Beneath a Blood Moon - Book Two (Moon Child Series)

Chapter Fourteen

Amelia POV

The river was tranquil as we floated upon its surface, and I kept my eyes peeled for any strange looking caves. Luca claimed I would know the minute I saw it. I hoped he was right. The river led from large open spaces, to canopies of trees and then soon to hulking walls of stone and rock either side of the water, locking the river into place. We’d been floating in silence for about ten minutes before a peculiar sound caught my attention. An enchanting voice sang through the silence. It sounded like a wail of sorrow, but it was so beautiful it was hypnotic. I sat forward in the boat, trying my best to catch the sound again, and was rewarded by another sorrowful melody. Through the darkness, my eyes snapped towards a gaping hole in the side of the rock wall. It was unlike any of the other caves I had seen along the way. With those, even though they were shrouded in darkness, my vision could see beyond that darkness and into the cave. With this cave the inky blackness seemed to swallow all light that came within reach of it and set at the top of it, carved into the stone, was an old Grecian helmet with Hades’ symbol carved on its surface.

“Turn that way.” I said to Luca, pointing towards the dark abyss that was the cave. With a nod, he steered the boat towards the cavern, and we were swallowed by the darkness. The air around us changed. The once light, cool air that we felt outside of the cavern suddenly dropped to an oppressive, crushing warmth that blew the breath from our lungs. The boat came to a soft stop at a bank of sand the colour of ink, and Luca helped me from the boat. He held my hand tight as we walked across the small strip of sand to about three feet from the unnatural coloured water on the other side. The water before us swirled with cloudiness made in colours of light lavender and grey. The cavern we’re standing in seems to vanish into darkness. We stood, our feet sunk into the black sand and looked around. Luca looked at me and nodded, signalling for me to do as Mia had instructed us to do.

“Charon, ferryman of the Underworld, I summon thee.” My voice seems to echo into the darkness, and then silence. The air around us started to vibrate, making goose bumps break out onto my skin and a chill shivered up my spine as a boat seemed to appear as if from thin air from the blackness.

The man that floated towards us in his rust coloured boat was one I’m sure many had seen in their nightmares. His eyes, burning with fire, glowed in the dimness of the cavern, hanging in his gaunt face covered by a greasy, long beard that fell to the boat below. A deep red rust coloured robe hung loose on his skeletal form, a black girdle, foul with grease, binding the robe tight to his thin figure. Clutched in his right hand, skeletal in nature, was a two-metre-long silver birch pole, which he used to push his boat towards us at a creeping pace. The edge of his boat was shrouded in the wispy white tendrils of fog. I knew his name. His name was legend. The ferryman of the Underworld, Charon. However, he was not alone.

Arrogantly lounging at the bow of the boat was a handsome raven-haired man, with a refined nose, piercing blue eyes and strong defined chin. The contrast between the two men was like night and day. The boats bow crunched into the sand of the shore and we watched as the man lazily lifted himself from the boat and strolled towards us. His hands were smugly placed in the pockets of his crisply pressed black slacks, accompanied by a black button up, a blazer and a blue tie that flickered like fire. A smirk adorned his perfect face as he came to a stop before Luca and I. His eyes raked over me appreciatively, flickering like his tie as if the fires of the Underworld themself were held within his gaze. Luca gave a soft growl at his perusal of me and stepped in front of me a little to block me from his view. The Obolus in my hand felt like it was warming up, and I held it out in my open hand to see it glowing a soft gold. With a snap of his skeletal finger, Charon claimed the coin, his gaunt face unsmiling. A soft chuckle came from the well-dressed man before us, and his gaze on us turned bored.

"What is it that brings you to my realm, children of the Moon?" his voice raced through me like a warm fire on a cold night, sending shivers up my spine at its power. His words took a while to process in my hazy mind, but then they hit me. His realm, the Underworld. Standing before us was the one and only, the Unseen, The God of the Underworld. Hades. Power practically radiated off of him, the air cool around him. His eyebrow raised in question after a few minutes, still waiting on an answer to his question. I feel as though my voice won’t work, frozen in my throat. Luca however did not seem to have this problem, as his voice rang out in the silence.

"We seek to make a trade." his voice beside me makes my heart sing, and my hand softly brushes his arm, sending tingles through my arm at the caress.

"Well, I no longer barter souls. Too many upset Gods and Goddesses to appease." His voice drips with disdain at the memories going through his mind at that moment.

"It is not souls we wish to trade for." I say, finally finding my voice. His eyebrows raise at my tone and I finish with a hasty, "Your Highness." His soft chuckle vibrates through the air, his amusement apparent on his face. He gestures with his hand for me to continue on and I do as indicated.

"We need water from the River Styx." I inform him, making his eyebrows shoot into his hairline.

"Do you now? And why is that, might I ask?" my throat is dry as I clear it.

"We need it for a spell to help defeat an annoying little witch by the name of Adrienne." I bit out the last word, her name like dirt in my mouth. Rage encompasses the Gods face, his features darkening and his hair seeming to smoke atop his head.

"Ah yes, the little witch who stole my staff." His heated gaze turned to Charon behind him who looked away in fear, his form crouching as if dreading the dark Gods wrath. "As much as I would wish to, I cannot simply just give you the water of Styx. What payment would you be willing to give in return?"

"What payment would be sufficient?" I asked, unsure of what a God would want. We stood in tense silence as Hades mulled over my question. His gaze fell on me, a knowing look filling his piercing blue eyes.

"How about your immortality?" he drawled, a cold smirk adorning his lips. I was taken aback by his statement. Could he see into my thoughts? My deepest fears?

"My immortality?" I asked, my throat even dryer than before. Hades nodded, his face serious. "What do you mean?"

"In exchange for the water, you give me your immortality. Your lifespan will become like that of your mate, and you would be able to age gracefully with each other, instead of the sad reality of him getting older whilst you stay young and beautiful for all eternity."  He really had read my thoughts. Those were the exact same painful thoughts that had run through my head after our visit to Mother Willow. I couldn’t stand the thought of having to watch Luca age while I stayed young forever. This would be an answer to that. If I gave the God of the Underworld my immortality, we would be able to get the water from the River of Styx, and I would be able to grow old and age with the man I love. But I needed to know the fine print behind this deal. If I was going to make this deal, I had to know what it entailed.

"Would it affect my vampirism in any way?" I ask curiously. Luca turns to me indignantly, his eyes wide.

"Amelia, you can’t be considering!" I ignore him and direct my question to the God of Underworld again.

"Would it affect my vampirism?" the smirk that spread across his lips was all knowing. 

"No. You will still retain your healing factor, your speed and whatever it is that you vampires can do. The only difference between you and the rest of your kind will be your immortality." Luca shakes his head at the statement and turns to me, his eyes begging.

"You don’t have to do this, Amelia. We can find something else to trade." I shake my head at his statement as my hands softly caresses his cheek. He leans into my hand, his eyes closing, his face filling with love.

"I want to." I say to him softly. His eyes open, staring into mine intensely. "I want to grow old with you, Luca. I love you." I whisper the last three words, his eyes widening at the statement before his face breaks out with a big smile. His hand reaches up to stroke my cheek as his eyes gaze into mine lovingly.

"Say it again." he whispered, pulling me softly towards him by my waist, his lips mere inches from mine.

"I love you." His lips crash onto mine as he lifts me off my feet, making my head spin and my heart soar.

"Could we please keep the lovey-dovey stuff to zero please," a bored voice drawled. Luca and I pull apart sheepishly. Luca's arm stays firmly against my waist as we turn back to the bored and disgusted looking God. "Do we have a deal or not?" his impatience is apparent in his tone, awaiting my answer.

"Yes." is my simple answer. Hades claps his hands together once in excitement.

"Wonderful. Let’s shake on it. Do you have a vial?" I nodded my head and reached into the satchel at Luca's waist and pull an empty vial from inside, before making my way to stand before the God. When I reach him, he holds out his hand, ready to shake on the agreement and with one last deep breath for courage I grabbed his hand in mine in a firm shake. Coldness shoots up my arm from our adjoined hands, and then it consumes my body. I fall to my knees as I feel energy flowing out of me and into him, and watch in awe as the vial clutched in my hand begins to fill with a murky black liquid as fast as my body emptied of my immortality. When the vial was full, his grasp on my hand released and he dusted his hands together as Luca ran to my side to help me up. Hades smiled a cool smile before turning towards Charon and his rust coloured skiff. As he reached the bow of the boat, he turned back to us.

"Oh, do me a favour would you?" his eyes gleam with authority and we have no choice but to nod. "When you finally defeat that wretched little witch, I’d really like my staff back."

"Why can’t you get it back yourself?" I ask before I can stop myself. Luckily, he seemed more amused than angry.

"Alas, Zeus and I are not on good terms at the moment. And if he were to see me above my realm, he would not be happy. I wish to keep the peace." I nod understandingly and smirk.

"How do we return it to you?" I ask, leaning into Luca's support.

"Just knock the ground twice and I will send someone to collect it." With those words he sat back lazily in the boat and waved at Charon to leave. We watch in silence as they disappear from the shores, the wisps of fog swallowing the boat and the two men in its tendrils. I turn to Luca once they are gone and I’m struck breathless by the love deep in his eyes as he gazes down at me. His hands grasp possessively at my waist as he pulls me towards him, my chest pressed to his.

"I love you." he whispers breathlessly. I return his words of love and pull him in for a soft kiss before I pull back and place the vial with dark liquid in the satchel at his waist.

“Let’s go home.” I say with a sigh, and we walk back to the boat, to figure out how we’re getting home.