All Hail The Queen Of Hell

9) Drained

The bulbs swung side to side following the surge of wind that had passed through the warehouse. As their lights slashed the air, countless bodies could be seen lying motionless on the floor, some hanging on the large cartons and containers.

The blood flowing from them was sickening.
Its rusty smell had filled the air, but the four gods standing at the entrance seemed unaffected.

They walked into the massacre site, avoiding the crimson fluid all over the floor, containers, cartons, and walls. Loki swayed his hand and all the bulbs came to a standstill. The light illuminated their now, white hairs, their original form. Much like Hades', except they could alter its appearance in the presence of humans. Something that Hades, had never bothered to do. Or he just didn't give a shit about it.

After all, in the twenty-first century, nobody could question him why he had such hair, unlike in the previous century where he had to wear a hooded cloak to hide it.

"The smell of miasma," Castor said looking around at the poor humans that had lost their lives, and their souls.

Orm stopped near one of the bodies and squatted. He ran his left hand over the corpse's chest as a golden light spread from his palm. After a few seconds, he rose and eyed his 'brothers'(after spending years living as brothers, they had eventually started referring to each other as such).

"No souls," he informed.
Of course, he would know, he was the god of death after all.

"A soul-eater?" Axle wondered. "I'll track it."

"Well, better get to it before it hunts again." Castor agreed, then turned his eyes towards Loki, "Clean up."

With those instructions, Axle vanished into thin air while Loki walked deeper into the warehouse. Castor and Orm disappeared as well, leaving the heavy work on Loki.

Loki created a crime scene that was believable to the cops and then altered the CCTV footage to look like the victims had been attacked by a psychopath wielding daggers. He erased any evidence of the soul-eater slashing the screaming humans' throats using only its sharp talons. Erased any foreign DNA it had left behind and hoped the humans would not make a fuss over this.

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****MELANIE****

I tried so hard not to space out, but every time Aldric glanced over at me, the short memory of his kiss kept thrashing my conscience.
Why had he stolen away the glory of my first kiss? Why had it been him? Most importantly, why had he kissed me?

Did he like me?
Ew! For fucksake, he was my teacher.

"You, stay back after class." His voice floated to the back. My eyes met his black pair with a marker pointed at me.
All the students gazed behind, maybe wondering why I was always messing with their perfect idol.
If only they knew how imperfect he was. How much of a creep he was.

The bell rang and everyone started packing up to leave. Everyone except...me.

I just sat quietly, pretending to read some notes.

It was going quite well till a hand snatched me from the chair and made me stand. Before I could protest, Aldric pushed me against the wall behind my chair.

All the air in my lungs slipped out, leaving me panting and disoriented.
"Get a-away fro-from m..." I breathed looking down at his chest because I couldn't muster the courage to meet his eyes.

"Look at me."
Aldric ordered lowly.

I shook my head, moving back, trying to squeeze myself through the wall like a ghost. It was worth trying to get away from him rather than wait for whatever he was about to do.

"Melanie," he uttered my name with a bit of stretch, making it sound so...sexy.

Shit!
But even then, I didn't dare gaze up.

He snorted before grabbing my chin and raising my face at him. One glance into his eyes and the dream from the previous night flashed in my head. I shut them at lightning pace, feeling the heat of embarrassment flush my face.

For a few seconds, there wasn't any movement or sound but his fingers remained on my chin.

*****3rd POV*****

He observed her carefully, feeling unsettled about how different she felt today. What had changed?
Hades certainly couldn't see a thing, yet his senses kept tingling and a big part of him was being drawn to her mouth.

Hades reached deep into his seven senses and his black eyes lit up in a golden flash, enabling him to see the faint purple energy seeping from her mouth like a dripping tap.

His eyebrows scrunched, but his mind quickly connected the missing piece, she was a special human. He had heard of the few blessed by the god of creation to serve as energy sources for the gods sent to patrol Earth.

The realization made him feel damn arrogant.
Instead of feeding on regular human energy, he could just suck this divine energy flowing in her body.

It almost felt as though fate was on his side, from finding Zariel to finding an energy source that was right within his reach.

His lips parted and he tried to suck in the energy. But the distance made it difficult, not forgetting that Melanie herself wasn't willing to give it up freely. Realizing what he had to do, Hades frowned in disgust.

Kiss her again.

"Don't dare open your eyes."

His instruction was simple.
But the simplest things are the hardest to grasp.

Melanie dared to disobey, catching Hades leaning down towards her lips.

"No!" She screamed pressing her palms on his abdomen, hoping to shove him away from her. But he wasn't a frail human that could be affected by a mere push.
And right before her own eyes, she witnessed the male cover her lips with his.

Melanie squirmed, trying to slide down, but Hades wrapped his arm around her back to hold her in place.
He sucked gently, absorbing the pure energy, replenishing his own. This was more effective than sucking five regular humans.

Two minutes ticked away as Hades drained Melanie. She had fought him all the way, but he loved a scared prey. It gave him the thrill. Maybe next time, he could try sucking with his fangs instead of lip contact.

When he was done, he took a step back, and Melanie crumbled down to the floor wasted. Her red hair was a mess, her face pale from the drained energy.

Hades smirked, feeling more stronger than before.
Giving zero fucks about her, he turned and walked away, leaving a panting female on the floor.
"You'll pay, for...for this," Melanie swore under her breath while watching Hades exit the room.

A minute later, Phil barged in wearing a broad grin on her face. But it faded upon seeing Melanie seated awkwardly on the floor with a lifeless shadow in her eyes.

"Damn girl! What on earth happened to you?" Phil enquired helping her off the floor.

Melanie chuckled weekly. The bloody bastard was so good at torturing her.

As Phil walked her towards the door, intending to take her to the nurse's office, a single strand of Melanie's hair turned...white.