at her desperateness.

  He knows where your neck is. He’s had plenty of experience and practice.

  “The fun’s over,” I tell them.

  Adrian shrugs the girl off, looking into her eyes to compel her to forget.

  “Sorry about that. I didn’t know he had someone,” I murmur to Bianca as I watch the girl’s eyes haze over and stand up. She walks past Bianca and I and out of my house. Adrian, now with a clean mouth, turns to us, more specifically Bianca.

  “So, what’s your name hot stuff?” he asks, smirking as he looks Bianca over.

  “What’s yours?” Bianca counters in a flirty voice.

  “Adrian.”

  “OMG! Same!” she says with fake amazement.

  Adrian stares at her for a minute dumbfounded before looking at me, silently asking me if she’s okay. I burst out laughing at his face and the fact that he believed her even for a second.

  “She’s joking,” I tell him.

  “Yeah, I knew that,” he grumbles, crossing his arms.

  Bianca joins in with my laughter.

  “Bianca. My name is Bianca,” she supplies.

  “Nice to meet you, Bianca. I hope I’ll see a lot more of you,” he says taking her hand and giving it a kiss. I pretend to gag.

  “Where did you find the girl?” I ask when Adrian has straightened up.

  “I went to a club searching for d
inner, and she was there drunk and desperate. It was easy.”

  “You can’t just go and find a girl. I have some blood in the house. I also told you not to leave the house.”

  “I’m free to do what I want,” he replies, his voice getting an edge to it. I raise my eyebrows at him.

  “Fine. If you want to be caught, be my guest. You are under my dad’s command, so therefore under mine, meaning you will do what I say. That is unless my dad is right and I have been helping a traitor,” I say, my voice getting harder with each word.

  He sighs. “Sorry, I just want this all to be sorted out,” he tells me.

  “Just remember who you are under. Come on,” I tell him before aiming the last bit at Bianca. I climb the stairs, Bianca following close behind.

  Have I made the wrong decision about letting Adrian stay with me? Is my dad right? We’re not going to sort it out unless he gives us answers, and he seems to be holding back some information. Why else would he run?

  I decide to do something I should have done when Adrian first came to me. I get out my phone and send my dad a text.

  You asked me to let you know if Adrian shows up. Well he has just now. He’s in my living room currently, and will be here when you arrive.

  I hope I’ve done the right thing.

  Chapter 29

  What Do You Think About Raising Ostriches?

  I listen for the sound of my dad’s arrival over the audio of a show that Bianca says that she is obsessed with. I’ve changed out of my bloody clothes and am now relaxing in something more comfortable. The commercials start to run as I hear a commotion start up downstairs.

  “Stay here,” I tell her as I get up off the bed and start toward the door.

  “Aw, why?” she asks. I look over my shoulder to see that she is pouting.

  “My dad will kill me if he knows I’ve told someone,” I answer.

  The pout stays on her lips, but she turns back to the TV not arguing it any further.

  I run down the hallway to the stairs and then down them, not wanting to miss my dad. Coming off the last step, I see that Adrian is being held by guards and is working his best at breaking free from them. My dad is standing in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest. Hearing me, he looks up, shooting me a wink.

  “Scar! Tell them,” Adrian implores.

  I press my lips together, avoiding his undoubtedly hurt expression when he realizes. It slowly starts to dawn on him that I was the one to tell them he was here, as he stops fighting for a second.

  “You told them,” he says.

  I avoid his statement with a question.

  “If you did nothing wrong, then why are you fighting?”

  “You know what they are going to do to me. It’s not going to help, everything will continue. I would never try and take over. You know me,” he begs us.

  Do I? Do I know him? Was our eighteen years of friendship just a ploy for him to get close to my dad and me?

  “You don’t have any proof, except for rumors. Are you just going to keep killing people until it stops?”

  “Pretty much,” my dad replies as he steps forward ready to leave.

  Adrian shoots me a calculating look before he turns to my dad squaring his shoulders.

  “Do you realize that you daughter allowed me to stay with her? Or did she forget to leave that out?”

  I give Adrian my best glare as I hold back from strangling him.

  “Exactly how long has he been staying here?” my dad aims at me, slight anger tainting his tone. I try to make an excuse, but my dad stops me.

  “Don’t answer that. We’ll talk about this later,” he says, bringing his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. I look around the room and see that the guards my dad brought up him have been watching our interaction uncomfortably.

  “Take him, but don’t kill him yet. I want to see or hear the proof before you do,” I instruct them.

  “I’m the devil, and I get to make the decisions,” my dad replies shortly, trudging out the statement he likes to use whenever we are arguing.

  “And I’m saying it doesn’t only affect you,” I reply in the same manner.

  He sighs, knowing I’m right, but agrees to keep him alive. While I’ve got him here, I might as well see how he is getting on with finding answers to the problem I had with Reid on our date.

  “Have you been able to find out anything about why I couldn’t compel Reid the other day?”

  “No, but I’m looking,” he replies before teleporting everyone, apart from me, out of the room. I envy my dad with that power. Whereas I have to touch the people I want to teleport, my dad can pick and choose the people in the room to teleport. A perk of being a god I guess.

  “Bye to you too, Dad,” I mumble to the empty room before turning to go back up the stairs. However, my way is obstructed by Bianca who looks ready to leave.

  “I have to go.”

  “Leaving so soon? I didn’t scare you off, did I?” I joke although part of me is wondering if it’s true.

  “No, Reid’s being an asshole and asked me to come back apparently for ‘gang stuff.’ He also ‘instructed’ me to stay away from you,” she explains.

  I scrunch my mouth up in anger. How dare he control who I see.

  “I’ll give you a lift,” I offer. “Reid can’t stop you from meeting me, we’ll find a way.”

  “Thanks. Of course, we will. He’ll get over it by next week,” she says, following me back down the stairs and out to the car.

  ***

  I lean out of the car, pressing the small button to talk to Clive. He answers with the same statement.

  “State your name and reason for being here.”

  “It’s Father Christmas again, and I’ve come back to give you your presents if you’re a good boy,” I answer.

  I feel Bianca’s curious gaze on me. I give her a grin, turning back to the talking box. I hear Clive let out a half sigh, half groan.

  “Oh God, not you,” he lets out.

  “I won’t give you your presents back if you continue to act like this. Were you expecting the tooth fairy? I believe that she is on vacation currently.”

  “Just enter,” he says in despair.

  Bianca giggles. “What did you do to him last time?”

  “Told him I was going to take his presents. I don’t think he was very happy with me,” I tell her as I watch the gates open. I press down the accelerator, and we fly up the drive.

  I halt outside the front door, allowing Bianca to leave the car.

  “See you soon,” she calls back into the car before closing her door. I don’t move off just yet, staring out of the window in front of me.

  Remembering how I felt when Bianca said that Reid called her back, I push my door open and get out of the car as well, deciding to confront Reid about it. Bianca has already entered the house and disappeared when I follow her lead.

  Once in the entrance hall, I widen my hearing range to the whole house, trying to determine where he is. All the different sounds of the house hit me at once: moans of pleasure and pain, laughter, crying, and lastly, Reid’s voice. I follow it, going by how loud it is at certain points, and finally, I stop outside a door with Reid on the other side talking to some of his members. I clutch the door handle, bursting in and saying the first thing that comes to mind: “What do you think about raising ostriches?”

  That didn’t happen. Instead, I say, “What the fuck?”

  Reid looks up at me. I look around the room and find that we are in a small room with couches and a TV.

  “Can I help you?” he asks as if I were a stranger. I get even madder at this. How can he go from the way we were to this—all because he found out I am not human?

  “What the fuck allows you to control who I can see and when I can see them?”

  “It may have something to do with me being the leader of one the most powerful gangs around, and one of your ‘friends’ is part of it,” he answers, standing up from where he was sitting.
r />   “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole. You can be mad at me, but the people I hang out with is my choice, not yours,” I say, getting louder.

  He looks stunned for a minute before he recovers, anger replacing the astonishment. The people around the room are longingly looking at the door, which I am standing in front of, not knowing what to do, much like my dad’s guards earlier.

  “It’s my gang, and I can control who they hang out with. I don’t want them hanging out with someone like you,” he says, jabbing his finger through the air toward me, his other hand clenching down by his side.

  “I think they can make their own judgment,” I counter.

  “Well, my judgment wants you out of my house, and life. If I find you anywhere remotely near here again, I will personally be the one to kill you,” he snarls.

  I step toward him. “Really? Will you? You were the one to imply not even two hours ago that you loved me. I don’t think you’d have the guts.”

  “I lied. So do you want to try me?”

  I can’t gather myself enough to focus on his heartbeat in time; all I can focus on are his words and the pain they’re making me feel. I lied. I lied. They ring around my head, trying to make sense of them. I stay completely still as I stare at him before snapping out of it. I shove Reid in the chest.

  “You’re an asshole,” I spit at him as I spin and storm out of the room, my face like thunder.

  I get to my car, my movements furious as I open the door and start the car, wanting to get as far away from this house and Reid. The thing that I am most mad about is that if he called, telling me that he was sorry and didn’t mean anything he said, I would go running back to him and I don’t know why. I hold myself from lashing out, as I will easily dent my car and I don’t want to do that. The only thing which will calm me is a drink of something more than alcohol. I need blood.

  Chapter 30

  Grant

  As I drive, I get more and more annoyed with Reid and myself, so much so that I have to pull over afraid that I will crash the car. Before stepping out onto the sidewalk, hoping fresh air will help calm me as I search for someone to feed off, I check the mirror to see if I got so annoyed that my demon side took over. It hadn’t, but I need to be careful.