Soul Kissed Read Free Page A

get dirty, I’ll never know,” I answered.  “You’re dead, you know.”
    “That hadn’t escaped my attention,” she smiled.  And I had to laugh. 
    Gaia was slightly snobbish and pretentious, but that was just a product of her upbringing.   Her father had been a wealthy Patrician and she had been born with a silver spoon clutched in her hand. She really did mean well.  She had been with me for a while now, ever since she realized that I could see her.  She stayed because she enjoyed living vicariously through me.  She also enjoyed changing with the times.  She had roamed the earth for two-thousand years as a spirit and her attitude and speech had adjusted accordingly. 
    “You really should cross over,” I told her for the millionth time. “The Underworld isn’t a bad place.  I’ve been there. I should know.”
    “Really?  If it isn’t so bad, then why did you run from it?” she asked with her delicate eyebrow raised.  The moon bathed her face in silver light.  She wasn’t beautiful, but she was a handsome girl with a lot of attitude.   She was witty, funny and because of my present circumstances, she was my only friend.
    “You know why,” I muttered.  “For one, I’m not dead.  I’m a demi-god.  There’s a big difference.  And two, my father, the evil soul-sucking, blood-drinker that he is, is trying to kill me so that he doesn’t have to go back.  He can find me too easily in the Underworld.”
    Gaia’s features twisted into a delicate scowl, as she sat with skinny hunched shoulders.  
    “I still don’t understand what exactly is going on.  All these years and you’ve never really wanted to talk about it.  Why did your father curse you?”
    I stared at the water in front of me, watching as it peacefully ebbed and flowed, as I remembered my father’s treachery.  Swallowing hard, I waved my hand and my memories appeared in front of us like a shimmering movie.  Gaia’s eyes snapped as she leaned forward to watch.
    I was with my mother that day and it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon.  I was standing outside of her sparkling crystal cave while she had been bustling about inside.  My father, Mormo, had appeared quietly, his long black duster swirling around him like mist.  His face was pale, his hair dark.
    “Hi, father,” I greeted him uncertainly.  It was unlike him to appear only to me.  He had never shown much interest in me at all, he usually only visited my mother.  I was an inconvenience to him.
    “Hello, child,” he replied solemnly, his pale face expressionless. “I need your help with something.  Would you help your father?”
    I could remember even now the cold pit that had formed in my belly.  I knew that something wasn’t right.  But there was a magnetism there- he had drawn me to him and I couldn’t resist.  It was the same effect that I now had on others.  It was part of the wretched curse.
    Against my better judgment, I had taken one shaking step toward him.  And that was all it took. Mormo whisked me away to the Underworld where we stood in front of the three Fates and Hades himself. 
    “You willingly offer your daughter to me, to stay with me here in the Underworld, in exchange for your freedom?” Hades had asked him, his face slightly incredulous.  With his back to a flickering fire, Hades appeared even more handsome than he actually was, which was an impossible feat.  He was heart-wrenchingly attractive. 
    Mormo nodded.  “I bring her here to exchange for my own life.”
    The three Fates smiled in unison and I wanted to vomit.  Even now, their treachery was unfathomable. They had willingly destroyed everyone. 
    “So be it,” Hades replied grimly.  “You may go.  With my words, your curse has been placed upon your daughter Empusa.”
    Hades turned to me.  “I’m sorry, Empusa.  From this moment forward, you will carry your father’s curse.  You must consume the souls of mortals in order to stay immortal. You will