After discovering she's a descendant of Hades, Avery must find a way to escape those hunting her and ultimately choose between her two opposing soulmates.
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Once Avery Stavros...
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"I AM SO GLAD YOU'RE FINALLY ABLE TO REMEMBER. I thought I'd need to pull something stronger." He let me go and snapped his finger. In split seconds, the chair I was sitting in turned into a stretched leather couch.
I took a seat and put my hands on my lap. "What happened, Papa?" I glanced up and watched his face filled with affection. He was the only one who cared about me when everyone else on earth tried to kill me. Sometimes I hated how I had to survive another life on earth before coming here for what felt like a few days before having to be reborn back to earth. It was an endless cycle of torture.
I begged Papa not to send me back, but I was the only one left. The other Stavros has been killed by humans. It brought so much chaos since people started killing anyone who had a click with Stavros. So much blood was spilled, and people were killed. Until Zeus finally had enough and used his Lightning Bolt to destroy those poor souls. He erased their existence so that there wouldn't be any Stavros on earth.
My Papa loved me so much that he begged Zeus to spare my soul. The Lord of The Sky agreed but in return, Papa could never step a foot on Olympus ever again.
Sometimes a part of me blamed myself for him being kicked out but he always insisted that he didn't belong there anyway. He was the eldest son of Kronos but he had to live away from all his brothers and sisters. I always felt that it was unfair.
Although I called him Papa, I wasn't his child. Persephone wasn't my mother either. I was Androgynous and just like the others, I had a soulmate: my other half.
Though my soulmate always reincarnated into many different persons under different families, I could always find them. They were the only thing that made my life on earth more bearable.
"Someone shot you," I heard the sadness in his voice. How Stavros was treated by others on earth always pained him. We were hunted like animals, even before the great massacre happened. "I'm glad you're here, my dear. Though it always pains me to bring your memory back, to let you remember all those pain and agony."
I put my hand on his. "Don't worry, Papa. I'm strong, I can handle it. After all, I'm your daughter, right?"
He smiled and pulled me into another hug. I stayed there for a few minutes, feeling his hand rubbing my back gently. I truly missed this, I missed being here —away from earth and those awful people who tried to hunt me down.
"Come on, tell me, how was the earth?" He helped me up and walked beside me to the dining hall. We always talked about my life on earth over a meal whenever I went back. "How was your lover this time? That Ambrosia kid. Did he treat you well?"
I stopped. "Who?"
Hades looked at me with amusement on his face. "Oh, now you don't want to share stories about your boyfriends with your father? Okay, I get it, Isabel. Maybe that Vladimir kid is different than the others before him." He gave me a wink but I couldn't share his humor as I had no idea what he was talking about.
Still looking at him with confusion, I decided to ask, "Who's Vladimir?"
* * *
HE LOOKED AT ME as if he was expecting me to say something. His eyes were as green as the damped grass after the rain, penetrating me with his gaze. Black curls fell upon his forehead. He didn't strike me as a messy person however his five o'clock shadow showed otherwise. And so did the white disheveled shirt he was wearing. But again, none of them mattered, all of them were nothing compared to the look he gave me.
For a moment I thought he'd be standing there, admiring the view of my dad's garden like I was, but he took a step toward me. One more step, and before I knew it he was standing right in front of me, looking down at me from his lofty height.
"I believe you're trespassing, Sir," I took a step back to distance myself from him. I wasn't sure what it was but I knew I'd be in great danger if I remained close to him.
The corners of his mouth quirked up, forming a genuinely attractive smile, one that made my heart skip a beat. He was a criminal, Isabella, stay firm and hold your ground!
"If you're not going to leave, then you left me no choice but to call the guards," I clasped my hands together and placed them right above my chest, trying to calm my beating heart.
The stranger did not move, nor did he say anything. At least not until I unclasped my hand and reached into the pocket of my evening gown. His hands took mine by surprise, squeezing it ever so lightly that sent shivers through my skin. "What, what are you doing?" I tried not to sound scared but failed miserably to do so.
"Avy, you must remember!" There was urgency in his voice laced with frustration. "Don't you know who I am? It's me, Vlad! You're not forgetting me, are you? Please come back, come with me. I need you. Please, Avy."
"You're mistaken, I'm Lady Isabella Stavros," I tried to pull my hands off his grasp but he was too strong. "Now, let me go, or else I'll have my father order the hellhound to ravish your flesh."
"Avy, please, please, please," pleaded him. His eyes were now glistening with tears. The look on his face was so sad that for a split second I was tempted to pull him into an embrace to lessen his pain. However, he was wrong. I was not Avy, or whoever he just called me. I was Lady Isabella Stavros and I was right where I was. With all my strength, I pulled myself free from him and at the same time awakened my restless body.
I blinked a few times before saying, "Pháos." The lamp on my bedside table turned on, giving me just enough light to see myself. I was drenched in sweat and my whole body was shaking. It was nothing compared to the ache I felt deep in my heart.
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