Page 40 of The Call of Monsters
I’d only just met him, but I fucking adored Hermes. He was so sweet, and he just looked so innocent and adorable. I could see why everyone spilled their secrets around him. I kept that in mind when we were all talking because I didn’t want him to share mine.
“Hermes? How are things?”
“Great. Are you planning on visiting when this is all over?”
They were back to that. They were still worried Hades was going to take over and try to run two realms. I honestly didn’t think he wanted to. He had his hands full with the Underworld.
“Maybe just for a visit, but I have no intention of living there again. I’ve been thinking about what we are doing in Olympus. I might want to do the same in the Underworld. You know, open up the gates and let new people in. This place used to be bustling until the Titans committed genocide. It’s not horrible here unless you are in Tartarus. There are lovely places in the Underworld if you know where to go. I’ve lived here for so long, Olympus is no longer my home. I’d be willing to open trade like I did with Hell for things that can better both realms.”
Hopefully, that settled their minds that Hades wasn’t going to show up with an army of monsters and try to insert himself as king. Olympus was a beautiful place to look at, and the weather was near perfect, but a lot of it was just so ostentatious. Solid gold roads were just so gaudy, and it looked like they were in the process of being repaired with more gold instead of something more practical.
Elysian Fields in the Underworld was just as pretty, but everything was functional and built to last. I could tell many of the roads there were ancient and well-traveled but had stood up to time. They were made from some sort of stone native to the Underworld. I got why Hades wanted to stay in the Underworld. Things were relatively normal there now that Demeter was gone. Olympus was going to have to make some significant changes once they overthrew Zeus. It wasn’t just electing a government and allowing travel. They had some major infrastructure changes to make from the looks of things, and I couldn’t see humans sticking around to redo golden roads constantly. If that was my job and I had the option to leave, I’d do it five minutes ago.
“I like the idea of trade,” Apollo said. “Zeus didn’t think of it, but when he recalled us to Olympus, many of us took seedlings back to grow in our gardens. A lot of us learned recipes from the mortals and still cook them. Dionysus gave them our wine recipe, and they just ran with it and created new wines that many of us miss. We could still learn a lot from the various realms that will agree to trade with us.”
Solron let out this little moan.
“The Fae make excellent wine. If you aren’t dicks to them, they may let you import it.”
“The Fae have several excellent inventions,” Barbatos said. “They are a very proud people with a long history of magic and traditions. If you would like an alliance with them, you would do well to treat them with respect and not knock any tradition of theirs you might not like. The same goes for Hell. We aren’t humans who will roll over and kiss your ass because you have magic. We have our own various types of magic.”
I was shocked no one got pissed off at that. I mean, back when they were pretending to be gods, they punished people for way less. I at least expected some sort of posturing about how Olympian magic was superior. They were all just grinning like fools at my father like they weren’t upset at all.
“We don’t expect you to. A lot of us hated the whole gods and goddesses thing. I think I speak for many of us when we say we’ve never met demons before and aren’t sure what a Fae is, but we’re curious about your powers.”
“Thank you!” Kimon said. “Is anyone going to explain what a fucking Fae is? I keep hearing about them, but how are they different from demons? There are all different kinds of demons I’m learning about that can do impossible things like disappear and reappear into shadows, and my mate can turn into this sexy cat woman with bat wings, but can someone explain the Fae?”
Kimon seemed to take in demons with no problem, and I knew he liked my demonic form, but I had no idea he was worried about the Fae. I only knew what I had read in fiction, and there was so much conflicting information. Unlike Kimon, I had heard of them before because of where I lived. Kimon really had his world shattered with this whole different realms thing. I can’t say I wasn’t curious.
“The Fae are harmless unless you offend them. They have a monarch society with warriors who consider it an honor to fight and die for their king. They have a society with light and dark Fae, but it’s not good and evil. The light Fae are healers, and the dark Fae are more hard scientists. I will tell you this. No matter which ones you are with, you probably don’t want to make a deal with either. They are brilliant, and you might think you are getting what you want in the deal, but the Fae will always end up coming out ahead unless they are desperate. That rarely happens.”
“Can you kill them with iron?” I asked.
“Yes, but please don’t mention that around them. They are very sensitive about it and take great pains to keep it out of their realm. It makes them sick. The Fae are quite lovely now that they have a new king. You don’t have to worry about killing them.”
Still, I didn’t know about all these different realms that existed, and it wouldn’t hurt toknowhow to kill the various things that lived there if they acted up in the Underworld if Hades opened the gates.
“We’re getting distracted again,” Hephaestus said. “We can talk about the various realms and creatures all day, but we need to worry about Olympus. I don’t particularly want to stay here any longer than I have to. Artemis was only in if we could get her handmaidens back. Hades has agreed to send them back to her when this is over. We need to make our move.”
Hermes was sitting in the corner with a laptop and a headset but apparently still listening.
“We have to wait until Ares comes back, so they are all in one place. I just listened to a conversation. Ares still can’t get into the forge. He wants to come back and have Zeus bring Eros into the equation to figure out how. They think because he’s Aphrodite’s son, he knows. I’m sure Aphrodite would rat Hephaestus out if asked, but she’s milking the whole neck-breaking thing as an excuse to go back to Earth. Zeus doesn’t want to upset her because he still thinks he can use her to get to Hephaestus.”
“She doesn’t know how to get in either,” Hephaestus said. “I had a different front door when she snuck Ares in. I changed it after that incident. Demeter must have asked a demigod I made a weapon for when she visited because she knew how to get in. Zeus never gives the demigods the credit they are due. Most of them figured it out and could tell him, but he’s not even considering them an option, even now.”
“Let’s not poke the bear, big guy,” Charley said. “We don’t need this happening on Earth, and I’m sure you don’t want your forge destroyed.”
“Is Ares coming back soon?”
“Zeus told him to give it one last try and come back in the morning. I need to call Athena for tea because I don’t want Eros anywhere near this with those weapons in play,” Hermes said.
“Does someone have a laptop I can watch from?” Solron asked.
“I do,” Dionysus said.
It was finally happening. We were setting things in motion to get all the bad people out of Olympus and bring about a new era.
Chapter 22
