Love lessons learned!!…

*Because fairytales weren't real...nightmares were!!...*

**Proserpina's POV**
"Vlad!" I screamed.
Nightmares can be a funny thing. Take now, for example. I just woke up from my nightmare screaming Vlad's name. Hades was still sleeping beside me, and now he was furious with me for mentioning another man's name.
"Vlad!? Why!?" Hades snapped with his features growing hard and eyes flashing yellow, and I jolted at the harsh sound of his voice.
"I...I...," I muttered softly as tears clouded my vision. Hades grabbed my arm, making me sob at his rough treatment.
"I asked you a question, girl."
"You may not like the answers you hear, but that won't change a thing. I already told you that I'm having nightmares of Vlad."
"You love him!?" He asked in a cold, unfeeling voice that spoke volumes about his hurt. My hands flew to cover my mouth in disbelief.
"No! It's not what you think," I reached out to him, needing to comfort him, but it was once again a mistake. He snarled down at my hand the second it landed on his arm, and I watched with tears as my fingers lost their hold on him as he moved away from me.
"No!? Then tell me about your obsession and nightmares about Vlad. All you ever do is dream of him!"
"They are not dreams but nightmares. You don't understand," I tried explaining to him.
He thought that I loved Vlad, but the reality was I loved him. I love Hades.
"Oh, I think I understand all too well!" He thundered at me before slamming his feet and leaving me to my misery. It felt as if someone had plucked out my heart and destroyed it.

"Please stop crying, Kora. You know that most of his words were out of anger and jealousy. No matter how brutal he sounded, he loves you." Mira's voice filtered through my sobbing as she took me in her arms to comfort me.
"He doesn't," I said, looking down at the floor in defeat, for there were no words to argue.
"His bad! And it's just such a shame we can't hit him over the head and tie him up!" She paused when I shot her a deadly look, but she continued, "What? Wasn't he rude?" She said with a hand on her hip.
"What just happened?" Jericho muttered while coming our way. When we both didn't answer, he asked again, "So what did you do?" Mira and I looked at each other as if to say, 'Where do we start?'
"I had a nightmare and called out Vlad's name," I spoke with a sigh.
"Well, that doesn't sound good. All his life, he felt neglected, so it doesn't come as a surprise that he thought this way..." Jericho paused mid-sentence, which drove me nuts.
"What...what does it mean? Is it about his family?" I asked, wondering what Hades' family must be like. He has never discussed them with me.
"One more red flag about his identity; he is somehow related to Vlad," Mira spoke, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. I know that look. Of course, I have doubts about Hades' identity, but not about my feelings for him. I love him no matter who he is. But Mira feels that Hades' is hiding everything from me, his identity and feelings.
"Well, that's his story to tell," Jericho spoke, and I was not surprised, considering his loyalty to Hades.
"And you are a Grade A asshole, and your friend a dick-head." Mira looked almost on the verge of ripping off his head.
"Don't go there. Let's concentrate on the situation and think of a way to get me..."
"Fucked!!..." Mira said, jumping to the blunt conclusion.
"Well, I was about to say forgiven," I retorted hesitantly while Jericho winked at me.
"Well, fucked and forgiven mean the same. He fucked up, so he needs to fuck to be forgiven," Mira added.
Jericho looked even more confused, and I waved a hand at him to ignore and said, "Actually, I just want Hades to listen to me," with a groan.
"So, that's where my plan comes from," Mira said with a wink.
"Well, that sounds like a great one," Jericho replied. Mira smirked proudly.
"Ah, I believe I understand your friend now," Jericho remarked with an amused reaction, trying to understand Mira's action.
"Great, glad one of us does." I retorted, acting like getting bored.
"I heard that!" Mira complained out of frustration.
"Can we get back to the plan now?" I snapped, losing patience with each passing second. Although I was keen to know the plan, trust me, I had a bad feeling about this.
"SEDUCTION!" Mira spoke with a half-smirk.
"No...no...you are joking...right?!" I asked, but that wry look on her face and that evil glint in her eyes convinced me that she was as serious as fuck. I could even imagine two demonic horns on her head.
"I'm so screwed." I cried in disbelief. She asked me to seduce Hades, and I was dead-shit nervous like every girl doing it for the first time. I had my traitorous fantasies about what Hades would be like in the bedroom. I always connect him with the three-headed wolf of my dreams. My intuition, instincts, and heart feel Hades is my man. Initially, his dreams had just been of watching over me as I slept. But, as I grew older, my dreams changed, now taking on a more heated element about us gasping for air and experiencing my first orgasm on the night of my seventeenth birthday. For almost a year, he has been dominating the good part of my dreams. His touches have always been so real, as though I belonged to him. For fuck's sake, that man has the ability to undress me without even touching me. Damn, it! I am so obsessed with this man, considering the guy could just be...well, a dick.
"You are about to be screwed," Mira spoke with a grin, breaking me from my notorious thoughts. I swear I nearly choked.
"Best of luck getting screwed, but let me warn you, he's not romantically very inclined kind of a man. You might get screwed somewhere else rather than where you intend to." Jericho's amusement seemed to drip from his face.
"No way!" Mira said.
"As I said, it's a possibility," Jericho replied.
Hearing this didn't fill me with happy thoughts, that was for damn sure.
"You're right. I should not do that. I was a fool to love him, for how could a man, as cold and hard as he is, ever love anyone? Anyways he is leaving." I spoke with a defeated voice, with tears building in no time.
Jericho sighed, and his looks softened while seeing me breaking down. He took my hand and spoke calmly, "He was not furious out of selfishness or hatred. He acted impulsively because he didn't know how to deal with the way he felt for you, which is something he had never felt before. Whatever he thinks, he can never leave you. Go ahead, Kora."
His words were definitely a confidence booster. I took a deep breath and told myself it was time to be brave. I decided to no more tears. I should now concentrate on making things work between Hades and me rather than crying over the things I couldn't control...like my nightmares about Vlad. I must show him that he is the only one I love, the only person who matters most.

"Come again!?!" I gasped when Mira told me of her plan. There was no way I was partaking in that madness.
"You want Hades to love you or not?" She reprimanded me, giving me that 'bitchy', 'I'm not impressed' and 'Do it, or I'll kill you' look. I looked at her desperately, which she took as a yes, so she continued, "Then do as I say, my little beauty."
"And if anything goes wrong, I swear the next time you're asleep, I will shave off your eyebrows," I warned, making her laugh.
"I think you'll pull this off," Mira said, and I sighed the opposite, "I think I am going to die in shame."
After some time, I walked through the narrow trail to the place where I supposed he should be. And there he was, sitting like a God on a solid rock beside the lake. The light of the moon bathed his skin, making it glow. It also shimmered over the lake beyond, making it feel like a scene out of some fairytale.
'I'm not the naive eighteen-year-old princess who believed in fairytales.' I was constantly reciting these words in my mind. However, no matter how much I tried to tell myself this, the second I saw him sitting there as the master of that place, I couldn't help my foot falter a step. It was as if the very sight of him made it hard to breathe. It was like looking directly into the eyes of a stunning predator that utterly captivated you with its dangerous beauty.
"Fuck!" I groaned the moment I saw his harsh gaze shift on me. This, in turn, also made me snap out of his fantasies. I frowned at him, quickly remembering Mira's plan.
I had to pretend that I was angry at him. So I stepped back and folded my arms, telling him without words that I didn't care about him being there.
"What are you doing here?" He asked in a rough tone as if loathing my presence. It felt like a beast questioned a victim about why it entered its domain.
"I'm not answerable to you." I bite back, deciding to be brave by swallowing down a hard lump of nerves.
Hades' lips twitched with amusement as he still looked down at me. I couldn't shake off the feeling that our emotions were fighting a silent battle among themselves. I felt like I was being studied by a predator so that he could find my weaknesses and abuse them as he wished.
'This is a bad idea...this is a bad idea' These lines kept replaying in my mind like a mantra. One second I wanted to draw him closer, and the next second I tried to warn myself to run away. I don't know why I let him intimidate me so much.
"Time to get to work, starting with a bath," I told myself, remembering Mira's instructions. I was unsure if this would work, but she insisted because she called herself a pro at 'sexually teasing a man'. The department in which I lacked experience as I was caged at the age of eight. That doesn't mean I'm unaware of what people do when making out. The credit for that goes to the guard Hades stabbed in the dick. He couldn't have me, so in frustration, he would bring another woman to my cage and fuck her in front of me. Of course, no one would like to see that pencil dick, so naturally, I would close my eyes, but that idiot guard warned me to watch, or I would be the next in line. So, with no option, I used to watch them, cringing at every moan they made and nearly puking the moment they screamed their orgasm. I wonder what Hades would do if he got to know about that. Maybe he will dig that guard from the grave and stab his dick all over again.
"Are you fucking crazy? Could you just concentrate on the task, 'Operation seduce Hades,' rather than thinking over the cringy things?" I reminded myself. So, with this, I removed my hood, making sure that he was looking at me...all of me. I was now wearing just a sheer white dress covering my modesty. I stepped inside the lake's cold waters with my heart beating erratically.
According to the plan, I would rise out of the water in a few minutes and flick my wet hair like some erotic seductress. The idea was he wouldn't see me naked but in a wet, see-through white dress that would tease him to the point of pain.
Okay, so it wasn't a bad plan, I had to admit, and it would have worked flawlessly, but Mira's one mistake was that she overlooked that my luck sucks.
The moment I dipped my body in the water, the dress floated up thanks to the air trapped inside, making me look like a balloon. And when I flicked my hair, they resembled the tangled ropes entwined among each other like snakes biting off their own asses. I didn't think looking like a fumbling witch would be a sexist sight.
His eyes bled fire as they roamed every inch of my skin, and my nipples pebbled at the intensity of his gaze. I saw him swallow hard, and his hands turned into fists as if he was fighting with himself...or he was really pissed off at me.
He stood and walked towards me into the water. Every muscle of his body was tensed, reminding me that sex was all I needed right then. Gods, I was trying to look sexy, but right now, in front of Hades, I had no hope!
I felt like running away as fast as my legs could carry me, even though I desired to spend every moment with him. He closed on the distance. For the second I took a step away from him, he took one closer to me. He had never voluntarily put himself this closer to me. What was he doing? What does it mean?
Well, I was soon to find out.
He took my hand in his, causing intense sparks to flutter in my heart the second he touched my skin. It seemed that I was locked inside his personal spell. Damn, my traitorous body! It always gave away evidence of the way he affected me.
His corded neck and those extensive muscle mass layering his arms made my mouth dry and my cheeks hot. He was not wearing a shirt, thus showing off his defined chest muscles. He looked utterly solid. His dark brown hair has been tamed back, giving a severe edge to his annoyance, no doubt asking himself why he was even here...or was it about me?
"So, are you going to explain what drove such an innocent little raven into the wolf's den, or am I left to guess?" His tone rang tauntingly while his fire gaze was transfixed on me.
"I...I..." I started to stutter as he continued getting closer.
"You...you...you were saying?" He taunted, waiting for an answer.
"Isn't it obvious?" Although I put on a brave front by speaking those words, deep inside, I was dying of panic.
"Then you are mistaken, for I never loved you." He replied, making me visibly jerk back, aghast in sheer disbelief. He was about to speak more, but I held up my hand, stopping him with a warning, "Don't." Nevertheless, he finished it, "I hate you."
"Dickhead!" I snarled, clenching my fists, controlling my urge to punch him across the face.
"Oh, you have no fucking idea." After hearing those words spit out of his mouth, I let my impulses kick in by pulling back my hand, then letting it swing in the direction of his face to deliver a tight slap. But before the impact, he grabbed my wrist, gripped it tightly, and yanked me forward. My face was just a hairsbreadth away from his as he spoke against my lips, "Try that again and see where it gets you," he threatened, sounding like pure venom.
I swallowed hard, losing some of my bravery, but I was not the one to recoil back, so I asked, "And where will it get me, Hades?"
His eyes burned slightly brighter, and his words left me utterly dumbfounded, "Bare, bound and across my knee if your childish behaviour continues. Now cover your goddamn body and get lost."
My mouth hung open in shock at his words, so much so that I couldn't even think of a single comeback. He backed off me as he thought it must have been wise to give me some space, as I swear I wasn't far from kicking him in the nuts and making a run for it.
I dashed out of the water, covered myself with the hood, and walked away from him, never intending to look back.
These cruel words seemed like a slap across my face. I was so stupid I wanted to look myself in the nearest mirror and call myself a fool before slapping myself silly! I wanted to hate him as much as I loved him.
"I hate you" was what he said to me, for I could never forget it. I could never forget those words that came out of his mouth, branded against my heart.
I was walking all alone, wrapped in the miseries, as the fog slowly crept its way. A strange chill descended on the surroundings, and the sky darkened in midnight black. The darkest hour of the night unfolded when the shadow creatures came out of hiding and had the world at their mercy.
And when I said my luck sucks, I was serious because I realized that in my anger and frustration, I had entered the heart of the 'Tombs of the Condemned.'
This place was death, and I could feel it in my bones.
The branches of the trees resembled the hissing serpents, entangled and coiled like a deadly maze. The sounds of the unseen nocturnal creatures crept through my ears, chilling me to my bones. I slowly breathed in the chill and musty air that was burning my insides. The path before me was hidden behind the heavy blanket of mist. Slowly the fog cleared as if swallowed by surrounding darkness, and all I could see were the unkempt tombs of the unknown. This place was indeed the 'Tombs of the condemned.'
Soon, the stench of the rotting carcasses hit my nose. I was astounded by how neglected this place was. I seemed to be the first person in a century to step on this part of the woods. The vines crawled up the broken tombs, which exposed the buried dead bodies to the mercy of all the dark elements of nature. But what caught my eye was a shadow!
Although I was alone in that creepy place, it still felt like hundreds of eyes were prying on me. I heard a rumbling sound, and my focus was glued to the red lights like dots. I knew what they were, and horror crept through my veins. Because they weren't lights...they were eyes.
The big red eyes!
They belonged to a group of boys barely out of their teenage. There were about six of them, accompanied by a giant hound. Apart from their bloodied eyes, the second weird thing about them was these guys were currently eating the remains of some bloody thing.
"Holy Hell!" I screamed. My hands slapped over my mouth to try to stop my own screams at the sight of the bloody vampires in the middle of their feeding frenzy.
'Run...just get out of here!' My instincts screamed at me, but it was too late. I only managed three steps back, and suddenly their heads snapped up, pinning me with their killer gaze. I felt frozen to the spot as if locked to the Earth. Then they opened their mouth and snarled at me. Their faces started distorting, and bones snapped and broke as their bodies twisted. They jerked and twisted their bodies and stood on all fours. They started moving towards me, showing their rotten fangs. The colour quickly drained from my face while my heart thumped like a crazy ball.
It was at that moment that I screamed, "Hades." And that was when I remembered why I even called his name when "He fucking hates me."

*I was falling, and you looked the other way!!...*