Nocked Asunder

by Sam Cheever

I turned to see what he was looking at.

  My knees buckled and I almost hit the ground.

  “Gods help us!” I murmured.

  I’d only seen them once. On Olympus. It had been a terrifying sight. The sky had darkened and clouds had roiled overhead.

  Every bird, every wild creature had skittered away and hidden, recognizing a consummate predator when they saw one. Or three.

  They’d swooped down from the roiling sky and landed in the middle of the street on Olympus. Standing in formation with Medusa at the front.

  Her hair had writhed and spat around her, making my skin crawl.

  I had backed into the protection of an alleyway and hidden from their view until I was sure they’d passed. Then I’d hurried home to tell my parents what I’d seen.

  I later learned they’d caused some serious damage on the streets of Olympus that day. And the gods had ordered them contained.

  Some poor fool had been put in charge of guarding them for all eternity.

  I shivered. Poor sod.

  I shook my head, realizing suddenly that what I was seeing in the sky outside meant they were no longer contained.

  Turning, I grabbed Damian’s arm and shook him. “Come on. We need to get out of here!”

  He didn’t react. Didn’t move at all.

  I became aware of a low keening sound coming from the basement and realized that whatever was downstairs was reacting to the gorgons in the sky outside.

  I tried tugging on Damian again with no better results.

  He just stood there, arms stretched above his head, palms out.

  A horrible shrieking noise pierced the sound of the storm and I turned to see one of the gorgons surging toward the house, her terrible eyes fixed on the window, where Damian stood.

  “Shit!” I turned and ran toward the sink, grabbing a dish towel and throwing it over Damian’s head. I made sure it covered his eyes and then ran to the nearby door, which led to the patio outside. Ripping the door open, I ran outside.

  The thing was only a few feet away, her horrible head writhing and spitting and her massive wings pounding the air above the beach.

  She flew straight toward me, shrieking incessantly.

  Fishing my arrow mechanism from my purse, I slipped it over my hand, closed my eyes and did the only thing I knew to do.

  I shot the gorgon with a love arrow.

  At least I hoped I shot her.

  I had my eyes closed.

  I heard an angry shriek, mere inches from my head and threw myself to the patio, covering my head with my arms.

  The thwump, thwump of dense, powerful wings throbbed overhead and something scratched deep, painful tracks down my back.

  Then, unbelievably, I felt a gentle kiss on the back of my neck.

  The sound of the wings lifted and began to fade as if the creature were flying away.

  I stayed where I was until the wind stopped and birds started to sing again.

  Then I shoved myself off the wet, warm stones and sat up, grimacing from the bloody scratches on my back.

  “Athena?” I looked up to find Damian standing a few feet away, looking perplexed. He was holding the dish towel toward me. “Do you have any idea how I got a dish towel on my head?”

  Biting my lip, I shook my head. “Nope. No idea. Maybe it was the wind.”

  He shook his head. “Doubtful.” He really looked at me for the first time. “You’re bleeding.” He rushed over, pulling me carefully to my feet. “You shouldn’t have come out here.”

  “I guess I panicked.” I pulled my hand away from his as soon as I was on my feet, glancing toward the door.

  I had to get out of that house. I needed to tell somebody on Olympus that the gorgons had escaped and were creating havoc on Earth. “I guess I’ll get going now.”

  “Not a chance. We need to dress those wounds and, well, your car is a crumpled mess on my front sidewalk.”

  My heart sank. “Oh crap! That’s right.”

  He pulled me toward the door, back into the kitchen. “It’s okay. We’ll call a tow truck and I’ll take you home. But first I want to take a look at those wounds.”

  How the hell was I going to explain the scratches to him?

  He’d obviously gone into some kind of seizure and didn’t remember anything that happened. The poor guy would probably run screaming for the hills if I told him he’d almost had a gorgon in his kitchen.

  He sat me down sideways in a kitchen chair and rolled the back of my t-shirt up to my shoulders, tucking it under my arms so it would stay out of the way. “I need to unhook this.”

  I jumped as his fingers found the clasp of my bra and released it easily. Pressing my arms against my chest, I concentrated on keeping everything covered and tried to ignore the tingle between my legs his fingers were creating.

  I forced myself to sit patiently while he tended my back. His touch was warm and gentle and eminently soothing. He worked on the scratches as if he’d tended similar wounds lots of times.

  I closed my eyes and let my mind drift. My world went hazy and soft, until all I could feel was the warmth of strong fingers kneading the tender flesh of my back. Damian’s fingers swirled across my skin, creating a vortex of heat and sensation that spiraled into my belly and lower, making my pussy clench with need.

  I leaned into the firm pressure on my back, my head drooping forward in complete submission. His fingers left my back long enough to sweep the hair from my neck.

  I waited, suddenly knowing what would happen next.

  Warm, soft lips touched my neck and I sighed. The massaging pressure softened on my back and his hands slid to rest lightly on my shoulders. The fingertips fluttered up my throat and across my jaw, creating a tingling sensation wherever they touched.

  A strong hand tipped my head back and soft lips touched the spot where the hand had been. His fingers moved across my face, just ahead of his questing lips.

  He touched the corner of my mouth with a lingering kiss, his warm breath tickling across my face.

  I waited, aware on some level that he was sensing me, judging my acceptance of his touch.

  I know you, Athena. His voice in my head was filled with such pain. Such need.

  And then he was gone.

  The world hardened and gained depth. Damian tugged my t-shirt higher, away from the greasy concoction he was rubbing on my scratches. “Hopefully this ointment will heal you right up.”

  I jerked and my eyes flew open. Had I fallen asleep and dreamed the whole thing? I sat up straighter, holding my t-shirt and bra more tightly against my chest with my arms.

  I blinked, trying to figure out what had just happened. It had felt so real. My body still throbbed with frustrated lust.

  Behind me, Damian seemed oblivious to my predicament.

  What had it meant? Why had he told me he knew me? Or had that just been a figment of my apparently overactive imagination?

  I realized I knew next to nothing about the man who was currently rubbing some kind of wonderful-smelling ointment onto my back and I suddenly wanted to know more.

  Much more.

  “So when can we start the pre-screening process?”

  His hand stopped moving on my back, just for a moment and then continued working. He chuckled and my heart did that little blip thing. “You’re certainly determined.”

  I smiled. “Yes. I certainly am.”

  He rubbed in silence for a moment and then said, “I’d like to see the profile of the woman who’s interested in me.”

  I swallowed hard. Dang. That had been way too easy. I realized at that point that I didn’t want to give Damian Leandar away.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep him either.

  He seemed to be a sad and complex man.

  But I certainly wasn’t ready to hand him over to the cocky woman I’d spoken to on the phone. I took a deep breath and dived in. “I’d be happy to show it to you. But we need to finish the application and begin the pre-screening process first. I don’t kn
ow who sent this application to me but whoever it was didn’t complete all the information.”

  I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck as he sighed. “All right. Leave the application here and I’ll complete it.”

  I smiled. And another one bites the dust.

  “There, that should heal nicely now.” He clasped my bra again and tugged on my t-shirt, pulling it back into place when I released the pressure of my arms.

  I stood up. “Ready?” I was calmer than before but still cognizant of the need to get home and warn the Fates about the gorgons.

  He grabbed his keys, walked me to the front door and pulled the door open. We stood there staring at my car, slightly crunched and torn-looking, on his front porch. It was snugged up tight against the house and there was no way to get around it.

  Damian smiled at me. “Over or through?”

  I shook my head, not feeling particularly chipper about the whole crunched car thing. “I loved that car.”

  He patted my shoulder. “It’ll be fine. I’ll take care of it.” He put a companionable arm around my shoulder and we went out the back, walking around the house. I marveled at the abundance of pretty flowers lining the sidewalk leading around to the front of the house and Damian admitted, with some embarrassment, that he liked tending things.

  On the street side, I was shocked to see the damage the storm had done. To everything but the house. As far as I could see, despite a thick layer of debris and broken vegetation all over the ground and the roof, even stuck into the nooks and crannies of the huge, brick home, the house itself seemed completely untouched.

  I didn’t even see any scratches or dents where my car crashed into it.

  Seeing me frowning at the house, Damian circled my arm with one large hand and pulled me gently toward his car. “Let’s get you home. It’s getting late.”

  We drove in silence for several minutes, both seemingly lost in our own thoughts. I was searching for a way to bring up the seizure issue.

  If Damian Leandar was subject to seizures he should be on some kind of medication. And if he wasn’t on medication he wasn’t a good prospect for a match, unless the woman we matched him to was aware of the issue and was okay with it.

  At Cupid’s Arrow we believed in total honesty. Full disclosure. Nothing less would guarantee a long-lasting union between two people.

  The sun was nearly set when Damian pulled up in front of my house and stopped the car. He turned to me, his dark, gorgeous face serious in the dim light. He smiled suddenly and I felt the effect of it like a jolt to my system.

  Blip.

  “Thank you for joining me for dinner, Athena. It was…” the smile widened, “interesting.”

  I laughed. “It certainly was that. Maybe next time we won’t have the storm from hell in the middle of it.”

  He reached over, lifted my hand off my thigh and raised it to his lips. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  Hoping he was just being clever and didn’t really think he could stop storms from happening, I smiled.

  He touched the back of my hand again in a soft, lingering kiss.

  Heat flashed through my system like fire and my sensual core clenched with sudden need. I drew a quick breath as my body succumbed to the flash fire.

  Then he released my hand and I almost forgot to retrieve it. I sat stupidly, staring at him, fully entranced by his incredible beauty and the aura of sensuality he gave off like heat.

  He just smiled.

  I finally jerked myself out of the sensual daze and said good night. As I was climbing out of his low-slung two-seater he leaned down so he could see my face and asked, “When do we start pre-screening?”

  “As soon as I get your completed application.”

  He nodded. “G’night, Athena.”

  I gave him a little finger wave and closed the door. I couldn’t make myself go into my house until his little car had turned the corner at the end of my street and was long gone.

  I felt lethargic and sensually charged as I turned and headed toward my front door. Like someone had given me a drug.

  My greatest fear was that the drug’s name was Damian.

  As soon as I entered my house I dialed the number three on the phone in the kitchen and hung up. I had managed to remove my tattered and dirty clothing and pull on clean, soft jammies before the phone rang for my callback.

  I answered on the second ring. “Hello.”

  “Hello, Athena.” I smiled. Good, it was Clothos, she was my favorite of the three Fates.

  “I have something to report.”

  Brief silence. As always with the Fates, I wondered if they already knew what I was going to tell them. “I saw the gorgons today. On Earth.”

  The sound of whispering met this announcement. I assumed Clothos was informing her sister Fates, Atropos and Lachesis. “All three of them?”

  I frowned, trying to remember. “No. I only saw two.”

  More whispering. “Okay, thank you for letting us know.”

  “That’s it? Aren’t you going to do anything?”

  “We already have, Athena. It’s under control.”

  “It certainly didn’t seem under control at my client’s house today.”

  “What client?”

  I couldn’t possibly miss the sharpening of Clothos’ tone. “Well, technically he’s still a prospective client. I haven’t completed the application process yet—”

  “Athena!”

  The Fates were not known for their patience. “Sorry. It’s a man called Damian Leandar.”

  More whispering ensued. It sounded like angry whispering. When Clothos came back on the line I expected her to declare that they would follow up on my information. Instead she said, “You are to stay away from Mr. Leandar, Athena. That is an order.”

  I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at it. Are you kidding me? Had the Fates just told me I couldn’t help a potential client?

  “Why?”

  “That isn’t your concern. Just do as you’re told, child.”

  Anger sparked and I saw stars. I hated when the Fates interfered in my life. Especially when they meddled in my work. But usually they at least gave me a good reason for their interference. “I need you to tell me why, Clothos.”

  “Sometimes we don’t get what we need, dear,” she informed me in a soothing tone. And then she hung up.

  I slammed the phone down and screamed my frustration.

  It was inexcusable!

  I wouldn’t do it.

  The Fates were not going to tell me what to do without giving me a good reason for it.

  I was still stomping around in a full-fledged temper when my cell phone rang.

  I grabbed it up, hoping it was the Fates calling back to explain.

  Fat chance.

  “Hello, Athena. Did you have a nice visit with my brother?”

  Peter!

  Chapter Three

  Three-Alarm Day

  “Hello, Peter.”

  “I understand you had a little adventure today.”

  I shrugged. “Just a bad storm.”

  Silence.

  I took a deep breath and asked Peter the question I’d wanted to ask Damian. “Peter. While I was with your brother, I witnessed something.”

  “Really? What’s that?”

  “Does Damian have seizures?”

  A bark of laughter came through the line. “Seizures! What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I saw him…he kind of blanked out for a while. I wondered if he was on medication for seizures. If he’s going to be a client I need to know.”

  “Well, there you go. He’s not going to be a client so there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  “He’s filling out the application today.”

  More silence.

  “No. Damian is not on medication. Because he doesn’t have seizures.”

  I frowned. “But I saw—”

  “What you saw was not a seizure. It was a trance. Totally different thing
.”

  “A trance? Why?”

  Peter laughed. “Damian has reasons for everything he does. He’s got a lot of responsibilities.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “Beating clay into shape? Come on, Peter. I’m sure he’s very talented but sculpting is hardly a high-stress job.”

  “Don’t judge people by what you think you know, Athena. It’s a huge mistake.”

  Sighing, I rubbed a hand over my eyes. It had been a long day and I was exhausted. “Look, Peter, I know you’re protective of your brother. I get that. But I need to know if he’s on medication for the ‘condition’ I witnessed. I owe it to any prospective matches to let them know.”

  The air throbbed with the response he wasn’t offering. Finally he said, “Damian isn’t on any medication. There are no medications for Damian’s ‘condition’ as you call it. It doesn’t matter anyway, because Damian won’t be allowing any manufactured matches. He knows what he wants. And when he sees it, he goes after it.”

  “Hey…” I said, “I didn’t send the application in. If your brother didn’t do it I don’t know who did. I’m just trying to do a damn job here!” I disconnected the call and threw my cell phone onto the kitchen table, totally disgusted with the whole thing. I’d had quite enough of the Leandar brothers for one day. For a year or a lifetime in fact.

  With that unhappy thought I headed for bed. Maybe things would look brighter in the morning.

  *

  I had three matching ceremonies planned. A busy day for me. But it was good because the ceremonies got me out of the office for part of the day. The first thing on my agenda, unfortunately, was a rental car, since my car was a twisted lump on Damian Leandar’s doorstep.

  The car smelled weird and had a slight hitch in its giddyup but it got me from point A to point B, which was all I really needed for the moment.

  Every time I thought about my car I felt nauseous. How was I ever going to explain its condition to my insurance company?

  Sighing, I headed into the fire station, where my first match would be. He was a fireman and she was a Lutheran pastor.

  They’d met at a four-alarm fire. He was dousing, she was consoling. They went out once and hit it off. But then endured unending grief from well-meaning friends and family, for going out with a virtual stranger. So they agreed to go through Cupid’s Arrow for the match, to assuage everybody’s fears.