Reaper of Hearts

Chapter Seven

Thanatos stared down at the sniveling peon in front of him and felt his lip curl. "I am going to ask, once more, where is the office manager?" He was inordinately proud that his voice came out even.

The woman sitting in the ancient metal chair shifted uncomfortably. She stared up at Thanatos, her eyes wide and darting. "I-I don't know." She stammered, "David said he missed field work and took a leave of absence starting yesterday."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel his power settling around him like a cloak of darkness. The woman in front of him made a strangled choking noise, and he had to physically keep himself from rolling his eyes.

Mortal souls were too fragile.

"I need his address. Or something." He held out his hand imperiously and the woman began typing furiously on the ancient Macintosh computer in front of her.

It was unlikely that this David had taken a leave of absence. He had been the reaper to bring Cassidy into the office. And the one to send her to Love Limited as an intern. It stank of conspiracy, and Hades would have his hide if any of the reapers were out of line.

His face flashed skeletal, the mask dropping over his features as his power reacted to his rising ire. Bureaucracy at its finest shuffled around him at a snail's pace.

Thanatos was never one for the politics of business. He was a reaper. The reaper. The original Death. Well, maybe not the original, there were gods that presided over the domain of death much longer than he had existed. But, he was the only death God currently working in Asphodel. The rest had wandered off to slumber.

Until Cassidy showed up covered in runes and wrapped in a magic so tight it choked off her ability to withstand Eros.

Now, there was the possibility that Erishkigal was moving, and that didn't bode well for any plane of existence in the multiverse. Erishkigal was bad news in the way a tsunami was a small wave. The understatement of centuries.

"Here you are, my Lord." The woman held out a piece of paper with a hastily scribbled address. He snatched it from her fingers and left the tiny office without a word. Insufferable. The lot of them, with their hierarchy, their middle management, their rules. It was stifling, but Hades had to keep the universe flowing smoothly, so unfortunately it was necessary.

Thanatos gripped the slip of paper as he stalked from the office building. The address, thankfully, was only a few blocks over and the walk would do him good.

He rarely left the Hall of the Dead anymore. Asphodel had felt like freedom after centuries of reaping mortals. He was able to delegate responsibilities, but the business Hades had cultivated had grown far beyond what they had envisioned when they had staked their claim in Asphodel.

Now it was a operation full of stagnant peasants and management opportunities. Ladder-climbing souls who didn't amount to much on their plane of existence now exerted some kind of authority as management in the Afterlife Agency. The Universe chose the new reapers at random, once a set of criteria had been put in the universal code.

The whole system was laughable. He had considered slumber more times in the past century than he could count. But here he was, tracking down an errant reaper.

The apartment building was a high-rise on the edge of the Death District. Reapers scurried about, little ants in a mound of activity. They all ignored him, his power pulled into a tight ball in his body making him seem relatively harmless.

He was standing in front of a door of a third-floor apartment when the first tendrils of dread began to tease icy fingers across his skin. There were wards along the doorframe, nearly invisible against the pale woodwork.

Thanatos leaned forward, the magic slicking against him like oil. It was a dark, ancient sentience woven into the wards. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

The door opened quietly and a small portly man peered up at him. "Oh good, I didn't have to go looking for you after all."

The magic around the doorframe shuddered to life and Thanatos was jerked into the dark apartment.

~~~***~~~***~~~

"Hades, be a dear and make another pot of coffee. We need to call in the big guns." Persephone ushered Cassidy back into the office.

Hades leaned back in his chair. "Absolutely not." His tone was sharp, his brows drawing over his dark eyes as he glared at his wife.

Cassidy perched on the chair she was in before, watching Persephone with wide eyes.

"We don't have enough power between the two of us to break the bindings without triggering the failsafe woven in." Persephone slid into Hades lap. "The runes on her are pretty tight. We would risk upping whatever endgame Erishkigal is playing at. She's taking bits of Cassidy's essence."

Hades sucked in a breath. "What could a Death Goddess want with fertility power?"

"Inanna wasn't just a fertility goddess. She was a goddess of creation. Wild creation." Persephone waved her hand at Cassidy. "The binding makes her almost less than a mortal. That's some massive power migration. I would rather Cassidy didn't go all Vesuvius on us."

Cassidy snorted at the reference to Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that flattened Pompeii. She was likely to erupt. At least, she didn't think she was.

An icy feeling of danger skirted down Cassidy's skin and she jumped out of her seat before she could figure out exactly why.

At the same time, Hades stiffened, dumping Persephone in the floor as he hurtled to his feet and popped out of existence.

Cassidy stared at Persephone with wild eyes as the woman brushed herself off. "Guess I need to make the calls."

She pressed a button on the panel next to the desk. "Hermes, it's Persephone. We have an alert, Delphi five."

"Delphi five?!" The voice that answered through the intercom was incredulous.

"Rally the pantheon. We will meet at Olympus, mortal plane."

"It must be serious if you're willing to forego Asphodel."

"It's Delphi five serious, Hermes."

"Zeus and Poseidon?"

"Unfortunately. Hades won't be exceptionally happy about it, but we need everyone that isn't in slumber."

"Will do, Madame Death."

Persephone scrubbed her hand over her face. "You're trouble, you know that?" She smirked at Cassidy. "Good thing I like trouble."

There was a thunderclap that rattled the coffee mugs, and Hades reappeared. He was supporting Thanatos, who was covered in golden ichor. Runes were carved into his pale flesh. Hades' expression was dark, murderous.

Persephone leapt to her husbands side, green magic curled around her hands. "What the hell happened?!" She pushed her power at Thanatos.

"Erishkigal sends her regards." Hades voice was dark, deadly, cold. His black eyes met Cassidy's. "If we interfere with her sister, she will rip the multiverse asunder."