Perseus Jackson: Titan of The Hunt

CH22: One Hades of a Morning

(Artemis)

I had until Percy returned from his break and the hunters woke up, this gave me about two hours to find out what was wrong with me. Unfortunately, this meant I had to talk to someone I would normally rather avoid, Aphrodite. I had to know if this was her work and if so, I would force her to stop this madness that was persisting in my mind.

So conscientious of the time I flashed back to my palace on Olympus, I quickly left and headed towards the opposite side of the city. I had intentionally chosen the point furthest from both Aphrodite's and Eros's Palaces to make sure she never had a chance to try something like this. It was bad enough when she was able to occasionally lead my hunters into temptation, something I always hated her for. It robbed me of a loyal hunter and allowed the smug bitch to gloat over her perceived small victory. Of course, in the grand scheme of thing I could do nothing permanent to her but the man I could certainly punish and then cast the betrayer out.

Finally, not stopping for anything despite the stares of the mountains residents as I paced down the roads, I arrived at the pink marble monstrosity that is her home here on Olympus. When I say pink marble, I mean hot pink it was as if the very stone was dyed at a molecular level. I walked up the stairs and rained down blows on the door, venting my frustration as I waited for an answer. Around the tendered lawns and ponds surrounding the temple palace, flocks of doves and a half dozen paired swans looked directly at me.

I desperately hoped my brother Ares wasn't here, as that would require some serious explanation on my behalf of what I was doing here at five in the morning. Finally, my blows collided with nothing as the door opened revealing the goddess of love in little more than a loose-fitting nightgown that covered very little. Instinctively this sickened me, she did not even have the decency to get dressed to welcome guests.

"Well, if it isn't Artemis, don't see you around here much. What can I possibly do for you at this time in the morning?" She asked sweetly her voice thick with charmspeak and sarcasm.

"Cut the crap and get inside, besides you know your voice doesn't affect me." I stated angrily even as I pushed her back inside the temple, I was not having this conversation on her porch in the open.

"Fine, fine if you insist, follow me dear." Aphrodite answered not fighting me on the matter and instead leading me through the palace. I had never actually been in here before and after a few feet I realised why it was as if I felt like the colour pink was being seared into my brain. It was everywhere, floor, walls, ceiling, and doors.

The only things that weren't were the small bronze plaques on the doors explaining what was inside. After I read a few, I was even more annoyed: Wardrobe 17 how many clothes did she have? And where were the other 16? Dungeon, now this word in Hades' palace makes sense. Here though? It sickened me to even think what depraved fetishes she had, and that was before I heard muffled sounds of movement and cries from behind it. At the sound coming from behind the door she turned and looked at the horrified expression on my face as I looked away and attempted to repress the memory.

"Don't mind Ares, Artemis. He will be fine he asked to try something different, but I am pretty sure that was not what he had in mind." She stated without expression and the image was suddenly in my mind of my half-brother in bondage. I had to dig my nails into my palms, so the pain distracted me from the image, next stop would have to be Hecate's palace for a memory potion... or two.

Finally, we arrived in a large chamber that seemed to be a lounge or a narcissists wet dream. The ceiling was hidden behind a giant hanging mirror, and the room was ringed by statuary of herself both Greek and Roman with even more mirrors between them. All of them reflecting back towards one point, a couch in the middle that she quickly lay down upon on whilst taking up a rose-gold chalice of wine. I summoned my own chair to sit on there was no way I was sitting on her make-out seat.