The Son of Hades and A Mermaid

First Meeting

Andrea

Okay, I shouldn't be nervous for my dad to meet Cole. Cole is a great guy, or he seems to be, but I am for some reason. My dad is a very gruff, warrior type of person. Quiet, calculated, and very intelligent. He's Poseidon's general, after all. He is kind….but he's not an easy one to please. I learned that growing up and training with him. I'm a damn good fighter because of him.

I look over at Cole's face, and he doesn't seem nervous. Maybe I shouldn't be either. I sigh and finish my food.

Alice takes us out to her back garden. It's beautiful, and her advanced training ground is not far from here. My wolf is itching to be let out and run, but that will have to be saved for later.

I hear a large group of people approaching, look to my left, and sigh. Of course, my dad didn't come alone. I roll my eyes. He brought a small army with him. All of these mermen are at Cole's height or taller. Over six-five, some closer to six-eight. To any human woman, they look like tall, extremely handsome men. No tail, no gills. When a merperson's feet touch the ground, its tail turns into legs. It's funny because the creatures that humans write their fairy tales about are all around them. We just hide in plain sight.

"Ahhh, there's my little starfish." says my dad as he walks closer to me.

"Dad, please stahhppp with that name. It was cute when I was five, but I'm nineteen now." I say this as he pulls me in for a hug.

"Okay, which one is the son of the devil?" he asks, his previous happy expression turned to a stern one.

"Dad, he is the Son of Hades…." I corrected him.

"...basically the same thing,"... he says.

Cole walks up laughing,

"I mean, he's not wrong, Andrea. I will be the first to say that my father is the devil... It's a pleasure to meet you, sir; I'm Cole."

Cole sticks out his hand, but my father simply frowns at it and doesn't take it. How typical of my father.

"Alice, my men here and I have been on one of those trains for hours. Because, unfortunately, our damn portal object had been moved. Can we train in your facilities?"

"Yes, of course, the morning classes just finished. So you'll have the place to yourself. I just unlocked it for you," replies Alice as she types into an iPad.

"Great, Cole, I think you should join us.", he says a bit too enthusiastically.

Great, he's looking for an excuse to beat up my betrothed.

"Yeah, I'll meet you there in five," says Cole with a slight smirk and saunters away. Not the least bit bothered. Oh no.

What does that mean? Does he not realize that these are battled trained and hardened warriors?

He starts to walk up to the house.

"...Cole, wait! These warriors...they won't be easy to beat."

Cole slows his pace so that I can walk right beside him.

"Ah, are you assuming that I don't have any battle experience myself?" he says again with that same confident smirk.

"...I...do you?"

His eyes turned distant for a little bit.

"Yes, I was sent to battle at eight, and even at that age, I was already well prepared."

My breath catches in my throat. Did Cole just say eight, as in eight years old? As in a child's age, I mean, I had a hard childhood, but my parents didn't choose that for me.

"You were eight years old?... How was that allowed by your mother? By anyone?"

"My mother had never lived with anyone before. She grew up with her people on mars. So she knew nothing of our culture, except what my father told her. He told her it was common to train young royals for battle……. So it is, but not to send us to war. Not to end other living creatures' lives to save my own. But we can talk about this more later. Just know that I can more than hold my own, okay?"

I nod, "Okay, I'll be cheering for you."

He smiles at this and walks away.

I walk back to the training facility where the other warriors have already started to spar. My sister Amber has even started to spar some with my dad. Not that I'm surprised. She is a badass and a queen; she can hold her own. She manages to land a stiff jab to my dad's side, and the air rushes out of him.

I smirk. Serves my dad right for underestimating her. But, of course, she is the queen of the werewolves and gifted with extra abilities by the Moon Goddess. I mean, all of us guardians have additional abilities. Still, she is our lead protector, which isn't something she takes lightly.

Cole walks in all-black training gear. I try not to gape all how good he looks in simple basketball shorts and a more fitted tee.

"Oooo girl, is that drool that I see coming from your mouth?" says Amber through our mind link.

I look over, and she winks at me.

"Oh, shut up and focus on your fight.".

With her focus on me, my dad finally pins her down, and she double taps out.

"Ahh, Cole, Evan volunteered to spar with you," says Amber as she leaves the ring.

I'm going to enjoy watching Cole kick Evan's @ss. Evan is your stereotypical creep. First, he would corner me and ask me out. Then, even though I kept refusing his offers, he'd keep pestering me.

I walk over to the mat where they will be "sparring."

They're both the same height and similar in build, but besides that, they don't look any more alike. Evan is blonde-haired and brown, wearing blue training gear, while Cole is dark-haired, silver eyed, and in all black. Evan looks too confident, like he has already won. Cole looks calculated. Like he's learning and taking everything in that Evan does. It looks like an Angel fighting a Demon.

Evan comes at Cole in full force, but in one fluid motion, Cole steps to the side and shoots his arm out, and just by the power of his left arm, he forces Evan to the floor. As soon as Evan hits the floor, Cole is on top of him, with his knee on Evan's neck and his right arm on his torso. Evan quickly taps out because Cole is cutting off his air.

Evan gets up and coughs out.." What is wrong with you…."

Cole shrugs, "This is how we spar in the underworld. We go to battle every time. It is the only way to train our muscle memory to keep us alive."

I look at his face now. His eyes look almost entirely black. The blue or the silver doesn't even look present anymore. His muscles were taut as if expecting to spring into action at any moment. He blinks, and that deadly look is gone.

One by one, he goes through all of my dad's warriors. Savagely and barely breaking a sweat.

"He fights like a werewolf," says Eric, Amber's mate and husband.

"Only he fights like a battle hardened werewolf. I broke up illegal underground fighting once. It was made up of Alpha's whose mates and pups had been taken, and they were forced to fight to the death. They all fought like him. Even after being freed….if he needs someone to talk to... I've been through my fair share of hell with being on the werewolf council and having to subdue out-of-control packs…. If he needs it, let me know.".

I simply nod, not sure what to say.

How much precisely had my mate gone through in his life? I continued to watch as he went through each opponent with brutal efficiency. The warrior in me was slightly in awe of how quick and almost graceful he was.