"I knew Aurora had to be introduced into this world eventually, but the mere thought scared my senses numb..."

Ruby Camaraderie

Hades sat at the head of his long dining table in the centre of the wide ballroom. It was dark and musky, and candles bathed the room in an ominous setting. To his right sat a familiar figure, hunched over a piece of parchment, his long grey beard almost touching the table. Another tall figure stood next to Hades, a large hand on the table and his other hand on his hip. I walked in with an air of purpose and elegance.

Two heads looked up and smiled; Hades only lifted his eyes to give me a nod of his head in acknowledgement.

"My lords."

"Thanatos! Welcome, old friend!" Zeus bellowed from his seat as he extended his hand to me. I grinned in response.

Poseidon walked towards me with a mischievous glint in his eye; "Well, well... Where have you been, friend?"

Of all the gods, Poseidon and I got along the best. We were very alike in many ways- we both preferred the same wine, women and revelry and we were around the same age- the only difference between us was that Poseidon was unmistakably more good-natured than I normally was.

He was kind and devoted, and he was good spirited, whereas me- well, I'm sure you know by now what I was like...

I grasped his hand in mine and he stepped forward to hug me; clapping his hand against my back in an affectionate manner. He was a good friend and a close confidant.

The other two brothers only watched in silent contemplation as we exchanged pleasantries.

Zeus was the eldest and Poseidon was the youngest among the three brothers. They had three sisters; Hera, who married Zeus (I'd feel sorry for her, but she's a bitter old bat), Demeter, Hades' wife- Persephone's mother, and Hestia, who removed herself from the pantheon and now resides in the woods somewhere in Greece. She wasn't the sociable type; and among my favourite for that exact reason.

"Zeus tells me you have a new plaything... When can I meet her?" Poseidon says with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh, no... She's quite the spitfire. I'd rather keep her away from you- you'll only become smitten and then I'd have to kill you."

We laughed and he shook his head at me with that familiar schoolboy grin; "My, my... It's nice to share, you know?"

"Hmm... Not this one, I'm afraid."

I shuddered to think bringing Aurora into this room right now. I honestly had no worry introducing her to Hades or Poseidon. Hades was a faithful husband- he loved his wife and felt no need to be with another, and even though Poseidon joked around and teased, he would never do anything that might hurt our friendship. If I told him to stay away from Aurora, he would abide by my wishes, but then there was Zeus.

Zeus was an issue.

I did not want Zeus anywhere near Aurora.

He was a fiend with women, especially young beautiful virgins. And it's not like I could command the king of the gods to back off- he'd smite me right then and there.

Of course, Zeus wasn't as powerful as he once was, and I could probably easily take him on, but by doing so I would condemn myself to Tartarus; a place no god wants to spend an entirety locked within. Besides, if you defy Zeus, you defy all of his annoyingly attached children.

Like self-righteous Athena, who never sees any fault in her father's actions, or the deranged and homicidal Ares, who has more inner-demons to keep under wraps than most politicians. They weren't exactly the type of people I wanted breathing down my neck.

I knew Aurora had to be introduced into this world eventually, but the mere thought scared my senses numb.

"Poseidon is right, Thanatos." The king of the gods eyed me with a devious grin; "This girl is our honoured guest and a soon-to-be goddess. I should meet her soon to properly welcome her."

I tried not to shudder at his worlds.

Over my dead body.

"Of course, your majesty. Unfortunately, she is still weak and learning to adjust, but soon we'll be able to induct her with the proper grace."

Zeus chuckled; "I'm sure you're having fun 'inducting' her all by yourself..."

I tried to smile normally, even though all I wanted to do was growl at the old god to keep his mouth shut; "Oh, very much."

He winked.

I focused my attention back on Poseidon, who was pulling me towards an empty chair next to his. My throat felt dry as the realisation of all the danger Aurora was actually in started to really hit me. I needed to sit down.

I pulled the chair out and faked a grin at my old friend who sat next to me; his smile genuine and calming.

"Right, let's start." Hades spoke up; his gravelly voice full of purpose.

"After our meeting from last week, Hermes has acquired more information on Hecate's death. It seems our earlier suspicion of murder has been confirmed."

I paused. Everyone at the table fell silent and still.

Zeus was the first one to speak; "This is tragic."

We all nodded our heads.

Poseidon spoke up, his eyes full of sadness; "Alright, so this means a great deal of questioning to be done, brothers. Let's go through what we know already to be true."

I nodded grimly; "Hecate- the goddess of witchcraft, was murdered about six months ago. She was kept on the moon, as punishment for her crimes against the sovereignty." I glanced at Zeus, he nodded dismally.

What had happened was rather a sad story. A few thousand years ago Hecate was one of the most beloved and honoured goddesses to exist, even Zeus would seek her advice and help in his troubles. Although, everything changed when one faithful day Hecate stormed into Olympus and sought out the new born baby Ares, with murder in her eyes.

She went on a crazed rampage; claiming she was doing this for the good of the world, but luckily Zeus and Hera had stopped her before it was too late. She was forever sentenced to spend her days on the dark and lonely moon. She soon became mentally ill and unstable- she no longer served her function of magic or craft and thus the Archmage council was formed, so as to continue the cultivation of mages and to keep the magic community at bay.

Conrad was currently the head of the council. It was only appropriate for him to be Aurora's mentor. It was rather heart-rending; before Hecate had started hearing voices and before she tried to kill the only son of Zeus and Hera, she was my mentor and she'd taught me everything I knew about magic today.

I still remember how she used to clap her hands and squeal whenever I managed to overcome a difficult spell or trick. I was young back then, and much more innocent- I always wondered what she would think of my escapades if she was still around.

It was too late for that- Hecate was gone; murdered, and I felt obligated to bring her justice. Besides, I was the god of Death- no murdering around here happens without my say so...

"Hecate was psychologically ill and unfit to preside over her domain. Thus, the council was formed in her honour; which is also why we need to keep them in the loop on all of our decisions."

Everyone nodded. Poseidon spoke up; "Of course, but let's try and keep this new information to ourselves. We don't want to scare the mage community, nor do we want a mess of accusations and fear-driven gods. If this information is leaked, gods and demi-gods will turn on each other."

"Not to mention be suspicious and afraid. I agree, we keep this to ourselves." Zeus knocked his knuckles against the table in a decisive manner.

Hades only tapped his fingers against each other in observation. I nodded in agreement.

"Now, the question is- how? How was she killed?" Poseidon asked. The three head gods turned their questioning gaze to me.

"Not to be a cynic, but there is no way that I know of how to kill a god; especially one as powerful as Hecate. It's just not meant to be... possible?"

The gods contemplated my words. It was true- no god has ever been killed like this? It was unheard of, and frankly, frightening.

"Well, clearly there must be something we're missing?" Poseidon said absentmindedly, he turned his head to his older brother; "Hades, what did Hermes say about the body?"

"Hecate's throat was slit with a sharp object- she didn't heal for some reason."

Unlike humans- gods heal quickly when bruised, cut or wounded. Hades continued; "We had initially thought it to be a suicide, but after much investigation and analysis- the only reasonable deduction is murder. The murder weapon is nowhere to be found and there are no signs of who it could have been or how they got there. It's all very cryptic."

"Hmmm... What weapon could possibly do such a thing? Stop the healing factor from acting?" Zeus tapped his chin and shook his head.

Poseidon and I shared a perplexed glance.

"It's beyond me- I've never heard of such a thing?" I said whilst inattentively gazing out of the large window behind Hades. My thoughts were jumbled and I tried to place all the pieces of the puzzle together, but nothing made sense. It was clear none of us had all the pieces and we were just trying to form something from what we had in vain.

"Could magic have played a role?" Poseidon asked from my side; I shook my head slowly.

"No, there is no spell that incapacitates a god's healing ability."

"Perhaps you don't know all there is to know about spells?" Poseidon asked with a sly smirk. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

Hades shook his head; "No, Thanatos is right- there is no magic involved- at least no ordinary magic. We must-"

"Oh, pookie! Oh! We have guests!"

We all turned our heads to the entrance of the cold ballroom. A warmly dressed Persephone made her way down the hall, carrying a large gold pitcher. Her smile was wide and her eyes were full of glee. I shot her a small wave and she giggled.

"Oh, pookie, why didn't you tell me your brothers were here? And Thanatos! Darling, it's so good to see you!"

I smiled as she neared the table. I quickly stood up to help her with the heavy pitcher. I took it from her delicate, fair hands and placed the jug of dark ruby wine on the table.

"Oh, thank you, darling!"

"Hello, daughter dear!" Zeus stood up to greet his daughter with a warm encircling hug. And Poseidon did the same. Hades only gave her a small smile. He wasn't exactly a very outwardly affectionate person, especially around his brothers and me.

But luckily, Persephone made up for his reserved demeanour. She briskly walked towards him and gave him a hard kiss on the cheek, causing the gloomy god to purse his lips at the show of affection in front of his teasing brothers.

Poseidon wiggled his eyebrows and nudged my arms. I only tried to hide my smile. Hades was still my master, and I didn't want to get one his bad side.

"Oh, now you three have to stay for dinner! I'm having pookie's favourite made- roasted duck!"

Zeus grinned; "I'd love to dear but I have some business to attend to soon and Hera will be wondering where I am."

"I wouldn't mind a good plate of duck, let me just send word to Amphitrite to join us."

Amphitrite was Poseidon's wife and the love of his life. We always teased Poseidon, for his wife was always more of the ruler in the relationship than him. She certainly wasn't a woman to mess with.

Persephone smiled with excitement; "Oh, don't worry! I'll let her know for you! You four continue your chat while I get dinner started."

She clapped her hands. The sound echoed off the great walls and less than a few seconds later, a young man came running around the corner. He stood up straight and bowed down; "Caius- some wine glasses for the gentlemen."

The boy quickly nodded and scurried off to the kitchen. Persephone smiled brightly at her husband and placed her hands on his shoulders; "Well, have fun you four! Try not to get too drunk before dinner..."

"No promises!" Poseidon said as she left the room, her long brown hair moving in rhythm with her hips.

Persephone was one of the only goddesses I actually got along with; she was sweet and she was always genuinely concerned for her friends, the only annoying little thing about her was that she talked far too much for my taste and she was a little too preppy.

Then again, it's probably a good thing I didn't find the wife of my superior irresistible- or else I'd be severely unemployed and disembowelled.

Hades sighed; "My apologies, gentlemen, let's continue..."

The boy from earlier scurried into the room and quickly placed four glasses on the table. He bowed and left just as quickly as he came.

"So no magic then and no notable weapon that could cause all this? What other options are there?" Poseidon said as he poured us all a drink. He handed me mine as I spoke; "Perhaps we need to ask the source? Is there no way we can commune with Hecate? We are gods after all, there must be a way that her spirit or soul still lives on?"

Zeus nodded; "Thanatos has a good point- we should look into it."

"Thanatos," Hades spoke up as he accepted his glass from his brother; "Find out by Conrad if there is any way in which we can contact Hecate, or if that is even possible."

I nodded.

"Well, before we discuss more dreadful and harrowing thoughts, let's have a drink!" Poseidon said as he lifted his glass up.

And you wonder why we're such good friends...

I grinned in agreement and lifted mine; "Hear, hear- to solidarity."

"To friends!" Poseidon seconded and smiled broadly- Zeus laughed as he to lifted his glass and Hades only nodded his head in agreement as he did the same. We all drank from our glasses; the thick red liquid burning my throat as it slid down. It was good; definitely a very old bottle.

Zeus and Hades couldn't help but start speaking about the wine's flavour and what year they could guess it to be, whereas Poseidon turned to me with a smirk and help up his glass for me to clink.

"And here's to that little fox you've been hiding..."

I winked and took a generous sip; "What can I say- I'm a greedy man..."

Greedy, and as I quickly realised after I finally got home after a long night of wine-drinking and duck-eating, I was desperate too.

Desperate to have her all to myself.

Desperate to keep her from this world.

And desperate for her approval...

By the looks of it-I couldn't even manage one.

So what do you guys think of Persephone and Poseidon?

I personally see Nina Dobrev as the perfect Persephone, Sean O'Pry as Poseidon, Jeff bridges as Zeus and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Hades. 

So last weeks Chapter was filled with Romance and I promise next week's will be just as 'magical'- note the little clue... 

Also can I just say how elated I was when I saw that this book was ranked #1 in fantasy yesterday?! WHOOOO HOOOO! And it's all thanks to you sexy beasts 

Free Thanatos hugs for all! Xxx

Now here's some fan art from the amazing orangepeel87 ! You rock and you made my year with this! How good is this????? (This is a scene from Chapter 4)