The next day Hades waited for Claire outside their mythology class. As he leaned against the wall before class began, he studied the people walking by and realized that he really stuck out like a sore thumb. The boys wore long sleeve dress shirts and sweater vest over them paired with khaki dress pants. He was in a country club.
"Who are you waiting for?" came a voice from behind him. Turning to his right he found Thanatos' twin Hypnos, dressed in his usual attire, an Armani suit.
"What are you doing here?"
"Just visiting my brother, I haven't heard from him this morning and it's starting to worry me." He explained as he too leaned against the wall.
Hades frowned, "You know what, I haven't heard from him since last night. I left him at Claire's apartment."
Hypnos' eyebrows rose, "Really? So you finally realized that she has Persephone's soul."
"What do you mean?"
"After Thanatos told me what Kylee said, I knew that Claire was the one that carried Persephone's soul."
"Well not everyone is as smart as you Hypnos."
Hypnos smiled, "Of course not."
Hades noticed several girls looking at Hypnos, probably wondering what he did for a living; most thought he was a self-made millionaire because of his expensive life style. Little did people know that all you had to be was the God of Sleep in order to get the life style Hypnos had. Thanatos and Hypnos were identical twins but very different in style and attitude, Hypnos was a gentlemen to the T, he would open doors for women, never hit or disrespected a woman, or told his friends about how good the woman was in bed. Thanatos was the God of Death and being surrounded by death made him the bad boy who didn't care about any other feelings except his own. He treated women as objects that had an expiration date on the side of their body, even mortal women disgusted him. To him they were cows and he was the butcher looking over them and seeing which one to drag to the Underworld for Pirithous to carry in his ferry.
"Hector?" Hades turned toward the small voice.
"Hey, how are you?"
"Hector?" Hypnos questioned as he looked at Hades.
"Yes that's me, so what's wrong Shelly?"
Shelly smiled and looked toward Hypnos, "I thought I just saw you leaving the apartment, how did you get here so fast?"
Hypnos smiled, while Hades frowned. "Well that must have been my younger twin brother..."
"Thane," Hades finished for him. "We were actually waiting for Thane."
"Oh, well I'm sorry for the confusion." Shelly said, "I had no idea that you guys were twins."
"No worry, my name is Hy...."
"Harry. That's his name Harry." Hades again finished for him.
"Yes," Hypnos agreed while never looking away from Hades. "My name is Harry," he said as he looked back to Shelly, "and what is your name?"
"Shelly."
"Pleasure to meet you Shelly," he said as he took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
Shelly was taken by Hypnos, Hades could tell. He had seen "the look" for so many centuries, he knew when a girl blushed and giggled at Hypnos they ended up being the flavor of the year. It dawned on Hades that the reason why he respected Hypnos was because he never showed interest in a woman that wouldn't become a long term relationship. The longest relationship Hypnos had was six years, and even then the only reason the relationship ended was because of his never aging issue.
"Are you guys coming to my birthday party?" Shelly asked suddenly, pulling Hades away from his thoughts.
"I didn't know you were going to have a birthday party." Hades replied.
"Yeah. Claire, and Stephanie usually throw me an unsuccessful surprise party."
"Well count me in," Hypnos said as he put his hands into his ten thousand dollar Armani pants pocket.
"I'd never pass up free cake," Hades replied with a smile.
"Great! It starts at eight, but you guys have to be there a whole ten minutes early."
"All right," both men answered at the same time.
As the three of them were still in conversation a voice greeted them. "Hey what's going on?" Claire asked as she approached the group.
"Oh nothing. Just talking to Hector and his friend Harry who is the twin brother of Thane who left the apartment early in the morning. You wouldn't have sneaked your date up to the room would you Claire?" Shelly teased knowing that Claire would never do something that scandalous.
"What?" Hades said through clenched teeth, "Thana...Thane was in your room?!"
"What? No. I would never bring a guy I don't know or have never met into my bedroom."
Hades instantly felt embarrassed, he should have known that there was no way that Thanatos would have betrayed him, but that left the question of why Thanatos had been in their apartment.
****
Four Hours Earlier
Thanatos pulled on his faded Levi jeans, and put on his Rolling Stones t-shirt that Stephanie had bought for him from a store called Hot Topic. He looked at his beautiful red head as she was tangled in her sheets, her silky red hair covering her entire pillow. He pulled on his black socks and black boots, and left the room walking backwards toward the door, never taking his eyes from Stephanie. It wasn't until his back hit that wall that he opened the door.
As he closed the door quietly, he stood there looking at it for about three minutes, wishing he were still on the other side. Finally, he turned and left her apartment, ignoring the small gasp that came from her other friend, Shay or Shell something- he never did pay attention to a woman's name. He walked down the halls just thinking that Stephanie had already caught the attention of the most powerful man whore in all of Olympus.
He couldn't dare bring Hades into this mess considering the fact that he'd have Zeus on his ass after he finds out Persephone will no longer be bound by the six month rule. His only hope was that when Persephone's soul is released, Claire and Hades would remarry and get Demeter and Zeus off their ass. Maybe then he could ask for their help.
