Out of Cake Aphrodite (The Goddess Chronicles Book 6)

by S. E. Babin

  Annoyance overrode my good judgment. “To be honest, I do not understand why Abby is the one playing fetch her. Why is nobody going after her? You have two monstrously powerful beings both searching for Persephone. Why Abby?”

  His face shuttered for a moment and he sighed. “I always forget what it’s like to talk to you. You are so much more than a beautiful face, Huntress.”

  One long finger tilted my chin up. I stared into amused gray eyes. Swallowing hard, I tried to smile, but I was feeling super awkward here and I didn’t want to betray Artie.

  I blinked.

  He chuckled and released my chin. “There is something between those two that neither will speak of. Some power Hades holds over Demeter or vice versa, I cannot say. What I do know is Persephone has to be convinced to return. She cannot be coerced. Both of them appear to be intelligent enough to realize this and no one wants to tip their hand.”

  Realization struck me. “Abby is a pawn. Again.”

  “She had to know this.”

  Humiliation filled me. Of course, I knew this. Subconsciously at least. “Well, I’m sure she’ll be pleased to know that once again Olympus has screwed her over.” I couldn’t quite mask the bitterness in my tone.

  Realizing the shift in mood, the stranger took my free hand and kissed the back of it. “Forgive my intrusion, Huntress. I must be on my way. I hope to see you again under circumstances that do not require me to ask for your assistance.”

  I pulled my hand away politely even though the back of it tingled from the press of his lips. “Until we see each other again.”

  He disappeared in the sea of bodies surrounding us and I was again struck by the strangeness of it all. I needed to find out who the guy was and fast.

  But right now, more than that, I had to find Cupid and time was running out. I pressed through the immortals milling around me, exchanging polite nods with those who acknowledged me. I was struck again at how many folks appeared to defer to Artie. She wasn’t just my introverted, nerdy friend. She was one of the Twelve Olympians and I needed to remember that. I’d seen her in action before, but most of the time she was in her pajamas sprawled out upon my couch catching up with her latest novel.

  Although...that hadn’t been the case lately. She was moving on and away from me and I knew it. She’d gotten a house not too far away and was working on getting her new business off the ground. She was more like me than she liked to admit, I knew, but so different from me in other ways as well.

  Thanks to Artie’s height, I could see over most of the people around me. Two long tables, Hogwarts style, stretched in front of me, forcing me to walk between them. Most people were in the middle, but some hung out on the other side, which would make it a very long walk for me if I happened to spot Cupid. No one had thought to cut the table in sections so people could walk through it. It made it more genuine, but also a pain in the butt. I wasn’t rude enough to try to climb over the table and using magic in Zeus’ home was an insult.

  I needed to play my cards just right here because I needed the element of surprise. It was possible I’d have to use my magic especially if squirrelly Cupid tried to get away from me. The crowd was a good thing tonight. I’d need it to mask my movements.

  Bingo.

  I spotted an oh so familiar head of bright blond curly hair bobbing through the crowd several feet away. With all of the immortals in here right now it would be difficult to sense a power signature, but I didn’t want to take any chances, especially if he recognized me as Artie. It could make things weird if he had me tied up in a dungeon at his home and then suddenly I was here acting like things were hunky dory. I slipped my fingers into the small pocket of my snug leather pants and pulled out another of the tiny herbal pills the Fate had given me. As much as I didn’t want to keep taking them, Clotho assured me her herbal skills were beyond the pale. Considering I’d never seen her doing anything with herbs that involved putting them into pill form, I was a tad skeptical. Nonetheless, she’d never steered me wrong and I liked to think we’d gotten over the hump with our recent cookie making bonding experience.

  I discreetly slipped the pill into my mouth and cringed as soon as the sour, grassy taste hit my mouth. This had better work, I thought to myself as I slowly stalked toward him. Zeus was going to kill me when he found out what I’d done, but he had to know he’d given me too much leeway when he told me to find Artemis. If he didn’t know me that well by now, then that was his fault.

  I stopped a few people behind Cupid and listened as he chatted up a vacuous nymph. Although I garnered a few curious stares from the people around me, perhaps because I was missing my unique power signature, no one cared enough to confront me. It was, after all, Halloween, the perfect time for weird things to happen.

  He had no idea I was there.

  Cupid was dressed up like Al Capone, complete with white blood spattered suit and fake machine gun. Or...at least I hoped it was fake. Bullets wouldn’t kill us but they’d put us in a pretty bad mood. I couldn’t imagine the hunk at the door letting him bring something like that in if it were real.

  He flashed bejeweled fingers around as he spoke animatedly to the uninterested blonde. “So I says to him, you know you could have any girl you wanted. Why’d you choose her?”

  I cringed as I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

  With hand motions, Cupid mimed an enormous pair of breasts around his chest area. Even the ditzy nymph seemed offended. She made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat and shimmied away as fast as she could teeter in the three-inch heels she was wearing.

  “Gosh. And here I mistook you for a gentleman.”

  The crystal flute in his hand crashed to the ground as he spun around. Shock widened his eyes and he gaped like a fish out of water.

  “How’d - how’d you -?”

  I gave him a shark’s smile and reached over to grasp his bicep tightly. “I didn’t, you creepy little worm.”

  We flashed out of Zeus’ party and into the living room of his bachelor pad.

  The smell hit me first. Old pizza. Spilled beer. Body odor and the gods knew what else lay around this hovel. Dirty clothes lay discarded over the back of a couch that had seen much better days. What might have once been beige or tan carpet was now spotted intermittently with gray and other discolored stains.

  Worst of all, there was no sign of my friend. I sat Cupid down on the disgusting couch, doing my best not to touch anything. We couldn’t catch disease, but it didn’t mean I wanted bacteria crawling all over my skin. I shuddered in distaste. “Where is she?”

  Fear was quickly replaced with gloating. “I knew you’d show up eventually. You were always weak when it came to the little guy.”

  As I was towering over him, I wanted to laugh. Artie was no little guy.

  “What do you want?”

  He studied one dirty, blood encrusted fingernail and, now that I’d seen his living space, I had to wonder if maybe that dirt was the real deal. The blood...well, we didn’t bleed in the traditional sense, so I knew it wasn’t Artie’s. It did make me wonder who else he was keeping, though, and if they were a mortal.

  “I want a lot of things,” he said, a smirk on his too young face.

  I wanted to smack that look off of him, but I also couldn’t help a stab of sympathy. The issues were strong with this dude. “You are screwing with two of the most powerful Olympian’s in Zeus’ circle. You are aware of that?”

  If anything the smirk grew even more gloating. The first signs of misgiving started low in my stomach. Why was he smirking?

  The smirk grew into a full on grin. “But you aren’t,” he said with glee. “Your little stunt with Hades got you tossed out on your ass.”

  I stood up straight and studied him warily. I remained silent.

  “You no longer have the circle of Olympians to help you.”

  It didn’t matter. I still had Hades. This was bad news, but it didn’t affect my power. Or anything really.

  Cupid
leaned back against his disgusting couch and I couldn’t help but picture little bugs making themselves at home in his immaculately groomed hair. A gag started at the back of my throat.

  “Ah,” he said as he scratched the side of his face. “I see you don’t quite understand the ramifications here. It may not bother you that Zeus has disowned you. But…” he paused dramatically.

  I did the only thing a girl could do. I sent a power burst through my veins and picked the little worm up by this throat. “Spit it out or I’ll cut you and bleed you dry.”

  Fear slithered behind his eyes, but it didn’t fully extinguish the smirk. He wiggled some, but his feet were off the ground so it ended in an ineffectual wobble. His eyes bulged as I cut off his airway. When I saw his mouth start to move like a fish gasping for water, I slightly adjusted my hold to let him breathe. A little.

  “Artemis is included.”

  I wasn’t following. “What?”

  He rolled his eyes. “You ditz. Artemis is no longer included in the circle of Twelve. She’s banished. Kaput. Finito. Over and out.” He made a slashing motion across his throat.

  I dropped him.

  He rubbed his throat, an expression of glee all over his face. “So now you see. Artemis has no protection. No one to save her.”

  Why in the world would Zeus tell me this if he had banished us both? And why didn’t either of us get the memo?

  Ah. Yes. Because I’d unceremoniously screwed Hermes. Keto was gone and Clotho was out of touch with Zeus usually. Hermes had known all along. It was apparent we were officially dunzo. Still didn’t explain why Zeus told me, though. Had his heart warmed up some?

  I blew out an annoyed breath and watched the grin spread across Cupid’s face as he mistakenly thought he’d won. Like I’d ever leave Artie to someone else’s devices. Especially since I was the one who screwed her over with my stupid whims and political ignorance. I leaned over and kicked the crap out of him.

  “Untrue, slime ball. She has me.” I hauled him up by his stupid white gangster suit. “You have exactly ten seconds to tell me where she is before I start cutting.”

  Twenty minutes later I’d changed back into myself, thank goodness. Wearing Artie was hard. We were somewhere in the Olympian forest. As it turned out, once Stupid Cupid realized I didn’t care about being banished, and I wasn’t going to dump a friend who had no protection, he folded like a cheap suit. The immortals needed some lessons in loyalty. While the majority of us may have left her to the whims of others, that wasn’t what friends did and I was no longer that person. I loved Artie. And I was pretty sure she loved me. At least for now.

  It was quite possible she was going to hate me once she realized what had happened, but by the gods I was at least going to save her first.

  Immense trees blocked out most of the starlight leaving me to rely on my night vision to both see where I was going and keep up with the bumbling Cupid. He knew if he took one step out of line I was going to shish kebab him. I still hadn’t been able to get out of him why he wanted her, but I’d worry about that more once I saw that Artie was okay.

  As we made our way up to the door I wondered why he’d chosen this place. It was hidden, yes, but anyone flying over could sense this place. It was a strange spot for someone supposedly so sneaky.

  Cupid opened the door without saying a word and there was my friend, handcuffed with magic dampening ties and very, very pissed off.

  But even worse than that were the four other women sitting beside her. I spared a death glare for Cupid as I entered the cabin.

  Artie’s nostrils flared. Violet eyes flashed. “It took you long enough!”

  I grinned. “I was making cookies with Clotho.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, gave me a quizzical look, then shut it.

  “Seriously,” I said.

  Artie snorted and held her hands up. “It had to be something like that. I passed most of the time wondering what weird ass excuse you were going to have.”

  I pulled Cupid over by the shirt collar. “Cut the cuffs.”

  He cringed and shrank away. “She’s going to kill me.”

  Artie stared at him like a hunter looks at delicious prey.

  I shrugged. “I’d say you deserved it. Free her before I kill you myself.”

  Cupid undid the magical lock and braced himself. Artie stood to her full height, rubbed her wrists and took a couple of steps toward the poor guy. She seemed no worse for the wear. Still didn’t explain why he wanted her in the first place.

  She pulled him by the ear. “You got what you wanted. Free them. Now.”

  I blinked. How did he get what he wanted? Once again, I was lost.

  “She hasn’t helped me yet!”

  Artie still hadn’t let go of his ear. “Have you asked her nicely?”

  “Excuse me,” I interjected. “Asked who what?”

  “He wants a wife,” Artie said.

  I stared at Cupid, then looked over to the cuffed and blindfolded women. All of them except one appeared to be mortal. Anger, full and immense, blossomed within me. Artie had been a ruse to get me here. “Why should I help you?” I asked between clenched teeth.

  One of the women whimpered. I kneeled down beside her and stroked her hair. “It’s okay,” I whispered. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

  The woman’s dirty hands reached for my own. Blood and cuts covered them and I swallowed down bile as my gaze lifted and met Cupid’s.

  He didn’t seem sorry at all.

  But I was going to make him that way.

  Terrible magic filled my body. Wind flew through the cabin, lifting my hair with violent bursts of energy. Cupid raised one hand up to cover his eyes from the light flashing through my body. Dual-colored magic whirled from my fingertips. I’d gladly go to trial if it meant protecting the world from creeps like him.

  A cage slammed down from above and hurled me to the ground. My magic went out with a poof. Artie’s startled shout rang out and all I saw before passing out was a huge burst of violent, emerald green nature magic coming toward the bars of my prison.

  I came to sore, stiff, and unnerved. I sat up and cautiously looked around. A glass of ambrosia and a helping of crackers sat close to me. I ignored it and waited to see who had done it. Cupid had thoroughly tricked me, it seemed. I was annoyed at myself for falling victim to his petulant act. He better hope he’d managed to get away from Artie before she got a hold of him. There was a sadistic streak running through my friend’s veins. Nature versus nurture. Artie had never known a calm or normal childhood with parents like she had. She was more apt to stomp heads first, ask questions later. And sometimes...like right now, I really appreciated that about her.

  Dike appeared in my field of vision and I groaned.

  How had I not seen this coming?

  “Nice to see you awake,” she gloated.

  She’d changed out of the Medusa costume and was wearing something surprisingly human. A pair of jeans, sneakers, and an old Nike shirt. In other circumstances, her punny humor would have made me snort. Now I just wanted to punch her in her stupid, gorgeous face.

  “Gosh, I hadn’t expected to take a nap, either. Must have been those enormous giant bars slamming me into the ground. I would have rather had a glass of warm milk, you know, but I guess I’ll forgive your slight this time.”

  She made a tsking noise. “Your humor. So dry and sarcastic. There’s a time and a place for it, I’m sure. But it isn’t here.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m assuming I’m here because of Hermes. I’ve never pissed you off. Never stepped on your toes. I’ve never even really concerned myself with you.”

  Well...I had totally ditched her as a work partner, but Hades couldn’t have expected anything different. Plus, she didn’t want to work with me either so the feeling was definitely mutual. In my defense, there hadn’t been anything to work on together.

  “Call off your challenge,” she said.

  I stared at her closely and s
aw the strain around her mouth and eyes. I leaned back against the bars of my cage and let the laughter at the absurdity of this situation out. Deep bursts of hysterical laughter rang from my mouth, so loud and high I couldn’t control it.

  “Enough,” Dike snapped.

  “It’s not the first time I’ve ever been caged!” I hooted with laughter and held my sore sides.

  “I’m warning you!”

  But I couldn’t stop my laughter. Months of frustration and almost dying burst from me noisily. Tears ran down my face and still I laughed.

  Electricity jolted me. I lost control of my muscles and fell over sideways.

  All I could do was blink and even that hurt.

  “Told you,” she said viciously.

  “Gnnggggg,” I mumbled, unable to form the words I wanted to say.

  “Ah, excuse me?” she said in a cheery voice.

  I’m going to kill you, I thought.

  “I’ll just leave you here for awhile and let you ponder your options.” The light flicked off, plunging me into absolute darkness.

  Minutes passed, and then hours, and the electricity finally seeped from my body allowing me to sit up. I scooted away from the bars of the cage and into the middle.

  Obviously, Dike had made a terrible mistake and fallen in love with Hermes.

  I sighed. Although I had no love for her, I knew the lengths someone would go in order to steal the affections of someone they loved. So she wanted me to call off the challenge.

  I would. If I could. But my word wasn’t to Hermes, it was to Typhon. In the world of the immortals, you didn’t walk away from something like that. We may be the sneaky sort and apt to cheat and lie our way out of things, but I couldn’t drop this without losing face with everyone. Plus, Typhon was my friend.

  All she had to do was wait for Hermes to fail to show up. He hadn’t been involved in the initial deal and I’d arrogantly volunteered him. Even if I couldn’t call it off, Hermes not showing up would effectively kill it. I’d be stuck with Typhon in a probably loveless marriage, but I liked the guy.