Demigods, Dates and Dragons

The food was great. All I think of is that Diomedes might be actually good for something. Charlie did his best to keep the conversation off the whole Olympians-Titans-war-issue. And he actually did it. He wants this night to be for the two of us and it was going great.
After finishing the main course and drunk the rest of the wine, I can see he is a little tipsy. I realize that from the fact that he’s smilinga lot more than usual and he’s trying to clumsily hug me. I don’t mind. When I am in his arms, everything seems to be washed away.
It’s just me, Charlie, and the stars above New York. We take our time, once done with the food. We kiss softly; we hold each other; we make out for long mind-blanking times. Whenever I stroke his cheeks and nuzzle against his chest, I want to stay there. He’s just so warm!It’s as if I was never safe before meeting his grasp.
For a couple of moments, I close my eyes. They weigh a ton. Charlie’s lips are right by my ear, humming something soft and tender. I’m actually purring with my eyes closed.
‘This is the life, huh Silena?’ he asks me gently and I feel his heavy hand going clumsily through my hair.
‘Sure is, cornball,’ I reply with a soft, sideways smile. I don’t think I’ll ever admit it, but part of me does want to turn into goo, whenever we find time for something like this.
There is absolutely no sound. Good boy, Diomedes, I think with a smile. Then the whole building starts to shake. I open my eyes with a start.
‘Charlie? What’s happening?’ I ask, turning to look at him. We have crawled together to the edge of the rooftop hugging but now we are squirming around.
We make it to the south side of the building, where the tremors come from. We look down and see the fire escape being stormed by massive figures in trench coats. From the creaking noises, I’m guessing that the construction is starting to give.
‘And just as I was thinking that this was actually a slow night,’ Charlie rasps and moves away from the brim.
‘You think they’re monsters? I mean, they could just be muggers,’ I point out, trying to catch whatever wisp of hope I can.
‘Silena. We’re three demigods in one building. There are giant figures climbing up a fire escape with enough weight to make the entire building shake and you really want to go with them being muggers?’ He goes to the door that leads downstairs.
‘Did you bring any weapons?’ I ask him, my heart pounding on my ribcage.
‘No. Did you?’ His eyes dance around.
‘Only a dagger. But it’s in Felicity’s saddle bag.’ I smile awkwardly.
Turns out Charlie never had to open the door. The next second Diomedes bursts out of it holding two thin swords. His hands are ablaze and he mutters something. His tee and apron are charred but his sunglasses are still on his face. I drop on my back and Charlie runs at me, covering me with his entire body, like a shield.
The next second I see a giant ball of fire darting from Diomedes’s hands and the whole construction of the staircase explodes. Yelps and howls follow.
I’m shaking, panting and cold sweat makes me shiver. It’s not from the blast’s heat. I call out to Charlie, looking at him, holding his face in hope for him to be alive.
‘Charlie? Please say something. Anything,’ I mutter groggily and I muffle the cries as his eyes pop open.
I hear grunts and howls and some moments later, Diomedes’s hands help the both of us stand.
‘You two alright?’ His face is red and he looks winded.
‘Dio, what’s happening? We under attack?’ Charlie asks, following Diomedes to the roof’s brim.
‘No, the health department decided to drop by and make an extensive check. Of course we are under attack! Now, you two take this and please stay alive. Because the Olympians know I’m not carrying your corpses back to the camp.’
He gives Charlie and me the blades and I take a battle-ready position.
‘What do we do? Go downstairs and fight? I ask and check the perimeter.
‘What are you? Mad?’ Diomedes asks, discarding his apron. ‘Let’em take whatever they are here for and then we’ll go and see what happened.’
I move closer to Charlie. We are back to back, our blades high, while Diomedes is in front of us, his hands covered in scarlet flames all the way up to his elbows.
Time seems to turn liquid. My heart hurts as it bangs against me and the worst I can think of is someone trying to harm Charlie. I can think of a cyclops bursting through the ceiling, grabbing him, pulling him down. Down, all the way to Hades, I think terrified and I grip the hilt so tight, my nails are starting to squeeze my palm.
Charlie’s breath is more stable. I catch him prowling around, looking for any threat. There was only the crackling of fire, so I’m guessing Dio’s spell must still be on.
I don’t know how long goes by before Diomedes finally relaxes and tells us, ‘They’re gone. Better get down there to check what happened.’
‘Are you sure Dio? It could be an ambush?’ Charlie asks, following Diomedes down whatever remains of the staircase.
‘Relax, tall, dark and deadly. Whatever they were after, they weren’t here for any of us. There were hellhounds and cyclopes, sent to retrieve something from me.’ I hear Diomedes snapping his fingers and like a tidal wave, every bit of sound that was suppressed comes rushing forth.
There are sirens and people shouting. Whoever’s around us panics. Diomedes however, seems completely impassive to all this. Strangely, so am I and Charlie. Being a demigod means a lot of good things. But you also find yourself in situations like this every second week. Or day. Or sometimes, twice a day.
Alright, I was wrong earlier. Dio’s apartment had the potential to look even messier than we first stepped in there.
All it took was an invading team of monsters.
‘Oh c’mon. This’ll take weeks to fix,’ Diomedes howls, rummaging around the place. From the looks of it, the place seems totaled. Whatever they monsters were here for, they had to search to find it.
A door at the end of a corridor in Dio’s apartment lies hacked in two. And the closer I moved, the greater the chills were. There was just so much power. Sheer, magical power enough to take out an army.
‘Woah. Dio. What is this place?’ Charlie stammers.
‘My vault of magical thingies,’ he responds and takes a look at me. I arch my eyebrow.
‘Hey, if I announced that this is my vault of mystical and arcane artifacts with grandeur and greatness, then you’d just make fun me,’ Dio snaps defensively.
‘So, you thought “magic thingies” would be better?’ I riposte.
‘Alright guys, can we really focus here? Diomedes, check if anything is missing, so we can move out before the authorities arrive,’ Charlie points out.
‘Seems like everything major is here,’ Diomedes mutters but then his voice becomes a shrill, panicked howl. ‘No, no, no!’ He scowls and his hands are giving into spasms.
‘What? What did they take?’ Charlie asks running to Diomedes’s side. I close in as Diomedes moves things around jittery for one more minute.
Then he sighs and drops on the floor.
‘Diomedes, dude, what’s the matter? What did they take?’ Charlie asks, kneeling by his side.
Diomedes gulps and moves his glasses just a tad lower. I can see his stormy eyes and all I can think of, is how startled he is. Which makes me tremor down to my soul.
‘Silena, for what I am about to tell you next, try your best not to kill me,’ Diomedes says.

Notes