**Lex**

My eyes opened slowly. I looked at my surroundings through half-closed lids. Where am I? Oh, yeah. Sunlight streamed through the trees and birds chirped happily. I could smell the small rodents scurrying around, searching for food. I was in the bed of a truck, curled up next to David. He was so warm that I didn't want to move away from him. Pants? Check. Shirt? Check. What did I do last night? The memory of kissing him flooded into my mind. Nothing else had happened. We slept, but it was just that, sleeping. No sex. Thank the gods.

I sat up and carefully extricated myself from David's arms. He stirred slightly but didn't wake up. My shoulder, the one bearing Hades' mark, tingled slightly. Shit, Hades has orders for me. I hopped out of the truck bed and had almost made it to the edge of the clearing when black smoke poured from the shadows and engulfed my body.

I was standing in the arena, my wrists bound with several feet of rope and wrapped in chains. I took a quick inventory of my surroundings. No heartbeats, no sounds of breathing or rustling clothes, no fresh scents. I was alone, for the moment at least. I rolled my shoulders and snapped my restraints as if they were wet paper. I didn't bother trying the doors because I could see that they were locked. I could easily escape, but I decided to stay and wait it out.

"What do you want, Hades?"

Instantly, I picked up the god's putrid scent and I heard the material of his cloak shifting as he moved. I knew exactly where he was but I didn't move. I would let him do the talking.

"So, you delivered my message to your father?" More of a statement than a question. "I hear he didn't take the news too well. This calls for a celebration." The scents of tobacco, glass, paper, and beer drifted towards me.

So this bastard is trying to bribe me with alcohol and smokes? I'm cool with that. I turned and faced Hades. He stood up in the stands with a six pack of Olympian's Best in one hand, a pack of cigarettes in the other. I cleared the barricade, the one that kept the spectators safe from whatever was happening in the arena, in a single leap.

"What's this? A bribe?" I gave Hades a cold smile as I took a bottle, "I'm listening. You have a job for me?"

"Yes, in a sense."

"What do you mean?" I was suspicious.

"David's birthday is coming up-"

"Oh, how sweet."

Hades continued as if I'd never interrupted him, "And I wanted to give him a special gift."

"Thoughtful." I sat on one of the long stone benches that served as bleachers and drained the beer.

"You should really be more respectful, Alexis. Especially since I own you."

I hid my small flash of annoyance by crushing the empty bottle with my bare hand. I sat, looking bored, and began picking bits of glass out of my palm. "The name's Lex."

"I'll call you whatever I want. You belong to me."

"You've mentioned that," I sighed, rolling my eyes. Ignoring the glass still embedded in my hand, I snagged another beer and opened the pack of cigarettes. "You got a light? No, wait, I've got one."

Hades looked like he might explode for a moment, then he collected himself and watched me smoke. "Smoking is bad for your health, you know."

"Good thing I'm practically immortal."

"I need you to retrieve an item for me," the god explained as if I'd never spoken. I didn't react, waiting for him to elaborate, which he did. "There's a party in Seattle, high end, very exclusive, invitation only. I want David and Sophia to go but the host isn't going to give away two invitations, at least not willingly. Which is where you come in."

"You want me to bully some guy into giving you some tickets to his party? No offense, but why can't you just go all God-of-Death on him?"

"Because," Hades paused for much longer than necessary. He looked like he was enjoying this way too much, "The host is Dionysus."