by J Thompson
†
Cupid’s magic flowed and surged from his fingers as he picked up on the bottles presence. No mortal could see him, which was handy considering he was still dressed in those jogging bottoms he favoured and had no shirt on. If they could see, both males and females would flock to be near him-yes, he was that irresistible and sexy and hot. The list would go on, if he had the time.
He didn’t feel the cold, which again, was lucky, but he also couldn’t linger in the cold, half dressed and flexing his fingers like Mr Tickle in attack mode. His magic, although it was his, could and would be felt by the other immortals if he used too much in a short space of time. This meant the chance of getting busted by his wife got higher and higher the longer he stayed.
Not that he would have minded. Usually, getting busted equalled a make up session, but after the response to his specially crafted photo message with red bow, she was now subject to Cupid’s silent treatment, and he had decided she didn’t deserve any of Pedro for a while. Yes, he would put his wife on a sex ban.
Cupid tilted his head to look up at the house he had aimed his magical touch at and frowned. Did he really just say that in his head?
“Sex ban? Really?” he said out loud as his fingers continued to do their thing. Only an immortal could see the strings of magic that flowed and surged into the house.
Keeping one hand up and working, Cupid pulled the waist band on his joggers so he could see into them and look at his own man dangle.
“Sorry Pedro, I did say sex ban and it’s for our own good.” He nodded and smiled sadly. “She needs to learn to appreciate us again.” He then let go of his joggers and patted his bulge. All the while, his other hand kept with the finger flexing.
“Lady, you better appreciate getting the personal Cupid treatment,” he grumbled. His hands lowered and he sighed. “Coz if you don’t get your love life sorted then it means I’ve lost my mojo and well, that cant fucking happen.” In a childlike act, he stamped his foot.
“I’m Cupid for fuck sake, god of love, lord of romance, fucking sexy bastard and I will not lose my mojo because I like getting spanked by the missus!” He stopped and blinked, then whispered in a very Hagrid like way, “Maybe shouldn’t have said that.”
Head bent, Cupid turned away from the house that now sported a bright pink heart above the roof. Only the most sensitive to magic would get a mild glimpse of it. The dawn was quiet as he walked away. His bare chest glistened in the rising sun as he turned up the street.
“And no, I’m not gay. I have a wife, duh!” he mumbled to his groin. “I just like pink! Pedro, I thought you were on my side?”
Cupid needed a time out, with tequila.
Belinda blinked slowly as she returned from the land of nod and made it back to the land of the living. She felt strangely calm and, oddly enough, not tired at all. In fact, she felt the most refreshed she had ever done. Usually she wasn’t really a morning person and it, on average, took a good hour for her to be awake and human enough to function.
Most mornings consisted of her alarm going off about three times until she would crawl out of bed and into the shower. After that it would take a strong cup of tea and then she would get dressed. By this point, she would have been up for just over an hour and nearly ready to face the world. But now, Belinda frowned up at the ceiling, now she felt like she could bounce out of bed and take on the world.
She turned her head to look at her clock and smiled when she saw it was only 5:30. She chuckled, she had only slept the day away so no wonder she felt so refreshed. Reaching over to her bedside table, she picked up her mobile phone, only to nearly drop it.
It wasn’t 5:30pm it was 5:30am, on Monday morning. She had managed to sleep away a whole day and night. Belinda sat up in bed and turned on the light of her small lamp. She noticed she had received a text but she ignored it for the time being. Things didn’t feel right. Yes, she felt refreshed and awake but she didn’t feel herself. Climbing out of bed, she headed for the bathroom, only to stop in front of her full length mirror by the door.
Belinda tilted her head as she looked at herself dressed in black PJ bottoms and a lacy vest. Strange, she thought, she was positive she had gone to bed in just the towel she had used from the shower. Her hair hung loose and was somehow way past her shoulders, when it had only just reached her shoulders before, it looked shinier than usual and slightly wavy. She loved how it looked but its sudden growth confused her, that and the fact her skin looked clear and almost rosy, her eyes were bright and also clear. She leaned in closer to look; she shook her head, convinced she had seen a tinge of pink around her irises.
When she stepped back she looked again at her entire reflection. She looked good, not that she looked bad before, but everything just seemed fuller and well, positive. Well that didn’t make sense, Belinda thought, and then moved away to get ready for the day. It didn’t matter, she would just put it all down to a bloody good day and night’s sleep and get on with her week.
She paused at her wardrobe and looked over the rails, most of her clothes were dark in colour as that was what she preferred but today she felt she needed a little colour. Her eyes snagged on a splash of red that was hidden on the far side of the rail. She pulled it out and smiled. Perfect.
†
Belinda sipped from her large mug of tea and she looked out over her back garden as she sat at her small breakfast table. The unusual feeling of being ready to take on the world still hadn’t gone and it was now two hours later. She was now dressed in a vintage style red dress and she had, for the first time in years, left her hair down and she didn’t feel as uncomfortable as she first thought she would.
Belinda had, of course, taken the bottle out of the box once again and had even ventured this time as to remove the stopper and smell the contents directly. There was something about the scent that called to her and before she could stop herself, she had dabbed the perfume on her pulse points before she placed it back inside the ornate box and then picked it up and took it with her to place in her hand bag. Why she needed to take it with her she had no idea, but it was as if she had no control on what she did with the bottle. She would think it and then next moment she was already half way through doing the action.
Her logical, OCD side should be flipping its shit but she found she was too relaxed at the moment. She heard the bottle vibrate in her bag. She smiled and picked her bag up as well as her coat; also a bright red that matched the dress.
“Come on then, let’s go to work.” She spoke to her bag as if it was the most normal thing in the world as she pulled on her coat and walked to the door. “Let’s see what fun we can have.”
There was that tiny part of Belinda that was on edge and confused by how she suddenly looked and how she acted. Both were out of her normal comfort zone and not at all her character. That side was soon shushed by the other side of Belinda that, in essence, wanted to live life to the full.
She felt almost torn, like two sides were tugging and fighting for dominance and at the moment, the playful, I don’t give a shit side was winning. Belinda breathed deep, catching the scent of her new perfume that blended with her own smell perfectly. Instantly it gave her a buzz and had her hopping out the door. As per usual she looked to her left in the hopes of seeing Mike, but there looked to be no sign of him. Pity, she thought, she was in the perfect frame of mind to ask him out.
Even though the temperature had dropped again to close to zero, Belinda felt warm enough in just her coat. She smiled as she locked the door and practically bounced down the steps to her car. Another look in the direction of Mike’s house made her frown, but that was soon forgotten as she climbed in and started the engine. It revved a little before she slid it into gear and started her drive to work.
†
Belinda looked at the clock above the door in her office; lunch time. She grinned and for once, she was starving. Instead of her usual sandwich in her bright purple lunch box, she had instead opted to have lunch delivered from the caf
é down the road. So as soon as the time had been reasonable- yes, she had been over an hour early for work- she had called and ordered a hot lunch. Daft, but it was something she rarely got and would no doubt feel the need to nap afterwards, but she was looking forward to it.
Her morning had been surprisingly good. She had initially thought it was going to be a complete disaster when she was rudely cut up on a roundabout, she had, of course, used the horn and much to her displeasure, the culprit had circled the roundabout only to come after her and follow her all the way to where she parked for the day.
She had been ready for an argument, but that had never happened. The driver of the other car had parked a few spaces away and when she had collected her bag and stepped out of the car, he had revealed himself.
The driver of the Audi had been a good looking guy with dark hair and brown eyes. He had smiled, almost embarrassed as he got out of his own car to walk across to her. He had been dressed in a suit and had obviously been on his way to whatever he did for a living.
Before she had been allowed to say anything about him cutting her up, he had started to apologise profusely. She hadn’t been able to answer him as he had spoken about how angry he was and he had followed in the hopes of stopping and giving the driver a piece of his mind. Belinda had been very tempted to point out that the near on collision had been his fault, but he never gave her chance. Instead, he had then gone on to speak about how once he had parked the car he had watched as she had got out of her own and was overcome by how stunning she was.
Belinda had then been speechless, she had never had a guy openly say something so bold and the more he spoke, the more she found she was unable to answer. He had finished the one sided conversation by handing her his business card and then he had bent and kissed her cheek before hopping into his car and driving away, but not before he waved in a cute school boy way.
As expected, she had stood in the car park and had just looked at the business card for a good five minutes before she had moved and headed to work. She was still surprised hours later as she waited on her lunch to arrive.
She grinned wide when the small door alarm sounded to signal someone entering the library. Belinda stood, purse in hand, and a smile on her face. The delivery guy was good looking and would be the second surprise of the day.
He placed her lunch on the counter and just smiled back, making Belinda squirm a little. He was tall- well, taller than her and had long, blonde hair that was tied back into a small pony tail. Belinda usually didn’t think men suited long hair but this blue eyed stranger seemed to pull it off.
“Hi,” he said in a very low voice that made Belinda’s stomach flip.
“Hi,” she replied, very aware of his presence as he leaned on the counter and stared. Belinda looked at him then looked down at her purse, suddenly feeling a little shy.
“How much do I owe you?” she managed to say, although it was quiet.
“For you, gorgeous? Just a kiss and it’s all yours.” He grinned as he said it. Belinda flicked her eyes up to look at him again, he was still staring but this time he was taking a look at more than Belinda’s face. She felt herself blush bright red and jerkily thrust a £10 note in his direction.
“Here you go,” she blurted out. He answered with a smile.
“You got a pen?” His voice seemed to be lower and his eyes had darkened.
“Err, yeah sure,” Belinda answered and held out the pen. Only for him to grab the hand it was in and tug her forward. He leaned further over the desk and pressed his lips to hers in the first kiss she had received in over six years and for the second time that day, Belinda stood still in shock.
His lips felt so soft against her own and ended sooner then she ideally would have liked. On any other day she would have smacked the stupid grin off his face just for grabbing her hand, never mind kissing her. But today she just smiled shyly and watched as he pulled back, only to use the pen to write something on her palm.
With one last grin in her direction he started to head back towards the door, calling out as he left.
“Lunch is on me, sweetness. Call me.”
She stood and stared at the door again for a good five minutes after he had left, unable to process what had happened. In the space of the morning she had been approached by two random strangers. She looked down at her hand to see a name and number written, and they had given her their numbers. What the ever loving hell is going on?
Surely this wasn’t normal. She had spent so long being the one that was over looked and all of a sudden, boom, two in one day. She laughed at the craziness of it all. Belinda pulled her lunch from the counter and flopped down into her chair. Her appetite had vanished, although the food that had only cost her a kiss smelt good. But she didn’t feel like eating. She felt giddy and flushed and she loved it.
Was this what the trio had been talking about when they had spoken about the joys of being young and experiencing life as well as love? Now she had sort of experienced it, she was keen for more.
Belinda pulled her planner from her bag and placed the business card from Carl, aka, Audi driver in and also wrote down the number from Pete, aka, delivery man down. She would decide whether to contact them or not when she was at home.
The ringing of the phone pulled Belinda’s attention back to her job and away from the events of the morning. She did, after all, have a lot to get done before she could finish later on. Unfortunately, she had let things distract her, which wasn’t like her at all. She definitely didn’t feel like herself, she thought, as she headed back into the office to answer the call, completely unaware of the bottle vibrating happily in her bag.
†
Belinda walked into her house and only made it as far as the kitchen before she slumped into the chair at the table. What a bloody day, she thought. There had to be something in the air. The morning had been great with the impromptu kiss, but as the day had gone on the library had gotten busier than usual.
At first she had thought nothing of it, but every single visitor had been a man and nearly every single one had come up to the desk to ask the most bizarre questions.
Where are the books on love?
Karma sutra, do you have it in?
Books on romance please?
Then things had changed, she had been asked over ten times for her number and had more than that leave her little notes. They had all smiled sweetly at her like she was the first woman they had ever seen, and it had caused hairs to stand up on her neck. That wasn’t normal, There was only one answer and that was Cupid’s Essence.
All of this strangeness had started when she had first opened the damn box, and then after she had sniffed it. Belinda sat with her head in her hands as she mulled over and the events that had occurred since she had acquired the bottle. The constant vibrating of the bottle in its box pulled her attention to her handbag.
With a sigh she pulled it from her bag and placed it on the table. The shimmering light that usually accompanied the vibration couldn’t be seen as the box was shut. She pulled it closer and this time, instead of going straight for the contents, she looked at the detail in the wood. The bottle seemed happy with the attention, stopped its vibrating and stayed silent, only the pulsing of the colours continued.
The wood detail was stunning, but what drew her attention was the section at the back that held detailing that was completely different to the rest. The area wasn’t very big but instead of roses… instead it was swirling letters that spelled out the word, Amour. She gently swept her thumb over the section, feeling each indentation in the wood.
Why was this bit different?
She pressed a little harder on the section and smiled as a small click sounded and the section slid out of the base of the box. Inside, neatly tucked into the crevice, was a scrap of parchment, yellowed with age and a small leather diary. For not the first time since she had had possession of the box and contents, her heart rate picked up, this time with excitement. Placing the diary to the side, she picked up t
he parchment and carefully unfolded it, laying it flat upon the table.
Neat, elaborate writing flowed across the page and it took a moment for Belinda to recognise the language.
“French, it’s in French,” she said out loud, then once again bent her head. There were only a few words she could make out. Wanting to find out what the parchment said, she picked it up, along with the box and diary, and headed towards the lounge and her laptop. She hoped Google could help, otherwise she would have find someone that spoke French.
* * *
Please be warned
Cupid’s Essence is not what you think.
I warn you now, do not think lightly of this magical item. I happened upon it by chance.
Cupid created this, please believe me. It was made with the sole purpose to help find love.
It has done that, I agree, but it does so much more. But please be on your guard.
Choose wisely, for it has a mind of its own and it is not afraid to meddle, and it surely will.
Use it lightly I beg, the god means well but...
I must go...I pray love finds you.
Be well
Lady Marcella Rousseau
Still no text, Mike frowned and stuffed his phone back into the pocket of his overalls. She obviously didn’t want to go for that drink then. He looked out of the garage window of his house, towards that of Belinda’s and was tempted to go over and talk to her, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get a decent sentence out if he did. His stutter always got worse when he tried to talk to Belinda and made him feel inferior and like he was back at school.
That was a feeling he hated, school had been hard with a stutter and it had only been his size and muscle that had prevented him from being picked on. But he had seemed to grow out of it until it came to women. He was lucky in the sense that some only needed a smile and a nod, but he didn’t want that anymore. He was getting older and as such, he wanted to finally be able to settle down.
