When Darkness Met Her

A Nightmare

Hades walked carefully down the hallway with Persephone in his arms sleeping soundly. He had used some of his power to calm her mind and body, for both were shaken by whatever thing she had seen roaming around in Dionysus's gardens. He had informed the god right before they left of something amiss but wouldn't say what because, well, he himself didn't know. Anytime Persephone tried to describe it though her body began to shake uncontrollably. It was just best to leave it and let Dionysus investigate. Right now he needed to be dutiful husband.

He walked towards the room Persephone had decided to lodge in, just a couple doors down from his very own room and suddenly realized if she would just like to stay in his room for the night...

No. That was just asking for trouble. Especially after the kiss they had both shared. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea if she already hadn't.

Slowly he willed the door open and walked carefully to the bedside. Gently he laid her down where her curved frame tucked itself in, her knees going up to her chest as her hands wrapped in towards her neck. She looked like a flower ready to blossom, her petals almost ready to bloom but almost too scared to go through with it.

Hades thought again if he should make her more comfortable by changing her out of the dress she wore, but that again was asking for trouble should she awake. It wasn't like he didn't lust after her, he had spent many a century thinking about the way she might look as her eyes stared up at him as he touched her in the darkest most secret of places, hearing her short breathe as he kissed her skin that had probably never seen daylight, or feel her body beneath his as he took her whole...

He gave himself another hard mental slap for even thinking that way. If Persephone had known what a dark, manipulative person she had married, she never would have agreed to eat that pomegranate.

No. If he should be with Persephone, it would be from her own free will. He would give her the choice, just as he always had, for no creature of such inner beauty and kindness should be kept in a cage or forced into submission. No, if Persephone were to be his, it would only be if she allowed him to possess her.

Quietly he crept out of the room and walked towards his own, spent from the day of trying to be a good husband. He had successfully convinced Dionysus to get on their side, and he would take care of all those under him to sway to their needs, but it was going to be harder to convince the others, especially Hera herself seeing as how Persephone was a child of her husbands affairs. But maybe he could convince her by using the fact that Demeter would be unhappy, the queen did like having her husbands flings in constant misery.

Sighing he closed his door behind him, the dark marbled floors cold beneath his feet as his dark ebony bed called his name. He threw off his jacket and shirt while dropping his pants to the floor as he crawled steadily into bed. This was his sanctuary, no matter what crazy thing had gone on during the day, at night this was his home. Everybody in the Underworld knew that even if they made it to the House of Hades, they were never to disturb the King while he slept.

As he stretched out in bed the muscles in his body began to relax after being tensed all day from either holding back or stressing out. Being around his wife changed the Dark Lord in ways he wasn't sure he liked. He wanted to make her happy yes, but he also wanted to remain himself. He couldn't keep up this act of doting husband for too long, soon he would need to fuel his own desires and needs and that's when Persephone needed to be gone.

Suddenly that kiss popped in his head again and a deep wanting raced through his veins like fire as he tried to stop the raging hard on that had suddenly come from nowhere.

"Absolutely not" he hissed at himself trying to shake the memory away "No fucking way."

But his mind refused to let go of the way her body had pressed against him, the way she had smelled as her lips had refused to leave his, her hands on his body...

"Oh for Gaea's sake!" he said rolling over trying to press his body against the bed to calm it down. This was no good, no good at all. He needed some air, maybe a stroll around the forest or maybe a good drink with one of the Cyclopes.

The only trouble was that he was afraid if he left he wouldn't make it past Persephone's room...

**************************************

Persephone was back in the garden maze, only this time the sky was the color of fire as flames and screams echoed out around her. She felt the sweat on her skin as panic raced through, she knew she was supposed to be finding something...someone...

"Hades!" she cried out suddenly, her feet running through the maze like the wind "Hades! Where are you!?"

The bushes and the flowers around her now where either blackened from fire or wilting in death as she stopped to try and find her bearings. She swore she could hear him in the distance, calling her name through the screams and cries from others who were trapped in the maze. She was so lost, and it was so hot, the flames in the distance making the air hot and thick to breathe through. But she kept moving, kept calling out his name...

"You thought you could run didn't you little goddess?" a voice hissed from behind her.

Persephone turned, her eyes wide and full of terror as she stood face to face with a hooded creature, not the same that had chased her through the maze before...but something more...evil.

"There's no where left to go" it said darkly. Persephone tried to turn away but a sudden wave of flames burned through the bushes blocking her in with the creature.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"I am the darkness, the terror in every god and mortal's heart, I am the dark thing that crawled from Gaea and smite all that I see, I am everything and I am all, and you will know my name"

Persephone watched as it's dark hand lifted from the cloak it wore and Persephone saw the scales that covered it's hands and the long sharp claws that peeled back the hood.

She felt her scream come up from her chest and echo out through her mouth, but silence followed as she saw what was beneath the hood...

Persephone shot out of bed screaming her lungs out as a cold sweat covered her body. Without thinking she raced out of bed, her feet slamming against the cold marble as she pounded down the hall and burst through Hades's bedroom door crying.

Hades had heard the scream but did not expect the hysterical Persephone to come running into his room and crawling into his bed like a scared child.

"What the-" he began but knew that his mouth should remain silent as Persephone clung to him shaking, her face covered in tears as she held him tightly.

In stutters and shakes she described the horrible dream, the way the flames had heated her skin and the way that creature had looked at her. Hades tried to chalk it all up to a bad dream, but the creature Persephone described sounded familiar. He could see why she was terrified and held her close.

"It was only a dream" he whispered as his hands ran through her hair "It wasn't real. We are here, we are safe."

"I was so scared" she said softly "I thought I'd lost you."

"You'll never lose me" he said quietly "Not in a thousand years."

Persephone stilled at his words, the way they sounded so true and honest and strange coming from Hades.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" Persephone said looking up at him "I don't want to go back to my room just yet."

Hades felt frozen as she stared up at him, hesitant and wanting Persephone to go back to her own room. But steadily he nodded his head and she crawled under the covers next to him, her body scooting over to his as her breathing grew calm and collected.

Hades though, was anything but, his body coming alive at the mere touch of hers, her intoxicating scent enveloping him and awakening feelings deep inside of him. But like a rock, he remained respectful and cool, his arm only casually laying against her body as she fell into a deep sleep. It was definitely going to be a long, long night for the King of the Underworld...