Gods Among us

Trigger warning: This chapter contains discussion on sex trafficking and abuse. Viewer Discretion is advised.

Morning rolled around, as the sun cascaded in through the window, it illuminated Kore sleeping soundly in Aidoneus 's arms. As she snored softly into his chest, he ran his hands through her hair, gently untangling pieces as he looked out the window. He kissed the top of her head as he moved, ever so slowly as to not wake her. He gently placed her head down on the pillow as she groaned and rolled over.

He climbed out of the bed, placing his feet on the cool floor. He didn't want to leave, but he needed to see the aftermath of what he had done from the night before. He pushed himself off the bed and silently exited the room.

He made his way to his room, entered and sat at his desk. He opened up his laptop and then proceeded to click open the internet browser. The front page immediately had a red banner drifting across the screen, saying "Breaking News! Gods among us?!" He clicked on the link.

He was redirected over to the news channel's website, where there was a lengthy article. It read:

"Are gods among us? Last night our station received several documents, outing the largest families in the city. From sex trafficking from the Hyperion family to spying on all of Atlas by the Doukas family, we have it all! Below are the documents, viewer discretion is advised! There are pictures from the Doll House killer's crime scenes." He scrolled down and viewed the files he sent. The first read

"Hyperion Family Members:

1. Atticus Hyperion- Sex trafficker, owns a portion of the police, extorts the medical field, Tax evasion. Murder.

2. Konstantin Hyperion- Drug dealer, Tax evasion. Murder.

3. Sophie Hyperion- 3,000,000 in debt to Hippio Doukas, Tax evasion

4. Vasileios Hyperion- Runs the red-light district. Tax evasion, murder, owes Zen 1,000,000

Adamos Family Members:

1. Nikolas Adamos- Owes Hyperion family 3,000,000 and Doukas family 500,000, owns a portion of the police, extorts the medical field, Tax evasion. Murder.

2. Maria Adamos- provides male escorts for the red-light district via sec trafficking, tax evasion.

3. Daphne Adamos- Illegal drugs sold to majority of the youth in the middle district. Tax evasion.

4. Dimitra Adamos- Illegal selling and owning of exotic animals. Tax evasion.

Adino Family Members:

1. Ambrosia Adino- Owns a portion of the police. Tax evasion.

2. Theadore Adino- Bribed the Doukas, Hyperion, and Adamos families to rig the electoral vote for mayor of the city. Tax evasion, owes Doukas 2,000,000, murder

3. Penelope Adino- Runs a drug ring in the lower district. Bribed Aidoneus Doukas to stay away from her territory, Zen Doukas to push drugs up in the upper district and Hippio Doukas for sexual favors. Tax evasion.

Doukas Family Members:

1. Zen Doukas: Syphons information breaks privacy laws with Technoligia, a spyware that is used across the city to show the Doukas everyone's location, skims money off every business throughout the city to fund a device that does not null abilities. The device locates anyone with a slight ability radar and Zen eliminates them or siphons their power. Extorts the red-light district, deals high-end drugs, bribes officials, rigs electoral votes for the Adino's family, murder, tax evasion has electrical based abilities.

2. Hera Doukas: Tax evasion has emotional based abilities.

3. Hippio Doukas: Bestiality, red-light district extortion, drug dealer for mid-upper town district, rigs electoral votes, illegally raises the prices for occupants residing in mid-upper district, black mails officials and law makers, murder, has water-based abilities.

4. Hestia Doukas: Has fire based abilities.

5. Aidoneus Doukas: Was bribed to stay out of certain families' territories, handled all debt collections for Doukas, Hyperion, Adino and Adamos families. Murder. Has heat manipulation-based abilities.

There were pictures of everything they did as proof next to their names of the crimes they've committed. He leaned back in his chair as he folded his arms. If he was going to be painted a monster, he was going to take everyone down with him.

"Gamó̱ AIDONEUS ! Zen Roared as he threw a table across the room. It shattered as it hit the wall, Hera sat silently next to him as Hestia was finishing reading the document. Hippio entered the room, eyes glowing blue, enraged.

"Your house is surrounded by reporters o aderfós mou*" He gritted his teeth as he headed towards Zen.

*My brother*

"Father was right to beat him, since he's been gone, he's been nothing but trouble." Hippo spewed.

"Hippio!" Hestia shot a glare at him.

"NO!" He roared "HE MURDERED OUR MOTHER! HE DESERVED EVERYTHING THAT CAME TO HIM!" his voice echoed throughout the hall.

"Oh, so I deserved it too? Because what? I look too much like her?" Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled how her father would beat her because she resembled the love he had lost.

Everyone blamed Aidoneus for their mother's demise. She died during childbirth with him, she had a difficult pregnancy, always sick which in the end made Aidoneus weak when he was born.

"Enough, we need to do damage control" Hera chimed in. Zen slammed his hand on the table.

"I know what needs to be done, WOMAN!" he stared daggers into her. He absolutely despised Hera. He only stayed with her to keep up the illusion to the public. He scoffed, pushed off the table and headed to the entrance. He was going to make these people leave, his eyes glowed yellow as he headed to the entrance, he didn't need to hide anymore.

Aidoneus stood from his desk, shutting his laptop with a sigh. He knew he was going to be a target now. He moved away from the desk and headed to his closet. He flipped through his shirts to access the back; he pulled small box out from the shelves. He looked at it, turning it over in his hands. He opened it and removed a small tag. It was a tracker that he had set up for only him to be able to use, he knew that if he worked with anything from Technoligia he'd be traced. It was one of the reasons why he worked so closely with Phillip. Phillip runs a specific line that is out of Zen's reach, that only Aidonenous knows about. 'I have to thank that man properly' he thought to himself.

He flipped the small tag between his fingers before he placed it back in the box. He stuffed it in his pocket, closed the closet and exited the room. Peter was standing out front, along with Adrian.

"O aderfós mou ou, you completed the protocols, correct? Aidoneus asked the two men.

"Yes, after you sent the email, we started up the IP blockers, we have round the clock guards taking turns doing perimeter patrols" Peter took a breath "We don't expect anyone to be able to arrive from behind us due to our location".

"Yes, the seaside cliff should prove enough of an obstacle course for anyone who attempts to climb it. If they do manage to, we have guards posted up on the wall," Adrian finished. Aidoneus walked up to the two men, placing his hands on their shoulders. "Thank you" he said giving them a warm smile.

He made his way back to Kore's room, where she was still sleeping. He silently walked up to the bed, pulled the sheets back and climbed in with her. He placed his arm around her waist as he snuggled up to her, resting his chin gently on top of her head.

"Welcome back" she whispered with a little giggle behind it. He chuckled and pulled her closer to him as she nuzzled her head into the crook of his arm.

"Agápi̱ mou, we should get up and get some breakfast" he said as he heard her stomach rumble. Kore blushed at the embarrassing sound.

"Sorry" she sheepishly said. He let her go as she moved her way to the edge of the bed. She let her legs dangle for a bit before she got up and headed to the bathroom. She turned to Aidoneus .

"Why don't you head to the kitchen, I'll meet you there?" She raised an eyebrow at him as she entered the bathroom. He pouted, nodded in agreement and got up to leave. She giggled and closed the bathroom door.

Kore entered the kitchen not too long after Aidoneus left, she took a seat next to Peter who was reading the paper while Adrian and Aidoneus stood over the stove top arguing if the eggs needed more seasonings. She glanced over, noticing the burns around Peter's arms.

"I have an Aloe Vera plant at home that'll help clear that help" she said as she playfully swung her legs back and forth. Peter nodded in approval. "Next time we go I'll grab some up for you" she nudged into him gently. He laughed.

Kore noticed the newspaper headline and snatched it from Peter's hand. It was the printed-out version of the news channel's article. Aidoneus turned and saw her reading it. She looked up at him.

"That explains a lot" she said as she folded the paper in front of her.

"I was going to tell you everything during breakfast agápi̱ mou" he set a plate of eggs in front of her. She smiled and thanked him. He sat next to her as she took a bite of food.

"Agápi̱ mou, I want you to keep this on you at all times, especially if you leave the house" he reached in his pocket and took out the small tracker. She took it in her hand and examined it, looking at him with a puzzled look.

"Zen controls all information that runs through the internet, that includes your phone," he explained as she took another bite of food. He continued "He knows where you're at all times, I've set up special protocols to make sure he doesn't know you're here. He found you at your apartment because of Mrs. Roe's phone." "You need to be careful agápi̱ mou, he has eyes everywhere and I only have myself, Peter and Adrian." She placed the tracker in her pocket as he finished his explanation.

"If you wanted to put a ring on me you should have just said so" she teased as she took a bite of food. Aidoneus spat out his coffee, as Adrian dropped his plate on the floor in shock. Peter laughed.

"Agápi̱ mou..." Aidoneus stuttered. She laughed and nudged him playfully

"I'm kidding, the mood needed to be lightened up" she made a hand gesture like she had a knife, and she was cutting the tension. He placed his head into his hands hiding his embarrassment. Peter tapped Kore on the shoulder and gave her a fist bump as they both laughed.

Kore finished up her plate and took it to the sink to clean it. Aidoneus sat there studying her, still reeling from her previous comment. Peter nudged him, and gestured to go stand next to her with a head tilt. Aidoneus sighed, stood up and went over to her with his dishes. She turned and held her hand out.

"I'll do these, it's the least I can do since you cooked" she smiled sweetly at him. Hesitantly he handed her the dishes, she took them, turned around and placed them in the sink. He hugged her from behind, resting his head slightly on the side of hers. She giggled as she poked his nose leaving soap suds on it. He sneezed as she laughed. Peter smiled, glancing over to see Adrian smiling as well, they nodded towards each other, this place finally felt like home.

Bing! A phone went off in a barely lit room. The glow from the notification caught Collin's attention. He was too enthralled in the hair he had managed to pull from Kore. He put her hair back in a small zip-lock baggie and placed it in his pocket as he slid over in his chair, pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and picked up his phone. He unlocked it and read the message from an unknown number:

"New hit, Kore Catarino. The last known address is 2200 W Grand Terrance, Whispering Whistle apartments." He set the phone back down, slid his chair back to where he was and picked up a pair of gloves. He stood up and walked over to a statue-like figure who was bent over holding a round object.

"Looks like our times cut short my love" he grinned evilly as the statue's eyes darted back and forth; a muffled scream emitted from inside of it. He pulled out a box cutter and sliced her open, spilling the contents of her belly on the floor. The eyes froze. He injected the exposed intestines with a syringe full of a strange substance. He turned and picked up a bucket full of a clear liquid and a paint brush. He inhaled the smell of chemicals, smiling.

"Ms. Caterino, you are finally going to be mine" he grinned from ear to ear as he headed to finish his current job.