Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Consul of the Underworld: Grinding Phase
Chapter Fifteen: Justice Stabs
Beta: ShadowofAxios
It was late evening in the Potter-Branwen household and the family was settling down to a night of video games, namely some Mario Party.
Gotta love the classics. Alkaid thought to herself as she took a seat on the couch next to Pyrrha, her controller firmly in hand.
While the daughter of the house, Mina, was thoroughly excited about playing and was bouncing in her seat on a cushion in front of the television as the game loaded. Her parents were a little distracted.
"So how is it? A lot better than locking yourself away in your room, right?" Pyrrha asked as she leisurely scrolled through the game's character selection. She was skipping between Bowser and Wario, the brunette noticed with amusement.
Anyone but the Bizarro reject.
Alkaid readily nodded, a small smile on her face. "Sharing my hobby with family makes it so much more fun."
"Exactly," Pyrrha said with a relieved smile. "It's fine to have fun alone once in a while but-"
"I get it." The sorceress reassured her. "You don't need to keep reminding me. I won't ever cut family out of my life because of a game ever again."
"Only over a game?" The daughter of Ares asked teasingly.
Alkaid fought the urge to smack her lover with her controller. Why was she being so prickly about this? She'd already promised already didn't she?
Apparently, her thoughts must have shown on her face because Pyrrha quickly backtracked.
"Just kidding! Really! Sorry."
Alkaid nodded, accepting the apology but added sulkily. "You don't have to doubt me about it. You should know I'd never leave you guys."
The redhead leaned over and pecked her lips. Ah, that sweet cherry taste. "All I needed to hear. Plus, I promise you'll still have your solo time. Just, you know, in moderation."
"Is that making you feel better?"
"'Kaidy, it's doing loads for me. Plus, family time is the best time for me." The daughter of war smirked at her lover.
"Mum! Mama! Pick already!" Mina pouted at them as she pointed damningly at her already locked in selection. "I wanna stomp you as Princess Peach!"
"Ha," Alkaid told her, a devious look on her face. "I'd love to see you try, Mina my dear."
"I will! Watch!"
"Gods," Pyrrha palmed her face.
Los Angeles, the famed City of Angels and home of Hollywood. It was to many around the world, the Mecca of pop culture. However, the Potter-Branwens were finding out just how ignorant those fools really were. The reality of the second-most populous city in the United States was one of widespread urban decay and rampant crime, at least in the poorer neighbourhoods. Something that was, sadly, not uncommon in most cities as infrastructure and economic development failed to keep pace with rapid urbanisation.
Of course, Alkaid had known this and witnessed it for years while growing up in the city. Which was something she fully intended to exploit. After all, a young family popping up in the middle of the upper class sections of town would attract quite a bit of unwanted attention, even with the Mist. There being quite a few monsters living in those areas. After all, monsters could use the Mist too and regularly did so to confound mortals into renting them fancy apartments or houses for free. Even monsters, most of them at least, would rather live the high life than slum it in the hood.
So they'd Shadow Traveled instead to one of the so-called 'bad neighbourhoods' where the monsters were more scarce, in a bid to avoid a fight that would ruin their little family outing.
The budding family were now walking the streets, enjoying the waning summer sun and heading into the more touristy/higher-class areas of town. Alkaid was dressed for success as always looking ever fashionable in a charcoal skirt suit and black high heels.
Her darling Pyrrha wasn't dressed in her usual punkish attire though and had instead chosen to dress a touch more fashionably herself. Most likely one of her latest attempts to be more feminine. She'd put on a tie collar bowknot plain bell sleeve blouse in a rose red color and a pair of tight jeans that emphasized every feminine curve of her legs and hips.
It was a change but not one that Alkaid minded, it was an appealing view. And by some of the stares they were getting, others agreed.
Though Alkaid admitted that might have been because Mina was darting around ahead of them in an attempt, it seemed, to examine every nook and cranny of everything they walked pass. Seeing a sliver blur race all over the place was certainly attention grabbing. Which in Alkaid's totally biased opinion, was entirely appropriate. Her little murderous goddess looked absolutely adorable in her checkered sundress and Mary Janes and deserved the attention.
"Anything we missed at Camp?" Alkaid asked her lover after a fond look at their daughter's antics. "You spoke to Chiron last night, right?"
The two had been so busy securing protection for Jane and dealing with all the aftermath that brought about that they'd gotten a bit behind on news from Camp. Hence, Pyrrha had taken the initiative last night to check in with the Activities Director on the latest developments.
"Yeah, apparently the Fleece did more than heal Zeus' kid's tree. Popped the girl right out of the ground, like a carrot." Pyrrha remarked, snorting a bit at her wording.
"Well, at least she's not a prisoner of the floral kingdom." Alkaid joked, though from the way Pyrrha rolled her eyes it had fallen flat.
No one appreciates my nerdy jokes. Alkaid thought with a pout. Truly her wit was underappreciated. At least her Father loved them.
"I'm more curious if she can put up a good fight," The fighter commented with a broad grin that held a savage edge to it.
"Must you be so obsessed with peoples' fighting prowess?" Alkaid teased openly, enjoying a giggle at the light pink that she'd managed to bring to Pyrrha's cheeks.
"I just like a good tussle is all."
"Oh, I know. Sometimes even for hours." Alkaid nodded with a sly look. Ah, teasing her lover was always a treat for her.
Instead of getting those lovely red cheeks like Alkaid hoped, Pyrrha continued their banter, "And you're just glad Chiron took the girl under his wing. Allowing you to keep a distance like you wanted."
Alkaid shrugged her shoulders, "It's the smart thing to do. I doubt the girl would appreciate my presence. I remember when Father sent all those monsters after her. Watched it too."
"Yeesh, I heard it was a nasty sight." Pyrrha frowned, looking at her with worry.
The sorceress brushed the concern aside with a dismissive wave, "Not really. From what I remember the girl had a death wish. Safety was just literally feet away and instead of making a run for it, she instead chose to charge the monsters."
"You mean she was literally suicidal?" Pyrrha asked, shocked by this revelation.
"I couldn't say for sure, but it certainly looked that way."
"Damn," Pyrrha said, her voice full of sympathy. "I hope she gets better."
"With how harshly my Father hunted her, she might just have wished for it to end. Of course, even if she did, Father would have tormented her just to spite my dear Uncle." The brunette huffed, not that her Uncle didn't deserve it for trying to murder her own siblings. "Hopefully living in a safe environment will do her some good."
"It can't make it worse."
"I know from my own experiences at Camp that you're wrong so pardon me if I disagree. It is after all why we'll be staying home for a while."
"No complaints from me." Pyrrha said, surprising the daughter of Hades. "Hey! No need to be so shocked. I know my siblings, okay? They would be jerks about everything I went through lately. I don't need that. Not right now."
Alkaid nodded, a little flabbergasted that Pyrrha would admit that. It was well known that the children of Ares tended to disdain their emotional wellbeing in general, instead believing that strength of body and will would allow them to overcome everything. A philosophy that caused them to be more than a little hurtful to others in pain. As such, having a daughter of war recognize this and realise that she couldn't stand being exposed to it at the moment was nigh unthinkable. Yet here it was, happening right in front of her eyes.
As expected of Pyrrha, she never ceases to making my heart flutter. Alkaid smiled sweetly at her girlfriend and pecked her cheek in appreciation and love.
"What was that for?"
"Just wanted to show you how much I love you is all." Alkaid replied, entirely serious.
The redhead blushed brilliantly and turned away from the daughter of Hades. With nowhere else to look besides a bog standard city street, her eyes naturally wandered over to their daughter and whatever she saw made her frown.
"Mina, whatcha mumbling about?" Pyrrha asked the little goddess.
"Huh? Oh! It's nothing Mama." The silver haired girl deflected, idly kicking her right leg back and forth.
"Were you playing pretend?" Alkaid asked her little girl curiously.
"Uh, yeah! Pretend… tehee?"
"Really? Then why don't you tell Mama and Mum what you were playing and we can join in too." Pyrrha suggested, a look of suspicion in her eyes. Her lips formed into a tight frown.
Alkaid didn't know what the redhead was worried about but thought her suggestion was a great idea. Playing games with Mina sounded like a great way for them to bond.
Shuffling her feet, the goddess looked the picture of nervousness.
"M-maybe I don't wanna?" She blurted out, panic flashing across her yellowish-green eyes.
Okay, I think I see what's got Pyrrha concerned.
The redhead looked ready to protest, but Alkaid put a restraining hand on her arm.
"That's okay then, sweetie." The sorceress said with a loving smile. "It was only a suggestion."
"Really?" Mina asked, sounding hopeful. Her worried face ebbing away and replaced by a look of relief.
"Of course," Alkaid replied, squeezing Pyrrha's arm to hold her back from saying anything.
"Thanks Mum!" The silver haired murderer cheered and gave the brunette a quick hug before darting off once more to continue her little game.
"'Kaidy, what-" Pyrrha began to whisper, but Alkaid shushed her as she cast a simple spell to enhance their hearing.
"Let's play spy a little," Alkaid whispered as the spell took hold. "Better to figure out what she's up to and confront her with it rather than try to force it out of her."
The redhead nodded in agreement as they both began to listen in on their daughter's mumblings.
"Oh! He's nice and fat!" The little goddess said with a demented giggle. "It would be great fun to carve him up and force him to eat his own flesh until he chokes on it!"
Both women gaped at that and followed the side eye that Mina had given to a plump Asian man that was walking on the other side of the street.
"That lady is so~ pretty!" Mina said, this time apparently referring to beautiful woman walking past them in the opposite direction. "I wonder if she's as pretty inside? Is she nice and warm? I haven't slept in a body in a while."
Pyrrha turned to Alkaid, horrified. For her part, Alkaid wasn't entirely surprised. Their little girl was the goddess of serial killers after all. Instead, her mind was focused on figuring out what had set her off.
Mina's eyes darted to another would-be victim as her fingers tightened around imaginary knives as madness danced in her golden orbs.
"That little old lady looks so frail, a strong breeze can knock her over!" Mina said even as she exchanged pleasant smiles with the tiny, elderly African American woman down the street. "Her bones must be just weak enough to make them easy to play with. Maybe I can turn her into some kind of modern art sculpture for our backyard? Mum will like it I think."
Having heard enough, Alkaid called out to her daughter. Her tone sharp and commanding. "Mina."
"Yes, Mum?" The little girl asked, spinning around on the spot and seeming completely innocent.
"I would not like a new sculpture in our backyard." The brunette said, causing a startled look to spread across Mina's face. "Nor do I want to help hide a body today. What's brought this on?"
Next to her Alkaid, could see out of the corner of her eye that Pyrrha was startled by her mild reaction.
Did she forget again that this kinda stuff is par for the course for the House of Hades? Alkaid thought for a moment before dismissing it for later. She had a goddess to reprimand.
Tears pooled in her large eyes as a hiccup past the small goddess' lips.
"I, I-I know that! It's why I didn't say anything. I didn't want you make you m-mad." Mina sniffled, her palming rubbing her tearing eyes. "I keep getting urges to kill things, Mum. I try not to, really! It's hard though. I keep killing all the annoying cats and dogs in the neighborhood but its not the same!"
"That explains why we don't have any strays, I guess." Pyrrha winced at the confession.
"Can I go maim a hobo or something? Oh, oh! Maybe a whore? Haven't done that in a while. Please? I-I need to sink my knives into someone." Mina started to pant now, her eyes glassy, "Their cries for help, their screams of pain. I miss them, Mum, Mama."
"Alright, kiddo." Pyrrha said with a frown. Having, it seemed, set aside her revulsion at the idea of murdering innocents, she knelt in front of their daughter. "Why didn't you talk to us about this?"
Mina looked away, looking ashamed, "I didn't want to upset you. If, if I did… you might not want me anymore. I don't want to leave you two."
Those adorable eyes of hers started to well up once again but Pyrrha, ever the champion of a mother, brushed them aside with her thumbs.
"Hey, hey, no tears okay? We'd never do that, ya know? We love you too much, kiddo."
The daughter of Ares planted an reassuring kiss to her forehead which made Mina smile.
"Of course Mina," Alkaid rested a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder. With a soft squeeze, she said, "It's only natural you'd want to kill someone. It's a part of you. You never need to hide who you are from us, sweetie."
"But it's not natural!" Mina whined.
"It is for you," the daughter of Hades insisted. "You're special and it's perfectly natural for you."
"Gotta agree with your Mum on this one, kiddo." Pyrrha said with an affectionate hair ruffle which earned her a whine.
Looking around the street, Alkaid noted a gang tag on a nearby wall. Something that inspired her with a idea that brought a wicked smile to her face.
"Mina dear, how would you like to do some… community service?"
"Eh?" Mina cocked her head to the side with an owlish blink of confusion. "Um, if that's what Mum wants. Alrighty!"
That night, Alkaid and Pyrrha found themselves looking down at a warehouse in the bad part of L.A. while riding on a magic circle. They were relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view of the city's skyline at night when Rhip flew up from the building below.
Alkaid immediately stretched out her arm for her familiar to land, though he quickly hopped up her limb and onto his favourite perch on her shoulder instead.
"You called him back?" Pyrrha asked tiredly. "So she's almost done then?"
"Pretty much," Alkaid agreed. "There's only a few left and she's decided to get theatrical now. Watch."
A hard light screen appeared in front of the couple and displayed the image of the warehouse's fog filled interior. There were a bunch of terrified gangbangers huddling together in what could charitably pass for a defensive circle.
"So magical HD, huh?"
"I prefer Kill-O-Vision." Alkaid quipped.
Rhip cawed in agreement with its mistress, earning itself a stroke down its spine just like it liked it.
Their conversation was put on hold as a petite figure literally rose out of the fog right in the middle of the gang members' circle and lashed out in a dervish of bloody blades and reduced half of their number into chunks of meat in a matter of seconds.
The survivors wisely fled, though most didn't get far. Wounded by Mina's unexpected attack, they were easily picked off as she threw her blades into their exposed backs.
"Not seeing any theatrics yet." Pyrrha said with a frown.
Alkaid didn't know if the frown was because she was upset at seeing the death of mortals or not, but the brunette sincerely hoped she'd gotten over that hangup. These thugs were one and all murderous scum, the daughter of Hades had checked. Heck, she'd even gone to the trouble of luring away the more innocent of the bunch, the less violent drug peddlers, pimps and the like, so that only the most guilty remained for Mina to cull. If Pyrrha was still upset after all that, then things in the future would be difficult.
"Just wait for it." The brunette said, letting none of her worries show.
On screen, the precious few survivors were running through an increasingly foggy maze of cobblestone streets and getting themselves hopelessly lost even as Mina stalked them. All of them. All at once.
"Is that-"
"A recreation of Victorian London? Yes, it is." Alkaid nodded. "Mina seems to like to recreate the feel of her heyday as Jack the Ripper."
"How?" Pyrrha said, before facepalming. "Right. Goddess. Altering reality is child's play, literally, for her."
Alkaid just chuckled.
They watched as Mina toyed with the last few gangbangers. Deliberately missing with her throwing knives and occasionally appearing out of the fog to scare them even more. Only ever dealing the finishing blow when they were at the very depths of despair. A number of them had ended up wetting themselves, while one fella had even tried to shoot himself as an escape only to lose a hand to Mina's knives before he could pull the trigger and ended up getting skinned alive for his gall to try the easy way out.
"Theatrical, huh?" Pyrrha said with an amused shake of her head. "You're totally right about that. Our little girl gets that from you, you know?"
"Why thank you. I do have to knock a few points here and there, but she'll get a solid A minus."
Their conversation was interrupted when the door to the warehouse slammed noisily open and a heavily tattooed man ran out like his life depended on it. Which it did. Not that his sprint saved him. He barely made it ten feet before a knife embedded itself in the back of his head and he fell over dead.
Skipping out of the warehouse as the body collapsed, the goddess of serial killers plucked her knife out of the head with ease. Her body was covered in blood, yet she beamed like an angel up at the couple. She waved cheerfully and announced, "Mummies! I killed all the stupid, bad mortals! Can we get ice cream?"
"I can see that," Pyrrha said with a sigh, as Alkaid mentally ordered their platform to descend. "Isn't all that blood uncomfortable? Don't you want a bath first?"
"I like the smell!"
"Well, the ice cream man won't." Pyrrha insisted with a shake of her head. "So bath time."
"Aw~! Okay. I want the undead duckies!"
"Don't whine, sweetie." Alkaid said, patting the girl on her head. "You've had your playtime, so you need to clean up. And yes, you'll get the duckies, Mum promises."
"Yay!" Mina cheered.
"So was it fun killing those lowlifes?"
"It totally was, Mama!" The silver haired girl replied enthusiastically. "Maybe next time we can go kill bad guys together?"
"Maybe," Pyrrha said with a noncommittal shrug. "Not sure if the gods will be okay with heroes killing mortals. Even pieces of trash like this lot."
"It should be fine," Alkaid assured her, Mina nodding along. "It's not like they cared a whit back in the old days. I doubt they care now."
"Well, if it's okay with them, then sure."
"Yay!" Mina cheered again, jumping towards Pyrrha to hug her but stopping herself as she realized she was covered in blood.
Pyrrha giggled at her hesitance and finished pulling her into the hug.
"But the blood?"
"Don't worry about it, squirt." The redhead assured their daughter. "The elves will clean it out."
"Indeed they will," Alkaid agreed as she joined in the hug.
Even as the family enjoyed their shared embrace, Alkaid's mind spun as she thought of which acceptable target she should unleash her little killing machine onto next.
Hmm… Gangs are always an option, but kind of boring. But I'm drawing a blank on what else might be acceptable and safe targets. I think I might need some advice.
A day later, Alkaid and Mina decided to pay a visit to her Father in the Underworld.
The moment the mother and daughter teleported into the throne room of the Lord of the Dead, Mina immediately darted away from Alkaid's side and ran up to Hades. With a flying lunge, the goddess of serial killers grabbed hold of her grandfather's leg in a bear hug.
Alkaid expected her Father to react badly. He was never much of a touchy feely type. As such, his actual reaction to Mina's affection floored her.
Chuckling, the god of the Underworld picked her up gently and put her on his lap.
"Hello, Alkaid, little one." Hades greeted the duo with a welcoming smile. To her, it was a welcoming sight that she hadn't seen in a while.
"Hello, Grandpa." Mina returned immediately with a heartfelt hug of his waist that the Olympian reciprocated by patting her dotingly on her back.
Alkaid was so stunned by this turn of events that she just stood there, unable to even formulate a reply to her Father's greeting.
The surprises didn't seem to be at an end though as while pulling back from their hug, Mina was distracted by the tortured souls sewn into the lord of the dead's robes and curiously began poking at them. Something that earned herself a full bellied laugh of amusement from Alkaid's normally somber Father.
When was the last time I heard him laugh so much when it's not winter? Alkaid thought in shock, her eyes straying to her Stepmother's throne just to be sure she hadn't secretly popped down to visit and thus was the cause of her husband's unexpected cheery mood.
Nope, still empty save for the small dish of peaches on the throne's right arm that Hades kept there whenever Persephone was away as a reminder that she would return.
"So Alkaid, what brings you down to visit your old father?" The lord of the dead asked, a teasing inflection to his tone.
Giving him a flat look, the daughter of the Underworld couldn't help but ask, "Father, you are in good cheer today. Has something happened?"
"My daughter is visiting and with my granddaughter in tow, how could I not be happy?" Hades said as he patted Mina on the head, incidentally messing up the girl's hair and causing her to busy herself fixing it instead of disturbing the tortured souls.
It might have been Alkaid's imagination, but she thought she might have heard them actually sigh in relief at that.
She ignored the idle thought though, in favour of focusing on the sliver of guilt that wormed its way into her heart at hearing her Father's statement. It was true, she had been rather busy as of late with her own family and projects. As a result, she'd not visited her Father in some time.
"Is it that lonely for you when Stepmother is away and no one else is around?" Alkaid asked genuinely worried for her Father's emotional wellbeing. While he was a god, he was still a sensitive deity at heart. "Surely Mel visits, or if not you can go visit Maka."
"We are sadly all a little too busy to spend time together. Especially with Father on the rise once more." Hades said with a frustrated sigh. "Melinoe is running herself and her ghosts ragged trying to keep abreast of the situation, while Makaria has been swamped by a flood of new arrivals to her domain created by the conflicts spawned by the Crooked One's influence."
Alkaid blinked in surprise at that. She knew both her sisters as goddesses would inevitably be drawn into the conflict with their grandfather but she hadn't expected them to join in till later. She wondered if she could do anything to help them-
Wait! One thing at a time. For now, let's focus on helping Father with his loneliness. I think I should start a weekly family get together. It would do us all some good I think. Alkaid mused. Just another thing to add to the list of things to do. Right behind figuring out ways to ease her divine sisters' burdens during this Second Titanomachy.
Why was she, the mortal sister, doing all this again? Oh right! Because they were family. She really wished the rest of the Olympians were as family minded as the House of Hades. It would solve so many problems.
It would certainly cut down on her to do list and allow her to be less of a busy bee. Not that the sorceress didn't enjoy being so busy, of course. Being able to handle the workload reflected well on her, after all. Shaking her head, she decided to address why she had come to visit, hoping it wouldn't rain on her Father's good mood.
"I actually came to speak about Mina's… urges."
Hades put his hands over Mina's ears, much to her dissatisfaction, "I know she's a goddess, daughter, but don't you think her mentality is still too young for that?"
Resisting the urge to palm her face, Alkaid answered in an exasperated tone, "Not that! Honestly, you and the rest of the gods, I swear…"
"Last I checked, you're even younger than her." Hades said, but to Alkaid it was a childish rebuttal.
"By the Pit, we are not talking about this again." The child of Hades did palm her face this time, the desire to do so was far too strong. "I'm talking about Mina's need to kill. It's been bothering her."
"Oh. That. You mean she wasn't killing already?" Hades said in actual surprise as he removed his hands from Mina's ears.
"Only a little bit, until yesterday! Yesterday, Mum and Mama let me go all stabbity stab kill kill on a bunch of low life gangbangers. It was so, so fun! The blood was all warm and tingly." Mina declared happily before dissolving into giggles.
Hades smiled at the adorable little murderous goddess.
"Indeed?" Mina nodded at her grandfather's question and Hades hummed intently for a moment before continuing. "Well, I'm sure being your prey, granddaughter, was the highlight of their short, wasted lives."
Alkaid just shook her head at her Father's judgemental view. Then again, he was the ultimate judge of the Underworld, so perhaps it was part of his character.
"Father," Alkaid said after clearing her throat to gain his attention. "I'm actually here to ask for your opinion on a matter."
Hades waved at her to continue, a motion that Mina copied to their mutual amusement.
Ignoring the insanity her daughter seem to have induced in her usually oh so stoic Father, Alkaid kept going.
"My idea is for Mina to kill targets slated for death." The demigoddess informed her Father. "I was hoping you would have a possible list of Olympus' most wanted. That way we can kill, literally, two birds with one stone."
"I'll stabbity stab them till they're dead!" Mina chimed in cheerfully. She made mock jabbing motions in the air that she punctuated with little swooshing sounds that she mouthed under her breath.
The lord of the Underworld mulled over Alkaid's suggestion for a moment, before replying. "I think, Alkaid, that I might have a better option. Rather than pitting your daughter against the strongest and vilest monsters our mythos has to muster, and thus putting her firmly in the middle of this war, why not keep her neutral by killing equally dangerous and deserving targets instead."
"Such as?"
"There are certain beings who deserve to die," Hades said, his lips curled into a sour expression. "They have been judged by gods and man to deserve death, but sadly cannot be killed. However, Mina's ability to impose death could solve that."
Mina tilted her head to the side, "I can make them die when I kill them?"
"Yes, little one."
"Yay!" The little murder goddess cheered gleefully.
"And where can I find these beings?" Alkaid inquired.
Hades smiled. It wasn't the happy smile he had been sporting earlier, that of a loving family man whose family was all away and had been pleasantly surprised by an unexpected visit. No, this was the grim smile of the Lord of the Underworld. A smile that had damned the souls of men for ages uncounted.
With a snap of his finger and a dramatic burst of black fire, a piece of paper floated in front of the demigoddess.
"Here's a list." The Lord of the Dead said, that terrifying smile still on his face.
A smile that was matched by both his daughter and granddaughter as he handed it over to Alkaid.
Mina however took it a step further and actively cheered, "Wah! Wah! I'mma kill 'em good!"
This just tickled both the god and his daughter and they shot the little girl amused grins, with Hades even patting her on the head.
"Thank you, Father," Alkaid said with a bow. "This will sure to be useful."
Hades just nodded and looked on wistfully as Mina squirmed off his lap and ran to her mother's side.
"Mummy, let's go killing! Let's! Let's!" The excitable goddess begged while bouncing in place. Her energy akin to a child on a sugar rush.
"We'll need to look through this and decide who to target first." Alkaid said, earning her a pout from her daughter. "But I promise you'll have your fill soon enough."
"Yay! I wanna be showered in their blood!"
"Not all of them have blood." Hades chimed in, a teasing smirk on his face.
"Aw," Mina pouted like someone decapitated a puppy in front of her. One that she had wanted to decapitate.
Alkaid shot her Father an annoyed look, even as she hastily reassured her daughter.
"We'll make sure to pick one who's full of blood. Enough for you to bathe in it."
"Yay! Mum's the bestest!" Mina cheered as she hugged Alkaid tightly around the waist and went back to bouncing excitedly.
"It's humorous seeing you try to appease a demanding child." Hades told her with mirth.
"I feel as thought you are insinuating something," Alkaid huffed as she patted her daughter on the head. Ugh, just thinking of the mess to clean up later made the mortal want to cry. However, if it was for her daughter's happiness, she'd bear with it.
Turning back to her bemused Father, Alkaid sketched a farewell bow while using her arm to guide Mina to do the same. "And I promise you Father, to visit soon but for now we must be taking our leave."
Hades raised a curious eyebrow at her promise which to him must have seemed like it had come out of nowhere. Ultimately though he just shrugged and chose to just let it be.
"I'll hold you to that promise." Hades said with a dismissive wave. "Now go get your daughter her fix."
"Please do not make it sound like she is an addict of some kind." Alkaid pleaded but offered him a warm smile, "Thanks again, Father."
Grasping hold of Mina's hand tightly, the sorceress Shadow Traveled both of them out of the Underworld.
After the eventful trip to the Underworld, Alkaid had gone into full research mode for the best target or targets to let her daughter sate her need to kill on. Laying in her bed, she carefully looked over the papers she had arranged across her bedspread with her magical glasses resting on her nose. Using a combination of her research skills and a pair of her Gale-Force glasses, she'd been able to read through all the substantial amount of information on the various targets on her Father's list.
It had taken her till the late night, but she was thankfully finally narrowing it down to a handful of plausible targets.
Some like the Aztec god of human sacrifice, Huitzilopochtli, were totally out of the question for political reasons. They didn't want to start a war with the Aztec pantheon after all.
Others like the Wendigo weren't so much a single being as a magical disease that transformed its victims into the iconic cannibalistic monsters. While Mina could kill anything, she could only do so one entity or mass of entities at a time, having to stab them with her daggers to impose her power. This made it next to impossible for her to properly tackle something like the Wendigo.
That still left them spoiled for choice though. That said, the prison for major supernatural threats that the federal government had set up out in the New Mexican desert looked the most promising. According to her research, no less than a dozen of the hundred or so names on her Father's list were imprisoned there. This made it the single largest concentration of potential targets, and seemingly their most logical choice. However, hitting it ran the risk of incurring the wrath of the government and that was even without considering whether they were even able to get past its likely nigh impenetrable defenses.
Perhaps we can just give them a call and ask nicely? Alkaid thought to herself derisively. Like that would work. They'd sooner throw us in there than let us waltz in there and kill their prisoners for them.
Her thoughts were broken as the door opened and Pyrrha walked in, wearing a simple tanktop and panties. Her lover eyed their bed and sighed.
"Kaidy, maybe it's time to take a break? We can pick something in the morning."
"I just want to read for a bit longer, Pyrrha." Alkaid assured her as she stacked some papers into a pile.
A sly smile crossed Pyrrha's loving face as she slid onto the bed, cozying next to her and peering over her shoulder.
"You know, if you have time to read, then maybe we should do something more… productive?"
The daughter of war's warm breath tickled her ear, and elicited a small shiver from the brunette. Suddenly the buxom young woman felt warm hands cupping her breasts, giving them both a gentle squeeze. Alkaid barely bit back a pleasant gasp at the stimulating touch, and was ready to fold right then and there. Thankfully, Pyrrha didn't know that and left a trail of hot kisses along her pale shoulders as she inched her way to bite down on the right shoulder strap of the slip that served as her only nightwear.
Teasing the strap with her teeth, Pyrrha questioned her lover once more.
"You sure you don't want to just pick in the morning?"
The sorceress squirmed under the redhead's ministrations, but a soft rebuttal came out in response, "Honestly, how insatiable are you?"
Releasing the strap from between her teeth, the redhead mock pouted, "Is that a no?"
Growling in frustration at the sudden end to their foreplay, Alkaid waved her hands at the papers and sent them flying towards her work desk in the corner of the room where they stacked themselves into a neat little pile.
"Oh you daring minx." Alkaid said, her voice heavy with want as she turned her full attention to her lover all while she worked her arms out from under the straps of her slip.
"I learned from the best." Pyrrha retorted cheekily as she leaned back just a little to admire how the silk of Alkaid's lingerie slowly fell down the length of her body and exposed more of the daughter of Hades' beautiful creamy skin for her inspection.
"Seems my naughty little Py needs to be tended to." Alkaid said, just as her slip began to slip pass her bust. "I'll be more than happy to o-"
Unfortunately for the couple, it was precisely at this moment that the door to their room slammed open. Neither Alkaid nor Pyrrha needed to turn towards the door to know that their darling daughter had decided to skip into their room.
If Alkaid was any other woman, she might have squealed in embarrassment at being caught by her daughter with her nightclothes halfway falling off her body as a prelude to her having her way with her lover. The daughter of Hades however was made of sterner stuff than most. As such, she merely calmly grabbed hold of her slip with one hand to prevent it from falling further even while she slipped her other arm back under the strap.
Yes, yes that is shame filling me. Gods! As if I needed my daughter to see this! Alkaid thought mortified even as she finished fixing her slip back on properly. Sure, Mina had probably seen worse, but Alkaid was her mother!
"Mum, Mama! I'm back!" The little hellion announced happily.
"W-Welcome back, uh, kiddo." Pyrrha stammered, her cheeks matching the color of her hair.
"How was Chicago?" Alkaid asked, surprisingly calm considering the situation.
"It was great! The gang I found there tonight was even bigger than the one in L.A.!" The little serial killer said as she happily bounced on her feet. "I had so much fun killing them~!"
"I can see that." Alkaid said with a smile as she slid off the bed, using a summoning spell to pull some tissue into her hand. "You got blood on your face."
"It's still there?" Mina asked as she tried to rub her cheek, only for Alkaid to bat her hand away and clean it for the girl. "I thought I washed it all off already."
"Well, you missed some." Pyrrha informed her with a chuckle. It seemed even the redhead had conceded that the passion of the moment was now lost, but that was fine… for now.
"Well, I just wanna sleep with my mums after doing my good deed of the day!" Mina said, jumping onto the bed between them.
Pyrrha turned to Alakid and shrugged, "Well, she just did Chicago a major service."
"Indeed she did. As expected of our darling." Alkaid smiled even though was inwardly crying as blood stained their silk sheets. Waving her hand, Alkaid transfigured Mina's dirty clothes into a clean nightgown and vanished what blood she could. The life fluid was notoriously tricky to clean with magic though, due to its own inherent magical properties, so she'd have to make sure she had the Elves clean it several more times to make sure all the blood was washed out.
Sighing at the hassle all that cleaning would cause, even if she wouldn't have to directly deal with it, she crawled back onto the bed.
Mina immediately grabbed hold of her with one arm and pulled her close. Having already done the same with Pyrrha, this brought the three of them together into a tight cuddle. One in which the little goddess was perfectly content to snuggle into.
Presumably tired after her hunt and happy to be surrounded by her loving parents, Mina quickly drifted off to sleep.
The soft snores of their baby girl was like a lullaby itself and the couple soon found themselves on the verge of dozing off themselves. They did however manage to share one last meaningful look with each other.
Alkaid telepathically told Pyrrha, Once we get a babysitter, I am rocking your world.
Pyrrha's lips curled into a small smile and pecked her on the lips in clear agreement.
Done and done! Thanks to the wonderful team of Axios and Nameless as always!
Wow, so uh, good news! I finally got a full time job! Yay income! And benefits, thank you god for benefits. It's an IT job but it makes me happy and I got some good people to work with. So enough of my life, onto whatever speak we got going on.
Nameless: Well, it's been a while. Where were we? Well, E4E listed one reason for our slowdown. Beyond that though, we also decided to take a break the past few weeks to plot out another side project. We realized that variety is life, don't ya know? Or in less philosophical terms, we decided we would like an alternate project besides TOT for us to rotate to when we need a break from the Heroineverse. What's this new project about? Well, it's called, Rise of Prodigies. For any other details, well we think we'll keep you guessing for now. Feel free to guess away in the reviews!
I like the departure in this chapter from our increasingly formulaic style of writing in the Heroineverse. Some helpful reviewer, honestly can't recall who now, commented that we seemed to have fallen into a pattern of starting every chapter with fluff and then ending it with action. The break helped us with that too. As you can hopefully see in this chapter. Just focusing on family moments alone can be fun too, which is what we did here. Next chapter, we can go right into the action and other fun stuff.
Nameless: Yup. The break really helped us on this front too. It'll be an ongoing issue though, so if you guys see us regressing please do let us know. Onto to the chapter's content. Mina is adorifying, especially in that last scene. No? Well, I'm sure many parents with little kids will agree, if you catch my drift. XD
Ah Mina, the cockblocker of many. Truly she is a treasure. Though it might be the one time Al and Py disagree.
Well, you know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you loved! No flames, and peace out my peeps!