Chapter One

(Adonis)

I hate when people assume who I am based on some story they read on the internet. I'm not some silly mortal who fell for the tricks of a beautiful goddess. I'm a god, and I've been one for much longer than some would think. I'm the son of Atlas and Persephone, but my step-father, Hades, twisted my story so no mortals would think his precious wife would cheat on him for his titan cousin.

No, the Wikipedia stories are just fabricated lies to cover the truth. Sadly, many stories of the gods are warped before the humans see them. Many are simply false.

Maybe more people would worship and pray to me had they known who I truly am. Maybe they'd give me more strength if they knew the truth.

My father is busy carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and is practically dead. He's hidden in a cloaked part of the mountain range that was named after him. He's here in the mortal realm, but no matter how much I search, I will never find him. He's all alone, chained down and holding a giant orb that weighs more than anyone could imagine. Nobody is allowed to see him or talk to him. For all I know he truly is dead, and this stupid 'weight of the world' thing is a false story to keep people from knowing the truth.

One of the worst parts about my father being trapped is that I had to be raised by his brother, and arguably one of the most cruel and brutal gods of all time. Menoetius.

Maybe he isn't as bad as he seems, and sure he's never physically hurt me before, but he didn't need to. Anytime I did something he didn't like he'd murder an entire village. A town maybe, or even a bustling city of people. He even went to Hell and convinced Pestilence to create the Plague of Athens.

I was always so caring and kind hearted, and every person who died because of me broke me down more and more until there was nothing left but a hollow shell.

I should be a little thankful because out of all the murder and torture, I got Dion. His parents were murdered while he was away in another village. He came back to find everyone dead, and as soon as I learned of that I took him in.

He was 8 at the time, but he was one of the most dependent kids I've ever met. He needed someone to take care of him. Anyone really. After being with him so long I've learned just how dependent he is and why he's like that. He's afraid of abandonment and when he was younger, he'd always get scared when I'd leave him for too long.

I sigh as I lay on my bed, reaching into the drawer on my nightstand to grab a doll along with a pin. The doll looks similar to him. I had a witch teach me how to make it. It's just some of his clothing wrapped in twine with button eyes and a stitched in smile. I attached a bit of his hair on it and even sewed a little shirt out of leftover scraps from the clothes I took. After the doll was made I just needed a little magic and voila. Now anything I do to the doll will affect him too. I use it to summon him when he's needed.

I take the pin and stab it into the back of it's head, waiting a few seconds for him to come into my room. It should feel like a mild migraine and only while the pin is in. As soon as I take it out, the pain will go away.

"Yes?" He asks politely. Dion serves me as my ward. He's tall, strong, and handsome as well. He does anything and everything to please me. I'm not quite sure why though. My brothers always seem to have servants that despise them, but not me. He loves me.

He's wearing a button up shirt, completely unbuttoned, and a pair of tight jeans to go with his clunky biker boots. He's taller than me by more than half a foot , which is embarrassing at times, but not too bothersome when it's just the two of us. I don't care as long as it's only us.

When there's nobody there to judge me or ridicule me for being small. I hear all the time from Menoetius that a god shouldn't look like I do. Especially not the son of Atlas, the god of endurance and strength.

The only thing I have to endure is spending time with my siblings every so often. I'm not strong either. No, my body has muscle, but it's far more lean than Menoetius seems to think is proper for a god. I have the build of a dancer or swimmer rather than a soldier. Maybe that's why I'm always mistaken as a mortal. Albeit, a very beautiful one.

I'd be lying if I said that Dion isn't just as attractive as any real god. He has sweet sun kissed skin that's perfectly complemented by his chestnut brown hair that's cut at the nape of his neck in a modern style. His eyes are a piercing shade of icy blue that makes me get goosebumps when they look at me. He has a friendly grin and dimples on both sides of his cheeks.

He's attractive. He's so attractive that we've had a friends with benefits kind of relationship for a while now. Maybe I made this whole thing worse for myself by giving in to my temptations. It's obvious how much he likes me and giving him what he wants only makes his dependence on me run even deeper. I should give him space to find out who he is without me telling him what to do, but if I do, won't he just choose to leave like everyone else?

"I just wanted to know where you were." I lie easily, making sure not to stare at his body for too long.

I can see a bit of disappointment in his eyes although his face shows nothing. After all of the training he's had as a soldier, he's good at hiding his emotions, but I know him. I practically raised him. "Oh. Are you sure there's nothing I can do for you?"

I sigh and shake my head, attempting to dismiss him. Maybe I shouldn't get him to come to my room just because I miss him. I'd never admit it, but I'm glad that I'm not alone anymore. I used to travel the mortal realm trying to find people that I fit in with. It was always easy for me, but they always ended up being killed. Eventually I stopped trying, and just traveled alone, being followed by my greatest tormenter.

Everywhere I went, people would be interested in me. I'm a god of beauty and desire and people always end up desiring me. Whether it was as a friend or lover, people wanted me. Every time I got too close to someone, Menoetius would kill them. Now Dion is here, and he's always here. Maybe it will be better in Elysium.

He walks over to my bed and lays next to me, earning a glare from me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I growl at him. I told him I didn't need him any longer. I originally called him in to make him feed me or bathe me, so that I wouldn't be alone, but I decided against it. I need to let him be, but even when I do, he stays.

"Waiting until you give me something to do, Master." He responds, moving even closer. I can feel the heat from his body, and it's only making it harder for me to say no, and angrier that I can't.

"Fine. If you want something to do the get the fuck out of my sight until I need you." I turn to him completely and cross my arms, waiting for him to leave me alone. I'm not entirely sure if I really want him to go, but I know that he needs to if I'm to start giving him the space I think he deserves.

"You don't want me to leave." He responds with a hint of amusement in his voice. He always treats me with respect and does anything I say until he gets like this. He thinks I'm just some adorable guy that couldn't hurt a fly. It's not the truth.

My personality has a broad range that would put any other personality to shame. I get my love for land and nature from my mother Persephone, and my love for stars from my father, but there's a cruel and demented side of me that was forced on me.

Menoetius is a truly evil being, and one I had to be raised by because my step-father, Hades, wouldn't allow my mother to raise me. My kind nature comes from the people I was born to, but I learned to be mean and vicious. He made me learn how to hunt. How to kill. I've killed a multitude of innocent animals, and he's even forced me to take the lives of innocent people. After all of that, Dion still dares to be amused by me?

He reaches out to push my hair out of my face, but my hand shoots up to grab his wrist tightly, digging my claw-like nails into his skin as I glare harder to hide that I really don't mind him being here. He should learn a lesson. I'm not always going to be sweet to him. "Yes I do. Leave."

In one swift motion, he grabs both of my hands and moves us to where I'm beneath him and he's pinning my arms to the bed. He wiggles his hips until they're between my thighs, and smirks at me. "No you don't. You can hurt me and be cold to me all you want, Adonis. If you didn't like me, why would you let me touch you like I have before?"

"Shut up. That's not about you, Dion. It's about me, and my pleasure. I could ask anyone and they'd probably be on their knees begging for me." It's not that I'm cocky, and I certainly wouldn't go for anyone else. I'm a god of beauty and even if I don't purposely do it, my powers cause me to be extremely desirable.

"I wouldn't let you do that. You're a god, Adonis. You're too good for them. Even me, but I'm not like other people. I don't just want you for your body. I love you." He admits, moving his hands down to my hips. He gently rubs them with his thumbs as he leans down to kiss my lips deeply.

His lips are soft and velvety as they move against mine. His warm tongue slides across my bottom lip making me gasp, giving him the invitation he needed to push it into my mouth. I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me.

After a moment longer of kissing him, I shove him away and sigh deeply. I hate kissing him. Usually it's just sex and I don't let him kiss me because I don't want to get attatched. What makes me really angry is that he knows that. I lean up quickly and swing my hand out, smacking Dion's cheek. I didn't hit him nearly as hard as I could have, but he may very well have a bruise tomorrow.

"Who the fuck said you could kiss me? I told you multiple times not to do that and you still don't seem to understand! What do I have to do to get it through your thick skull? The very thought of kissing you makes me want to vomit. It's disgusting and vile! If you ever do that again I will hand you over to Hades myself." I snap at him, standing up from the bed and going to my closet.

Dion just raises a brow at me and follows me. "If you didn't like it then why did you kiss me back?"

I turn to him and wrap my hand around his throat, squeezing onto it so that he can't get away. "I'm a god and you are a peasant. A servant. You have no right to question me."

I turn back around to strip down to my underwear. I feel him staring at my body, but I ignore it as I slip on a pair of tight black leather pants as well as some black ankle high boots with thick buckles on them.

"Go get dressed. Nothing modern. We're going to have brunch with my mother and step daddy."

Persephone is one of the most gentle and kindhearted people in the entire pantheon. She loves life and nature and is a mother at heart. She even loves children that aren't her own, so it's not surprising that she invites all of us to visit her every once in a while.

The negative is that Hades looms over her like she's some toy he can play with. He seems to think he owns her just because he found a way to trap her there, but I know his heart is weak for her. If it weren't then I'd be locked up in Tartarus with the rest of the titans. She wouldn't let him do that, and after all, she's the queen of the underworld which makes me the prince. A bastard prince, but a prince nonetheless.

I don't bother to put on a shirt, but I do throw on my black cape coat and button up the golden buttons. I go into my bathroom to brush my hair out and finish off my look by adorning my wrists and biceps with golden bangles.

I look into the mirror at myself. I take after my father in most ways. I have his auburn hair that falls to the side a few inches above my shoulders. My facial features are sharp like Atlas's, but my green eyes and light olive skin tone come from Persephone.

When Dion returns, I quickly look him over before shrugging with a nod. He's wearing a tight black tank top that easily shows his bulging muscles along with his black leather pants and all black biker boots. He also has a gold belt around his waist that holds a sheath for his sword.

I've always had a spot in Aphrodite's heart, so when I asked her to have Hephaestus make a sword that could wound a god, she did it for only a kiss in return. I got him trained with it once he turned 18. I knew it was the only way he'd stand any chance against my kind.

Before we leave, I snap my fingers which causes a gold and black collar to wrap around his neck and a gold chain leash to appear in my hand, already attached to the collar. I send a bolt of energy through my fingertips, teleporting us into the underworld. When teleporting from one realm to another, there's usually a specified entrance. We can't go unless it's through the designated entrance.

The Gates of the Underworld.