Snow White: Part 1

[Ayo]

Shit, shit, shit.

My heavy black Harley boots thumped against the cobblestones as I rounded a corner sharply and took off for another alleyway that was wedged between a brothel and a soup kitchen, ducking under a clothing line and doing a quick spin out of the way to duck into a doorway, breathing hard as I pressed myself flat against the entryway.

I held my breath a moment later, sensing the force chasing me moving down the street. I watched two men sprint past my hiding spot, moving right on down the alleyway toward the main street that led out of the redlight district. I waited a good five minutes after they had passed before I sighed in relief, reaching up to wipe sweat from my face.

That was close. Too close.

I reached into the black pouch that hung on the left side of my holster, then drew out a handful of ancient silver coins that glittered in the neon lights hanging from the brothel around me. The coins were double-sided with the image of a weeping willow on one side and the image of two crescent moons with a star on the other. The ancient powerful coins were more than just valuable pieces of silver, but had the ability to summon one of most powerful creatures in the known realms.

An Atlantean god named Xenon, god of rebirth. I'd heard most of his coins had disappeared in the past few decades, but a gang in the redlight district had been spreading rumors about having obtained a chestful of them. While they'd definitely been exaggerating, these were the most I'd ever seen. Eight of them, all glittering in my hand and would probably kill me if the gang found me.

They weren't my gang. They were a gang I'd dealt with before, one my parents would murder me over if they ever found out.

The Phoenix Pirates gang was infamous in Styx for human trafficking and collecting the rarest and most expensive of items that they normally sold on the black market down here. I'd bought a couple vials of opium from them before and managed to get my hands on a small baggy of medical marijuana for a friend once, but I hated dealing with them. They were a group of scruffy looking pirates is what they were.

And their leader was the worst. A huge mountain of a man with eerie gold eyes, the left side of his head shaved while the right was a waterfall of long straight black hair. Tribal tattoos from every culture I've ever heard of, and a few I haven't, marked his dark skin from head to toe, and he had enough muscle mass to give even my dad a run for his money. Almost anyway.

He was the worst. A flirty weirdo with a brain that Hades would love to dissect and an enigmatic mask that he tore off whenever he managed to get a hold of me. I shuddered to think what he'd do if he found out I'd been the one to run off with his coins. Normally, I would've bought the damn things off him, but the price he was asking was ridiculous and I'd have to ask my parents for the money and that would lead to a whole other war to be fought.

And right now, they couldn't be bothered with my problems, not with their new kids, Holly and Keros. A wave of bitterness swept over me as I slumped against the wall behind me, frowning down at the coins in my palm.

I didn't hate the twins, not really. It was too hard to hate innocent faces like that.

I just hated the fact that I hated the situation. I used to be able to follow Blaine all the time and I could talk to him about just about everything. Now, I couldn't even get him to come downstairs to make breakfast and because my cooking sucked, I'd had to eat city food for a while on money Cerberus had lobbed at me to make me go away when I harassed him for it earlier this month.

Basically, I didn't have time for them and they didn't have time for me. I was at the point in my life where I didn't really need them, and I shouldn't want them either. So it was time to focus on my life, not theirs. No matter how much it pissed me off.

I took a deep breath and pocketed the coins, moving out from my hiding place to take off in the opposite direction to go deeper into the redlight district when someone grabbed me from behind and hoisted me up off my feet, locking my arms behind me. Before I could even protest, someone came around and jammed their fist up into my solar plexus. I choked and gasped, coughing when I was thrown to the ground and a cloth clamped over my mouth and nose. I instinctively held my breath, but I couldn't do it for long when a steel-toed boot rammed into my ribcage and I sucked in a sharp breath of sweet poison and I was out like a light.

I woke up to a horrible throbbing in the back of my skull and an ache in my ribs. Even worse was the heavy scent of smoke, ash, and burning whatever, indicating I was in one of the old foundries out near the border between redlight and slums. I tried to move my body, but it took me a moment to realize I was strapped to something. I cursed under my breath and managed to blink my eyes open, staring down at a cement floor.

I slowly lifted my eyes to see several ragged sofas laying around, occupied with steampunk pirates, who were either doing drugs or flipping through pamphlets or just chatting like they weren't even holding me prisoner. A stereo was set up on a barrel, playing some exotic combination of dubstep, techno, and mystical tunes blended in a unique badass track. And normally, I'd be admiring the sound, but normally I wasn't strapped to a metal chair by one of the most ruthless gangs in Styx, so.

You know.

"Look who's awake," One of the pirates said suddenly with a deep chuckle, rising off the sofa and approaching me, "I was wondering if we'd given you too much." I peered up at him and recognized him as the guy who sold me the opium.

"Raine. Fancy meeting you here." I muttered, voice hoarse. Raine just cut me a menacing smirk, which was made all the more freaky with his eyepatch and glowing red eye. He was another tall buff freak of nature with numerous tattoos and a choke collar and enough leather to put my dad to shame.

"You're lucky I didn't just break your skull open when I had the chance." He told me, reaching out to lace his fist in my hair, clenching tight and jerking my head back. I hissed and bared my fangs at him, which he returned by baring his own fangs back at me.

"You were stupid to bring me here." I seethed through clenched teeth, squirming my hands against the ropes twisted around my arms and down onto the chair. Raine smirked, giving my hair another ruthless tug as he got in my face.

"Oh yeah, and why's that? Gonna call daddy to come save you?" He mocked. I narrowed my eyes and bashed my skull against his and he snarled, stepping back to cup his forehead before he started for me. I prepared to send a fireball hurdling at his face, but a huge sweep of ice shot across the floor and Raine went rigid on the other side of the path between us. I cursed and ran my eyes along the rock hard ice that led to a dark corner of the room we were in.

"Kid don't need his daddy to protect him, Rai. Back down, cowboy." A deep gravelly voice commanded. I clenched my teeth and said nothing as I watched their leader step from the shadows like some bad guy in a shitty B-movie. Although, nothing about the ice demon was shitty physically. He was definitely the most intimidating creature in the room, and all his cronies shot to their feet the moment he made his presence known.

Towering at a good six foot six with sleek black hair on one side, tattoos laced across chocolate skin, leather pants hugged long muscular legs and a black t-shirt with slices through through it all the way up to the webbed, low-cut collar all under a black leather jacket that hung down to his knees, the leader of the Phoenix Pirates, King, approached me with long confident strides and a wicked smirk.

"Nice seeing you again," He greeted me casually, waving his hand to melt the ice so he could stand before me and I had to crane my neck to glare up at him, "I was beginning to think fate would never bring us back together again, but you made the fortunate decision to try and steal some of my merchandise."

"Borrowing it." I inputed flatly and King laughed.

"Oh, borrowing it? Last I heard, these are one time only coins."

"You had eight of them."

"And you took them," King responded, then leaned down to get near my face, "But my boys returned them to me, so I guess there's not too much of a problem here. At least I got to see you again. Last time, you took off out of here like the devil was on your heels." I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think Lucifer would mean me any harm." I answered. King smirked, leaning back and putting his hands on his hips to give me a once over with a hot golden stare that gave me chills.

I wasn't normally attracted to people. It just wasn't in my nature to care about it. Oh, I'd gone on a few dates, but mostly in high school and middle school when the word no hadn't been part of my vocabulary. Now I could confidently say I didn't need this bullshit in my life. Not a man, not a woman, no one. I only needed myself. And King may be one of the first people that gave me chills and something to actually fantasize about, but he was also a fucking pirate.

"What should I do with you," King wondered aloud, scanning the faces of his members, who grinned wickedly at him as he turned back to me, "Should I just sell you off to some merchant and let him take you across the border to avoid the abolished slave laws here? Or maybe I can just take you out on a date and keep you for myself?"

"Gag me with a cattleprod," I sneered at him, "You guys are idiots if you think this foundry was a good idea to house me in." King laughed at that.

"Why? Because you'll summon the dark flames of hell on us?" He challenged. I started to show him just how freaked out he should be, but the moment I moved my fingers to snap them to spark flames, cold ice engulfed my hands and I resisted the urge to scream in pain. I managed to gasp hard instead, hunching over and clenching my teeth as agony flooded my arms. The ice was so cold that it burned. I could already feel my blood flow slowing and I choked in pain. A second later, the ice crackled off my hands and shattered to the floor. I sucked in a deep breath of relief, flexing my fingers as best I could.

"I'd like to see you set this place on fire." King dared, coming forward to put his hands on both the arms of the chair, getting in close to my face. I seethed angrily. I wanted to melt the smirk right off his face. But for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was always raised to fight defensively, not to start anything.

"I'll set your pants on fire, prick, if you don't get outta my face." I warned him. King leaned in closer and this time, I could feel his breath against my face. I could smell the hot scent of ashes and a rich cologne. He leaned in closer, brushing his nose along my cheek and I tried to cringe away in disgust, but I suddenly found myself staring at his throat. It was right in front of my face. I glanced out the corner of my eye at him as he brushed his nose against my hair and took a deep breath, like he was sniffing me. I curled my lip and bared my fangs, lunging in to snap my fangs into his throat, but he recoiled instantly and reached out, grabbing me by the head to push it back so I was glaring up at him again.

"I'll cut you a deal, little demon," He said, making me scoff, "You can keep your precious coins, if you get me something of equal or greater value." I laughed before I snapped at his hand, which he yanked back before I could bite him.

"I don't make deals with pirates." I sneered. King shrugged.

"That's fine then. I don't mind. I can always sell you. But I think you'd be more cooperative if I just made you into a nice naked sculpture, huh?" He asked, turning to look at one of his men, who stepped forward. My eyes widened at that. Yeah, no fucking way I was about to become someone's ice sculpture. I snarled at the guy who had moved toward me and quickly looked at King.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" I demanded.

"Aside from your cute little tush in my bed," King drawled, to which I responded by spitting at him, which only made him laugh before his expression became a bit more serious, "It would seem that your daddies have something that belongs to me." I stared at him.

"What could they possibly have that you want?"

"A dagger," King stated, making me narrow my eyes, "It's Atlantean." My eyes widened again. Was he seriously talking about that dagger? It'd gone through so many forms, it was a miracle he even knew it was a dagger again. The dagger was made of Atlantean gold, forged in the bowels of the Atlantean underworld, and could severely incapacitate someone of god blood. In particular, it had once been smelted into a goblet that had been used against my father, Cerberus, by my other father, Blaine. If it wasn't for Hades, Cerberus would still be unconscious even to this day. It was nicknamed the Snow White because of its effect. It wasn't meant to kill; it was meant to torture. And nothing was more torturous than being trapped in your body for all eternity.

"Why the fuck do you need that?" I asked warily. King's eyes glowed.

"A client of mine needs it and offered me something very, very important in return for it." He answered. I narrowed my eyes.

"Your client wouldn't happen to be named Ashter, would he?" I asked. King made a zipping motion across his lips and pretended to toss it away, shrugging innocently. I resisted the urge to murder him on the spot, which unfortunately wasn't very hard to do.

That dagger was dangerous. It'd been bounced around so much that it was a miracle King even knew who had it. It went from Hades to his son, Zelios, to Ashter, who tried to give it over to Xenon for safe keeping, but Xenon said the thing gave him nightmares, so he gave it to Cerberus.

Now, the ornate golden dagger with a ruby inlaid handle was on display in our den above the mantle. It was covered with a glass box and a booby-trap that would fling the dagger straight out of the box and into the heart of anyone who tried to take it.

"I can't get it," I seethed at last, and King gave me an expression of irritation, to which I replied with a snarl, "I can't! It's booby-trapped. The moment I touch the case, it'll bring the dagger into my chest. There's no way I can get it without getting hit." King shrugged.

"Oh well, then. Hope you enjoy life as a centerpiece." He said, waving his hand at me. Ice shot across the floor and crept onto my boots. I hissed and kicked at it, trying to break it, but it moved fast and wrapped around my legs up to my knees and I groaned.

"All right! All right, stop! Wait!" I shouted. King smirked and swept his hand back, recoiling the ice. I panted hard against the burning pain in my legs, peering up at King angrily.

"I might be able to do it," I said at last, glaring at him, "But I'll need some help." King gave me a look of mock surprise.

"You're asking for my help? I'm flattered."

"Shut the fuck up. I just need your help to get the dagger. You can take it and leave me alone forever."

"Probably not forever, but you know, for a week or so before I have to recharge on seeing your beautiful face every day."

"Ugh." I grunted in disgust. King smirked and waved his hands. Ice crept onto the ropes around my hands before they snapped off and fell to the floor with little glass tinkling sounds. I rubbed at my sore arms, rising to my feet. King stood in front of me, towering a good foot over me.

"Before we head out, I have some quick business to attend to that I would like you to accompany me to do." He told me as he nodded to his cronies, who nodded and seemed to depart, taking their boombox and whatever other garbage they had brought with them. King gestured for me to follow him, and not wanting to become an ice statue and kind of curious about his business, I followed him as he led me to a door in the corner of the room. He held the door open for me and I shot him a dirty look, walking outside into the unpleasant slums. The rancid stench of smoke, oil, and dead fish swept around me, making me miss the stench of the foundry.

King didn't say a word to me as he walked past me and led me across the opening courtyard between the foundry and a metal fence that separated it from the rest of the slums. We hopped the fence and made our way to one of the many winding alleyways that made up the slums.

"What business do you have?" I asked when King said nothing. He just walked along beside me with his hands in the pockets of his jacket, his head held high and proud.

"I don't think that's any of your business, yet," King added when I glared at him, "It's just an errand that I would've run earlier, but I was alerted that a rat had gotten into my stash." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm surprised your brats didn't catch me sooner." I replied snidely. King chuckled, taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one up. He offered me the pack, and I almost declined, then changed my mind and accepted one. He started to light it up for me, but I just snapped my fingers and lit the end of the cigarette, watching King smirk before he blew out a stream of smoke.

"We weren't expecting a theft from the son of Lord Cerberus." He answered. I tensed, shooting him a glare.

"I'm my own person."

"But you'll never be able to duck out from behind the shadow of a do-gooder like Cerberus."

"Oh, please. I don't know what you've heard, but Cerberus is so far from a do-gooder, he's still feared in cultures in the mortal realm today."

"They wouldn't be if they'd found out Cerberus now had two children and a husband-- Oh, I'm sorry, three children." King tacked on. I glared at him, but didn't take his attempt to bait me into an argument. He'd use it as an excuse to get me worked up so he could use it to his advantage, meaning that his little errand wasn't a peace mission. Not that I expected it to be.

But his words renosated in my head, because he wasn't entirely wrong. While Cerberus and Blaine had raised me and been the best damn parents anyone could ask for, there was still that gap between them and me that nothing could fill and the fact that they just had new kids made the gap lengthen, and deepen to the point where I'm sure they wouldn't even notice if I came home at all.

It gave me a bitter taste in my mouth to think like that, but I couldn't help it. I could try and purge it as much as I wanted and pretend that everything was fine and dandy, but there was still a cold void that reminded me constantly that I wasn't really the son of Cerberus and Blaine. I was just a charity case they swept off the streets and babied for a few years. I could never really be their son, no matter what. And it stung. I had hoped to talk to Leon about it for a while there, but he'd gotten engaged to Kat some years ago and now they were married and always busy. I rarely saw Leon anymore, a complete turn around from when I'd been a kid and he was around every corner in the house.

An ache started in my chest and I swallowed against it, taking in a deep breath of smoke, letting it crisp my lungs before I breathed it out in a thin stream, savoring the warmth it provided for a cold chest.

"That was a dick move," King said after a while, making me frown at him as he flicked his cigarette onto the ground and smashed it with the heel of his boot as we walked, "I shouldn't have brought it up." I raised an eyebrow.

"You actually apologizing for hurting lil' ol' me?" I asked, batting my lashes for emphasis. King smirked at me, pocketing his hands again.

"We both know I wasn't actually going to turn you into a sculpture, right? I have an image to keep. If I faltered for a second, one of the boys would've cut my balls off and nailed them to my forehead."

"Aw, poor you."

"Poor me," King echoed, then looked at me curiously, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I touched a nerve with the parent thing," King replied, "I tend to forget that I'm not actually a dick half the time. Once you go black, you never go back." I laughed at his terrible joke and put out my cigarette, tossing it to the ground before giving him a look.

"Don't worry about it. You were just telling me something I already knew. No damage done." I told him. Something flickered in King's eyes at that, and I saw him open his mouth, then he seemed to think better of it and went silent.

It was this part of King that made him bearable. He was only a douchebag most of the time because he had to keep up appearances. His gang would turn on him if they thought for one second he wasn't capable of being ruthless, and while I thought it was all stupid, it was the only family King had and he'd hold onto it if it meant treating everyone else like crap, including me. We weren't exactly friends, but more like kindred spirits or something.

King had been bounced around the foster care system for years before he broke out and lived on the streets. It was when he was eighteen that he managed to gather enough followers to start the Phoenix Pirates. For centuries, they'd been hitting up antique shops, art galleries, museums, any place with something of value. It was only recently in the past decade that they had gotten involved with drugs, something that King didn't want to do, but his customers did, so he really didn't have a choice if he wanted to keep living the good life in the rich part of the city.

We finally approached what appeared to be a brothel on the other side of the slums. King walked right in through the back without a care in the world, and I followed close behind him, frowning. We entered a short hallway in the back of the building that led to a restroom and a large kitchen that was warm with the smell of food and a woman was working over the sweaty pots with a look of agony on her face.

"Stay here and keep an eye out." King commanded me at the doorway. I said nothing, and leaned on the doorframe, glancing over my shoulder curiously as King approached the petite older woman and withdrew a small bag of something out of his pocket.

"Here, sorry I'm late. Ran into some trouble." He told the woman in a low voice. The woman looked tearfully relieved at the baggy as she clutched it in her hands with King's between them.

"Think nothin' of it, hun. Thank you." She passed a kiss over his knuckles and patted his hand before she turned to get a glass of water to take the pills. I frowned, then watched King curiously as he came over and grabbed me by the back of the neck gently, leading me out of the brothel and out into the smelly slum air.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Pain killers," King answered, "She's on her last legs at that place, but she needs the cash. It's just a pick-me up until she can get to a real doctor." I frowned, but said nothing else as King headed down the street and I followed close behind him.

That was the cheesiest fucking thing in the world. A big badass like him giving pain pills to an old lady? Talk about B-movie.

But it was still somehow sweet. I hadn't expected King to be that nice.

"So," King announced, flashing me a wicked smirk, "Shall we go to your daddies' place?" I rolled my eyes and reached out, taking him by the arm and teleporting from the alley in the slums to the small bridge that went over a moat made by the River Acheron that surrounded our property to keep people back. We crossed the bridge and approached the ridiculously huge mansion that I had come to call home. Well, at least until recently.

Now it looked like a towering black shadow in the setting sun. A sleek black modern mansion made up of mostly huge triangle shapes and rectangles and tons of black tinted windows. Hundreds of plants lined the walk ways and the house itself, even the river. Unlike the garden out back which was a flurry with beautiful harmless plants, all the most severely poisonous of plants made up the gardens in front to protect the house.

We started toward the house and King eyed the plants warily, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Is that Belladonna?" He asked. I nodded, waving my hand in front of the door to unlock it so I could go inside.

"All of these plants are poisonous. If you wanna live to see the dagger, I'd leave 'em alone." I told him. King seemed to make note of that and stepped closer behind me as I led him into the main foyer of the mansion. A huge pointed open room with an L-shaped staircase that went upstairs to a catwalk-balcony sort of thing. A large archway to the left led to the den, and several hallways branched off to the right, and open space under the balcony thing led into the kitchen.

I looked around, listening to the silence of the house with a frown. It wasn't usually this quiet now that the babies had arrived. They were either screaming or crying or Cerberus was screaming or crying over them. It was a huge mess. And the whole house smelled like baby powder and baby food. It was a horrible smell.

"Judging from that sneer on your face, you're not happy to be home." King pointed out. I wiped my hand over my face, shooting him a dirty look before scanning the house.

"They're probably upstairs in the nursery." I muttered, moving for the den. King followed me. We entered a huge room with another pointed ceiling, but this one housed an expensive and extravagant chandelier that lit up the whole room like the sun itself. Several sleek black leather sofas and arm chairs were set up around the fire place, a bar off to the left near the front windows, and an archway that led into the game room that was connected to our living room.

But we were more focused on the fireplace mantle, home to the infamous Snow White dagger that glinted menacingly in the chandelier light. I came to stand in front of the fireplace, staring at the dagger uneasily. The glass sparkled with the enchantment that would send the dagger flying for my heart if I so much as I breathed too close to it.

"You got a plan to take it down?" King asked, coming up beside me. I frowned.

"We need to get the glass off without getting hit with the dagger."

"So knock it off."

"The enchantment is programmed so that the dagger has to hit something when it comes out. Not to mention, that would A) cause too much noise, and B) still get us hit. Christ. Aren't you a pirate?" I asked dryly, casting him a stare. King smirked.

"I'm the captain, cupcake, not the flunky."

"So you make your men do the dirty work."

"The dirty work is planning the heist, kid. Trust me. Now let's think of a way to get rid of that glass and enchantment. I'd like to get this to that client as soon as possible." King replied. I rolled my eyes and studied the glass a little more, frowning at it, tilting my head. It was immune to telepathy, so trying to use my powers to lift the box off would just get me hit too. Part of me was tempted to just make King take the glass off, but not only was he not that stupid, but I wasn't that cruel to damn him to a fate like that.

King pissed me off to no end, but I didn't hate him. Not really. I joked about it, but that was the extent of it. He was just doing what he had to do. It was his job, and he signed up for it. It'd be like me getting pissed at Cerberus for doing his job of guarding the entrance or helping Hades keep things in order.

"What are you doing in here?" Cerberus's voice almost sent me jumping through the roof as I whirled around to see Cerberus standing in the entrance to the den, frowning sternly at King, who remained silent as he stared at Cerberus blankly. He was probably one of the few people who wasn't intimidated by Cerberus, which was an accomplishment for sure. Cerberus was over seven feet of solid raw muscle and mystical powers. His long black hair was a little curly from a recent shower, and he wore a tight black long-sleeved shirt that pronounced his muscles further, and black pajama pants with little skulls all over them.

"Dad," I said after a moment, hoping he hadn't overheard us about the dagger, "Uh. We were heading up to my room." Cerberus's glare didn't soften for a second.

"Who's that?" He asked, looking at King, who looked at me, like he had no idea what to say. Oh, now he chokes up. Sweet. Thanks, dickfuck. I cleared my throat.

"Ah, he's a friend." I offered. Cerberus didn't let up, and that didn't surprise me. He was a hardass about people I brought home, because it didn't happen frequently. I'd gotten into the habit of just going out if I wanted to hang out with friends. Bringing them here just turned into a huge mess, like right now.

"A friend." Cerberus echoed. That was his passive-aggressive way of saying tell me more or I'll snap his neck where he stands. I sighed.

"He's one of my bar friends. We had a couple of drinks and he doesn't want to go home. Bad home life. He's staying here with me tonight. We're going upstairs to plot terrorists attacks on innocent humans." I replied, getting toxically sarcastic at the end. Because gods know I've been trained well enough in that with Cerberus and Blaine as my parents. Cerberus was hardly amused and looked like he wanted to kick the shit out of King without even getting to know him, however, a loud baby squalling from upstairs made Cerberus pale and leave in a column if smoke.

"That was easy." King said, turning to me. I just frowned. Right. When the baby cries, gotta ditch the fact that my kid is in the den with one of the baddest of all asses in Styx. Don't wory about me; I'm fine. I'm always fine. With that bitter thought in mind, I led King out of the den and upstairs to my room to avoid Cerberus hovering again, or god forbid Leon decides to show up and he'd know exactly who King was considering Leon lived in Styx.

We walked into my room and I shut the door behind us, sighing in relief that we didn't have to worry about Cerberus bursting in here any time soon. When I looked up, I almost laughed out loud at how out of place King looked in my room.

My room was pretty big, but somehow, King managed to make it look much smaller what with his size. A large double bed was set on the other side of the room in front of a wall of tinted windows. A guitar and piano were set up in the far right corner and a computer system on the left side of the room, a dresser and wardrobe, and a door to the bathroom. And of course, I still had my old high school posters on the wall, which was a little embarrassing. I should've taken those down when Blaine told me to.

"Nice room," King said with a smirk as he stared up at one of my posters of my favorite DJ, and my face turned red with embarrassment, "This guy is still around? I listened to him back when I was a kid." I went over to stand in front of the poster to block his view, clearing my throat.

"Let's do what we came here to do; come up with a plan to get the dagger, get said dagger, and go separate ways."

"Not for long," King reminded, making me roll my eyes as he walked over to my bed and plopped down on the end of it, "So, you got a plan in mind?" I frowned.

"I don't." I deadpanned. King chuckled, leaning back on his hands.

"Good, that's why it's my job."

"So you have an idea."

"Not yet. Working on it. I need inspiration." He added, scanning me from head to toe. My cheeks flamed and I chucked a pillow at him, which he tossed aside with a laugh.

"This is my parents' house, you weirdo!" I snapped. King just flashed me a charming grin that I tried hard to ignore as I made my way to the other side of the room to get away from him. Although, it got me started on pacing back and forth through the room, trying to find a way to get that box off the dagger in order to take said dagger. Even worse, I had to find a way to take the dagger without my parents finding out it was me. Cerberus was going to be suspicious now that he'd caught us admiring it. There had to be another way.

A way that didn't involve me getting caught by the parental units and a way that didn't involve King and I getting skewered by a cursed dagger.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

I sighed and slumped against the door with my back to it, just in case one of my parents decided to knock for entry. I looked across the room at King, who was still scanning my room. For a moment, I thought it was just interest until I realized he was scoping my room out.

"Hey," I snapped, making him look at me innocently, "Don't reacon my room. I'm not one of your heists." King shook his head, making a tsking sound and dramatically frowning.

"Oh no, no. I wasn't planning a heist. I was thinking of ways to break into your room at night while you're sleeping."

"You're such a creep." I accused. King just gave me a sly smirk. I averted my eyes to avoid that intense stare of his. This was a really uncomfortable situation. It was hard to focus on the task at hand with King eyeing me or my room like we were already on display in his private collection. Even worse, his flirting was worse than usual and being in my room alone together was making it ten times worse. It was strange how I never really thought of this situation happening, being stuck with King alone in my room, or any bedroom for that matter.

And while I had plenty of private fantasizes about King, there was no way I could put those into play, especially in my parents' house. First of all, I'd never actually gotten past the whole kissing thing. The idea of a slimy tongue going down my throat made me gag and my last girlfriend had groped me and freaked me out because she was supposedly the sugary sweet type. Turns out, she really liked to get down and dirty and I was nothing of the sort. And I had dated a guy or two before, but again, it didn't work out. I couldn't stand the idea of someone touching me under my clothing, or seeing my without clothing. It was uncomfortable.

But King was different. My fantasizes of him went beyond what I even knew. I had dreamt about doing things with him that I'd never even consciously thought of before. I waited for it to make me feel gross and uncomfortable, but it didn't. And that's what freaked me out about this situation. If it got right down to it, I might actually cave into something new, like the drinking at the bar thing.

I'd swore I'd never drink because of Cerberus's alcoholism, but I had failed to resist and now found myself going out every weekend, sometimes even in the middle of the week, for several drinks.

And cigarettes? Don't even get me started. As a fire demon, and just another Underworld immortal, cigarettes had no real effects on me. I just liked the feel of it, the taste, and the fact that it gave me something to do when I was alone on the streets.

But sex? Sex could still damage me. I had already gone through a whole list of bad habits. I didn't need another one. Besides, Blaine had chided me for years about how I should wait until I meet the right person, because your virginity wasn't something you just tossed around like free candy at a Fourth of July parade. And I had stood by that for years, waiting for the right person. I just wasn't totally sure who they were, or how I would know, or when it would happen.

I guess that's what sucked about waiting.

"Mind if I shower?" King asked suddenly. I blinked, then scowled at him.

"This isn't a slumber party." I told him flatly. He smirked, getting off the bed.

"Really? I must have misinterpreted the band posters and the instruments."

"Shut up," I grumbled in irritation, then eventually heaved myself to my feet when I realized King was serious about taking a shower here, "Bathroom is through that door." He nodded a quick thanks and disappeared into the bathroom. Meanwhile, I waited until I could hear the water run before I was on my feet and heading to the windows to peer outside at the garden out back, then figured I should check on my parents in case they were a sobbing mess over the babies. I left the bedroom and went down the hall to the nursery that my parents had went completely overboard on. It was a fairy tale themed room, and even the door to the room was decked out to look like something out of a mystical Disney movie.

The door was open a crack and I dared to push it open further, peering in to see that Blaine had fallen asleep on the sofa shaped like a patch of mushrooms. The twins were in their cribs, fast asleep, and Cerberus was probably downstairs in his room sleeping, or in the kitchen grabbing food. It was a miracle he hadn't stomped into my room, but then again, he had more important things to worry about now.

A frown worked itself onto my face at the bitter thought and I ducked away from the door, turning away and shaking my head.

I don't know why I kept thinking about this. I should've figured it'd happen sooner or later, and I should feel like shit for being happy that Blaine and Cerberus couldn't have another kid. I remembered the disgust in myself for actually being relieved that Hades had taken Ambrosius away, even as a kid. The fact that Blaine could have his own child from his own body, one made of him and Cerberus...

How could I possibly compete with that?

That's their real child; not someone they scraped off the streets per chance. Not to mention, I hadn't been with them as a baby. There were no baby photos of me anywhere in the house, because my mother had never had any. A bitter taste came to my mouth again when I thought about the mother I couldn't remember.

No, that was a lie.

I remembered her, just a bit. I remembered her voice, singing me a French lullaby, and always calling me her little treasure in French. And I remembered her smiling at me the day she was killed. But aside from that, it was a blur. After that, the only things I remembered were Blaine and Cerberus and Leon, Kat and Akin and Hannibal. People who were my family, but at the same time, not. Sometimes I wondered if I even had a family, and it was stupid to think that considering the family of the sons of Hades was a big one.

Christ, they were Greek. How could it not be gigantic?

I sighed, frustrated at myself for taking a nose dive in my mood. I moved back to my room and shut the door behind me, taking a deep breath, just as the bathroom door opened and King stood there in his nude glory, my mouth falling open.

Holy fucking shit.

King was huge, everywhere.

"You forgot to give me a towel, cupcake." King told me with a wicked smirk, leaning up against the doorframe and purposely posing so that the thing he wanted most was completely visible, and partially stiff. I seethed and stormed to my closet, snatching out a towel and throwing it at his face, making him huff.

"Put something on! This isn't a brothel." I snapped, turning my back and folding my arms over my chest. King laughed behind me, drawing a bit too close for comfort, but my feet remained rooted to the ground. I pretended not to care, clenching my teeth as I felt King's hand brush down the side of my arm. I shrugged it off and turned my head in the opposite direction when he tried to get near my shoulder.

"What're you so afraid of," King mused in a whisper, giving me goosebumps, "Afraid of commitment or something stupid like that?" I rolled my eyes, moving away from him, trying to find something to fiddle with in order to distract myself from the reaction my body had to being so close to him.

"It's nothing like that," I scoffed, picking up a pen to twirl it between my fingers as I leaned against the window frame, "There are so many reasons this wouldn't work out." King gave me a droll stare.

"Don't tell me you have a problem with my being a man."

"That sounds like it was a problem in the 20th century."

"So if it's not my being a man, and it's not commitment issues, then tell me more."

"I don't think that's why you came here."

"No, but it's a nice a little detour, and I need inspiration to come up with a way to get that dagger outta here and out to my client."

"Well, that's your problem, not mine. I don't need to be your one-night stand for a heist. I'm not some cheap ho at a brothel." I assured him, pushing off the window and tossing the pen to the desk again. King smirked, raking me with such a hot stare that my cock actually reacted to it. I cleared my throat uncomfortably, reaching up to brush one of my braids back from my face. King whistled low and I shot him a dirty look.

"So that's it," King concluded, "You're a virgin. For real? Those are far and few between nowadays." I felt heat creeping into my face as I glared at him.

"It's a personal choice and none of your damn business." I responded tightly. King shrugged.

"I'm just thinking it's too bad you took my deal. You would've sold for a lot on the human market."

"You're such a pig."

"It's a joke," King assured me, waving his hand at me, "Do you really think I'd sell people into slavery? Not my style. I like objects."

"Which is why you threatened to turn me into an ice sculpture."

"That was also a joke," King told me, making me roll my eyes and he smirked, "Seriously. I don't really deal with human trafficking, aside from smuggling slaves into Hades and Hell. They're the only two realms where slavery's been abolished. Multitudes of slaves are coming in from all over the realms to get here and hide, because once they cross the borders, their slave marks are removed and they're free." I frowned at that, turning to look at him curiously.

"Slave marks can only be removed by the person who put them there."

"Or not," King said innocently, making me scowl, "Look, I can't give that away. It's classified. So long as the people get in, it doesn't matter. Besides, that's not what we were talking about. I think I was just getting you into the bed there for a second." I laughed, leaning back on the desk on my hands.

"Yeah, right, not in a million years. I like the way I am now, thank you very much. And I certainly don't need one of the most ruthless, and probably stupid, gang leaders in the city begging to be my sugar daddy. So put some damn clothes on so we can start brainstorming. We can't stay here long. My parents will start to get suspicious and I don't have a barrier spell strong enough to ward them off." I explained. King sighed wistfully, whipping his towel off his waist, making me curse at him and avert my eyes, to which he replied with a laugh.

"Fine. Can't blame a demon for trying." He said before moving to my closet. I scowled, pushing off the desk and making my way toward him.

"What're you doing?"

"I can't wear my dirty clothes again. There's a blood stain on them."

"Oh, so now you decide to be OCD."

"That's a misconception," King assured, making me shake my head, "But all your clothes are tiny."

"'Scuse you?" I asked, offended. King chuckled, then turned to face me and got right in my face, making me go still. Yeah, he was at least a foot taller and his shoulders were by far broader and his arms bulged with muscles. Even worse, he was stark naked in front of me again so much so that I could feel it pressing against me. I sucked in a sharp breath and King smiled a little more, leaning down to brush his nose by mine. I pursed my lips.

"I'm much bigger than you are, cupcake." He said in a low voice. I kept my lips pursed, not wanting to open them. I'd seen enough movies, and acts of Cerberus, to know that opening my mouth would give him entryway to kiss me. So I backed up quickly and turned toward the door instead.

"Then let me grab something from my dad's room." King didn't argue with that, so I slipped out of the room and went downstairs, only to pause by the kitchen, frowning inside to see Cerberus sitting at the dinner table. Actually, more like laying across it. He was fast asleep with his head on his arm and a cup of coffee still steaming in his hand and a bowl of leftovers next to him. I sighed and went into the kitchen, taking the bowl away and wrapping it up before sticking it in the fridge, then moved the coffee away from him so he didn't topple it when he woke up.

I left the kitchen and went to his room. His room was a lot older than mine because this part of the house had been built first. Once upon a time, the room had been completely inlaid with stones, but recently, they had carpeting put in. Though, the walls were still stoned because they hadn't bothered to get it redone since Blaine had gotten pregnant.

I went to Cerberus's dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before heading upstairs to the room. I opened the door and came inside to see King flipping through my photo albums. I cursed at that and he looked up with a smirk.

"You used to call your dad mama?" He laughed. I growled and snatched it from him, shoving the clothes in his face and tossing the album under the bed.

"Quit poking around in here. Get your clothes on and let's get on with this. I have more important things to do than babysit you." I tacked on. King shrugged, getting up and pulling the shirt on over his head. I watched him for just a moment longer, eyes lingering on the dark trail of hair that went down, down--

Nope. Not doin' this. Not now, not ever.

"If you're not really going to turn me into an ice sculpture or sell me into slavery, then why am I even doing this for you?" I asked after a moment, folding my arms over my chest and sitting on the bed with my back facing King. I listened to him shuffling around, drying his hair off.

"Because you're a good guy and you like helping me out." King offered and I scoffed at that, leaning back on my hands on the bed.

"That's a stupid reason," I told him flatly and he chuckled before coming over to sit on the bed with me, "Anyway, there has to be a way to get that dagger down without getting hit. I'd ask about a loophole, but my parents know right away. Not to mention, I don't think they're the ones that placed the enchantment on it anyway. And we can't undo the enchantment since we're not the ones that placed it."

"We could drill a hole through the bottom and sneak it out through there." King mused. I scowled.

"No way. My parents would kill me if I drilled a hole in their fireplace."

"You're awfully frightened of your parents."

"Yeah, because one's Cerberus, the Guardian of the Greek Underworld, and the other one is a tempermental fae that actually has the balls to stand up to Hades. I'd rather not bring about that kind of wrath." I assured. Not that my parents would ever turn their wrath on me like that. Blaine had made a strict no-touching rule in the sense that neither of them could hit me if I misbehaved. Blaine was a firm believer that spanking would scare me and nothing scared him more than me being scared of him or Cerberus. So Blaine just took all my shit away and forced me to sit in the living room with him listening to him bitch. That was probably worse than a spanking because Blaine could go on for hours, so I'd learned not to misbehave. And while I may not be a child anymore, so they couldn't punish me like that anymore, they could still yell.

Not to mention, I'd never done anything this bad before. I shuddered to think how far their leniency would go before they snapped and killed me. Not that it would bother me...

An idea came to me and I turned to King.

"Let me take the box off the dagger." I stated. King rolled his eyes.

"I think you're forgetting the Snow White effect."

"No," I said, thinking aloud, "I mean, I'll stand in front of the box and take the box off. I'll stand at an angle and it'll probably just fly into my shoulder. It'll still knock me out, but to get rid of the dagger's effect, someone needs to pour their blood in my mouth, which is really gross, but whatever. Just take the dagger out, drip your blood in my mouth and it should wake me up." King scowled.

"That wouldn't make sense if you took the box off the dagger."

"Then you do it. I'll get hit."

"I don't like this idea," King deadpanned, making me roll my eyes, "What if it doesn't work and you don't wake up?"

"It will, trust me. And if it doesn't by some miracle, get out of there as soon as possible. My dad will find out and come after your ass. So just leave me there and they'll be able to do something about it." I told him. King didn't like the idea at all. His brows furrowed down and his lips pressed into a firm line, and a tic throbbed in his jaw. I could see him contemplating the whole thing. To be honest, though, I don't get why it was such a problem. I'd be the one to get in trouble, not him. It really shouldn't matter. Besides, gods know my parents would find a way around the whole thing if they found me laying in the living room. And if they didn't, well, that was all right. Being trapped in my own body was something I was used to by now. It couldn't be worse than wandering around with nothing to do most of the time.

"There has to be something else," King said after a while, making me roll my eyes, "We could convince someone else to do it."

"Like who? There is no one else, no one willing anyway. Come on, I want to get this over with. The longer we stay up here, the more suspicious my parents will get." I told him sternly. I omitted the fact that both my parents were asleep and didn't seem to really give a shit about this whole thing. I just wanted to hurry up before King realized what I was trying to do.

"What makes you so sure you'll wake up?" He asked me. I gave him a droll stare.

"Either we do this now with the idea we have, or you can go back to your client and tell them some sob story about how you weren't willing to risk a total stranger's life to get their item and get whatever it is that you want so desperately." I explained. King frowned. I could still see the gears working in his head that signified he was trying to find another way around it, but I knew he wouldn't be able to. He needed his dagger, and I needed a break.

"If we do this, and you don't wake up with my blood, what do I do? I need to know what to do to wake you up." He told me in a serious tone of voice I wasn't used to hearing him use. I frowned.

"I told you, just leave me there and go do what it is you need to do. My parents will handle the rest."

"I'm the one that got you into this mess. I want to fix it if it goes wrong."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"Let me sleep on this," King decided at last, making me glare at him, "I want a solid plan that doesn't involve you sleeping for eternity." I scowled as he scooted along my bed until he was laying comfortably on the pillows.

"I want to get this over now, not later. If my parents walk in--"

"If your parents walk, just tell them we fell asleep talking. Besides, with that whole virgin speech you gave me, they probably won't suspect we did anything."

"We didn't do anything." I deadpanned. King said nothing, just laid there. I frowned, realizing he'd fallen asleep. Who the hell falls asleep that fast? It was inhuman, or rather, indemon. I shook my head at him and got up, heading to the bathroom to take my own shower. I stripped my clothes off and climbed into the crystal shower box, hitting a button on the wall that turned the water on, and with the memory chip built in, it was set to the temperature I liked. But the moment the shower heated up, I could smell King's scent from when he showered. A shudder coursed through me as I leaned my arms on the shower walls, looking down at my bare feet.

A frown worked onto my face as I saw the scar across the top of my left foot. A glimpse into the past resurfaced in my mind and I remembered the day I got it; the day my mother had been killed. Someone had fallen against the compartment in my mother's cart, slamming the door on my foot and cutting it open. It wasn't life-threatening, but it was deep enough to scar. I rubbed my other foot over top of it and looked back up, taking a deep breath and wincing as I inhaled that rich smokey scent that was purely King.

Why did I even use him in my fantasizes if I was never going to make them real? Was I just kidding myself, pretending to be normal like everyone else? Because I'd never felt normal. I was a fire demon that hadn't learned to even light a friggin' cigarette until I was seventeen. I lived with Cerberus, the guardian of the Greek underworld, and Blaine, a Celtic ex-slave with perpetual PMS, both of whom now had their own real kids and not the kid they picked off the street. Nothing about that was normal, and sure, we lived in a world where normalcy was overrated, but everyone had some sense of normality.

And I didn't.

I clenched my teeth and pressed my face against my arm, taking a deep breath.

I needed a break.

I needed to sleep.

Fed up with myself, I shut the shower off and dried myself with a towel, pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a v-neck shirt before pulling my braids back into a loose ponytail before I crept out of the bathroom and looked at the bed where King lay fast asleep. I studied him for a moment to ensure he was out cold before I left the bedroom and went downstairs. I checked the kitchen, but Cerberus wasn't there, so I went down the hall and paused by their bedroom. I laid a hand on the door, undid the luck with a bit of magic and cracked it open to peer inside.

Both Blaine and Cerberus were curled up together, fast asleep. I hesitated for a split second, but only a second, before I shut the door. There was really no point in going in there to say anything or talk about anything. They hadn't gotten much sleep since the babies came. Might as well not bother them.

I left their room and went to the den, but didn't turn the chandelier on in case it woke anyone up. Instead, I lit one of the small lamps on the end tables on either side of the leather sofa and approached the dagger on the mantle, watching the box and dagger glitter eerily in the lamp light.

This was a bad idea. But almost everything I did was a bad idea. Letting Blaine and Cerberus take me in was probably a bad idea, buying that stuff from Phoenix Pirates and stealing those coins, and all that other fun stuff. That was all made up of bad ideas and last minute impulses.

So this really wouldn't be any different, and King needed that dagger. With that, he'd get whatever it is he wanted from Ashter.

I took a deep breath, reached out to the box, and lifted it off the dagger.

A second later, the dagger slammed into my shoulder so hard that I gasped and it knocked me off my feet. I slammed into the floor, dropping the glass box so it shattered to pieces on the floor beside me and darkness swallowed me before I could even feel the pain of hitting the floor.

Finally. A break.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO >>>>>