I Love Luci Ch. 11

Chapter Eleven: Stolen

~ Evangeline ~

We were on edge, and we didn't know why. Maybe it was the daily watching of the calendar, hoping perhaps Lucifer would break his own rules again. Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing him again when we expected to but feeling like the days between were endless. Maybe it was the deepening ache for him both Gwen and I were feeling.

I hadn't loved that she told Sean everything. But I hadn't minded the way he'd been since; ever attentive, catering to even *my* desires a little. I kept it to myself that I loved the man. Not just because he loved us and kept us safe but simply for himself. He may not call me by name, or submit to my desires, but he didn't loathe me as I'd once assumed. And in his mind, he loved all of Gwen which meant he loved me also, as I was part of her whole. I didn't know if the extra devotion was because he was worried that we'd give too much of ourselves to Lucifer and he hoped to diminish that need, or if he was simply feeling territorial. In either case, I had to confess I loved it.

When the night of the full moon was upon us, there was relief in not to having to be concerned about what form my "date" with Lucifer would take. If it were in the astral realm, in my dreams, no worry. If it did manifest in the physical world, I no longer needed to worry about how the hell we were going to explain it all to Sean. That eased us both so greatly that it was a wonder I was in control at all; I didn't need to be.

"Didn't need to," Gwen said softly in our mind. "No. But I know you deserve your time with him, too, sister."

Sister. It wasn't often she called me that. It made me wonder if she had a better idea as to the traumas that spawned me in her mind; assuming I was, in fact, no more than a mere facet of her broken psyche. We lost a sister about the time I could first remember. Though we had another, who did NOT understand or see me at all, I remember the loss off our middle sister. Did Gwen create a sister in her mind to replace the one she lost? And should I not have then disappeared, three years later, when our youngest sister was born and and filled that void? Even I was not entirely certain.

But she was the compassionate soul that I was not, and I saw what all the people in her life loved about her. She cared, genuinely, for the hearts of others... even mine, which may or may not have been her own.

When the doorbell rang at sundown, I felt my heart flip. Thankfully, it was a Friday night, and our daughter was at her grandparents' house for the weekend. Sean arched a brow at me from across our living room and stood before I could.

"Sean," I said softly, holding a hand up to give him pause. "It could be anyone."

"I am still your husband, Gwen," he said, and I had to hold back the inner snarl that he didn't see me. Or maybe didn't care to acknowledge me, as usual. "God or not, I am not just handing over my wife without a handshake first." It was said with a smile and a wink and it almost amazed me he was so fearless and flippant.

I walked to the door with him and was at the same moment grateful, relieved, saddened, frustrated and confused to see a man in a black suit standing outside the door and a black limo in front of the house.

"Miss Gwendolyn?" Asked the man politely. Sean nodded to me and the man handed me a card. I opened it, taking in the gilt hand-written calligraphy with Gwen's full name on the envelope. Inside, in red ink was the note:

My Little Witch,

Apologies for not arriving myself to pick you up. Please allow Hermes to escort you to me this evening.

With Great Anticipa—

—Tion,

L.

I looked up at the man before me and for a sudden moment, he looked like Nathan Fillion in an expensive, well-tailored suit.

"Holy shit," Sean said in a low voice — clearly he had seen the sudden shift in our visitor's physical form.

Hermes almost groaned as he looked down at his own body and clothing. "Aren't you both a little old to be watching the Percy Jackson movies?" He said in a voice I'd heard a million times on old episodes of Castle and Firefly. "I swear to Zues, girl, if you give me the talking snakes, I am *leaving* you here."

"Um..." I could tell Sean was already picturing the caduceus from the aforementioned movie, complete with speaking serpents, and trying both to stop envisioning it and to hide his horror at being unable to. When the movie prop appeared in the man's hand, I couldn't resist and turned in comical horror to my spouse. "What did you *do*, Ray?"

Sean, never one to let a geeky moment of comedy to pass, immediately responded: "I couldn't help it. It just popped in there..."

Even Hermes broke into a huge laugh and shook his head, grinning. "Well played, Sir," he said and offered his hand to Sean. Sean responded as he would to any man who understood a well placed Ghostbuster joke, and shook the hand firmly with a lopsided smile.

"Thank you, Sir," he said, then caught himself with a small apologetic nod. "Lord Hermes." Hermes shook off the Fillion face, but retained the suit, and looked a little more like the man he'd appeared as originally; dark brown hair, with a delicate wave to it, classically cut and parted on one side. He had pale blue eyes, like aquamarine, as opposed to the deep sapphire of Lucifer's gaze. What made them remarkable were the generously thick, sooty lashes that framed the pale orbs and contrasted so beautifully with the crystal-blue clarity of his gaze. His features were otherwise classically Greek, with high cheekbones and a strong jaw. He stood a good ten inches above me, near six feet, and his form in the immaculately tailored suit appeared well formed and strong. On his feet, he wore basic black leather dress shoes and I was more than a little amused to see wings stitched into the side.

"No need for formality," Hermes told Sean. "You didn't summon me; you owe me no honorifics."

"I am putting my mate in your care, it seems," Sean said quite seriously. "I owe you trust and respect for that alone, regardless of how you came to be the escort." Something I couldn't identify flashed across those blue eyes but it was gone before I could identify it. Hermes accepted the answer with a small nod and turned to me, his demeanor almost... bizarrely determined.

"If you're ready?"

"I don't think it is ever possible to be ready for these evenings," I said honestly. "So as ready as ever."

Hermes held his arm out to me and Sean kissed me on the cheek as as I passed him and stepped out the door before saying

goodbye and slowly closing the door behind us. "You actually drove?" I found myself asking and the God of Messengers, Travelers and Thieves beside me laughed.

"Actually no... it's the Cóiste Bodhar. It has a driver." He pronounced it "co-shta bower".

My feet came to a halt, immediately. "The Cóiste Bodhar?" I felt ice water run down my spine. I knew exactly what that was, having been raised in both an Irish and Scottish family. "The Dullahan." I almost couldn't produce the name of the headless driver of the Black Coach, so strangled was my airways with a primal terror that came with the knowledge of what I was being presented with. I felt my knees begin to feel insubstantial and my feet utterly nonexistent.

Hermes looked both surprised and impressed that I would know this. "Yes. Crom lent it to me. We had our monthly psychopomp brunch yesterday and I asked if I might escort you in style."

"With a headless driver," I said, almost weakly. I wasn't often terrified but I grew up on Darby O'Gill and nothing scared us more than the bean sidhe and the silent black coach of the dead. Hermes seemed to finally see the pallor of my skin and the shaking of my body as he realized what was going on. "Gwendolyn, you are perfectly safe."

"I'm not Gwen," I said softly, still staring in horror at the black car and the shape I could almost make out behind the tinted glass of the front seat. A shape that seemed a head too short...

"I'm sorry?" Hermes looked again at the letter still in my hand and then stepped between me and the great black bethemoth of a vehicle and blocked my view of it — mostly. He put his hand on my face and raised my eyes to his. "Be calm, little one," he said gently. "And explain. You couldn't have read that were you not whom it was addressed to."

Frustrated by my own cowardice, I took a breath and met the eyes of the God before me, reminded that one of his many duties included the transport of souls to the Underworld like the aforementioned Crom. Both were in the same line of business as Herne without the balance of light and fertility that my patron also possessed. Not to say that Hermes was a death god; he wasn't. But he was as he had said: a psychopomp, a being who guided the dead to The Other Side. But to the best of my knowledge, Hermes himself had no ties to the Realm of the Dead beyond being able to pass through it with ease. So, I didn't dissemble. "My name is Evangeline. Former Priestess of Nemesis."

"Ah." Comprehension dawned in his pale eyes. "The Gemini. I understand."

I tilted my head. "Is that what she calls me?"

"It is a descriptor she is rather fond of, yes. You're rare." I wasn't entirely shocked he knew of me from my former Mistress; they were in the same Pantheon after all. He glanced back at the glossy dark beast of a car behind him and then back to me. "I had meant to impress you, not terrify you," He said with genuine chagrin. "Unless I am in Ireland or Scotland, it's rare someone recognizes that for what it is. But... we needn't take it." Before I could stop him, he brought his fingers fo his lips, let out a sharp whistle and soundlessly, as if it moved on air and darkness alone, the car slid into the night and out of sight. I immediately felt a wave of relief so great, it brought tears to my eyes. Hermes looked even more bemused, and deeply concerned. "This is not at all how this was supposed to happen," he said apologetically.

"I can drive," I offered weakly, a little ashamed of being afraid. I was supposed to be the brave one! "I mean, if that works..."

I couldn't describe the look in his eyes... sad, angry, worried... but determined. I didn't understand it and something began to feel wrong here. I took a step back toward my lawn and his large hand encircled my wrist and his eyes looked stormy. "Don't," He said very softly, calmly. To me, it sounded like it ought to be menacing but he just couldn't muster the energy to be scary. That, in itself, was enough to send a chill up my spine. "I don't want to hurt you."

My mouth went dry, but I managed calmly to say: "I don't want to be hurt."

"Then be a good girl and come quietly," he said, and tried to give that charmingly roguish smile, but it was strained.

"I am not the good one," I said with equally dangerous softness, but didn't physically attempt to escape; I wasn't stupid. Who knew what he could do to me?

"Please. I could make you." He looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do. "And I will if I must."

"Lucifer didn't send you," I said plainly, without a hint of confusion. I didn't physically pull away, but I began taking internal stock of my energy, and began building an internal wall between he and I. While I didn't know if treating him the way I would negative energy or a spirit I didn't want around me was at all useful, it was what I knew how to do. But he was right; I didn't summon him, even by accident and there were rules... weren't there?

"He did, actually. But... he wasn't the first to contract my services. It just happened that he did also and I merely didn't share that I was previously engaged by a prior, competing contract." He pulled me to him, and looked down at me. He almost looked apologetic. "You can't just will me away, girl. I am not some spirit stuck on your plane you can build a wall against or a demon you can exorcise." The world seemed to almost dissolve around me and suddenly, it was like falling into darkness. In one moment, I felt his arms surround me, and the next, I was falling and there was nothing but empty space all around me. I could feel his body, but it was like being temporarily blind and deaf all at once. It terrified both Gwen and I to the core.

"It will be easier on your mind if you aren't conscious for this travel," he whispered into my ear; a startling sound after the sudden loss of visual or audio input. I felt his arms hold me to him more firmly as felt the heat of his breath on my lips as he whispered: "I'm sorry" and then sealed his mouth over mine, robbing me of even the ability to think. As I lost consciousness, I swear I could hear the howls of hounds somewhere in the distance and hear the sounds of a large body of water slowly getting closer and then fading back into utter silence as darkness in his very touch willed me into unconscious compliance in his embrace.

———————————

"Nemesis will eviscerate you," a voice crept into my peace in the darkness, and I slowly became aware of the pillow under my head, the bed beneath me and the whispered conversation nearby. I heard Hermes hiss angrily. "You play with fire, Uncle."

"Be still; she wakes," this was said at normal volume and a delicate and warm hand took mine. It felt distinctly feminine as did the voice. I opened my eyes and looked up into the loveliest lavender eyes, large and expressive, in a pale heart-shaped face. Her petal pink cheeks were brushed by wide chestnut waves of hair and she was beautiful. Her gaze was ancient and belied the face it resided in that looked like it was no older than twenty. "Evangeline? I am Persephone."

I knew that Gwen invoked Persephone from time to time, but she was not a Goddess I personally worked with. Nor imagined ever to be in the presence of. Then again, if you had asked me if I thought the Devil was real or my communions with were Herne more than hopes and dreams a year ago, I would have denied both!

"My Lady," I managed with a slight respectful nod. I felt light-headed, still and not quite in full control of my faculties. I raised my eyes to look over her shoulder and saw Hermes standing with his arms crossed over his chest in the corner of the large room, glowering, and not meeting my eyes as he glared at a tall dark haired and bearded man near him beside a large fireplace. The man wore an all black suit, black dress shirt, a crimson tie and a dower expression. He was slightly greying at the temples and had eyes so dark I saw no pupil in them. He stepped away from the fireplace, but the shadows of the corner of the large suite seemed to cling to him as he walked over to the side of the canopied bed on which I currently lay.

"Our apologies for the manner in which you've come into my realm," the man said, his voice a low bass rumble that I felt bodily. "I am Hades."

I felt as if the floor dropped out from under me. "Your..." The room nearly spun. "... realm?" I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me.

"You aren't dead!" Persephone gasped, understanding my horror. "No! I'm so sorry! We should have opened with that!" She looked genuinely upset. I didn't want to like her, but her open expression was magnetic. She was so beautiful. And she looked so worried for me.

"Then why and how am I here?" I ask, trying to be calm. I met Hermes's eyes and he looked away from me, as if he couldn't bear to look me in the eye. "Well, I suppose the 'how' is obvious."

"Because it was best you and Lucifer spent some time apart," Hades said, his voice full of disapproval.

"I don't understand."

"You are a distraction."

It felt like a physical blow to my chest. I blinked and took a breath. "I'm sorry?"

"We may not be the primary Gods worshipped any longer," Hades growled. "But when we were, we knew better than to get so involved with humanity that we shirked our responsibilities. And while there was a time when if we mixed our ichor with your thin red blood, what was born from that union would be accepted and tolerated in the world. That is no longer *this* world. And if his pantheon will not ensure his compliance, this one shall."

I looked into the black center of Hades' cold eyes and saw flames in their depths and a chill ran up my spine. I saw no compassion there at all.

"Husband, you are terrifying the girl," Persephone admonished. She helped me sit up on the side of the bed and I felt a slight wave of dizziness. "And you, Hermes! You couldn't find a more gentle means of transportation for a living woman?" She looked at Hermes as if he were mad. She took a damp cloth from a basin beside the bed and place the surprisingly cool fabric to my face. It smelled sweet, fruity. Like pomegranates and sunlight and my dizziness began to ease. "Forgive them," she said gently to me. "They can be positively boorish sometimes! They don't pay attention to the evolution of the world today."

"Bullshit," said Hermes in annoyance. "I pay attention. I just don't put much credence into it staying the same. Evolution happens in fits and false starts and always ends up right where it began again."

"Regardless," the springtime Goddess said dismissively. "I would speak with her alone."

Hades looked like he would grow angry or protest, but she merely looked at him expectantly and he turned and walked out of the room without another word. Hermes shook his head and followed.

As the door closed behind them, I was left facing this young looking woman; less terrified but no less confused.

She offered her hand and nodded across the room where a pair of arm chairs sat before a fire in a stone hearth. "Come sit and speak with me?"

"Of course." Who would refuse a Goddess a chat by the fire? But my mind was more on the reasons for this abduction. I could feel Gwen's consciousness just dimly aware in the back of our mind, and I was grateful she didn't seem aware enough yet to panic. I was doing my damndest to keep us both from panicking. As I walked across the room, multiple —three to be precise— howls rang in the air with alarming volume.

Persephone sighed, walked to the door, opened it again and leaned halfway out of the doorframe into the hall or next room. "SHUT IT, CERBERUS!!" She yelled as if she were yelling at a disobedient pet. The howls immediately stopped with a chastised whimper and she leaned back in closing the door again before coming to join me before the fire. I was frankly too startled by the completely common place occurrence of someone yelling at a disobedient pet being performed by a literal deity to do much more than blink.

I gave myself a small mental shake and raised my eyes to hers. "Can you explain to me why I am here?" I asked as politely as I knew how.

"Do you know what Lucifer does?" She asked in return, leaning back and crossing her legs at the knee as she addressed me, her tiny hands folded in her lap.

"The same thing as Hades, I would imagine," I answered honestly.

"Only in the most narrow of scope." Persephone sat back into the plush black wingback chair that reminded me eerily of the chair in the hotel room Lucifer had created for me when I was last alone with him. "He deals in souls and their ultimate destination as much as Hades does, true. But it is so much larger than that. The fear of what he represents is a necessary element to a massive percentage of the world to keep them morally in the light. I may not understand current monotheists and their penchant for shame, terror and the insistence that their god-king is both perfect love and infallible but also has the bloodlust to murder infants in their cribs for the sins of their fathers ... but I do understand some sections of humanity needing a reason to be ethical; it has rarely become ingrained in humanity to be honest, compassionate and peaceful without some level of fear. When we ruled, the morally repugnant were sent to Tartarus. But we did not control humanity.