I don't own the Wardstone Chronicles. Or Percy Jackson & the Olympians, for that matter. This said, I hope you enjoy chapter 20!
Hera smirked, revealing her perfect, white teeth. She really was beautiful, like all the goddesses. Lamia could understand why Zeus had wanted her so long ago. And she could also understand he wanted others. He just shouldn't have pressured Hera into marrying him. Or raping her, for that matter.
If Hera hadn't been mean, cruel and merciless, Lamia would have felt sorry for her. It should be horrible to spend your life forever with someone who practically forced you to marry who was your brother. Someone you didn't want to spend eternity with.
And to make matters worse, Zeus cheated all the time. Lamia understood it was hard to keep to one woman when you had all eternity to live and actually enjoy life. But Zeus shouldn't cheat. It wasn't fair to Hera, but also not to the women he cheated with. Lamia could talk from experience.
She couldn't recall one story about him, and she had read a lot about them, in which he didn't cheat and ruined someone's life. And Hera always got her revenge. He didn't exactly help his mistresses and children.
Now she was looking at Hera, at her evil smirk, and recalled once again her time with Zeus, Lamia cursed her stupidity. How could I ever think that it would end well? I knew the stories about him. I knew he was married and to whom. I knew everything and yet, I was so foolish to believe this time, the story would end differently.
Lamia sighed. She should focus on the present instead of the past, but her mind kept going back to the past. A part of her past she had longed to forget since it happened, to be precise. A part she wished would have never happened.
But she could never forget it and she couldn't change the past either. She couldn't forget how she had felt. First, immensely happy and satisfied. And in the end, angry, confused and hurt. She couldn't forget how good it had felt to lay in bed with Zeus, to talk to him. She couldn't forget the feel of his skin against hers.
But the thing that she really couldn't forget, was the pain in her heart and soul when he had abandoned her. Now, centuries later, she was grateful he had. Because , if he hadn't been a total asshole and allowed Hera to kill their children, she might be tempted to welcome him in her bed again. She might even fall in love again. And the last thing Lamia wanted, was the history to be repeated.
And the history would be repeated if she allowed Zeus close to her again, Lamia knew. Which was the exact reason she didn't want to come inside his house. She just didnt feel comfortable with it. Especially not with the she-devil in house. Otherwise known as Hera.
At the same moment she thought this, she saw Hera narrow her eyes. Vlacas. Please say she wasn't reading my thoughts or anything and heard that Lamia thought. If she had, Lamia would be in even more trouble. You couldn't insult the queen of the gods without it having serious consequences.
Athena , who was standing next to her, took a step forward. She didn't look at Lamia, but Lamia heard her in her head. She did peruse your thoughts, but she doesn't have a good reason whatsoever to be angry with you. It is very rude to try such a thing, after all. And don't worry, I won't allow her to hurt you. Thanks.
Athena gave a nod in response and Hera narrowed her eyes further, her nasty smirk replaced with a frown and lips pulled tight. " Lamia. To what do I and my dear husband owe this pleasure?" she asked, her voice laced with venom. Her smile was fake and her eyes showed her real emotions; hate and contempt.
Lamia didn't flinch however. She smiled back, her smile just as fake as Hera's. " Queen Hera. If you do excuse me, my presence here is asked for since there is a problem. I have to speak with king Zeus, your.. husband. It's very urgent".
"Really? How so?".
Lamia was really annoyed, but didn't show it. It would only give Hera a validate reason to attack her. " Well, queen Hera, as far as I can see you aren't king Zeus, are you? I have no intention to insult you, but it is a very sensitive subject we only want to discuss with him".
Hera narrowed her eyes, her smile almost disappearing. If she had been a dog, she would have been growling. She sure looked a bit like one, with that feral, crazy glance in her eyes. She could hear Artemis snicker and Athena was smiling slightly. They obviously found her remark amusing.
" You are just as disrespectful as I remembered you to be". Lamia raised one of her eyebrows.
" And what exactly have i done to be called that?".
Hera smirked. " What do you think of sleeping with someone else's husband, miss not-so-innocent?".
" I think it isn't as horrid and evil as killing innocent children and literally driving someone insane".
" Please, I didn't make you go insane".
" Yes, you did. I know you did. You did the same to Heracles, remember?".
" I do. Another foolsih bastard, just like your children. They deserved their deaths! Those filthy things " Hera hissed, her eyes glowing again. She looked ominous, every inch a god. But she looked also mad, both insane and angry, and insane.
The look in her eyes wasn't anywhere near the feral, life-threatening look in Lamia's eyes however.
She narrowed her eyes, who had turned yellow, and took a step towards Hera. " What did you just say about my children?".
Athena exchanged a nervous look with Artemis and took a step towards Lamia. " Please don't make any rash decisions Lamia, you could better-".
" I said those bastards , those worthless children of yours deserved it. Be glad I didn't do something worse" Hera hissed.
Athena tried to reason with Lamia ( She could try to reason with Hera of course, but Hera wasn't the person whom you could reason with. She was more the person that took everything you loved and laughed when you was miserable), but she was too late.
Lamia ran towards Hera, now in her Lamia form, and pushed the goddess against a wall. Lamia's hands were on Hera's throat, her talons digging in the sesitive skin of the goddess. Ichor was already flowing.
Hera looked enraged, but also satisfied. Enraged, because Lamia had dared to attack her. And satisfied, because Lamia had dared to attack her. Now she could punish her.
She laughed, a small, evil laugh. " Oh you fool! Attacking the queen of the gods, how-". That was as far as she got before Lamia lifted her in the air and threw her against a wall.
Lamia made a growling sound, all reason gone, and immediately jumped on Hera.
The goddess, startled and stunned, didn't even have time to use her powers and was soon rolling over the floor. Lamia burried her talons in the soft flesh of Hera's neck and started hitting Hera's head to the floor.
Hera hit Lamia in her face while making a soft sound of pain. Lamia didn't even react, even though Hera had hit her really hard, and hit even harder.
Hera made a growling sound and grabbed Lamia's hair. She pulled as hard as possible and banged Lamia's head on a nearby table, possibly breaking Lamia's nose.
Lamia, beyond any form of logic, only became angrier. If that was possible. She hit her head backwards, succesfully breaking Hera's nose.
Hera cursed. " You broke my nose!" she said, ichor streaming down her face now. Lamia didn't react, unless baring your teeth and attacking again is a reaction.
Before Hera could rant about how horrible and forbidden it is to break the nose of the queen, Lamia was on top of her, strangling her. Well, attempting to. It isn't really possible to strangle an immortal goddess. Lamia did a great job though.
Hera was making very interesting sounds and turning bluish. She tried to get Lamia of her, but didn't succeed.
Lamia brought her head down, opening her mouth to reveal her fangs, and placed her mouth on her neck to suck the ichor out of her. Hera gasped at the pain when Lamia's fangs were dug into her neck and Lamia started sucking. She fought desperately, but she wasn't a match for the crazy woman. (Never underestimate the power of motherly love people. Mothers can do crazy things to protect their children and in these sort of situations, have a lot more strength than should be possible).
The only reason she wasn't sent to Tartarus that day is because Artemis and Athena had been smart enough to get Zeus. They knew better than to try to reason with Lamia or fight her. So te only way this could possibly end in something else than bloodshred, was getting Zeus.
Before Lamia could drink every drop of ichor in Hera's body and inflict even more pain on the unfortunate goddess, Zeus arrived and pulled her of Hera.
Hera let out a relieved sigh, laying dizzy on the ground. And Lamia hissed and tried to get free so she could finish killing Hera.
Zeus sighed and pulled her against him. " Stop it Lamia. You aren't stupid, don't act stupid and make harsh decisions. Think".
Lamia seemed to register his words, slowly calming down and regaining her normal appearance. Her eyes became their normal color again, her talons once again becoming nails, her snake trunks becoming legs again. The most important change however, was that she could think clear again and she didn't look insane and bloodthristy anymore. Instead of hate, anger and bloodthirst, her eyes showed sadness.
" Zeus. You can let me go" she said in a soft voice. He sighed and threw his arms around her, hugging her. He placed a soft kiss on her ear. " You're sure? You aren't going to try it again?".
" No".
" Good. I don't want to blast you. Yet". Lamia rolled her eyes at his dramatic behaviour, but didn't say anything.
He let her go and walked towards Hera, helping her to get up. She swayed a little, ichor streaming from various wounds. Lamia was wounded too, her nose bleeding and she had various scrathes and little wounds from Hera's sharp nails.
Hera however, had a bleeding and broken nose, bruises in her face, a bulge and her entire neck was blue, due to Lamia's attempts to strangle her.
Zeus examined the injuries and sighed again. " Get some nectar and ambrosia, will you?" he asked Athena.
She nodded. " Yes, father". Artemis stood at her side, looking at Lamia with raised eyebrows.
Lamia blushed, a little ashamed she had behaved like this. She really had lost her self-control. But Hera had gone too far, insulting her precious children. " Sorry" she mumbled.
Hera , very unlady-like, snorted. " You should be sorry, you beast. And I should kill you for this insult. Attacking me , the queen of the Olympians. How dare you!".
" I didn't say sorry to you!" Lamia snapped. " I said sorry to Artemis and Athena, for behaving like this and humiliating them. You deserved it! You murderer!".
" You should know! You have killed thousands of people, monster! ".
" Well, you killed innocent people while you should have punished the guilty one. You made people, including me, insane and used them for your own good and let them murder others. You tortured people!".
" You are truly a beast, a vicious, bloodthirsty animal and use humans to feed and for nothing else. You have no shame. You are a useless slut!".
" You married your own brother and had sex with him! Sluttish, venceful, cruel incest commiting bitch!" Lamia yelled.
Hera froze. " What did you just say"? she whispered, her voice taking on a dangerous tone.
Artemis and Athena grunted. " Oh no. Now she has done it" Artemis said. Athena nodded. " Hera, please ausculate to me. Lamia isn't thinking straight, she is following her emotions rather than her common sense, please-".
" Shut up Athena! You are a bastard too! Too bad your idiotic father ate your mother, otherwise I could have punished her for being a slut"! she hissed. And by sayin this, made the worst mistake of her life. No one insulted Athena and her mother. Not if you valued life, that is.
Zeus swallowed nervously when the look in Athena's eyes changed. Her calculating, but also worried look, was replaced with an angry- no infuriated- look. " Eh Hera? It would be better if-".
Hera turned towards him. " Shut up! I hate you! You raped me and forced me to marry you and spend the rest of our eternity together having sex with every pretty moron you see! You are disgusting!".
Zeus frowned. " Stop that Hera! And you are the one always complaining and annoying me!".
" Because you always cheat! I'm the goddamn goddess of marriage and my marriage sucks. Just like you!".
" STOP THIS INSTANT!" Zeus bellowed, lighting immediately starting.
" NO! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF IT! YOU ARE ALWAYS CHEATING AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. SO YOU STOP!".
" HERA!".
" WHAT!".
" DON'T BE DISRESPECTFUL, WIFE!".
" WELL, DON'T BE A CHEATING, LIFE RUINING MORON, BROTHER!".
Zeus stopped shouting, his mouth hanging open. He looked rather stupid really. " What did you just call me?".
" You heard me! Brother!".
" DON'T CALL ME THAT!".
" STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!".
" OR WHAT?"!
" OR.. OR i WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE!".
" YOU ALREADY DO!".
While Hera and Zeus were busy exchanging insults, Lamia walked towards Athena and Artemis. They both were watching the scene with interest, smiling whenever a really good insult was made.
" Shouldn't we stop them?" Lamia asked. Athena shrugged. " It would be the wise thing to do, yes. On the other hand, we probably won;t be able to stop them and would end up injured. And she insulted my mother. I hope he is going to use his lighting bolt on her".
Artemis smiled. " That would be great to watch".
" So that's it? We won't do anything? We will just let them destroy everything?".
Artemis shrugged. " No. We will let them destroy each other".
Lamia looked at the two bickering gods. The man that had broken her heart and the woman that had killed her innocent children. She shrugged. " I'm fine with that". And continued to watch as the queen and king of Olympus threw insults and weapons at each other.