Chapter 9

"Alright, tell us everything about the Primordians then," Bo requested as she leaned forward towards the tree.

"It was a long, long time ago. They were once considered as Gods, because they were the most powerful."

"I thought the Ancients were once considered as Gods," Bo frowned.

The tree snorted. "That was long after the fall of the Primordians."

"What happened to them?"

"The Ancients happened," the tree said. "Zeus and his, oh well, her brothers and sisters happened. They were young and reckless. They wanted attention. They wanted everyone to worship them. They wanted to become the new Gods. They started a war against the Primordians. You might have heard of it, the war between the Titans and Zeus' army."

"The Titans are the Primordians?" Tamsin frowned.

"Yes, they've had many names in the past, but I prefer to call them the Primordians, for they were the very first kind," the tree explained. "They'd produce their children through parthenogenesis, who were just as powerful as themselves. However, they also mate, and through that the Ancients were born. The Ancients were less powerful, but they were more greedy, selfish, with full desires for everything. The Primordians quickly realized that the Ancients had become a threat, and they sought ways to eliminate them. However, they had also learned, through the prophecies, that the fate would stand on the Ancients' side. The Primordians, they searched for solutions, until an oracle told them that they had to create a new kind, and this new kind would eventually banish the Ancients from the Earth."

"The new kind...you mean...us? The Fae kind?" Bo asked.

The crown of the tree fluttered slightly, as if it was nodding. "Exactly. So they created the Faes. Don't ask me how, because I don't know, but just like what the oracle had told them, it was the Faes who banished the Ancients, long after the Primordians were gone."

"Who created humans then?" Bo asked curiously.

"The Ancients did," the tree replied. "They created a powerless specie because the only thing that they wanted was for the humans to fear them, to worship them, to treat them as Gods. Of course, they hadn't foreseen their fate, and their era ended quickly. Now the humans barely know about them."

"Where are the Primordians now? Are they all dead?"

"Most of them, yes. A few alive ones are now trapped in the deepest corner in hell. Zeus imprisoned them there." The tree paused for a bit, before it raised a branch and pointed at the two women, "you've met one before."

"What? When?" Both women exclaimed at the same time.

"Ten years ago," the tree said. "That Ancient girl, Iris, had one inside her. The Succubus then turned the crank of that box, and sent that one back to hell."

"You mean...Nyx? Nyx is a Primordian?!" Bo opened her eyes wide in shock.

"You know, that actually makes a lot of sense," Tamsin told her after having pondered for a short while. "Even Hades admitted that she was more powerful than him, and that he couldn't defeat her."

"Yeah..." Bo said. "Too bad, we can't just release someone who turns everything she touches into black dust of nothing out from hell to battle my father."

She paused for a bit, before she asked, "that box. Is there a way to make another one?"

"Is there a way to make another one...no of course not, you idiot," the tree growled. "Hephaestus made that box using Adamantine, pure Adamantine, which can not be found anywhere anymore."

"Oh great," Bo grunted while rolling her eyes. She smacked her lips, before she continued, "the Fae banished the Ancients. How did that happen?"

"Well, it was long after the Primordians' fall. The tensions between the Faes and the Ancients had become quite high. Faes refused to follow the Ancients' rules. They refused to worship them like the humans did. The Ancients, of course, weren't happy about that at all. The war started, one after another…."

"And then?"

"Then, this rumor about a painting came around. It contained a song, the first song. It took the Faes centuries to finally figure it out. A Siren sang it, and the song sent all Ancients to Myth. All of them but one."

"Who? Who was the one that wasn't banished?"

"Who do you think, missy?" The tree said to Tamsin impatiently. "It was of course Hades."

"Why wasn't he banished? Because the song wasn't powerful enough?"

"No," the tree said. "He didn't get banished to Myth, because Zeus had already had him trapped in Tartarus at that time."

Tamsin frowned. "but…being sent to Tartarus was his plan all along," she murmured. "He made everyone believe that he was tricked to draw the shortest straw, but the truth was that it was exactly what he had wanted. He wanted to go to Tartarus. He wanted to exploit the darkness and all those bitter souls."

"Maybe it was more than that," Bo said. "What if...he went to Tartarus on purpose to avoid being sent to Myth?"

"But, how could he have known that? That was long before the Ancients were banished," Tamsin said. "How could he have known that the Ancients were about to go down?"

"I don't know," Bo said, shaking her head.

"Anyway," the tree interrupted their conversation impatiently. "The Ancients were banished, except Hades. Their presence remained nothing but a legend, a myth."

"Okay, enough for the bedtime stories," Tamsin said. "How can we kill him?"

"You, can't," the tree said, pointing at Tamsin. Then it pointed at Bo and added, "you, can't either. With the Ancients trapped in Myth, and the Primordians caged in Tartarus, there is no one who is more powerful than him now."

"Well, technically, we don't need them to actually come over to fight him. All we need is just Zeus' lightning bolt," Bo suggested. "That is powerful enough to kill Hades, isn't it?"

"It is, but that short spear, which was made of Zeus' lightning and thunder, went missing after they were sent to Myth. Its whereabouts remained unknown."

"Well, we are private investigators. We are good at finding stuff," Bo said as she turned to Tamsin and grinned.

"Fine, be my guest," the tree drawled. "Even if you find it, you can't use it."

"And why is that?"

"Because holding that spear in your hand is just like holding the lightning," the tree explained. "It would kill you."

"Well, someone gotta take that burn so we can get rid of him for good," Bo hummed and exchanged a firm look with Tamsin.

"What else do you know about Hades?" The Valkyrie asked.

"Hades? Let's see..." the tree murmured. "He's the oldest child, but not the most powerful, and I don't think he ever took that well. He can barely hold a grudge. He likes to remain invisible for most of the time...loves his invisible helmet…."

"He has an invisible helmet?" Bo furrowed her eyebrows.

"He had one," the tree said, "but Zeus forced him to give up his helmet as a punishment for abducting Persephone. Hephaestus later destroyed it."

"Good," Bo let out a sigh of relief. "What else?"

"Hmmm...he likes to be in the darkness. He feeds off negative energy, the darkness in the souls. That's why for most of the time he stays in his realm, lurking. When he comes up to the Earth, though, he usually makes his appearance dramatic...he'd be fully armored, in his four Pyrippi drawn chariot…."

"Four Pyrippi? There are four of them? I thought what I had inside me was the Pyrippus. The one and the only," Bo said curiously.

"Well, his had four. I'm no horse experts, so I can't really tell you what happened to them. They were one of his symbols, though. The four hell horses, black as night. Of course he's also known by his three-headed hellhound, Cerberus, his cypress staff and his hell gate key."

Both women nodded along while pondering.

"You said neither of us are powerful enough to defeat him," Bo eventually said. "I know I didn't kill him, but I think I am at least powerful enough to banish him to somewhere...or did I?"

"It's hard to say," the tree replied after a long pause. "You might have sent him away, but you certainly did not hurt him or anything. And who's to say that it wasn't something he had already planned?"

"Planned or not, if I didn't hurt him, why hasn't he tried anything for the past ten years? Why now? Why would he wait for this long?" Bo fired her question out.

"How the hell do I know?" The three grunted. "I am a librarian, not a oracle or a mind reader. I only keep records of the past. I don't predict the future, nor do I read minds."

Then, it let out a long, deep sighing sound. "Talking to you two makes me tired," the tree said. "I must sleep now. I do have a few books written about the Ancients, in case either of you want to spend some time on reading."

"Of course," Bo nodded.

The leaves of the tree fluttered, and three books fell down into the table, one after another.

"Now I believe that I'm in a library," Bo commented as she picked up one and brushed a few leaves off its cover. The cover felt rough, like it was made of tree bark, and the pages inside were actually thick, durable leaves with writings on them.

"Hey, let's go grab some lunch and read these, okay?" She proposed, nudging the Valkyrie.

Tamsin, however, didn't respond. She was looking at her phone, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Something's wrong?" Bo asked.

"Yeah, I mean, probably nothing. It's Acacia. She said that they couldn't find Dagny anywhere," Tamsin murmured.

"Maybe she got bored and went home?"

"No," Tamsin shook her head. "They would have known if she had left, because they'd have to open the gate for her...it's probably nothing, but I better go check."

"I'm going with you then," Bo offered as she quickly picked up the books.


After stumbling in the darkness in panic for a while, Dagny eventually became too exhausted to move. With her heart plagued by fear, she curled up in a corner and sobbed. She drew her knees to her chest and buried her face in them, while choking in her own tears.

A loud beep spooked her. She jolted, pulling out her weapon, only to realize that it was just a reminder on her phone.

"Pick up carrots." It was a note she had put down before she had left the shack this morning, when Kenzi asked her to get some carrots on the way home.

She coughed out several sobs as she stared at the screen of her phone. Kenzi's profile picture was there, right beside that note, and that warm face suddenly gave her strength.

Lil' Dagnija, I can't protect you forever. No one can. Kenzi's voice came to her. One day, you are gonna find yourself in a shithole. Trust me, you will, someday. When you do, don't panic and don't cry. Better spend your time looking for a way out than sitting there and crying, right?

That's right. Dagny thought as she wiped her tears off her face with her shaking hands. She took a few deep breaths and swallowed down her sobs before she forced herself to stand up.

Although still shivering, she looked around with the flashlight on her cell phone turned on.

She found herself inside a room, which she had no idea when or how she had entered. It looked like a hotel room, like one of those she had seen in Valhalla, only this one was covered in dust and cobwebs.

There were a few pieces of old furniture inside. A bed with stained linens and two nightstands on each side. A desk with a matching chair. A tall, empty dresser.

When she saw the mirror on the dresser door, she hesitantly approached it.

There, she saw herself, normal again. There was no pale skin, no raven hair, nor red eyes. It was just her, frightened, with vigilant eyes.

It was then she had noticed that the pain on her back was gone too. That made her feel a little relieved. She pressed her back against the wall and took a deep breath.

It's okay. You are okay. You are not hurt. She told herself, trying not to think about the fact that she was now trapped in Tartarus.

She exited the room cautiously, finding herself in the dark, empty hall again. She could see the vague light coming from the elevator shaft. It reminded her that whatever she had gotten herself into was real.

Knowing that looking for an exit now would be a waste of time, since it was Hades who had ordered her to stay, she decided to look for help first, but there was no one around. The only moving things were some stray souls. She could see their faces vaguely, distorted by agony and despair.

Fortunately enough, though, those souls had no interest in her at all. In fact, it seemed that they were unaware of her existence. They just wandered about, making quiet, painful noises.

Those noises reminded Dagny of the background noise she had heard when she was on the phone with "Persephone".

It made her angry again, but she quickly swallowed it because something important had just occurred to her.

The phone. She thought. If that son of bitch made a call to Valhalla, there must be a phone down here somewhere. If I could find it, maybe I can call someone too.

She checked the rooms one by one, but none of them seemed to have a phone installed. After she had searched all rooms on the floor she was at, she reached the staircase leading to the lower levels.

She hesitated for a while, before she went down slowly. She could hear her own footsteps, echoing lonely in the emptiness. That sound squeezed her heart.

The floor down was even darker. The darkness in front of her, it seemed to be absorbing the light coming from her phone. She could barely see anything.

It took her a while to figure out that she was again in a long hallway, with lots of rooms on both sides. She could hear distant screams and wails, but she saw no one nearby.

She checked the rooms one by one, but again no luck. Then, she went down further. She kept looking, until she found herself in an access restricted area.

The corridor in front of her was blocked by a huge, ancient sign with old writings on. She could only understand two words, one in English and the other in Fae language; both of them meant "stop".

Behind it, there was a small room. She assumed that it was some sort of concierge room because there was a bell on the desk inside and a big mailbox with room numbers. Beside each number there was a small key hanger, but not all of them had keys.

Dagny took a deep breath and lifted the warning sign to drag it to the side. Then, she picked the lock of the door and entered the room.

Out of curiosity, she checked the mailboxes first. The slots were all empty. She noticed that beside each room number, there was a carved symbol. One of them was a dove. Another one was a staff. There was also a dog, or a wolf. Some slots had their symbols marked out, like one of them had a cat, or a tiger there, but was crossed out by two deep etches.

She had barely started looking for a phone, when the door behind her suddenly swung shut.

She gasped and turned around with her push dagger raised. She almost screamed when she saw a woman standing in front of her.

Her face only a few inches away from Dagny's. She was pale as a ghost, and all the blacks she was wearing made her look even paler. Her lips were red, too red, as if she had just gulped fresh blood.

"W-who are you?!" Dagny hissed, stepping back slowly while staring at the other woman.

The woman pulled one corner of her lips up into a grin. "Hmmm, I thought you'd be shorter, more like a kid, you know," she said to Dagny as she eyed the young girl. Her voice was the sweetest that Dagny had ever heard, almost hypnotic.

"Who are you?" Dagny asked again.

"Right, I guess it's common courtesy to introduce myself first, huh," the woman murmured, her light blue eyes staring into Dagny's. They were just like her voice, hypnotic. "Hi, I'm Melinoe. I am your half sister."

"My...what?" Dagny narrowed her eyes at the other woman.

"Your half sister, you know. We share the same father but not the same mom," Melinoe explained as she tapped Dagny's cheeks gently. Her hand was so cold that it made the young girl shiver.

Dagny slapped her hand away and frowned at her. Then she remembered something that Hades had said to her. "Wait, are you...Persephone's daughter?"

The other woman scoffed. "As much as I hate to admit, yes," she drawled, "she was the one who gave birth to me."

"You are one of her twins? The one that's trapped in Tartarus?"

"You say it like it's bad thing to belong here," Melinoe chuckled. She leaned in and grinned at Dagny again, before she added,"actually, leaving me here with my dad was probably the only right thing that woman has ever done in her pathetic life."

Dagny opened her mouth but couldn't say a thing. She dodged the woman's cheek-touching hand and stepped away.

"Dad said that he'd be gone for a while. He told me that when I see you, I need to act like a big sister," Melinoe said softly as she grabbed Dagny's wrist.

The young girl struggled, but Melinoe's fingers felt like iron clasps on her wrist. She was dragged out from the room forcefully and into the dark corridor behind the warning sign.

"Let me show you around a little, okay?" Melinoe said to Dagny in chuckles. "You can call me Mel. Mel is fine, but no Meli, never Meli…."


Dyson parked his car on the side of the street, right in front of the bright yellow crime scene tapes that had quarantined a business building.

A fellow officer immediately came over to him while waving his arms at Dyson to tell him to turn around. When he realized that it was the former detective, though, he hesitantly said, "I'm sorry, but you are...no longer in the force."

"Oh that's right," Dyson murmured as he quickly took out a name badge from the glovebox. The slightly tattered badge had his photo and his name on, with a bold, black "consultant" under.

The officer nodded after checking the badge. Then he smiled at Dyson and lifted the tape to let him in.

Dyson followed the thick smell of blood all the way into the basement parking under the building.

There were no one but a few frightened witnesses being interviewed by several police officers, and a covered body beside a tan SUV.

Mark, who stood right next to the body, waved at him immediately.

Dyson gave him a brief nod and rushed to his side. He brought one knee down on the ground, and lifted the cover.

There, he saw a body of a mid aged female covered in blood. Her throat had been slit. Her eyes were still wide open, a terrified look on her face. Her purse was right next to her, with a few items scattered around: a couple of pens, a small pack of tissue, a small tin can of lip balm.

Dyson examined her briefly, before he looked around. Blood spatters stained the rear window of that SUV. It dribbled down all the way to the floor, forming a short trail between there and the dead body.

"No signs of struggle," he concluded after having seen no defensive wounds on the woman, nor any evidence that would suggest that there had been a fight between her and the killer.

Then he checked the woman's purse. "Whoever killed her didn't take any money or her jewelries, so I guess it's not a robbery."

He paused for a bit after that, his eyes narrowed at Mark. "Is there anything special about this case that you had to give me a call?"

Mark pointed at the cover of the lip balm can, where a small eucalyptus branch was drawn. "Eucalyptus oil," he said, rubbing his nose.

"Right, right, eucalyptus oil, it's too overwhelming for you and you can't smell other things, just like what cat litters would do to me," Dyson nodded. He sniffed in the air carefully, before he added, "she was definitely Fae."

"Can you smell anything else?" Mark asked.

Dyson inhaled deeply while paying attention to all traces of smell that he had picked up. Blood. Gas. Metal. Mud. The woman's perfume. Her lipstick on her lips. Everyone else's deodorant. One of the cops' citrus scented shampoo. The metallic smell of the coins in the woman's purse. The sweet, thick scent of the syrup stain on Mark's pants….

Eventually, he was able to picked up a vague scent that lingered in the air and on the dead body.

He frowned as he turned his head sideways to sniff it again.

"Something weird?" Mark asked.

"No, I wouldn't call it weird," Dyson told him, "it's just familiar…."

He knew he had definitely smelled it before, but it seemed to be a long time ago. He couldn't quite put a face to that smell.

When he laid his eyes on the slit throat of the victim for the second time, though, something hit him and he growled.

He dashed out, going after that smell, but it completely disappeared at the exit of the parking lot.

"What? What's wrong? Who did you smell?" Mark asked.

"It's Hades..." Dyson squeezed that name through his gnashed teeth, feeling the smell of the victim's blood suddenly clogging his throat.


A/N: I know Dyson is no longer a detective, but I think it'll be nice to have him working on a case with Mark because I don't just want him to stay in the bar as a bar tender :)

Also about Melinoe, in Greek mythology, she's the daughter of Hades and Persephone. She does have a brother, but I don't think they are twins. In this story, though, they are, and of course her character might just be drastically different than what has described in the myths. I need a crazy bitch who is also a victim here.