House of Forbiddens [COMPLETE NOVEL]

6: Hi. I Have Come to Eat Your Children.

Audrey

We stood there, across the room from Ares, for what seemed like forever. It suddenly became apparent to me that we were each waiting for someone else to take the lead.

I poked Christine in the back.

She looked around angrily. "What was that for?"

I made a head gesture towards Ares, trying not to be too obvious.

She crossed her arms. "If you're so anxious, why don't you do it? You are the one that Hestia spoke to, after all."

"Pfft..." I made a disgruntled excusing noise. "That doesn't mean I have to do it."

"I'm not taking sides here," Kaden began, "But Christine is right."

I ended my dramatical performance of disagreement with a long and exaggerated sigh, then straightened myself to face the war god.

As mentioned before, I love guns, and really all types of weapons. Or more in a sense, I respect them for their power. That is, after all, the basis for hunting: Respect. Respect for your prey, respect for yourself, respect for your weapon, and respect for your reason for hunting. That's what my dad told me, anyway.

Guns are also a connection to my dad. I suppose that connection goes to the love side of the equation and not the respect side.

Both love and respect vanished from my mind when I entered this god's close vicinity. I had been on plenty of eccentric adventures during my traveling times with Jack, and on random quests with plenty of other people, but never before had I felt so unnaturally aggressive. Suddenly, I felt the urge to punch something, to rip a phonebook in half, to devour a half-pound bacon cheeseburger....

"Ares," I took a deep breath, "My name is Audrey, Hunter of Artemis."

One of the tricky things about being a forbidden child is that you can't tell anyone that you're a forbidden child. Kinda in the job description.

When I discovered my identity, just after I'd lost contact with my dad, Artemis offered me a place among her hunters, under the exception that I keep my lineage a secret. I was eight, and I declined, partly because I didn't want to have that awkward "about to enter puberty but not quite ready to enter puberty yet" body forever, and mostly because it just isn't the life for me. I don't regret my decision in the slightest. However, she still insisted that I call myself a hunter, and not her daughter, unless I was around people I could trust. If Zeus discovered that she had broken her chaste... It wouldn't be good (even though, you know, he's broken his marriage vows with the stinkin' goddess of marriage an infinite number of times).

He laughed. It was deep and boisterous, yet menacing all at the same time. "So, what'd I do this time that's got Artemis all worked up again? Run over a raccoon on the highway?"

He was so taunting, I was tempted to grab the 15mm on the table next to me, scream, "Raccoons are people too!" and shoot him in the eye. Thankfully for him, and the Raccoon Independency Movement, I have better self control than that.

"That's not why I'm here," I took a firm stance, "We need information."

He shrugged, but even that was an offensive gesture, and said, "Name it."

"Two days ago, Scylla showed up in the Gulf of Mexico."

"So?"

"She's never there this time of year. And she was confrontational, and came close to shore."

"And?" He made a circular movement with his hands, urging me to get on with it, and I complied.

"And you know what caused this."

He sighed as if we were amusing him and leaned back against the wall. "Even if I did, why would I tell you?"

I didn't skip a beat. "Because you recently lost something, and we can bring it back to you for the price of the said information."

He seemed so stunned, it stunned me. "You know about the apple?"

Wow. I thought he was smarter than that.

If my memory serves me correctly, Eris started the Trojan War with a golden apple, marked for the fairest. Of course, all of the goddesses wanted the apple, but Aphrodite won the competition for it. She likely still has the apple, so if she gave to Ares (whom we all know she's cheating on Hephaestus with) for a short time, and he lost it, this could be just the leverage we need.

"Of course we know about the apple," I scoffed, "And we know where it is."

He gritted his teeth. "Fine. I'll come to you in four hours, have the apple ready for me my then, and I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Deal."

As I strode away, I flipped my hair over my shoulder. "I know, I'm amazing."

"Oh, yeah," Christine said sarcastically, "The only problem is that we have no idea where the apple is."

Kaden gave us a small, all-knowing smile that said it all. "I think I might."

Jack

"Hi."

I looked up from my English homework slowly. As my eyes fell upon the source of the voice, my pen involuntarily fell from my hand.

Standing before me, right in the middle of Kaden's kitchen, was a woman. It was clear from her features that she had once been beautiful, but was now quite the opposite. Her grey skin and stringy hair gave her the appearance of a walking corpse, and the blood dripping down her chin like hot sauce did not help the impression. She held a crushed pea-shooter nonchalantly in one of her gnarled hands.

"Sorry to startle you," she began, "the back door was unlocked. My name's Lamia. I just wanted to give you a fair warning before I eat all of the children of the household."

By: Elizabeth Pallan