Vampire Greek: The Burning King

Caitlyn had barely taken ten steps forward before a tall woman plucked the coin out of her hand.

“What’s wrong with you? Give it back!” She demanded, She turned back to look for Willa but she had vanished in the crowd.

“You won’t need this Caitlyn, you have me.” The woman replied smugly.

“And who are you?” Caitlyn asked her.

“You haven’t figured it out yet? I thought younger mortals understood the process of elimination. Who else would travel to the underworld to see you?”

“Aphrodite?!”

“Yes, but not in the flesh. We have a few rules in place about traveling to another gods domain. Too many…. accidents” Aphrodite winked. “But I’m here in spirit. Literally.”

“So you came to help me find my dad?” Caitlyn asked.

“I came to see if you had made up your mind about your destiny. You could stay a cold, heartless little vampire or bathe in rays of light, smelling of sweet perfume and flowers.”

“I… I still don’t know yet. The Oracle said I should speak to my dad first. You can find him, right?”

Aphrodite’s right eye twitched but Caitlyn didn’t notice. “Of course. Follow me.” Aphrodite reached out and Caitlyn grabbed her hand. As she led her through the crowd, Caitlyn noticed people kept staring at her, and some looked afraid.

“Aphrodite, why are they looking at me like that?” she asked.

“It’s because of your… vampirism? I think it’s called. Vampires are monsters and people fear monsters, both in life and in death. But don’t worry, once you decide to become my maiden I’ll cure you and you’ll live by my side with my maidens, forever.”

That’s why Zeus took Roman, isn’t it?”

“Of course. You saw him. he was feral and deranged, absolutely out of control. He needed to be stopped.”

“But he’s a good guy. He helped me and got revenge for my mommy and daddy. Willa likes him too.”

“I’m going to help Willa. I don’t like Roman but now that Zeus has… erm, done what he did Roman isn’t a vampire anymore. I’ll find a way to get him out of here so Willa can be happy, everyone wins.”

“Wait!” Caitlyn stopped and let go of Aphrodite’s hand. “He’s here now?! We can take him back with us!”

Now a ton of people were staring and making a wide arc around them.

Aphrodite looked around nervously. “Caitlyn, sweetie, it’s not that simple-”

“Is he here or in the Elysia.. Elysio, the other place? Is he looking for the Oracle too.”

“NO.” Aphrodite snapped, startling her. “We can’t reach him right now, and you definitely can’t go looking for him. Do you see these people staring? You aren’t dead, a demigod, or a goddess. You aren’t supposed to be in the underworld. If Hades or Thanatos found you, there would be a big problem. There’s no telling what would happen. And that’s if you didn’t get lost and attacked by something first. Let me handle him later, right now, we should focus on finding your father.”“No need. I’m right here.” They turned around and saw Daniel, looking exactly as he did the night they left the restaurant. His arm wasn’t broken and there was no blood on his clothes. He looked peaceful and happy. He smiled as Caitlyn and Aphrodite both ran towards him, and Caitlyn was shocked when Aphrodite hugged him too.

“My baby.” she murmured, tears streaming down her cheek.

Caitlyn stepped back a little, also crying. “Huh?”

“Caitlyn, Aphrodite is my mother.” Daniel told her as he bent down to wipe the tears off her face.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t either of you tell me?!” she cried.

“Daniel doesn’t like our world,” Aphrodite explained. “He never wanted to be a demigod, never wanted to train and fight monsters. He wanted a simple life and a normal family, so I lett him have that.”

“You let him?” Caitlyn asked.

“On one condition,” Daniel spoke. “That I told you everything when you were old enough, and introduce you to her. She wanted her granddaughter to be a maiden, but I told her that would be your choice, not mines. I didn’t think things would end like they did.”

“Training would have come in handy, wouldn’t it?” Aphrodite snarkily replied, still wiping her face.

“Please. Most of my brothers are pretty boys that wouldn’t last two seconds in a fight with me, or anyone else for that matter. I can at least defend myself, I just didn’t expect to be ambushed by those supernatural freaks.”

“Are you okay here,” Caitlyn asked him, “Without mommy?”

Daniel frowned. “No. You and her are all I think about. I’ve been asking around, trying to find my way to Hades. I’m going to appeal to him and try to get into limbo.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a supernatural afterlife, where your mother went after being murdered by those vampires. I want to go there to find her. If we can’t leave it, at least I’ll be there with her.”

Aphrodite turned and saw people walking up to them now, all with inquisitive looks on their faces.

“What did you just say?” a gruff looking man asked as he got near.

“There’s another afterlife?”

Aphrodite waved her hand and everyone around them vanished, leaving them alone in a field that stretched on for miles in every direction.

“You CANNOT be talking about other worlds here Daniel! Things are separated for a reason! Afterlifes are separated by peoples beliefs and a primordial power, disrupting that could be catastrophic.”

“Tammy didn’t believe in vampires, let alone limbo! She didn’t asked to be separated from us and put into some creepy phantom realm!” Daniel glared at his mother, furious.

“How do you know of these other realms?” Aphrodite asked him softly.

“I’ve studied them. Tammy is very religious, we used to go to church every sunday. I started to doubt where I would en up in the end and where my family would go, I became conflicted and confused, so I studied lots of things. I prefer my Christian god, to be completely honest with you.”

Aphrodite smiled. “I can’t help you get there, but I can get you to Hades. Hopefully you’ll be reunited with her soon.”

Daniel hugged his mother tightly. “Thank you.”

“Daddy, I need to go. I have to find the Oracle.”

“A quest? So you’re becoming a handmaiden after all? Why would you send her on a quest this young?”

“I didn’t, Apollo-”

“I’m not becoming a maiden.” Caitlyn interrupted. Aphrodite turned around.

“Excuse me?”

I want to enjoy life with my friends. Roman, Willa, Barry and Claire are all so nice to me. When I lost you and mom, I had them. I want to experience things with them, and see the world.”

Daniel smiled and hugged her again. “Be my guest.”

“You know she’s a vampire now, right? Are you okay with that?” Aphrodite complained.

“I don’t need to be. She does.” He answered, looking back at his mother.

“Fine.” Aphrodite gave in. “I’ll send you back to Willa. Remember what we told you. After you find the Oracle, you must leave immediately. I have faith in you Caitlyn.” She kissed her on the cheek.

“I do too.” said Daniel. They stood together and Aphrodite waved her hand, bringing back the thousands of people that surrounded them. As soon as people noticed Caitlyn they edged away nervously and she lost her father and grandmother in the crowd. Turning around, she saw Willa walking towards her and smiled.