Hades and Persephone

Here's Chapter 2! There is finally some "action" between Hades and Persephone.

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Centuries ago in the Underworld...

Hades, the dark lord of the Underworld plunged his cock deep into Calypso's scorching, drenched pussy, her puffy lips caressing him on each downslide, each successive stroke as he plowed her.

The intoxicating nymph who had held Odysseus on her island with questionable consent for seven years on his return journey home to Ithaca, whimpered, her breathing quickening as her pussy begin to convulse around the steely column that surged against her cervix.

Of the two, Calypso was by far the more experienced. Hades himself had partaken of only one or two encounters in the whole of his lifespan, usually surreptitious affairs that were easily discarded.

Over time, Hades had started to realize that he liked inflicting sensual pain on his partners, and his obsession with the control that duty and responsibility afforded him had extended to the sexual matters in his life as well. Ever since Calypso had presented herself to him, shockingly naked, in his throne room mere hours earlier, Hades had toyed with the idea in the back of his mind of keeping her in the Underworld as his slave full-time.

In an effort to test out the waters a bit, he whispered in her ear in a voice roughened with passion, "Clench your cunt around me, Calypso!" At the same time, he slid his hand around her back to swat her ass, hard enough to sting but not so hard as to mark.

She froze. Any trace of ardor slipped from her face. The soft, molten core of her now felt unwelcoming as it surrounded his cock. "Why did you do that, Your Majesty?"

"To arouse. To entice. It is something that I enjoy and thought you might, as well." He tried to play it off casually.

Her expression shifted to horrified. "I don't! I don't understand how anyone could ever want it! Is it because you like to torture people here in the Underworld? In Tartarus?"

For a few fleeting seconds, he thought she was playing at being annoyed, but, as she struggled to get away from him and cover her glorious nudity, he finally comprehended that she really meant what she said. She thought he was some kind of monster for his desires. That thought she hammered home with her leaving.

His bewilderment from her reaction gave her the opening she needed to flee; Hades did not pursue her.

That brief interlude with Calypso soured him on the idea of domination, of seeking out a submissive partner permanently.

********

Shaking his head to clear the devastating cobwebs, Hades directed his attention at Persephone's words. He tried for self deprecation. "Yes, THE Hades. And THE Cerberus."

He took the hand she offered and, instead of shaking it, kissed her lightly on its back, a la gentlemanly chivalry.

Big mistake. Her eyes widened softly, those luminous blue eyes that drew him in even after his well-honed senses of responsibility and self-preservation struggled to remain impassive.

Demeter's pointed throat clearing startled them both from their shared reverie. "What, exactly, are you doing here, Hades?"

"Sit, Cerb," Hades used his most imposing voice as his mutt still tried to receive special head scritches from Penelope's dextrous fingers. No surprise there: Hades himself could imagine her stroking his brow-as well as less innocent locations on his body.

Down boy, he mentally directed to Cerberus and his own errant body part that reacted predictably.

"I am here to check out the place. I have some metalwork to obtain from Hephaestus, and Hermes had mentioned how many of us had gathered in this locale. Athena's idea, I believe he mentioned?" Hades figured a probable excuse was his best option.

But the goddess of agriculture was not so easily swayed. "You. Hades. Who, to hear Hermes and Hephaestus tell it, never leaves the Underworld. You won't even visit your brother in Olympus from time to time."

"Nor do you," Hades countered but regretted his retort instantly. Lobbing accusations and trading jabs with Demeter would keep him from meeting his goal of returning Demeter (and, in particular, the luscious Persephone) to their home on Olympus.

He was not some randy human teenager, nor was he his brothers who could not control their appetites. Yet, his eyes were drawn to every womanly curve that Persephone's clothes struggled in vain to conceal.

Her breasts-because a tamer word such as bosom would not suffice such magnificence-were surely large, more so than would fit in his hands without brimming over his grasp.

With an inward sigh of relish, he pondered the hue of her nipples. Pink, he decided definitively, a pale blushing rose to match her lips-or the cheeks that flushed when she introduced herself as Seph.

That only made him think of her nether cheeks and how he would like to make them blush and then darken further under first his hand and then his heavy belt he wore.

No.

No.

Stop.

You are not here to seduce, he chastened his mind and libido. You are here to return Persephone to the matchmaking embrace of her aunt on Olympus, preferably with Demeter. And, guess what!? You would not even make the long list of options as her suitor, much less the short list. And that's without Hera knowing of your baser impulses, fetishes and desires that scared away no less than Calypso herself.

With a stern shake of his head, he refocused on the conversation at hand-not the struggle in his mind.

Both mother and daughter appeared taken aback. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "I'm sorry. My social skills are very rusty. Those I encounter in the Underworld are far past the social niceties of course-or they are my nephews," he finished, gesturing at Hephaestus, still engaged in a tete a tete with Athena.

Persephone recovered first with a gentle smile. "Of course. That is understandable. Maybe you could tell me of it sometime."

Now Hades was confused. "Tell you of the Underworld?" No one truly wanted to know of it or experience it. His designation of the Underworld's king was not entirely consensual in the beginning. He now appreciated the solitude it afforded as his less than social nature found solace in his manse.

Zeus's lightning bolts were no less brilliant than her smile. Great, he fumed inwardly; she has me thinking in hyperbole. "Yes. Please. I would like that." Her smile dimmed slightly. "But I can understand if you have to leave soon."

Glancing back and forth between the two women, he muttered, "I can stay for a little while."

Whereas Persephone's smile brightened, Demeter's grew forced. "Out with it, Hades. Why are you here?"

Damn! He should have known that she would see through the facade. Dissimulation time. "Hermes dropped by a little while ago and let it slip that Zeus and Hera are about to issue an edict demanding you return home. They (meaning your sister) think it is time for Persephone to be reunited with her birthright and get married. My nephew hinted that you would not trust him with the news, so he asked me to relay the possibility of a direct order being delivered to you in his stead."

There. That was as close to the truth as he could reasonably say.

Demeter's eyes clouded in anger. "They what? How dare they?!"

Holding up a placating hand, he tried to soothe her. "Would it not be better to return-briefly-of your own free will? Surely, you do not intend Persephone to remain here, childless and unmarried. Or, worse, married to a mortal whom Zeus may not allow to enter Olympus and partake of the nectar and ambrosia?"

Appealing to her love of her daughter assuaged her ire, somewhat. "Briefly, maybe. But it would have to be on my own terms, our own terms. And they could not rush Persephone into a hasty matrimonial decision. She may not even want to stay there as a wife and goddess-chattel."

"You chose your path and the path of her childhood as is a mother's right. But she is now of an age to make her own decisions. Those decisions do not have to mirror yours." Then, he had an idea. "How about you think it over while I describe to Persephone the terrors of the Underworld? Perhaps over lunch?"

To this, Persephone nodded fervently. More violet petals wafted to the ground. "I would very much like that," her words rushed out.

"If you don't mind, that is, Demeter?" Hades glanced back at the goddess, taking on a tone of his request being a foregone conclusion.

"Of course, of course," Demeter acceded. It was clear her thoughts were elsewhere, perhaps on her enmity with Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon.

Persephone, however, noted the time on the large clock at the entrance to the Owl's Roost and giggled. "In my excitement, I didn't realize that lunch is still quite a ways away. At twelve, Mr., um, what am I to call you?"

"Hades is fine. For the purposes of my time here, I have added the surname Doukas for those times when a last name is necessary."

Persephone's cheeks blushed, and Hades had to remind himself for at least the tenth time to keep his thoughts innocent. "Hades," she whispered, her voice caressing his name warmly awake.

"If you will excuse me?" He knew his departure was abrupt, his words curt, but he had to exit her presence.

"See you at twelve?" she prodded. In response, he nodded as he turned away, dragging Cerberus with him to where his nephew and Athena awaited him, slightly slack jawed.

"Yes?" he queried as he approached the two.

Athena's steady gray gaze locked with his. "Hermes told me that Zeus had requested you convince them to return to Olympus."

He nodded, picking up a pair of manacles with chain attached forged from the wicked imagination of Hephaestus. "Do you doubt my ability to be persuasive, Niece?"

"With all due respect, Uncle," she ventured, "you are very good at intimidation, yes. You are not as well-versed in the gentler arts of persuasion."

Shrugging, Hades conceded, "True. But the girl is starving for a chance to wander throughout the human world and our own. She even wanted me to tell her of the Underworld!"

"Persephone does want to explore, and Demeter does curtail her experimentation. I opened the Owl's Roost and invited everyone here with the hope that the togetherness would help Demeter to realize that she missed Olympus. Instead, the opposite happened. She became even less inclined to return, and Persephone suffered for it," Athena concluded.

Hades sighed. "In other words, Persephone will be easier to convince than Demeter." That means I will have to spend even more time girding my loins in her company, he inwardly cursed.

"She will be," Hephaestus echoed, his mind already on his forge.

"I guess I will find out at noon," Hades muttered. "That should give me just enough time to return home and drop off Cerberus. All he will do will complicate matters."

With that, the King of the Dead turned and exited into the sunshine, his mastiff at his heels.

********

Jessica bustled over to her best friend who stood in the flower stall. Seph, by contrast, stood unmoving, musing over her options.

"Who was he?" Jessica gushed.

Persephone knew her smile that flitted across her lips did not find purchase in her eyes. "Mr. Doukas. He's an acquaintance of my mom's. And Dion's, oddly enough. And Hef's. And Athena's. And Hermes's."

"An acquaintance. That makes sense. Your mom did not seem to be friends or more with him."

"No." Of this, Persephone was certain. Her mom had pretty much fucked most of the immortal realm-and quite a bit of the mortal one-during her lifetime, but she had never been linked with the King of the Underworld.

Then, she continued, "He thinks I should visit my aunt and uncle. I have not been where they live since I was a baby. Mom left there shortly after I was born."

"So, why don't you visit them?" To Jessica, problems like these had easy solutions.

Persephone shook her head. "It's not that simple. My mom had this huge argument with my aunt and uncle; that's what caused her to leave her home...town," Seph covered lamely. Sometimes, like Ariel in The Little Mermaid, she simply wanted to explore the worlds she straddled, mortal and immortal, human and Olympian.

"Seph, you are twenty-four years old. It is okay if you fly away from your mom's nest," Jessica offered. Noting Persephone's twisting fingers, Jessica backed down from her suggestions. "So tell me more about this Mr. Doukas who could not keep his eyes off of you."

Persephone's cheeks flushed to match the delicate pink of the tea roses blooming near the stall's entrance. "That's not true, Jess! He-he wasn't looking at me."

"I know what I saw," her friend teased, her hazel eyes alight with affection. "That Greek god was checking you out."

"What?" How did Jess know?

Jessica grinned, continuing to rib her friend. "You know. The total Adonis. Mr. Doukas. Doukas is a Greek last name, you know."

Realizing that Jess was speaking metaphorically, not literally, allowed Persephone to slow her breathing. "Of course. But he wouldn't be interested in me. Other than to try to talk my mom and me into returning to my mom's hometown for a visit."

"Other than that, he has no interest in you whatsoever?" Jessica prodded.

Wistfulness filtered over her features, something Persephone did not realize; Jessica noticed, however. "No, none," she whispered. "The only reason he's taking me to lunch is to work on convincing me to convince my mom. And because I want to know what his home is like. I grew up hearing stories about how impressive it was."

"Uh huh, sure. Keep telling yourself that, Seph." Jessica paused. "Wait! He's taking you to lunch? You've got to change!"

"What? Why?" Persephone sputtered.

Mutinous, Jessica planted her hands squarely on her hips. "Because, my dearest friend, even if you do not think this is a date, this is the closest thing to a date you've had since we've met."

"No."

Jessica's eyes softened. "Please?"

"If I say okay, will you stop suggesting that he is interested in me?" Persephone chuckled.

"Fine."

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity as Jessica raced from one end of the bazaar to the other, finding bits and pieces to make over Persephone. A scant half hour later, the Greek goddess stood before a full-length mirror, stopping short of touching the silvered glass in shock of her own transformation.

Gone was the girl hiding behind frumpy and shapeless dresses. In her place was a goddess transformed. From Athena's stall came a shift dress of a pale blue hue, reminiscent of what her mother wore on Olympus. A belt, wrought of gold from Hephaestus's forge, encircled her slender waist, providing dimension to her already plentiful curves. Jewels flashed in the fluorescent lights depicting flowers and leaves decorating the links. Replacing the circlet tangled in her curls was a single morning glory tucked in her ear, softly echoing the cerulean hue of her dress.

Persephone turned to her friend and hugged her abruptly. In her mind, she had always equated beauty to Aphrodite and her mom, women who used their bodies to ensnare men for a short while. Never had she simply considered that she could be beautiful without those less palatable trappings. The realization made her eyes shimmer with unshed tears.

"No, no. I'm fine. I just-thank you, Jess." She squeeze-hugged her friend once more. "And, now, I must dash. I think it would be best, as Mr. Doukas does not get out much, if he and I went on a picnic along the lake shore. Somewhere quiet." Somewhere where I can ask him all about the Underworld and Olympus and why Mom left, she thought.

With a spring to her step that had been missing for some time and a lightness in her heart, Persephone gathered the trappings of a picnic feast. From her mother's stall, she purchased pomegranates and figs. From Polly Femus, a surly young woman whose bangs often covered her eyes, tart feta cheese and cold lunch meats. Sniffing the tightly wrapped package, she realized it was lamb. Bread and baklava from the baker's stall down the way.

At last, she stopped at Dion's and realized with a start that the proprietor was actually present. "Seriously, Dion? You want to sell this vintage at that price? You had to have paid twice that for each bottle!" Her exasperated best friend threw her hands up in the air and stormed off.

Dion's reaction was a wicked chuckle. His wine-red waves, no accident that, tumbled against the collar of his leather jacket. His jacket was a sharp contrast to that of Hades. The king of the Underworld wore his as an elegant accessory; Dionysus wore his as a visible reminder to all who saw him that he was wild and ready to ride-pretty much anything that moved.

Seph tut-tutted. "You really shouldn't tease her like that, Dion. She takes her job very seriously."

"But Seph, it's so much fun to do! She becomes so flustered!" Up to that moment, Dion had not even looked up to see Persephone. When he did, he stopped and stared.

"What?" she asked, looking around behind her to see what held Dion so transfixed.

Dion shook his head as if to clear it. "You clean up well, flower lady."

Blushing, she smiled up at him. "Thank you, Dionysus."

"Before she left, Jessica mentioned that you were meeting Hades for lunch." Dionysus grinned knowingly.

"Geez, does everyone know now?"

"What? That he's here to make sure that you and Demeter return to Olympus all happy-happy-joy-joy? Yup. At least those of us who are in the know do," he completed her unfinished question."

"Yeah. That." Persephone did not know why she felt so deflated. While Jessica was doing everything short of planning Seph's wedding to (or at least a hot hookup with) Hades, the other Olympians saw nothing amiss of his supposed interest in her. But, that was a good thing, right?

Persephone struggled to maintain her smile. "That's why I'm here, actually. I wanted to select wine for lunch."

"Why don't you take one of these?" Dion proffered one of the bottles that led to his one-sided argument with Jess. "This is one of Hades's favorites, dark red and highly viscous."

"Thanks, Dion." Somehow, being able to offer the much more worldly Hades a favored wine made her feel better about the upcoming lunch. "I really appreciate it." Standing on tiptoes, she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

Neither saw the two individuals looking at them. Jessica's gaze was a sad shock of betrayal. The jealousy would come later. The glare Hades shot the two was more complex and therefore more dangerous. The dark king of the Underworld appeared a man whose most desired dream was wrenched from his grasp moments before he could own it at last.

********

Persephone's soft humming belied her restless energy. She had been counting down the seconds until Hades would arrive for their lunch.

The soft chimes rang out twelve times, and, for the first time, Persephone doubted that he would show. She dismissed the idea immediately; Hades wanted to convince her and her mom to return. He would show up for that reason alone.

A minute later, she felt his presence before her. His shadow blocked the hazy light of the bazaar. "Oh, it's you!" she cried out enthusiastically and then castigated herself for sounding too excited.

"Yes, it is I, Hades," he intoned. His demeanor had changed. Gone was the noble gentleman although that thin veneer still coated him. Beneath that, he seemed to almost seethe in rage. His eyes-it must be a trick of the light-appeared to glow red in the dim light. Something about his stance or attitude lent an air of danger to him, the "bad boy" danger that women had found so all-consuming since men and gods were first born.

Persephone was not immune to that danger.

But she also inferred the anger radiating from him. "I understand if you cannot go to lunch with me," she whispered, unable to keep the forlorn note out of her voice.