Forbidden To Love (The Erosians) (25 page)

              “So Zeus has no idea there’s an army down here?”

Luca shakes his h
ead grinning. “Not a clue.”                             “How long have you been here?” I can’t believe this secret has been kept from Zeus. Luca doesn’t answer me. I start to chew my lip. What if the answer he’s holding back is so horrific even he’s too terrified to utter the words. “Luca…”              “Acacia, we don’t measure time here as you do or as any other God or mortal does. We’ve been made for a war. We train until we are needed.”                                                                       I stare at him silently, an anger rising inside of me which must be my loyalty to Olympus. I can’t believe what I'm being told. There's a secret army of, well, I don’t know what they are, but they are all waiting to strike an unsuspecting world.                                                                                     “If Prometheus made both of us, does that make you a God as well?”                                                                                                   Luca grins and shrugs. “I have no idea; perhaps it makes you a demon. We all contain different powers. All I know is I'm what you would call a vrykolaka, a vampire by modern interpretation.” He scoffs at the word, but my heart starts to thump in fear.                                                                                     Luca must have picked up on it. “You don’t need to worry, but down here we’re all something. Hades' race consists of vampires, werewolves, demons and even some zombies.” Luca gets up and walks over to where I'm starting to panic and slumps down next to me. “I'm not going to kill you, Acacia” he openly admits.
“My skin is impenetrable so you couldn’t anyway.”                             Luca reaches for my hand. “Your skin is impenetrable to mortals. Do you really think Hades would order a race to be made that couldn’t defeat the opposition?”                                           I pull my hand away, disgusted by his touch, I’ve only ever been touched by Josh, and that’s the way it shall remain.                                                                                     “You’re a race of monsters” I spit                                           “You said yourself we are crafted by the same hands, so how does that make you better than me? Just because, you had the God of love invoke you with your powers doesn’t mean you’re innocent.”                                                                       “I am nothing like you.”                                                                       “No, you’re not. You’re blind to what is happening in both our worlds. It’s about time you opened your eyes and took in what is happening and what will happen. I spend my days marching soldiers through those fields.” He gestures wildly out of the window, and I follow reluctantly to where he’s pointing. “Every day I make them stronger, I get them ready to die for Hades to succeed. The war is coming, Acacia. You'd better figure out what side you’re on.”                             “Hades is going to go to war with Olympus?” I whisper, understanding now what he is saying. Luca shrugs again. His demeanour switches between fire and ice so quickly, it’s hard to keep track, but he’s a soldier, he has to be able to turn the fight on at any time.
“Hades doesn’t have any immediate plans to, but should he come under attack from either Olympus or the merfolk, he needs to make sure he’s ready.”                                                         Luca sounds like he’s reciting from the ‘Hades Good Soldier Guide’                                                                                                   Why would any of the different brothers lead an attack against each other? They’ve all lived in the lots they drew for millennia. Yes, everyone knows Hades got the raw end of the deal with the Underworld but he’s made it his own. He’s the King, and he’s got his own race. He has everything his brothers have.                                                         “What would start a war?” I have to ask. Luca looks deep in my eyes, and I can see a frustration burning behind his own. His lips part and close as if he wants to tell me something, but he’s either not sure how to phrase it or not sure he should tell me.                                                                                     “You,” he finally whispers. He moves his hand up as if to touch me but drops it back down.                                                         “Me? Me? Why, what have I got to do with anything?” I sit upright.                                                                                     “The one thing missing from Hades life is a Queen who loves him.” I think back to the girl in the picture with the dead eyes in the great hall.                                           “Persephone,” I mumble quietly.                                           Luca leans forward, so he’s level with me. “Zeus has Hera, and despite his many affairs, she still loves him. Poseidon has Amphitrite who fled when he first advanced but still returned to him. Persephone was forced to be with Hades, she never chose him, that’s why Hades is so happy you’ve been sent to him. You can give him the one thing he desires, Persephone’s love.”                                                                       I can’t, but if that’s the only thing keeping me from punishment, I can’t let them know, not yet.                                           “So you’re dead.” I quickly try to change the subject.              “Where did that come from?” he asks, laughing.               “Just wondered”                                                                       Luca leans back against the wall either so taken aback by my change of subject he’s not going to question why any further, or he doesn’t want to talk about the war and is grateful I changed the topic.                                           “Well, would you say that you have to be alive, to die, to be dead?”                                                                                     I run his words through my head a second time, checking I understand them.                                                         “Yes,” I nod cautiously.                                                                       Luca grins. “And would you say that in order for you to be alive, your heart must beat, and in order for you to be dead, it must be stopped?”                                                                
       I think for another second, “Yes,” I answer, turning to look at him for some sort of hint of where he’s going with this. But all I see is the devilish grin he has from twisting my mind to easily.                                                                                     “Then, no, I'm not dead as I never had a heart to beat in order for me to be alive, and if I never lived, I can never have died.” He looks smug at my confused expression.                             I lean back against the wall, so we’re shoulder to shoulder and ponder his answer.                                                         “I’m going to leave for a few hours,” he tells me quietly, and I get a strange sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the thought of his absence. It must be from fear, nothing else.                                                                                                   “I’m going to lock the door. As I'm your guard, I'm the only one who can open or lock it, so if it is shut, you’ll be safe.” He nods to himself.                                                         “Safe from what?” My mind kicks into overdrive at the possibilities of what could happen if he isn’t here.                             “Some of the other guards may want to come and observe you. If they do, do yourself a favour and pretend to be asleep. They should get bored and leave.” He takes hold of my hand which is now trembling. I don’t pull it away. He must be mistaking it for acceptance. “I won’t be long.” He looks into my eyes for something, probably my belief that I’ll be fine, but I don’t believe I will be.                                                         “You should try to sleep,” he tells me, like falling into a peaceful slumber would be that simple. “You could dream about me,” he smirks and winks.                                           “That would be a pretty horrific dream,” I tell him sarcastically, but he just laughs.                                                         “Think of it more as a beautiful nightmare,” and with that he’s gone.                                                                                                  I force my body to stop shaking. If I act like I'm not scared or worried, I won’t be scared or worried, I tell myself, but I'm not convinced. The bone door is closed and sealed behind Luca and the screams below cease momentarily. Now I'm alone in the silence, I feel a wave of emotion washing over me, drowning me in everything that’s happened.
It's a tsunami that hits me all at once - the grief of Josh, the horror of being here and the confusion surrounding just about everything.                                                                       There’s no use fighting the weight of these feelings. I let them crush me to the floor, and the tears pour out as I wrap my arms around myself and sob.

Saviour

~21~

I allow myself to cry until there are no tears left to fall until my throat becomes hoarse from the anguish that pours from it, and until my body aches from the convulsing my crying brought with it. Luca is still gone, and I'm staring out onto the fields, wondering what time of day it is. The sky doesn’t change colour here as it does in the mortal world. I'm in limbo in more ways than one.                                                                       I can feel a tear in my heart pulsing fresh pain into my soul when I picture Josh in the car dying. Each pulse creates a fresh bolt of pain through my entire body which makes me want to be sick. I keep searching the fields in vain, imagining seeing him there. But in his short life, could he have actually done anything that would keep him from Elysium? Maybe I could bargain with Hades to let me see him, but to do that I'm going to need to lie and make him think I can give him what he wants.                                                         Even if, I could make Persephone fall in love with him, I'm not sure I would allow it to happen, not if it would start a war. But I don’t see why it would anyway.                             Persephone is already married to Hades, so if she loved him, it would probably make them both a lot happier. Maybe I could tell Hades the truth - that I can’t make Gods fall in love, but one day I’ll be able to. Then perhaps I could live here with Josh’s spirit in return for one day joining Hades and Persephone in love.                                                                       The thought of seeing Josh again eases my torment. I don’t worry how long it will last, I just close my eyes and enjoy the brief period of relief.                                                                       With my body temporarily numb from the ache of losing Josh, a new type of pain emerges, Allana. I don’t think she’ll be on her way to try and rescue me. She loves Eros, so as much as it may hurt her, I think she’d stick by his decision of sending me here. I bet Amora is pleased with herself.                             I'm actually surprised she didn’t insist on escorting me here herself to make sure Hades locks me away for good. Good job she didn’t though or I might not have got the deal I’ve ended up with.                                                                                     “You look deep in thought.” My heart jumps a little at the sound of Luca’s voice, then the part of it torn away for Josh burns, reminding me what Luca is responsible for. The door springs open. “I brought you some elixir.” The smell of it reaches me, and although my body is like a desert, I don’t want it. It’s probably got more of that Emexion drug in it anyway.                                                                                                   Luca sighs and places it on the bone bench and sits down next to it.                                                                                     “You ok?” I stare at him almost open-mouthed. It feels like the hundredth time he’s asked me that. Surely he should know that I couldn’t possibly be ok when I'm trapped in the Underworld.                                                                                     “I'm sorry about that guy,” he finally says when my silence doesn’t waiver. I ball my hands into fists, livid from his arrogance making him think he has the right to talk about Josh. “I was only following orders to collect you,” Luca continues, opening his hands and looking at the floor. “If he hadn’t tried to play the hero, he wouldn’t have got hurt.”               So it’s Josh’s fault now! My blood begins to rush to my cheeks as I get angrier at him for trying to blame Josh for getting himself killed.                                                                       “Well, actually, if you’d just come with us from that party instead of trying to escape with him, his ending would’ve been different.” I jump to my feet and lunge for him, my heart full of a poisonous hatred that has amassed from all my fury that has been building up around Josh being killed.                                                                             
                      Luca’s too quick, though. He has been expecting my attack and grabs my hands as they fly for his neck, wrapping his fingers tightly around my wrists and keeping me from him as I try frantically to hit him, to make him feel the pain I'm feeling. But I can’t get near him. I scream in frustration.              “Acacia, calm down.” His words are like gasoline to my burning fire of hatred, and I try to lunge at him again. This time he releases my wrists, so I fly into him as he stays put. My body crashes against his. With my arms now free, I pound my fists against him and scratch my nails against his face and neck, any part of him I can reach, but rather than fighting back he just holds me against his chest while I beat my frustration out on him.                                                                                     I unclench my fists and lay my hands flat against his body as I begin to give up when I see my efforts are leaving a mark.                                                                                                                 “You finished?” he asks mockingly. I look up to him and hit him straight across his face. I instantly regret it when his head snaps round to the right with a sickening crack. I’m about to apologize, but as he turns his face back towards mine he doesn’t look angry.                                                                       “I might have deserved that.” He nod while looking over my shoulder. “Someone’s coming.” He grips the tops of my arms firmly and marches me to the back of the room. “Don’t move and don’t speak,” he instructs me. I agree, too frightened not to as he takes off out of the dungeon and leans against the wall opposite my prison.                                           He begins to fix his eyes on me with such intensity I feel wounds should be appearing from where his stare is cutting into me.                                                                                     I hear footsteps stomping up the stairs and haggard breathing. I look to where the staircase is. Luca clears his throat, bringing my attention back to him. “Look at me,” he mouths.                                                                                                   “There you are,” the voice says as it approaches the top step.
“Where else would I be?” Luca replies flatly, not taking his eyes from me.                                                                                                   “Well, yeh, Hades sent me to make sure she was behaving.” Whoever this person is, he walks over to Luca and leans against the wall next to him.                                                         “You not doing your usual routine?” he laughs, jabbing Luca in the arm.                                                         “She’s a God - the usual wouldn’t work” Luca keeps it monotone, not giving anything away. I see the look of confusion on the man’s face. “What ya doing then?” He asks, looking between Luca’s eyes and mine.                                                         “Practising mental torture” He breaks his eyes from mine and instinct tells me to look to the ground. “Best way to get to this kind. Get inside their heads and really screw them around.” He laughs gruffly, and the man joins in.                             “Let me try,” he jeers. Luca locks eyes with me again, and I know he can hear my heartbeat accelerate. The other man lines himself up in front of me, and cracks his knuckles and his neck, gearing himself up for the onslaught. I want to curl myself up and hide from his stare, but he’d just walk in and grab me.                                                                                                   The new man closes his eyes, and I just know when he opens them the pain is going to come shooting towards me. Before he does, though, a veil appears in front of me. Luca and the animal are behind it, they appear wavy as if there’s heat in front of them.                                                                       Is this the attack and I’m gifted with some sort of natural defence from it? The veil starts to get hit like rain drops attacking a puddle, but it doesn’t allow the missiles through; instead it absorbs them.                                           “Guess my powers aren’t quite there,” the man grunts. “Call me if you need anything. I'm only two flights down.” With that, he takes off back down the stairs.                             I move to talk, but Luca silences me with his hand. He keeps focused on the stairs and after a few minutes turns to me.                                                                                                                 “He’s gone. Are you ok?” He rushes over to me, but he looks like he’s unsure whether to hold me or not. I make the decision for him and close the distance between us as I wrap my arms around his waist, not caring at that moment what he was responsible for. I am only grateful for what he’s just done.                                                                                     “What was that?” I ask as he moves his arms around my back and presses my body further into his.                                           “We are told to practice mind control, and mental persecution for if, well, when the war begins. I’ve been practising it for decades, as had that demon. Luckily, though, he can’t detect shields, which thankfully I was given the ability to make, otherwise what he just threw at you could’ve torn you to pieces and there would be no recovering from it” he holds me tighter as he says the last few words.                             I pull myself away from him, but he keeps his hands at my hips. “What’s happening?” I beg him to explain, but he looks as unsure as I do.                                                                                     “I don’t know,” he breathes, and I don’t either. I don’t know why Luca feels the need to protect me and I don’t know why I want him to. I close my eyes and bury my head into his chest which is as smooth and hard as a slab of granite, but still, in this desolate place, provides me all the comfort I could hope for.              
                                                        As we stand in our embrace I'm sure I feel his lips graze my forehead, but I don’t open my eyes to see. A part of me tells me this is wrong that he killed Josh, but he has also saved my life on more than one occasion.
Truth, Honesty and Murder
~22~
I guess I fell asleep in Luca’s arms because it’s the last thing I remember. It’s now dark, and I'm laid on the floor of my prison with the throw from the bone bench draped across me. The door to my cell has been left open, but I can’t see Luca anywhere. The screams from the lower floors are gone. I guess everyone gets a rest sometimes, but there’s a red light flashing against my window, casting shapes onto my ceiling. I almost laugh at how I use the word ‘my’, like I’ve willingly accepted that this is my new home, and I’ve laid claim to all parts of it.
I slowly climb to my feet and look out of my narrow window. The sky out there is now a rich purple colour with a dozen moons interspaced across it, all casting beams down onto the fields. I follow one of the tunnels of light to the spotlight it is creating on the lifeless meadow. My breath stops in my throat when I take in the scene before me. There is a circle of guards standing with their arms folded around a cowering person who is being circled from above by the Furies.                             They are mercilessly striking the victim with the flashes of red light, but this is no ordinary light. Each strike is causing their prey to spasm in pain, their screams feeding the Furies pleasure sending them into hysterics. The guards around all cheer for them to continue. I can’t bear to watch.              This scene brings me crashing back into the real world and I know whatever fantasy I’ve created up in this turret is just that, and I need to get out of here.                                           I run to the opening of my cell and head for the spiral staircase. I don’t make it more than one step when I hear voices getting louder, and I see the flames from a torch moving up the stairs. Quickly I rush back to my cell, searching for somewhere to hide, but there isn’t anywhere. What was it Luca told me to do if anyone came? I curl up on the floor and grab the throw, pulling it back around me, pretending to be asleep. But with the prison door open, there’s nothing to stop them getting in.                                                                       Where is Luca? Why has he left me open like this? “Luca, put her at the top,” I hear one of the voices on the stairs.               “Better be worth it, then. We can’t all fly where we want to like him,” the other voice moans.                                           “No one asked you to come. I’d be there by now, you know. Wolves have four legs I could be up there in seconds”.              A werewolf! It takes every last bit of strength I’ve got to keep me from trembling.                                                                       “If I didn’t come, how exactly were you planning on getting to taste her blood? Exactly, not thought it through, had you? You need me here so I can freeze her for you,” the other guy scornfully replies.                                                                       “If you can, that is. Vice tried a mental attack earlier and couldn’t touch her,” the werewolf retorts.                                           I wish Luca had left me some Emexion. At least then I wouldn’t be a witness to my own death. Up until a few hours ago I didn’t think it was possible, but now, thanks to Luca, I know this race can destroy me and he’s here for my blood.               I squeeze my eyes shut as tightly as they’ll go when the footsteps and voices stop. From the sound of their heavy breathing, I know they’re at the entrance to my cell.               “Looks like Luca forgot to lock it. Didn’t think it was going to be this easy,” one of them laughs as he shakes the gate.                                                                                                                 “Go on, then,” the other one hisses. They begin to approach me. I open my eyes slightly and can see their feet. Both of them are barefooted. Their skin is almost translucent, and they are virtually nothing but bone. I shut my eyes again, not wanting to be a witness to this as an ice cold shroud takes over me and I can no longer move.                                           I'm frozen in place, and I can’t fight when something grabs at my arm, the werewolf I presume, getting ready to take my blood. I brace myself for the pain, when as quickly as it appeared, the veil of ice is gone. I hear a menacing growl from across the room. I open my eyes. The werewolf and another creature, probably a demon, have their backs to me. Casting a long shadow into the cell is Luca.                                           He came back!                                                                                     I thought the growl was coming from the werewolf, but it’s from Luca. He’s flexing his hands.                                           “Luca, we’re sorry. We just wanted to … ” They don’t get to finish. Luca runs straight to grab each one by his neck and throws them against the wall. There’s a crunching sound as their bones are smashed against the stone. He walks over to where their bodies lay limp and rips their limbs from their torsos with ease. The sound of the
ir bodies being torn apart is too much. I cover my ears and try to bury myself into the wall.                                                                                                   When the noise stops, I look around the room. Luca has his back to me, standing in the entrance to the cell. In front of him is a small bonfire that has almost burnt to a pile of ash.                                                                                                  When the burning stops, Luca is by my side. He doesn’t hesitate in touching me now. He reaches his hands behind my neck and holds my face up to his. “I'm sorry. Are you hurt?” He searches my face.                                                         “No, he grabbed my arm but … ”                                           Luca doesn’t wait for me to explain. He holds both my arms out. The right one has been sliced open from my wrist to my elbow and is pouring with blood. I gasp at the sight of it. How did I not feel that?                                                         Luca quickly uses the throw to wipe off the blood and plants the softest of kisses all the way along the wound. As his lips leave, my skin heals instantly.                                           “Isn’t that torture for you?” I ask him, remembering he is a vampire, and from what I know vampires drink blood.               “It should be,” he sighs, and he reaches his arms back around my waist, pulling me into him, so I'm cradled in his arms. “Given how I'm starting to feel about you and the fact that I was made to destroy you, I'm sure your blood should be the blood I desire the most, and I do want it, but some part of me wants you alive more.” I tilt my head, so my eyes are level with his. There’s a sadness about him. “Thank you.”                                                                                     He closes his eyes, not accepting my gratitude. “You don’t need to thank me. Had I locked the gate, it wouldn’t have happened”.                                                                                     I don’t respond to that. I don’t want to blame him for anything else. He saved me, that’s all I care about. I already have enough to blame him for and the part of my heart that has been throbbing in pain flares up angrily at my betrayal.              “Why didn’t they create a shield for themselves like you did for me that time?” My stomach twists with gratitude from the memory of how he saved me, again.                                           “They don’t have the ability. I'm one of the few that can create shields. Hades only allows those he wouldn’t want to die the skill of shields. Those two were just going to be pawns in the war. They’re easily disposable.”                                           “And you’re not?” I nod, grateful at the fact, even though it means he is probably the deadliest creature in this land.                                                                                                                 “No, I'm the best Hades has, which is why I am the leader of the army.” Luca glances over to the window where just below it his men will be running their drills, marching as they have been instructed to. We sit silent for a few minutes and Luca exhales loudly.                                                                       “If the price of love is death, would you pay it?” he breathes, not looking at me.                                                                       “I think I already did.” I look up at him and see his expression is twisted in pain. I move my fingers through his hair, down to his jaw line, my mind swims with the sudden want to comfort him to take away the tortured look masking his face.         
                                                                                          I leave my fingers against his jaw, waiting for him to open his eyes and explain what he’s trying to say. “I'm getting closer, Acacia, closer to something I'm afraid to admit.” His head rolls, so he’s staring at me, but he makes no effort to remove my touch from him.                                                         His eyes are now fully grey, not a hint of red to them at all. “Your eyes, they’re different.” I trace along his cheek with my fingertips. The touch of his skin against mine ignites my entire body, but with the pleasure he brings there’s an equal amount of pain. The part of my heart that beat for Josh bursts into flames, but it starts to die out as Luca’s hands stroke my back, neck and lips. All I'm left with is a pound of lead in my chest, a constant reminder of my love that was.