"No matter what evil may come along the way, to be loved is to be protected."
- Kate Morton
"I simply will not drag her by her golden hair to the darkened abyss," Damien thought to himself.
"I will not be my father, my gifts may be similar to his but this is who he is, not who I am," Damien reminded himself, this was a mantra he said often, he was not at peace with his duties.
While Damien thought of ways to woo a mortal that was seemingly immune to his abilities, Ophelia minded about her day without a care in the world, unknowing that she was the object of not only Damien's eye but Hades', in the worst way possible.
By day Ophelia attended her classes, went to parties, and she hung out with her best friend Serena, by night while she slept peacefully and unaware of the impending danger that lurked outside her bedroom window, Damien and Ajax stood keeping watching that no creatures would come and try to disturb her.
Ophelia strolled into her dorm room, plopping down on the bed, exhausted from hours of classes, Serena wasn't there, giving Ophelia some much needed alone time. She took this time to open one of the books from the library, now these were Greek Mythology books, these used to be a great escape for Ophelia but she had come to a realization that these were not just stories, they weren't fiction. Now she used them to learn more about the world she was secretly living in.
Ophelia ate her dinner barely taking her eyes off the words, her eyes skimming every sentence, her mind absorbing the material.
After she finished dinner, she wondered why Serena still hadn't returned, it was about nine o'clock and now that Ophelia was aware of the dangers, she was worried that something had happened to Serena so she texted her.
Instantly Serena replied, "staying at Christian's tonight, don't wait up xoxo," she wrote. Ophelia snickered and reminded her to stay safe.
She was alone for the evening so she had thought before a fist banged against her door.
She wasn't expecting anyone, so she opened the door with caution.
Her stomach turned as she came face to face with Michael, her ex boyfriend.
"What do you want? Why are you here?" Ophelia crossed her arms over chest, a single eyebrow raised, her tone full of attitude, she didn't have an ounce of kindness left in her heart for this man.
"I want to talk to you about what happened in the quad earlier, I spoke to Madison," Ophelia didn't understand why Michael was coming to her, he seemed apologetic. He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, his green eyes set on her eyes as they did long ago.
"Please leave," Ophelia attempted to close the door, but Michael stuck his foot in quickly.
"Can we talk?" Michael looked at Ophelia, he looked at her like it was the first time he ever had.
Ophelia allowed Michael to come in.
"I didn't want you to find out who it was, because I knew you'd act childishly about it, Madison said you just about attacked her," Michael immediately accused Ophelia of something she didn't do.
"I never, I-I would never attack somebody, I can't do this, you need to leave." Ophelia forced Michael out of her dorm room and slammed the door.
"This is why we aren't together, grow up, Ophelia!" Michael shouted through the door.
"Bitch," He muttered under his breath but it was loud enough for her to hear it.
She sat down on her bed, tears rolling down her face. She breathed in hard, "I'm not going to let him manipulate me anymore me, I'm better than this," Ophelia wiped her face.
Out in the woods that surrounded the dorm building Ashford, Ajax and Damien had fought off several encounters with the supernatural all with the same goal, drag Ophelia back to the Underworld with them. Damien felt an ominous melancholic presence around him, Ophelia's sadness had affected him.
"Something's wrong, I need to go check on her," Damien left Ajax to defend the perimeter alone fully confident, as Ajax was more than capable.
Damien passed by Michael in the hall with a glare on his face, Damien remembered this mortal from his previous trip to Earth. He came to Massachusetts, this very college campus, tempting mortals into petty crimes, sins, and this one, an affair. Damien didn't pick him by random, no, he picked Michael Evans the then boyfriend of Ophelia Vaughn in a bid to end their relationship.
Everything Damien had done from destroying her relationship, to hosting a party that he knew she would attend, to sleeping with the woman he knew Michael had slept with was all to have Ophelia in his grasp.
Damien knocked on room 102, Ophelia and Serena's room, "Go away!" Ophelia shouted from behind.
"It's me," Damien's deep raspy voice melted her tears away, Ophelia opened the door slowly, her eyes still watery, her upturned nose still blush colored. Damien immediately noticed she was upset, and realized he had the ability to feel her emotions, he wondered if she could feel his too.
"Why are you crying?" Damien wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
"Michael accused me of attacking Madison because that's what she told him, and she told him that because I've been with you and that means you haven't been with her," Ophelia let the tears out again as she explained her situation.
"Come here," Damien wrapped his arms around Ophelia allowing her to release into him.
"I haven't spoken with Madison since the party, I've been ignoring her attempts at communication, I'm sorry she confronted you like that, Ophelia," Damien held her head.
"He just kept calling me names even after I kicked him out," Ophelia sobbed. Damien's eyes turned red, the more pain she was in, the more he felt, he peeled her arms off his chest without a single word and stepped out into the hallway.
Shouting erupted from outside the walls in the hallways accompanied by loud banging.
Ophelia opened the door to see Damien beating the living hell out of Michael.
"Don't you ever go near her again, do you understand?" Damien threw Michael up from the ground by his neck and tossed his across the hall. The reflection of the fiery pits of Tartarus were shown in Damien's golden eyes as he seethed, Michael ran for his life as he just saw the Devil, and he might as well have.
Ophelia felt the rage burning in Damien's body and she was the only thing that could provide him peace and stop him from turning into the beast inside him.
She placed her hands on his face, he closed his eyes not wanting her to see the mirror to the Underworld in his.
"Look at me," She demanded.
"I don't want you to see the Underworld," Damien's eyes remained closed.
"It's okay, you won't hurt me," Ophelia sounded confident, this hurt Damien's heart because time was running out, if she wouldn't go, he would take her. He opened his eyes slowly, he studied her blue pools and felt a rush of calmness take over his body.
He leaned into her lips closer, and closer, till he could feel her breath against his.
"I don't mean to interrupt your disgusting display of affection with this creature, there's three demons, I've fought them off as long as I could but soon they are going to stray away from the mission and start terrorizing every mortal they can find, we have to get back to the house, we have to lead them out of here, it's too populated," Ajax was out of breath as he delivered the news. Ophelia looked at Damien, instantly grabbing his arm in fear. Damien collected everybody into Ophelia's dorm room and shut the door for privacy.
"What's their mission?" Ophelia sat down on her bed running her fingers through her blonde hair anxiously.
"Oh, that's just delicious, you still haven't told her a single thing, you dirty dog, Damianos," Ajax cackled.
"They want you, Hades wants you, dead, gone, you know, six feet under?" Ajax's words practically cut Ophelia's oxygen off.
Damien punched Ajax across the face, he wiped his mouth and spit blood on the dark blue carpet. Ophelia looked at Damien for answers, he gave her an apologetic look but that wasn't good enough, Ophelia wanted answers.
"We will accompany you at the house, I'll bring Ophelia there in a minute, I need to speak with her alone," Damien nodded to Ajax who climbed out the large window and took flight with his demonic black wings disappeared into the night leading the demons out of the campus woods.
"My father has a silly idea that I won't go back because of you, it's quite foolish, I know," Damien danced around the truth while giving her bits and pieces.
"So he wants to...kill me?" Ophelia didn't understand but she was terrified, she had read about the unforgiving Hades.
"Well if you're in the Underworld, he believes that's where I'll go too," Damien acted aloof like none of this rang true.
"Is he...is he right?" Ophelia looked down at her lap.
"It's not safe here for you anymore, come with me," Damien extended his hand to her.
Damien flew her in his arms across town, her arms carefully fastened around his neck, her eyes wide as she looked at the city from the sky.
"This is amazing," Ophelia smiled wide, Damien smiled at her.