Jace's teeth clenched so they wouldn't chatter against the sheer power coursing through him, but for the first time, Jace wasn't sure that that the power belonged to him. He was honestly questioning what on earth he was doing, what his mother had tasked him with. He usually tried to avoid other demigods, other than his brother, Tezzeret. Though he'd rather avoid him, too.

The Mark of Athena was not something Jace had asked for. Tezzeret said that their mother had gifted him with it, often through clenched teeth and in bitter tones. Jace didn't think that—in fact, he thought the exact opposite. He didn't want to be anyone's chosen. He wanted a library and to teach school. He wanted to know things, not people. Yet here he was, being thrown into a situation with not even a person, but another demigod, another two gods, two that could possibly see his mark. The twins were the secret and the bane of Olympus: Liliana and Josu. He only knew of their parentage because his mother had been the one to banish them from Olympus, even on the solstice. They weren't even demigods like they and everyone tried to say. Not only were they children of the pantheon, they were children of one, and arguably the most powerful of the big three and one of the Pantheon: the goddess of love herself.


He had been in a bookstore, just perusing the mortal world, Kaalia lost somewhere in the lull of the pages of a book in the back part of a coffee shop. She had come to him in a wave of flowers and beauty. He thought it was Persephone, at first. But he was wrong. It wasn't his wife. It was the goddess of love herself, masked in perfume and a headdress.

"Aphrodite," Hades said. "What are you doing here?"

"I need your help," she said. He could feel her love magic seeping its way into the ground. He fought against it. He didn't want to crack the ground in a mortal bookstore, but she was leaving him with little choice.

"I can offer you nothing Zeus cannot give you tenfold," Hades said, not a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Yes, you can… I need your help. H-he, he sired a champion, Hades. Two. Twin girls. They will offset the balance of the universe if left unchecked. And Athena's boys, they will overtake the entire Pantheon if she has her way."

"I fail to see how this is my problem," Hades said. Though he hated Athena and Zeus and their unwavering alliance. Aphrodite couldn't be trusted. She was little more than a wanton girl vying for power.

He had Sorin, a boy that was conceived in the heat of a bad decision with Marie Laveau herself. He wasn't interested in more children that he had to be aloof from.

"Delphi, the oracle. She says that the Japanese gods and those of Egypt will need a champion because of Zeus- I'm asking for your help because you are powerful. Hephaestus can't, Ares can't…"

"You're asking for a child, Aphrodite? With me? What can be born of this?"

"True beauty, Hades, true power. A force that cannot be stopped," Aphrodite said, the love goddess' voice singsong and melodic. And with that, she laid her small hand on Hades' chest, where his heart rested. It was a mistake, because her smell overtook him like a wave from Poseidon's oceans, and he was unable to say no.

He wrapped them both in the Helm of Darkness, not thinking that his actions would forever warp the shape of the universe. No one could see him and he crashed into her, taking her fiercely, unable to fathom anything but what it would be like to be inside her. The goddess of love infused herself with him, and it couldn't be undone. Because in that moment, they were born, Zeus' master bolt crashing down as both Hades and Aphrodite were struck with the weight of what they had done. In that moment, Hades was stronger than Zeus had a prayer of being. The mother and father of the two children that would be known as the desolation twins carried Aphrodite's blessing. But as they were born, Zeus struck them, seeking to kill them, but unknowingly fusing them with light, their existence forever a dance between light and dark. Hades struck away the master bolt with his Helm of Darkness, diffusing it. Josu meant salvation; and maybe that's what he was, but Liliana was beauty.

And he'd never regretted them.


This bar wasn't in a bad part of town but the only vibrations of power that Jace was getting were those of death, decay, undeath, things his mother had told him to avoid. Until yesterday, of course. As much as he trusted his mother's judgment, he couldn't help but think he was being sent into a den of wolves covered in blood. Demigods? He hated the lot of them. Children of Hades? Vampires, witches, sanguimancers? She surely knew someone better cut out for this job. Because Jace didn't make friends, and that's what he needed him to do. Or maybe it was that everyone else could defy Athena's wishes we he had not the choice. Jace heaved a sigh, his heart heavy in his chest. Some are born shitty, some achieve shit, some have shit thrust upon them, Jace thought. He realized that whatever was shaking the fabric of the universe was important, but couldn't Zeus just solve shit himself instead of using him as a pawn? But that wasn't what gods did. They were their entertainment, and if Jace wanted to live, he better be damn good at it. He broached the door of the bar, trying to look at it as an undesirable homework assignment, but what he was greeted with nearly floored him.

Liliana was beauty.


Nahiri was always unsure of what to do, she never imagined that her life would end up like this, she always thought she'd live out her days on mortal earth, traipsing back and forth to Olympus sometime. She assumed she'd always have her father's favor. She'd never dreamt that she'd be someone's second choice, that she'd be forced upon a man who didn't want her. She'd never thought that her wedding night would end in Sorin screaming she'd never be his angel. Her breath was catching in her chest just thinking about it. She sat in their flat apartment, it was a beautiful place, Sorin had let her decorate it as she wished. Hades gave them all the resources they needed—that never was an issue.

They both had been keeping watch on Liliana and Josu on opposite ends of town, Hades wasn't stupid, he knew they were all in danger, and that they'd never, no matter how much they loved each other, would stay in a central place for safety's sake. Hades' words were absolute law to the four of them: Sorin, Nahiri, Liliana, Josu, all of them. She heard him come in as she sat something on the table for them, the door to their home shutting. He grunted his thanks for the meal, but Sorin's eyes were dark with bloodlust and the thirst that plagued him since the day that his mother had allowed his grandfather, Edgar, to change him. He tore into the meat, which she had mercifully left almost raw. She wasn't stupid.

She was beautiful, Sorin had come appreciate that. She was light-skinned and curvy, light-eyed, and absolutely everything Sorin would have asked for, Hades knew that and he saw his opportunity when Nahiri had come to him.

She pushed her plate aside as she walked behind her husband, seeing the darkness in his eyes.

"I could help you, you know." Nahiri said, her voice a whisper, barely there, but there was need there too, need Sorin couldn't place.

The more Nahiri watched him, the more she desired him. He made her laugh even when he didn't want to, when she knew he was miserable. When Hades had come to him saying that they were in all grave danger, he had placed his hand on her wrist in a circle of protection. Was she that desperate for his attention?

"No, you can't." Sorin inhaled, a basic mistake he'd been avoiding at all costs. Her scent caught him off guard. It was floral and fruity; he'd never bothered before. In that second, he saw a girl, a woman, that was giving him everything. He at least owed her a chance, if nothing else.

Sorin couldn't help it. He flashed back to his irrational, bad behavior of their wedding night, and for the first time, in that second, he regretted his harsh words to his wife.


"This isn't what I wanted" he spat at her, that night in the underworld where he had spent his childhood and now was expected to consummate a marriage to a woman he didn't love. "Your father killed my angel, in cold blood."

"It doesn't perturb you that your father created Avacyn?" Nahiri said, her voice strong, even though she didn't feel it.

"NO!" Sorin screamed. "It never did. And you'll never be her and I'll never want you," he heaved. "Quite literally, welcome to hell," Sorin snarled.

Nahiri blanched, even though her skin was already pale. Liliana hadn't bothered knocking, she knew she was interrupting nothing. If she couldn't find Josu, Josu would be with Sorin. Liliana breathed in, a heavy sigh.

"Come with me, sister." Liliana escorted her out of the room and into her stepmother's garden.

"Don't taste anything," Liliana said. "The rule applies to all of us, especially you."

"I'll never taste her," Sorin had thought bitterly.


Here Sorin Markov sat, his wife pressing kisses to the top of his head.

"Sorin, please, let me help you…"

"Do you want me to change you? Because this is not a life you desire," he said, bitterly.

"No, but let me help your thirst, let me give you what you need… If it's nothing else, it's a start, Sorin."

Sorin studied her, his breath heaving in his chest. Bloodlust and want coursed through him like the blood flowing through her veins. For the first time in their three-month marriage, he desired her, he saw her, he wanted her. He walked them into their room, the place that was meant to be their marriage bed was untouched, neither of them slept there, they never had.

Sorin crushed his lips to hers, not softly but not roughly either and she pushed her pelvis into his as she braided her fingers into his long, white-blonde locks a soft, subtle moan on her lips.

"T-this isn't what I meant," Nahiri said into Sorin's mouth, breathless. "I meant that you could- that I wanted-" She stumbled.

"I know.. but I want to give this a chance, give us a chance if nothing else- my behavior.." Sorin said.

Nahiri pushed her mouth to his in a way that silenced the words but also his mind.

"I know- I know you miss her and that I won't be her, and I don't want to be. I want to be me with you." She moved her lips to his neck, something that Sorin hadn't felt before. He and Avacyn, they kissed but they didn't move farther than that- she was too pure, they were unmarried.

He let out a throaty growl, louder than he had in a long time. Nahiri, for the first time, let herself enjoy Sorin's noises. She pinked the skin below his collarbones slightly, they showed up easily on his pale skin.

Sorin touched her neck, feeling her pulse, her warmth, smelling her scent that he suddenly couldn't get enough of. Her breath caught in her chest as she did so, the wetness from her center now soaking her thighs, just from a few simple words, a few simple touches. Sorin felt the soft material of the skirt she wore under his hands, unsure of what to do.

"Please," she said. "Let me be yours. Let us try to be us instead of them."

"I want you," he grumbled, slowly.

"Then take me," she said. "And not just in the way you're going to. In the way that you're fighting," Nahiri said, right against his ear.

"Spread for me," Sorin cupped the side of her face. She did, anticipation curling like fire in her belly. She knew that she wasn't supposed to want this, not from him, not from a son of Hades, she wasn't supposed to want a vampire to drink the blood that ran through her, but the sanguine bond that they would share would be something, even though she didn't know, that Sorin had never done before. He'd never fed from a woman. He picked people that were on his father's hit list and drained them, he wasn't interested in creating more vampires. He was interested in his father's orders and not being thirsty more than he was the taste of the blood that passed through his lips.

Sorin's fingers slid into her, she was more than ready for him and she whimpered into him, he felt her nails dig into his shoulders, her breathing become more than labored as he moved inside her. He knew that if he moved his lips from hers that he wouldn't be able to stop himself and that was exactly what Nahiri wanted. She pushed her neck toward his lips, making herself clear, Sorin knew. But could he deny himself. He picked her up and her legs found their way around his waist, their lips battling fiercely as the back of her head hit the pillows. Sorin pulled the shirt off and his belt came loose from his jeans leaving them in a heap below their bed. He tore the skirt without much thought, his fingers finding her again. She was frustrated, she balled the sheets against her hands. She didn't want his fingers and he knew it. The ache below Sorin's waist and the dry, achyness of his throat was beyond his control. He parted Nahiri's legs with his knees, unsure still of what he was doing. Usually, with women, he didn't care too much for their pleasure. But he didn't want to hurt her.

"Please, Sorin, please!" Nahiri's voice had eclipsed need. He grabbed her hips to meet his and he felt every inch of her surround him in a second, he thrusted more of himself into her, still scared of causing her pain.

"Harder," she said without a second thought, so Sorin pushed himself further inside her, a grunt on his lips. She pushed her hips to meet his again and he flipped them. She was on her stomach, he had a perfect view of the neck he wanted to ravish and he gripped her hips, losing himself in her, feeling her stretch for him. He thrusted into her harder, unrelenting, pushing her body closer to orgasm, his tearing at him as well.

"Sorin!" His name was all she could muster as he tipped her head up to see their reflections in the mirrored headboard. The smell of sex overwhelmed him; he couldn't stop. He tipped her head up and tasted her wholly, the warmth of her blood flowing from her into him. She felt her body let go of everything: her soaking him, his seed pouring into her, but he wasn't stopping. Her blood was the most beautiful thing he'd ever tasted in his life. He was addicted to her in that moment.

"SORIN! Don't stop," Nahiri begged him.

Sorin drank deeply from her, sating himself slowly, feeling her orgasm around him from the blood leaving her body, along with Sorin's manhood still filling her. He kissed the mark and pressed a handkerchief to it.

She curled to his chest and then, for the first time in many years, Nahiri Ti... no, Markov, felt whole. Sorin grasped her close, feeling sated but also guilty. In every way, she belonged to him, and that grasped at his heart strings in a way that no one—not even Avacyn—had ever.


Liliana's body moved with grace, her curves swaying to the beat of the music. She wasn't dancing with anyone in particular, just to the beat of the rhythm in the place. In that moment, Jace Beleren was floored. A wave of connection that had nothing to do with his telepathy or her dark power flowed between them as soon as their eyes met.

She beckoned for him.

He went.