My Wives are Beautiful Demons

Hela’s figure remained formed inside the extinguished fireplace, motionless like a statue made of shadow and cold. The living half of her face showed no hurry. The other half seemed to carry all the dry patience of a corpse that had already heard far too many excuses. Freya stood rigid before her, still trying to process the sentence.

"Frey entered Helheim without my permission," Freya repeated, as if saying it again could make it make less sense. "That should not be possible."

"I know," Hela replied.

Her voice was low, but seemed to cross the room like a thin blade. Aphrodite was still sitting on Vergil’s lap, but her posture had changed. Her body was more upright, one hand still holding Freya’s old comb, the other resting on Vergil’s chest to keep the bridge stable. Vergil sustained her presence without moving, watching Hela carefully.

Sapphire stood near the window, spear in hand. Seris remained silent, something rare, reinforcing the room’s runes with small movements of her fingers. Alice looked at the fireplace as if she had already decided she did not like Hela, but was still waiting to find out whether she would need to act.

Freya took another step forward. "How did he enter?"

"If I knew exactly, this conversation would be shorter."

"You are the ruler of Helheim."

"And I was busy trying to stop my realm from splitting into dead routes, trapped souls, and Valkyries losing contact with the outside world and the other realms," Hela said, without changing her tone, but with a hardness that made Freya fall silent. "I am not sitting on a throne waiting for tragedies to arrive one at a time so I can receive them with tea."

Aphrodite glanced sideways at Seris.

Seris murmured, "That was far too specific."

Hela ignored her.

"My Valkyries were cut off from paths they should recognize with their eyes closed. Some lost contact with Midgard. Others cannot reach Asgard. Others are trapped in intermediate regions, hearing calls from dead who belong to no registered name. I am reorganizing an entire network of spiritual transit while something tries to convince ancient passages that they were never closed."

Freya clenched her fists. "And Frey?"

Hela looked at her.

"Frey is no longer here."

The answer landed heavily.

Freya stood still for an instant, as if the sentence had removed the ground beneath her feet. "No longer... in Helheim?"

"No."

"But he was."

"Yes."

"Alive?"

Hela did not answer immediately.

Freya went pale.

Vergil spoke before she lost control. "Hela."

The ruler of Helheim turned her eyes to him. For the first time, her expression changed almost imperceptibly. Not exactly respect. Recognition of danger.

"When he entered," Hela said, "he still carried the presence of the living. Distorted, wounded, but alive enough for Helheim to reject him as a resident and treat him as an invader."

Freya let out air with difficulty.

It was not relief. Not completely. But it was something.

"Then where did he go?" she asked.

"To a passage that should no longer exist."

Seris closed her eyes for an instant. "Of course."

Sapphire looked at Hela. "Was it opened using him?"

The shadow in the fireplace grew denser.

"Yes."

Freya raised a hand to her mouth.

Hela continued, coldly, "Something used his nature as justification. Frey carries life, fertility, light, growth. Helheim is death, silence, rest, and end. An ancient passage was convinced that a living contradiction inside my realm was a key. By the time I noticed, the opening had already formed."

Vergil narrowed his eyes. "Did you close it?"

"I closed part of it."

"Part."

"It did not behave like an ordinary passage." Hela looked at Seris for a second, as if she knew the witch would understand better than the others. "It did not open only a path. It tried to make Helheim remember an architecture that existed before my rule. As if it were telling the realm that my laws were too recent to be taken seriously."

Seris became serious. "Outer Sepulcher."

"That name has begun to be spoken with irritating frequency," Hela said.

Aphrodite breathed slowly. "You should have called for help."

Hela turned her gaze to her. "And you should have stayed away from problematic gods. We can see that neither of us makes ideal decisions."

Aphrodite smiled without humor. "Fair."

Freya ignored the exchange. "You said Frey is no longer there. But do you know where he went?"

"Not with certainty."

"Then with uncertainty."

Hela held her gaze. "He was dragged through a route that pointed outside Helheim, but not toward Asgard, Midgard, or any stable Norse realm. There are traces of an ancient fold. And there is something else."

Vergil noticed her tone had worsened.

"What?"

Hela took a little longer.

"My brother has disappeared as well."

The room went silent.

Aphrodite frowned. "Fenrir?"

"Yes."

Freya widened her eyes. "Fenrir is missing?"

Hela looked at her with a dry expression. "I said disappeared. With Fenrir, those two things are not always the same."

Vergil did not ask whether Fenrir was in the Werewolf Realm. The possibility crossed his mind, but died there. If Hela was confined to Helheim, she probably could not confirm it. And besides, Fenrir was not exactly the kind of creature someone placed in a simple category just because wolves, monsters, and kings liked claiming symbolic kinship.

Hela seemed to notice the unspoken thought.

"I cannot confirm where he is. I am confined in Helheim while the routes remain unstable. And my brother is an idiot who does what he wants, when he wants, because he confuses freedom with biting any chain that looks boring. So I cannot state that he is truly missing."

Sapphire let out a low laugh. "Sounds like a pleasant family."

Hela looked at her. "It is not."

Vergil crossed his arms. "It must be difficult having siblings."

Hela slowly turned her face toward him. For an instant, something almost like exhaustion appeared in her expression.

"Even more when our father is an idiot."

Vergil went silent.

Then the memory clicked into place.

Hela. Fenrir. Jörmungandr.

Children of Loki.

Vergil’s mouth curved into a crooked, short, inevitable laugh. It was not joy. It was the kind of laughter that emerged when the absurdity of the world managed to be far too consistent. Sapphire looked at him from the side, catching the exact moment he understood.

Hela did not seem offended. Only tired.

"Yes," she said. "That idiot."

Seris raised a finger. "For the record, when Loki’s children start disappearing or acting strangely during a crisis involving ancient death routes, that is a terrible sign."

"Thank you for the obvious contribution," Hela replied.

"You are welcome."

Freya tightened her hands. "Could Fenrir be connected to what happened to Frey?"

"He could," Hela said. "Or he could have sensed something and decided to go after it before anyone could tell him no. Or he could be hunting a shadow simply because the shadow growled at him. It is Fenrir."

Vergil nodded slightly. "I understand."

Hela looked at him. "No. You probably do not. But you will if you meet him."

"Is that a warning?"

"It is common sense."

Aphrodite adjusted the comb in her hand, and the bridge between the room and Helheim wavered for an instant. Hela turned her face toward the darkness behind her, as if hearing something none of them could hear. Her expression hardened again.

"I need to go."

Freya took a step forward. "Wait."

"I cannot. I have Valkyries trapped between routes, souls accumulating in the wrong regions, and ancient dead trying to remember paths that should remain forgotten."

"And Frey?"

Hela looked at her.

"If you and Vergil wish to come search for Frey, I authorize entry."

The air in the room changed.

Freya went still.

Vergil held Hela’s gaze. "You authorize our entry into Helheim."

"Yes."

"With conditions?"

"Not that you would obey them without questioning."

"Say them anyway."

Hela seemed almost satisfied with the answer. "Do not answer voices coming from the ancient passages. Do not accept guides I have not named. Do not follow faceless Valkyries. And if you find Fenrir, do not try to hold him by force. He interprets that as an invitation."

Sapphire raised an eyebrow. "Invitation to what?"

"Violence."

"Of course."

Freya took a deep breath. "Thank you."

Hela looked at her for a longer moment.

"Do not thank me yet. Perhaps you will find your brother. Perhaps you will find only what they used of him."

Freya felt the sentence like a blow, but this time she did not lose control. Her energy trembled, rose a little, and then receded. Aphrodite noticed. So did Vergil.

Hela seemed to notice as well, and her expression became less harsh for an instant.

"That is better than before," she said.

Freya let out a weak laugh. "Receiving praise from Hela after being warned that I may find only my brother’s remains is a horrible experience."

"Families are horrible."

"I agree."

Aphrodite held the comb more firmly. "Hela."

The ruler of Helheim turned her gaze to her.

"The answer has been paid."

"It has."

"Then take care of your realm."

"I am trying."

The shadow inside the fireplace began to come apart.

Before disappearing completely, Hela looked at Vergil one last time.

"Demon King. If you come to Helheim, bring silence. The things waking there hear bonds the way dogs hear meat."

Vergil did not look away. "I know."

"You do not know enough."

Then the fireplace became empty again.

The room’s temperature slowly began to rise, but the weight of the conversation remained. The flames did not return immediately. Aphrodite stayed quiet for a few seconds on Vergil’s lap, eyes fixed on the bone comb in her hand. Then she sighed, tired, as if the contact with Hela had taken more from her than just energy.

Freya stood there, unsure whether she should sit, scream, or thank someone again who had already vanished.

Sapphire rested the spear on the floor. "Helheim, then."

"Helheim," Seris repeated, with the expression of someone already reorganizing half the plans. "Because apparently Tartarus was not enough for today."

Vergil did not answer. He was looking at the extinguished fireplace, thinking about Hela’s words. Frey used as a key. Fenrir possibly disappeared. Ancient passages. Valkyries cut off. Helheim unstable.

Then Aphrodite moved on his lap.

She took out a small magical phone, delicate, with a golden finish and pink details that looked completely out of place after a conversation with Hela. The screen glowed with soft runes. Aphrodite dialed a number without asking anyone’s opinion.

Seris tilted her head. "Who are you calling?"

Aphrodite raised a finger, asking for silence.

The call connected.

She brought the device to her ear.

"Hm. Yeah, I need help." Pause. "Uhum. No, we kind of have a problem." Another pause. "No, no, I am serious, big brother."

Vergil slowly turned his face toward her.

So did Freya.

Sapphire narrowed her eyes with curiosity.

Aphrodite continued, "Yes, I am home. Yes, I am with two important people." Pause. "Okay, okay, I am not going to try— Hey!" She turned red with irritation. "I am still a virgin!"

The entire room went motionless.

Seris opened her mouth.

Alice looked at Vergil.

Sapphire looked at Aphrodite.

Freya seemed to forget for half a second that her brother was missing.

Aphrodite hung up the phone hard and kept staring at the screen as if she could strangle whoever was on the other side just by looking.

Vergil asked, after a few seconds, "Who was that?"

Aphrodite still looked offended. "Hercules."

Freya blinked. "Hercules?"

Aphrodite placed the phone on her lap and took a deep breath, trying to recover her dignity. "I called him. He can help us find Frey."

Vergil frowned slightly. "How?"

Aphrodite looked at him as if the answer were obvious.

"My big brother can do anything."

Sapphire let out a low laugh.

Seris rested her head on her hand. "That is horribly vague."

"But it is true," Aphrodite said.

Freya still looked confused. "Hercules is going to help search for my brother in Helheim?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Aphrodite looked at her, simple and direct. "Because I asked."

The answer had no arrogance. It had certainty.

Vergil stared at Aphrodite for an instant. He already knew she had a complicated relationship with Olympus, with the gods, with practically everything that carried the smell of golden temples and ancient hypocrisy. But there was something in the way she spoke of Hercules that was different. Less bitter. Less venomous. More familiar.

"Will he come?" Vergil asked.

Aphrodite sighed. "He will. Complaining, asking if I am being kidnapped, threatening to break your face if you have done anything to me, and probably bringing food, because he thinks all problems can be solved after eating something."

Sapphire smiled. "He sounds useful."

"He is useful," Aphrodite said. "And irritating."

Seris looked at Vergil. "So now we have to deal with Hela, Frey, Fenrir, an ancient passage, unstable Freya, Tartarus, Nyx, Titans, Norse blacksmiths, and Hercules coming here."

Alice murmured, "Sounds like a normal day."

Vergil closed his eyes for an instant.

Aphrodite, still on his lap, touched his face with one hand, softening her expression. "He will help."

"I believe you."

"And he will like you."

Vergil opened his eyes. "I doubt it."

"He will."

Sapphire raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Aphrodite smiled, now a little calmer.

"Because he likes strong, honest, problematic people."

Seris laughed. "Then it is love at first sight."

Vergil looked at her.

Seris raised her hands. "I am quiet."

Freya sat slowly, as if the weight of everything had caught up with her body again. "If Hercules really can help find Frey... I am grateful."

Aphrodite looked at her.

The tension between the two still existed. Freya still felt uncomfortable near a goddess who occupied a domain similar to her own. Aphrodite still perceived that clearly. But at that moment, there was no competition. Only a woman asking for help finding her brother.

Aphrodite nodded.

"He will help."

Freya lowered her eyes. "Thank you."

Aphrodite did not answer with provocation. She simply accepted it.

Vergil passed one hand around Aphrodite’s waist, keeping her steady against him. She relaxed a little, as if that presence were enough to keep the weight of the conversation with Hela from remaining on her shoulders for too long.

Sapphire looked at the fireplace, then at Vergil.

"So the next stop may be Helheim."

"Maybe," Vergil said.

"And before that?"

Vergil looked at Freya. "Before that, control."

Freya let out a defeated sigh. "I knew you would say that."

"And blacksmiths," he added.

Seris raised her hand. "And seals."

Sapphire completed, "And weapons."

Aphrodite raised the phone. "And Hercules."

Vergil looked at all of them.

Then let out a low sigh.

"I really get no rest."

Aphrodite smiled, leaned in, and kissed his cheek affectionately.

"No," she said. "But you have help."

Vergil did not answer.

But he did not disagree either.

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