Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Guardian of Love: The Origins ❯ The Intensity of New Emotions ( Chapter 23 )

Guardian of Love

The Origins

Chapter 23 - The Intensity of New Emotions

By Angel Love

 

Author's Notes: This is a glossing of the SS season, but more focused on things that are happening up in Olympus.

 

Warnings: A small steamy scene.

 

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Sailor Moon, the Greek Gods or any of the various characters that I have used to fashion them after. However, the Guardians are mine, please ask before you use them.

 

 

 

I sat alone in the middle of one of Aphrodite's large rooms, enjoying the sweet smell of the flowers that were growing along the vines on the pillars around me. I had come here because I really wanted a place that would remind me a bit of earth, and the flowers did that for me. I also needed the space to think away from the others. Ever since the scene with Rosely I was never left alone for longer than a few moments. Vega, Rose and Eros were constantly guarding over me, as if they were afraid that I could not behave myself and I would get myself into trouble once more.

 

Perhaps they were right, because I was finding it harder and harder not to challenge Rosely into doing something, instead of merely watching her senshi and telling us that the time was not right for any of us to act. Brenna's senshi had also lost their star seeds, although they had not given up without a horrible, very bloody fight. Still, despite their efforts, the Animates had fallen. It was only a matter of time before Vega's senshi were attacked or my own. I worried for both, but I had to admit that I worried more for my own. They were already going through a fight.

 

Helios had visited me in my dreams just the night before and told me of the happenings on Earth, even though I had already known that there was a battle going on. However, I had not known that Elusion had been attacked and he was being hunted, and his only means of escape were to hide in dreams. He could not tell me of whose dream that he was residing in out of fear of being discovered, but I did not need to ask. I already knew the answer lay within the small pink haired girl I now knew to be the future daughter of Serenity and Endymion. I could feel his love for her all over him and I knew that when she grew up that the match between them would last into eternity.

 

However, my mind was on more important things than Helios' future love life; it was focused on the fact that he had told me that the Amazon Quartet had been released from Elusion and given dark powers. They were now fighting for Neherenia.

 

I sighed deeply and lay back against the plush velvet cushion, staring up at the sweeping vines along the ceiling. How much more fighting would the senshi have to do? They had defeated Beryl; Alan and Ann, two misguided and lost teenagers who lived off a tree they called the Doom Tree; the Black Moon Family; Professor Tomoe, Mistress Nine and Pharaoh 90. Amazingly, through these battles they had also managed to defeat the small, but still very important battles with the Kisenian blossom, freeing Darien's childhood friend, Fiore, from its destructive powers. They stopped the Snow Queen Kaguya from freezing the Earth for a second time, the first attempt having been stopped by Queen Serenity not long before Beryl destroyed the Kingdom of the Moon.

 

Now they were fighting once more against Neherenia, who, like all the other enemies, wanted to take over the Earth starting with Elusion. They had already defeated the Amazon Trio, who were given back their original animal forms and set free. I knew that they would eventually free the Quartet as well, but I was seriously beginning to worry that another attack on the planet was going to come and overwhelm the already exhausted senshi, especially since the Outer senshi were now elsewhere on Earth and not helping the Inner Senshi with this battle.

 

“You look like something is troubling you greatly, Angel,” a soft tinkling voice said, causing me to jump and whirl around. Striding towards me noiselessly were Aphrodite and Ares. She gave me a soft smile and waved me to sit back down when I started to rise. “I know you came in here to get away from the others, so do not bother to apologize to me. I know that Eros can be a little much when he is determined to have things his way.” Her smile was soft as she sat across from me, her azure eyes watching me. “Why do you not tell me what is troubling you?”

 

I sighed softly and looked up to find Ares busy with making his lover her favorite drink, but it was obvious that he was still listening from the way he was still half turned towards us. I turned my eyes back on the beautiful Goddess of Love. “I am worried about the fate of my senshi. Their battles have had very few respites between them, and with these rogue senshi and Galaxia on the loose destroying everything within their paths...” My words trailed off, I did not need to finish, nor did I want to voice that I was afraid that I would watch them die again.

 

Aphrodite nodded her head slowly before she leaned her chin on her hand. “There are still Rose's senshi on Earth. I am sure they would come if the danger became so great that they were needed.”

 

I knew from the tone of her voice that she wanted to soothe me, that she wanted my worries to lesson for a little while anyways, but it had not worked. I rose from my position and began to slowly roam about the room, touching the soft petals of the flowers as I passed by them. “I know they would. I know Rose would make sure they went, but just because they are a little more powerful than mine does not mean they will be able to handle all of this.” I stopped and pulled a flower off one of the vines and stared at it for a long time.

 

“You usually give them a lot more credit than this,” Aphrodite chastised me softly. “Look at the battles they have won. That Moon Princess may not seem to be the best suited to be the leader of Sailor Soldiers, but she has amazing reserves and amazing power. She is more powerful than even you, and you could destroy this Golden senshi if you truly wished it.”

 

I frowned deeply and dropped the flower at my feet and moved away from the pillar back to the Goddess who had given me the powers to be a Guardian. “Even I am not sure if I could do it if she continues to gain power from all the stolen star seeds she has been gathering to her.” I glanced at Aphrodite, my frustration beginning to boil within me. “That is part of the problem. I have the power to do something right now before it is too late but I'm not allowed to do anything! Why did you make me a Guardian if all I can do is sit here and worry about my senshi? What is the point of knowing I can help if I can't?”

 

She sighed softly and gave me a sympathetic look. This had not been the first time she had heard these questions from me so she did not bother to give me the usual answer that she did, instead she merely looked at me. Nothing she could say would make me feel better; nothing could ease the frustration that had been building up and was about to explode within me.

 

I began to pace around where she was sitting. “Galaxia should not be allowed to just do whatever it is that she wants when there are people with the ability to stop her. It is not fair to the innocent lives that she is taking, or even the senshi who feel as if they have no other choice but to surrender to her. I do not even understand what possesses a person to do these things. These are living, breathing, feeling people that she is manipulating and destroying whenever she feels the whim!” I stopped and then whirled around to look at Ares, who arched one eyebrow at me, looking half surprised that I had turned to him but also half expecting what I was going to ask. “Why does she do this? Why does she want to make a war in which no one will survive? What is the point of this?”

 

He looked me right in the eyes, knowing that I needed to hear the truth. “She does this because she does not care about the lives she is taking. She does not feel the pain of their deaths or even the guilt of being the one that has ended them. She wants this war because it makes her feel powerful.”

 

I stared at him for a moment before I blinked my hazel eyes very slowly. “She wants to feel powerful? She's slaughtering planets because she wants power?” When he nodded his head once I felt a surge of disbelief move through me before it was followed by near rage. My lips thinned as I realized that I had known this all along, I just had not wanted to believe it. I had wanted there to be a better reason, when there had been none. Galaxia had to be stopped. I had to force Rosely to see this. There was only one way that I was going to be able to do that.

 

Before either of the gods could say anything I pulled out my rose quartz and transformed into Sailor Love. I flexed my wings on my back and twirled my staff with a grim look on my face, ready to confront what I would have to. I looked up when I heard Ares' steps. I raised my eyebrows in question when I found him right in front of me.

 

“What are you going to do, Angel?” he asked me quietly.

 

“I am going to do what should have been done when this started,” I said as I turned around and headed for the door. “I am going to make Rosely see that this has to be stopped, with or without force.”

 

I heard Aphrodite calling out my name but I didn't stop. I had one purpose in mind and I was going to do it, no matter what. I passed by a very startled Osmound and Brenna just before I threw open the door to Vega's chambers, already knowing that was where I would find Rosely. They were sitting very close together, looking like they were talking or something else but what that was I couldn't tell because Vega had jumped up the moment that I entered. “Angel? What's the matter?” he asked, hurrying to my side and trying to grab my hand to get my attention.

 

“I want a word with Rosely,” I said, looking straight into my leader's hazel eyes, “now.”

 

Two brown eyebrows slowly went up before she gave me a cool look and leaned back against the plush black leather of the sofa. “Whatever it is, I am sure it can wait until later. There is no need to get yourself all riled up the way you are.” Her eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement, almost in a way that was egging me to shove my staff in a place that would be entirely uncomfortable for her.

 

I growled low in my throat, ignoring the way Vega was trying to gently move me out of the room and instead I stood my ground. “This isn't going to wait. You've pushed all of us off to the side long enough. You are going to deal with this problem now!”

 

Her eyes narrowed just a little as I heard Vega hissing in my ear and his arm slipped around the front of my waist and he began pushing against me. “Don't do this, Angel. You need to calm down.” Rosely slowly rose and sauntered across the room, looking as if she was ignoring us both as she put one of his glasses on the counter and began to fix herself a drink. Vega grabbed onto my chin and forced me to turn my head in his direction, his black eyes were so full of pleading that for the briefest of seconds I felt the urge to listen to him as he continued a little more slowly. “Calm down, there is nothing that is so important that you need to do this. She isn't worth the pain that you will feel.”

 

I jerked my chin out of his hand just in time to see Rosely snap her eyes towards Vega, and I saw something dark flash through them. I knew that I should listen to him, challenging Rosely was stupid. She was stronger than I was, but I didn't really care as I pushed his arm roughly away from me and advanced towards my leader. “I don't need to calm down! I've had enough of sitting here, watching and waiting for Rosely to get off her butt and do something about her sailor scout.”

 

She put her drink aside and almost glared at me as I stood only a foot from her, my wings quivering from the anger coursing through me. “I have already warned you that you need to watch your place, Sailor Love. It is not your job to worry about what I am do...”

 

I cut her off savagely with a wave of Eros, which knocked her glass of the counter and sent it flying across the room, shattering when it hit the wall. “You aren't doing anything! There are people dying, Rosely! Innocent people are suffering! It is our job to protect them, yet you do nothing! I am not going to stand around any longer; I am going to make you do something about it now!”

 

Hazel eyes flashed dangerously as she looked at me before she shifted into her own Guardian form. She closed the rest of the distance between us, her voice low. “You are going to make me something about it? That sounds like a challenge, Sailor Love.”

 

Vega looked worriedly between us and he tried again to grab onto my hand to pull me from the room but I smacked it away with Eros, feeling just a little guilty when he jumped from the burn made from the contact between Eros and himself. Still he pleaded with me. “Think about what you are going to say, Angel!”

 

“It is a...” I started but I was cut off by a new male voice in the room, one that demanded complete attention.

 

“It is something that will wait until a later date,” Hades said, his violet eyes narrowed as he looked at the three of us in the room, his arms crossed over the broad chest covered with the black cloak. “I have come for the completion of our bargain, Angel.”

 

Rosely grabbed onto my arm in a bruising grip and I blinked in surprise since I had never seen her challenge Hades before, even her staff was sparking with energy. “We are in the middle of something. Whatever bargain you made with her will have to wait.”

 

Violet eyes narrowed dangerously and he moved into the room, standing next to me, mere inches from Rosely. I could almost feel the power radiating off of him as he worked to control the urge to just flatten Rosely into nothing. I knew the only reason why he did not is because he didn't want to have to deal with Hera's anger afterwards. “You cannot come between a deal set between myself and her. It does not matter whatever the two of you are doing. She belongs to me now.” There was a very unholy gleam to his eyes as he took another step, placing himself partially in front of me, causing Rosely to take a step back and release me. “A deal set between a God and a mortal, even an immortal is law. Anyone who tries to come between that law will result in death, immediate death. No matter whom they are.”

 

She went completely pale as she stared up at Hades, and her staff quivered in her hand until she took another step back away from him, clearly getting his meaning. He held up a hand and effectively silenced Rosely when she opened her mouth to speak. He put his hand on my arm and steered me out of the room and down the hall. As he willed it we stepped right into the underworld. It was only then that he let me go and strode through the dark area towards the place I knew his chambers were without saying anything to me.

 

I hurried to follow him as I slipped Eros in its safe place in my space pocket, noticing that no one seemed to be around. It was unusual that not even Cerberus was there to greet me. Still I followed in the wake of the black cloak, until we reached his chambers, a place filled with blood red silk covered couches and chairs, as well as black glass-like tables. It was then that he turned to me, making me nearly run right into him. “What do you think you were doing?” he demanded.

 

I blinked slowly at him before I crossed my arms and frowned up at him. “What do you think I was doing? I was going to get Rosely to do something about Galaxia.”

 

Hades scowled at me. “You were going to get yourself killed. You are not going to get her to do anything by challenging her. You know this. You are no where near stupid, Angel. I cannot believe that you would do something like that. I expected it from Rose before you.”

 

I gave him a dark look, my anger over the situation still burning through me. “Rose isn't stupid, Hades!” When he held up a conceding hand I jutted up my chin just a little and continued on, nearly slapping him with my wings when I moved around him towards the center of his chamber. “Something has to be done, Hades! Already so many lives have been lost. I am supposed to protect, but I cannot do anything because Hera says I'm not allowed to.”

 

He watched me silently for a moment before his head tilted just slightly to the side. “What has you so riled up, Angel? I know you have been worried and upset but I have never seen you in a rage like this.”

 

I knew he was giving me the chance to talk to him, and normally I would but at the moment I didn't want to be pacified, to be told that everything would be alright. I just wanted to go back up to Olympus and kick Rosely's butt until she saw what all of the rest of us saw. “Perhaps then you haven't been paying attention,” I snapped at him.

 

I knew I had gone too far, I had pushed Hades too much when I saw the dangerous light pass across his violet eyes. He grasped my arms and shook me once before suddenly he let me go. Magically he made a bucket filled with soap and water and a sponge to appear in his hands. He thrust them into mine. “Perhaps I should make you work off some of that angry energy and then you'll be ready to talk to me. You have to clean all of my chambers. I don't want to see a single spot when I return.”

 

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open as he strode away from me. “You can't be serious?!”

 

He just looked back at me once but I knew that he was very much so. He disappeared without another word and I sighed deeply and then grumbled under my breath about thinking twice before I strike another deal with a god. I swept my eyes around the room and then began my work. I scrubbed the floors and the walls, washed all of the linens and every bit of the furniture I found, getting my hands and knees covered in black grime, which I was sure I didn't want to know where it had come from. In the underworld, you found a lot of things that made you positive that you just didn't want to know.

 

Sometime during the few hours I spent scrubbing my anger had faded away and I realized that I had been fortunate that Hades had stepped in when he had. I was probably still in trouble for the way that I had so boldly gotten into Rosely's face but her anger too would not be as great when I finally returned to Olympus. After all of this cleaning though, I would probably sleep for the next few days. I was sore, cold and hungry, but as I was finally about to sit down, I felt a sense of relief and pride in both myself and my friend.

 

“Are you done?” Hades voice broke through my thoughts, causing me to jump and stand fully to look at him, wincing when my wing painfully smacked against the chair I had been about to sit on; I had not changed out of my senshi form because I had not wanted to get the dress I had been wearing before all dirty.

 

“Yes,” I began as I started to move towards him, “Hades, I wanted...” but he cut me off with holding up his hand, making me blink before my eyes narrowed my eyes when he began inspecting each and every room in his chamber.

 

“You missed a spot over there in the corner,” he said when the barest glance in my direction.

 

I looked a little sheepish and instantly went over to clean up the corner, only to frown when the sponge came up clean. I hadn't missed the spot, but before I could question him on what he had seen he was pointing out another spot that I had missed, and then another and another, finally ending with the corner of his bed had not been folded down properly. I fixed the end of the bed when he asked me if I had scrubbed every inch of under the bed. My eyes narrowed bit by bit as I looked slowly at him to find a smirk across his face and his eyes dancing with amusement.

 

“From that look I am guessing that you haven't,” he said in an almost lazy voice, crossing his arms over his chest. “When you are done with that I suggest you redo the table over there, I can see streaks.”

 

Scowling deeply I started to lower myself down to attempt to fit under the bed so I can scrub it, when I stilled at his comment on the streaks. I could have sworn I heard a snort of laughter and it sent that wave of irritation through me that made me grab the bucket of dirty soapy water and throw it at Hades. To my surprise it hit him, but he was also laughing fully now. I humphed at him when I saw that even if the bucket had hit him, when he took the sponge off his shoulder he was completely dry. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “Clean your own bedroom, Hades. I'm dirty, cold, sore and hungry, and now you are laughing at me!”

 

He couldn't seem to help but laugh more at my tantrum, but his eyes did soften when he swept them over my disheveled appearance. He reached up and pulled something out of my hair and tossed it away. I nearly came out of my skin and jumped into his arms when I saw it move, and he chuckled softly. “It was only a small spider that thought your beautiful hair would make a good home. Come with me, I have food waiting for you.”

 

My eyes narrowed suspiciously but I followed him anyways, my rumbling stomach wouldn't have allowed me to stay. “I am not sure I should accept any food from you.”

 

He blinked slowly at me and allowed me to catch up to walk beside him. “Why do you say that? I thought we were friends.”

 

I nodded my head but still shot him a suspicious glance. “We are friends, but I still know what you did to Persephone to get her to stay with you.”

 

He had the grace to look a little sheepish at the mention of how he had tricked his new auburn-haired lover into staying with him by getting her to eat the fruit of the underworld. “Eros brought this down from Olympus for you while you were busy cleaning, so I can assure you that there is no chance of you eating anything from here.” He gave me a look that for some reason had a shiver run up and down my spine. “Besides if I wanted to keep you here forever with me I would have stated that as the terms of our agreement, not just one day.”

 

My face felt hot as I felt the blush consume it completely. “I'm sorry, Hades.”

 

Hades waved a hand, dismissing my apology. He waited until we were sitting down and I was wiping my hands on the wet cloth he had placed down before he spoke. “Now do you want to tell me what had you so riled up earlier so that you were ready to challenge Rosely into a fight?”

 

I sighed deeply and looked up at him, taking the slice of cantaloupe he was offering to me. “I was just so angry. Helios visited me in my dreams last night. He told me of how the senshi are fairing, and he also told me that Chesna's senshi were stolen from Elusion and they are now fighting against Serena. He expressed his worry over them but he knew that I could not do anything about it; they are beyond Chesna's reach right now. We can't interfere with that battle anyhow.”

 

He nodded his head as he swallowed slowly, watching me in a way that I had grown used to him doing. “I am sure that princess of yours will handle things appropriately. She seems to be very much like you in her need to find the good in everyone. She'll see that they aren't truly bad.”

 

I sighed, my eyes on the table as I nodded. “I hope so, Hades. It would devastate Chesna for them to die now after all that we did so they would survive Galaxia's attack on her planet.” I wrinkled up my nose in anger as I thought about the reasons for this sailor war going on. I tossed down what was left of my food, no longer hungry and looked at Hades. “Is it true, Hades? Do people kill others senselessly because it makes them feel powerful?”

 

He watched me for a moment but instead of answering my question he asked one softly instead. “Who told you that?”

 

I blinked at him, not expecting him to ask that. “Ares did. I asked him why she was doing this, and he told me that's why she was. Is it true, Hades? Could all of this be happening just because she wants power?”

 

Hades frowned at me but his eyes remained soft. “I should have known that Ares had something to do with this.” When my mouth opened to ask him what he meant like that he gently put a finger to my lips. “Angel, he is the God of War, he likes to see conflicts. Didn't you think it was a little strange that he didn't try to stop you from confronting Rosely? He would tell you something like that just to see the results.”

 

My eyebrows slowly furrowed. “I don't understand. Are you saying that Ares lied to me just so that I would get into Rosely's face?”

 

Hades shook his head slowly. “I am not saying that he lied to you. However, that does not change the fact that he said exactly what he knew would get you riled up.” He put up a hand to stop me from defending Ares. “I know you like him, but he is the God of War, starting wars or encouraging them is what he does best.”

 

I shook my head in slight confusion. “You're the God of the Underworld, but you don't go around killing people.”

 

Hades slowly shook his head as he reached over and gently brushed one of my long ringlets of hair from my face. “You are so eager to see the good in everyone that you refuse to the bad. Neither Ares nor I are perfect, Angel. We do things that cause people pain.”

 

I wrinkled up my nose and gave him a slight look. “You are not evil, Hades, and neither is Ares. You just like to act tough.”

 

This caused him to laugh softly before he nodded behind him, causing me to turn and take notice of the two identical dark women waiting silently. “Go with them to clean up, Angel.” When I started to protest that I had long since stopped using any attendants to help me bath and dress he silenced me with a look. “Remember our deal, Angel. You are to do whatever I tell you to; even if that means allowing yourself to be subjected to the horrors of letting someone else care for all that glorious tangled hair of yours.”

 

He had the nerve to smirk at me when I glanced at my matted ankle-length hair and blushed. I nodded my head once to him and rose quietly whispering, “As you wish, Hades.” As I started walking away I could not help calling over my shoulder, “Do not eat all of the strawberries though,” making him chuckle softly.

 

Two hours later I was searching for Hades, cleaned and dressed in a long semi-tight cerulean satin dress, which had spaghetti straps made of spun gold, which also curved down to circle and encase both of my breasts in the bodice. My hair was pulled back in a twisting spiral of knotting curls from the top of the back of my head to the base, which was held by the purest of silver bands that circled around almost like a tiara, the stones of sapphire glittering brightly even in the darkened atmosphere. My rose quartz had attached itself as a stone in the middle of the circled gauntlet on my arm, one end showing my signia of double hearts and the other end bearing the symbol of Hades. My soft satin shoes barely made any noise as I passed through empty chambers until I saw Cerberus.

 

A smile made its way to my face as each of its large three heads rose and made noises of greeting at me. “Hello Cerberus,” I said softly as I crossed the large hall to the other side where he lay and began petting each head in turn. “Would you happen to know where your master is?”

 

The middle head nudged me softly while making a soft, almost whining sound just as a voice just behind me spoke, startling me a little. “He is right behind you, watching as Cerberus steals all of your sweet affection.”

 

I felt a blush heat up my face, although I wasn't quite sure why, this would not be the first time that I had heard Hades make a comment similar to this about my affection for the large three-headed dog. Perhaps it could have been the proximity that he was to me. I could feel the soft flutter of his clock against my leg where it was bared from the thigh-high slit. I turned my head slowly to look up at his face, finding his eyes fixed down at me. “He is not the only one that resides in the Underworld that I give my affection to.” When he lifted an eyebrow, my lips lifted in a teasing smile. “I happen to enjoy the company of Persephone quite well.”

 

Hades shot me a look that was a cross between exasperation and amusement before he shook his head and glided his hand down the middle of my back just where my wings would appear to rest at the small of it. The strange wave of physical emotions that went through me left me a little dizzy, making Hades quickly pull me to him and look down at me in concern as he turned me around. “Angel? Are you alright?”

 

I blinked slowly as my hands flattened on his chest, my heart beginning to pound so loud that I could hardly hear anything but it rapid rhythm within my breast. My eyes slowly turned up to his as I blinked very slowly again. There was something very strange going on within me, it felt like I had used too much ki in an attack and I had not blocked one of Osmound's blows from his hammer at the same time. “Hades...?”

 

Hades stared down into my face for what seemed like an eternity as the color of his violet eyes began to change before mine, making me blink again in confusion. As far as I knew I was the only one with the eyes that changed in colors this drastically. A heat began to fill my belly that I had never experienced before, and it only seemed to grow warmer as his arms tightened and then softened around me, until one of his hands was cupping my cheek as he continued to gaze down at me. Then very slowly, as if time had begun to work in slow motion, his head lowered to mine and his lips just barely brushed against me in the softest of kisses before something seemed to have exploded within him and he was claiming my mouth as if he were drinking my very essence.

 

He faintly tasted of something that was both sweet and spicy at the same time. For a brief moment the thought entered my mind that he must have eaten some ambrosia because I couldn't seem to get enough of it, ambrosia is after all both the food of the Gods and addicting to those who are not Gods. My head began to swim again when I felt my body getting nearly crushed up against his hard one and a low growling sound that I might be mistaken to call a moan issuing from the deep recesses of his throat. My hands began to grip every plane of his chest until they settled briefly on his sides and then moved up his back, tangling a bit with his hair.

 

The kiss ended abruptly as he pulled his mouth away from mine and stared down into my haze-filled eyes, his expression was too clouded to let me know just what he was thinking. I whispered his name softly, confused at the ache that was yearning inside me to both stay within the confines of his arms and run as fast as I could in the other direction. Something told me that there was something very wrong with the feelings being awakened within me, yet at the same time they felt so natural and true to be anything but right. How had I gone through centuries of living and never felt the breathless anxiousness that I was feeling just then, I will never know.

 

“You are so beautiful, so innocent,” he told me in a husky voice. “There have been many times that I have had to use self restraint around you.” His hands moved up to my hair and it seemed that it only took a flick of his wrist to make the band release my hair and it all began to tumble down my back and then on down to the floor since it had been pulled a bit straight to put it up.

 

My eyes threatened to flutter closed when he began to slowly trail his fingers through my hair but I forced myself to not look away from his face, wanting to understand what was happening. “Why?”

 

Hades' mouth twitched with a smirk before suddenly I was being lifted in the air as if I weighed nothing and I was being carried through his chambers. My eyes went a little wide as I wound my arms around his neck, even more confused by the intensity of the look now on his face. When he placed me down onto his bed, removed my shoes and then slowly moved to half lie next to me, he answered, “Because I knew that the moment that I touched you I would want to claim all of you.”

 

Once more I blinked at him in confusion. Why would Hades want to claim me? And what did he mean exactly by `claim'? Before I could ask him though, he was sliding his fingers slowly along the smooth skin of my leg, causing a strange sounding moan to issue from my lips and my breathing to quicken in the oddest ways. My hands began to move on their own accord right into his hair as he lowered his head to press kisses to my jaw and neck that seemed to sear right through me with the heat, making another strange pooling of heat to occur in other places in my body.

 

He murmured something about me having Aphrodite's charm as his hands began pushing up my dress to my hips, and I began reacting in the strangest ways. My body seemed to have suddenly grown a mind of its own as it softened against his and arched up wherever his hands went, demanding his attention. It was strange, mindlessly pleasurable to have his large hands sliding along caressing bare skin. Parts of me that had seemed to be so ordinary before were now tingling and sparkling as if there was magic in every little touch.

 

Before I knew what had happened, I was completely breathless as my nearly naked body screamed for something from Hades that I did not understand fully. He was clad in only his pants, hovering over me as his hands and mouth continued to roam and awaken every inch of me in a slow, torturous fashion. His hand covered the very center of the hottest part of my body, making me nearly scream although there was still a thin layer of silk between, causing him to pause and look down at me. “Angel,” he whispered softly as my dazed eyes met his.

 

Something in his expression made me blink as I struggled to regain my bearings just a little. I felt my eyes tear up, even though I had no idea why. I think it was because I was suddenly afraid that something was wrong, that I had done something wrong in my confusion over all the new waves of emotions running through me. “I... I've never...”

 

He smiled and shook his head, removing his hand slowly from my body, causing my words to halt as an intense wave of disappointment went through me, as well as this very unbelievably strong urge to make him return his hand. “I know you haven't. I know your innocence is mine to take right now as well.” When I blinked slowly at him, he smiled softly at me again and laid slowly down, the flesh of his chest doing strange things to my stomach as it brushed my arm. “I care for you too much to take it this way.”

 

I shook my head, grabbing onto his hand. “Hades, I am not sure I want you to stop. All of this feels so good; it's confusing but it still feels good.” The last part came with a blush that already had my flushed face burning from its heat.

 

Hades chuckled softly and kissed my hand. “Yes, I know. What you are feeling is lust.” He gave me a serious look. “I know that you want something you are not sure of right now, and I am not being conceited at all when I say that I know you want me right now.” He smirked as he saw the way my face flamed again when I bit my lip and nodded my head silently. The smirk left rather quickly though and his face turned serious once more. “I do not think that it is me whom you truly want though.”

 

I opened my mouth to ask Hades what he meant but suddenly I didn't really need to, I could see that he wanted me to find the answer of what I wanted by myself. I closed my eyes slowly and almost instantly the image that I had kept in my mind for the last two years sprang instantly to mind, my young man with midnight blue eyes and the most wonderful smile I had ever seen. I felt a wave of guilt move through me. I could not allow what Hades was doing to me.

 

Hades instantly pulled me close the moment he saw the way I wanted to cry, soothing my back. “Please, do not feel bad, Angel. I was taking advantage of your innocence. You did nothing wrong. You didn't betray him.”

 

A loud sniffle cut off the last of his words and I looked up at Hades slowly. “I don't want to be alone anymore, Hades. I want to be with him.” A large tear slid over his fingers on my cheek as I looked into his violet eyes. “I wish I could be with you but I can't... I just can't.”

 

He nodded his head and tenderly caressed my face. “I know you cannot. For the first time I understand just what Eros feels whenever he looks at you.” He sighed deeply and studied me as I looked at him in confusion, but he didn't make any motions that he would tell me what he had meant by that or what he wanted now.

 

Slowly I looked away from his face and shifted, stilling instantly when I felt something very hard press up against me. I may never have had any experience with the sort of situation that I was in but I did not need to be told what I had done to the God of the Underworld. I slowly looked at him again, seeing the intense look in his eyes, noting the slightly tense way that he held himself. I felt an immense rush of gratitude towards him. He could have continued and in my state of confusion and awe over what I had been feeling I would not have been able to stop him. “Thank you,” I whispered, “you are...”

 

Hades put a finger to my lips and smiled at me. “Please do not do something very human and tell me that I am a great guy and one of the best friends that you have. Just relax, Angel. I promise I will not take advantage of you if you just allow me to hold you while you are here with me.”

 

I looked at him for a moment before I nodded my head and allowed him to adjust us both in a more comfortable position with a blanket over the both of us. I felt a little odd being pressed against him in nothing more than lingerie, but he continued to sooth me with gentle fingers through my hair. It was not long after that my exhaustion took over my body and I fell into a deep sleep filled with dreams of midnight eyes begging for my help and Eros' voice telling me that my time was soon coming. What that meant, I was not sure of until some time later.

 

To be continued...