Bella held out her hand. "I passed Go. Hand over the dough!"

Demeter rolled her eyes, which she'd shifted back into their original solid green (there was no differential between the pupils, irises, and sclera) after their closest human neighbors, the elderly Domenici couple, had left over an hour ago. She'd also darkened her skin to its dusky yellow color, and the faint rustling of wheat in a breeze had filled the room for the past half hour—ever since Demeter had started losing at Monopoly.

"Are you going to rhyme all night?

Bella bounced in her chair. "I just might. Would that give you a fright?"

Demeter tossed two hundred-dollar notes at her charge. "It'll drive me up the wall."

Bella added her money to the stack next to her elbow. All her different dollar amounts were mixed together. Bella didn't like the sight of it, but she did it because Demeter disliked it even more, and as the game wore on, her guardian would focus more and more on the unsightly mess instead of her next move. Without fail, since they'd started playing Monopoly fifty years ago, Bella always won whenever she triggered Demeter's OCD tendencies.

"You know you look forward to it every Friday night."

Demeter rolled the dice and dropped them onto the board. "I dread it more than my time in the Underworld."

Bella chuckled at her guardian's exaggeration. Every ten years or so, Demeter would visit Hades to check up on him and reminisce about Persephone. When she returned, she had nothing but ill words for the Underworld, though her complaints never included her brother.

For the next few minutes, the pair settled back into their game. Bella acquired three more properties, and Demeter cursed when she missed B. & O. Railroad and Short Line. Bella teased her for her single-minded determination to own all the railroads, but every game Bella always saved them for her guardian. Demeter swatted her arm, then shook the empty pretzel bowl that sat between them.

Bella shoved her chair back. "You said you'd get them next time."

Demeter smirked. "That was until you tortured me."

Bella grabbed the bowl and stood. "Hey, Iris and Poppy find me wonderful."

"They've watched grass grow. For two years straight. I don't advise judging yourself based on their tastes."

Bella pretended to mutter under her breath as she left the living room and went to the tiny, box-shaped kitchen. She narrowly avoided bumping her hip into the stove as she opened the junk food drawer, rooted around for the half-full pretzel bag, and deposited the rest into the bowl. Bella tossed the bag and hurried back to the living room. Demeter wasn't above swiping one of Bella's properties when she wasn't looking.

As Bella entered the room, she caught Demeter mid-shuffling through her cards. "Hey!"

Demeter dropped the cards and reached for the pretzels. "I was just making sure I gave you all the ones you bought."

Bella handed over the pretzels and plopped into her chair. "I'm sure."

Demeter crammed a handful of pretzels into her mouth and gestured toward the game. "Your turn."

Bella cupped the dice. Just before she tossed them, their front door burst open. Knotweed, a tall, reed-thin male water nymph who'd been a good friend of Bella's and Demeter's the past three years they'd lived in Terni, Italy, burst into their home. He'd been the first nymph to talk to them and had even convinced the others to give the Olympian and godling a chance at friendship.

Knotweed grabbed his chest, and his skin, which was usually as dark as the bottom of the ocean, had paled to a dreadful glacier white color. A wild light danced in his powder blue eyes. "You...h-have..."

Demeter leaped from her chair and hurried to Knotweed. She touched his arm. "Breathe."

Knotweed shook his head. "We don't...have...time." He gulped. "Vampires."

Demeter stiffened, but a deep calm replaced her previous concerned expression. She gestured to Bella. "The supplies. Now."

Bella moved before her guardian finished speaking. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she adopted Demeter's cool demeanor. They'd done this hundred of times before with even less of a warning, and they'd never once succumbed to the vampires. It would be the same now.

But, like always, anger and sadness engrossed Bella as she gathered the two prepared bags that contained a set of clothes, their magicked passports and other essential documents that Demeter had traded salve secrets to obtain, and twenty-thousand dollars apiece. She never meant to, but she couldn't help but grow attached to the human places where they hid. Bella didn't go as far as to consider anywhere home, yet she wished each town or city could be.

For what little good it did, Bella cursed Aro and his vampires for their relentless pursuit of her and Demeter. Yet, she didn't have as much contempt for them as she did Zeus. The vampires were only doing what they'd been created to do: hunt and destroy all gods. Zeus had no excuse for his cruel treatment of his sister and the child she'd refused to allow the God King to harm.

Demeter had rationalized her banishment by claiming Zeus had only been acting in all the gods' best interest, but Bella didn't agree. From the countless stories she'd heard and read about (Demeter used to chastise Bella for her love of the humans' Greek myths, yet Bella had assumed that was because they contained more truth than lies), Zeus thought of himself first. If he happened to help anyone else in the process, that was just a fluke.

Bella gave Demeter one of the bags while she shouldered the second.

Knotweed turned on his heel. "Come. We have a way out for you, but we must hurry.

He fled the house.

Demeter dashed after him. Bella took one last look at the house she'd dreamt she'd stay in until her hundred-and-forty-fourth birthday in September; when she'd finally become a full-fledged goddess and Demeter would no longer be in danger because of her. She sighed, wiped at the tears that had gathered in the corner of her eyes, and followed the nymph and Olympian into the dark, moonlit night.

The trio ran over the hilly terrain toward the Nera River, where Knotweed swore several of his brothers were waiting with a raft that would take Bella and Demeter out of the Umbria region. Bella didn't like the idea of traveling by water, but she could see sense in it. Millennia ago, a group of vampires had stalked and murdered over a dozen Oceanids. As punishment, Oceanus had denied all vampires the ability to cross moving water.

"They'll still follow us," Bella huffed.

Knotweed glanced back at her. "We'll make sure they won't."

Bella couldn't see what the nymphs could do, but this wasn't the time to argue.

Their progress was slower than Bella liked, yet she knew why they didn't rush too fast—her. Usually, Bella could control it, but at moments like this, if she lost her focus, she'd trip every few steps. Often, Demeter joked that Bella would turn out to be the Goddess of Clumsiness. Bella never agreed, but, secretly, she worried her guardian might be right.

Without too many stumbling instances, the trio reached the river. A lone, broad-shouldered figure stood in front of them, and Bella couldn't spot a raft. Would Knotweed's brothers be dense enough to forget to put the raft on the river? Were they off getting it while the one waited for the trio? Would he alert the others now that Bella and Demeter were here?

In a flash, Knotweed doubled back; headed for Bella. As he passed Demeter, he elbowed her in the stomach. Demeter grabbed for him, but he dodged her hands and reached Bella.

Bella's heart leaped into her throat. She couldn't believe it. No, no the nymphs would never betray Demeter. She was one of the handful of gods they could stand. She treated them like they were her own and helped their dwindling clans whenever she could.

Yet even in Bella's disbelief, she jumped to action. She tucked and rolled to her left, just as Knotweed got to her. She recovered quickly and raced for Demeter.

The lone figure chose that moment to move. At blinding speed, he approached the Olympian and godling. Demeter shoved Bella behind her and swung her fists at the vampire. They connected with the monster's face. She busted his nose and split his lip, but he only laughed and stepped closer to Demeter.

Knotweed's arms slid around Bella's waist then and pulled her close. Without warning, she headbutted him while kicking him in the skin. The nymph cried out and released her.

Bella used her brief freedom to search for a perfect-sized rock. Behind her, she heard the grunts and moans of the Olympian's and vampire's battle. Bella's mind wanted to scatter, but she forced its attention to stay on her task, and the next moment she found the rock.

Knotweed had yet to recover from the blows Bella had dealt him, and Bella had little trouble smashing the rock into his skull. He uttered a pathetic cry and dropped like a sack of rice. On impact, his head bounced off the ground, and she knew he wouldn't be moving for a couple of hours.

If luck smiled on her, Knotweed had sustained fatal injuries.

Bella turned to aid Demeter and saw her guardian locked in a headlock. The vampire repeatedly pounded his fist into her bruised, ichor-covered face. She struggled, but Bella could tell her strength had waned. In a few minutes, if that, the Olympian would succumb.

Though there was little Bella could do, she had to help.

"Don't!" Demeter cried when she noticed Bella approaching.

A golden glow Bella had never seen before started to emit from Demeter. Despite her fear for her guardian's safety, she paused. Was the vampire doing this? Did he have an ability like more and more of the vampires seemed to be cropping up with?

The glow didn't appear to hurt Demeter, and, instead, her health looked to be improving the brighter it got. With ease, the Olympian shrugged off the vampire. The light now poured out of her every one of her pours, and she made Bella's eyes water the longer she gazed at her guardian. The vampire's red eyes bulged, and his white skin paled to almost-translucent.

All at once, Bella realized what Demeter was doing. Because she'd chosen to raise Bella and stay on Earth, the Olympian only had so much power at her disposal. She mostly used it to blend in with humans, so hadn't tapped into much of it over the near-century-and-a-half. Yet, now she was using it all in one go.

"No!" Bella cried and grabbed for Demeter, but the glow kept her from touching the Olympian.

Demeter ignored Bella and pointed her hands at the vampire. The glow radiated from her fingers and engulfed the vampire as he tried to flee. It forced its way into the vampire's eye-sockets, mouth, nostrils, and ears. A meek scream escaped him, then he went limp.

The glow snuffed out in both Demeter and the vampire. As the vampire crashed to the ground, so did Demeter.


A/N: The warm response to this story has been awesome. Thank you guys so much. Your continued support is my life's blood.

I hope you guys liked this. I'm going to go gorge myself on pumpkin spice ice cream and plan out more of the story. Have a great week!