"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING HERE?"

Apollo turned around at once, his face pale and bloodless, but his eyes held the same glint of malice in them as last time.

"I can explain," the sun god raised his hands. "Just hear me ou-"

"I'm not interested in your fucking explanation, Apollo," I spat at his feet, voice dangerously low as I tried to rein in my fury - although unsuccessfully. This man - this man had been about to steal the virtue of my wife when I had seen her the very first time.

I would never forget the look on her face.

The fear in her helpless eyes. The shuddering voice trying to stick to the confines of politeness even as she begged him to stop. The very innocence of her, the way her cries had travelled over the winds, carrying her voice over to me - looking for help. Of any kind. Any shape. Any form.

"The only reason I did not slaughter you the last time was because of Persephone. She isn't here," I let out a hoarse growl, slowly unbuttoning my sleeves to roll them up. "And that means... there is nothing here to stop me this time."

"Ha - Hades, listen," Apollo's voice was quiet. "Just... listen. It's Demeter-"

"I'm not interested in Demeter. How the fuck did you get this key?"

"Look - she's here. She's here. In the guise of Hecate. She tricked you into giving her the key - she wanted me to unlock the gates of Tartarus and leave you to your fate while she took Persephone away-"

"Oh, no. I don't think so," I snarled. "I don't believe you. You're a liar," a low hiss left my lips as I looked him right in his blue eyes, wider than the sky. "You know what I do when a liar enters my home, Apollo?" I grasped him by the chin, my words coming out in nothing but snarls. "I kill them like the rats they are."

"You don't know a thing," he snapped at me. "You don't know a damn thing, Hades."

"I do know some things. I know that you're a rapist. I know that you're a liar. And I know..." I eased my grip on Cerberus, who let out a long, long growl. "I know that when you die, I will sentence you to the deepest levels of Tartarus and laugh while I do it."

Go, I urged. The bloodhound lept at him.

The god flinched for a fraction of a second, before clenching his left hand into a mighty fist, striking back with a violent burst of light. Even as Cerberus's teeth tore into the vulnerable flesh of his knuckles, Apollo's fist made contact with his jaw - throwing him back onto the ground, heaving and panting.

Anger rose in me like a snake burning with deadly venom.

How dare. How dare he-

A tangle of dark, roiling power curled up in my palms, creeping up my arms like strings of inky night. Apollo snarled, gathering sunlight in his hand - even as the burst of my power hit him squarely in the chest, hurling him off his feet and onto the ground.

"You've always been an impulsive, reckless creature, uncle," he hissed.

I snarled, and a tendril of darkness wisped around his neck, tight enough to make him choke yet loose enough to watch him gasp for breath.

"Give me the key."

"Not before you listen to me-"

"Give. Me. The. Key."

"You'll kill me the moment I give it to you!"

"Of course I will," I strode to him, a step closer, fury sizzling in my blood like poison. He bared his teeth, letting out a dangerous growl - defying the night strangling his throat even as I clenched it tighter around his windpipe.

"You don't understand. Demeter is back. She told me to unlock the door! She was in your study, Hades. Not me."

"I see no reason for you to be here if it is she who intends to hurt me. Why are you here?" Without flicking a finger, I ordered the coil of death around his neck to tighten as his face turned a shade of angry red, spluttering.

"She wanted me to do the dirty work for her - she promised to give me Persephone's hand if I unlocked the door for her! As if I couldn't tell she was playing me! I only came here to prevent her suspicion. And to warn you. I warned Zeus as well-"

"Your lies do not convince me. The key, Apollo. Give it to me."

"No. You've always been such a rash, insolent man. Never thinking, always hurting," he gasped, his cheeks crimson with suppressed rage. "Always thinking about yourself. I won't give it to you," he snarled. "Let me go!"

"I'm afraid that's no longer an option. I asked you nicely. More than once," I stepped closer to him again, our noses almost touching.

Apollo moved first.

My hand went straight for the iron key clenched in his solid fist. I had to destroy it. I had to destroy the key. I had to make sure it did not fall into another set of wrong hands. His jab was brutal and painful, a blow landed straight to the gut - quickly knocking my arm away.

"You brat-"

My punch landed squarely on his jaw, a satisfying crack echoing in the air - before Apollo let out a seething sigh, slamming himself straight against my shoulder. The fury in me flared up like nausea, hands grasping his firmly, twisting them behind his back... but not before he sliced a blade of light across the air.

"I am going to end you."

Cerberus pounced on him like a spring.

My fingers latched themselves onto his hand, using every bit of force I had to pry them apart. I darted one of his strikes, and then another - before the strangling wisp of darkness around his neck tightened to its maximum, taking Apollo by surprise. He swayed on his feet for a second, the breath knocked out his lungs as I triumphantly extracted the key from his grip.

"You're not getting away that easily," he rasped, his face turning a hue of crimson. "You won't-"

The hidden dagger under my sleeve slashed out, leaving a nasty cut across his cheek, a trail of blood left in his wake.

Holding the key up to the light, I stared at the blood red rubies set into the engraved eyes of the chimaera in the center.

Then I tightened my fist around it and crumbled the iron into dust.

"You will never touch my wife again," my voice was deadly, more unforgiving than the winter ice. "You will never lay a hand on her again. And you will never open the Gates. Ever."

A screech of velvet dragging across the ground shook me into my senses. A muffled whimper, and then a couple of whispered words spoken in anger.

"He won't open the Gates, Hades. But someone will."

I turned around, locking eyes with my wife, her cheeks gone pale with lack of colour. A tall, slender man with skin like burnished bronze pulled her aside, holding her mouth shut, her arms twisted behind her back. She looked like she was about to faint.

My chest tightened in alarm, her plight breaking my heart - even as Persephone bit into his hand. The man's eyes narrowed with a hiss, the trickle of blood pouring from his skin taking him by surprise, even as she opened her mouth to speak-

"-behind you!"

It was too late.

My feet had just turned around before there was a wicked scythe not inches from my throat, its edge glistening with something slippery, shining like diamonds in the dim light. The monstrous voice that poured into my ears was venom.

"Open the Gates for me, Persephone. Or I slit your husband's throat right in front of you," Demeter said at last.