Shafted (4 page)

“Powder Horn? Right there you mean?” His
killer smile was back, and she had to remind herself to breathe.
Without looking he tipped his head toward the saloon as though
thinking about it. “Okay, but only on one condition.”

Still smarting from her trip down juvenile
lane, Callie’s face felt like she had a second-degree sunburn.
“What, that I shut up?”

This time the smile broke into a deep chuckle
and dimples appeared on either side of his mouth softening the hard
planes of his face and her breathing sped up. “No that I buy.
Treating you to lunch is the least I can do and believe it or not I
think I’m actually going to miss your chattering when I’m
gone.”

His parting wink turned her knees to mush and
would’ve buckled them had she not still had her butt in the
driver’s seat. Watching his hair and coat float behind him in time
to his long legged gate put her in mind of a bird of prey in
flight, danger and grace in perfect concert.

Dummy! What do you think you’re doing? You
should be running a hundred miles an hour the opposite direction.
Ha! And you thought the Deputy could be trouble if he weren’t off
the market. Lunch? What were you thinking?!

Next to Adam, Teran Anders was nothing short
of disaster.

Anteros hated not knowing what to do. His
existence revolved around decisive action but when Callie stopped
the car and he’d gotten out, for the first time in his life he was
at a loss. His little mortal had been about to leave and short of
directly interfering with her free will, something he would never
do given what Stupid Cupid’s arrows did, he couldn’t think of any
way to stop her. He was a god and he was powerless.

He’d assumed some excuse to stay close would
present itself before they got to town, but with him still seething
over that damn poster it hadn’t. Panic was not something he had
experience with and he didn’t want to feel it again anytime soon.
He didn’t know if he owed one of his Fate related cousins for the
impromptu lunch invite or not, but for now he’d take the reprieve.
Now all he had to do was figure out a reason to stick around after
that.

The sound of his boots on the wooden plank
walk gave way to Honky-tonk western music as Anteros pushed the
swinging doors to the Powder Horn Saloon open. An assortment of
artifacts, ranging from coin operated pool tables and hi-way signs,
to posters of events from decades past, greeted him as he
entered.

Off to the right, behind a massive oak bar, a
living relic stood. One with a bald head, handlebar mustache
straight out of the eighteen hundreds, and a paunch it must have
taken a good number of his fifty or so years to earn. He was wiping
glasses and out-singing the jukebox.

Anteros could see someone over the swinging
doors to the kitchen and a man with his head resting on his arms
and a half full bottle in front of him was at the back of the room,
but otherwise there were no other customers.

Anteros rubbed his forearm then stretched his
hand out. Good thing Callie hadn’t gone far and he hoped she
wouldn’t be long; a dull ache was already starting in his
bones.

“What’ll you have? Got every kinda poison you
can think of and then some, and an elk stew on special today hearty
enough to stick to your ribs for a week.” A wide grin lifted laugh
lines at the same time and angle as the man’s mustache and Anteros
couldn’t help but smile. The crusty old guy was growing on him
already.

“I’ll pass on the poison, had enough of that
lately thanks.”

“Ha! Thought you looked a tad peeked. Bit by
the dog last night were ya young fella? Take my advice a hair of
the mutt that chewed ya’s the ticket. Fix ya right up.”

“Thanks but no, coffee’s fine.”

“Suit yourself. Go ahead and grab a seat
anywhere, I’ll have Jess bring it right over. Name’s Cotton if ya
change your mind.”

“Teran Anders, and I won’t but thanks
anyway.”

Anteros turned to look for a table and the
low winter sun from the front windows bounced off high gloss
lacquered tables and reflected off the mirror behind the bar
flashing in his eyes blinding him for a second.

Out of the sudden glare, a head covered in
stringy hair, framing a weathered brown face of indeterminate years
with out of focus eyes appeared in front of him. A pair of
surprisingly strong arms flung around him and the man shouted in
his face. “Can you tell fool’s gold from the real thing?”

“Zeus’s beard!” A burst of energy surged down
Anteros’s arms to his finger tips and it was sheer luck he didn’t
release it.

“Jack! You old varmint, how many times I
gotta tell ya not to bother the customers? Huh?” Cotton came around
the end of the bar and a girl with a gamine face and blue tipped
white blond spikes all over her head peeked out from the kitchen.
“Jessica Hillerman you stay put, ya hear!” She pulled her head back
around the door but not before sticking her tongue out at Cotton’s
back.

“Well, can ya? Hee hee, I can.”

Anteros attention was drawn back to Jack
whose head was wobbling around in a cloud of alcohol fumes. The guy
was definitely soused. Reaching up and disengaging the man’s bear
hug, Anteros held on so the man wouldn’t fall and took a step
back.

Cotton came up beside Jack and swung one of
his arms over his shoulder. “Okay, Jack ‘ol buddy, I think it’s
time for your nap. Gotta nice cot all ready for ya in the back.
Come on now.”

Jack’s head snapped up and with eyes
remarkably clear and lucid looked straight at Anteros. “Ask me,
it’s kinda like love, hard to tell the real thing till it bites ya
in the ass, don’t you think...Brother?” The curtain came down again
and Jack started to giggle like a school girl.

“Damn, I hate when he does that. Sorry he
bothered you.”

Anteros shook himself past the strange
feeling inching up his neck and moved to take Jack’s other arm. “No
problem, no harm done.”

“Teran?” Callie looked from one man to
another. “Is everything okay?”

With a belch like a satyr and a toothless
grin, Jack’s eyes opened wide and he pointed a twisted finger
straight at Callie. “He shot the arrow, boom boom boom, but it
wasn’t at the Deputy. Hee hee hee!” As Cotton hauled him away he
looked one last time over his shoulder at Anteros. “Isn’t that
right...
Brother
, Ha ha ha.” His laughter
didn’t quit till he was safely ensconced in the back room.

“Teran?”

Callie’s voice sounded odd and pulled his
attention off Jack. Looking closer he could tell something was
wrong. “Callie? What is it?”

She was shifting her eyes and strangling the
edge of her coat. “I’m afraid we can’t have lunch after all, I’m
sorry. I have to go with Mr. Guiley, he’s waiting outside.”

Anteros dipped his head so she had to look at
him. “And?”

She finally looked at him and the mixture of
regret and determination he saw in her face took him back. “So, I
guess this is good bye then.” She started to reach out her hand but
a horn blast from the curb startled them both. “Oh darn, Mr. Guiley
tends to be a bit impatient. It was nice meeting you Teran, I hope
you work things out with your brother.” Another blast split the
air. “Sorry gotta go. Bye.”

Before he could figure out what had just
happened she was gone and he was left for the second time in one
day at a loss.

He hoped to Hades no one ever found out he’d
just been brushed off – by a mortal.

Chapter 6

In spite of the soaring marble columns and
expanse of the room, no harsh echo from their voices disturbed the
peaceful beauty and tranquility of the goddess’s private chambers.
The soft glow surrounding them made the nature of what they were
discussing seem all the more unreal.

“This calls for drastic measures. With your
Aunt Athena trying to stick her nose in and make a mess of things
and your brother being far too stubborn for his own good - as usual
- it’s time for plan Beta.” The grace and beauty of the speaker was
at total odds with the calculating tone of her voice, but Psyche
had seen Aphrodite in action before so she wasn’t surprised.

“Mother, I think you mean plan ‘B’ and
haven’t we’ve interfered in Anteros’s life enough already? If he
ever finds out what we’ve done, he’ll go Vesuvius like that.” The
snap of strong fingers turned Aphrodite’s head toward the man
lounging on the sofa across the room.

A soft breeze fluttered the classical silk
draping her slender figure and the golden glimmer emanating from
within, set off her pearlescent skin to perfection. “Whatever. Your
brother needs all the help we can give him right now Eros, and even
if he does discover what we’ve done, temper or no temper,
eventually he’ll see it was for his own good.”

She lowered her eyes from his face to the
pair of black biker boots resting on her gem encrusted ivory table.
She lifted one graceful brow and the silver buckles in the shape of
arrow-pierced hearts running up the side of the boots jingled as he
dropped his feet down to the mist dappled marble floor.

Psyche hid a smile. Even omnipotent sons
didn’t argue with their mothers. The next thought chased her smile
away. Sometimes it took a daughter-in-law to do it. She cleared her
throat and turned away from the window. “I’m not so sure. I think I
agree with Eros on this one. Shafting Anteros is one thing, but
shooting his mortal, taking away her free will, might be pushing
him too much.”

Aphrodite tilted her golden head toward her,
an all knowing smile gracing her rose bud lips. “Psyche darling,
come now, this is no different from when you and Eros got together.
A little push here and there never hurt anything – well in the long
run anyway.”

Eros stood up and in a gesture hauntingly
similar to the brother they were discussing, shoved his waist
length silver streaked white hair back off his equally broad
shoulders. “How bad will it get if we don’t go through with it
Mother?” He glided across the floor and took her dainty hands in
his much larger stronger ones. “Isn’t there something else we can
try first?”

Psyche moved to his side and wrapped her arms
around his waist, resting her chin on the stylized tattoo of her
name banding his substantial biceps and waited for the goddess to
answer.

Aphrodite’s shoulders drooped slightly and an
air of resignation permeated the room. “My darlings, I wish there
were but there isn’t. This is his only chance. If we don’t turn his
path now, he’ll fall to ambro-fever as so many others of our kind
have.”

With a gentle tug she pulled her hands free
and turned toward the open window Psyche had just vacated “As
you’re both well aware, for some, it’s not such a bad thing. Like
you for instance Eros, in your case when you fell, being the
embodiment of love, you simply became more...exuberant. And when
you get a little carried away, you have Psyche to help curb that
exuberance and until now, Anteros to fix any unfortunate
misfires.”

Seeing Eros wince was like an arrow to her
own heart. He tipped his head toward his mate and placed a gentle
kiss on her brow and Psyche tightened her embrace.

“As you’re also aware, love cannot exist if
it isn’t returned. It becomes twisted causing pain and heartache
instead. So unlike you Eros, who projects love, Anteros purpose for
being is quite the opposite, to avenge unrequited love, absorbing
the pain of mortal and immortal heartbreak alike into his very
being. His existence is a mirror image in all ways to yours. Hence,
his fall would have much darker results.”

Aphrodite raised diamond bright tear-filled
eyes to them. “Anteros’s fate would rival his father’s, and we all
know what happened to Ares when he succumbed unchecked to that for
which he was created.”

Psyche shuddered and Eros arm snaked out to
pull her closer into his side. She looked up at him and a haunting
specter darkened his crystalline sapphire eyes. “World War I.”

“Among other things, yes, and that time he
got out and we lost track of him for a day?”

This time Psyche answered in a near whisper
and Eros suppressed a shudder. “World War II.”

“Exactly.”

Eros slowly lifted his head and looked at
what appeared to be a big screen TV, one currently showing a real
time account of Anteros on earth and sighed, “So to save him we
have to go against everything he stands for.” His eyes were drawn
to his rune embossed platinum bow and its quiver of diamond tipped
silver arrows, hanging proudly above the screen.

“I’m afraid so and I’m very sorry to have to
ask it of you Eros, but if we’re to save your brother, not to
mention humanity, from what he’ll become if he falls, we must try
to force his hand. I’ve no doubt in time he’d succumb to his need
for the mortal woman and eventually he would win her, but we don’t
have the luxury of time. You must shoot her.”

Eros closed his eyes and nodded once, his
face having turned to granite.

“Once shot her heart will belong to him.
She’ll pursue him wearing him down far more quickly. With no way to
counter the effects he’ll have to give in or break her heart.”

Eros pulled down his weapon and swung it over
his shoulder. Psyche gave his arm a squeeze for encouragement and
reached up to kiss the frown from his forehead.

Aphrodite watched them for a moment then blew
a kiss at the screen. Thank the seven heavens Hades told her about
Anteros’s plans. Otherwise she might not have been able to
intervene in time. An iridescent tear rolled down her pristine
cheek, as she turned to mist drifting silently from the room and
whispered, “Thank you for the warning Brother-mine.”

Chapter 7

Dust from the parking lot at the B & B
swirled in the air as Anteros got out of the truck and he had to
fight off a sneeze. After Jack’s scene and Callie having to leave,
Cotton offered to drop Anteros wherever he was staying. As it
turned out, Jessica had some community service to do at the
campground so he agreed to lend her his truck if she played taxi
driver.