Summoning Bones
44. Death in the Mansion

Melinoe stepped into the house and flicked her wrist, making the door snap shut.

“Miss Menour, I said close the door quietly. I need my sleep, I told you!” Lord Eldridge yelled from deep within the house. Melinoe smirked at his foolishness.

She crept into the mansion and up the stairs.

“Marge! Who’s there?” After no one responded, Melinoe heard a curse. “Marge!” Another curse.

Melinoe moved up the stairs to the Lord’s office. She walked to around the desk, brushing several papers to the floor. She then sank into the supple, leather chair, waiting for the Lord to enter.

He eventually opened the door and glanced over his office, his eyes settling on Melinoe where they sharpened.

“What are you?” He sneered. Melinoe let the insult slide as she sat up slightly, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the desk.

“I am a goddess.”

Lord Eldridge laughed. “And I am a god, freak. Security,” he called. When no sound of running footsteps reached them, he scowled. “Security!” Still no one came.

“You’re alone here. Take care, you mocked a goddess.”

Lord Eldridge’s face paled, but quickly returned to its normal shade.

“Leave freak, and if no security will deal with you, I’ll throw you out myself,” he snarled. Melinoe sat up and circled to the front of the desk.

“I won’t leave until you’re dead.”

“You can’t kill me.”

Melinoe smirked, flicking her wrist, sending a series of sparks snapping over Lord Eldridge’s skin. He yelped and sank to his knees. The sparks faded into a burn that sank into his bloodstream, cycling like fire under his skin. He screamed in agony.

“I am a goddess, and you, like the greedy, human filth you are, tries to use me for profit. For that act alone you will pay, admit your sins, and I will lessen your punishment,” Melinoe said, offering him a lifeline that would drag him under, although he didn’t know that.

“My daughter,” he gasped. “I...pushed her off a cliff.”

Melinoe felt the truth sink into her, and she felt the wet silver drip from her palms. It flowed on the floor, then rose to wrap around Lord Eldridge’s arms, pinning them to his side in silvery ropes. It dug against his skin, burning his flesh.

“Why?” Melinoe snarled.

“To find the Summoner,” he said through clenched teeth.

“To enslave her?” Lord Eldridge stiffly nodded, sending jolts of pain down his spine. “What else?”

“My wife, I-” he gasped as the ropes tightened around his torso, putting pressure on his ribs. “I killed her.”

His breathing grew labored while Melinoe’s hands began to glow.

“Daddy?” A small boy stood in the doorway, hugging a worn, stuffed bear to his chest. Lord Eldridge stared over his shoulder at his son. The last member of his family, standing as a frightened little boy. That’s all he was, a poor little boy too small and young to understand the cruelty of the world. His eyes were wide as he stared back at his father, kneeling on the ground, wrapped in silver ropes that burned his flesh and blood flowing from his nose.

“Go back to bed Noah, this doesn’t concern you,” Lord Eldridge said through teeth clenched from the pain.

“But Daddy, who is this?” He stepped forward into the room.

“Stay back!” He shouted. Noah yelped and quickly moved back. “Go to bed, I’ll be right there.”

“No, you won’t,” Melinoe said quietly. Lord Eldridge’s gaze snapped back to her.

“You lied?”

“Scum like you don’t deserve life. Your torture will continue through your afterlife. I personally will oversee you punishment in the Underworld,” Melinoe said with a cruel smile. She looked over the Lord at the boy. “Run.”

He jumped and turned, sprinting away from his father’s office. Melinoe’s gaze dragged back to her prey, tied and at her mercy. But she held none.

“You will die tonight,” she said, stepping towards him. Her predatory glower making him tremble.

The sun had risen to light the day. Distant sounds of the waking village reached the mansions.

Melinoe reached the Lord, placing her hand on his shoulder. His pain lurched from him, tearing away from his veins and skin. He felt bliss floating through his body. Then a searing pain in his head. He grunted as the pains doubled. It felt as if a knife was stabbing his mind, turning it to severed chunks.

Pressure built behind his eyes, making bloody tears drip down his face. They gathered at his lips, pooling in his mouth.

He felt a lurch behind his temple as his soul split from his body. It disconnected at every nerve, making his very being feel on fire. He heard loud sizzling as his brain boiled. He screamed once, a hollow sound, and fell to the ground, blood pooling around his head.

Melinoe’s hands faded to a dull glimmer as she stepped over his body. She walked downstairs and left the mansion. Closing and locking the door behind her, she rested her forehead against the cool wood.

The distant screams of the boy finding his father reached her ears. She flinched at the sound.

She walked down, through the town and back into Asphodel Trinkets.

“Why are covered in blood?” Zagreus asked, wiping down his kitchen table. She looked down at her grey cloak to see the color stained crimson.

“Lord Eldridge is under Hades’ rule,” she said.

“And you?”

“Aren’t so easily put under his influence,” she replied smoothly.

“What’s your plan?” Zagreus said, tossing the rag into the sink. He leaned against the table and stared at his sister. If she were to survive their father’s influence, she needed a clear plan.

“Follow his orders, unravel his system, and slowly gain control over his work. His madness has begun with Mother’s departure. I will simply, speed up his decent, gaining more control. Then shut the operation down.”

“After that?”

“Take his throne. It will be my kingdom. Father had given me enough pain, taking the one thing I loved most in this world. I’ll take his,” she snarled. Zagreus grinned.

“And I support you.”

“What will you do?”

“Find Makaria, Mother, continue with what fun humanity has to offer.” He shrugged.

“I have a favor,” Melinoe began. Zagreus rolled his eyes but a smile tugged at his lips.

“Of course, let’s hear it.”

“Find the bloodthirsty, send them after Father. Enough despise him that it will weaken what little resources he has. Anyone else, I’ll convince to forget their godly origins and retrain them weaker than before.”

“Clever.”

“As always,” Melinoe said.

“Father is waiting,” he reminded her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Until a new age,” she said, opening her eyes.

“A new age,” he replied.

She opened her palms and let mist pour from them, washing over her. The cold feeling overtook her, clouding her view. When the cold mist faded, she stood in the father’s office.

“Welcome home Melinoe,” Hades boomed, opening his arms wide as he sat behind his desk.

“Thank you.”

“Did the mortals pay?”

Melinoe nodded. “I want to meet them at the gates and give them their punishment myself.”

Hades laughed.

“Of course, it’s time you accept your darkness. They are a first step, but you have much to learn. Your mother spoiled your lights, we must change that.”

She nodded and went to leave his office. With her hand on the knob, he called out.

“Melinoe, I’m sorry. Truly, losing your love is difficulty, but give them hell.”

She smiled at him.

“Of course, Father.”

He gave her a wicked grin and leaned back in his chair, the world was at his fingertips.

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