Flowers for the Dead Ch. 04

"I don't want to feel anything at all!" she shouted. Her voice echoed through the chamber, causing the crystal chandeliers to rattle. "I don't want to be dressed like some doll or marveled at or bowed to! I don't want to rule over the souls of the dead! I don't want to be trapped in a cave for the rest of my life!"

Daphne slammed her fists on the stone vanity, causing vials of oil and perfume to topple to the ground.

"Of all the billions of women on the planet, you had to tear me away from my life. I was happy!" she cried.

"You were not," came Hades' simple reply.

Daphne blinked in surprise.

"How dare you presume to know anything about how I feel!" The tears spilled. Her chin trembled as she angrily wiped her eyes.

Hades' measured gazed never wavered.

"I am not like my brother Zeus who indulges himself with human lovers. I have wanted only you. It is you for whom I was created. That is why I can sense your feelings. It will only grow more intense as our bond is strengthened. You will feel it sooner or later, if you cease to fight it."

"I will never cease to fight it," Daphne ground out.

Hades sighed. He wasn't as convincing as he wished to be. His words were meaningless to her. He would have to show her through his actions.

"Will you at least come with me?" he offered.

Daphne looked at him dubiously.

"Just to see more of your domain, dear one. Nothing more." He stood from his seat and made way to the door. She could stay in the inner chambers all day if she wanted. He would try not to care.

Glancing back, he saw that Daphne stood a few feet away from him. He smiled to himself. Progress.

~ ~ ~

The two walked through the torchlit stone corridors in silence. Hades could have spirited them away more quickly, but he enjoyed this time alone with her. He could test the new strengths of their being bound.

Aside from her scent, which was now lilac and begonia, he could now hear her heartbeat. It thrummed a little fast, hinting at the apprehension he knew she felt.

Daphne, for her part, hardly noticed the shift in her that had arisen after her coupling with Hades. Anything new she felt, she blamed on the very abrupt change in her life. She wondered if every day would be like this: Hades trying to sell her some pathetic love story while she tried to stay afloat. She just wanted to go home. And she was still cold. No one had given her any shoes.

After what seemed like ages, the tunnel opened into a vast cavern. The ceiling glowed with the same luminous gem. The cool light revealed acres of...forest?

Daphne's eyes grew wide. They were surrounded by an expanse of plants of all kinds: trees, ferns, mosses, fungi. The air was humid from dew and warm, for once. She marveled at the wonder before her. Deciduous trees stood tall with conifers and palms. Tropical vines crawled around desert cacti. Cattails and lily pads swayed in the same ponds as Indian lotus. Shaggy mane and parasol mushrooms grew in fairy rings along the pair's path.

Daphne turned to look at Hades who watched her steadily.

"How is this possible? These organisms—" --she spun around in awe, "How can they all live together here in one ecosystem? There's no sunlight, no life. Isn't this the land of the dead?"

Hades looked away sheepishly. He hadn't thought of what ecosystem each plant was suited for. He had just wanted to see her smile. And here she was, grinning at the flora around them.

"While you slept, and snooped," Hades laughed nervously, "I, uh, tried to make some plants grow. You make it look so easy. You just talk to your plants and they grow splendidly. It took me hours."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Maybe sixteen hours? I was here all the while," Hades carefully lifted the wilted blossom of an African violet, "I don't know how you do it."

"Why did you do all this?" she asked softly.

"To make you happy," he smiled at her, dimples deepening.

Daphne blushed and turned away. She didn't notice as the African violet's stalk rose slowly, supple and strong.

"I have something else to show you. A surprise, if you wish to see it." Hades usual confidence was back.

"I do," Daphne answered, still a little red in the cheeks.

Whatever it is, it must not be plant-related. For a god, he doesn't have much of a green thumb.

She bit her lip to keep the smile from her face. She had to remember why she was here in the first place. This wasn't a fairy tale. This was her life.

~ ~ ~

Hades led her up a steep hill. They had walked the entirety of the wooded area. Daphne marveled at the immense amount of energy she seemed to have. Despite all the walking, she wasn't the least bit winded. She gathered her skirt in one hand, careful to avoid getting it caught on the thorns of the rosebushes they passed.

At the hilltop was a towering, wrought-iron gate. It was intricate in detail. The metal had been carefully smithed into a complex mural. It depicted the river Styx. Above the river, stood an otherworldly canine that looked nothing like any Daphne had ever seen.

The sound of quick, shallow breaths filled Daphne's ears. A hulking shadow loomed over her. Her stomach dropped as she looked up. Guarding the gate stood a gargantuan beast. Its paws reached Daphne mid-calf. The creature itself was covered in black fur. It stood a head, or heads, taller than the gate it guarded. Daphne looked closer. The monster's three heads looked back with animated, brown eyes.

"J—Jack?" she whispered.

Her answer was a slobbering kiss from the hulking dog.

"Jack!" she cried, burying her face into the once miniature terrier's fur.

The now three-headed dog rolled onto its back, tossing Daphne onto its velvety underbelly.

"Who's a good boy?" she asked as she rubbed Jack's belly, "Who's my good boy?"

Daphne laughed as she was licked by not one, but three wet tongues.

"I don't know which head to scratch!" she giggled, "Should I scratch them all? Huh, my good boy?"

Hades looked on with a pleased smile. Cerberus, or Jack, had done a perfect job protecting Daphne after she moved to the city. The tri-headed canine had scared off a handful of burglars from Daphne's apartment without ever raising her suspicion. Hades had only wished that he had thought of the idea sooner, while she had still been in school. Now that they were bound, he would always be able to protect her. He would die for her.

Hades was pulled from his thoughts when a deep growl erupted from Cerberus' chest. The vibration caused Daphne to roll from its chest, but she landed gracefully on her feet. Cerberus got to its feet quickly and bounded toward the gate. Daphne peered around the dog's huge flank. Her blood turned cold at what she saw.

*A boy, no older than eighteen, stood outside the gate to the Underworld. His sand-hued skin appeared sallow and sunken. His green eyes were glassy and distant. His wrists are what made Daphne's stomach churn. The boy had deep gashes at each wrist. The jagged wounds dripped blood onto the stone floors. His clothing, a t-shirt and jeans, were soaking wet. His dark hair stuck to his scalp with a mixture of water and blood.

He grabbed the gate, attempting to open it. Cerberus crouched down and growled.

The boy spotted Hades and gestured for him to come closer.

"Let me in!" The boy's voice was hoarse.

Hades strode to the gate. He studied the boy from behind the iron between them. He took in the youth's wound's. They appeared self-inflicted. The cut on the left wrist was straight and deep. The other was jagged, as if it had done by the boy's less dominant hand.

The boy pulled harder at the gate, causing more blood to drip from his wounds.

"Let me in!" he yelled.

"I will not." Hades answered evenly.

The boy puffed out his chest and raised his head. Hades continued his calm stare. His arms were crossed casually over his chest.

The two stared at each other for what to Daphne like minutes. She gripped her dog's fur and tried to remain unnoticed.

"Let me in, you dickhead!" roared the boy. He tugged again at the gate. He pushed at it with his shoulder. He kicked at it with both feet.

Hades watched the boy until he had exhausted himself. Tantrums did not faze him. He had seen Ares' temper.

"Are you finished?" Hades asked. The boy glared silently back at him. "Good. Now go back to where you came from. I will not let you enter."

"Why?"

"I do not owe any explanation, mortal. Go back from whence you came," Hades ordered him.

The boy continued to grip the cold bars of the Underworld gate, "Please."

Hades touched the boy's hand. He was struck with a vision:

The boy sat in a bathtub. Though the water filled the brim, the faucet still ran. The boy, knife in hand, cut his left wrist. Changing hands, he shakily sliced the other. Dropping the knife to the floor, he sank into the tub and waited to lose consciousness.

Hades released his grasp on the youth.

"What was it? Did you see my future?" the boy asked.

"I am not an oracle," quipped Hades, "And I am not letting you in. Life is very, very precious. Cherish it, mortal. And be gone," Hades turned away.

"Please!" called the boy, his voice growing hoarser. "Please..."

Cerberus suddenly lurched forward and leapt over the gate. Daphne let out a yelp of surprise. Cerberus landed with a thud and bore its teeth at the mortal boy.

He raised his hands in defense and backed away slowly, "I'll go! I'll go! Tell that thing to heel!"

Hades whistled. In response, Cerberus leapt back over the gate and landed obediently between Hades and Daphne.

**The teen ran off into the fog, leaving a sparse trail of blood behind him.

Daphne released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

Hades moved to pull Daphne into a comforting embrace. She recoiled and wrapped her arms around her waist. The air was heavy with the scent of begonia.

Hades' brow furrowed, "Why do you act this way?", he asked.

"Why does he get to live?" Daphne's voice shook.

Hades was taken aback. Surely, she didn't wish death upon the mortal.

"Would you have rather I let him die? I saved his life!"

"Why not the child?" Daphne's eyes filled with tears. She had cried more in the Underworld than she had an entire year in the mortal realm.

Hades' frown deepened in confusion, "What child, Persephone?"

"The little girl, Hades!" she cried, "Why didn't you save her too?"

Hades looked at the distraught expression on his consort's features. Perhaps the stress of her time here had gotten to her mind. No one else had some to the gate since she had been brought to the Underworld. Hades' shoulders sagged as realization dawned on him. She meant the little girl in the river Styx, the one she had seen when she had nearly fallen in.

Hades approached the tearful Daphne carefully.

"I can't save them all, my love. It wasn't even my place to save the boy. Intervention such as that threatens the balance of the world." Hades rubbed the back of his neck. He hoped that she did not come to hate him more for this. It was two steps forward and one hundred back with her.

"It's not fair! She was just a child! And she was murdered!" Daphne wailed. She angrily wiped her tears away. She didn't know what had come over her. She felt so overcome with sorrow. It wasn't rational, and she knew it.

Hades watched as Daphne's mood swung to its low. He kept his face neutral but smiled inside. She was gradually losing her mortality. The Goddess of the Spring was as capricious as the season she reigned over.

"Persephone, love," Hades stepped closer to the weeping maiden, "Let me embrace you."

"My name is Daphne!" she cried as fled from the hilltop. Cerberus howled for her sorrow. Hades stood and watched.

~ ~ ~

Daphne ran through the forest, tears streaming down her cheeks. The gold adornments felt heavier and heavier with every step she took down the mossy pathway. As she fled, the vegetation seemed to reach out to her. She nearly tripped over wisteria vines that seemed to appear magically in her way.

"What's wrong with me?" she wailed. Sobs continued to rack her body. Her chest heaved violently, but she did not stop.

Daphne sped onward, leaping over flowers and mushrooms. She didn't care if her dress caught on brambles or thorns. She wanted only to get away, and to not destroy any greenery in her path.

When she reached the stone corridor, she finally looked behind her. Hades was no where to be seen. Satisfied that she was finally alone again, she slowed and began her long walk down the firelit tunnel. While she walked, her sobs calmed into sniffles and the occasional tear. She allowed the steady left, right, left, right of her steps calm her. The cold of the stone beneath her feet brought her from her thoughts and into the present.

I'm going to bed. I don't even know what time it is. Does time even exist here?

Daphne sighed. When she'd wished for true love, she'd imagined an artist or even a fellow botanist. Instead she'd been stuck with a god who could save the dead, or some of them anyway. The tears flowed anew as the fearful face of the little girl appeared once again in her mind. Daphne quickened her steps.

She finally reached the bedroom. She pushed open the heavy wooden door and was met with comforting, warm air. After all this time, the fire still blazed in the hearth. Daphne carefully removed the gold jewelry and placed it on the vanity. She tugged the diadem from her hair and massaged her aching scalp. Finally comfortable, she flopped onto the huge bed and buried her face into a pillow. She shuddered as one final sob burst from her chest. She cried for the little girl floating for eternity in the river. She cried for the boy who felt that life was no longer worth living. She cried for herself, trapped in a predicament she saw no way out of.

A heavy weight next to her caused the bed to shift. Daphne could guess who it was. She heard the clatter of Hades' sandals hitting the floor. Soon, she felt his strong embrace as he lay behind her. She felt the soft scratch of his stubble as he nuzzled her neck.

~ ~ ~

Hades inhaled her scent. She smelled of rue. He held her tighter. He would give his all to rid her of this sadness, even if it took another thousand years.

"I cannot save them all, Per—Daphne," he said gently.

"I know," she sniffed. She curled into a fetal position, Hades' arms still around her chest.

"I will call you by your mortal name, if it pleases you," he said, stroking her arms.

"I don't care," she mumbled.

Hades huffed. He had to remember that she needed actions, not words, to be convinced. His earlier gestures had been effective. Still, he needed to do more. Perhaps, their binding was not complete after just one fuck. Maybe, it would take another try. He thought back to the sight of her in that tiny towel earlier. Yes, he would try.

Hades' cool hands drifted away from Daphne's arms to her shoulders. He pulled her so that she lay on her back. He began to caress her thighs and squeeze her breasts through the fabric of her chiton. Daphne looked at him with wide eyes.

"Hades, please," she begged. She remembered the pain of when he had first entered her. She was still sore. Even so, his touch seemed to soothe her. She squirmed as warmth began pool between her legs.

Hades removed the fibula at Daphne's shoulder. He lifted the fabric from her breasts. Daphne watched as he lowered his cool mouth onto one of her nipples. He swirled his tongue and pulled it gently between his teeth. As he lapped at one breast, he massaged the other with his hand.

"Hades, please," she repeated. She had intended to sound stern, but her voice came out high and breathless. Her face burned with embarrassment. Her body had become so sensitive to his touch. She couldn't figure out why.

"Are you aware," Hades replied, lifting his lips from her erect nipples, "That you have the most exquisite form?" He began to trail chilling kisses from her chest to her neck. He licked the shell of her ear, leaving goosebumps along her skin.

"I'm perfectly ordinary," she shook her head. She struggled to ignore the kisses that had...stopped?

Daphne turned to face him and was met with his icy gaze.

"Ordinary?" he questioned, grabbing her chin firmly. The other hand slid under her clothing to grasp her rear, "Nothing about you is ordinary, darling."

Daphne nudged his hand from her chin.

"I'm really not as special as you think I am," she moved to cover her breasts and was stopped as Hades' hand closed over hers.

"As I 'think' you are?" he repeated incredulously, "My love, this is fact."

Daphne rolled her eyes. She didn't want to debate with him. She had only wanted to sleep.

"I'm not playing semantics with you," she muttered.

"I assure you, this is no game." With dexterity, he removed the belt from Daphne's waist and pulled off her chiton entirely.

Daphne squeaked in surprise. She closed her legs tightly. She wasn't wearing panties.

"Your body—" --Hades licked his lips. "Your body is perfection. It has changed only slightly since you arrived. That's how close to faultlessness it was in the mortal realm. You have become more radiant with each reincarnation, I swear it.

"You are the Spring, dear one. Look at your skin, how it drinks in the sunlight. Your hair...it's as capricious as you are. It grows toward the sky like your darling plants. Your breasts...how I wish to bury my face in them. Your waist is the perfect size to wrap my arms around. Those legs, those thighs! I wish to throw them over my shoulders. Your hips are more luscious than anything on this earth. Your rear...gods, the perfect handful. And your quim! If I could enter it and never leave, I would."

As he spoke, his hands caressed and stroked each feature he described. His left hand now rested between Daphne's tightly closed thighs.

"Open your legs, my love," he commanded.

Daphne's heart pounded in her ears. Hades words had left her confused. How could he love her so? He had only just met her.

"Hades, this—"

"Shh, you will have plenty of time to say my name. In fact, I hope that you will scream it," He worked a finger between her damp folds. "Open your legs or I shall pry them apart myself."

Daphne reluctantly relaxed her legs. Hades gently spread them open.

"Very good."

He lowered his face between her thighs. He met her wide-eyed gaze with a wink.

"Please don't! Please just let me—."

Her pleas became a high-pitched moan as Hades dipped his tongue between her wet folds. She inhaled sharply as he closed his lips around her clitoris and sucked. With earnest, he licked her sex with long, hard strokes. He dragged his tongue around her clit and deep into center.

"Exquisite," he groaned. The hum of his voice bringing ripples of pleasure through her pussy. Daphne raised her hips at the overwhelming sensation. Hades wrapped her thighs over his shoulders and pressed his hands to her mound to keep her from scooting away.

"You are delicious," he rumbled, fully aware of the feeling it elicited in her loins. "So sweet," he continued, pressing his mouth closer to her dripping pussy.

Daphne's nipples hardened painfully as Hades continued his oral assault on her body. From one moment to the next, his tongue moved languidly then swiftly, gently then roughly. Daphne's head swam with arousal. Whenever she opened her mouth to protest, only feverish mewls of arousal left it. The room, once again, filled with the scent of the coriander flower. There was no hint anger or fear. Hades kissed her inner thighs and nipped gently at her folds. He sucked her clitoris and buried his face into center, relishing the taste. His hands roamed to her breasts. He lazily rolled her nipples between his fingers.

Daphne bit her lip to keep from crying out. No one had ever touched her like this before. She had always been too shy to date anyone. A hook-up was out of the question. After she was attacked, she steered clear of men altogether. But this felt dizzyingly wonderful. Heat began to spread throughout her body. She hid her face behind a pillow.