Devil's Witch

Chapter 8: An After Festival Moment

Using his hammer, Hephaestus gave Hades quite a beating that made Myrrhine to even feel sorry for her boss. Thankfully, Aphrodite stopped him and Hades defeated, was forced to return to the underworld to lick his wounds.

At the same time, Cassandra started to run away from Icarus, who refused to let the incident go and was once again, madly in love with her. Amongst the chaos, Myrrhine walked out of the shadows and left out a sigh of relief, now that the coast is clear.

She was about to return and find Hades when Hercules noticed her. "Myrrhine, you finally came," the boy said, a smile on his face as he jogged towards her.

"Yeah...well...Yes, I did. And there was quite the show" she commented, offering a smile and trying to hide from the two gods with the help of Hercules figure.

"Yeah...but hey, Cassandra is free and all is back to normal," He said, making her give a small genuine smile. Indeed, everything was back to normal. Almost. At least, her friend was no longer working for Hades. "So...uhm, the festival is still going...I was wondering...would you like to...you know... as friends...explore it?" he asked between pauses, trying his best to keep his courage and often glancing at his feet.

Myrrhine was about to decline, thinking about Hades but a part of her argued with her. It wouldn't truly hurt to spend just a few hours like a normal teenager for once. Especially now, that there were no gods around and Hades would be too busy healing from his wounds.

"I would like that," she said with a smile.

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Myrrhine entered the castle of Hades, late at night. She had just returned from the festival and she was in a pretty good mood. Despite everything, she did enjoy her time with Hercules there.

However, someone did not seem to share her mood. For Hades was waiting for her. Sitting on his throne, his fingers drummed against the stone and his blue hair fire was slightly bigger than usual.

"Had fun at the festival, Myrrhine?" He asked, making her stop dead in her tracks.

When Hades called her with her real name and not some stupid nickname, it meant only one thing. He was angry and she was in trouble. Now for what exactly, she would find out soon enough apparently.

Hades motioned for her with one finger, to come closer. For a moment, she truly felt the urge to refuse and keep that safe distance. However, a sharp acute pain snapped her from such thoughts as she felt her body walking on her own towards him.

One of the negatives is when the God of the Underworld had your soul. If he told you to do something...you do it. There is no other option. All the times she had been let, was because Hades wanted to.

Finally, she walked towards him and that invisible underlying force disappeared. She stopped in front of his throne, looking at him with no clear fear. In her first days, the god of the Underworld did make her uneasy...

But she had been with him for more than a year. She had seen so many things, so many of his angry sides that she was no longer intimidated...well, to a certain degree.

"Tell me something, babe. Pain and Panic" he started, motioning for the two imps who had been dismissed. "Told me something very peculiar. This is what happened... Doubt was about to bite that annoying boy when Jerkules interfered. Are you with me so far?" The girl lifted her eyebrows at him. "Okay, you are. Now you see" he started to use his gestures a lot, emphasising his words. "The odd thing was this lion, coming out of nowhere, helping defeat my henchman and then running away"

That made Myrrhine shallow the lump down her throat. She was that lion, using it as a disguise to ensure Hercules won and protected Icarus. She hadn't chosen to do it by morals but rather, ensuring Hades could not keep his part of the deal and thus Cassandra regained her freedom.