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The story of Hades and Persephone in Greek mythology is well known, but less known is that Hades is often considered to have a child named Macaria, the goddess of the blessed death. In my Sons of Navarus series, Macaria and her human consort Navarus are the mother and father of the vampire race. Greek mythology works as the base for the series, and gods such as Hades play their part in the unfolding story of the battle between the Archon vampires seeking to subjugate all vampires and the Sons of Navarus responsible for saving their world.

Hades waited patiently at the entrance to Tartarus, admiring the craftsmanship of his demons as he ran his fingers over the intricately etched stone archway that gave no hint of the horrors just beyond it. The deepest pit of the Underworld, Tartarus held the worst of the gods and the most evil of humanity. Those who had wreaked havoc on their fellow man found the sign above the entrance to Tartarus painfully true.

Whatever you may have been, you're nothing here.

But not everything there was all bad. Some in Tartarus were there because of Zeus, a favor Hades extended to his younger brother. Deities who had harmed none but preferred the darker realms also resided there.

While he thought about the inhabitants of the lower dimensions of his kingdom, Dawn passed and gave him a sideways glance, a look of suspicion on her lovely face as she exited on her way to the world above to begin the day. It wouldn't be long now. If Dawn was on her way to Earth, night would be ending soon and Nyx, goddess of the night, would return.

Running his hand through his hair, Hades licked his lips. Today, she would be his again.

Behind him, a voice like silk said, "Waiting for someone?"

Hades slowly turned to see the woman who'd haunted his dreams for weeks. Long black waves fell sensually toward her waist, framing an oval face with pale grey eyes that sized him up with a confidence found only in elemental deities. Blessed with a body made to be worshipped, Nyx stood facing him with a look of equality no one else in the Underworld dare have when he was around, and she wore it defiantly.

"As a matter of fact, yes. You."

He softened his voice to speak to her, unlike when he approached his demons and imps for sex. They were beneath him. They were lucky he spoke to them at all before he bent them over. No, Nyx was a goddess who deserved at least the voice he used with Persephone.

Nyx looked left and then right. "And where is your lovely wife this morning, Hades? I don't remember seeing her on her throne as I passed by your place."

"You know where. It's summer up there."

A slow grin spread across her lips. Closing her eyes, she moaned softly, sending a bolt of excitement to his already stiff cock. "Oh, yes. Summer nights have the most delicious smells. The fruit is heavy and ripe, hanging low on the tree, and the flowers are in full bloom."

Opening her eyes, she stared deeply into his. "So the god of the Underworld is all alone? Pity."

"Not alone. You're here."

She stepped toward him until there were mere inches separating them. Inhaling, he smelled those delicious scents from Earth in her hair and on her skin. She smelled like Persephone did every time she returned from visiting her mother all spring and summer.

In that silky voice, Nyx whispered, "What does the god of the Underworld want this morning?"

Hades traced a long tendril that wound its way over her full breast. Letting his fingertip linger on the barely concealed rosy tip, he smiled as her nipple pebbled under her black dress.

His touch still affected her.

His eyes traveled up to meet her gaze, and he saw one perfect eyebrow arched in curiosity. Her expression told him she hadn't ruled anything out yet.

"And what of the little woman?"

Hades groaned. Persephone. Whatever he'd been to her all these years, first and foremost he'd been her abductor. It had seemed like such a good idea that day as he'd watched her pick flowers. So light, so fresh, she could bring him everything he lacked in his Underworld prison.

It would be wrong to say they'd never been happy. They'd enjoyed one another on occasion, but the differences between them had always been too great. He was tall and dark, with a presence that commanded all in the depths of the Underworld to serve him. She was light and sweet, like springtime, and in truth, no match for him.

Worst of all, she'd never truly forgiven him for making her stay in the Underworld four months each year. And her damn mother didn't help the situation, making everything in nature die as she mourned her daughter's absence each time. He'd always suspected Demeter would eventually devise some trick to get Persephone back permanently, and now she had.

"Her mother and Zeus seem to have found a way around my pomegranate curse," he said as matter-of-factly as possible.

"Really?"

As he watched Nyx's reaction, he was sure he saw a twinkle in her grey eyes.

"So be it. If they thought they had global warming problems before, they're in for a real shock now that Earth mama has her little girl back. Demeter always was all emotion and no logic."

Nyx took another step toward him and pressed her hands to his chest. "That's one of the things I've always liked about you, Hades. You always see the bright side."

With her fingertip, she traced the seam of his mouth as she spoke again. "I'd wondered how you'd take the news when you heard."

For a moment, a pinch of anger raced through Hades at the thought that every god and goddess above ground knew, but it quickly vanished as his mind focused on the one right in front of him whose hands had made their way to right above his waist. Slowly, one fingertip teased just below the top of his pants, grazing the sensitive tip of his cock.

Leaning in next to him, she whispered, "Are you sure you want this, Hades? She'll never forgive you a second time."

Her hand slid inside his pants and she wrapped it around his rock hard cock. Her touch thrilled him like no other's. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he reveled in the feel of her soft hand stroking him.

No, Persephone had never forgiven him for the first time, especially after Nyx had given him his only child, Macaria. But she wasn't coming back.

Hades pushed Persephone out of his mind and pulled Nyx into a dark corner. Sliding his fingers under her dress, he eased the fabric off her pale shoulders and watched as it slid down her body to pool at her feet. Naked before him, she was pure sensuality and sex.

Her hand returned to stroke him, and he pressed his mouth to hers, eagerly seeking the tongue he wished was three feet lower sampling his cock. With each stroke, she teased him, ratcheting up his desire. The only woman in the world who'd ever truly pleased him, she was his equal in darkness and lust. What other women might run in horror from, Nyx relished.

Cupping a full breast, he pinched its rosy nipple and was rewarded with a tiny growl. Let other gods have sweetness and light or Aphrodite, that fucking cock tease. He'd take the darker side of a woman who knew what she was and loved it any day.

"Your body remembers me."

Nyx smiled and looked down at his cock in her hand. "As yours does me, my love."

Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees, and there on the cold and rocky ground, she slid her soft lips down his shaft until the swollen head nudged up against the back of her throat. Nyx was the only woman who had ever done this for him. Even his imps and demons couldn't go down on him like she could.

He fisted a handful of her dark hair, trying to control the pace as she slid up and down his cock. With each pass, her wet tongue nipped the spot that made his knees nearly buckle. Needing to steady himself, he grasped at the stone wall behind him.

The sound of footsteps coming toward them took him out of the moment, and he looked up to see Hermes in his role as Psychopompos on his way back to Earth after delivering another soul. The look on his face telegraphed his curiosity as he watched Nyx's head bob up and down, but after a few seconds he merely nodded and smiled before continuing on his way.

Nyx was doing that trick with her throat, the one that never failed to get him off. Fuck, the woman had skills! Her fingers dug into his hips, holding him tight to her as inch by inch his release made its way through his body.

More footsteps told him they weren't alone, and opening his eyes, he saw three female demons watching them intently, their eyes wide as saucers. Unlike Hermes, though, they didn't seem to understand they were intruding.

"Unless you're here to tell me someone's risen from the dead, get lost," he hissed.

Two of them scurried away in fear, leaving one tiny frightened blonde to break their news. "My lord, we...I...hate to interrupt you, but your wi...Perseph..."

"Spit it out, for fuck's sake!"

In a squeaky voice, the female said, "The Queen of the Underworld is on her throne, my lord. She desires to speak to you."

Nyx rose to her feet and shot the girl a nasty look, sending her running to join the first two. Turning back to face him, she picked up her dress and stepped into it. "Seems like you've been found out."

Fucking Hermes!

"Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back."

It was no use. Before he'd gotten the words out, she was gone. Worse yet, now he had to meet with Persephone, his soon to be ex-goddess of the Underworld.

***

Her duty finished on Earth, Nyx descended into the Underworld, noticing the Queen's empty chair as she passed where she and Hades ruled over the realm of the dead. His was empty too, and she secretly hoped she'd find him waiting for her before she entered Tartarus for the day.

That he'd come to her again after all these years pleased and surprised her. He'd been with Persephone for so long, she'd accepted that their brief affair would never be more than that. They had Macaria between them, but that would be it.

But the murmurings she'd heard in the darkness from Demeter over the past few months on Earth had helped to stoke the ember of hope still alive inside her that one day Hades and Persephone's mismatched pairing would be no more. A few well-chosen whispers in Zeus' ear about how unfortunate it would be for Hera to find out about his newest mistress—some starlet with little talent but great tits—and a few more whispers regarding Nyx's interest in Hades and the trap had been set. Not that she'd ever tell Hera about her husband's dalliances. The current wife of the king of the gods deserved whatever she got. She knew what he was when she signed on with him. Even goddesses could be blind and think they could change a man.

Nyx's wish was granted as she saw Hades again waiting for her outside the entrance to Tartarus. How that little girl Persephone had never seen what she'd had was a mystery to her. Built like his brothers, his body was like a work of art with chiseled abs and muscles in all the right places. Hades had been additionally blessed with bad boy looks, unlike Zeus the playboy and Poseidon the fish boy. Straight black hair that shined like obsidian hung to just past his broad shoulders, and the blackest eyes stared out from beneath thick, dark lashes. The oldest of the three sons of that mad god Cronus, Hades was the most fearsome as the ruler of the Underworld. Only he had the ultimate power over life and death, and he wore it well.

She'd seen his cold exterior melt away to reveal passion unlike any of the other gods. The hours in his arms, their bodies joined in one perfect union, had made her fall in love with him all those years ago. Not that he ever knew. No, night was good at keeping secrets. He saw what she let him see and no more.

He had been another woman's man, after all.

As she approached him, her body warmed at the thought of his touch on her skin, that gorgeous mouth giving her the pleasure she remembered so well. They'd play their game initially, as they always did—him pursuing her and her coolly surrendering bit by bit as she struggled not to give him every piece of her body and soul.

Night revealed little of what truly lay beneath the surface.

"Again waiting for someone, Hades?"

He licked his lips and smiled. "I've come back for you."

"Me? After the little woman came back last week?"

Nyx knew she was being cruel. Everyone in the Underworld knew Persephone had left less than an hour later that day, after she and Hades had fought loud enough to shake the walls at the bottom of Tartarus. But like her element, she could be cruel at times.

Hades squinted his eyes, as if in pain. "She only came back to convince me not to keep her plaything Adonis down here for part of the year too."

The darkness she'd always found so beautiful in him morphed into a dull blackness now. This is what lightness and all her nonsense did to him.

Nyx touched his hair, softly stroking a strand to its tip. "What does the god of the Underworld need this morning?"

His black eyes seemed to brighten at her words. "You."

The sound of his voice was edgy and hit her deep inside, making her pussy quiver with desire. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.  

In a blur, she was in his arms and inside a bedroom in his palace. Whenever they'd met in the past, they'd been at her home in Tartarus, a beautiful home worthy of a goddess like herself, but nothing in comparison to the god of the Underworld's home. Then he'd hidden his affections, always afraid Persephone would turn her into some plant or another like she'd done to Minthe, once a nymph pursued by him and now nothing more than the minty flavor associated with breath fresheners.

"I've waited too long, Nyx. You're my equal, my soul mate. For all those years, I wanted something that wasn't meant to be, and now I see why. Everything I thought I desired was against my nature. You, in all your darkness, are my nature—you are like me."

Nyx's heart pounded against her chest. This was more than she'd ever dreamed of. All those hours alone in her empty home deep in Tartarus as he'd sat on his throne, so close yet so far. All those mornings when she'd passed him and the woman the inhabitants of the Underworld called Queen as she made her way from Earth, never missing the sneer Persephone gave her each time and wishing for just the tiniest look of knowing from him.

All of that seemed so far away now.

"Tell me you haven't forgotten how I made you feel. I know you haven't, Nyx. I felt your body respond to me last week as mine responded to you. Let me hear it from your lips."

As he spoke, his finger traced a line between her breasts, making her nipples harden into achy peaks. She loved the feel of his touch on her, making her body come alive like no other man's touch had. She wanted him to know that she'd thought of him every morning upon returning home and every evening as she passed him once again. She wanted to tell him that every time she looked into their daughter's beautiful face that she saw him and remembered the stolen moments they'd shared that had brought Macaria to them.

But night's defenses were ingrained in her, so much that surrendering even to him was no easy affair. To give her body was one thing. To grant him control of her heart was another.

She turned her head to escape his controlling stare. "And what of your Queen?"

Nyx cringed at the sound of the words as they left her mouth. She'd waited what seemed like forever to have him back in her life and now when she had everything she'd ever wanted, she was foolishly pushing him away. Her mind flooded with recriminations for her nature. If only she had more of that lightness Persephone possessed maybe she could accept what he offered.

Next to her ear, she heard his deep voice whisper, "There is no one but you, Nyx. I can have any woman in the universe now. I want none but you."

Bending to softly kiss her neck, he cupped her breast and leaned into her, pressing his cock against her stomach. The room seemed to swim around her as he kissed her mouth, his tender lips pressing against hers as his tongue swept sensually against her tongue, as if exploring something foreign and thrilling for the first time.

Her mind screamed out to pull away, to continue the game of cat and mouse they'd played before. She tried to obey her brain, but her heart was stronger, if not louder. In its quiet way, it held her to him, making her arms encircle his neck to draw him nearer.

Breaking the kiss, she swallowed hard and whispered into the darkness, "I've never forgotten, Hades. Never."

In a rush, his flesh was pressed against her body and his dark eyes stared into hers with an intent she'd never before seen in another being. He was different now—different from before when they'd found a home in each other. Then he'd been another woman's man, no matter how unhappily, but now, Hades was hers.

"No more games. No more talking. I need to be inside you, Nyx. Now."

His words thrilled her, and when he picked her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist, brushing her achy clit against his stiff cock. Backing her up, he pressed her against the wall and in one sharp thrust, buried himself inside her. The feeling was sublime, and every inch of her being craved to feel him.

He pinned her hands above her head and grunted a deep guttural sound with each push into her wet cunt.  This was the Hades she'd fallen in love with ages ago—the male who relished his role as pursuer and understood deep down, no matter how much she toyed with him, she wanted to be dominated. No man had ever been able to master night, but he could. And for the first time ever between them, as she yearned for him to enter her again, it wasn't her choice but a need only he could fulfill.

Their union tore away her defenses, exposing her soul, and as he brought her to the height of ecstasy there in his palace, she cried out her joy, unafraid for the first time in her existence that another would see her as she was.

Vulnerable. Soft. Tender.

His release filled her, its heat radiating through her skin. Deep inside, she felt him still and Nyx laid her head on his chest to hear his heartbeat gently pounding in her ear. Above her, his breath came in soft pants across the top of her head, and he said quietly, "My goddess."

Hades held her to him and the power of the god of the Underworld enveloped her. His darkness joined with hers, a complete sense of belonging filling her for the first time in so long.  

"I hear there's an opening for a queen around here. You wouldn't know anyone interested, would you?" Hades asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.

Nyx looked up to see a rare smile on the god of the Underworld's face. "Do you think Zeus is going to give you a hard time about that? I am an elemental deity, which would make you technically more powerful than he is."

Hades kissed her sweetly on the lips and smiled again. "I wouldn't worry about my brother. I hear he's being blackmailed about his newest plaything by some very clever goddess." Copyright © 2012 Gabrielle Bisset

Look for the god of the Underworld and his goddess coming soon to the Sons of Navarus series. And watch for more free reads from the Sons series in the upcoming months at my website at http://www.gabriellebisset.com/ 

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