Hunter: Crossroads

Chapter 15

I looked at Cain as he just threw it right out there. Ever so slowly Hades' posture changed. He was no longer slumped back on his chair, seemingly bored. Now he was sitting up and staring at me as though Cain had just told him I was the Furies.

"Are you sure?" Hades asked slowly, and Cain gave a little nod.

"It's still early, but yes." I defend, wrapping my arms around my stomach.

"So why are you all here, telling me?"

"I wanted you to know, to hear it from us. Brother, I need your help." I'd never heard Cain refer to Hades as a brother, nor show as much emotion as what he just did. The slight waver to his voice seemed to affect Hades as it did me. "You are right. The Furies will come, and I, we need your help."

"Visits from you never lead to anything good," Hades repeated as he took a step towards us, his face unreadable. "Today will be the exception."

The pair hug and the urge to throw myself at the pair of them and join in nearly wins, but instead I let them have their moment as I stay by Kara and Deimos. There are a few, I can't believe it, and nervous laughs; it's almost like they've forgotten we're even there.

"Maybe we should go and you know?" Kara whispers, and I know what she means. Let them have this moment to themselves and go find Hecate.

"Wait, Apollo knows, what happened?" Hades turned to us. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I start, and Hades nods like he understands something I don't.

"Oh, it makes sense now. Do you want to hide her down here? I'll have the guest chambers cleaned and-"

"What? No. I'm not hiding down here."

"Despite everything, he won't hurt her and it's not Apollo I am worried about," Cain told him, yet I missed the part where he also didn't reject the idea of hiding me down here. "If he does have one of his tantrums, and Artemis can not stop him."

Hades nodded along, clearly on the same train of thought as Cain.

"No one will stand with us." Hades didn't look as worried as he sounded. "Ares will demand Kara step down, and you reclaim your throne."

"Let him try." Deimos threatened.

"I shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place. They will come for you, for me, for her and if they know about. Nevermind. There will be chaos, and the Furies haven't even arrived yet."

"What do we do?" Kara asked. "I had the feeling they have all now accepted my place. There have been no disputes for weeks. Everything has settled."

"On the surface. They will come like sharks if they catch the scent of blood in the water." Deimos growled.

"He's right. They will choose a side, look at how quickly they turned on Zeus." Hades added.

"That was different." Kara weakly defended. "Wasn't it?"

"Yes, because Zeus was on the wrong side and they'd be plotting against him for years. You're nothing like him." I told her. "But it doesn't matter. It won't come to that."

"I don't see how it won't." Hades came closer. "I'm sorry, but we knew one day this would be something we'd have to deal with. I'm amazed it hasn't already come out, especially with how you travel between the realms. It will be the perfect path of revenge for Apollo to take, revealing the Fallen One's lives could even improve his status. At some point, they all try to make a claim for the throne."

"No. Look, I know he's hurt, and angry but he wouldn't-"

"Your version of Apollo and the one we know are very different. He's never handled rejection well, nor has he ever had to process something like this." Hades looked at Cain, and I didn't like the look of defeat he already wore. It made me nervous. "The smart move would be to prepare for the worse."