Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine (16 page)

I nodded my head and he handed me a glass of
water from the side table. Ares stopped talking with Achilles to
come over and give me a quick kiss on the lips. “If you want, go
take a shower and freshen up. We’re discussing our next move.”

I nodded my head and after grabbing another
dress and corset from the dresser, I walked to the bathroom and
stared at my haggard reflection. Dark bags hung under my eyes,
which were bloodshot and incredibly disgusting looking. I quickly
stripped out of my clothes and started the shower.

The warm water felt amazing against my skin
and helped clear my head. I wasn’t sure what Achilles and Ares were
discussing, but there was only one clear course of action in my
mind. We had to get in touch with Victor and then face Maurice
together. I knew it would involve a battle and we would probably
die, but it was the only way to stop all of this. I couldn’t live
the rest of my life with him sending hordes of minions after me. He
wanted me dead or alive, but I only wanted him dead. So, either he
was dead, or I was.

I finished my shower and bathroom
necessities and after dressing walked out to the sitting area where
Achilles and Ares were. “Can you get a hold of Victor?”

Ares frowned at me. “We already have, he is
going to meet us here in five days.”

I smiled. “Good.”

Achilles frowned at me, Ares’ and his looks
remarkably similar, making me a fool for not noticing the relation
sooner. “What are you planning?” Ares asked me.

I sat down beside Ares and sipped on the
water Koda had given me. “Nothing. So, between now and when Victor
comes, are we going to work on my plan?”

Ares and Achilles looked at me and then at
each other.

With only four days to save as many humans
as possible, I felt rushed. How was I going to keep the humans
safe? How many could I truly save?

It was far away from our current location,
but I knew the first place I had to go. “I want to leave in twenty
minutes. Please don’t argue with me. Please just get ready and come
with me,” I said to the three men in the room. Ares and Achilles
watched me with worried expressions, but said nothing. Finally,
both men stood up and began preparing to leave.

I sat on the bed and felt my nerves growing.
There were so many things happening that it felt as though my
nerves had been flayed open. My hands shook softly as I thought
about talking to a group of humans and trying to convince them to
listen to me.

“It’ll be alright, Darlin’,” Koda said as he
rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “I think what you’re doing is
great.”

“Is anyone else trying to save humans?” I
asked as I leaned back against him, letting his touch and smell
calm me.

Koda continued to rub my arms as he talked.
“Everyone is allowed humans as slaves. The humans report to the
camps and say, ‘I’m Koda’s slave’ and they’re kept alive and fed
until we claim them. Those of us with a lot more power and thus a
lot more slaves decide on a brand and for those humans we want as
slaves, we brand them. So, we say the humans are our slaves, but
when everything is said and done we let them go free. There aren’t
many of us who will let them go free.”

That was how I would keep them free. I’d
convince the humans to use Ares’ brand and say they were his
slaves. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was a start.

“We’re ready,” Ares said from beside me.

I turned and found him dressed in sweatpants
and a t-shirt. It was strange to see sweatpants strained to the
point of breaking around his leg muscles. Every boy at my high
school had been practically swimming in their sweatpants.

“What?” Ares asked as he looked at his
clothes.

I shook my head. “Nothing, just comparing
you to boys at my school and finding I’m extremely lucky.”

Ares held his hand out and I took it,
standing up from the bed and walking into the circle of his arms.
“I love you, Artemis.”

“I love you too, Ares.” His body was
radiating more heat than normal and it felt good to be held by him.
I pulled out of his arms reluctantly and turned to smile at
Achilles. “I guess it’s harder for sidhe men to wear shirts.”

Achilles smiled. “I could wear a shirt, but
I prefer not to destroy clothes when releasing my wings.”

Slowly, I walked to him and wrapped my arms
around him. His body was stiff at first, but after a moment he
relaxed and hugged me back. “I’m not used to this connection yet,
but I’ve learned from being with Ares that it’s better to give in
and touch you then deal with the itching skin and irritation.”

Achilles kissed the top of my head and
whispered, “Thank you.”

I pulled out of his arms and turned to face
all three men. “I know you probably don’t agree with what I’m
doing, or at least are worried about my safety, but I have to do
this or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

Ares smiled. “We understand, Artemis.”

Achilles cleared his throat and said,
“Hephaestus, I require your assistance.”

Two seconds later someone knocked on the
door and then a man with forearms the size of my waist walked into
the room. “You summoned me, Prince?”

Achilles nodded his head. “Artemis and Ares
need a brand for selecting their human slaves. I’d appreciate your
assistance in this matter.”

Hephaestus looked at Ares and smiled.
“Hello, Ares.”

Ares smiled. “Hello, Hephaestus. You’re
looking well.”

Hephaestus walked closer to me and then
dropped to one knee and bowed. “It’s an honor to meet you, Princess
Artemis.”

“Please, just call me Artemis.”

He stood up and looked from me to Ares. “You
want something simple or something dramatic?” he asked Ares.

Ares smiled. “Simple, if possible, yet still
able to be easily recognizable from any others.”

Hephaestus nodded his head. “Be back in
fifteen minutes.”

He walked out of our room through the giant
hole in our wall and disappeared down the hallway.

Ares tugged me towards the table and pointed
at the fruits and cheeses. “You need to eat anyways, so you might
as well do it while he is making our brand.”

I gave in and sat down, piling my plate high
with food and then consuming the entire thing before Hephaestus
came back.

Hephaestus held a cloth wrapped bundle in
his hands and smiled at us. “You didn’t give me much time to work
on it, but I hope you like it.” He placed the bundle on the table
before me and slowly unrolled the cloth. I pushed aside my empty
plate and watched eagerly for the reveal.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but the
short one foot brand with a crescent moon and starburst was not it.
It was beautiful. I said as much, which earned me a big smile from
Hephaestus.

I stroked the moon and starburst brand and
Ares said, “The moon and star are very fitting for us. I couldn’t
have picked a better design. We need you to make twenty replicas as
soon as possible please.”

Hephaestus laughed. “I should have known.
Give me ten minutes to make them.”

After Hephaestus left again I turned to
Achilles. “Can he really make twenty of these in ten minutes?”

Achilles nodded his head. “His greatest feat
was making Ares five hundred swords in one hour.”

That made my mouth drop. Five hundred swords
in one hour. How is that humanly….well there is the answer. Humans
could never do such a thing, which is why they used to worship the
sidhe.

Ares sat down in a large chair and waved me
over. I walked over and sat down on his lap, sighing happily as he
wrapped his arms around me. These little moments of relaxation with
him were my favorite. Ares put his lips against my ear and began
whispering too low for anyone else to hear. “You look so beautiful
and smell so good. No woman on this earth can compare to you.” Ares
kissed my cheek and then nuzzled behind my ear, making me shiver.
“I love you and hate the moments when we’re separated. If it were
up to me, I’d take you to the most remote place on earth so that we
could be completely alone all the time.”

I giggled and shook my head. “As long as
it’s not anywhere too hot or too cold.”

Ares laughed. “But if it’s cold it gives me
an excuse to cuddle with you more.”

I turned and nuzzled his ear with my nose,
inhaling his scent. “I do like the sound of that.”

Hephaestus came back with a wooden box in
his arms and smiled at us. “Here you go. Twenty brands.”

Ares stood up, putting me back on the seat
before taking the box and bowing to him. “Thank you.”

Hephaestus bowed and smiled at Ares.
“Anything for an old friend. Of course, you’ll let me know if any
battles are coming up with need of my skills?”

Ares laughed and nodded his head. “You’ll be
the first one I contact.”

Hephaestus said goodbye and left.

Ares picked up the brands and asked, “So,
where to first?”

“Where I was raised,” I answered
quickly.

Ares picked my hand up and kissed the back
of it. “Alright, let’s go.”

We started to walk towards the door when it
was flung open and Hera stepped through. “Good, I caught you before
you left.”

Ares and I looked at each other then at her.
“How’d you know we were leaving?” I asked suspiciously.

Hera waved her hand dismissively. “I’m Queen
for a reason, dear. Now, I may not agree fully with what you’re
doing, but I’ll agree to help.”

Achilles walked forward and asked, “Help
how?”

She smiled sweetly at him. “You shouldn’t be
so suspicious of your own mother. Of course, I did train you to be
weary of everyone so I suppose that’s my fault.” She stood still a
moment, thinking and then waved her hand dismissively. “Anyways,
I’ll travel with you so that we can teleport and get to every place
faster.”

She had to have another motive, but being
able to teleport would make things much faster. “Alright,” I
said.

She clapped her hands together. “Wonderful.
Alright, everyone join hands.”

After forming a circle, Hera put her hands
on Achilles and me who were on either side of her and she
whispered, “Don’t throw up on me.” The world turned black and then
we started spinning out of control. I gripped Ares’ hand hard as I
fought the nausea. The world came back into focus and we stood
outside the bar in the town I’d been raised in.

I pulled my hands free of everyone and
looked around at the town. All of the houses were dark and the only
light came from the bar. Where was everyone? It was night time, but
it wasn’t late enough that everyone should be in bed.

I heard loud arguments from inside the bar
and turned to Ares and the rest of our group. “Ares, you come with
me, but everyone else, please go wait in the trees. I’ll bring them
out here.”

Ares handed the box of brands to Koda,
picked up my hand and together we walked to the bar door. I stopped
in front of it and took a deep breath. It was now or never. I
pushed open the door and found the entire town inside, crammed
together as they argued about something. All eyes turned to me and
everyone stopped talking.

Billy’s mouth dropped open as he looked at
the vines on my skin and the purple in my hair and my purple
eyes.

I straightened my back and looked at each
pair of eyes. “You all know about the killings going on around the
world. I’ve come to save as many of you as I can.”

Skankzilla, my old arch nemesis, put her
hands on her hips and glared at me. “And how are
you
going
to save us?”

I smiled at her and said, “Everyone outside.
I’ll prove to you that I’m capable of much more than you think I
am.” I turned and Ares and I walked out of the bar, letting them
all follow us. I knew they would follow us because, well, what else
would they do? I walked until we had a big enough open area that
they could all gather and see me without being too close. I trusted
most of them, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t freak out and
try to hurt me.

Ares released my hand and took a couple
steps away from me to give him more room to maneuver if he needed
to stop any of them from coming after me. I could feel Koda and
Achilles behind us in the trees waiting. Everyone finally gathered
near me in the clearing, murmuring nervously to each other. I took
a deep breath and said, “You’re going to be given a couple options
by those coming, but I’m here to give you another option.
Freedom.”

People looked at each other in shock and
then Billy asked, “What do you mean?”

I looked at Ares and he nodded his head. I
turned back to the group and said, “We’ve been kept in the dark for
centuries about the existence of preternaturals. Now, the
preternaturals are taking the world back, taking control. Millions
of humans have already been killed as you’ve seen from the news
reports. The mist is vampires and the wolves are werewolves.”

The group began murmuring loudly and then
Glen, the oldest man in our town stepped forward. “How do we know
you’re telling the truth? And if you are, what do you want from
us?”

“I’ll prove to you that preternaturals exist
and all I want is for you to trust me and do what I say.” I turned
to the trees and said, “Come out. I don’t really think we need all
of us, but it’ll be better to show them that it’s not just me who’s
different.”

Koda, Achilles and Hera came forward,
standing just behind me. I closed my eyes and focused on the flame
within me that was my source of power. I opened my eyes and knew my
body was glowing.

I dimmed the light so that they could see me
as I pulled my wings from my back. The crowd gasped in shock and
everyone took a step back. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you.”

“What are you?” Skankzilla asked.

“I’m half werewolf and half sidhe, or fairy
as you call us.”

“Werewolf?” Billy asked. “You don’t look
like a wolf.”