Pat Twice

Chapter 2

Hades took a long drag of his cigar as he looked over his schedule for the day. Meetings all day, not a free second. He blew out the smoke as he sighed. It swirled around his head as he rubbed his brow. Another busy day, he thought. He held his cigar between his teeth, trying to think of the last time he had fun. Persephone flashed in front of his eyes, and a smile started to creep onto his face.

The door to his office slammed open and jolted him from his thoughts. Minthe stood there, holding a pile of papers and looking agitated. She walked up to the desk and dumped them in front of Hades.

"We aren't getting out on time today, that's for sure," she grumbled. Hades picked up a piece of paper and looked at her.

"What is this-."

"Paperwork from your brother, Zeus. Apparently, he wants us to go over every mortal that passed into the underworld from the past year. He says that he's looking a specific pattern or person or something. Anyway, we have to document them all by the end of the week. This is ridiculous," Hades stared at her and shook his head.

"My brother is demanding. I'll call him, see if we can get a longer time period to get this done. In the meantime, I want you to get a task force on this, make sure we have enough workers to get it done as quickly and smoothly as possible," Minthe put her hands on her hips and just sighed as a response. I'll take that as an okay. She walked around his desk to his side.

"Do you need anything else?" Hades asked, trying to keep his tone cool.

Hmmmm, I can think of a few things," she said softly, pulling at his collar and leaning in close.

"Minthe we're at work and I have meetings all day, my first one starting in 10 minutes. This is not appropriate-." She interrupted him by putting her lips on his. She held his face in her hands as he sat in his chair, feeling frozen.

Ever since Persephone came into his life everything had changed. He realized that he didn't love Minthe. That she would probably never love him. Before Persephone, he decided that love was not meant for him, that maybe he just wasn't worthy of feeling love and being loved. But with Persephone... he wanted to love her so deeply. But he couldn't. It wasn't right.

She doesn't need me, she's better off being far away from me. But Minthe, maybe she does need me.

Minthe pulled away and looked at Hades, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. She smiled, but it wasn't a smile filled with love. It was a smile that showed that she wanted him to lock the office door and throw her against the wall.

"Minthe, I meant what I said. I'm busy today," he said sternly. She rolled her eyes in response. She dropped her hands from his face and turned towards the door.

"Later tonight then. You owe me," she sauntered to the door as her hair swayed behind her. When Hades heard the door click shut, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Shit," he whispered under his breath. Between this new project from Zeus and keeping Minthe away, I think my hands are full. Hopefully the Goddess of Spring won't creep into my thoughts... too often.

"Hades stood from this desk, put out his cigar, grabbed his phone and headed for the door. Just as his hand was about to touch the handle, it swung open. Hecate stood there, ready to go to their first meeting.

"Morning, ready for out first terrible meeting of the day?" Hades' shoulders slumped a little.

"Let's go," he said, walking out of his office with Hecate by his side.

"Did Minthe brief you on the new fun project from my brother?"

Hecate's eyes glared up at him, "You act as if your assistant does her job? No, I haven't heard anything about a project. It sounds like it won't be fun?"

Hades rubbed the bridge of his nose as the rounded a corner, "He wants us to document every single mortal that's passed to the underworld from the last year. From the looks of what he sent over he wants more than just names. Birth dates, death dates, locations, family information, occupations, practically entire life stories. I have no idea why he wants this."

"Gods, your brother is the definition of entitled," Hecate opened the door to the first meeting and let Hades in first.

"I didn't even tell you the best part," he said as they sat down at the conference table, "we have one week." Hecate's head snapped towards him; her eyes full of fire.

"That's a funny joke," she said sarcastically. Hades just shrugged and turned his attention to the meeting. In the room was Minthe, Hermes, Thanatos, a few miscellaneous employees, and one empty seat near the end.

"Who isn't here?" Hades asked, craning his neck to look at everyone's face.

"That would be," Hecate shuffled her papers and looked at who was supposed to be there, "Persephone. She was supposed to sit in and observe her first conference meeting this morning. Did she call in sick?"

"I didn't hear anything from her. Minthe, did she call the main desk?" Hades turned towards his girlfriend, noticing her unsubtle mood improvement.

She flicked her hair off her shoulder and smiled back, "She must be skipping. She didn't call me this morning. Oh well, we can find a new intern."

"I don't think that will be necessary. Let's just start the meeting, maybe she'll-."

ATTENTION. INCOMING MESSAGE. ATTENTION. INCOMING MESSAGE.

Hades felt his blue cheeks become hot. He's always scolding everyone else for having their phones silenced during meetings, and now his was screaming at him about a message.

"That seems like a new ringtone?" Minthe chimed in casually.

Hades pulled his phone out of this pocket, "I just transitioned from a beeper for this feature. When someone hits the ground twice, I get a notification on my phone. I just didn't realize it would be so loud."

"I always wondered how that worked?" Hermes piped up. Hades unlocked his phone and looked at the god across the table.

"It just tells me location, person, and a vague description of what they need. I have to physically go to the location to know what's happening..." His voice trailed off as he read the notification.

PERSEPHONE, GODESS OF SPRING

AT THE HOME OF ARTEMIS, GODESS OF THE HUNT

MESSAGE: HELP

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