By Sara King

BETTING SOULS

“Oh, darling, looks like you lost.” Persephone purred, too sweetly, her voice right in Hades‟

ear. The god jerked his head away and glared at her slightly, speaking just loud enough to be heard

over the dings and sounds of the gambling machines and emotional outbursts of the gamblers.

“One must make sacrifices to learn the opponent‟s tells, my dear. Surely you know that by

now.”

The man across the table chuckled, and Hades tilted his head towards the jackal god. The

bright lights of the casino cast shadows on his angular face, making him look almost demonic. Hades

rolled his eyes, leaning forward in his chair and pulling it forward a little against the carpeted floor.

“You do not exactly have the right to laugh, as you‟re betting with souls that aren‟t

yours, Anubis.” He sneered, and the other god laughed again.

“They were given to me to bet with by Osiris himself. He can‟t be seen here, you know.

I‟m surprised you take that risk yourself.” Anubis had a smooth voice, but with sharp edges and a

slight growl to his tone. His jackal ears were flat against his head, betraying his annoyance.

“Besides, the majority of my winnings are yours.”

Deciding to ignore the jab at his pride, Hades smirked. “You must learn to hide your

emotions better, Ani.” Hades said “Your ears give you away.”

Anubis snarled, perfect white teeth filed to points and shiny in the florescent light of the

casino. He motioned to his attendant, who brought him his black fedora from the coat room. He

smashed it onto his head with a huff, hiding his ears under it.

“Your. Move.” He forced out. Hades smirked more, picking up the dice.

“My lovely Persephone, pick a number.”

24

“24.” She answered, reaching and dropping some red gambling chips on the square

marked „24‟.

“Ooh, 1,300 souls? Your wife must be confident.” Anubis quipped, eyeing the chips with a

sort of hunger.

“And I am confident in my wife.” Hades answered, holding up the dice for Persephone to

blow on. She did so with a roll of her eyes, then he threw them to the table, watching with narrowed

eyes.

Snake eyes.

Anubis growled and tossed Hades some chips, equating to over 2,000 souls, and motioned

for him to hand over the dice.

“One more round. Not like there‟s any shortage of damned souls around here, hmm?”

“I believe you‟re right, Ani.” Hades hummed. “But for that, I will need another glass of

wine.”

He motioned to a server, who nodded and went to refill his glass, and then he froze.

Hades sniffed the air, smelling sea salt and sunscreen, and cursed. “Anubis, my friend, it seems we

will have to cut this short. My dear brother is going to crash this party.”

“Not a problem.” Anubis snapped his fingers, and the table disappeared. Both pocketed

the chips they had won and shook hands. “Remember to cash them in before the week is out, or the

deal will be null and void.”

Hades nodded. “Go on now, back to your Underworld. Before Posideon finds you.”

Anubis made a „shoo‟ motion with his hand. Normally, Hades would be offended, but he just

wrapped his arm around Persephone‟s waist and smiled.

StayTry to

Leave

Anubis tossed the hat back to the attendant, and bore his fangs to Hades. “Until next

time.” He said, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Hades shook his head. Amateur mistake.

Gods could sense the magic of other gods, and now Anubis could be tied to the casino and it‟s

illegal soul betting practices.

Fun.

Persephone tugged on the back of Hades‟ suit jacket and gave him her best

demure, imploring look.

“Please, let‟s go, my mother wouldn‟t be happy to find me here.” She said, and Hades

just laughed.

“That helpless look doesn‟t become you, dear.” He said. “And your mother has worse

things to worry about then me „forcing you to come to this place‟.”

Persephone snorted and looked down at the floor. She knew very well that she was the

one who insisted on coming here. She stayed close to Hades as he stood, fixing his tie and

waiting for the inevitable arrival of Posideon.

Hades walked to the exit with

Persephone, looking back only once to see the

remnants of smoke left by Anubis‟ departure, and

shook his head. Easy for other gods to sense him

after that. He could be implicated.

He reached for the handle of the black

metal door and opened it, ushering Persephone

through it with his free hand, and stopped at the

sound of a wave crashing against a rocky shore.

“…Posideon.” He murmured, turning and

bowing to the sea god. “To what do I owe the

pleasure?”

Persephone tugged on the sleeve of his

suit jacket, giving him her best imploring look.

Demeter wouldn‟t be happy to catch her here. Hades

stilled her with a look over his shoulder, and turned

his smirk on Posideon.

“Hades?” Posideon laughed to himself, brushing sand off of his cargo pants. “I should

have guessed you‟d be here, but I would have thought you‟d have the common sense to leave before I

found you?”

Hades shrugged, looking around the casino as if seeing it for the first time. “I‟m only here

to try to catch these disgusting „gods‟ who think it‟s right to gamble with souls.” He said. “Souls are

my jurisdiction in our pantheon, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”

“Then why did you bring your wife?” Posideon asked, incredulous.

Persephone put on her sweetest smile as she answered. “My husband thought it would be

good for me to learn about his job.” She said. “After all, I spend many months of my years in his

world, so I should know about what happens in it, correct?”

Posideon nodded thoughtfully, but then gestured to Hades‟ pockets. “Empty them. I need

to make sure you don‟t have any chips.”

Persephone clutched her purse closer to her as Hades turned his pockets out, smirking as a

piece of lint floated to the floor.

“Better luck next time, brother.” Hades quipped, and Posideon shrugged.

“Ra will be here soon, anyway. Doesn‟t matter. Whoever was here will be found.”

“Ra has deigned to make an appearance?” Hades asked, watching his brother, who

nodded.

“This…epidemic, as he calls it, has been getting out of hand.” the sea god looked

pointedly at Hades, who raised an eyebrow.

“Hypothetically, if I had been gambling souls, I would have been gambling with those

souls who are in purgatory and won‟t be missed.” he muttered, inspecting his fingernails. Persephone

laughed softly and tapped her fingers on her handbag as they waited.

“Well, as fun as this is,” Hades continued. “You can tell Ra that if he needs me, he can

come find me in my domain. If not, I hope you find out who is doing this.” he turned his back to

Poseidon, then threw an amused look over his shoulder. “And, I hope, of course, that he does

not find out that a certain nephew of his was here.”

“Anubis isn‟t going to be happy about that.” Persephone said, taking the chips out

of her handbag and putting them in Hades‟ suit jacket pocket once the pair had exited the

casino. Hades gave her a look to show that he really did not care what the jackal god

thought, and waved a hand, opening a portal.

“Now, dear.” he hummed. “Where do you want to go first? To deposit our new

acquisitions, or to feed Cerberus?”

Feed

Cerberus

Fields of

Punishment

Cerberus thought he could be Persephone‟s lap dog. He must have, with the way he

nuzzled and lucked and barked at her.

She pet each of his three heads as Hades scowled at the large gate Cerberus was tasked

with guarding.

“It‟s not nearly scary enough here.” he mused. “There needs to be more fear instilled

into souls, and Cerberus is…going soft.”

The giant, three headed dog whined, falling to its stomach and contenting itself to

Persephone‟s loving petting. Hades allowed her to stay there for much longer than he would have

liked. The things he did for love. Eventually, though, enough was enough, and he touched his

wife‟s shoulder.

“Time to go.” he said, and she kissed each of Cerberus‟ three noses and then waved his

hands to open a black portal again.

He had his own business to take care of in the Fields of Punishment.

The Fields of Punishment were not necessarily Hades‟ favorite place in his domain.

They were constantly noisy, especially when he walked through them with Persephone. His

Queen was known for being especially merciful, and the damned tended to want to take

advantage of that. He kept an arm possessively around her as they walked, the souls clawing

at his pantcuffs and the bottom of her dress, begging for release from this prison.

He paid them no mind, walking to the balcony of one of the worn down stone

towers and taking the gambling chips from his pocket. He tossed them into the air, watching

as the chips split open and released a torrent of damned souls to add to his collection.

“Greeks.” he scoffed as the souls wailed their dissent and fear as they were sucked

down into the deep pits.

“We did good today.” Hades drawled as he walked out of the portal with

Persephone at his heels.

He looked up at his castle of obsidian and diamond with pride, then at his

wife. “You seem to have very good luck at gambling, my dear.” he said. “Perhaps you will

come with me next time as well?”