Adonis and Aphroditus (9 page)

At first there was only silence then he heard
noises that let him know the line was still live but his caller
wasn’t talking. “Let me help you,” he beseeched the caller. He felt
deep inside that this was real and he needed to get the frightened
person on the other end speaking. “I can help you if you let me.
We’ll protect you and no one will be able to harm you.”

“They’re strong enough to keep a god
imprisoned, what chance do I have?” a shaky and low voice
whispered. She spoke so quietly, it was all Afrod’s super god
hearing could do to hear her. All he knew is he had to get her to
talk for her sake as well as theirs.

Aphroditus

Chapter 1

A Mission

He remembered when he was freed, it was after
some of the gods had been freed at this very facility. He’d been at
another with other gods and they’d known nothing except their
jailors had started acting oddly. They’d been kept inside,
experimented on, the food they were given was less and less and
even their barely there shorts, a trademark of Origin, weren’t
being replaced or cleaned. They all knew something was going on but
had no way of knowing what.

That was before they were freed and brought
before Zeus and he had told them everything. Joy surged so strongly
through all of them even a human could feel it. He told them he had
found a mate and they would all someday have one of their own. He’d
been right as far as some were concerned and more joined the mated
gods all the time. It was Afrod’s fondest hope, right after freeing
his fellow gods just as he had been freed. They deserved the gifts
he had received and he wanted to be out in the human’s world
finding and freeing his brothers. His job here was the closest he
had come. He looked at the phone line where he once again waited
for the frightened young female to speak.

“I want to help, I really do but it’s not me
I’m afraid for. I’m going to have a baby. I wasn’t expecting it and
I’m all alone now,” she said softly.

“Sweetheart, we’ll help you when we get there
but right now, we need you to help us, okay?” he asked softly
trying not to upset her.

Afrod looked up and saw Hades standing nearby
listening. “What’s the guy’s name?”

“It’s different and I’ve never heard it
before. Afay oh, hell I had it…,”

“Apis?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Afrod was excited since Apis was one of his
dearest friends. “What’s your name Sweetheart?”

“Julie, my name’s Julie.”

“Julie, I have some questions and we’ll go
through this slowly and carefully so we get everything down right.
Once we get all the information from you, we’ll come up with a plan
and someone will come protect you and help you figure things out.
We won’t just leave you on your own, Julie. We will take care care
of you.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

Afrod went through locations, people, and
security. Julie didn’t know a lot, but it was a start. Hades stood
listening closely and nodded his approval. They finally had all the
information they needed and he reassured her once again that they
would look out for her before they said goodbye.

“It sounds legitimate,” Afrod said.

“I think so too. Since we have to do
surveillance we need to get out there fast. I think Eros and I will
supervise this mission and send someone else on the call Adonis
got. It sounded easier since Lucy got us a great deal of
information while Julie didn’t seem to know more than the basics.
Of course, you’re aware that you’ll be going,” Hades mentioned.

Afrod smiled, he just couldn’t help it. “I
can’t wait to get a look at the outside world,” he admitted. He
knew not all his fellow gods felt that way. Some of those who had
been out there hated it. Hermes mentioned that if he never had to
leave Olympus again, he’d be a happy male. He also said that he was
glad Zeus had made him go that first time because he had found all
he ever wanted in his mate, Cherish.

“Just be careful, it’s dangerous out there
and the danger isn’t always evident,” Hades said and his
experienced and knowing eyes held secrets Afrod wished he knew.
“We’re going to have an emergency meeting and probably leave right
afterward. Turn off your station and go pack.”

“What time is the meeting?”

“Thirty minutes in the room next to Zeus’
office.”

“I’ll be there,” Afrod confirmed before he
rushed off to his room. He ransacked it in order to find what he
needed and pushed everything back in place hurriedly. He’d
straighten it out better when he got back. It wasn’t like anyone
else would see the mess. Excitement coursed through him over the
mission and curiosity about Julie filled him. He felt sympathy for
her and a protectiveness that probably stemmed from his oath to her
that she would be protected at all costs.

He strode into the meeting room like a god
because he was a god. The room was almost full but some of those
present wouldn’t be going. He saw an unhappy Ris sitting at the
table. They were probably making him go and he liked to be home
with his new family. He was seeing a lot of the gods his age and
even some younger gathering for these types of trips. Maybe it was
their intent to train his generation in missions, but he would feel
more confident with a few older gods thrown in.

It looked like Hades would be in charge but
his mate was nowhere to be seen. He would be an unhappy irritable
god the whole time but he would keep them all safe or his mate
would tear him up. She was one of the doctors here at Olympus and
she wasn’t happy when they were overwhelmed with wounded. Hades
tried very hard to keep his mate happy.

Hades called the meeting to order and went
over the little information they had. Unlike Adonis’ female
informer who had given them a wealth of information, his was a
terrified young female who knew very little and kept her head down
so she wouldn’t attract any attention. Afrod understood, she wasn’t
strong enough to protect herself and she was too afraid to drag her
family into it even though it sounded like her sister was more than
capable of helping her. He’d gotten the impression of a tough
battle ax who wore combat boots.

She had mentioned her sister was just a bit
older than her but way more experienced and take charge. He
secretly thought Julie should have called in her barracuda of a
sister and let her help deal with the situation but if she had, the
gods probably wouldn’t have been called in and they wanted to
reclaim their own. That would include Julie who now carried one of
their own, Afrod was certain of it.

When Julie spoke of her sister there was a
kind of fearful awe. She loved and respected her but she found her
difficult to approach because she was so overwhelming. She made her
sound like a conquering general, approaching everything with a take
no prisoners’ attitude. Poor Julie wasn’t strong or forceful and
she was completely afraid of her sister or maybe just afraid of
letting her down. She was clearly overshadowed by her and felt
unable to confide in her. Afrod felt sorry for the girl. She had
told him she was twenty one but she sounded and acted more like
sixteen.

While Afrod had been thinking about Julie and
her personal situation, the meeting ended. He wasn’t too concerned,
he already knew all the information they had and they would have to
gather most of it once they arrived nearby. Julie would be more of
a problem than a solution and if her sister became involved, Afrod
saw nothing but trouble ahead. He followed Hades, until he stopped
in medical to say goodbye to his mate. Afrod moved over to the
doors where everyone else gathered.

Eros joined them which surprised them all.
Afrod vaguely remembered Hades mentioning that Eros was coming but
he’d forgotten. Others were surprised because rumor had it that Lu
was preparing to take most of the demons with him and take over a
new facility, one in a tropical location and Eros was going to help
them set up. There was a cache of explosives and disposing of them
would be Eros’ job since he was an explosives expert. He wasn’t
their only one but he was the best. They were all jealous of him
getting to go to the tropical location, but the rumor also was that
gods from here would be allowed to rotate there in small numbers
for a quarter of the year at a time. They all liked Lu, volunteers
for his location wouldn’t be hard to find.

There was also a rumor that three more
facilities would be opened in what was previously Origin locations
that the local governments had agreed to sign over to the gods. One
was in Mexico, one in Iceland, and one in the States. Everyone was
excited about the new locations and some were even prepared to go
there. Rumor had it that Hades and Doc might be going to head the
one in Mexico. Hercules or Eros were up for the one in the U.S.,
supposedly, and no one was speculating about the one in Iceland. It
was too much like their Olympus, location wise, to lure anyone
there. It seemed like since they had been freed, they had gone
through one exciting situation after another.

They loaded on the plane not waiting for
Hades. He would join them before they took off. There were nine of
them and they were all just regular gods except for Pluto, Hades
Roman version from the next generation of gods and Eros who was
second level leadership. Pluto was around sixteen and very good
with computers and communications. Jupiter had been sent with the
other group so it was clear Zeus was drawing the young ones into
the fold and putting them to work. Eros would be Hades second since
he was also in leadership and had the needed skills.

“Afrod, come sit with me,” Hades directed
from the front seat.

He moved up the aisle and slid into the
indicated seat between Hades and Eros. Hades was pulling out
information and it looked like more than they had discussed
previously. He realized he was about to be briefed on
everything
they had.

“We’ll go over this until we have a solid
plan to acquire more information and at least two possible plans to
gather information for,” Hades explained.

They went over things so many times Afrod’s
head felt numb and then they went over it one more time. Finally,
they were done and he wanted to get in a nap. One problem was he
kept thinking about Julie’s call. She was so frightened, so worried
about everything. He ran over their conversation in his mind.

“I hear your fear and I wonder, if you are so
scared, why did you call us?” His voice was full of curiosity.

“It was for Apis. They’re killing him slowly
and painfully, but I can’t help but think if they can subjugate
such a strong god, how can there ever be any hope of getting him
free?”

“That’s one god probably born and kept in
captivity. We are many with weapons and tools as good, if not
better than theirs. Tell me your story, Sweetheart, and we will
take care of you.”

She cried as she spoke forcing him to listen
carefully. “I worked as a janitor with this company and bad things
just started to happen. When I was first hired, I loved my job and
I worked cleaning company break rooms and bathrooms. I didn’t mind
the work and I met a lot of nice people. But then they moved me to
the clinic for some reason and everything bad started to happen to
me.”

“It’s alright. We’re going to look out for
you.”

She hiccupped a she tried to calm herself
down. She sounded young, barely out of her teens and he had to
remind himself she was older. “I had a boyfriend, but we were
always so careful, but I got pregnant anyway.”

“What about this boyfriend?”

“He took off when I told him. He said it
couldn’t be his. I told him no, there’s no way since you never had
your god damn cock inside me, did you, you jerk,” she spat out.
Afrod recognized her sister’s influence. He almost regretted that
he would never meet her.

He must have drifted off because that was the
last thing he remembered thinking. Now he was awake and he wondered
about a human male that could abandon a baby that seemed to be his.
He didn’t asked for a blood test. The reason was clear, he didn’t
want to know the baby was his because he thought it was. Julie was
too shy to sleep around. Afrod would bet the male had worked for
weeks if not months to get her into his bed.

The male must have suspected the child was
his and he wanted no responsibility for it. Afrod suspected the
child was a god’s child so the human need not have fled. Had he
asked for a simple test he would have been free. Afrod wanted
children and had no understanding of the mind of some human males.
He had abandoned his lover and what he thought was his own child to
a world more often cruel than kind. What type of male does
that?

Afrod would have considered it not only his
responsibility, but his privilege to step up for a child and see to
its care. All gods thought that way about children and females.
They were weaker and required looking after. Maybe not all of them
because Julie had told him her sister was a ball breaker. He liked
his balls just fine the way they were. That was one woman he would
stay away from or at least guard his balls around. He would admit
to a certain curiosity, but it wasn’t worth being harmed to indulge
it.

It seemed the two sister were very different
and he wondered why. He guessed it was that the older sister had
always looked out for Julie so she had never learned to look out
for herself.

Chapter 2

Fear

Her hands shook as she hung up the phone. The
baby kicked, aware of her emotions and concerned. She hoped she
wouldn’t regret making the call and turning the gods loose on the
facility. She remembered Apis and how rough he looked. Every rib
showed and she could tell he was being starved. He was dirty, maybe
filthy was a better description and she was sure he hadn’t been
allowed to bathe in weeks if not months.