Present
As they walked through the streets, Nick and Melinoe were holding hands. He was pointing at the streets and telling her about his childhood memories.
"I miss this." said Melinoe.
"I miss this too." Nick said back.
Their mother and son reunion was interrupted by the appearance of Satara, who flashed in front of them. She stared at their connected hands and then at Melinoe. Each women sized up the other one.
"Who are you?" asked Satara.
Melinoe leaned closer to Nick and gave the other woman a smirk. For those who didn't know of hers and Nick's relationship it would appear like they are lovers.
"Don't you dare speak to her like that." Nick warned Satara.
"Don't worry, my love, I don't mind." said Melinoe. "Looks like you have business with your friend." she released his hand and kissed his cheek. "Once you're finished with her, come see me in my bedroom." she said and flashed away.
"Who the hell was that?!" said Satara.
"None of your business and don't speak to her with that tone again." He wasn't going to allow someone to disrespect any of his mothers.
"How dare you take that tone with me!" shouted Satara. She was already angry at him for other reasons and he was fueling the fire. She came to see him for answers and knew starting an argument with him would lead to nowhere. She plastered on a fake smile and lowered her voice. "I'm sorry, Nick. You were scary just now."
"Sorry." he said.
Accepting his apology, she came closer to him. "I was wondering, why did you end your deal with Stryker? How did you get Artemis' brand off your face? Who was that woman?"
Nick touched the sunglasses he was wearing. Something told him Mintha or Melinoe were involved in this. He had to see Melinoe to ask her about it.
"Don't you wanted to see your mother?" Satara whispered in his ear.
He pulled away from her. "I have to go." He said and flashed out of there.
He found Melinoe in her bedroom in Hades with company. She sitting on her bed with Cherise and they were discussing their favorite topic. Him.
"Mom?" he said.
Both women turned to him. Cherise got up to hug him.
"Nicky Boo!" she said, kissing his cheeks.
He hugged her tighter and kissed her back. "I'm sorry." He was sorry for what he put her through. If he wasn't so selfish and insisted on reincarnating, she wouldn't have suffer. If it wasn't for him she wouldn't have been kicked out of her home when she got pregnant. She wouldn't have to live a poor life, struggling to fed them.
Melinoe got up from her bed. "We had a talk and Cherise understands everything."
"There are things I need to confess." said Nick. "You might want to sit down for this."
Seeing how serious he was both women sat back down. His hands were shaking as he prepared himself.
"It was no coincidence that I became your son," he said to Cherise, "I searched the world for another Malachi. I found Adarian. I discovered him stalking you. His fascination with you was growing and...I took advantage of it. I'm sorry. You were never supposed to have a son at a young age. You were supposed to graduate school, get married, and have daughters. I took that from you and throw you into a nightmare."
Cherise cried as she listened to his tale. Both women got up to hug him.
Nick fell on his knees and begged Cherise for forgiveness. "Mintha warned me. She warned me about how our life would be like. She begged me to wait but I was stubborn. I promised her I would take care of you. I promised I would obey you..." he choked. "I didn't...I'm sorry..."
"Hush now." Cherise said, kissing his head.
Melinoe gently wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the other side of his head. "It's all in the past."
"You are the thing I treasure the most in life and in death. I will never regret having you." said Cherise.
"Me either." said Melinoe. "I'll get rid of anyone who is a threat to you and eat them."
Cherise looked up at Melineo. "I see who he gets his sense of humor from."
"He also inherited his spoiled and selfish nature from me." said Melineo.
"It's not true. You are one of the most compassionate person I know." said Nick. "And forgiving. You forgave me for all the terrible things I did to you. I hurt you. Both of you and you always forgave me."
"It is because we know that you didn't intend to hurt us. Somethings are out of your control. You shouldn't hold grudges." said Cherise.
Nick could see where she was going with this. "You know about the Ash and Simi incident don't you?"
"Yes." both of his mothers said in unison.
"Put yourself in his place, Nicky. You slept with his daughter." said Cherise.
"And he cursed us to die." argued Nick. He knew sleeping with Simi was wrong. He hated himself for it. He hated Ash just as much for keeping the truth from him. "If he only told me the truth first then I would have never done it."
Cherise opened her mouth to speak but Melinoe raised her hand to silence her.
"If Archeron and Mintha met by chance, had sex, fell in love, got married, had children-"
"NO!" Nick could not process the thought.
"Think this through, Nick. Archorn doesn't know about your relationship with Mintha. In fact, you don't even remember her until recently. If your memories remained unlock, do you think Mintha would have waited for you? She thought she was me. There were possibilities of her meeting other men. Would you see this scenario as him betraying you?"
Cherise chimed in. "Give yourself time, Nicky. Forgiveness will come."
Mintha opened Melinoe's cabinet. She chose a decanter and poured the contents in a cup to drink. As the liquid hit her mouth and went down her throat she felt a surge of power emerge within her. While humans have a liquor cabinet, Melineo kept a blood cabinet. There were decanters filled with demon blood she had taken from her victims and stored to drink later. Drinking a demon's blood gives a person temporary use of the demon's powers. It aid in Melinoe's and Mintha's demon disguises. Mintha's demon form looked exactly like Melinoe's but with the exception of her height.
When Mintha sensed someone behind her, she vanished the decanter and cup. She turned around to greet him. The man was dressed in a black cloak that covered black spiked armor. His eyes were light blue. His hair was brown and shoulder length. She didn't personally know the man but Melinoe told her about him. He was Thorn.
Thorn took in her height and realized that she wasn't Melinoe.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I'm Tawan." said Mintha.
He nodded in recognition, having heard of her name before.
When Melinoe and Mintha first arrived in this world they changed their names and build new lives for themselves. Melinoe took the name Burapa and Mintha took the name Tawan. They developed a reputation as demon eaters.
"You must be Thorn. My sister is on vacation. I'm taking over."
"Is that so?" He said, summoning his weapon but before he could strike her she had him on his knees. Her sword was on his throat. "I see Burapa told you about our traditions."
In the ancient prophesy, the Malachi was supposed to lead an army to and unleash his master. Together, they would start a war against the worlds. Melinoe found a loop hole around it. She gathered her own generals, gained their loyalties, and used them to uphold order in this world. Mintha had to beat the generals into submission for them to accept her leadership. It was something she was looking forward to.
"Of course." she withdrew her sword. With the battle training Melinoe gave her, Mintha could have easily defeated him but she wanted to test his skills.
Thorn stood up. "Better put your helm on. Can't have that faced scared."
Mintha laughed. "Think you can get that close? All of you?"
The rest of the other generals appeared beside Thorn. They were in full armor, weapons drawn, and prepared to fight.
One of them was laughing. "Just met her and she already got you on your knees, Thorn?"
Another one licked his lips and grinned at her. "I wouldn't mind being on my knees."
"I'll make note of your preferences." Mintha said.
The battle was five people against one. They didn't hold back and were working together. Mintha admired their teamwork but she had to kick their asses. By the end, she was victories and the only one standing.
"Admit defeat?" she asked them.
Lying on the floor, bruised and bloody, all of them gave their approval.
"Your foot isn't as heavy as your sister's but, damn, it hurts just as much." said one of them.
"If my sister was here, you'd lose a body part for laying a hand on me."