Her Forever

Parisa’s POV

One moment I was sitting in Hades’ lap, and the next, I plopped down right in the middle of our bed. Shaking my head and getting over the dizziness, I tried to recount what had happened. Was that a dream? Did someone just puff into nothing but ash and dust? A gasp left my lips as I covered my mouth with both my hands.

It DID happen! Hades just waved his hand, then “poof!” That horrible beast was gone! Granted, he was a terrible beast, but now they were just looking like an average human.

What the heck is going on with all this magic! Snickerdoodles, this was getting exhausting. I need a break, a nap, or something, but I seriously doubt I would get any rest if I tried to sleep.

The door burst open, and Cerebrus comes trotting in with Blaze on top of his head. I perked my head up to watch the two interact, but from the looks of it, Cerebrus was annoyed. “Stupid damn, hamster,” I heard as Cerebrus walked by. My eyes widened, swearing I could hear that he was talking. “Well, I don’t like you either. The whole three heads thing doesn’t even make sense. You aren’t even a dog.”

I gasped loudly as I pounded my fists into the mattress. “YOU BOTH TALK?!” I squealed as they watched me. Both of them tilted their heads to the sides like little puppies. “Say something,” I begged as I crawled to the edge of the bed. Both are staring, Blaze’s mouth hung open.

“Did she say she could hear us?” Blaze’s voice was unbearably cute. It was squeaky but not too terribly high since he was a boy. His tail flickered a bit of smoke from his tail as I started blinking my eyes rapidly.

“Say my name,” I whispered. Cerebrus didn’t even open his maw, and I heard it as clear as day in my mind. “Parisa? I hope her name doesn’t change again. This is all getting confusing.”

I screamed out loud and jumped on the bed. Pointing down at them, “you both can talk! I can hear you in my head! Snakes! This is insane!!!”

“You can really hear us? How can she do that?” Cerberus snorted as Blazed jumped off him and crawled to the bed.

“I don’t see why she can; she’s human,” Blazed huffed. Blaze crawled up my arm to sniff in my ear. “The only way she could hear me is if she was an animal. What about you, Cerebrus?”

“Hades is the only one that can hear me. Then again, I’ve never left the Underworld or talked to any other humans.”

Blazed hummed while my mouth hung open. “Talking, I can talk to animals, do you know what that means?” A grin popped on my face as I did a little squeal and butt wiggle on the bed. “I must be a Disney princess,” I whispered. Watching TV has paid off; I knew what I was now.

Cerebrus growled, “no, you are not; those movies aren’t real. I’d like to know why you can hear us.”

“I think my memory is slowly coming back. I hope once I remember where I came from, it will give some answers. Maybe that will tell me why I can hear you.”

Blaze scratched his fur while staring at my head. His nose started to twitch as he neared my head again. Licking my ear burying his nose inside, I started squealing in laughter. “Stop, stop! What are you doing?”

“Just… just trying to test a theory. It’s too faint to be sure, but there might be something more to you. Just keep resting like you’ve been doing. I knew when I sensed you; you were special. Just didn’t know what,” Blaze mused.

“Special?” I questioned.

“Yeah, some phantomtails like me get hooked on certain animals and people for some reason or another, and I got hooked on you. It is like a deeper connection we are supposed to figure out. You are a puzzle, and I need to figure you out. Until then, you are stuck with me.” Blaze puffed out his chest while Cerebrus huff.

“Then you will go back, right? Where ever you came from once you figure it out?” Cerebrus popped his head up, hopefully.

I pushed Cerebrus in the shoulder, “that’s mean,” I pointed my finger at him.

“I just want you back to myself, and I don’t need some fire hampster taking away all my scratches.”

“I’m a phantomtail, not a damn hamster! I will also stay as long as I want, you mutant dog!” Blaze started hissing.

Before they could start their fighting again, I silenced them quickly. “So since I can hear you both, want to tell me what is going on in the other room? Hades kicked me out, and I landed in here,” I huffed, crossing my arms.

“He’s never kicked me out before. He usually lets me stay on his lap and…-” Cerebrus nudged my hand with his nose.

“Hades just popped off one of his demons. He didn’t want you to watch anything more. You were scared stiff in there,” Cerebrus licked my hand for me to scratch his head.

I gasped, “so the demon really is gone? Dead? Where does he go?” Cerebrus sat back down on his hindquarters and scratched one of his three sets of ears. “The demon will be put back into the demon soul pool. Hades will revive him once he gets over his anger with him. If he’s super pissed they will be cast out and go live in the River of Styx.”

I gulped. “Does he do stuff like that a lot? Wave his hand and ‘poof’ they are gone. Cerberus shook his fur.

“I’m sorry, what?” He acted innocent.

“I said,” before I could grab Cerebrus’ collar, a warm hand engulfed my wrists. Hades was back.

Cerebrus took this as his cue to leave, and Blazed followed by blowing me a k**s with his tail. “Are you alright?” Hades pulled me close to him. Did he just hear me talking to Cerebrus? He didn’t look too surprised.

“You turned someone into dust!” Hades eyes lowered.

“I did; it was punishment,” his mouth was in a thin line. “He didn’t do his job. Don’t worry; I’ll bring him back and give him a less…favorable job later on.” Hades paused for a brief second. “It is just the way things have to be run around here.

I wanted to snap at him, but I kept it to myself. As long as his demon was given another chance, I would allow it. I didn’t know how things ran around here and until I knew I couldn’t do anything. He’s older than dirt, and he may have a sound system going.

“Alright, fine.” I took my hand away and marched towards the bathroom.

“Where are you going?” he questioned while following me like a puppy. “To shower, I reek of cave, and now I probably have demon dust on me.”

“You are sore with me,” he mused. I stopped to turn around in the doorway.

“How so?”

“You want to yell at me, your anger is coming off of you in waves, yet you do not wish to speak; why?” Hades came closer; the heat of his body wrapped me in a blanket. It soothed me, but not enough to shake a heavy feeling.

My stomach turned up in knots; the uneasy feeling washed over me. Was it because I didn’t want to argue with him because I didn’t understand Hades’ world yet? Or was it that he could wave his hand and kill anything at will?

“Come here, Parisa.” My mind screamed one thing, and my body did another. I let him engulf me in his arms while I nuzzled into his chest. “He is not completely dead. His soul is now in purgatory, where he will wait until I summon him again. It’s like a prison, a punishment. I don’t do that with any other living being except for my demons, who deserve it. I would never, ever do that to you or anyone you cared about. Do you understand?” I nodded my head into his clothes, taking in his scent.

His smell had become stronger to me than it was earlier, and I let myself enjoy the warmth.

Hades POV

“He. Took. What?” I have to articulate my words around these demons because it seems they do not f*****g understand my questions. Both of them sat on the floor in shock as they tried to crawl away from me.

“We are sorry! We went to check the rest of the dungeon, and the door to your trophy room was open. The chains were gone, the enchantments expelled. When we walked in, the Helm was gone along with the Demon Sword.” The one laying on his back trembled as he put his hands up to cover himself.

“Anything else?” I gritted. “No, my Lord.”

“Good,” I waved my hand as both of them shrank to nothing but a pile of ash. “Vulcan, can you see what you can come up with regarding the dungeon? Check for traces of witchcraft, possibly Hectate? It isn’t a coincidence that Hectate, the most powerful witch goddess, and Nero disappearing the Underworld is a coincidence now, is it?” Vulcan shook his head no as he trudged through the door.

“Ares, what do you think we should do?” I tightened my knuckles as I played with the rings on my fingers as I stared mindlessly at the bookshelf. The only thing not causing me to burn down the entire palace was Parisa. She already saw me lose it with one demon; I didn’t need her despising me from ruining our home.

“You ask for my opinion?” He questions, raising a brow.

“Time for you to step up to your god-like status and take responsibility, hmm? I think a war is brewing.” I spoke darkly. “We best prepare.” Ares took hold of the butt of his ax and did a bow and left the room with a skip in his step. Ares and I understood one another, we combined our armies, and together we have become powerful. If we wanted, we could conquer the heavens, but it was something we did not want. We wanted peace to live out our own lives and keep gods and deities out of human business.

Walking back to my room, I could hear faint talking from the other side of the door. Parisa was talking, assuming to be Cerebrus. I found it endearing she would speak to him like a person until she started saying she was a Disney princess. Cerebrus started rambling she wasn’t a princess. f**k that; she was my queen.

Sneaking into the door, I tried to work my brain on why Parisa could hear both animals. She was having an actual conversation with them like she would a person. I created phantomtails and Cerebrus in the Underworld, so I don’t see why she shouldn’t communicate with them. This bond must be taking hold of her more rapidly than I expected for her race. I know I haven’t paid attention to supernatural bonds, and I haven’t studied it at all in angels, demons, and gods. There just wasn’t enough information on the subject. Parisa and I are going to have to take it slow and be the guinea pigs for Selene.

Cerebrus was asked if I liked to puff my demons into ash regularly, but I gave him an evil eye. Pretending not to know what was happening, he scratched his fur until I took hold of Parisa’s arm.

f**k, she was beautiful; I could hardly concentrate. Just in the past twenty-four hours, her beauty has bloomed into my heart. Her physical strength was making leaps and bounds, and I could only contribute that to the bond.

Answering her questions and rushing her into the bathroom, I quickly changed into grey sweatpants and got on the bed. My arm was thrown over my eyes as I contemplated what my next move was.

Hermes hasn’t been heard from in a while, meaning he is still questioning angels, demons, hell, anyone for that matter, trying to figure out any leads. Niko was preparing the list of all the gods or deities I’ve pissed off.

And Kronos, I still have to go to the Night Crawler Pack and check their wards. It will have to be postponed; Parisa’s safety is more important.

Feeling a dip in the bed, I grabbed her, and she let out a squeal of giggles. “Easy, handsome,” she cooed at me while I nipped at her neck. f*****g blue balls, I was rock solid for her, and I was damn near hoping she was about done with this human woman shit.

“How are you feeling?” I pried a little as she traced a tattoo on my arm.

“Much better, actually,” she smiled. “Vulcan had a pamphlet in that first aid kit; the first one isn’t supposed to be so bad. I even took some medicine that was inside.”

“That’s good to hear,” I hummed while I pulled her to lay on top of me. Her legs straddled the upper part of my waist as her face buried itself within my chest. I was glad she wasn’t in any pain and was even happier that it wouldn’t last long because I needed to taste her. I needed to put my fingers in her; hell, I want my c**k to bury itself in her and finally mark her as mine.

Unlike supernaturals who bite, gods could descend their souls onto their mate. It was like dipping your body into the water and coming back up again. You would be drenched in each other’s spirit, and forever, it will stay. Once it is said and done and we both feel the pleasure take over our bodies, I would dip my soul into her body, causing her to latch onto mine, and her chest will bear my scepter, which is my mark.

It is a cross with an upside-down crescent moon with a jewel in the middle. It will look beautiful on her tanned skin. Parisa is now sleeping soundly in my arms as I feel her breathing has evened out. Taking a deep breath, I can only imagine how wonderful it will be once we bond. My feelings for her have grown substantially, and when we are both are bonded to each other, it will become almost unbreakable. We will be stronger ourselves as well.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, I put my chin on top of her head. Listening to her slow breaths.

…

“Hades,…” a voice keeps calling to me. “Hades…” I sit up from the bed to look for Parisa, who is missing. “Hades, over here!” Her small playful voice comes from the door. Her little head pokes out behind it as her strawberry blonde hair falls to her side.

“Hades, come here,” Parisa giggles as I hear her feet running across the floor. I’m still donned in my sweat pants, too lazy to care about anything except to catch my escaping mate.

I threw the covers off, feeling the cold floor beneath my feet as I ran down the hallway. Her laughs fill the end of the hall as I see wisps of her hair fly around the corner. I smile at the game she’s playing; I was going to be the hunter and claim my prize.

“Hades! You are too slow!” I hear her running again; this time, I cheat a bit and start imagining where she is and transporting there. Each time she deters me and laughs around another corner. Biting my l*p, I take one more chance and appear inside the relic room. Parisa is staring at the Helm with a look of horror on her face.

“Hades?” Tears brimmed her eyes as she saw the Helm sitting in its rightful case like it was never stolen.

“Was it you? Did you take me?” Parisa’s hands were trembling as she backed away from me. Walking forward, my hands low in surrender,

“I would never, ever do that! It was taken from me! I found it the night I found you. I punished who took it!” The stress in my voice barely pulled at her heart as she continued to step away.

“You hid this from me,” her breathing became rapid. We both looked back at the Helm only to see it was gone, and Parisa started to scream.

“No! No!” Parisa begins to pull her hair. “Don’t get me again, please no!” Her body crumples to the floor, and I go to catch her only when I do; her body isn’t there. My arms were empty, void, and even cold.

“See what happens when you don’t claim your mate, Hades?” Selene’s voice appeared behind me. Selene was standing with rags, just as Parisa described. Her glow still lit up the entire room beneath the dirt on her face. Standing up, I marched over to her to grab her, but she was only air. “You certainly made a mess of things, didn’t you, Hades?” Selene tisks as she repeared in the same spot. She was no longer the joking self she once was when I met her.

“You’ve altered the future by refusing your mate from the beginning, and not only is your mate in danger but others as well. Do you think Vulcan will forgive you if Nero gets away with finding the Sphere of Souls and halting all soul pairings?” Selene then glances to the floor with barely a whisper, “and even break mate bonds?”

I grit my teeth. “But I found her. I want her,” I pressed. “She’s mine, and no one will have her.”

“So you say, but you will have to fight for her to keep her and protect future mates as well. Good luck Hades,” Selene turned around and disappeared into the darkness that once was my relic room.