The Trouble with Hades

Bonus Chapter 1: A Sunset with Niko

Stepping out of the marquee, I saw Niko had climbed the ladder and was standing on the second floor of the house. The frame was up, the joists were in, and the subfloor was down. I could actually envision the house now, and it made me feel so much better. There was light at the end of the tunnel.

The things that Henry and his team finished today meant that we could walk up there. Well, some of us were allowed to. Apparently, pregnant women had to stay on the ground with their feet firmly planted, definitely not climbing ladders or wandering through a construction site. Was this pregnant woman going to listen? Absolutely not. Did she ever? No, definitely not.

Niko reached the edge of the house, grasping the frame. When I saw him close his eyes, the contentment was obvious. The golden rays of the sunlight shone over his features, bathing him in a rich orange hue. A smile filled his face, and I realized that until now, he's had to hide and probably missed the sunlight.

It wasn't common for vampires to willingly accept the sunlight, especially if they've been hidden from it for over sixty years, but Niko was old enough to cope.

And now, he was able to step outside of the safety of the caravan and walk beyond the walls of the marquee. He could walk around the property at a leisurely stroll without fear of anyone seeing him. No longer bound to the shadows, he was free to walk around the property. He was free.

It might have been hormones, but when the statement entered my mind, tears slid down my cheeks. Out of everyone here, he's suffered the most. He sent his wife and daughter away to protect them, only to learn that it was pointless. Victoria still died. Running from a monster created an irrational fear in her that she passed onto her daughter, but at the end of the day, my grandparents still led a reasonably normal life. Brad showed me the photos of his childhood. It was a good one, and he said that my mother would have had a happy childhood as well.

But all that time, Niko was trapped behind a wall, wondering what happened to his wife and daughter. He never got to see Victoria grow up. Never saw her marry or become a mother. Niko never knew the wonder of becoming a grandfather for the first time. He could have been there in the moments after my mother and Brad were born, holding them and enjoying those precious moments.

Everything that has happened in our lives, it could have taken place in this town. If Drakkus had accepted what Niko and Beatrice wanted for their daughter's future, none of this would have occurred. I struggled to understand why he was so adamant that he was given Victoria's hand in marriage. Why couldn't he accept that Niko and Beatrice said no? Why wouldn't he wait until Victoria was an adult? He could have easily approached her, formed a friendship, and then a relationship if she was willing.

I guess that was the problem. Would she be willing? What if she said no? What if she hated Drakkus? Arranged marriages were not common in vampire culture, but as the leader, Niko could have searched for a husband for Victoria to strengthen his leadership. Instead, he chose to let Victoria grow up without the burden and to find her own path of love. It would be the decision that would lead everyone in this town down a dark path which they would not emerge from for over sixty years. Lives would be lost, a family would be broken apart, and a coven would be destroyed.

I wouldn't second guess Niko and Beatrice's decision. They were saving their daughter from a monster. The cost was high for their choice but probably not as high as what Victoria would have paid if they'd agreed.

As I wiped away the tears, I realized that there was another side to this situation. If the events didn't happen, then my mother wouldn't have spent years wanting to return to Hades to finish the war. She wouldn't have accepted her fate and laid down with a biblical creature to create a war-ending daughter. I would not exist.