Untouched

All Rights Reserved

© 2014 Luna Black  

~*~

“Ariel,” Hades knelt before her, taking her cheeks in his palms and rubbed his thumb against the corners of her lips, “don’t say that. Everyone can-”

“-not everyone is cursed like me,” she replied bitterly, looking away from his pleading blue eyes. She took a deep breath and whispered, “It’s a small price for what I’ve done, really.”

He shook his head, gritting his teeth in annoyance, “You haven’t done anything, Ariel.”

Ariel looked down at her hands, biting her bottom lip as tears began to cloud her vision and muttered, “I’ve killed.”

Hades sighed, running his fingers through his hair and said, “Ariel-”

“No,” she pushed him away, but he didn’t move an inch. He tightened his hands around her face, wiping away her tears and she whispered, “I can’t do that. I can’t kill someone else; especially not someone I love.”

“You won’t-”

“You don’t know that,” she snapped, more salty tears sliding down her cheeks, “I can’t do this!” Her speech became slurred as she spoke faster, “I-I can’t! The curse says that it can only be broken by true love, but I will kill that person and I know I can’t kill you; our sexual rendezvous have clearly proved otherwise. But I can’t lose you, Hades. I love you and I can’t kill you.”

The god stepped back, staring at her with wide eyes and dropped his hands to his sides. Ariel continued sobbing and a small smile broke through Hecate’s face. She nodded approvingly, wanting to give them some privacy to sort their feelings, but Hades prevented her from doing so.

“­Y-you what?”

Ariel frowned, sniffling and wiped the back of her hand against her lightly pink nose. “I can’t-”

“No,” he shook his head, inching closer to her so that they were touching once more, “the thing you said after that.”

Her frown deepened and she scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. Hades laughed, taking her jaw in his hands and brushed his lips against hers as he whispered, “The thing about loving me.”

“Oh,” her eyes widened and she felt a heat of embarrassment crawling from her back up to her entire face, “that?” He nodded, biting his lips to keep himself from smiling. “I do,” she mumbled, “I love you; which is why I have to stay as far as I can from you; I don’t want to kill you.”

The light shining in his eyes was bright enough to lighten any blackout in the world. His smile widened, making him feel like his cheeks were going to peel apart and he caressed her face, “You won’t kill me.”

She shut her eyes, desperately trying to believe his words and said, “Hades, I can’t lose you. You don’t understand.” She threw her hands up in the air, feeling frantic for words to express what she felt, “I can’t kill you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of this stupid curse.”

“Ariel,” he grinned, “there’s no way you can kill me.”

“But,” she frowned and he shook his head.

“No, buts.” Hades stood up, to sit next to her and took her hand in his, tracing her knuckles gently as he said, “The curse states that you will kill your lover before you get the chance to fall in love. What the curse didn’t count on was you falling in love with the God of Death.”

He watched her face as she slowly came into realisation and her eyes widened in glee. “So,” he continued, “you cannot kill me. My title, my being is of the dead. You cannot kill what is already dead.”

Ariel scrounged her nose in disgust and whispered, “Wait, you’re dead?”

He laughed, shaking his head and said, “It’s just figuratively speaking. This is my realm, my power, whoI am. If I were to disavow my title as King of the Underworld and god of death, then I could be killed.” Her heart fell to the pit of her stomach in fear, but he smiled reassuringly, “But there is nothing in this world that could make me demit what is rightfully mine.”

“So,” she whispered, looking at him with hopeful green eyes, “we can…?”

Hades nodded his head, pulling her jaw towards him with his index finger and whispered, “I am in love with you, Ariel. I did not think it possible, but the Fates must’ve graced me with you as a gift. It must be their way of apologising for letting me lay eyes on Telephone.”

She giggled, placing her arms around his broad shoulders and said, “Really?”

“I am madly in love with you,” he eyed her lips, wanting to taste them desperately and then up at her eyes, “I would fight an entire army if you merely asked. At the snap of your fingers, aүáпη μου, I would sit like Cerberus does when I command him to.”

Ariel laughed, caressing his cheeks and said, “I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Then, what would you like? Ask for anything,” his grin widened as he inched closer, his minty breath fanning against her lips gently, “anything you want and I’ll get it for you, aүáпη μου.”

Her green eyes became slightly crossed as he moved closer to her and she pressed her lips against his lightly. “I just want you, Hades—I’m not hard to please, just promise me you’ll be mine and I’ll do the same.”

Hades kissed her softly, his lips moving almost seductive against her own as he kissed her passionately. “I do not have to promise you that, aүáпη μου, for I am already yours.”

His fingers entangled in her hair, pulling her closer as he swiped his tongue over her bottom lip, urging for her to open her mouth. He grunted once she pulled him closer and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Hecate widened her eyes, feeling her cheeks heat up uncomfortably and turned around to give them their needed privacy—with or without Hades’ consent. If he needed her, he could go find her for she had nothing to hide.

Just as she was crossing the threshold of his room, a gurgled gasp escaped his lips and the goddess quickly spun to freeze in fear.  

Ariel’s green eyes were bright, almost completely white as she stared up at Hades and held unto him as if he was the only thing keeping her alive. In a way he was. Hecate gulped, not knowing what to do as she watched with horrified eyes as the young woman stole the god’s energy.

Hades groaned, holding himself upright with his arms on either side of her. There was no way to describe the feeling he was enduring; Ariel was literally sucking the vigour from him. She tried to let go of him, to control whatever beast had taken over her, but the hunger that had suddenly taken over her, was being sated.

“Ariel!” Hecate cried out, knowing that if she touched any of them, the succubus within Ariel would take her life and she was too selfish to give that up. “You have to let go of him!”

Tears slid down the sides of her cheeks as she fought with all her might to release her hold on the god’s life-force, but she couldn’t. Her beast was winning. It felt as if though her throat was being cleansed with cooled, heavenly water.

She wanted more of what he was willingly giving her. Her body felt alight, she felt satisfied as she continued sucking more air from his lips. A blue, almost clear, mist was being exchanged between them.

Ariel had her back arched; the sprightly power coursing through her veins was giving her an inexplicable rush. She was becoming addicted and the swine within her didn’t want to release her beloved. It didn’t matter to it that it would cost her Hades’ life. It just wanted to be sated.

Hades smiled down at her, not minding that she was satisfying herself in such a deadly way. Whatever she was doing to him, he was content with it. She had asked him to give himself to her and he had acquiesced. He just didn’t know it would be so literal.

With a disgruntled cry, Ariel threw Hades off her, gasping as she held unto her throat and stared at the goddess with terrified green eyes.

“Ariel,” Hades croaked, breathing in heavily as his body fought to regain his lost energy, “don’t look at me like that.”

She shook her head, holding unto the covers around herself protectively and whispered, “What did I do? Oh my god, Hades…I…”

“No,” he shook his head, gritting his teeth as his muscles complained once he stood up. His head swayed and Hecate quickly helped him stand up. He stepped away from her, his stubbornness making the goddess roll her eyes and he stumbled towards his bed.

Ariel crawled backwards, breathing in rapidly as her back hit the headboard and she sought for a way out. Hades growled, grabbing her ankles and forcefully said, “Ariel, look at me!”

“I-I,” she blubbered, feeling terrified that she almost killed him, “don’t touch me!”

He rolled his eyes, walking towards her and she struggled against his hold. She pleaded with her eyes, begging him to let her go as her mind began to create the most horrible scenarios and even though there were many, they all had one thing in common; Hades’ death.

“Please Hades,” she whispered, choking on her tears as he held her clenched fists, “please, just let me go. I can’t hurt you.” Suddenly, she felt angry, as if a light switch had been flipped inside of her, twisting her emotions all over the place, “Y-you lied to me! You told me that I wouldn’t kill you—so what the fuck was that?!”

He sighed, pulling her in for a hug and held her against his chest tightly. She trembled, wanting to hold him and feel protected but she was also afraid of what had just occurred. “I don’t know. But it’s okay.”

“It’s not!” She hissed through gritted teeth.

Hecate cleared her throat and they both looked at her. “I know what happened.”

Hades raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, tightening his hold on her and pulled her closer whenever she struggled. “What?”

“The curse,” she sighed, “when I created it, Desdemos wanted something lethal and never-ending. The first thing that came to my mind was a succubus, but she thought that if the curse was entwined with sexual desires, Vera wouldn’t remember what she did. Desdemos wanted Vera to feel everything, to watch as she killed her beloved. And if I turned her into a succubus, she wouldn’t be able to remember or experience pain as harsh as she did by killing Edmund with her hands.”

Ariel frowned, finally relaxing against Hades’ touch and whispered, “So I’m a succubus?”

“No,” Hecate smiled at her confusion, “well not really. There is no specific name for what you are. I simply named the curse áthiktos or untouchable. If you would like to call yourself áthiktos, then I guess you could.” 

She shook her head, glancing down at her hands and whispered, “I’m not athi-whatever, I’m Ariel. What I still don’t understand is why that happened.”

Hecate sighed again, looking up at her brother and said, “Well you’re not a succubus, but the curse was completing its cycle. Therefore some of the succubi effects had to be completed. I guess you could call that a finishing touch.”

“Punny,” she muttered bitterly and rolled her eyes.

Hades narrowed his eyes and said, “And you couldn’t warn us about it, Hecate?”

She held her hands up in defence and said, “Hey! I didn’t know that was going to happen! I’m just letting you know what ensued. The upside is that it will never happen again,” she turned to Ariel, “so you don’t have to worry about it, alright?”

Ariel looked up at Hades, standing and hugged him tightly. She placed her face in the crook of his neck and held him as if her life depended on it. “I am sorry, Hades.”

He smiled down at her, kissing the top of her head and said, “You have nothing to apologise for, aүáпη μου. Now please don’t push me away, I swear to you on the River Styx that I will do everything in my power to make you happy. You just need to let me.”

Her lower lip trembled as she fought her tears and she nodded, closing her eyes as Hades kissed her forehead. He lowered his lips, brushing them gently against her skin as he whispered something under his breath and she frowned. “Philo se, Ariel.”

“What?”

He grinned, pressing a soft kiss to her lips and said, “It’s ‘I love you’ in my native language.”

“Stop showing off, brother,” Hecate laughed, “it’s Ancient Greek, Ariel. Hades is the most fluent in languages out of Poseidon and Zeus so he tries to show it off as much as he can. Did you know that Hermes and Hades had a competition during the Olympics to see which god spoke better dialects? Obviously Hermes won since that’s his forte, but Hades was pretty close.”

Ariel grinned, caressing his red cheeks and said, “I didn’t know you and Hermes were rivals.”

He shrugged. “It was decades ago. Believe it or not, I didn’t have much to do with my time since Persephone helped me with my kingly duties. We finished early and she’d want to do her own things; I’d go to the library and just…learn.”

She ignored the sentence with his ex-wife’s name and said, “I didn’t know you liked to learn!”

“Oh,” Hecate laughed, “he has a huge library! You should check it out sometime. Some of the best writers have written things for him during their afterlife.”

She widened her eyes, nodding quickly and said, “That would be so fun! Can we, please?”

Hades laughed, kissing the tip of her nose and said, “Whatever you wish, aүáпη μου.”

“What does that mean?”

“My love.”

Hecate rolled her eyes, unable to wipe the smile off her face at her brother’s happiness and said, “Alright, brother, I’ll bid you farewell. Goodbye, my Queen and happy birthday.”

Ariel blushed waving her thanks and turned to Hades. “Why does everyone keep calling me ‘queen’?!”

He laughed, entwining their fingers together and said, “Come, I’ve something to show you.”

“Hades,” she said in a sing-song voice, “answer my question.”

“You are my queen; therefore they acknowledge you as one. We can talk more about it later, but right now I want to give you something. Sit,” she sat on the bed, crossing her legs as she watched him, “what’s your favourite colour?”

She shrugged, biting her bottom lip as her eyes raked over him. He had slight bags underneath his eyes, but even then he managed to look beautiful. His blue eyes were shining brightly with excitement as he waited for her to answer him.

“I don’t really know. I like a lot of colours.”

He sighed. “Fine, I’ll choose.” He closed his eyes, muttering an enchantment under his breath and she watched with wide eyes as a green mist began to twirl around in his hands.

Ariel frowned, inching closer but stayed on the bed. Hades clenched his fist, hiding the green mist and opened his eyes, a sly smirk growing in his lips. “There is more that I want to give you, but this is the first of many gifts, aүáпη μου.”

He motioned for her to open her hands and she giggled nervously as he placed a green gemstone on her hands. “I chose this shade of green because it’s the exact colour of your eyes and it’s beautiful.”

She grinned, tracing how smooth it was and whispered his name in awe. He sat beside her, smiling at her as she continued tracing the miniature diamond and he said, “I made it extra small because I told Hephaestus to create a necklace with one of his best metals. I wanted to give you it for your birthday, but I didn’t know it was going to be this soon.”

Hades widened his eyes as she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you. I would’ve been fine with just a movie and cuddling all day long.”

He chuckled, shaking his head and said, “You do not know me very well if you think you will not be showered with gifts whenever I can give them to you. I am the god of riches; I can do this for all eternity.”

“Show-off,” she playfully smacked his arm and said, “but thank you, Hades, this is really sweet of you.” He flashed her a boyish grin, making her laugh. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” he nodded.

Ariel continued to play with the gemstone in her hands and said, “Do you have another name?” He frowned in confusion. “It’s just that since we watched Hercules, every time I call you ‘Hades’ I picture you with blue hair.”

He rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath and said, “If he hadn’t brought so much joy to kids worldwide, I’d send him to Tartarus.” She giggled and he smiled at her. “I have many names; I am known as Pluto.”

She stared at him, aghast. “That is a dwarf planet and that’s Goofy’s dog in Mickey Mouse.”

“Mickey Mouse?” he frowned.

“Disney,” she laughed as he rolled his eyes.

Hades muttered, “Of course. What about Aïdōneus? It was very popular back in Ancient Greece.”

“Aidon-what?” She laughed, shaking her head and said, “How about Aidon? It’s short and sexy.”

He nodded, smiling at her and said, “Aidon it is.”

Before she could say anything else, her stomach grumbled loudly, making him laugh. “It’s not funny,” she frowned, stroking her aching stomach.

“I will be back, aүáпη μου. Freshen up and come down to the dining room when you are finished, the gods want to give you presents later on today.”

Ariel nodded, knowing that Eros and Aphrodite would be one of the most unusual gifts. She was excited to get something for her birthday. Ever since she ran away from home, she never received anything—and that’s when she missed her mom the most.

Her mother would always write her a beautiful poem, describing how much she adored her daughter and how proud she was of her. But then she’d remember what a disgrace she was to her family and forced herself to forget.

After four years, she would be content with just e frowneHe  a red rose, but Aidon gifted her with love and a beautiful gemstone. She smiled up at him, kissing him on the lips lightly and whispered, “I love you, King Jelly.”

He smiled, his eyes shining brightly and he caressed her cheeks as he whispered, “Se latrevo.” She frowned, puckering her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest and he kissed them before saying, “It means I adore you.”

With one last kiss, Aidon sent her to get cleaned up. Ariel took a quick shower, unable to stop smiling in the bathroom as she realised that there was a way to be happy with the curse after all.

After she finished, she wore a simple sundress and combed her hair into a tight ponytail. Then she slid on a pair of comfortable flats and made her way to the dining room. As she entered, she swallowed back a gasp and laughed at her idiocy.

She was stupid for even thinking that a god like Aidon could love her. She was a mortal, a weird, cursed mortal—and he had been married once.

He had been married to the woman he was passionately kissing—Persephone. As if noticing her entrance, the lust-filled couple pulled away and Ariel clenched her fists at her sides as she waited for the clichéd “It’s not what it looks like” line.

But she was surprised for the umpteenth time that day.

Aidon smirked, clearly noticing her presence, turned away and continued kissing the redhead in his arms as if the words that he swore to her had meant nothing. Ariel swallowed back her pride and turned on her heels, walking away with her head held up high, but emotionally tearing herself apart.

~*~

Put away your pitchforks people! Clearly our bae has a perfectly good explanation as to why he was sucking that shrew’s lips and smiling at Ariel like it was nothing. If he doesn’t then he has to deal with me. Hehe. Jk. I know the reason :p

But seriously, put your pitchforks away. This isn’t the end. Although, it’s nearing…10 more chapters? Idek.

From now on, I will be referring to Hades as Aidon so don’t get all confused. Now we have to make up a new shipname for them haha.

On the side is that gorgeous song Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson. I was listening to it whilst I wrote :3 and the picture is of Ariel’s tattooed back, except hers starts with a full moon.

Have an amazing day, my lovely untouchables! Luna Black ♥