Beautiful Death

There's only one thing I want, one thing I need. It's something I can't find here on this damned hunk of rock. I can only find it at home on Thrace.

What I need is a mate. A woman. Someone who can be my anchor.

Why would a powerful drakon like me need some delicate little female? It's very, very simple. When a Thracian reaches full maturity, the clock starts ticking. Each time I transform to my beast, there's a risk I won't be able to come back.

Don't get me wrong. I love being a drakon. I love flying, fighting, tearing shit up. I love keeping Hades' peace. I could even love this planet. All I need is her. The one who can bring me back. Who can tame my drakon. Who can fly with me. Who can love me despite the blood on my hands.

Hades doesn't know the risk. I owe him, you see. He saved my life while my father held him as hostage on Thrace. Back to back, surrounded by enemies, we learned by accident what we could do together. It required just one little thing. Blood. My blood, to be precise.

Now Hades has a bond with me. He hears my thoughts, uses me, even feeds on me. And for the most part, I never really minded. He's a decent enough skyr. Together, we ended the endless war between Thrace and Macedon. He's arrogant, but they all are. Besides, younger sons don't get much real duty and honor on Thrace. Hades is damned powerful with his own Megaskyr pissed at him. He needed me, and I liked feeling useful.

Until we came here to Earth. I lost my middle brother and his mate here. It's my fault they were assigned to Erebus, so I claim full responsibility for their deaths. Now we're exiled here with these pitiful humans. Weak, spineless, sniveling little creatures with no understanding of real power.

Worse, the virus wrecked my control. Each time I transform, it's a gamble. Will I come back, or will I fly the night skys forever? Not to mention the hunger inside me. Hades bitches about his dependency on blood, but he has no idea what it's like to crave bleeding, kicking, screaming meat. He takes a little nibble and goes on his way. Me, I tear the fucker apart.

I guess that's still not enough to excuse my betrayal. He'll never understand why I took the Megaskyr up on her offer. When my brother died, when our hungers changed, and we were chained to this planet with no hope of ever going home, I accepted Cleopatra's power. She has a trapdoor inside my head, and she knows everything I know. Everything Hades tells me. Everything I see and think and know, she possesses.

My price? A mate. Cleopatra promised me a Gate home so I could find my woman, my anchor. Someone who can embrace my drakon, tolerate my need for flesh, and pull me back from the madness and murder the virus condemns me to. I tell myself every night when I open my eyes, and every day when I lay down alone that she's out there. Waiting for me. A mate for my beast.

Deep down, though, I know the truth.

Ain't no way anybody's gonna save me. I'm never leaving this planet. It's too late for me. I'm too corrupted by the virus. My own father would shoot me down like a rabid beast, and he'd be perfectly within his right to do so.

Madness crawls inside my head, fed by desperation and all the blood on my hands. It's a monster gnawing at me day after day after day. Trapped. I'm trapped, and I'm losing my mind, and I'm running out of time.

And despite all his power, all his knowledge, the only thing Hades senses is a big black hole in his bond. He has no idea what price I'm willing to pay for even a glimmer of hope.