Hades Ch. 06

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post the new chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Stephanie had just changed out of her ceremonial robes to a pair a jeans and white tank top, when she heard the front door slam shut, "Hello?" she asked as she left her room and entered the living room. She watched as Claire put ten shopping bags on the table. "What's going on?"

Claire laughed, "I have a date."

Stephanie's eyebrows rose in surprise, "You have a date? Who's the lucky guy?"

Claire rummaged through her shopping bags as she answered, "My physics tutor, Jim." Finding what she was looking for, she pulled out a long, earth green dress and held it to the front of her body, "What do you think?"

"Great," Stephanie answered as she sat down in the seat facing Claire, "Where are you guys going?"

"I'm not sure, I'll find out when he picks me up at seven."

Stephanie stared at Claire as she pull out a pair of black gladiator flats, a slim black belt that would show off her tiny waist, and a long necklace that would bring attention to her large bust. She looked at her longtime friend and vowed she wouldn't fail her again, "Why are you going on this date?" She knew that she hit a nerve when Claire shot a censuring look back at her, "What I mean is, you like being single. I'm just wondering why now?"

Claire sat down, a shocked look on her face. "I'm not sure. I do know that it gets lonely being single, but the reason why I said yes is because you're the one who always tells me that I should get more."

"How can you be lonely? You have me and Shelly."

"You know that's not what I mean." she said through clenched teeth, "I want a man with strong arms to hold me at night Steph. I know how desperate that sounds but I haven't even been touched by another man."

"That's a good thing."

"I'm twenty-three year old virgin. How is that a good thing?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Well...It's—um well—Mmm."

Claire scoffed and walked over to her room with her clothes and bags in her hands, "Yeah, you see it's not a good being a virgin. Most guys don't like virgins because they don't have enough 'experience'," she said over her shoulder as she put her stuff on her bed.

"Guys don't like your attitude." Stephanie said under her breath not realizing that Claire had heard her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She asked standing in the doorway, her hourglass figure emphasized by her hands on her waist.

"Well it's just that you seem to portray yourself as tough." Stephanie watched as Claire slowly moved toward her, her hands still on her waist, a sign that Claire was a moment from doing something very irrational, yet she kept on. "You portray yourself as a dyke."

****

Claire regarded her friend sitting at the table who just revealed that she portrayed herself as a dyke. She felt her eyes start to burn, felt the tears forming in eyes, and noticed her vision getting blurry. "Wow... I had no idea that I was portrayed as a dyke." She turned her back on her friend liking her a lot less; Steph and Shelly knew how she felt being called a dyke. She had no problem with lesbian women and gay men but during her high school years her mother lost her job, her family got kicked out of their house they had lived in for nineteen years, and then her father died, all of these disasters happened in the same year. She was forced to wear hand be downs from her older brother Zackary, and once she showed up in his clothes people started to take notice and began to not only make fun of her clothes but also her hygiene. Her high school days were rough, in the locker rooms girls would make fun of her weight, boys called her a dyke because of her weight and the clothes that she wore.

"Claire?"

She looked at her friend and then walked into the bathroom without answering Steph. Once inside, she turned on the shower and began to undressed while the water got warmed up. Once all of her clothes were removed she looked at her reflection. Her hands went to her shoulder length brown-black hair, down to her shorter length neck, to her full triple D breast, to her not so flat stomach, back up to her waist that curved in and then curved out to her 49' hips. She looked at her face and saw a decent looking woman that had regular brown eyes, long lashes, full lips, strong jaw, and adorable pronounced dimples that showed even while she talked. She took a deep breath and then got into the shower. She put her head under the water, loving how the water felt like a caress that spread over her body. She then grabbed her cucumber and melon body wash and began lathering her body.

While she showered, she stared blankly at the shower wall, reasoning with herself on why she acted the way she did, but the only thing that kept popping into her head was the famous Marilyn Monroe quote, 'I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.' When she had told Stephanie and Shelly about Marilyn's quote, they both believed that the quote described how every woman felt, but for Claire the quote was her way of life. After she realized that her hands were turning into prunes, she turned off the water, dried off, put on her robe and walked into room without a look in Stephanie's direction, entered her room to get ready for her date.

****

Stephanie watched Claire as she walked into her bedroom wearing just her white robe; she remained sitting at the kitchen table wondering what to do. Not realizing that she had been in deep thought for about thirty minutes, she heard a knock at the door. She swung the door open and saw Pirithous, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Pirithous smiled holding a bouquet of white roses, Persephone's favorite. "I'm here for my date with the lovely Claire." He moved past Stephanie as he looked around the apartment before sitting down on the couch.

"You're the infamous Jim." she stated. Without losing eye contact with Pirithous, she closed the door, watching him as he observed the vast number of pictures they had from his perch on the couch. "You haven't told her anything have you?"

"No, I know how this works. I'm supposed to let her choose for herself, I must say though, that Hades is quite behind."

Stephanie sat on the other side of the couch, "He will win her love...again."

Pirithous smiled, still holding the white roses, "We shall see."

Claire's door opened, "Hey did—Oh hi I thought I heard someone knock."

Stephanie's jaw dropped. Claire looked like the goddess that she was, and the green of the dress made her look as if she was the Mother Earth Gaea.

Pirithous' smile widen as he laid eyes on the goddess, "Yes, I was just having a wonderful conversation with your friend."

Claire looked at Stephanie as if she had just tasted something bitter, "Yes, she's always been an interesting conversation starter. Are you ready?"

"Yes, um—these are for you." He handed her the bouquet of white roses.

"I love white roses," she shared as she put the roses in a vase. "How did you know?"

Jim smiled, "Lucky guess." As Claire laughed, he told her, "Well we better get going, I have reservations."

"Okay, led the way." Claire completely ignored Stephanie.

Jim held the door open for Claire before smiling at Stephanie. "Thank you, I think you just made my job easier." Even though he was outside, he could still feel her anger radiate through the door. He knew that Hades was too late, Persephone would finally be his.

****

Hades entered Kylee's psychic shop, "Hades? I never thought I'd see you again."

He turned around to see Pythia aka Kylee. She still stood 5ft even, her waist length brown hair braided and she was wearing a long light blue dress that hugged her toned body. She didn't look a day over 30. She smiled which then faltered as she turned to see Thanatos standing to his left, "Honestly Hades why do you still hang out with such trash."

"It's good to see you to Pythia."

She stuck her tongue out at him then gently grabbed Hades' right hand as she stared into his eyes. "You are on the right path Hades; she is very close to you. The problem is that you have been looking so far ahead that you don't realize she is standing right in front of you. Now it may be too late. Pirithous makes his move."

Hades grabbed both her shoulders with his hands, "Tell me. Give me a hint. Please Pythia I beg of you."

****

Stepping out of Jim's Honda Civic, Claire realized that she may have made a mistake. Jim had parked in front of Eagle River's most popular restaurant. Johann's restaurant was so popular because of the good food and warm atmosphere. She looked at the yellow building and began to get more nervous with every step she took.

"Do you have a problem with Johann's?" Jim asked as he took notice of Claire's facial expression.

"What makes you ask that?"

Jim chuckled then opened the door to let her enter first, "Well you seem...nervous. I don't make you nervous do I?"

She entered the restaurant that thought about her answer. Just as she was about to speak, the hostess interrupted and showed them to their table.

****

Thanatos sighed heavily once again as Hades continued to pace back and forth in the front of Pythia's psychic shop. "My lord, shouldn't we be trying to find Persephone?" He watched as Hades ignored him and began to bite on his fingernails – a nervous habit that returned with the death of Persephone.

"She said something. 'The friend of the one that hates you will be salvation.'"

Thanatos thought carefully. "What the hell does that mean?"

Hades stopped pacing and ran to his car, "Hurry up Thanatos. We have to go back to the campus." Thanatos got into the car while Hades turned on the engine. Before Thanatos could get on his seat belt Hades had zoomed out of the parking lot and was going fifty miles per hour. They pulled up at the college in less than thirty minutes. Thanatos ran behind Hades as they headed for the library. Once there, Hades flirted with the older librarian for Claire's apartment complex since she knew Claire considerably well.

Hades found the apartment and began to knock continuously until the door opened. Stephanie was wearing a black tank top and baggy pajama bottoms and her eyes were puffy, indicating that she had been sleeping. "Yes?"

"I'm looking for Claire have you seen her?"

"Hey hold up." Thanatos said breathlessly as he tried to catch up with Hades. Once he stopped, and breathed in deeply as he saw the beautiful red head in the doorway. When he saw her he leaned against the doorframe and smiled, "Well, hello there beautiful what's your name?"

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention toward Hades, "She's at Johann's on a date with Jim, her physics tutor, and you can talk to her tomorrow." she told him as she shut the door on the two men.

Hades looked at Thanatos then faded out right in the middle of the hallway, "Damn it, my lord?"

Just when he was about to fade, he felt a source of energy that was coming from the red head's apartment. He faded into the house then heard her voice, "I have told Hades where to find Persephone... Of course my Goddess I will continue to give updates." Thanatos watched her from the doorway talking to Athena's shadow figure.

"Don't I get a kiss?"

She gasped and quickly faced him, "It's not polite to ease drop." Once she stood up to her full height Thanatos took it upon himself to take in her curvy body. She had breasts that were extremely large -it would take two hands just to cover one. Her long red hair looked soft and silky; her pale skin is what attracted Thanatos and it made him itch to kiss every inch of it.

"Tell me handmaiden how long have you been on his assignment?"

"I was assigned four years ago when she became a freshman in high school." she told him as he walked behind her and inhaled her scent. She felt his rough hands first on her shoulders, as they made their way down to her arms. The further down he went the closer his chest got to her back. Once he reached the top of her pajama bottoms, her breathing started to change. His fingers then slipped into her boy short panties, to rub her clit.

"This is assignment is very dangerous," he told her as he put more pressure on her clit. "I think you should just ask that lovely Goddess of yours to reassign you."

She gasped in the pleasure that she always received from him, "You know that I can't. Zeus has had his eye on me for a couple of months before Athena assigned me this." She felt him tense and his affection toward her clit ceased.

"What?"

She gently took his hand off of her clit and out of her pajama bottoms and faced him, "I caught the attention of Zeus unwilling, before this assignment took place he was asking Athena about me and if she would consider giving me to him as a father's day gift. Athena declined." She saw his eyes turn red, but she ignored it and continued, "I tried to summon you, but everything was chaotic at the time and I assumed that you were taking care of Hades' and his lost. Athena found out about you and I, so she decided to send me here to protect the soul of Persephone."

****

Hades was about to enter Johann's when he saw Claire and who he guessed was 'Jim' walk out, watched as 'Jim' put his arm around her and pull her closer to his side. It took everything him not to go up to 'Jim' and rip his soul from his body and send him to Tartarus. There was something fishy about this 'Jim' character. He seemed to be trying really hard to capture the interest of Claire. The sight of Claire took his breath away-she looked like the goddess that she was. There stood the love of his life, the woman that held the very fate of his sanity in her hands.

****

Claire forced a laugh at a joke that Jim that told her; their date didn't go as she hoped. All she wanted was a nice dinner with good conversation. She got one of two. The food was great, but the company wasn't. Jim was a nice guy, or so she thought. All he did was talk about himself during the entire hour they had been out, and when they arrived at Johann's the hostess, waiter, cook, and even the owner told her how great Jim was. She felt as if her date had turned into the process of buying a car. She didn't even think he was interested in her. She saw his eyes looking over her shoulder as she was talking to him and it felt as if he were expecting someone more attractive to walk through the door. All she wanted to do was change into her silk nightgown, eat a carton of pistachio ice cream, watch the A Long Hot Summer, and then fall asleep. As he opened the door for her, the wind picked up and she smelled something. "Did you smell that?"

Jim looked at her as if she had told him she were crazy. "Smell?"

She looked over toward the side of Johann's where the smell had come from, "Never mind, I think it was just my imagination." she said and giggled at the look Jim still had on his face.

During the drive back to her place, they didn't talk but instead they listened to the Motown Oldies. He walked her to her apartment, placed a kiss on her cheek and left. She walked inside and dropped her purse on the table before heading into the kitchen to search the freezer for her ice cream.

"You're back," Stephanie stated as she entered the kitchen.

"Yeah," she answered while continuing looking for ice cream. "You were right my date sucked. He's not my type what so ever." She paused. "Do you know where my ice cream is?"

"You ate it all, remember? You got really nervous about the mythology paper. I've never seen you eat a carton so fast."

"Well, I better go get some ice cream," she grabbed her purse before sailing out the door, without even changing.

****

Hades waited until she was safety in her apartment before he walked over to the bench not too far from her apartment building. He sat there for a couple of minutes wondering about his next move. The clicking of heels tore him from his musings as he realized it was Claire.

"Hector? Is that you?"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah. What are you doing out here so late?"

"I'm going to the store around the corner. I'm in dying need of ice cream. Would you like to join me?"

"Yeah," He walked beside her with his hands in his pockets. "So you're a bit fancy for just going to the store for ice cream."

She looked down at her dress and sighed, "I was on a date, and let's just say that I won't be going out with that guy again." She said with a chagrined look. Her hand flew to her mouth as a thought occurred to her, "Oh no! I just realized I'll need a new physics tutor."

Hades saw her expression of horror and knew he still had a shot, "I know someone who's a physics tutor."

She looked up at him with her wide brown eyes, "Really? That would really help me out."

"Yeah, I'll give you his number."

Once they reached the store he bought chips, soda, and Raisinets his favorite candy. He saw Claire pick up her ice cream and a bag of Oreos.

She sighed as they stood in line. "I should put the Oreos back, but I really want them after that horrible date."

"Then you should buy them." Hades suggested.

"No, I really need to lose weight."

"Who said you needed to lose weight? I think that you look great."

She looked up at Hades, "You think so?"

"Yeah, well I was raised by old fashion Greeks, and my father believed that the bigger hips the woman has the smarter the boy. Or something like that." He was surprised to hear her laughing.

"That's a new one."

"Let me pay for those," he offered as she put her items on the counter.

"What? No, Hector, you really don't have to." He felt her hands wrap around his left arm as he reached for his wallet, forcing him to grab her with his other hand.

"Aren't you being a bit dramatic?" he grunted as he tried to keep both of them off of the ground.

"No, you can't pay for my ice cream and Oreos!"

Hades looked around the store and realized that people were laughing at the scene.

"Claire, people are staring. Please stop. I'll let you pay for your ice cream and Oreos."

She immediately let go of his arm and looked at him with her big brown eyes, "I thought you were going to pay for it."

"I was but –"

"You are such a sweetheart Hector."

Hades stared at Claire for a good minute wondering what had just happened.

"$16.87 is your total." Hades handed over his credit card while Claire flipped through the People magazine. As they were leaving, he asked, "What was that whole episode in the store?"

"Just me making you squirm," she answered with a laugh.

Hades scoffed, "It worked." He shook his head at Claire and realized that he was one step away from strangling her. But her personality did seem like a mixture of the characters Bill and Ted. That movie brought back his memory of Persephone. He remembered watching that movie in the nineties with her, and he remembered her watching the Reeves character with an interesting gaze Hades wanting to torture the actor but all Persephone had to do was look at him and pout and he immediately forgot what he was thinking.

"You know you remind me of someone who was very dear to me."

She stopped dead in her tracks, "Please don't tell me I remind you of your mother or little sister."

"What?" he asked with a laugh. "No, the woman that I lost, she reminds me of you."

Her face light up with interest, "Really? What was she like?" she asked as they continued toward her apartment.

Hades smiled in sadness. "Funny, weird, and sensitive."

"That doesn't sound like me at all." she said jokingly.

"Do you like the Bill and Ted trilogy?" he asked suddenly

She gasped. "Of course I do. It's one of the best trilogies of all time."