Chapter Two: Welcome to Tartarus

"Wh-where am I?" Nico di Angelo tugged against the chains that bound him to the dark, shadowy wall.

The man standing by the golden sarcophagus smiled cruelly and turned to face the boy, revealing the deep scar running down the left side of his face. He couldn't have been more than seventeen, but there was an evil, metallic quality to his voice that was thousands of years old. "Welcome to Tartarus, my dear son of Hades."

"How did you-?"

"I am Kronos, Lord of the Titans," said the man with a low, evil-sounding chuckle. His sharp, golden eyes were devoid of any emotion, save a deep, festering hate. "And you will serve my purposes well." He turned to the pretty cheerleader standing by his side. "Now, my dear empousa Kelli, how would you like another blood-sucking fiend to join us?"

"Am I not enough for you, my lord?" Kelli smiled endearingly.

Kronos laughed. "Of course, but I have something in mind for our demigod friends..." His eyes glittered as he said, "Time to pay Hades a little visit."

Xx

Hades, Lord of the Underworld, looked up lazily from his perch on his throne. His eyes widened in surprise. "Kronos!"

"Hello, Hades," said Kronos. "I have a deal for you."

"What kind of deal?"

"Bring a certain person back to life for me, and I'll give you back your son."

Hades stood slowly, his height growing until his staticky hair was nearly touching the ceiling. "Where is my son?" he growled.

"Safe and sound, I assure you. Kelli is keeping him safe."

Hades sighed, shrinking back to a smaller, six-foot status. "What do you want, Kronos?"

Kronos smiled chillingly. "You know what I want."

"You can not have him. He's been sentenced to an eternity in Tartarus."

"As was I, remember? Now bring him out, or I'll have Nico's blood drained from his body."

Hades groaned and waved a hand, and slowly, so very slowly, a shape materialized in the room with them. Shoulder-length dark hair held back with a strange, rune-covered clasp hung low around his lowered face, obscuring it from view. A dark blue coat hung on his shoulders, complimenting the dark pants and shirt. The pale-skinned man raised his head, revealing his silver-tinged eyes.

"Have you finished torturing me yet?" he said, his thick Transylvanian accent almost slurring his words.

Almost.

"Count Vladislaus Dracula," said Kronos, giving a tiny bow which the vampire returned. "I am need of your services."

"At what price are you willing to pay?"

"You won't be returned to the pit from which you came."

"You drive a hard bargain."

Kronos shrugged. "I'll get my way eventually. You'll find the rewards are quite... interesting."

"The only reward I want you can not give me."

Intrigued, Kronos leaned closer. "What is it that you want?"

Dracula smiled, his sharp canines gleaming in the shadowy light. "Only Gabriel Van Helsing to murder as I wish. But he is not here."

Hades frowned. "What is going on here, Kronos?"

Kronos ignored him. "Come, my friend," he said, heading for the door with Dracula following. "We have work to do."

"KRONOS!" Hades swore loudly, voicing several rude, impossible ideas of how to rearrange Kronos's anatomy.

"What's the matter, lord?" A pale, dark-eyed woman stepped from the shadowy hall into the throne room, her black dress stirring the dust on the stone floors.

"Persephone, my love," said Hades, stopping his tirade to speak to his beautiful wife. "Nothing is wrong. I have just loosed a menace on the world, and my son is-" he trailed off, as her grew worried.

"What's wrong with Nico?" she asked.

"Kronos has him," said Hades in a small voice.

Persephone frowned. "Then get him back!"

"I can't! He's too powerful for me alone."

"Then don't go alone. Get your brothers to help."

"No!" snapped Hades. "That I will not do."

"Then you have doomed Nico and all the demigods," said Persephone. "The Count is more dangerous than you could ever imagine."

"I know, I know," groaned Hades, pacing around the throne room. "What to do, what to do..."

"Go. To. Your. Brothers!" Persephone smiled at him, something she rarely did. "Please? For me?"

Hades smiled back. "For you, my love, I will go to my brothers."

"Wonderful. Now stop talking about doing it and go do it!" Persephone stalked out of the throne room, leaving Hades no choice but to revert to his divine form and whisk himself away to Mount Olympus.

Xx

"Kronos has WHO?!" Thunder crashed loudly, and the sky darkened. Zeus, Lord of the Sky, glared at his dark brother. "You swore never to release him."

"I didn't swear on the River Styx," said Hades defensively. "And anyways, I was trying to get Nico back."

"Nico?" said Poseidon. "He is your son?"

"You broke our covenant as well?!" Zeus started to raise his thunderbolt, but Hades raised a hand.

"I did not break our covenant, brothers. Nico and his sister Bianca were born before the pact not to sire any more children was made."

"Then why is he so young?" asked Zeus.

"They were trapped in the Locus Casino," explained Hades, "but that's beside the point. What matters is that Kronos has my son and Dracula is helping him."

"He's just a vampire," said Poseidon. "Why is he such a problem?"

"Because," said Hades, "any mortal bitten by him with the right venom will become like him, in their search for blood to survive."

"Then why did you free him from Tartarus?" growled Poseidon, fingering his trident.

"I had no choice. Can you help me get Nico back?"

"Brother, he is only a demigod," said Zeus. "You must think of the bigger picture!"

"I am," said Hades firmly. "But I am also thinking of my son."

"We can't help you," said Poseidon, "but maybe Percy can..."

"Percy? Percy Jackson?" Hades shook his head. "He flaunts too readily in my realm for me to run to him for help."

"You want Nico back? Then you'll have to trust me." Poseidon stood. "Come. I'll take you to Half-Blood Camp right away."

Zeus sighed. "I hate it when you two team up on me! Fine," he said. "I'll do what I can."

"Great!" said Hades, right before he and Poseidon were whisked away on a warm sea breeze.

Xx

"Hmm..." Carl flipped through the book more quickly, sitting on a snow-covered rock with Van Helsing's black hat in his lap. "Here we are! This should do the trick. Addo mihi ut Van Helsing!"

"Oh, dammit," he said a moment before he was lost in a blinding flash of light.

Xx

"This was not what I was thinking of when I asked for your help," Hades muttered, wiping flecks of seawater from his face.

Poseidon grinned. "Of course not! If you had, you wouldn't have asked."

"What the heck is that?" asked Hades, pointing to a brown object falling from the sky.

Poseidon looked up, squinting in the sunlight reflecting off the water. "It looks like a-" he cut himself off and ran across the surface of the water to catch the falling brown object.

Splash!

The force of the large object hitting the god sent both of them into the water, and a scared voice yelled, "WATCH THE BOOK! WATCH THE BOOK!"

Poseidon raised them out of the sea, waving a hand over the book and removing any trace of seawater from the leather cover. "Who are you?" he asked. "Falling from the sky like that!"

Carl hugged the book to his chest, panting. "Where am I?"

"You're in Long Island Sound."

"The Long what?"

Poseidon sighed and led the friar over to the open-topped bubble where Hades was waiting. "Long Island. New York. United States of America."

Carl's eyes widened. "I sent him to America?!" he gasped.

"Sent who?" asked Hades as the bubble started moving again.

"N-no one," stuttered Carl. "Please tell me I don't know you."

Hades inspected his face carefully, then shook his head. "I'm not surprised I don't. Who are you?"

"Carl. Who are you?"

"I'm known as Hades."

"Hades? Like the god of the Underworld in Greek mythology?"

"Those myths are mostly truth," added Poseidon from the front of the bubble.

"Who are you, then? Neptune?"

"I am called Neptune, by the Romans, but I prefer Poseidon."

Carl pinched himself. "I must be dreaming," he said. "Tell me I'm dreaming."

"You're not," said Hades. "And what's with the brown robes?"

"I'm a friar," said Carl. "Not a monk, a friar."

"Ah. And who is this person you sent here?"

"It was an accident!" Carl held up the book. "I was trying to get rid of the hellhound, but Van Helsing disappeared too- Oops!" He clapped his free hand over his mouth.

"Van Helsing?" repeated Hades. "That's who Dracula wanted."

Poseidon exchanged a glance with his brother. "The same Dracula Kronos wanted?"

Carl raised a hand nervously. "Are you telling me Dracula is back? Count Vladislaus Dracula, the vampire?"

"That's right. My brother here reincarnated him for Kronos." Poseidon stopped the bubble and it dissolved in the water, setting them gently down on their feet in the water. Waves lapped at their boots as they splashed through the water up to the sandy beach.

Carl groaned and hurried after the longer-legged gods. "This is not good news!"

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

"You have no idea..."

________________________________________________________________

Van Helsing: DRACULA?!?!?

Me: Shh! Not so loud! Yes, Dracula.

Van Helsing: Why can't he just die and stay dead for once?!

Me: Because it's more fun this way! BWAHAHA!