by S. E. Babin
He shot forward, but Keto met his aggression with his own. The two men grappled, both struggling to find their opponent’s weak spot. They tumbled over and over, feathers from Keto’s wings fluttering, and Hermes’ golden skin covered with dirt. Keto finally broke away and disappeared silently. Hermes looked around, frantic to find him.
A shout of pain broke out and Keto appeared behind Hermes, holding a small dagger and wearing a triumphant smile. Hermes’ eyes widened as he looked down at his thigh. A small trail of ichor oozed from a shallow cut.
“I’ll be damned,” Hermes said and laughed.
Keto victory fist pumped and held his hand out. Hermes grasped him by the wrist. “Well met, Keto.”
“Well met, Hermes. Who’s next?” Keto looked at me and Artie. My friend stepped up, her bow shimmering into existence beside her.
“I will go.”
He bowed. “As you wish, my dear.”
“Artemis,” she said shortly. “Goddess of the Hunt.”
His smile faltered. “Artemis,” he finally said.
She stepped into the circle, and as I watched, eerie lights lit up the forest behind our house. The creatures of the wood heard the call of their goddess, and they watched her now. Sound filtered around us, the calls of the nightingales, the deeps bays of the stag, the crickets singing their cheery song.
My heart swelled. Keto was about to get a lesson he’d never forget. Hermes came to stand beside me, still shaking his head over Keto’s revelation. I watched as Artemis stood against Keto, chest back, hair streaming down to her waist.
Keto looked besotted. And I knew because of that he was about to get his ass handed to him on a grassy platter. She stepped forward holding out one long elegant hand and muttered a single word. Keto’s eyes widened as he realized what she was doing, but before he could react, his body morphed into that of a fluffy white bunny. Just like that it was over.
Artie called him to her, and beholden to the Goddess of the Hunt, he was forced to obey. She picked him up by the scruff and shoved him in her bow pack. I snorted with strangled laughter as she marched past, winking at me, and walked into the kitchen.
Hermes let out a belly laugh. “He should never have underestimated her.”
I agreed. Hermes turned to me and held out his hand. “Up for one last spar?”
I studied him for a second but saw no ulterior motive. I nodded. “Why not?”
I allowed him to lead me into the circle. We stood facing each other. Hermes sent his Caduceus away, but kept a golden dagger tucked into the belt of his chiton. He motioned me forward, but I didn’t obey. I stayed a respectable distance until I saw him ready himself to put on a burst of speed. I held a hand up and formed a protective shield around myself. He bounced off of it, wiped ichor from his nose, and gave me an appraising glance.
“Not sure when you learned to do that,” he said dryly. He lost, but I wasn’t ready to stop. His eyes narrowed. “Another round?” he asked.
I nodded, trying not to squirm with anticipation.
Apparently deciding to step it up, his staff reappeared. He aimed it at me, shouted a word, but before the attack could land, gold and silver light shot from my hands. His staff fell from his hands, remade into a bunch of beautiful white roses. His mouth twitched. “I do hope you know how to undo that.”
Hermes grinned at me, eyes sparkling. “So you remembered. Weapons into peace, Abby. I know with Eris you were fighting for your life, but remember who you are. You are the Goddess of Love, not a fighter.”
I tilted my head. “Ah, but you’re wrong. I am a fighter, Hermes. I always have been.” I felt the magic pour through my veins, filling me up and lighting up the dark night sky. His eyes widened. I laughed in delight, finally able to fill myself with the full extent of my power. I looked up at the sky, my arms spread wide, gold and silver light twisting and covering the land for miles in a beautiful light. I dropped my glamour and faced Hermes head on.
“Don’t, Abby. I will not be able to control myself.” Urgency tinged his voice.
I laughed. “I’ve underestimated myself for so long, Hermes. I am tired of feeling like a second class Olympian.”
I twitched my index finger toward him. “Obey,” I whispered and watched him go slack jawed. My magic swirled around him, around the woods and the city, and around my home. I heard a shout from the house and screams of delight a moment later. The power filled me. My lips spread in a grin as I watched Hermes walk to me.
“Stop,” I whispered as he stood inches away from me. I allowed him a moment for his mind to clear, even though I still held him in the grips of my magic.
“I want you,” he said.
“I know. Kneel.”
Hermes knelt in front of me, his disheveled blond head down, staring at my sandals. I studied him for a second. I could take him, revel in the pleasure he’d give me, but could I let him go? He tilted his head up to look at me, eyes wary.
“Do not use me again, Aphrodite.”
I exhaled, dropping the majority of my magic. “I will not, Hermes.” I waved a hand at the house, directing a beam of magic where I knew Keto and Artie were. I was giving Artemis a present she wouldn’t soon forget. And might kill me for later.
Hermes stood before me. His hands gripped my arms and pulled me against him. I felt the hard length of him as his lips crushed against mine in a bruising kiss. I submitted willingly, needing to feel the closeness of another person if only to ease the need inside my aching heart.
He pushed me away. “You win this battle, fair goddess. But I will win the war.”
He left me standing outside alone, lost in my thoughts, my fingers touching the warmth against my lips he’d left behind.
8
Chapter Eight
I laughed the next morning when Artie came downstairs for breakfast, her hair a disheveled mess and her lips swollen.
“I should punch you for what you did last night. Instead I’m pretty sure I have to thank you. A pack of wild horses wouldn’t have beaten him off.”
Artemis was one of the lucky few unaffected by my powers. Instead the magic I had sent over the house last night had affected Keto. And from the way Artie was walking, it had affected him in a very good way. Keto followed behind her, a smirk of satisfaction on his face. He slapped Artie on the rear end, and even though she flushed with embarrassment, I saw her eyes sparkle.
Keto leaned over. “I don’t know what you did but thank you.”
I waggled my fingers. “All in a day’s work.”
Hermes breezed in looking none the worse for the wear. “Well, she gave me a fierce case of blue balls so I guess I’m ecstatic someone got something out of that ass load of magic she let loose last night. I bet you a gallon of ambrosia Asheville gets a population boom in about oh, let’s say nine months.”
He mussed my hair as he walked by. “But to use a mortal expression, it appears Abby has gotten her groove back.”
“I’ll say,” muttered Artie as she struggled to smooth her hair down. I laughed and buzzed her with magic until her chestnut hair fell into its normal shiny sheets. “Why didn’t you use that mojo on Marshall?”
I felt my easy smile slip. “I never use magic on people for my own gain. I wanted Marshall to love me for me, not because he was compelled to do so.”
She winced. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me.” She handed me the coffee she had made and reached up to get another mug.
I waved a hand. “No worries. It would be so much easier if I relaxed that rule.”
She turned her head as she dug through the cabinet. “Friend, you wouldn’t be who you are if you did.”
I took a sip of coffee as I waited for everyone to gather around. “I guess the agenda for the day would be to find Typhon. Although how we’re going to go about doing that is anyone’s guess. How do we find a bewitched man who has no idea he’s a monster?”
“I’ll tell you how.” The voice sent shivers down my spine and almost made me drop my cup. War
materialized in my kitchen, the ever present arrogant smirk in full force. Ares was dressed like he was about to head out for a business meeting, in a charcoal suit wearing a red power tie.
My mouth thinned. Why did my past keep showing up in my kitchen? “Ares.”
He grinned, that broad mouth showcasing perfect teeth. I’d missed him, but I wasn’t glad he was here. Although he hadn’t technically betrayed me in the debacle with Eris, it was close enough for me to choose my words and actions carefully around him.
“Aphrodite.” He nodded to the others. “I’m here to help.”
I couldn’t help it. I choked on a laugh. “Really? I think perhaps my definition of help and yours is vastly different. If you mean dropping cryptic hints and then turning tail and running is help, then I think we’ll pass.”
“Burn,” Artie whispered. Hermes snorted and struggled to keep a straight face. Keto raised his eyes heavenward.
Ares reddened and straightened to his full height. I didn’t bother to stand. I’d been dealing with him for so long I knew his temper like the back of my hand. He stalked toward me and towered over my chair. “I think you’ve forgotten who you’re speaking to.”
I smiled sweetly and took another sip of coffee. “I don’t think I have.”
I noticed his fists clench. He reached for me but was intercepted by a lean golden hand.
“I think that would be a mistake of epic proportions, Ares.” Hermes smiled easily, but the warning in his eyes was clear. Ares shook him off but made no move to step away from me.
“I am here at the behest of Zeus. He seems to figure I owe you a…favor.” His distaste for the word was evident. His mouth turned down at the corners.
“A favor?” I could totally get on board with that.
“Yes,” he said.
“I’m assuming this favor is due to you leaving us in the middle of a situation of epic proportions in order to secure your own power base?” I knew he would never admit it, but I waited for his response.
“You assume everything, yet know nothing.” He stepped away from me and his gaze swept across the room. “It appears you’ve fallen in favor with Zeus. Make no mistake, sweet, step one toe out of line and this will all come crumbling down around you.”
“Awww, Ares, jealousy doesn’t become you.” Hermes laid a warning hand on my arm. Taunting Ares was likely to get us nowhere, but after everything he’d done I couldn’t resist throwing a couple of jabs.
Ares looked pained. “Look, obviously neither one of us wants to work together, but to appease Zeus, I’m forced to be here. I’ll share my knowledge, assist when I can, and stay out of your hair as much as possible. How’s that?”
Artie snickered. “Take the deal. Normally he’s like that guy at the party who won’t take no for an answer.”
She was so right. I studied him but saw no ulterior motives in his gaze. It didn’t mean there weren’t any, though. Ares was a master strategist. He’d hide his end game as best he could, so I decided to put it all out on the table. “What do you get out of this?”
His face turned innocent, alerting me that he was lying. “Nothing,” he said. “I repay a favor to Zeus, regain my standing with him, and continue on as if nothing ever happened.”
I laughed. “Even you’re not ignorant enough to believe that. We’re immortals, Ares. Our memory spans millennia. Zeus would never forget a slight like the one you gave to him over Eris.”
His gaze shuttered. “What I get is of no concern to you.”
I disagreed. “It’s of every concern.” I saw my friends nod. “Especially if it has the potential to get us killed.”
Ares’ shoulders tensed as he regarded us. He’d get nothing from us if he chose to remain mum. From the way he looked at us, it seemed he realized this. “The Sword of God is missing. Do you know of it?”
I groaned. “Of course I know of it. That damned thing almost got me killed a few months ago, no thanks to you.”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “And yet here you sit. I have reason to believe the sword is involved in this mess with Typhon.”
“But Zeus doesn’t believe Typhon is awake,” Keto interjected.
“What Zeus believes and what is true are often not the same,” Ares responded wisely.
A truer statement had probably never been uttered. I’d never seen a guy wear rose colored glasses as well as Zeus did. He continued. “He is awake and fortunately for us, unaware of who he is. I believe he is being used as a pawn by someone or a group of someones trying to wrest control of Olympus from Zeus.”
It was always a power grab. I sighed. “What we can’t figure out is who is stupid or crazy enough to wake up Olympus’ greatest enemy to do it.”
Ares grinned. “Maybe not stupid but let’s examine crazy. Who’s the craziest god you know?”
My forehead creased. I could think of dozens.
“Dionysus,” Artie said grimly.
My stomach plummeted. “Please, please don’t tell me you think Dionysus is behind all of this. For Olympus’ sake. I’d rather go up against Eris again.”
Dionysus wasn’t the mental off-the-wall kind of crazy. He was the diabolical genius kind of crazy. The kind of kid you avoided in school because he’d get you involved in the nuttiest shit without you realizing you cheerily volunteered to go along with it. We all had dangerous powers, don’t get me wrong, but Dionysus could incite violent lust in crowds, resulting in spontaneous orgies in the middle of the street. He could turn anyone into madness with merely a glance or fill someone with such a sense of joy they’d happily throw themselves off a cliff. If Typhon were awake, Dionysus would be the most likely culprit to have pulled it off. He was that insane.
Ares nodded. “But I don’t think he did it alone. He is powerful, yes, but I don’t think he’s got enough juice to free Typhon from his prison. He’d need powerful magic to do it. He could be working with anyone, and right now I don’t find that as important as finding him. Dionysus by himself is bad enough. Dionysus with the Sword of God is possibly the worst case scenario. What he wants with Typhon, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s bad for all of us.”
I rued the day Eris had dragged me into her little world of crazy. Ever since then I’d lived on eggshells wondering when the other shoe would drop. This was not a shoe; it was a giant boot that had landed on my head.
Hermes spoke up. “Since you’re here to help us, do you have an idea of where Typhon might be?”
Ares shook his head. “We should be focusing on Dionysus, not Typhon. If we find him, it’s possible he can lead us to Typhon. It’s no guarantee, though. We all know how he is.”
I nodded. I’d seen him in action before and his powers scared me witless. When I was still living on Olympus, one of my nymphs approached me searching for her sister. She told me she’d gone to a party with a young man she’d been seeing. I went to find her, the feeling something had gone terribly wrong sitting in my stomach like lead. My search led me to a small village toward the base of the mountain. When I entered the house there were multiple bodies piled on top of each other, their faces twisted in orgasmic pleasure and their bodies wrapped around each other. Dionysus had killed everyone there merely by his presence. It was one of the most disturbing scenes I’d ever witnessed and telling my nymph what had happened to her sister had been one of the toughest things I would ever do. There was no rhyme or reason behind the attack. He was a god of whims. He saw an opportunity and unfortunately, he had taken it.
I stayed far, far away from the God of Ecstasy for my own good. But now it looked like I was the sacrificial lamb about to be led to the slaughter.
9
Chapter Nine
Ares suspected Dionysus was in Asheville. What was the deal with this town and why were so many of us drawn to it? It was something I didn’t have time to look into now, but I planned to do so as soon as possible. Clotho being here was bad enough. Add Hermes, Ares, everyone living in my house, and mental Dionysus and this city became too crowded.
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We headed down to Curiosity Brambles hoping Clotho was in today. Many shops were closed on Mondays, but as we approached her door, we saw the neon sign flashing open. The chime of bells alerted her to our presence, although I’d have bet money she knew we were coming way before we’d even thought of visiting.
Her hair was untamed, streaming in wild waves down to her waist. She was dressed in skinny jeans and a long, flowy poet top. Her flip flops sounded across the floor as she walked toward us. My mouth twitched as I took in her attire. She was fitting in here better than we were.
She stopped and eyed Ares. “Abby has not forgiven you, Ares. You need to do much more than show up to get back into her good graces again.” She looked him up and down. “You are a handsome sort, there is no doubt of that, but I can see betrayal in your heart.”
Ares flushed under her perusal. “Do not betray Aphrodite again, Ares. You underestimate her. And you underestimate the people who have grown to love her. Mark this as prophecy, Ares. Betray her at your own peril.”
I turned startled eyes toward Hermes. He shrugged slightly, but I noticed him wink at Clotho as I turned back around. Charmer. That one couldn’t help himself.
Ares cleared his throat. “I will not, Madame Fate. You have my word.”
Clotho harrumphed. “I’ll believe your word when you keep it, God of War. Now follow me.”
I grinned at Ares. He glared at me but followed behind as we allowed Clotho to lead us into the back of her shop. I swept past the beaded curtain quickly enough to make sure it slapped Ares in the face as he walked through. I wasn’t above a little juvenile fun. His muffled curse and the click and tink of the beads made me giggle, even though Clotho shot me an admonishing look. But not before I saw the mirth in her eyes.
We settled in, me silently hoping my head wouldn’t get the Clotho matinee inside of it again. She studied us all, but her look lingered on Ares. “You believe Dionysus has the Sword of God?”
