Hellhound

Zeus sends Hermes to call off Cerberus’ attack on Kore before it’s too late.

Hermes was not looking forward to calling off this particular dog.

Aides’ tri-headed mutt, Cerberus, was stubborn at best, a glutton at worst.

He tracked the hungry beast to Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine in Nashville. A hellhound set loose in the middle of campus was a logistics nightmare, not to mention the tricky business of finding its intended prey in time.

Then he heard it.

An unearthly growl.

Hermes tore down the sidewalk, praying to Zeus he was not too late.

But his sister, Kore, was already torn between three sets of razor-edged teeth, covered in crimson gore.

Hermes shouted a furious command, banishing the monster back to its lair.

Kore’s injured lover cradled her broken form to his blood-stained chest, his wrenching sobs pierced with agony.

Hermes recognized him as the God of Medicine, Asclepius – ancient enemy of Aides for stealing his souls from the brink of death.

Asclepius can raise the dead.

There’s still hope.

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Cover by Popcorn Pictures

A wrathful Aides sends his loyal hellhound to fetch the defiant Kore and drag her back to his realm.

“Kore has defied me for the last time!” Aides spits angrily.

Winter has seized the dying earth in its icy grasp, and yet, Kore has not returned.

In over a millennia, she has never failed to take her place by his side in the underworld.

Now, he stands in a desolate parking lot in Nashville watching Kore escape through the glacial tempest with her lover. The irony of her fleeing past Athena’s temple only feeds the hungry beast of jealousy ripping its way through his core.

For thousands of years he has loved her, agonized over her, fought for her.

But he never found a way to win her love in return.

Her growing hatred has left no room for forgiveness.

And he will not forgive her transgression.

”Bring me Cerberus!” Aides orders his minion, “Kore’s consort should satisfy my hellhound’s appetite for live meat.”

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