Chapter 1
*The Year Of 1929*
The depression brought out the worst in people, after the wall street crash people’s lives began to fall apart,and an overwhelming number people lost their lives savings, a lot of people could no longer support themselves let alone their family. Nobody, poor, had much to live with, and while the higher-ups were enjoying the opening of the Museum of Modern Art that opened in New York the poor were drowning in debt.
They say money brought out the worst in people, but that was when there was a lot of it involved, but what would happen when there was a lack of money. Simple, people get worse, desperate times calls for desperate measures as they all say, and Miss. Carol Lee Phillips had just bout enough of the way she was living, working a deadbeat job dancing on a stage. Draped in pearls head to toe, fake of course, her dress barely covering her knees, but that’s what the men like. Too much skin shown and a girl laced in pearls, at least that’s what they thought. Dancing on stage with all the other girls was a relief and the only time Miss. Philips felt nervous was her solo where all the men would be looking at the small slender legs that were far too pale for her taste.
After every show the same thing happened the same old men, old money, in a literal sense came and acknowledged her dance well done and maybe slip a tip in the belt of pearls woven around her or go straight for the jackpot. Creeps that’s what everyone knew them as, those wealthy men who had a pretty lady waiting for them at home but come to a joint like this to have a little extra “fun” with the money that they inherited from their daddy only to spend it on the dancing women who worked at the local pub, they seem to think that they’re still in their early twenties but they were in fact smashing right through the fifties.
They should be thankful the men came to the joint to watch them, that’s how they make their money, by using the dirty old men as prey not the other way around. The little pub wasn’t exactly just for men; women often came to find a suiting husband or have a drink after a hard day’s work. Putting on a fancy like dress, that would go past their knees, draping themselves in perfume that seemed expensive but was a knock off from Bernie’s, along with the pearls he sells way back in the store. She should know , Carol Lee has done this many times. Use honey to attract the flies, and some say her dancing was just as sweet, and her voice wasn’t that bad either. What started off as a singing performance tuned into a show of girls dancing and shaking their beaded skirts. They had to do what they could do, otherwise the pub would be long gone and under new management who might turn it into a lounge, a men’s lounge, and that would mean so many people would lose their job.
Walking home to her father to give him her nights pay was always sad, she worked hard for her money and what did he do waste it. She might have lived under his roof but that didn’t mean to piggyback off her earnings, one day she’d find a man who would love her and take her away from this pitiful existence, that was her dream anyway. Her father had other plans though, find a rich man draw him in take his money and then kill him.
And it turns out his plan was already being executed, a man at the pub had seen her show and was now trying to catch up to her. Gently the man grabbed her arm, frightening her.
He walked her to her home and didn’t leave until he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, asking if he would see her again at which she replied that she would be dancing every day of next week. He made a promise to be at every show,and as she watched his retreating back she couldn’t help but blush, no man had ever gone through the trouble of walking her home after a show or kissed her on the cheek, he was her first.
Throughout their conversation on the front porch they didn’t see the intruder spying on the quick conversation, the man behind the curtain was someone ruthless and unloved, losing his wife to cancer earlier in the year didn’t help with money issues during the depression. Now what was left of the once caring and loving man people went to for help was a sad shell of a human being that the neighbors avoided at all costs.
His own flesh and blood avoided him, he became hungry for the one thing that he thought could save his humanity, money. Relying on his daughter to bring it in was harsh but necessary in his eyes. Seeing her with that man enraged him, she couldn’t fall in love, he had a plan for her to take place in and without her he had no chance at ever becoming wealthy. And unless that man was worth millions she could never see him again.
The dancers might have left but the night was still young at the local pub. A Beautiful woman sat in the corner watching, she didn’t seem to belong that was clear, her pale porcelain like skin and dark red hair was a large contrast to the light blue almost grey eyes and sharp facial features.
She’s had many drinks but unlike the other lady’s her words were not slurred and her judgment was not impaired.
“Deandrea DonnDubattan…” the man said in total awe she was heard of but never had he met the creature whose name brought a shudder in the lands above and under, she truly was the goddess of death and darkness.
Her reply to the awe-struck man was a cunning smirk and inclining her head towards the chair besides her. Deandrea was never one to steer clear of a conversation. Her Irish background kept her a friend to all, with a short temper, and a love for any type of rum. Downing the rest of her drink she looked at the man, sizing him up, his ebony black hair and lean figure made her guess that he was a demigod of dark, one of her men nevertheless, unless…
“such an honor miss, really it is, I mean we’ve heard of the women that could make an army fall dead but wow, just wow.” The man’s rambling about her greatness made her reconsider her previous thought, he was one of hers.
“The pleasure is mine” her blue eyes flashed and the man looked taken back by her thick Irish accent, her words were pronounced roughly but she made it sound as light as a feather. It had been well over a century since she had last left Ireland but her job needed her and her demigods were making it seem as if they had never transported a soul before, they didn’t even know who it was they needed to take, but the moment she entered the pub she felt it the soul was here and was dark as night, and filled with resentment.
“I take it you’re here to help” she continued, her father had assigned someone to help her with this case, she not knowing who it was assumed the handsome man before her was summoned, but according to his confused face and gaping mouth he hadn’t an idea of what she was going on about.
She had to have known the person who was helping her in this long prolonged case was, hadn’t her father told her. His thought drifted to ones of horror when he realized that she indeed did not know who was told to help her in this case. Making up a half truth about having to collect a lost soul he made his way out of the establishment in quite the haste, bumping into a few people who were to under the influence to make a coherent shout of dismay.
Looking at the retreating back of the man who had, now, disturbed her drinking time made her rethink this whole case, why would a demigod go rogue. Demigods were creatures of the gods and thousands exist, all working under the hand of their god or goddess. Deandrea herself kept well over a thousand under her wing, but she knew for certain it had not been one of hers, she should care less about the wellbeing of the demigods but she just couldn’t, these people the demigods they were her family.
Everyone knew it was one of the seasons, Zeus’s demigods, contrary to prior believe Zeus had only five, summer, spring, fall, winter, and solstice. All five were spirits and were meant to be celebrated and not to be worshipped, but the exception was solstice apparently, people hadn’t gotten the idea that solstice was a season not a holiday. With more praise the season soon took a form, a person. What was once a spirit had become an immortal demigod, the first immortal demigod.
She began to crave the attention of others, and once solstice ended so did her happiness, and for the rest of the year she was bitter and antisocial. She began to do things that would demand attention, once it was said she faked a pregnancy, and another time she swore up and down that fall was becoming an earthly figure.
Of course, all of them were lies, if fall had become an earthly figure it would upstage solstice and if she had become pregnant it would ruin her pristine body, the demigods had to work harder for the things most gods are born with like their body weight and beauty. And unlike the gods the demigods had what others would call a lack of emotion, they had it, but a limited amount, and in this solstice also shared emotions with the gods. She thought she was a being more powerful than the gods in the sky.
Demigods only lived for about five centuries, then they die, passing on their knowledge and work to their children, they always had children, it was an unspoken rule that the demigods goal in life was not only to please their chosen god but to also keep their race going. And two years ago, at the coming of age ceremony solstice once again tried to upstage the young demigods who were going to be assigned their god, through a test of wits that had been going on for millenniums. She demanded the attention of the children and fed them lie after lie saying things like Zeus had sent her to collect her demigods.
That had made Deandrea scuff, everyone knew Zeus never assigned demigods it was Opnion the old titan may have lost his hair but he was still wise enough to rationalize numbers, each god had a specific number of demigods, gods of life 2,987 split evenly between Milo protector of the life and Amity creator of the life. Protector of the barrier between the underworld and earth, Styx, 563. Every god or gods got a specific amount.
Going through the files Andera had no problem going through two more cups of scotch, and changing sitting positions multiple times until she found a comfortable one. The dresses in this era were so different, when she had just become accustomed to the tight corset like dresses with the large skirts, someone had come along and began to wear dresses reaching the knee that was weighed down by the sequence and pearls that hung all around the dress. Looking up at the empty stage she smirked and swayed her way towards the band who had stopped playing when the lovely lady began sauntering over to their booth, they always said that death was an amazing sight to see.
She sat herself right at the piano that sat front and center of the stage and began to play and sing a song called Ain’t Misbehavin’ by Fats Waller, soon enough the band began to play along with her carrying her voice off farther. The smirk on her lips as the people watched went unnoticed by all but one.
Allister Nyx, a man with an eerie stance but a handsome and devilish personality. And he knew more than anyone that little miss Ain’t Misbehavin was doing just that, looking around the spacious pub he found the place where Deandrea had been sitting and took the stool next to hers and ordered a scotch neat while he waited for the end of her performance.
“great song eh” an old and drunken man slurred besides him, grunting in response Allister kept his head down and his scotch held firmly in his hands. Deandrea DonnDubattan had been the bane of his existence since she was born only a decade after he was, as children they always rivaled each other in ways only they would understand. His father had once told him that Deandrea would be the goddess of chaos everywhere and that they should have been proud that they even had the honor to know a being like that, and even though Deandrea wasn’t the being of total chaos, it seemed to follow her around wherever she went.
He hadn’t noticed when the song ended or when the redhead has sat in the stool beside him, the bartender soon arrived with a whisky and placed it before her before winking and carrying on with his other orders, soon enough the drinks he was making sat in front of Deandrea from all her doting fans.
“Quite the performance their miss” the man sitting next to her said, looking up through her glass she saw the man as slightly familiar and dangerous, and truthfully it had drawn her to him, she was never one to avoid danger.
“cheers then mate, have a drink on me.” Sliding him the cup with the dark crimson liquid while downing one similar to the one she handed him, “you know you remind me of someone once knew a long time ago” she exaggerated.
His lips paused on the lip of the glass in his hands and he smirked before taking a long sip of his first drink. “really, how so?” he asked the last time he was alone with Deandrea was at the last meeting of the gods, it hadn’t ended up very well, while the gods were immortal but only in age, they could still bleed and function like normal human beings, and that day had been a bloody one, it took four demigods and 2 gods to get the two off each other.
“well I knew a lad; I swear his whole face made me want to yell and slap him.” She paused to chuckle at her own statement, and to think, “he always thought he could beat me but he never did- “her statement was cut off but the scuff the man beside her made.
“If I remember correctly Deandrea I beat you in many things.” When he looked up from his drink Deandrea was shocked to see Allister, how hadn’t she seen it before, his tasseled black hair was scattered messily on his head and the bright blue eyes, opposite to hers, gleamed with amusement at her state of shock. That show was soon replaced by a board look as if to say, oh it’s you.
“well if it wasn’t my best buddy Allister Nyx, how had it been mate.” She asked sarcastically, truth be told she couldn’t care less about Allister Nyx and his life, she could barely stand the man, his cool attitude and calm face made her want to smack him upside the head for every year he had been alive, which surprisingly were many.
But try as she might she still had to admit the man was handsome with dark hair, blue eyes and a nice build no one could say he wasn’t. currently wearing a business-like suit made her do a double take, business suite.
“Deandrea you wound me.” He said placing a hand over his heart with a smirk placed on his face, how she wished she could smack it off and make him eat it. he always seemed to bring the dark thoughts into her head whether it be to hit him or feed him to an animal only known to the gods, this thought made her laugh, how would he react to being eaten. That thought only made her go into hysterics. “is there something you’d like to share Deandrea?” Allister asked with an annoyed expression on his face.
“no Allister but thank you for asking- actually I can’t keep it in, how would you feel about being eaten.” The look on Allister’s face was enough to send Deandrea into another round of laughter but this time she leaned on his arm for support, surely she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up without falling after all that laughter.
“now what brings the dark thought into your head this late at night Deandrea, if I didn’t know any better I would have to say that you might be a little drunk.” The small amused smile never faded off his face as he watched Deandrea sober up her laughter, while giggling to herself now and again.
“what can I say your face makes me want to hit something every time I see it.” She replied with a breathless giggle “now what are you doing here Allister, because if I had known you were going to be here I wouldn’t be caught dead in the same state.” She said dryly
Allister had been told that he was required to help on a case brought up around two years ago and that it was very time sensitive, he had no choice in the matter. The case was bout some demigod gone rogue, he never did pay too much attention to the new in Olympis, maybe he should start though he thought that would certainly be better than getting a random call and being totally confused.
Deandrea watched the little debate going on in his head, suddenly time seemed to slow down and she began to mutter no a great amount of times. She had finally put two and two together and she didn’t like the answer very much. Letting out a large sigh she looked at the man she could hardly stand and said something that was never meant to come out of the mouth of Deandrea DonnDubattan,
“Well father death it looks like we have a case to solve.” Allister had a shocked look, he couldn’t believe it who in their right mind would put the two together it was like oil and water the two would never mix. But he then realized that the order was too high up to avoid.
“okay mother death what do we do now?
