Ares: (Gods of Old Book 1)

by April Zyon

  “That would not be good at all,” he agreed. Grinning he shook his head and led her towards a table. “What are your feelings on goat?” he asked. Picking up a couple pieces of fruit he pressed them to his nose and inhaled before nodding to the proprietor. The man said something to which Ares replied. They went back and forth for a time before Ares passed over some coins. “So, goat,” he looked at her again.

  “I’ve never had goat before,” she told him with a grin. “I’m willing to try it. Is it good? It doesn’t have the same taste as lamb, does it?” If so she would likely barf.

  “It most definitely does not have the same taste as lamb. It’s a gamier meat than lamb,” he told her guiding her to another table. Once again he spoke to the proprietor and then nodded. Pointing to some things he dug out more coins. “I think you’ll enjoy it, but I’m getting some chicken as well. Which you most definitely will enjoy. The Turks’ use of spices is unique and amazing. We’ll pick up some wine, water, and cheese over towards the end of the market. But we can wander through and see what else might catch your fancy. It’s not all food, just enough to keep the buyers buying lots of interesting things.”

  “Sounds good to me,” she said with a nod. “I’m willing to try just about anything and everything. We definitely need to get water if we’re going to have wine because I really do not want to be drunk later if you wouldn’t mind,” she teased him.

  She stopped in front of a vendor and touched a small pair of earrings, “These are beautiful. Will you ask him how much?”

  Ares tapped the earrings and spoke to the vendor. The man replied, and they chattered back and forth for a moment. “He says they are the equivalent of six US dollars. He also says there is a necklace that goes with them. Ah, there it is,” the vendor held out a silver chain with a matching pendant. “The entire set is fifteen US dollars.”

  Ava smiled and looked up at Ares, “But I already have the best necklace ever, one that I will never remove, so that necklace would never be worn. It’s beautiful, though. Please tell him that I only want the earrings.”

  Nodding he looked to the vendor and spoke once more. He handed over the appropriate money and took the earrings, passing them to her. “Shall we continue on your sojourn through the marketplace?” he asked, setting his arm around her waist once more.

  “Sounds good to me.” She put the earrings in and then wrapped her arm around his middle once more. “I think that I could get used to this. Not the whole flashing from place to place stuff, but the whole spending time with you thing.” She couldn’t help feeling that at any moment now, she was going to wake up, and realize that all of this had been a dream.

  “It’s not a dream,” he said quietly. “I’m real; you’re real, and we are both really here right now. I’d pinch you, but I would hate to cause you any pain. Plus, you might deck me, and I’d really hate to cause myself any pain.”

  “Ah yes, good point,” she said with a laugh. “Again you’re reading my mind, but I don’t mind,” she admitted happily. “Well, I’m very happy that I’m not dreaming. I happen to really and truly enjoy this. Spending time with you. Being with you.”

  “You’re projecting,” he corrected her. Pressing a kiss to her temple he gave her a squeeze. “I quite enjoy having time with you as well, Ava. And it is something that we’ll do often. Especially since I have nothing better to do than harass my siblings.”

  “Good,” Ava told him and gave him a small squeeze. “Oh, these are beautiful.” She stopped at a vendor that was selling silk material. “I would love to get a few of these. Are you sure that you don’t mind paying for everything?” He had to since she had absolutely no cash on her at all.

  “I don’t mind getting you anything you wish, Ava,” he smiled. “Pick out which ones you like and tell me how much you want of each and I’ll get her to cut it for you or wrap it all up.” Nodding to the woman behind the table he started to talk with her. The woman smiled big and nodded before spreading her arms wide. “Point to which ones you like, and she’ll set them on the back table until you’re ready to tell her how much of each you want.”

  She took her time in selecting the material that she wanted, touching and feeling each bolt until she had what she wanted. “I don’t know how much of each to get. I have a girlfriend who I might be able to talk into making me dresses from the material. Do you think that she would know how much to give me to make a dress?” she asked Ares talking of the woman who ran the booth.

  Ares spoke to the woman and then looked to her again. “She wants to know what type of dress you are thinking of having made from each. She says you’ll need more material the longer and more detailed it is. Though she does say if you have left over material you could get it made into a pillow or a throw of some sort. I think she called it a patchwork,” he gave a shrug.

  “Then tell her that it’s for a very long, detailed dress. If there are leftovers I can have scarves and as she said, throw pillows made. I just love the material, and I have no idea if I would ever come here again, so yes, please.” She was traveling, but this wasn’t a place that was on her itinerary at all. It was a hidden jewel as far as she was concerned.

  Turning back to the woman Ares smiled and started to talk. The vendor’s eyes went wide, and she was practically vibrating. Nodding happily the older woman grabbed his face and kissed him on each cheek, twice. Making a face, he pulled back and shrugged at her. “She’s very excitable apparently.”

  Ava laughed and shook her head. “I think that she’s just very excited about the money, isn’t she? I will pay you back, I promise,” she assured him. She leaned against him when he wrapped his arm around her again and watched the woman as she cut large bolts of fabric down to size for them. Looking up at him she grinned, “This is very nice. Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome,” he said quietly. He brushed a kiss across her forehead and gave her a squeeze. “I did tell her to give me the whole roll of the green one, though. That’s a gift from me to you to do with as you wish. I like it against your skin, so make lots of outfits from it please.”

  “Thank you,” she looked up at him with happiness in her voice. “I love it,” she admitted happily. “I will ensure that I have lots of nice things made from it so that every time I wear it or touch it I will think of you and this moment. And just how perfect it is.”

  “You are even more welcome,” he chuckled. He gave her a squeeze before letting her go to pay for the purchases. Taking the bags, he gave a small bow and spoke a little more with the woman. When the vendor blushed and waved them off, he turned to Ava once more. “Come on, Ava darling.”

  “Where are we headed now, and are we going to be carrying these bags with us all over the bazaar, or are you going to send them where they need to be so that we aren’t bothered by them?” Ava asked with a happiness about her that was infectious.

  Grinning, Ares shook his head at her. “I’m going to send them to the house. But we need to step out of sight for a moment.” He pointed towards a street, “We’ll duck through here and find an alley. Then I’ll send everything to my place; well, everything but the food.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me. And yes, we have to keep the food so that you can feed me. Maybe a blanket as well so that we can have something to sit on while we eat?” It would be lovely no matter what, that much she knew without a doubt. He would ensure that it was.

  “We’ll pick up a few more things along the way. There’s a table about three blocks from here where we can pick up a blanket.” He led her down the street and then between buildings. Stopping, Ares looked around and then the bags disappeared from his hands. “Alright; let’s go.”

  “Wow- That’s just- Wow.” She grinned happily, shaking her head in amazement at the display of his abilities. “I don’t know if I will ever get used to that,” she told him with a grin.

  “It definitely takes a while. The human mind tends to think in straight lines. They don’t process change, or ‘different�
�� well.”

  “Well, I think that I’m taking this pretty well all things considered,” she replied quickly. “I’m not yelling or screaming. Heck, I’m asking you to do things because it fascinates me. That-” she shrugged and said, “That, and because honestly I like watching you flex your muscle, so to speak.”

  “That is not flexing my muscles, so to speak,” he grinned at her. Pulling her close to him he kissed her gently. “Later I’ll really flex my muscles and see if you notice the difference. But for now, we need more food, a blanket, and then we have somewhere else to be.”

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s get out of here so we can enjoy our meal. It smells amazing, and I can’t wait to try it.” She wanted to try the goat. Heck, she was looking forward to all of the food that they had.

  “We just need a few more things,” he said. Taking her hand once more he led her back into the market. They collected some cheese, bread, wine, and water. They got their blanket as well as some fresh dates and a little bag of dried fruit. “I think that’s everything we need,” he looked into their bags and looked to her. “Unless you see something else around here you want to try?”

  She looked at everything that they had and shook her head, “Actually, I think you have thought of everything. I honestly wouldn’t have thought of even half of this without you.” She smirked and added, “Have you done this often? Wined and dined women who are fascinated by you?” Her tone was teasing, her hand on his arm tightening and leaning into him to show her happiness with being the only one here.

  He slid his arm around her and pulled her in close. “I’ve never wined and dined anyone, Ava. I don’t date; I don’t do things like this. But for you, it’s necessary for me to do something amazing for you. I want to spoil you and show you the world. I want you to know that you are the most amazing and special woman to have ever come into my life. Hell, I’m running around grinning like a fool because I love being with you.”

  She laughed and hugged him closer to her. “Good. I’m enjoying it as well. I am very, very happy that you are here with me, and you are willing to give me everything that you are giving me. I don’t know what I did to gain your attention, but I’m happy that I did. I want to keep it, and hold it; I need for us to enjoy all of our time together that we possibly can. I think it will be best, don’t you?”

  “Most definitely,” he smiled down at her. He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers as they stared into one another's eyes. “We should get moving,” he said after a time. Lifting his head, he led her towards a street off the market.

  “Yes, we should.” Ava moved once more to his side, her hand sliding into his. “Are we almost ready to whisk away from here and go to where we can be alone and have our picnic?”

  “Almost,” he said. “We’ll go a few more blocks towards a quieter part of the city. Then we’ll duck out of sight, and be on our way.” He was quiet as they walked through the noisy city. It took them maybe fifteen minutes before he stopped, looked around and then indicated an alleyway. He nudged her into the shadows before wrapping an arm around her. He gently pressed a kiss to her lips, and then the noise was gone; she felt a light breeze against her cheek a moment later.

  Leaning into him, Ava let out a sigh of pure pleasure from the kiss. She didn’t open her eyes, just licked her lips when he pulled back from her and smiled. “I think I could become very used to this, Ares. You should be careful or you’ll find me hunting you down more often than not.”

  “Hunt away,” he told her, his voice husky. “I don’t mind in the least, just be careful you aren’t around others, or camera’s when you decide to hunt me down. It’s a little hard to fix such things to keep others from going all weird and hunting you down.”

  “I will make sure that when I come searching for you, I’ll only ever be somewhere secure; like my house.” She would never let the secret out of the bag because then that would cause Ares trouble and that was something she refused to do.

  “I thought you didn’t have a home right now? Or did you just run away from it to stay out of your family’s clutches?” he asked softly. He lifted his head and looked around, “Let’s go and sit under that tree. It’s out of the way, partially shielded, and we can lean back against it when we’re done with our meal.”

  “You know what I mean, silly. Eventually, I will have to find a home and settle down. I can’t walk the world for the rest of my life. One day I will sadly have to stop and find a place to call home; somewhere to put down roots.”

  “Ah, right, sorry,” he smiled at her. He led her towards the spot he’d chosen. Handing her the basket he shook out the blanket and then gave her a hand sitting down. “Don’t rush into anything. Enjoy the fact that you don’t have to decide tomorrow. You have some freedom so you should spread your wings and check out everything you can.”

  “Which is what I’m doing. I’m enjoying being able to check out everything; to experience life and to just simply live. And now there is this man.” She grinned up at him. “He’s breathtakingly handsome and funny; though he and I seriously got off on the wrong foot, I’m afraid I have the hots for him, and I think I would follow him to the ends of the Earth and back if he asked me to.”

  Ares dropped down next to her and lifted a brow. “Yeah?” he asked with a grin. “You should tell me more about this guy. I need to know whether I should puff up my chest in pride or rip out some poor sucker’s throat and dance in his entrails.”

  “Well, he’s got these eyes that I just want to swim in. They’re lethal; truly they are, but when he looks at me, I don’t see the predator that he is. Instead, I see the man that he is inside. He’s tall, dark of complexion and dark of hair. He’s got this laugh that’s like whiskey and cigars. He’s truly spectacular, and he can dance like a dream.”

  He burst out with a laugh, “I don’t know about most of that but the last bit, not so much. I know I’m less than spectacular on the dance floor. I’m relatively competent but really, avoiding toes is pretty much as far as it stretches.” Ares pulled her into his lap and hugged her close, pressing kisses over her cheek and neck. “I adore you, Ava; I want to have you in my life as long as you’ll allow me to be in yours.”

  “Good. Then I think that you and I are going to be spending a great deal of time together. In fact, I’m going to demand it. I adore you, a great deal, and I want as much time with you as I can get. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, as long as we are together in doing it. Deal?”

  “Then stay with me,” he told her quietly. “At my place, I mean. It’s big enough that we can have space if we need or want it. It will also allow us to see where this might be going. If you want to, that is. I don’t want to push you into anything of course, but the option is there.”

  “Are you sure about that? It would be a big deal, me moving in with you so fast, wouldn’t it? Not that I’m saying no, because I’m not, but how would the others ... where you live ... feel about the sudden slum craze that I would bring about?” Her being human and all.

  “Who cares?” he frowned at her. “If you don’t want to stay there we can live in my home on Earth. It’s not nearly as fancy as the place on Olympus, but I quite like it. It’s in Italy, on the coast. The beach is close, and the weather is warm and beautiful. It’s on a vineyard, and we have a couple of pretty good wines each year that come of it.”

  That had Ava smiling. “I think that I would like to see that home as well.” She moved so that she was closer to him, his scent and strength wrapping around her. “Where do you feel safest? Which home would be the one that you would choose, if you had to, Ares?”

  “I like the house in Italy; it’s warm and inviting. I have the same protections there as I do on Olympus, so it’s equally safe. As long as there aren’t any earthquakes, of course,” he smiled. Cupping her face, he tipped her back and kissed her gently. “We can go back and forth between the two, Ava. Nothing says we need to live in only one place.”

  “I think I rather
like that idea. That way we don’t have to stop our wandering and we can enjoy ourselves as much as we want to. We will always have a place to call home, no matter where we are, right?”

  “Absolutely,” he smiled. “And no need for a passport ever again. When traveling Greek God’s Air, you get where you need to go with a minimum of fuss.” He kissed her once more before sitting her upright again. “Let’s eat before everything gets chilled or, in some cases, warm and icky.”

  “Sounds good.” She reached for the first plate of cheeses and inhaled the scents of the various slices and felt her belly grumble. “These smell so good. I hope that the goat is good too or else you are going to be popping me in some KFC from somewhere in the deep South of America,” she teased.

  “It’s good,” he said rolling his eyes at her. He moved her onto the blanket and began to pull everything out of the bags. He dug out the wine and pulled the cork with a flick of his wrist. Another flick of his wrist brought two wine glasses into his hand, and he poured. “Here you are,” he passed her one of the glasses as he set the bottle to the side.

  “You are good,” Ava said with delighted glee. “I happen to love that about you. You are smooth, and you make me smile. Both are very good things in my own humble opinion,” she said happily. “For now, though, we should toast. What do you want to toast to, Ares?”

  He frowned and chewed on his lip for a moment before looking to her. Smiling he shrugged, “It has been said that the universe works and moves in mysterious ways. To this, I can truly attest; for if it had not, I may not have been where I was when I was to meet you. To the universe and all the machinations behind the scenes that put us where we are meant to be. And to us. I am truly blessed to have met you, Ava VonMaur,” he said softly.

  That had Ava smiling. She couldn’t agree more. She felt the exact same way. “I agree, fully and completely, I agree,” she said softly. “So whoever it was that led you my way and me yours, I am very thankful.” She tapped her glass to his and simply smiled happily. She was happy.