From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(27)
And so, she picked up her dog and headed to the elevator, hoping that Perry was fresh enough to handle her for just a little longer. Surely, she’d be right again soon.
When she reached the underworld, she set Bisoux down, and he ran straight for Cerberus. Watching them play was highly entertaining since the three-headed hellhound was about eight hundred times the size of the mini Pom.
“In here.” Perry waved a hand over the back of the couch.
“I come bearing gifts.” With the snap of Dita’s fingers, several bars of Toblerone and a stack of movies appeared on the coffee table, but she paused when she rounded the couch and found Perry lying in the arms of Hades.
The couple lay lazily in each other’s arms—Perry small and slender, Hades long and lean. He looked as comfortable in tailored slacks and a button-down as most people would in pajamas with his sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened, the top button of his shirt undone. Perry’s fingers had slipped into the space between buttons to rest on his chest.
“Oh,” Dita said, flushing, embarrassed for assuming her friend would be alone. “I’m sorry. Perry, want to just come up later? I mean, if you have time?”
Hades smiled and kissed the top of his wife’s head. “Don’t leave on account of me. I have some paperwork that needs my attention anyway.”
Perry pouted a little as he slipped out from under her and left the room.
Guilt, guilt, and more guilt. But at least there was chocolate, too.
Perry sighed and reached for a bar of chocolate. “Come to mama.” She licked her lips as she opened the triangular box.
Dita sat at the other end of the couch and propped her feet on the table, trying not to feel like a worm for being relieved that Hades had gone.
“Wassup?” Perry asked with her mouth full of chocolate and nougat.
“Well, I just dicked with about a million things at my place, so I came down to see if you were ready to go for movie madness, part deux.”
“Mmm.” It was a noncommittal sound. “We barely even talked about the competition yesterday.”
Dita wiggled her toes on the coffee table, her arches warming up from the fire in the black marble fireplace. “We were too distracted by teenage John Cusack. Who can resist Lloyd Dobler in a trench coat with a boom box?”
Perry laughed. “The same percentage of people who can resist Paul Varjak from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Zero.”
“Oh, or Gene Kelly from Singing in the Rain. I miss old Hollywood. Movies had a feeling to them that is just lost now. Where are the Kubricks and Hitchcocks?” Dita asked.
“Now, Hitchcock knew suspense. He was next-level, climb-into-your-head-and-make-a-nest-out-of-human-hair dark and creepy. Not like the cheap tricks they use now. Like The Human Centipede. I mean, I’ll give points for creativity, but come on.”
“So fucking gross. It’s not even scary, just disgusting,” Dita said with her nose wrinkled.
“Speaking of hot asses…” Perry waggled her eyebrows.
“Ew. You’re never allowed to make hot ass references in conjunction with The Human Centipede.” Dita gave her the stankiest face she could manage.
Perry giggled. “Jon’s way prettier than German dungeon horror.”
“That is true,” Dita said with a nod.
“And a smartass. Always a plus.”
“It really is so hot. I know I can get him and Josie together—if she doesn’t kill him first.”
“I can see how murder would put a damper on things.”
Dita snorted and held out her hand for a piece of chocolate. “I’m sure Artemis would do a freaking jig.”
“What kind of plays do you think she’ll make?” Perry laid a piece in her waiting palm.
Dita popped it in her mouth and thought about Artemis as she sucked on a triangle of milky chocolate. “It’s hard to say. She’s sort of immune to love. I mean, not totally immune, but she definitely doesn’t get it. She always picks some kind of huntress. Remember when she picked that gold digger in Victorian London?”
“Oh gods, that was so great. I about died when you matched her with a penniless actor. Such scandal.”
“That prat needed to be brought down a peg. And anyway, she ended up happy. That’s what counts. Well, that and the fact that I won.”
Perry shook her head. “Of all the gods, I can’t see how Artemis could ever win against you. She constantly underestimates the power of love.”
Dita rolled her eyes. “Great. Thanks. Now I have Huey Lewis stuck in my head.”
“He is a legend. Anyway, she really has to suck at this as a result of her very nature. She doesn’t get it.”
Dita crossed her arms and stared at the fire in the massive fireplace. It burned always—day, night, summer, winter. “How could she get it? She can’t stand humans, which automatically puts her at a disadvantage, and she doesn’t understand love, which dooms her when she competes with me.”
“It’s kind of sad. Can you imagine living your whole life without love?”
Dita’s lips slipped into a frown. “Maybe she’s the smart one after all.”
Perry nudged Dita with her foot. “Don’t talk crazy.”
Dita’s eyes never left the flames licking at the logs. “She does have love in her life, but it’s all platonic. And she’s had love, love, but that ended in tragedy. It’s been three thousand years, and she still hasn’t recovered.”