K is for Κέρβερος...WTF?

K is for Κέρβερος

I am so sorry to be posting this so late. It has been a heck of a day and so much has been going on. But here it is, finally, letter K in the A to Z Blog Challenge.

Ok, I am stretching it a bit here, but I promised a monster for every letter of the alphabet and K was a killer to find. Ok, yes, I could have done the Kraken, but seriously, next to the creature I’ve selected, the Kraken is just fish food.  Okay, are you ready?  So here goes. K is for Κέρβερος.

And everyone says, “Whaaat?” Κέρβερος (Greek for Cerberus) is a three headed dog that guards the gates of hell. “Hey…wasn’t he in HarryPotter,” you ask? Why yes, yes he was. But Fluffy was a kitten compared to the actual mythological version of this beast. Even Hercules had a difficult time with him and Hercules was a demi-god.

Like most beasts, Fluffy, (hee hee) likes music. Orpheus, who was known for his musical abilities, lured the beast to sleep by playing his lyre. He was then able to enter into the Underworld and Hades  allowed him to retrieve his wife. Unfortunately he didn’t succeed, but not because Fluffy took a bite out of him, but because he was unable to follow instructions.  He was told not to look behind him until he had her safely out of Hades. He did.  So long Eurydice.

 Cerberus was the love child of Echidna, a half-woman and half-serpent, and Typhon, a fire-breathing giant.  His brother, Orthrus, had two heads, but at one time, Cerberus was depicted as having one-hundred heads. No explanation exists, (that I could find,) to how he came to only have three.

So how did Hercules take this dog down? He wrestled him. I don’t imagine the dog put up a huge fight though. Hercules killed his brother, Orthrus and his nephew, the Nemean Lion. Considering the track record of mythical creatures Vs. the demi-god, I don’t think Κέρβερος was ready to become a permanent resident of Hades.

Despite being bested by Hercules and lulled to sleep by Orpheus…and outwitted by Harry, Hermione and Ron, Fluffy is a vicious beast and one you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley on your way home from slaying a beautiful young woman.

 The Goddess and the Demon Dog

by Lisa McCourt Hollar

His shirt was covered in blood, but no one took notice as Tom slithered by, heading to his dingy apartment on the south side of town.  Anyone who chanced to look at the young man looked away quickly, their mind immediately erasing his memory. There was no magic involved, only fear and self-preservation. Tom had the look of the devil about him and no one wanted his image imbedded in their mind.

Tom had just finished what he considered to be a very profitable acquisition. He had liberated a rich heiress of her jewelry. The dumb bitch had tried to fight him for the jewels, but he’d dispatched of her proper, gutting her and spilling her lovely innards on the ground. She’d cursed him then to be drug to hell by Hades own demon dog. Tom thought that was funny, considering she’d be there first.

He would go home and wash first and then look for Scaggins. The filthy jeweler owed him and if he didn’t want to end up in the ground, he’d find a buyer for him. He was passing by an alley, when a movement from the shadows caught his eye. To his astonishment, the woman he had just murdered was standing there.

“I’m seeing things,” Tom thought and turned to leave, but she was now blocking his path.

“Going somewhere Tom?”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know everything about you. I know that just last week you killed a man over a few dollars in his wallet. Did you know that his wife was in the hospital giving birth? He was on his way from work to be with her.”

“Man should have just given me his money then.”

“He tried, but you didn’t give him the chance. You slit his throat.”

“Well what business is it of yours?”

Smiling, the woman gestured to her abdomen. The wound was bloody, gaping open with gore and entrails oozing out. “You made it my business.”

“Who are you?”

“Persephone.”

Tom’s bowels almost discharged when he heard the name of the dread goddess of the underworld. A fortune teller had once told him she would be the death of him.

“That and your lust for blood,” the fortune teller had said, as she lay dying on the floor. Tom hadn’t taken much stock in what she said though, since she hadn’t been able to predict her own death.

Behind the young goddess, Tom heard a growl. Peering into the darkness, he saw a dog slinking towards him. Then, as it came out of the shadows, Tom saw that the creature had three heads.

“”What the fuck!” Tom fell over backwards as the thing came at him, eyes glowing like they were on fire.  Snakes that were writhing on the hounds back, hissed and struck at him, their fangs digging in to his skin. A tail scaled and shaped like a dragons, swung around and flipped Tom over as he tried to climb back onto his feet. Then one of the dog’s heads dodged forward and latched onto Tom, dragging him to hell as he screamed.