I grumbled a bit as I held the boombox aloft. Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes started to play, and I turned my attention to the upstairs window of Kara’s house. It only took a minute for the curtain to move to one side and for her face to appear.
“The Ares of old would have gone scorched earth to avenge the wrong done against him. Instead, you hide in this building like a petulant child who has lost his favorite toy.”
“Are you serious?” I said, flabbergasted by his blasé attitude. “They caused us nothing but trouble the first go ‘round. They disrupted the forge, spied on you, killed a woman in your office, and they murdered Cassie in cold blood. Anything to do with them is urgent.”
He nodded and left. I walked over and looked out the windows behind my desk. The sky was cloudy, the tree branches swaying in the wind. I heard a roll of thunder, followed by a lightning flash, and then it started to rain. The weather seemed to match my mood. Sighing, I turned around and stopped when I saw someone standing in the doorway.
“Regroup and expand our search parameters. It will take longer, and we’ll be gone for extended periods. I can’t keep sending crews out. It’s detrimental to the business. If I had concrete evidence that Kara was in one particular area, then I’d take every single person with me. We’d raid the place, rescue her, and then deal with the perpetrators appropriately.”
“You mean go into full God of War mode and kill them all?”
I just looked at him.
There was a white satin aisle runner with chairs on either side. Candelabras were set strategically along the path, giving the whole scene a soft glow. Fireflies fluttered over the water, their lights blinking off and on, just as they had done the night I proposed. It was simple and elegant, just like Kara.
I picked up one of my shields. I had just written Bethany’s name on the inside and hung it back on my wall. Snorting a laugh, I thought to myself, Thanks for the reminder, Brother. Sitting in my chair and looking at the shields on the walls, I reminisced about the thousands upon thousands of victories I had given.
I had loved many women over the centuries, but this one was different. She brought out something in me I hadn’t felt with the others—a sense of being complete. A rather odd statement for the God of War to make, but it was true.
“Nice! Ares is finally getting some. I’m so proud. Maybe now you’ll stop walking around with a stick up your ass.”
I dropped the letter on top of my desk and sighed. There were things that I wish had been different between us, but I believed that we had made some progress in overcoming some of our issues. All I could do now was pray and wish them well, wherever they were at the moment.
I pulled her closer to me, this time being the one to initiate the contact. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest as she fell against me, wrapping her arms around me like she was holding on for dear life.
I was a bit surprised. Minotaurs were rarely seen in the mortal world anymore. There were small groups in various mountainous regions, but I hadn’t heard reports of them being in Greece in several centuries. Had Alastor recruited some help in his imagined fight with me?
“Looking for this?” a male voice said from my chair. My sword was being held out to the side by an arm covered in black leather. “Rather careless of the God of War to leave his sword casually lying around, isn’t it?”
If you are reading this, then my trip has not gone according to plan, which means that I, like others before me, have disappeared in an area of Vermont known for such things.
“Much, thank you,” I replied. I walked over and knelt by her right leg. “Spread your feet.” Muttering under her breath, she parted her legs slightly. “A little more.”
