"C'mon, hon, ain't you lonely?" one of the girls shouted after him as he walked down the street. He glanced back at her. Her deep auburn hair hung in waves around her shoulders, and she was in a red dress that clung to her every curve. Her blood-red lips twisted into a smile. She walked up to him, slowly, seductively. "I can see it in your eyes," she said, her green eyes glittering. "The eyes always give it away."
"You get used to it," Styxx responded.
Her eyes showed her disbelief. "Of course, love. What's that accent, anyway? Greek?"
Styxx nodded once. They passed another group of girls, dressed very differently for the fiery redhead next to him. "Hey, Fancy, takin' our business again, are you?" One of the girls shouted to her.
The girl tossed a smile at them. "I saw him first, Boo," she said to the girl who shouted to her.
The girl laughed. "Whore," she called teasingly.
The redhead popped her hip toward them. "Only the best money can buy," she responded.
Her friend laughed again. "Take it easy, Fancy."
"You too." She skipped a bit to catch up with Styxx.
"You're name's Fancy?" he asked.
She nodded. "What's yours, hun?"
"Styxx."
Her eyes grew. "Really? Is your house gonna be as Greek as your name?"
He turned to her. "What makes you think I'm taking you home?"
She raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "You haven't turned me away yet," she responded.
His lips twisted into a smile. "So I haven't," he mused. "You're welcome to come, if you wish."
Fancy cocked her head. "If I wish? Hun, if wishes we horses, me an' my girls would be set for life." She shook her head, stopping. "I got a job to do, Styxx. I don't have a choice in the matter. A night not spent with a paying customer is a day without food."
Styxx paused to glance back at her. "What if I took care of you?" The words startled him as they came out of his mouth.
Fancy's brow furrowed. "At what cost?" she asked, suspicion bleeding into her voice.
So this is what Acheron had to deal with, Styxx thought to himself, seeing Fancy's suspicion mirror his brother's desperation. "No cost. Just… company. Like you said, I'm lonely."
Fancy walked up to his side again, hesitant. "Can I trust you?"
"More so now than a few years ago. I was… blessed with understanding from a few gods." Styxx shudder at the memory of his cell in Tartarus.
"More like cursed," Fancy mused. Her shields were still up, though.
"Cursed?"
"Understanding isn't always a good thing." Fancy's voice was subdued, no longer flirty. "I understand the girls' desperation to find a good man and get off the streets. I understand the reason they can never do that. When you get into the prostitution business, there's no way you can get out. Not the way word spreads. There's no real escape from your past."
"My brother got out. He's settled down with a wife and a kid on the way."
Fancy raised an eyebrow. "Has he really escaped his past, though? I bet you anything, if you ask him, he still feels like lower than shit sometimes. Besides, I can bet you everything I own that it took him forever to finally settle down. How long it take?"
"Eleven and a half thousand years."
Fancy nodded. "See? Forever."
"I wasn't kidding."
"About how long it took for him to get out?" Fancy laughed. "Are you sure he's your brother?"
Styxx nodded. "My twin. He's older, though."
"He's immortal, I take it?"
Styxx narrowed his eyes. "You believe me?"
Fancy shrugged. "It's either immortality or insanity. And you're Greek. A lot of crazy things happened in Greece." She fell silent for a moment. "I've even read a bit about Atlantis. You wouldn't happen to be from that era, would you?"
Styxx nodded. "My uncle used to live in Atlantis. He was the one that whored off my brother."
"You didn't do anything about it?"
Styxx's jaw clenched, shame filling him. "I was a different man then."
Fancy nodded. They came to Styxx's estate on the edge of the city. Fancy whistled softly. "You're the one who lives here?"
Styxx nodded.
"Dayam." Her green eyes sparked with curiosity. "You wouldn't happen to have been royalty, would you?"
Styxx nodded again. "Prince of Didymos."
Fancy frowned, glancing back at him. "Didymos? You… you were at war with Atlantis. And both islands were sunk."
Styxx nodded again, leading her up to the front door.
"There were no records of how. D'you know how?"
"It's a long story. Two different Atlantean gods did it."
"I can see an Atlantean offing Atlantis… what would they want with Didymos?"
Styxx shook his head.
"C'mon, Styxx, enlighten me. Greek mythology was always my favorite subject. Hell, had I gone to college, I probably would have majored in it."
"You never went to college?"
"If I had gone to college, d'y'think I'd be in this business?"
Styxx fell silent at that. He'd gone to Harvard just for the fun of it. He didn't want to think about the sassy girl next to him never having the choice. He opened the door for her, letting her go in before him.
She whistled softly. "Definitely fit for a prince."
Styxx laughed once. "You should see my brother's place. Fit for a god." Considering the whole pantheon had once lived there, it wasn't an understatement.
She turned back to him, smiling at him. She linked her arm in his. "Do I get the full tour?" she asked.
He smiled, leading her through the house. He tried to keep her from the solarium, but her curiosity and pleading made him give in. He let her in, but stayed back in the doorway.
Fancy walked the perimeter of the room, admiring the decorations. She turned to the center then, giving the statue her full attention. The woman's features were perfect and beautiful, and the child in her arms was as perfect as she was. "Who was she?" Fancy asked.
"My sister, Ryssa. She died at the hands of a jealous queen. The child was her son, also killed by the queen. His father's wrath was immeasurable."
"Who was his father?"
"Apollo."
Fancy's eyebrows rose. "The god of the sun, music, prophecy, medicine, poetry, and dance? What damage can he do?"
"You forgot plagues," Styxx added in a low voice. "He cursed all of his people for killing his son and my sister. Because they killed her as beasts, he changed them to beasts. They have fangs and eyes of predators and are forced to live off the blood of each other. They are also banished from the sun and don't live past twenty-seven."
"Vampires, in other words."
Styxx nodded. "Are you sure you believe this?"
Fancy shrugged, turning away from Ryssa's statue. "Like I said, it's either insanity or the truth, and a lot of things make too much sense to be insanity." She smiled softly at him. "Besides, why would someone insane enough to believe they're twins to an eleven-and-a-half thousand year old and have a sister who was the lover to a god and lived during Atlantis' reign be kind enough to offer shelter to a whore?"
She had a point. "Let me show you your room." He led her to the Greek-styled bedroom he had. Coincidentally, it was just down the hall from his own.
She smiled blindingly at him before she went in and inspected it. "I take it this is similar to the rooms you had?"
He nodded. He turned to leave, but paused. "Have you eaten today?"
Fancy shook her head sheepishly.
He gestured to the closet. "My brother's made sure I have enough clothes for every taste. Considering every so often he and his wife come to visit, he's made sure I've got clothes for women, too. Take your pick, and I'll take you out to eat before I get to work."
"You work at night?"
Styxx grinned. "Unofficial vampire hunter. My brother's the head of them, and I wanted to see the point. It's a lot of fun, actually, and I need something to break the monotony of immortality."
She grinned at him wryly. "Never thought of Immortality being monotonous."
"You have no idea." He left to let her dress.