Ares (3 page)

Pacing back and forth in Dion's office, he waved his hand to the offer of wine. “I don’t want any of your wine, brother. I’m seriously not in the mood.”

“Never thought I’d see it,” his brother said with a laugh.

“See what?” Ares demanded, stopping to stare at him.

“The day a human, a human female no less, would best you.” Dionysus lifted his glass, gave it a sniff, and then took a sip.

“She insulted me. For someone who knows me so well, she has no clue at all. When, in all my centuries, did I ever demand anyone bow to me? That was father’s big thing for fucks sake. Never mine,” he muttered, throwing himself into a chair and slouching down.

“Like I said, she bested you. You did just what she expected of you, you disappeared. Do you know she called you childish and petty? No, not just petty, but fucking petty.” Dion appeared to be enjoying himself just a hair too much. He must have caught Ares intent because he held up a finger, “Uh…uh brother. I just had the office redone, no being fucking petty.”

“Fucking asshole,” he muttered, slouching down more. “How the hell do you know what she called me? Even I wasn’t there to hear it.”

“I popped in to invite you to the gala next weekend. Figured you’d like to get away from all those tourists for a bit. It’s the grand opening of my new hotel after all. Big and splashy, it will be a grand event. It’s in Ireland of all places!”

Ares narrowed his eyes on his brother, “Why Ireland?”

“A quaint little human woman got me interested in her country. It has its own history and lore. The Celtic Gods didn’t oppose me putting in a place so I thought why not. It gives them somewhere to party and brings in more money. What more could I ask for?” Dion laughed and then went serious, “So, will you come?”

Thinking on it for a time, he shrugged, “What the hell. Let me know when and where and I’ll be there.”

“Excellent!” Dionysus smile looked just a little scary right before he took another sip of wine. Ares was likely just imagining things.

*****

Ava touched the beautifully made gown in the box and frowned at the bellboy. “I’m sorry. Who did you say sent this to me? I can’t accept this.” Oh she wanted to. Dear God in Heaven she wanted to. The gown was sinfully perfect; it was outstanding and looked as if it were handcrafted just for her. It also looked as if it cost a small fortune, or rather a very large one from the details and the crystals that looked like they were a hell of a lot more than crystals.

She put the pink box top back on and shoved it back to the bellboy, “I’m so sorry. Please tell whomever sent it that it's a truly remarkable work of art, but I simply can’t wear it. I would love to, I really would, but I can’t accept such a generous gift.”

He held up his hands and stepped back. “It is a loan, madam, for the hotel’s grand opening party. The owner has picked the theme
A Time Gone By
. He realized though that most people wouldn’t have such clothing items in their possession. So he has been ensuring to it, as everyone checks in, he has the clothier eyeing them up. He is sending the recommendations to each guest. If you won’t take it as a gift you may borrow it for the event. It is mandatory for tomorrow night and you do not want to miss it.”

Ava touched the gown and sighed. “Only to borrow. Please make sure you come back for it right after the whatever tomorrow night?” she asked softly. “And please, please tell the owner I said thank you so very much. Thank you for allowing me to wear this perfect creation.” She was going to regret it. The little voice in the back of her head was screaming at her to get the hell out of Dodge. The owner, whom she was assured wanted to meet her, never showed up and now this? Something was seriously going wrong here.

“I will pass along your thanks. We will be picking up all the returns the following morning so you needn’t rush back after the event.” He smiled and gave her a bow, “The dining room is open if you’d like to go down for dinner. Or if you’d prefer, room service will be available until two in the morning. There is a breakfast buffet that is open to all guests, free of charge, from six until ten in the morning. Also, there will be a tour of the countryside and a couple of old castles beginning just after lunch tomorrow if you’d like to join. Everyone will return by five to prepare for the grand opening. Hairdressers are on standby if you require any assistance, free of charge once more.” He paused to look up at the ceiling, obviously going through a list in his head. “Oh,” he blinked at her. “Cocktails will begin to be served in the main ballroom at seven-fifteen until eight. Dinner will be at eight exactly and then the show and dancing from nine onward.”

“Wonderful. Thank you,” she said with a grin. “I think I will just take room service,” so she could do some internet searching on the owner of the hotel. No one was this generous or this kind without wanting something in return. That and something about his name made her brain itch. It made her think things she shouldn’t think. It made her think of another Greek God but for some reason she couldn’t place the name. Yet.

“The menu is by the phone. Just dial zero and then the number at the top of the menu.” He stepped back and gave her another little bow. “Have a good evening, madam. If you require anything at all please feel free to contact the front desk. That would be zero and then one-one on the phone.” He gave her a big smile before backing out the door and shutting it.

“Thank you for that,” she said to the retreating back. Shaking her head, she took the gown to the bed and pulled it out. It was breathtakingly stunning. Inside there was a jewel encrusted mask as well. “Interesting, so it’s a masked ball?” Stranger and stranger. Her inner radar was screaming for her to get her ass up and gone, but honestly the girl part of her couldn’t because she couldn’t wait to wear this once-in-a-lifetime gown.

*****

“You’re insane, Dion,” Ares muttered, eyeing up the outfit his brother was holding up. “Just what the fuck are you doing?”

Heaving a put-upon sigh, Dionysus watched him, “It’s a masked ball, Ares. That means you must dress accordingly and wear a mask.”

“I get that, bonehead. What I want to know is why? What purpose does this serve?”

Dion was grinding his teeth, nice. “She is here. You want to get close, see her and get your hands on her, yes?” Ares had to give him that one so he nodded. “Then you will dress, attend the party, and work your way to her side. Everyone has certain outfits, yours and hers complement one another. You may thank me now.”

“Why? So far all you’re doing is trying to get me dressed up in a fashion I never wore even when it was fashionable in this world.”

More teeth grinding, he was on a roll with irritating his brother. “It’s the theme of the night, Ares. You must wear it if you want to attend. If you don’t wear it I will wear it and I will get to know the delightful Miss Ava Von Maur.”

Seconds, that’s all it took before his hand was wrapped around his brother's throat. Seconds, all the time required to push him to the wall and hold him there. Seconds, for his temper to go nuclear. “You go near her with anything but the utmost respect and courtesy and I’ll make it so you’ll be sucking all your meals through a straw.”

Dionysus smiled and chuckled, sort of. It was kind of hard to laugh with someone holding onto his throat. “I was right,” he wheezed. “You do like the girl.”

Dropping Dion, Ares stalked away heading for the door and then spun back. “Stay away from her,” he said again, curling his lip at the clothing and mask. He snapped his fingers and the outfit vanished. “I hate you,” he muttered before flashing away, but not before he heard Dion’s laughter.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she was certain this had to be a joke. The mirror had to be a green screen and someone else was standing in front of it because Ava simply wasn’t as beautiful as this mirror said she was. “Is this really me?” she asked the woman who had helped her to dress and then did her long, honey-blond hair into intricate curls and waves. “Wow. I didn’t think I would ever look like this.” The gown was amazing. The drop top of the gown showed cleavage she didn’t think she had, the high waist emphasized her upper half’s assets as well.

“It’s you, madam,” the woman assured her with a smile. “You look amazing in the gown.”

Turning to get a good look at herself, the sparkle from the diamonds, and oh yes, she knew that was what they were, caught in the light and made her gasp. “Your boss is very, very generous isn’t he?” she asked as she eyed the diamond combs holding her hair up in a French Twist, which was surrounded by wisps of curls.

“He can be and he wishes this opening to be a huge success. In such cases he tends to go all out for the events,” she said quietly, tipping her head. Reaching out, she made a small adjustment to Ava’s hair.

“One last thing and I promise you can go. Will you help me with the mask? I’m afraid I will ruin what you did with my hair without your help.” After she was helped into the mask Ava stepped into the wickedly amazing shoes and taking a deep breath, walked out of her room and toward the ballroom where the dinner and dancing would be.

*****

“I fucking hate you,” Ares muttered again, throwing back the two fingers of forty-year old scotch.

“Hey, go easy on that. It may not be my drink of choice but that is damn fine scotch,” Dion said at his side. In the next moment Dion’s elbow found Ares's ribs, “She’s here, brother.”

Ares snapped his head around, he had to, damned mask obliterated his peripheral vision. “Holy mother of all things pure and good,” he wheezed.

“She does look rather fantastic doesn’t she?” Dion said with a chuckle. “I’m very glad I chose that dress for her. I was a little worried with her coloring, but I’m glad I went with my initial gut reaction. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he grinned at Ares. “I’m going to go and compliment the woman. Down boy,” he jumped back a step when Ares lunged toward him. “I will shake her hand and pay her a compliment. Nothing more, my word, brother.”

Dion took off before Ares could issue any more warnings. Moving to a different spot, he grabbed another glass of scotch and kept his eyes on Ava as Dion reached her.

“Miss Von Maur,” he bowed before her. “Welcome to my hotel and our grand opening extravaganza. I’m so pleased to see you wearing the gown I sent you. I hope you don’t mind, I just wanted everyone to enjoy this party.”

Ava looked at the man and frowned. Her smile was gone as she realized who he was. “Dionysus?” She stepped back. What in the hell was happening? Why were all of the Greek Gods her family had whispered about all her life suddenly there before her? She looked around wildly, suddenly feeling more than a little panicky as she recognized what felt like energy waves from another God there. “Who else is here? I feel someone else. Why are you doing this to me? First Ares, now you. How? Why?” she whispered.

“Why what?” he frowned at her. He didn’t deny her knowledge of who he was. Actually, he looked pleased she’d recognized him. “This is my hotel, it’s a party, lots of wine. You know, my whole deal and all that,” he grinned. “But I have a question for you, my dear.” He stepped in closer and pushed up his mask, “If you know us all so well, how could you even say that to Ares?” Clicking his tongue, he stepped back, “Enjoy your evening, Miss Von Maur,” his tone had chilled and the smile now looked brittle.

“You pompous ass,” she called out, loudly. “How dare you ask me that and then turn and walk away?” She was flirting with death here, but okay, so when she died she would meet Hades as well. Why the hell not? “I said that to him because he’s too damn good looking for my good. I said it because I could actually see myself bowing to him, not because he wanted it, you jackass. I think the lot of you have far too big of heads,” she muttered. “Oh and don’t worry, this snide bitch of a human will be gone from your hotel as soon as I can get out of this gown and packed.” She turned and strode away, mumbling about self-righteous Gods and their proclivities to wreak havoc.

“Don’t go,” Ares said quietly as he blocked her path. “Please,” he added. He wasn’t touching her, wasn’t physically stopping her but she wasn’t moving for the door any longer. “Why would you think to bow to me or anyone, Ava? There was never a need for such displays, especially for me. God of War remember? The one’s who were on their knees and bowed lost their heads shortly after.”

“Bow, as in bend to your will. Not on my knees,” Ava said with a sigh. “I said that because…” She shrugged, lifting her shoulder and suddenly blushing, “because I think you are about the only being on this planet who would ever be able to get me to change how I view life. Weird I know. You are just too attractive for my own good. I know all the stories and no, you never had people bowing to you. You were there in the thick of things with them, one of them, but the women fell all over themselves for you. I don’t want to be just another of the countless who have fallen to you, Ares.”

“I would never want you to bow to my or anyone else’s will. You could never be just another woman, Ava. You are unique, special and one of a kind.” He shifted on his feet, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “I’m sorry for how I left you the other day. You just...” He cleared his throat. “Well, to be honest, you offended me with the suggestion, no matter the meaning behind it. While I may not have been the sort that played by the rules all the time, hell, even most of the time, I never once forced anyone to do anything they didn’t want to do. I have my lines, Ava, and I’ve never crossed them. There was never reason to.”

She sighed and nodded. “I know and I understand. I just don’t know what to do or how to do it. Before, the Gods were only stories passed down by my family, but now I’ve seen not one but two of you. How do you explain that? I don’t understand what’s happening. I’ve always been different, I’ve always been able to see and hear the truth even when it’s given in such a convincing lie that anyone would believe it including the one telling it, but I’ve never fallen for that. Why now? Why am I seeing you all now?”

“I let you see me and Dion has let everyone see him for centuries,” he told her quietly. “But I’m sure what I did, opening that doorway between our worlds, is why you recognized him for who he was so quickly. You had a taste of what a God’s power is and recognized it in him even though he rarely bothers to push much of anything at anyone any more.”

“I’m a bit overwhelmed,” she admitted to him. “Why did you let me see you?” she asked softly, taking a step closer to him so they could talk without others listening in, but still hear each other over the music. “That’s been something I’ve been very curious about. Why did you let me see you that day?”

“Honestly?” he shrugged. “I don’t know, but I needed to. For whatever reason I knew I had to reveal myself to you. I likely could have resisted the impulse had I worked at it. Remained hidden until you left the temple, but your words about the statue pulled at me.”

“Thank you for showing yourself,” she admitted to him. “I’m very glad you did. The stories of the Greek Gods have been passed through my family from generation to generation. There is even a book detailing all that you have accomplished, and attempted. One for each of the Greek Gods. I was entrusted with your book,” she told him with a shrug. “Strange I know, but my family is a bit on the odd side too.”

“You have a book about me?” he asked. He sounded, well, kind of a cross between intrigued and terrified. “What exactly does this book say? I think I really need to know what’s in there, I doubt it’s overly accurate,” he muttered the last words. “Given how the rest of history views me and my supposed deeds, I’m terrified to see what yours claims.”

“Uhm…no. This book is drastically different from how history and myths depict you. According to mother it was started a great time ago by one of my ancestors, one of your high priests. All of the Greek Gods had high priests and all of them decided it was time for your true selves to be written of and not what the bards sang as your truth. So before writing was ever invented, these men gave their stories to their pupils and so on. Once the master died, the pupil took over and the stories never wavered from master to pupil, not ever. You are welcome to read it though. I would like to find out if it is all true or not.”

“Hmm,” he made a face. “Still terrified, but I may read it if you’ll permit. At least the first little bit. If that isn’t the truth then the rest of the book definitely would not be.” He looked around then before glancing down at her. “Will you stay, Ava? Stay and come have a drink with me. If you still wish to leave I won’t stop you. It is your right to make such a choice.”

She had to think for a moment and then finally nodded. “I will remain,” she said softly. “I honestly hadn’t meant to offend you. I hate that you just up and vanished without telling me why you were upset. I think I might have called you some not so nice names after it, but those I won’t apologize for because you did leave in a huff and everything.”

“Your words pissed me off, it was best I left before I said something I couldn’t take back. Words of the Gods hold power and can cause untold harm. I wouldn’t inflict that on you for any reason just because your words pricked me.” He put a hand on her back and urged her toward the bar. “As to the names you may have called me, I’m sure they were well chosen.”

“I think I said you were childish and fucking petty.” She wouldn’t sugar coat anything, not for anyone. Life was far too short for that. “So yeah, I was just a bit pissed off at you,” she admitted, once more blushing hard. “Are we good now?”

“Yeah, we’re good. As I said, I can’t blame you for your words. They sting but,” he shrugged. Leaning on the bar, he signaled to the woman behind it. “What would you like to drink, Ava, and no, the drinks do not have to be with the theme, thank the Gods Dion didn’t go that far. Though the menu, well, we could be in trouble since he didn’t answer my questions about it earlier.”

“Oh God,” Ava groaned, “My stomach hurts already,” she teased. “I just want a soda please. I don’t drink.” She had a father who had been an alcoholic and she had vowed she would never, ever drink. “If the food is bad what do you say we slip out of here and find some burger place that might be open?”

“Deal,” he nodded. “Soda for the lady and I’ll have two fingers of scotch, the good bottle, neat.” He turned to face her then, an elbow on the bar. “Though we may want to change before we go to the burger place. I can’t even imagine the looks I’ll get in this damned getup.”

“Good point.” She looked down at her gown and shook her head. “I can’t believe he would send me this gown. It had to have cost upwards of seven figures, at the very least.” It was spectacular. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it's an amazingly beautiful gown, but wow. I feel as if everyone is watching me and waiting for one of the diamonds to fall off.”

Collecting their drinks, he passed over her soda. “I won’t tell you what it actually costs until you’re in something else. Just so you know, he created it specifically for you. It’s yours to do with as you wish after the event. Don’t offer it back to him, you’ll just offend him and it won’t be very pretty to see him having a fit.” Taking her elbow in a light grip, he guided her through the room toward a table. Their names were on plates, them and Dion and another person, the name she couldn’t quite see. Ares pulled her chair out for her and waited for her to sit.

“Thank you,” she whispered and took the seat he offered to her. “Yeah I’m pretty positive if I were to know how much this cost I would die. Did he have costumes made for everyone?” she asked quietly.

“Mm,” he sipped his drink. Setting it aside, he shrugged, “Yes and no. He doesn’t have to have them made. He can just imagine what he wants someone to wear and create it. Same as all Gods,” he told her quietly. “In some cases though, he likely purchased locally. In others there wouldn’t have been time to have them made so, poof!” He waved a hand to indicate her gown, “Yours he created once he got a look at you and after he stopped yanking my tail. Actually, it was after he managed to escape the beating I had planned.”

He had her grinning, “Why would I be special? I’m literally a nobody. I’m not powerful, I’m just a weird person who can see Gods for who and what you are. That's about the only thing that makes me different from every other person here.”

“You really have no idea,” he said. He shook his head with a small grin, “Oh Ava, Ava, Ava. Life as you know it is going to become one hell of a whirlwind. You’ll likely be meeting the entire family soon enough. Later, when we’re not surrounded by so many people, I’ll let you know which ones to watch out for.”

“Okay, please explain that statement,” she asked quietly as she leaned in closer to him. “Should I leave? Maybe I should go to Antarctica. I don’t recall any of the Greeks being all that loving of cold weather so maybe that’s where I should go.”

“They won’t need to come to you, Ava, they can bring you to them.” He looked at her and sighed softly. “Although,” he pursed his lips slightly and looked toward his brother. Then he looked around the room before lifting a hand, palm up and started to murmur. The language she didn’t understand, but then again, with a soft glow starting in his palm she really wasn’t paying much attention. A moment later a dainty chain and pendant, the symbol of Ares, lay in his palm. “Tuck this into your pocket or purse until later. Put it on once you are out of this outfit, it should hide you from them. Unless they come looking and walk up to you, but they won’t be able to just grab you.

She took the pendant from him and looked at it. “Why?” she asked and tucked the necklace into the bodice of her gown with a swift and quick turn and move. “Why would you do this for me?” she asked as she laid her hand on his arm once more. “What’s going on? Would you like to leave so we can talk?”

“I’m doing it because I’m the one who exposed you to them. I can’t let you be hurt for my error. I should tell you about something else. If you hold the symbol in your hand and think of me: picture me, my face, my voice, all of that, you can summon me. I’ll hear you and come to you as quickly as I can. None of the others can override that, but if they see you wearing it, they will try to take it off you. They can’t just snatch it with a snap of their fingers, not once it’s on you. They will have to physically grab it from your neck.”

“Right, yes that would be bad. I wouldn't want them to take something that means this much.” Well to her at least. It meant a great deal not because a God gave it to her, but because
he
gave it to her. There was a hell of a difference in her mind. “Thank you for that. I do appreciate it.” She felt a little hurt though, and added, “But you don’t have to give me something simply because you feel guilt-ridden to do so.” She wanted to give it back to him but couldn’t find it in her to let it go. “Never feel guilty for something that honestly was not your fault.”

“I didn’t give it to you because I felt guilty, Ava. If I wanted to just protect you I could have put a mark on your skin to hide you from the Gods. I gave you the necklace because,” he clammed up. He also blushed, looking embarrassed. “'Cause I wanted to,” he muttered. Grabbing his glass he swallowed the scotch down fast in one big gulp.