Society of Supernatural Sleuths Box Set 1, page 17
“An obnoxious ten year old prankster of a mortal boy,” Hephaestus added.
Aphrodite glared at him. “A mortal boy nonetheless. Leaving him without his bow would be a death sentence.” She looked to Scarlet. “If there were another way to help him, I would take it, but you are our best chance to find the bow.”
Scarlet swallowed back any thoughts of a sharp retort. Aphrodite was right. She could help. And leaving an immortal being to become mortal wasn’t something she could do with a clear conscience. More than that, in doing so, she stood a chance of finding both Gordon and Cecilia, so the whole trip was in her best interest anyway.
“I think we have to help them,” she said to Cruces and Tavian. “Our goals are similar enough, and it’s the best way to help the others. Agreed?”
Cruces and Tavian both nodded.
Scarlet looked back at Aphrodite. “So, how are we to get to the immortal world?”
“Zeus has limited our powers,” Hephaestus answered. “It is part of the injunction against interfering. We cannot bring mortals back with us, or anything of the mortal realm. His anger over Cupid’s latest folly was great.”
“But dear Cruces’ ring should help you to cross over with ease,” Aphrodite said. “Meaning that none of that should be a problem. I assume you still have it, vampire? I remember it being so very useful to you back in the old days.”
Cruces nodded, and if he noticed the attempt to remind everyone of the history between the two of them, he did not show it. “Of course. In fact, Scarlet has just proved instrumental in recovering it for me.”
Aphrodite looked Scarlet up and down again. “Then perhaps we will see the bow again. I hope so. For one thing, it will mean getting my full powers back. I’m sure the young man here, Tavian is it, would appreciate the opportunity to be taken to the immortal realm by a goddess, rather than having to fool around with Devices.”
Scarlet glanced at Tavian then, and she wasn’t entirely happy to see that the gypsy fey’s eyes were locked onto Aphrodite. Cruces didn’t seem entirely happy about it either. Indeed, his expression right then was almost one of anger.
Chapter 5
“The sooner all this is done with, the better,” Hephaestus said. “Zeus is watching us carefully so that we do not use our powers, and has threatened to take them away if we do the wrong thing. It is severely limiting how we can act.”
“It would be worse if he actually did take them,” Aphrodite pointed out. “Bad enough that my son has lost the ability to affect mortals now that he has been stripped of his bow. What would mortals and others do when it came to love without my influence?”
“They’d probably be better off,” Cruces muttered under his breath, but not quite quietly enough to keep everybody in the room from hearing. Scarlet had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, while even Hephaestus seemed amused by it.
Aphrodite reddened with anger, though even like that, she somehow managed to be beautiful. “So you think that what I do isn’t important?” she demanded.
“I’m sure that’s not what Cruces meant,” Scarlet interjected. Apparently, it was the wrong thing to do, because Aphrodite turned to her with a thoughtful smile.
“Yes,” she said, “that might work. A little lesson for you all in the power of what I do.” She pointed at Cruces. “You, vampire, were so eager to reject me before, yet you want her.” She pointed at Scarlet. “So let’s make that clear. You will love her, with all your heart. Of course, she will now know that it is simply my power at work. And she will have other distractions, because she will love… ah yes, the beautiful gypsy boy. Such a sweet boy. I think he deserves your love more than the vampire, don’t you, Scarlet?”
Scarlet wanted to answer, but right then, it felt like the room was spinning. She struggled to sit down at the dining table, forcing herself to focus as she looked at first Cruces, and then Tavian. The vampire looked pained, even frightened. So fast that Scarlet could barely keep up with the movement, he rushed over to her, cupping her face in his hands as his eyes bored into hers.
“Please Scarlet, whatever you are feeling, fight it. I need you. I love you. I have spent so long trying to find you. Don’t let that go now. Kiss me. Kiss me and know that it’s true.”
Cruces leaned forward, obviously about to kiss her. For a moment, it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world, except a second later, she felt a tug on her arm, jerking her around to face Tavian. So close to him there was no contest. The vampire was good looking, but he was not the man she loved. He was not the man she needed with every fiber of her being right then. In that moment, Scarlet wanted nothing more than to throw herself at Tavian and kiss him until they were both exhausted from kissing.
The look in Tavian’s eyes told her that he felt exactly the same way. There was such love in his expression, such need, that Scarlet knew that they were perfect for one another. How could she have ever felt anything else? How could she have ever felt anything for some vampire when Tavian was there, and they both loved one another so much? Tavian grabbed her around her waist and crushed her hard against his muscular chest, where she could feel his girth rock hard against her crotch.
Scarlet grabbed his tight buttocks and pulled him closer until she was sitting on top of his girth almost riding him between the layers of clothing between them.
“I need to taste you, woman,” Tavian growled. “I need to fill you with me until you will move with me as one.”
“I’d like that,” Scarlet whispered, breathless with want. “Please rip every stitch of clothing off of me and fill me now.”
Tavian reached over her skirts and ripped off her undergarments. Scarlet’s head tilted back, and she closed her eyes in ecstasy as Tavian’s fingers filled her and played with her folds, rubbing her in circles until she was writhing.
Scarlet moaned but was cut short when Tavian’s mouth covered hers, plunging his tongue in to taste her, to play with hers before sucking on it.
She felt her body trembled, so heated that she felt the pressure building.
“Tavian,” Scarlet cried. “Oh Tavian…”
“You are truly the woman for me,” Tavian groan, pulling down his pants and moving his naked body underneath Scarlet’s skirts.
Scarlet felt his large hard girth with delicious ridges plunge into her, stretching her, filling her to the core. Every single thrust was unbearably intense and pleasurable. She was crying out and moaning with such abandon, her entire body felt every inch of Tavian’s member.
She wanted to lick it, fill her mouth with it, and suck on it until he exploded into her.
As if Tavian could read her mind, with his mouth of hers, he groaned. “What you do to me, woman,” he muttered. “I could feel your need. Your mouth on my hardness…”
He grunted and gave one big plunge deep into Scarlet, they exploded.
“Scarlet!” Cruces cried out, and the word was enough to get Scarlet to look back at him. What did the vampire want? Could he not see that she was busy with the man she loved? “God I wish I had told you everything about me and you before Aphrodite showed up with this crazy spell. If I had, you would know the Seeker and the Keeper are meant to be together, always forever. You and I. Not you and anyone else.”
He looked pained at seeing Tavian looked satisfied after he and Scarlet had been intimate in front of him.
Scarlet shook her head. It wasn’t like that. It couldn’t be like that. It was Tavian she was meant to be with. Tavian she wanted to kiss, and so much more, right there and then.
Scarlet eyed Cruces hungrily. Her need had not fully been sated. “If you love me so much, Cruces,” she said seductively, “You will have to satisfy me. You must accept me with Tavian, Gordon, and anyone else I wish to bed. To have a part of me, even…”
Cruces was already on top of Scarlet, ramming her in from behind, grabbing her beautiful blonde hair and fisting it while he licked her neck, and biting her so her sweet blood trickled into his hungry mouth. “I would do anything to have you, Scarlet. Anyway I can.”
He rammed into her hard until they were both screaming in pleasure.
When Scarlet collapsed into his arms, he licked her neck wound up until it closed, got dressed, and pulled Scarlet closed. “How I love this woman,” he growled at Aphrodite. “You can’t toy with her like this.”
Aphrodite’s laugh cut through the room. “You’ve left it a little late for that, Cruces. Can’t you see that your Scarlet, the Seeker you have sought for eternity, is already and has already strong feelings for the fey boy. That coupling was genuine and not because of magic. They really were passionate for each other. And you…” Aphrodite fanned herself, while pulling down the top of her gown to fondle her own full breasts, visibly stroking her nipples while looking hotly at Cruces. “I put myself into Scarlet’s body just then so I could feel you plunge your thick hot girth in me. How you were riding her was how I imagined you riding me…only now I’ve experienced it through her. Your reputation as a lover is well-deserved, Vampire.”
Cruces’s face contorted in anger. “You robbed Scarlet of the pleasure…”
“No, Cruces, she experienced it too. I haven’t robbed her of that. Yes, she felt every single thrusts of yours. As I did.” Aphrodite smiled, licking her lips.
“What will it take for you to undo this?” he demanded.
“Why would I want to do that?” Aphrodite asked.
“I don’t want you to do it,” Scarlet pointed out.
Aphrodite smiled. “I know you don’t, dear. Come on, Cruces. Tell me why I should?”
Cruces pointed at Scarlet. “Perhaps because in her present state, Scarlet is going to be too busy kissing Tavian to bother retrieving Cupid’s bow? She certainly won’t get through the portal without my help.”
Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed at that. “You’re threatening my son?”
“I am making a proposition,” Cruces countered. “I will take Scarlet through the portal to retrieve the bow, and in return, you will undo what you have done to her, leaving her free to fall in love with me as she should have done before.”
“Please don’t,” Scarlet begged, moving to wrap her arms around Tavian. Aphrodite snapped her fingers, and although Scarlet found that she still loved the gypsy boy more than anything, she did not have quite the same urge to throw herself at him there and then.
“Just a little toning down,” Aphrodite said, “so that we can talk without anybody ripping off anyone else’s clothes. We wouldn’t want a repeat of Thebes, after all.” She looked over to her husband. Hephaestus nodded gravely, and Aphrodite pouted. “Oh, very well. You are to take Scarlet through to the immortal realm, assist her in finding the bow, and get it back to me safely. If you do that, I will remove my compulsion from the girl. Of course, who she falls for after that is her own affair. I make no promises.”
“Done,” Cruces said eagerly. “As long as I have a fair chance to win her over, it is enough. I know that with that, things will turn out as they should.”
“I wouldn’t be so confident, if I were you,” Aphrodite countered, “but that is none of my concern, so long as you retrieve the bow. It will be as you ask. Now, shouldn’t you be going? Your Seeker will tell you where to go through, of course.”
“Of course,” Cruces said. He turned to Scarlet, pulling her away from Tavian through simple strength. It was all Scarlet could do not to lash out at him. Tavian was less restrained. He yanked Scarlet back towards him, almost pulling her away from Cruces.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Tavian demanded.
“I’m getting ready to leave,” Cruces replied. “Scarlet and I need to be in physical contact when I use the ring to transport us.”
“And me,” Tavian said. “You are not leaving me behind.”
“I think you’ll find that I am,” Cruces said. “For one thing, there are the effects of this love spell to consider.”
“I am going where Scarlet goes,” Tavian snapped back. “She promised to find Cecilia with me before she agreed to find this bow.”
“I did,” Scarlet agreed, turning to kiss Tavian soundly on the lips. It was a pleasant kiss, and she was just starting to enjoy it even more when Cruces pulled her away from Tavian.
“I thought you toned the effect down?” the vampire demanded of Aphrodite.
“A little,” the Greek goddess replied, “but only a little. It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise.”
“Well then, Tavian will have to stay behind,” Cruces said.
Scarlet shook her head firmly. “No. He is coming with us. I am the one who is meant to find this bow, so I decide. I want Tavian with us. I love him, Cruces. I… I’m not going if you won’t allow it. I don’t think I could be apart from him like that.”
“Scarlet,” Cruces said softly.
“Cruces.” Scarlet tried to be firm. She could see that Cruces was obviously struggling against something standing there, but that was just the natural possessiveness of a vampire, wasn’t it? Scarlet was not going to allow herself to be parted from Tavian simply because Cruces thought he should be able to sink his fangs into her.
“You are as lovely as any goddess,” Cruces whispered to her.
“I really do not think that is appropriate,” Scarlet replied. “Not now that I have…”
Cruces raised a hand. “All right. Please do not say it.”
“Tavian can come with us?” Scarlet asked. She wanted to be certain on that point. Part of her knew exactly what Aphrodite had done to her, but that did not make the thought of leaving him behind any less painful.
Cruces hesitated for a moment, and then nodded sharply. “If he must.”
Tavian looked at him then, and patted the vampire’s shoulder in a brotherly fashion. “So where to?”
“That is for Scarlet to determine,” Cruces said. “Scarlet? What comes to mind? How will we find Cupid’s bow?”
“Cecilia and Gordon, too,” Scarlet said.
“Yes, of course, Cecilia and Gordon, too,” Tavian said.
For a moment, Scarlet did not know. She was not sure quite what it was she was meant to do. Then Aphrodite and Hephaestus walked over to her, placing their hands on her. Their touch was almost electric, and as it came, images came with it. They swam across her vision one by one. Images of a place where the skies were blue, where waves pounded against sandy beaches, and where buildings that were in an ancient style, but which still looked new and cared for stood.
“It looks like Athens,” Scarlet said, thinking back to some of her parents’ archaeological journeys overseas, “only it is different. It looks… almost like Athens would have been centuries ago. There are buildings where the ruins would be, and they have the same kind of columns, but they aren’t collapsing. It’s like they are brand new.”
Cruces nodded. “I know the place that you mean. It will not take much to get us there.”
He reached out to put a hand on Scarlet’s shoulder, and Scarlet saw him reach down for the ring that he wore with no warning. Did he intend to leave Tavian behind? Scarlet was not about to allow that to happen. She turned, trying to shout a warning to the gypsy boy, but it appeared that it was unnecessary. Tavian’s hand clamped onto her wrist in the instant before Cruces did something with his ring that Scarlet could not see.
The instant after that, the world around them changed.
Chapter 6
For several moments after Cruces did whatever it was he had done to the ring he wore, Scarlet felt like the universe was spinning around her. It was a strange feeling, both terrifying and curiously exhilarating at once, as if Scarlet was, for that moment, the focal point of everything around her. To step between worlds like this made her feel almost invincible, since she was doing something most girls simply could not dream of, and yet also curiously vulnerable. For the few moments while they were between worlds, it felt like the simplest things no longer applied. If they could do this, after all, how could any of the basic rules of the universe be real?
Then they arrived at their destination, and Scarlet no longer had time for that kind of thought. She was too busy staring around her. The houses looked… ancient was the wrong word. They were in a style that Scarlet’s mind automatically labeled that way, but they all looked new, well-cared for. They were like one of the places her parents studied that had come to life.
It all looked Greek, with the marble buildings and brightly painted statuary of the classical style. Columns rose up to support the roofs of the larger buildings, while the people there were dressed in clothing not a long way from the kind of thing that Aphrodite and Hephaestus had been wearing. They were in the right place then which was good news, but there were subtle differences.
It took Scarlet a moment to latch onto them. There was the way everybody was paying attention to one man on the edge of a crowd, who practically glowed with the supernatural. There was the way what looked very much like a spirit shot past, and people’s heads snapped around to watch it. People here were actually paying attention to the supernatural, like it was a part of their lives. That normalcy was far stranger to Scarlet than the supernatural ever was. It was one thing being told that they were going to the Greece of the immortals, and quite another to actually see it. For a moment she reeled, just trying to take the whole place in.
Cruces grabbed her by the shoulders, jerking her back just as a chariot thundered past, drawn by two white horses. The near miss was enough to jerk Scarlet away from her staring temporarily, and they made their way down the streets of the city they were in.
“This is Athens?” Scarlet asked, wanting to be sure.
“The Athens of this world, yes,” Cruces replied. “It is probably easiest to think of it as a mirror of the one that used to exist on your world, rather than as the original.”
They started to walk, and quickly found themselves in a bustling marketplace, where vendors sold everything from simple foodstuffs to elaborately dyed cloths. Scarlet’s eyes flicked from stand to stand while the owners shouted out to her. One oddity occurred to her: she could understand everything they were saying, as plainly as if they had been speaking English. When she mentioned that to Cruces, the vampire shrugged.
