by S. E. Babin
The woman’s gaze darted to mine and back to Cupid. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them tightly. “He said I was going to stay with him forever.” A tear tracked down her dirty cheek exposing a swatch of ivory skin.
I shook my head. “No.”
“I don’t want to stay with him.”
She reached out and grasped my hand tightly between her own and nodded once. “He will be punished?”
Of course, he would. Even if we erased this experience for her, Cupid was still guilty. I nodded once. “His punishment is yours to name.”
Her gaze narrowed at that statement and the first spark of life I’d seen since I came in earlier this evening burned in it.
I released her hand and stood. “I accept the debt of a boon.”
Clotho bowed her head. “Very well.”
I held up a hand. “First allow her to decide Cupid’s fate.”
I’d never heard deeper sobs come from a grown man in my entire life.
Artie and I were in our jammies shoving caramel popcorn in our faces when the doorbell rang. This was officially the longest Halloween night ever. I grumbled under my breath and untangled myself from underneath my fuzzy blanket.
“You better be Ed McMahon!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“He’s been dead for almost a decade!” The voice yelled back.
I froze in mid-step. Why on the god’s green earth was Hades knocking on my door? Zeus would have just plowed right in and stolen my popcorn. I hurried over to the door, opened the peephole and let my new boss in.
He grinned at me and swept into my home. A low whistle came from him as he stared around at the new digs. “Damn. I have great taste.”
I snorted and motioned him into the living room. “I’ll give you a tour if you promise you’re not carrying news of doom and gloom.”
I hadn’t seen him since I rushed into the Underworld a few hours ago and made everything weird. But since he wasn’t acting like things were weird, then I wouldn’t act like they were either. We were just two folks...err, immortals who had a hot and heavy makeout session because the other one put some serious magical mojo on the other one.
No biggie.
I hadn’t yet told him of my weird visit with Artie’s as of yet unnamed maybe sorta fling. In fact, I hadn’t told Artie about it yet either. I was planning to spring that on her later this week. I wanted the chance to bond with her, hang out with her, do girl things, then spring it on her that I ruined her life and had gotten her kicked out of the Twelve Olympians country club.
I was generous like that.
Sigh.
I assumed he was here about Cupid. The punishment the young woman had come up with was rather dastardly indeed and I had left it up to Clotho to deliver our errant evil cherub to the Underworld. Of course, his victim had no idea that burning in hell meant that we could deliver him ourselves instead of waiting for him to die, but deliver him she did.
But that wasn’t all she wanted. While I couldn’t stop thinking about the young woman and the fate that had befallen her, I did my best not to think about Cupid because right now the no longer immortal being was sitting in a maximum security prison created by the handsome dude standing in front of me. It was no ordinary Shawshank. His victim’s anger had propelled her creativity to dazzling heights and what she’d come up with had given me nightmares for weeks afterward. This was one of the main reasons I’d handed Cupid off to Clotho. She had more of a thirst for violence than I did. Let’s just say the food wasn’t the worst thing about where this dude went.
“I bring you tidings of good cheer and news of Cupid.”
I raised a hand. “The tidings are all good. I’d rather not hear about Cupid.”
His gaze warmed as he stared at me and a blush crept up my neck when I thought about how he’d kissed me.
I cleared my throat. About how I forced him to kiss me, I guess. Geez. One of the best makeout sessions I ever had was influenced by my own magic. When I thought about that too much it made me cringey. And a little angry at myself.
Hermes wanted nothing to do with me so what’s the first thing I do? I go chasing after someone completely unavailable and make a complete ass out of myself. I was a walking talking poster child for therapy.
“Cupid has...passed,” Hades said. His voice was quiet but, daresay was there an undercurrent of amusement there?”
“Passed what?” I asked, momentarily confused. “A gallstone? We don’t get gallstones.”
He grinned at me and closed and opened his hands in a poof motion. “He’s shuffled on from this mortal coil. He’s pushing up daisies. He’s dancing with -”
“He’s dead?” I screeched. How in the world had that happened? He hadn’t suffered for that long. For him to have died without experiencing the pain and suffering his victim had infuriated me on a cellular level.
I hadn’t seen Clotho since the delivery so it’s not like I had checked on his welfare or anything. Time passed differently in the Underworld so I had no idea how long Cupid had suffered. But it appalled me he’d taken the easy way out.
“Abby, it’s not like you think.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a dark look.
“Zeus took him.”
It was the absolute last thing I expected him to say.
“He...took him? When? Where?”
He looked over and noticed Artie staring at us with avid interest. “Ah...may I have a cup of tea?”
I narrowed my gaze at him. Stalling. He was stalling. Or he was trying to give Artie the opportunity to leave us alone. She wasn’t one to always get the hint and since she had a semi-crush happening on Hades, I didn’t think she’d leave even if she got the hint.
“Tea?” I echoed.
His eyes sparkled at my annoyance. “Yes. I prefer Earl Gray if you have it.”
“I don’t.”
He grinned and with a tiny wisp of air produced a box and handed it to me.
“Look at you. So generous.” I snatched the box out of his hand and made my way into the kitchen to make his stupid cup of tea.
Except...he followed me in and when I went to reach up and open the cabinet, he locked me in between his body and the counter, his arms on either side. I turned around abruptly and backed all the way up to the granite. His face was inches from mine. I leaned back a little more and swallowed hard.
“Err, I can’t make your tea if you don’t move.”
One dark eyebrow rose. “I don’t want any tea.” He loomed over me, dark and dangerous.
I, on the other hand, was tiny and blonde and a little bit freaked out. My glamour had worn off. Hadn’t it? Was he still under the effect of my magic? “I’m not a mind reader, Hades. What do you want?”
“You visited me.”
“Yes.” A blush started at my neck and wound its way up my face. “A true gentleman wouldn’t bring that debacle up.”
“I never claimed to be any kind of gentleman.”
No. He was the freaking devil. I guess that automatically negated gentleman status. I swallowed hard and stared at him. His gray eyes were silvery in their intensity. “Can we not talk about it? I’ve already apologized. I said it wouldn’t happen again. It was my fault.” I could hear myself rambling.
“What if I want it to happen again?” His face was inching closer to mine.
I squeaked and blinked out of the circle of his arms several feet away, brandishing the tea box like a weapon. “Bad idea. Verrrry bad idea.”
He turned and leaned back against my counter. My kitchen was huge but felt like the size of an icebox with him in it. “And why is that?”
I snapped my fingers and produced our employment contract. “This. This is the reason why.”
“And has there never been a single person in the universe involved with their employer?”
I waved the tea box at him. “Stop with all your crazy logic!” I stomped my feet in annoyance. “I never should have turned the glamour
on. I should never have used it against anyone, especially not you.” I lowered the box. “You have to believe me. I didn’t mean to do it.”
The only explanation behind his aggressive pursuit was the magic. It had to be.
I watched him warily as a myriad of emotions crossed his face.
“Plus, you have a wife. One I plan to find very, very soon.” The strange man’s words came back to me. Hades could find her if he really wanted to.
So why didn’t he want to?
My words appeared to hit him like a bucket of cold water. “Right,” he muttered more to himself than me. “Right you are then.”
He motioned for the tea and I lobbed it at him like a softball. He caught it with a deft hand and went to work making himself a cup while I stood frozen in my kitchen staring at him like a rabbit studies a wolf.
When he’d finished and I could move my feet again, he asked me to join him at my bar. I sat a few chairs away and studied him.
“Zeus requested I turn over Cupid. I refused at first knowing the reasons behind his captivity. Zeus made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” A sardonic smile crossed his face at the movie reference.
“What offer was that?” I knew full well how Zeus operated. Cupid probably had something he wanted again.
“I know what you’re thinking and it isn’t that. Sometimes my brother can be...magnanimous.”
I snorted. That was definitely not a word I’d associate with Zeus.
“As hard as it is to believe, it’s true.”
“And what happens with her?”
He took a sip of his tea and sighed. “Whatever Clotho did to her seems to have worked. She has no memory of the trauma and no memory of the captivity. For her, it is like it never happened. In fact, as strange as it is to say, it really never happened. Clotho is a powerful being indeed. The other women have also been cleared. They are all back home and have gone back to their lives.”
I waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, I nudged him. “You didn’t answer my question.”
He grinned, white teeth gleaming against his olive skin. “Tomorrow afternoon, she will receive a letter in the mail from a Great-Aunt she wasn’t aware she had with an inheritance in the millions. She will be able to quit her job, move wherever she wants and spend however she wishes without ever having to worry about money ever again.”
I sat back in my chair stunned. “And Cupid?”
His jaw tightened. “Cupid learned a tough and permanent lesson about his particular penchant for abusing women. Say what you will about Zeus. There are some things he will not tolerate.”
I scratched my nose as I sat in thought. “He agreed to let me handle it.”
Hades shook his head. “Your point about Zeus being culpable bothered him more than you could ever know. He felt like he had to make this right. Not for you, not for her, but for himself.” He reached over and patted my hand and even that small gesture sent shivers down my spine. “Your words reached him, Abby. He spent many, many years as an uncaring and power-hungry fool. Perhaps your influence has shaped him more than he would like to admit.”
I frowned. “So Cupid is dead?”
Hades grinned then and his chest rumbled with quiet laughter. “I can’t say what Zeus did to him in the beginning but I know in the end, he received a taste of his own medicine. He shot Cupid in the heart with his own arrow and turned him loose in Medusa’s lair.”
My eyes widened. I’d released my spell on Cupid before turning him over to Clotho because I wasn’t a total monster. Or at least I tried not to be. For Zeus to force Cupid to fall in love with Medusa would have ended him as soon as it began.
Hades nodded as if he read my mind. Which, knowing him, he probably did. “Cupid died loving a monster with the hair of snakes and the cold touch of death.”
“So he stands as a statue in her lair?”
Hades shook his head. “Zeus wouldn’t risk it. He removed the statue, shattered it and scattered it.” He set his teacup down and stood. “Would you like to see him?”
I blinked not quite following him. He grinned and helped me from the chair. He wouldn’t relinquish my hand so I let him hold it for awhile.
It was comforting.
Hades clicked open the latch on my back door and led me outside. My heart pounded faster as I looked around for anything weird.
“Relax,” he whispered and clicked off the deck light. Hades walked over and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down and waited for him to explain what this was all about. When he pulled up a chair beside me, he leaned in and pointed to the sky.
“Look up.”
I did. “Oh my gods,” I breathed. “That is so going to make the news tomorrow.”
Above me glittered a galaxy made of stardust and new stars at least a mile wide. It spanned the entire length of my vision. It glittered brightly in the clear night sky with blues, greens, and shades of silver.
“It’s a shame he got to be pretty,” I said.
Hades choked on a laugh. “There is that. Each of those pieces is a shattered chunk of stone from Cupid’s body. If you look over here-” he pointed over to the right-hand side where a mass of blue and silver dust had formed the hazy shape of an arrow, “all of those stars represent one of his victims. Mortal and immortal.”
He paused and let that sink in for me. I gasped as the implications hit me. “All of his matches have been undone?”
The world would be thrown into chaos.
“Most. Not all.”
“Zeus was angry.” It seemed an inadequate statement.
“Enraged. Furious at both Cupid and himself. He was angrier he’d let it go on for so long, allowed Cupid to abuse his power like that. He felt this was one of the only ways to send a message to others out there.”
“So everyone knows?” It seemed unlike him not to cover this up.
Hades shrugged. “Everyone in Olympus at least. There are some people treading on thin ice.”
“This was an incredible thing to do,” I mused. “And quite the message to send.”
“To keep people from flipping out too much, Zeus plans to make this display in the sky a once in a decade event. Long enough for humans to get used to the idea of it and look forward to it coming around, but short enough for the immortals to get a jarring reminder of where they could wind up if they don’t get their act straight.”
It was brilliant. And it had been awhile since Zeus scattered someone to the stars. Never had it been this pretty, though. Perhaps Zeus had a touch of the poet inside him as well. I still wasn’t ready to forgive him for his past actions, but this had given me some food for thought.
Hades was a much better boss, though. As long as he kept the lines between us professional.
I took a deep breath and made a silent promise to myself to try to not ramble. “You understand why we shouldn’t have…” I paused and cringed as I couldn’t find the right word to describe what he wanted us to have.
“Relations?” It was dark outside but I could still see his teeth gleaming as he smiled.
“Yes.” I sighed. I was so lame.
“Of course I do. And I fear I must apologize to you as well. I should never have approached you in such a manner or made you feel pressure to do something you didn’t want to do.”
My brow furrowed. Did he not think I was attracted to him? Should I even clarify that? “It must have been the last remnants of magic,” I said instead. “I don’t blame you for your actions.”
Hades stiffened beside me. “Of course it was,” he said after a moment. “How silly of me to forget.”
I stared at him in suspicion. He didn’t sound convinced, did he? “Do you think it was something else?” My heart picked up speed. “Oh gods, do you think Cupid -”
“Abby. Stop. No. Of course it was the remnants of your glamour. Nothing else.” He stood abruptly and left me sitting there. “I must return to the Underworld. I will visit soon. Persephone must be found. She must reclaim her seat upon the throne.” He shoved
his hands in the pocket of his jacket making him look dejected. I couldn’t see him very well in the starlight but he looked almost...sad.
“And soon,” he said in finality. “Once that has happened, we will reexamine your contract. I suspect your deal with Typhon will soon come to bear which could affect your ability to work for me.”
I groaned. “Thanks for reminding me.”
A deep chuckle split the air. “Farewell, lovely Abby.”
Hades disappeared like a thief in the night leaving me a little unnerved and with a whole lot of questions left unanswered.
Chapter 9
I shut the back door behind me with a soft snick and I padded back into the living room feeling completely discombobulated. On one hand, Hades’ actions made him a much better boss than Zeus had ever been, but the major sticking point of our unfortunate attraction niggled at me. Or my unfortunate attraction, I had to admit. Hades never admitted anything and appeared ready to jump at any explanation for our weird makeout session.
Except the only explanation revolved around me and my stupid uncontrollable magic. Didn’t it? I shook my head and wandered into the living room only to stop abruptly at the sight that greeted me. Artie sat curled up on the couch staring slack-jawed at the man sitting across from her.
I didn’t recognize him, but the power signature waving off of him was so strong it made me sway on my feet. I took one more cautious step into the room. “Errr, can I help you?”
He was handsome in a woodsy, lumberjack way, sporting a massive white beard and bushy white eyebrows. But danger lurked beneath the surface of his stormy gray eyes. Other things too. A kind of wild violence both exhilarating and terrifying. I had no idea who he was but danger sparked across my nerves. I would have to be careful around him.
“Aphrodite?” His voice boomed, deep and low inside of my living room.
“Depends on who’s asking,” I said, not trying to be smart but ready to run if he was looking for me for the wrong reasons. These days any strange visitors showing up in my living room either brought bad news or tried to kill me. Not necessarily in that order.