Heroes aren't meant to act like their villains -- or fall in love with them. The elements touch everyone on Earth -- Fire, Water, even Light -- but every so often someone becomes more attuned to their elemental leaning and develops true power. When an evil Elemental known as Thanatos arrived in Olympus City, it saw the rise of its first hero -- Zeus. But the death toll caused by defeating Thanatos changed Zeus, who by day is young detective Danny Grant. It's been six months since Thanatos terrorized the city at the start of Lovesick Gods. Danny should be used to his duty behind the mask, but the recent past haunts him. His girlfriend left him, he snaps at the barest provocation, his life feels empty -- he needs an outlet, any outlet to pull him out of his depression. Enter notorious thief Malcolm Cho, the Ice Elemental Prometheus. There was a time when Danny welcomed a fight with Cho, filled with colorful banter and casual flirtations that were a relief compared to Thanatos. Even as a criminal, Cho had recognized the threat Thanatos posed and promised to help Danny stop him, but the day Danny needed Cho, he never showed. Cho was the reason so many people died that day -- including Danny's mother. Danny decides to teach the man a lesson and fan the fire of their attraction into something more. At worst, he'll get some no-strings-attached sex out of the deal and finally blow off steam; at best, he'll get Cho to fall in love with him and then break his heart to spite him. Danny doesn't expect to fall for Cho in the process, and he certainly can't predict the much darker threat on the horizon.

Lovesick Gods

That night, the police were called to his home about a domestic disturbance. They didn’t know they were closing in on Icebox until they arrived. Given the bruises found on Lucy, it was surmised that he’d been beating his children when young Malcolm Awakened. 


Ice had exploded out of him and covered most of the house by the time the police closed in. Cho had protected his sister, but his father, even mostly immune to cold, wasn’t as strong as his newly Awakened son and had fallen unconscious. Elementals triggered by trauma were always more potent in their abilities than those Awakened naturally. Cho might have had a natural Awakening eventually, but that night pushed him to the brink. He could have been a real threat to the police, but he didn’t put up a fight when they came in; he only wanted them to take care of his sister. 


Chapter 48