Chapter Seven

A few hours had passed since lunch and when we arrived back at my place, I had to show Nikkos how to use some of the things I had bought him. I even showed him how to put his clothes up in what was now his room. He seemed upset that they weren’t going to be in my room but he didn’t say anything.

I also knew that he wanted to ask about what happened earlier but I knew he knew that I wasn’t up for talking about it so he left it alone. He seemed to be moving around me as if I would explode any minute, which wasn’t going to happen. I was just lost in my emotions and minds about everything and it would pass soon or at least I hoped it did.

I couldn’t believe I had gotten so caught up in spending time with Nikkos that I forgot all about why I didn’t want to be out in the outer city or inner town. It was like for a brief moment I didn’t have to worry about anything or anyone. It was just me and Nikkos and all I had to do was show him things as I explained them to him. But then it was shattered and I was brought back to reality and couldn’t help wanting to curl up in bed and not move. I was so tired.

I had left Nikkos to his own devices as I sat outside in my backyard, watching the bogs play around without a care in the world. The Hell-Pits had seemed to take a great liking to Nikkos and the same could be said for him. I figured if the dogs didn’t find him that bad then maybe I could put up with him but I didn’t want this whole connection thing we had going on. I didn’t like the way it was making me feel and I didn’t want to have to deal with being hurt more.

I was so caught up in my mind that I didn’t notice Nikkos sitting next to me until he bumped his arm against mine, sending tingles through my body. I ignored him for a minute but I could feel him staring into the side of my face, waiting for me to acknowledge him and say something.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I told him as I kept my eyes trained on the dogs.

I heard him huff, “It's not good to hold things in. You can tell me.”

“I don’t want to tell you...or anyone else for that matter.” I bit out, wishing he would just drop it and let me wallow in my sadness until it passed.

“I am not anyone else, Ares. You can trust me.” He said softly and that feeling that I knew he wasn’t lying pulled for me to express myself towards him.

“Been there, done that. I’m not getting caught up in that again, so sorry but the answer is no.” I told him as I stood up and he followed but I planned to ignore him. Then he gripped my wrist to stop me from walking away, pulling me back around to face him.

“I don’t care if you’ve done it before. I’m different, this time will be different. You don’t have to open up to me now but just know I’ll be here when you do.” He squeezed my wrist and held eye contact with me and I took notice of his eyes being that bright red it did when he was feeling strong emotions.

I bit my cheek, “Fine, do what you want.”

He dropped my wrist, “Your phone is ringing.”

I looked at him in confusion, “You can hear it from the kitchen?”

“Yes, I can hear all the way to your friend’s house if I pleased.” Nikkos said as if it was common sense that he could do this when most people could even hear farther than a couple of feet.

“That’s not normal...Can you do other things?” I asked him, giving him my full attention. “I know you transform into something else when upset but like what else?”

“That is called my belua and I have many abilities. Most of which I was made with and others the origin gifted me after to be able to protect you.” He explained.

“Your phone keeps ringing.” He added as he didn’t take his eyes off me.

I turned away and ignored the feeling that wanted me to keep facing him. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

I entered the house and made my way into the kitchen and picked up my phone just as it stopped ringing. I saw that I had missed ten phone calls from my father and let out a sigh as I prepared for his yelling. I called him back and it rang before going to voicemail, so I tried again and this time he answered.

“ARE YOU IGNORING MY CALL, YOU UNGRATEFUL TRASH!?” I pulled the phone away from my ear and felt my mood plummet as I heard a growl come from Nikkos. I looked at him to see his eyes bright red and the veins coming from his eyes but I looked away to speak.

I placed the phone back to my ear, “I was working out in the yard and left my phone inside. I’m sorry, father.”

“Excuses! You can’t do anything right! We are in the middle of a situation and you had the bright idea to be away from your phone! Did you think anyone wanted to come down to that shithole you stay at to get you!? No!” He screamed at me and I just stared at the ground as he went on and on before calming down.

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” I said as I bit my lip to hold back my sigh of frustration. There was no doubt in my mind that if it was one of my other siblings that he wouldn’t be this upset with me but it was because I was only his half son from someone he disliked now that I was treated like this. If I wasn’t so good during wars and fighting he probably would have kicked me out of Olympus a long time ago.

“Whatever. There’s been another death at the edge of the inner town. Death and Artemis are already there so go there and see if you can do something. I doubt you can be useful but they might need you to run an errand or check something out.” He hung up before I could respond and I slipped my phone into my back pocket.

“I don’t like your father.” Nikkos voice came out in more of a growl than his normal tone.

I looked at him to see he was angry and looked almost like he did when we had to fight. “It’s fine. I’m used to it and since I have to go-”

“I’m going with you.” The look he gave me left no room for arguing.

I sighed, “You can’t go like that.” I gestured to his appearance.

“It’ll take me a while to calm down unless you give me some form of physical contact.” He stated as he looked away, seeming embarrassed about having to say that.

I didn’t say anything and just walked over to him and touched his arm. The tingles shot through my hand and through my body and I knew Nikkos felt it too because he shivered a bit in surprise. He looked at me but I avoided his gaze for a few minutes before looking him in the eyes and seeing them turn back to normal, followed by the rest of his features going back to normal.

I used my powers to make the sunglasses appear in my hand and when I went to give them to Nikkos he just glared at them before pushing them away.

“I don’t need them.” He stated.

“Red eyes aren’t really norma-” I stopped as he turned his from red to brown and then frowned because he could have done that in the beginning before we went shopping instead of throwing a fit over wearing the glasses.

“Normal.” He smiled at me and I rolled my eyes as I took his wrist in my hand.

“Don’t talk and stay by me.” And then I teleported us to where I knew my father wanted me to be at. The edge of the inner city was a little area where few stores were but held the houses of some gods and honorable demigods.

When we landed I dropped Nikkos wrist and looked around to see if I had the right location. I noticed a crowd of people farther up and walked that way with Nikkos following close behind me. I had to push some people aside, earning me some glares and nasty words but I ignored them as I came out to see the store that had some Olympus guards blocking the entryway.

They didn’t stop me or Nikkos from entering and when I walked in it was cold. I felt goosebumps rise on my arms and the air held a sense of death. Nikkos stepped closer to me where his hand brushed up against mine and it made me less tense but the place still rubbed me wrong. There was jewelry knocked all over the floor and things were broken and you could see spots of black liquid on the floor and some of the glass tops.

“Over here!” Artemis shouted to get my attention and I walked over to where she stood.

The body was on the ground and looked pale and cold. The eyes were hollowed out and there was that black liquid that dried up around the nose area. The person seemed to have scratches on their arms which I don’t remember anyone else having. I glanced over the body and noticed that there was a mark on the neck but I didn’t think Artemis noticed so I didn’t say anything.

“I couldn’t find the soul and the scratch marks are new.” Death appeared before us and Artemis looked grim.

“Why would there be scratch marks?” I asked and Death looked with his blurred out, ever-changing face before I noticed him take note of Nikkos. Although he didn’t say anything about him I knew he was curious about him and I wondered if he gave off some sort of vibe since it seemed they’re both connected to the Origin.

“I have no idea but just to be safe we’ll mark it as a sign. It would also seem the Underworld is dealing with some cases. Hades didn’t request any help but I think you should go and see if you can help out there because Olympus is pretty much covered.” Death said as he moved his staff to touch the body and it shimmered before disappearing.

“I’ll go inform father of the new sign and see what he wants to do.” Artemis announced and Death nodded his head before she disappeared from the room.

Death looked at me, “Take your...friend with you. He might come in handy.”

I nodded before grabbing Nikkos wrist and disappearing and landing us inside my house by the front door. I dropped Nikkos wrist and turned to look at him but he seemed to be stuck in his head. It was rare for him to zone out and not pay attention to me, meaning that whatever was on his mind was serious.

“What is it?” I pushed him out of his thoughts.

“That guy with the changing face, he seems to know about me and I swear I’ve met him before but I don’t know exactly how. I was in the Origin before having a body so there shouldn’t be anyone I know but you.” Nikkos looked at me confused.

I shrugged, “His name is Death and he is connected to the Origin just like you. Maybe that’s why you feel like you know him and that’s how he knows about you.”

He didn’t seem convinced but let it go before looking at me in curiosity, “What is this Underworld place?”

I laughed and shook my head as I thought about how amazed he would be. The Underworld wasn’t as uptight as here and I had a feeling he would enjoy seeing everything. Although it would be a struggle to get him not to eat anything or he would be stuck in the Underworld until Hades let him go back.

“It's a different world and I think you’ll enjoy it. Now let's go pack.” I dragged him by the wrist into the kitchen to start with packing food as I told him things I enjoyed about the Underworld.