BLOOD MOON

F I F T E E N

Zephyr 

I led Sin down the dark hallways of the Castle, making sure that I took her down the scenic route instead of the route that would most likely haunt her nightmares and scar her for life. 

When we passed the huge panels of the ceiling to floor windows, she skidded to a halt. 

"Why are we in Las Vegas?" she gaped at the scenery of the iconic Las Vegas strip. 

I grinned, tapping her chin twice to let her know she was catching flies. 

"Our scenery changes depending on how much Sin there is in one area" I said "Currently, there's a lot of Sin going on in Las Vegas" 

"And how long does each scene last?" She asked. 

"It all really depends what's going on at that time" I shrugged "Sometimes sometimes days, sometimes weeks or even months. I think the longest time we've been in one place was like three years, which was unheard of before" 

"Where were you station?" she asked, curiosity lighting her tone "And why?" 

"Washington D.C." I snickered "Because...well.... you know" 

She snorted. 

"Anyways, Hades was so convinced that the Castle was broken, because he was convinced that their couldn't have been that much Sin going on and sick of looking at Washington, that he sent my brother to the topside to create some chaos in order to change our scenery" 

"And did it work?" 

I pointed to the Luxor hotel with a smirk "Obviously it did" 

"How was I supposed to know?" She shot me a dirty look "Besides, how is any of this possible?" 

"Hell is a parallel dimension to the Topside" I said calmly "The only real differences are the facts that there's much more fire down here and that the Sun never comes out" 

 "The Sun never comes out?" She glanced at me "Like ever?" 

I shook my head "Never" 

"That sucks" she said, looking down at the lost souls "Are those...people down there?" 

"Define the word 'People" I asked 

"Like living, breathing, human beings" she asked, staring at me with hope in her pretty emerald eyes. 

I winced internally "No" 

"Then what are they?" she asked "Because from my point of view, they look like they're living to me" 

I nudged her shoulder, indicating for her to follow me while we talked. 

"Hades gives souls that were taken before their time two options," I began "The first being that they can either live out their days doing whatever they want down here and the second option being that Hades would send them to their own personal Elysium" 

She gave me a questioning look and I clarified for her. 

"The Elysium is the place where souls go to finally get some peace" I explained "Each individual soul has a preference of what their 'Heaven' should be and therefore, it's Hades job to ensure that the reach that peace" 

"So Heaven doesn't really exist?" 

I glanced at her and she held my gaze. 

"It's all about interpretation" I said softly "Every culture has a 'Heaven' but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's up in the sky with pearly white gates guarding it" 

"Is it nice?" 

"Is what nice?" 

"Elysium" she asked "Is it nice?" 

I stayed silent for a few minutes before answering. 

"To be honest, I don't really know" I said, giving her a small smile "We haven't gotten any complaints so far" 

The corners of her mouth raised in a half smile. 

We continued to walk down the long hallway, each of us lost in our own thoughts. 

It wasn't until when we were right outside of Hades office did she speak up. 

"You've talked about the good souls" she said quietly "But where do the bad ones go?"

"I don't think that..." I trailed off when she gave me a look.

"Please?" she pleaded "I need to know" 

I sighed.

 "After their trial, when they found guilty by both Hades and the Council, they're sent to Gehenna Island and forced to live in eternal Perdition, reliving their crimes through their victims point of view over and over again" 

"So if they murdered people..." 

"They would be forced to live out those murders over and over again for the end of time" 

"But what if some sick freak enjoys that" she said in a disgusted tone "Reliving their murders all over again" 

"Gehenna gets creative" A familiar voice said from behind us "If for some reason the sick bastard likes reliving their horrible deeds, Gehenna takes their deepest and dark secrets, rips it out of them, and then amplifies it in order to break the person"

"What if the person doesn't have a deep and dark secret?" Sin asked, her eyes never straying from mine. 

"Everyone has a dark secret" the voice said "Some are just better at hiding it than others" 

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