“That’s exactly right,” I snapped, yanking away from him and scooting backward on the bed. “You sired me. You haven’t been a father. And I know you, Hades. Your only interest in me now is my magic. You’ve seen that I possess strong abilities and you want to control it, just as Apollo wants to control Brennan.”
“First of all,” Hades began. “You don’t know me. Not truly. No one does. Second, Apollo wants Brennan so that I can’t have him. Apollo, along with a few others, have long since suspected that you were mine. Brennan has made it clear that he will go with you wherever you may go, which is admirable. But Apollo will not stand to have Brennan with me, fighting for me. Everyone has seen the magic that the two of you possess when you are together. It is stronger than we’ve seen in a long time. Does that magic fascinate me, as well? Yes, it does. I won’t lie to you.”
I suddenly felt more confused than I had ever been. Mormo, the blood-sucking psychopath that I had always believed to be my father, was not related to me at all. Hades, the god of the Underworld himself, was. I almost couldn’t believe it. But it certainly would clear up so many things. I realized now why he had been asking me so many questions about myself. He was drawing parallels.
“You feel more comfortable in the shadows, too, don’t you?” I asked. Hades nodded.
“Of course I do. And I am a creature of the moon, like you. You have that tendency from both of your parents, so you are a true child of the night. It is no wonder that you draw such strength from it. Come look.”
Hades snapped his fingers and a giant, ornate mirror suddenly appeared in the vines at the foot of the bed. The greenery wrapped around the legs of the mirror, making it seem as though it had always been there as a part of this enchanted forest.
Hades stood in front of it and gestured toward me. “Come and see our similarities,” he urged me. Grudgingly, I rose from the bed and joined him in front of the beautiful mirror next to Hades…my father.
His hair was darker than mine. His eyes were almost black, while mine were gray. But the contour of my cheek matched his. He reached out and traced it with his fingers and our eyes met in the mirror.
“Look at the shape of your brow,” he instructed. And I did. It was the same as his. The shape of my chin matched his, as well as the peak of my hairline.
“I’m so pale while you are so dark,” I pointed out.
“True,” he acknowledged. “But look at our hands.” We each held out a hand and I saw that we shared the same long slender fingers. “And look at the way we’re standing.”
Sure enough. We were both balanced mainly on our left foot, with our h*ps slightly angled to the right. Exactly the same stance. I sucked in my breath.
“Let me see your wrist,” I demanded. He smirked slightly. He knew what I would find. He was going to smell just like me. I knew it before I lowered my nose to the skin above his pulse point.
He smelled like the night, like velvety darkness and the moon, like heady night-blooming blossoms and musk. Exactly like me.
“Are you satisfied now?” Hades asked quietly. I nodded silently, my eyes dropped to the ground. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him and I didn’t know why.
“It’s not so bad,” he assured me. “It’s not as though you enjoyed having Mormo for your father. And now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, things will change.”
“Zeus knows?” My eyes shot up to meet his. He shook his head.
“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”
“You’re going to tell him yourself, aren’t you?” I narrowed my eyes.
Hades grinned. “It’s true that no one knows me. But you might know me better than most.”
“This is not funny and it is not a joke,” I snapped. “Why would you share this with Zeus? Nothing good can come out of it.”
“Not true,” Hades argued. “Allow me to show you a couple of things, Em.”
The mirror in front of us clouded and then cleared, forming into an intriguing scene. Brennan and I relaxed on cushioned lounges, each sipping cool drinks from sparkling crystal goblets. We were happy and carefree and Brennan threw his head back and laughed. Persephone appeared on my left and leaned down to whisper in my ear and then kissed my cheek. And then the fog overtook the mirror once again. I turned to Hades incredulously.
“We were in the Underworld? And you truly think that Persephone would just accept me like that? Not hardly.”
“You’ve just seen the future, or your future as it will be if you join with me and fight against Zeus.”
The very idea of fighting against Zeus left me stunned. “And if I don’t?”
Hades motioned toward the mirror once again. “See for yourself.”
The mirror swirled in fog once again and another scene formed. Mortals were screaming and wailing. Dust was everywhere as the world had withered into a dead and horrific place. The only moisture appeared to be blood and it was everywhere. Bodies were piled in the streets, children wept in the gutters. It was the apocalypse scene that Brennan and I had already seen. I squeezed my eyes closed.
“Open them, Empusa,” Hades directed. “You need to see this part.”
Hesitantly, I opened my eyes, afraid to look back into the enchanted mirror.
My trepidation had been justified. Brennan’s dead eyes stared back at me, wide open and sightless as he was trampled in the street by angry mortals. I watched someone stomp on his dusty hand before I squeezed my eyes closed again and turned away, my hand pressed to my mouth.
“Why?” I managed to eke out without vomiting.
“Why?” Hades seemed surprised at my question. “Because their world that they knew ended because of you and Brennan. You couldn’t control your powers and you ruined it all for them. Brennan tried to sacrifice himself to Zeus, but it was too late. Zeus killed him and left his body to the mortals and he did nothing to restore the mortal world. Do you want to know what happens to you?”