Out of Practice Aphrodite (The Goddess Chronicles Book 1)

by S. E. Babin

  I sat back in my chair with a huff. “Well, things are becoming much clearer, aren’t they?”

  At that same time, Artie strolled through the patio doors carrying two cups of hot java and a bag of what I hoped were sugary goodies in her mouth. She dumped everything onto the table and sat down beside me. “So what’d I miss?”

  Ares chuckled and quickly caught Artie up. “The apples are gone? Again?” An incredulous look formed on her face and she rolled her eyes heavenward. “Abby, why can’t you ever just take weekends off? You always manage to get caught up in some wild scheme that usually ends up with Zeus coming up with new and inventive ways to torture people.”

  I hung my head sheepishly.

  She was right. It was easy to get bored when you were five thousand years old. Most days were spent spinning up the nymphs or lounging around New York. I rarely got involved in anything that had the potential to get me killed. Look at me. I was evolving.

  “Sorry, Artie. You’re welcome to vacate.”

  She glared at me. “I’m not going anywhere. Someone has to get you out of this mess.” She focused her attention on Ares.

  “So, the demigods, eh? That puts us in a right pickle, doesn’t it?”

  Ares spread his hands wide in a gesture of placation, so I chose that moment to snag the bag and see what goodness Artie had brought. I couldn’t talk about demigods without sugary sustenance.

  “Not all of them are bad, Artie,” said Ares.

  “I’m well aware of that, Ares, but the majority of them aren’t very good, either, are they?” said Artie.

  I snorted. That wasn’t the half of it. Many of the demigods were known for being crazy, and that was a nice description. Although, I guessed I had to admit that crazy wasn’t the same as evil, but sometimes it sure seemed synonymous.

  I lifted an apple fritter out of the bag and took a deep bite. Mumbling through a mouthful of fried donut, I asked Ares who we were dealing with.

  “That’s always been an extremely unattractive trait, Abby.” He was examining me like I was a bug under a microscope, but I didn’t care. Ares always came second when food was involved. Pretty much everyone came second if there were a delicious meal or cup of coffee in sight. It was probably a good thing I had a goddess’ metabolism.

  “Yup,” I said. I locked eyes with him and started to lick the sugar off all of my fingers. His gaze turned from disgust to sudden interest. I cleared my throat. My attempt to disgust him backfired and ratcheted up the temperature. I stopped, ducked my head, and grabbed a napkin to wipe the rest of the mess off my hands before Ares got any ideas about our relationship.

  Ares took the hint and rummaged through the bag, pulling out a blueberry muffin.

  Health nut, I thought.

  “It’s a muffin, Abby. Not a carrot.”

  Mind reader. I hated when he did that.

  “Same thing,” I said.

  He rolled his eyes and through a bite of muffin told us who he suspected was behind the apple theft.

  Both Artie and I inhaled and almost choked on our coffee.

  “Orpheus?” We echoed each other in disbelief.

  Disappointment shot through me. Orpheus was one of my favorites, although he too could claim the crazy crown. That dude could sing like a nightingale. We had spent many nights hanging out talking while he mourned the loss of his wife.

  His wife. “Wait,” I said. “How am I supposed to match someone who’s already married?”

  I could tell Artie had already thought of the same question. There was no way Orpheus had found someone else. Eurydice was the only woman for him. I knew his story didn’t necessarily have a happy ending, but Orpheus was not immortal and would see her again when he passed from this world.

  “I don’t believe you’ve kept up with your friend, Abby.” Ares chided me. I felt a stirring of guilt about it, but I was more curious about where this story was going.

  “Eurydice was left in the Underworld after all of Orpheus’ efforts to bring her home. He never stopped mourning her or plotting ways to get her back. Hades’ anger at Orpheus was legendary and you and I both know we are unable to forgive easily.”

  Oh, boy, did I know. There was a reason Ares and I were no longer an item, even after Hephaestus was out of the picture.

  I elected silence as the better part of valor, but motioned him with a hand to continue. “Unbeknownst to Persephone, Hades and Orpheus struck a deal. Once a year he would release Eurydice from the Underworld for forty-eight hours. If Orpheus were able to find her, Hades would restore her life.”

  “Doesn’t sound too difficult,” Artie piped in.

  “Ah, but Hades has the entire world as his playground, and it would defeat the purpose if he gave Orpheus any hints as to where she might be.”

  I could see where the difficulty in that might lie. Orpheus may have been magically gifted with music and charm, but he was still bound by the laws of physics. To be successful in his task, it was likely he would have needed help from the gods or goddesses. Another thought suddenly struck me.

  “When was this deal struck?” I had a sinking feeling Orpheus had been seeking Eurydice for much longer than any of us may have thought.

  “Hades appeared to Orpheus after he looked back at Eurydice in the Underworld. Once she was lost, Orpheus was despondent. Although we believe Hades is a monster, he had pity for him.”

  “Really?” I said scornfully. “He couldn’t just give him a second chance instead of sending him on a permanent worldwide goose chase?”

  Artie gave me a long look. “Abby, we all know that’s not how the gods work. Even you.”

  She was right. I should know this better than most. I was not born of Zeus and possessed no need for power. I had no thirst to conquer, but in the past, I had been viciously vain. While I still had my moments, my bloodthirsty tendency toward vengeance had softened over the years. However, I would always possess a tender heart when it came to the art of love.

  Hades had allowed Orpheus to embark on a fruitless chase for his soul mate that had gone on for years. I felt a bitter anger boil within me. If this was Hades’ way to show pity, I’d hate to see his anger.

  “But what do the apples have to do with Orpheus? I’m not sure what the connection is.”

  Artie had already connected the dots. “Immortality. It’s something all of the demigods crave. Even though they are blessed with a lengthy life span, death still slowly approaches them. If he has been chasing Eurydice for this long, it seems he may have been close to finding her. Especially if he was willing to anger Hera. I think it’s safe for us to assume he planned to share the apple with her. Once they were immortal and free from Hades, they could spend their lives together on earth or Olympus.”

  “Where is Orpheus now?”

  Ares smiled. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Finish up, ladies. Consider me your friendly Asheville tour guide, at least for the next few hours.”

  Oh, joy. Making a love match with one of my ex-boyfriends. It was a regular party.

  6

  Chapter Six

  Being stuffed in a car with the God of War was about as much fun as I’d thought it would be. An excruciating half hour later we pulled up to a quaint home nestled near the Smoky Mountains. My first thought as I hurriedly exited the car was that the place was a bit too cheery to be hosting Orpheus. After his loss, he had retreated to a dark place few of us were able to reach. I kept forgetting it had been many years since I’d seen him. Maybe the small hope of seeing Eurydice again had allowed him the opportunity to let some of the light in.

  His home was painted a homey beige and the landscape was bursting with color. Brilliant petunias spilled out from baskets hanging from the oak trees, and hummingbirds flitted to and fro between the salvia spires planted in the front. I allowed myself a small smile. Beauty was evident everywhere. People just had to slow down every once in a while to see it.

  I looked over at Artie who was wearing a small smile and a look of wonder on her face.
When everything was over she and I were going to go play in the woods. Artie might not be a dryad and tied to the earth, but her time away from nature was beginning to affect her. I watched as she walked over to the purple salvia, unsurprised when the hummingbirds stayed to feed. She bent down to inhale the spicy scent and lightly touched one of the birds on the back. A thin thread of silver poured from her fingers and the bird began to glow with an unearthly light.

  Ares stepped up quietly beside me. “What’s she doing?”

  “No idea,” I murmured. “But isn’t it beautiful?”

  We headed up to the doorway when Artie stopped us with a wave. Shocked, we were forced to stay in place because neither of us could lift a limb.

  Artie stepped away from the bird and turned to us with a frown. “Abby, something is wrong here.”

  Considering I was unable to move or speak, I obviously agreed. “Oh, sorry,” she said and released us from the binding.

  Ares face was mottled purple, “Artie, if you ever pull a stunt–

  “Save it, Ares.”

  Uh oh. It may have been a nice cool day in Asheville, but the temperature plunged about twenty degrees when she made that statement.

  I tried to lighten the mood.

  “You got all that from a bird?” I snorted with laughter and even Ares’ lips twitched, but both of us sobered when she failed to lighten up.

  “That bird may very well have just saved our lives, Abby.”

  Huh?

  At the same moment, the door of the home burst open and a black cloud of malevolence shot out. All three of us were caught inside and it dropped us to our knees. The cloud swirled, whipping leaves and twigs in the air and making tiny cuts in my skin. Blackness crept inside of me, cutting off my air supply. I heard an anguished cry from Artie and felt Ares grip my arm painfully. A whisper of torment sang through my heart. “You’re too late,” a voice within the cloud breathed and it vanished as quickly as it had engulfed us.

  I collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.

  Ares had never let go of my arm, and we lay in an awkward tangle of limbs, both trying to recover from whatever had just happened.

  “Eris,” Artie whispered.

  Understanding left me for a moment. I could barely move my body, much less think of who or what might have been behind what just happened. Ares, however, seemed to better understand what she was saying.

  “It can’t be. My sister has no powers.” Ares managed to recover faster than us and extricated himself from me. More’s the pity.

  Still lying on the ground, I looked for Artie. I found her lying on her back, chestnut hair scattered and chest heaving for air. Her glasses were gripped in her hand, but both of the lenses were cracked. I heaved myself up, dusted myself off, and stumbled over to her.

  “Before we discuss anything further, we need to get inside that house and check on Orpheus.” The warning of being too late reverberated through my skull, and in my heart I knew what we were likely to find when we stepped inside.

  Ares volunteered to go in first. If he hadn’t I would have shoved him in and fed him to whatever wolves were left there. I followed behind and Artie stepped in last. What was once a beautiful home was now tainted by darkness. I could feel the malevolence slither down my spine, and looked cautiously around to ensure we didn’t have any more company. The air was fetid and anything living had curled into rot. We walked carefully around inside examining but not touching anything. We may have been from Olympus, but none of us needed trouble with the local police. A shout from Ares led Artie and me into one of the bedrooms.

  It was not unexpected, but I couldn’t contain a sharp cry. I covered my mouth with my hand and attempted to dissect what I was seeing. Beautiful, charming Orpheus lay on the bed, his body charred almost beyond recognition. Silver ash floated around the air. What it contained I probably didn’t want to know, but as I watched the air circulating from the overhead fan began to loosen flakes of Orpheus. Horrified, we all stood together and watched as his body slowly floated away leaving nothing but bones behind. I shut my eyes and grasped Artie’s hands. Her long fingers tightened around mine, both of us lost in our thoughts.

  Ares stood in the far corner of the room, staring at both of us with a rare look of sympathy in his eyes.

  “His gift will be mourned among the gods.”

  Raw anger pulsed through me at the blatant loss of life. “His death will be avenged by the gods.”

  Artie’s eyes glittered a vivid purple. “Orpheus’ song will live on.”

  With ash covering all of us, we solemnly filed out of the room, each lost in memories of the man who had wanted only to love and sing.

  Back outside I turned to examine the damage wrought by whatever it was that had spilled out of the house. The beautiful landscaping shriveled into a dull brown, and the wood on the porch turned to rot. A perfect circle had appeared in the spot where we were hit, but where there once had been mossy green grass, nothing living existed anymore. With a sick feeling in my stomach, I leaned against the car and motioned for Artie.

  “Eris?”

  She nodded solemnly and bent her head to examine her fingernails. “Has to be,” she muttered. “There is no other force in the world so foul.”

  Ares joined us. “Abby, if it’s Eris, you won’t be able to do this alone.” I felt sorry for him. To know his sister could be involved in such a heinous crime and to be attacked by her was a double whammy. But knowing him as well as I did, the last thing he probably wanted was sympathy. If it were Eris, and I was beginning to suspect we were on the right track, there was no way I could take her down if she had managed to regain all of her powers.

  “No kidding,” I said. “I can barely get matchmaking right and you want me to take on the Goddess of Chaos? Crazy talk.”

  There was no way Zeus knew Eris was involved. I couldn’t believe he’d be so willing to set me up to die. On the other hand, I could get on board with the fact that Hera knew.

  “I failed. I have no idea what to do next. Orpheus is dead, and Eris obviously has the apples.”

  “You haven’t failed, Abby. There is no way you could have known you’d arrive here to find Orpheus in this state.”

  I was frustrated with the entire situation. “Well, I certainly didn’t succeed. I was sent here to make a match and fifty percent of the match is gone. I’d say that’s a big, fat failure, wouldn’t you?”

  Artie touched my shoulder. “Abby, this isn’t over. There’s no way we can allow Eris to keep those apples. Who knows what she has them for? As much as I hate to say this, I think we should report back to Zeus.”

  “I’d rather go home and cry. Artie, I don’t want to go back to Olympus. I know you might not understand my reasons for staying here, but I feel alive. I don’t feel like the most beautiful woman in the world or that people abide by my whims simply because they have to. I’m just Abby ­– a slightly ditzy, pretending to be a thirty-something-year-old, single woman. I even manage to clean my own house. The fact that I may have to look Hephaestus in the eye for the next thousand or so years is almost more than I can take.”

  “He won’t send you to him,” Ares interjected quietly.

  “Oh, really? You’re going to go up against Zeus?” I couldn’t help the sarcasm dripping from my words. No one took on Zeus and lived to tell. He made cold revenge an art form. Just when you thought you could sleep at night – bam. Bed full of vipers and a slow, painful death.

  “No, you are.”

  I scoffed. “Yeah, because I did so well when he popped into my apartment the other night. So far, I’ve managed to fly thousands of miles only to stumble into my ex-boyfriend and a dead guy. As you can see, my track record is poor as usual.”

  Sirens broke through our conversation. Several police vehicles and an ambulance raced up the long driveway and stopped close beside us. Shock lit our gazes and we stood frozen to the spot.

  “Let’s change that track record to just plain lousy,” I said.

 
; Thank goodness for levelheaded Artie. “Everyone just shut up and let me handle this.” Ares didn’t say a word. He was a fast learner.

  I mimicked a lock and key motion. Artie grinned, nudging me with her elbow and walking ahead to meet one of the officers who had stepped out of a patrol car.

  I always did have a thing for a man in uniform. Who was I kidding? I had a thing for almost any man but most often chose not to act because I didn’t want to deal with the complications. I’d been involved in numerous relationships over the years but was never tempted to get involved with a mortal, not even when the Roman soldiers came out to play. The man walking toward me now had me rethinking my attitude.

  Holy hotness. Who knew a small town could grow such a fine specimen? I felt the hair on my arms stand up and I self-consciously reached up and fluffed my hair. I couldn’t be the only one affected by this and I sneaked a glance at Artie, who was now standing with her mouth hanging open. I’d always known she had great taste.

  Ares, usually secure in his manhood, caught onto our not so subtle body language and gave us a dirty look. He crossed his arms and assumed a macho stance, no doubt trying to draw the adoration back to where he felt it rightfully belonged. Too late. Ares was in the rearview, at least for the next few minutes.

  There were many wonderful things about a sheriff’s uniform, and one of them happened to be the sexy hat. It was the person under the hat that made it work, though. He was tall and lean and walked like he meant businesses. His stare gave nothing away, but his jaw was clenched. He looked like he knew he was coming up on a disturbing find, but I bet he was also wondering what our presence meant. He glanced at Artie, who still stood there looking shell-shocked, but his gaze lingered on Ares for a moment. An audible spark of competition flared between them and I chuckled inwardly. This could be interesting. When he locked gazes with me, I felt my heart speed up and my mouth go dry.

  Slate gray eyes stared down at me from a chiseled face. A face that had seen too much too soon. I had to tilt my head up to look at him. He stopped in front of me, and we continued our silent observation of each other. I could feel myself blushing under his perusal, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. He was standing too close, but I wasn’t angry about his invasion of my personal space. If anything, I wouldn’t have minded crawling right inside of him.