Ares: (Gods of Old Book 1) Page 16

  “Of course, I thanked him. He can rip out my guts with a flick of his wrist if he feels like it. One does not ever not thank a Titan, Ava. Besides, he’s my uncle,” he grinned. Kissing her again he squeezed her close. “I think we should go home, love. Thank you for helping her get to Hades, Dion, and for being here.”

  “Always willing to assist, bro,” Dionysus said. “I’ll see you two later,” he added and then vanished.

  Ava looked up to Ares and touched his face. “You’re hurt.” She didn’t like that, at all. “Now, can we take that damn book and bury it in your shielded safe so that no other soul will ever, ever find it again?” She would do anything to keep him safe, anything.

  “Yes, yes we can. And I’ll heal in a few minutes. He had me trapped, so my God abilities were useless. Soon you won’t even notice anything is wrong.” Pressing a kiss to her lips, he let her down to her feet. “Grab the book, love, and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  She grabbed the book and moved back to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face against his chest and breathed him in. “Take us home. Olympus so that you can heal, and we can put this damn book under lock and key and shields and everything you can think of, please?”

  Squeezing her close he rubbed a hand over her back. “Yes, love,” he said softly. A moment later the scent in the air changed, and she knew they were on Olympus. “Come, we’ll go put it somewhere safe, so we both know it’s tucked out of sight.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Ava moved closely at his side, her hand never leaving his as they moved. “You do know that I’m going to all but attach myself to you from here out, right? And whatever warding you need to do, you need to do it so that you are never, ever again taken from me.”

  “Without the book, no one can pull me away against my will. With it locked away here, protected here, no one will get near it to even try.” Squeezing her hand, he led her into the bedroom and to a spot on the floor. He knelt, pressing his palm to a blank spot. A moment later a chunk of the floor slid out of sight. Reaching into the hole he pressed his hand to the scanner on the safe and then punched in a code on the keypad. Pulling the door open he looked to her since she still held the book clutched to her chest.

  Passing him the book she whispered, “You are sure?” She had to be sure. She couldn’t do this again. God, she nearly lost him. When he nodded and resealed the safe, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. “Never again, Ares. I can't go through that again. I can’t lose you, not when I’ve just found you. Promise me. Never again.”

  “Never, love,” he whispered against her hair. He was rocking her in his arms, stroking her hair slowly. “Hades gave me something else while you were out of the room.” He pulled back to show her what he had in his hand. “I don’t know where he got it, but he said that he knew we’d need it. It’s the only way for you to be immortal and with me for eternity. If you want to do it, that is. It’s a bit hard on the system apparently, and you’ll likely feel like you’re being torn in half if you go through with it. But I don’t ever want to lose you, Ava. Not in sixty years, not in a thousand. I need eternity and whatever comes after.”

  “I don’t care how hard it is on the system. I want to do it,” she said quickly. “Whatever it takes. I need forever with you. We will do it because you and I both need each other for the rest of forever.”

  He stared into her eyes for a long, long time before nodding. “Alright. A couple things you apparently need to be aware of. And I only know this because, apparently, Hades has a woman who he’s planning on marrying. Don’t ask,” he shook his head, looking stunned.

  “He just said he’d been through it with his female. You will feel the urge to throw up; you can’t. He said a hot bath with me helping to keep you calm is the best way to get through that period. As well as some juice and relaxation. After that, you absolutely will want to sleep and you should, as long as you need to. From there, we play it by ear on what you can eat immediately after until you’re back to your old self. He warned me that it does a number on the internal system since it is basically pushing out crap and settling. You will be immortal within a couple of days; fully and completely. No abilities or anything, but only a God’s weapon can harm or kill you.”

  “But we will be together until the end of time, right? That’s the important part. I don’t need power. I don’t need abilities. I only need you.” Hesitating she added, “And I really don’t do puking well so let’s, please, please not let me do that?”

  “I’ll make the juice he recommended and then we can decide when to begin this. Do you want to do it now? Before we go any further?” he asked softly. He lifted a hand and stroked back her hair lightly. “The choice is yours, but if you’d like to proceed you should likely go and run a hot bath. As hot as you can stand it and add a scent you find soothing, relaxing and not nauseating.”

  “Then no scent at all, because I don’t want to take a chance at something making me ill,” Ava said with a smile. “And yes, now. I want to do this now if you think that you’re up for it. Please.”

  “Understandable, love,” he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Go and start the bath. I’ll bring in the juice and then you can drink this.” He shook the little vial in his hand. “I should be about three minutes and then we can get this started.”

  “Fair enough. I trust you,” she said with a smile. “We will do this, and then you are stuck with me forever.” Leaning in she kissed him, “Not a word back on that one. Just tell me that you love me, and you are happy to have me with you. That’s it.”

  He cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes for a time. “I love you, Ava VonMaur. I’m ecstatic to have you with me. And I can’t wait to spend the rest of time with you at my side. I’ve always been missing a piece of myself and, when we met, I found it in you.” Leaning in he kissed her back, again. “Go and ready the bath, my little goddess.”

  “This is good because you are mine forever as well, my most amazing God.” She touched his cheek and left him standing there so that she could get their bath started. When it was as full as it would go without spilling over, Ava stripped and stepped into the bath. Leaning back she sighed, waiting for Ares to come to her.

  “And you started without me?” he asked, with laughter in his voice. “Unfair,” he teased her. Crouching by the tub, he held out the vial. “Throw that down, fast, like the nastiest shot of your life. Then you’re going to drink this,” he handed her a bottle of water. “After that, you’ll start to sip on the juice. Do not gulp it; you’ll want and need it for the next while according to Hades.”

  “Sounds good.” She took the vial that he handed her and lifted it as if in a toast and sighed. “I love you,” she whispered only a half a second before she tossed the liquid down and nearly gagged but caught herself in time. “Water?” she asked and swallowed several times.

  He handed it to her quickly, cap already off. “Drink it slowly so it rinses all the residue down. Plus you don’t want to make yourself ill from it,” he said quietly. As she drank from the chilled bottle, he moved away and stripped down. Then he collected the glass of juice, “Sit forward, love.”

  She moved forward in the tub and settled into it. Taking a deep breath, she felt him sliding in behind her and gladly turned slightly so that she could lean against him. Closing her eyes, she held the bottle of water and took slow sips from it and sighed. Eyes closed she whispered, “That stuff was horrible, terrible. Someone seriously needs to work on making it taste better.”

  His chuckle was a low rumble under her ear. “Yeah, apparently Willow had something similar to say about it. But if it works, who the fuck cares how it tastes, love? Here,” he took the nearly empty water. Reaching over the side of the tub he came back with the glass. “Drink this, little sips. It should remove the rest of the taste from your mouth. Save a bunch though for when your stomach starts to do nosedives.”

  “Sounds good.” Well, it didn’t sound good. She really an
d truly hoped that her stomach didn’t take a nosedive. She prayed that she would get through all of this without being ill. “If I get sick, it undoes every that we just did doesn’t it?” she asked and shivered just a bit. “Will you turn up the heat in here and the jets of the tub, please?” She knew he would be able to do it without even moving, which was a bonus for her.

  The jets kicked on, and the room began to warm slightly, just as the door shut to trap the heat in. “It does, and the Gods only know what state you’d be left in. The entire elixir has to absorb into your body.” Ares put a hand on her belly, “I’ll help keep your stomach as settled as I can.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t get sick easily, so that was a bonus, but when she did get sick, it was like a tsunami of insurmountable proportions. Ava then told him what she had been thinking, even if he had likely heard her thoughts, she put it forward vocally as well and simply rested against him, her head on his shoulder, cheek to his chest and legs up and over his. Cradled in his arms, she let the heat of the room, the jets, and his body comfort her and soothe her unease and discomfort.

  He stroked his hand up and down her arm slowly. “Shh,” he said softly to her. “It’ll be alright, darling. Just focus on me and your breathing; in and out nice and slow. I’ve got you; you’ll be just fine, Ava. We’ll get through this together.”

  “I know we will. We can do this. Somehow and someway we will get me through this. The best part, I really don’t get sick easily, the worst part, when I do it’s of epic-sized proportions.” Snuggling closer to him she sighed, closed her eyes and weirdly enough... drifted off to sleep.

  Epilogue

  Four weeks later...

  He looked nervous where he stood. Dion, Apollo, and Hades stood up next to him. And they didn’t appear to be helping keep him calm. Though they were keeping him from tearing out the tie he wore. They were smacking his fingers and punching his shoulders. Then Hades was heading for her where she was waiting and not supposed to be spying.

  “I saw that,” Hades told her as he stepped into the tent they’d erected to keep her and her gown out of sight until the last possible moment. “You don’t look nearly as nervous as he is.”

  “Why would I be nervous when I am marrying the man of my dreams?” She reached out and straightened Hades’ tie. “Why is he nervous? That doesn’t make sense. Why in the world would he be nervous when he knows that I couldn’t wait for this moment in time with him. I love him more than I ever possibly knew I could love someone,” she admitted to her soon to be uncle. “Is he okay? Other than nervous that is?”

  “Apollo and Dion aren’t helping any. Those two yahoos are putting scenarios in his head that really, I should just smack them. Either that or zap their fucking asses,” he muttered. “He’ll calm once he can see you. He knows you’re safe, he knows you’re happy, but until he can see you he’s going to be a fucking wreck.” Hades smoothed his hand down his tie and tucked it under the jacket, adjusting his cuffs. “So, we are about fifteen minutes until the rest of your life.”

  “I can’t wait,” she admitted. “Why is it taking so long? He’s the one that wanted to wait four weeks until we were married. I wanted to do this weeks ago,” she admitted honestly. “So yeah, I have no idea why he wanted to wait, but he did.” She let out a sigh. “Anyway, can we speed things up? Please?”

  “He wanted it all perfect, and there were a couple conflicts that only settled at this point. He’s just waiting on one more person to arrive and then we can get going. Once he’s here we can-” Hades cut off as a crack of lightning sounded. “For fuck sakes. Show stealing bastard,” he muttered.

  Ava jumped, literally, and grabbed onto Hades. “What in the hell was that?” she asked with a whisper of a sound. “I mean for real, what the hell?” she asked and gulped. “Please tell me that it isn’t going to start to rain. If so I’m going to seriously cuss someone out.”

  “No, just my pompous, upstaging brother arriving. In other words, the father of the groom dear,” he said. Gently he rubbed a hand up and down her back. “We’ll be starting right quick so take a moment and gather yourself.”

  “Oh lordy.” Ava wasn’t ready to meet Zeus. Holy shit. “Uhm...” She hesitated and then chewed her lower lip. “Do you think that maybe Ares would run away with me? How about you go and signal him and have him come and take me away? We can go to Vegas or something and get married?” She was nervous, very freaking damn nervous.

  “Nope, not happening. Music’s starting,” he said with a grin. Willow walked past, blowing a kiss to her husband. Right behind her was Denise. Two attendants for her, two for Ares. Hades was walking her down the aisle and then she’d be getting married. “And there goes Denise, you ready for your turn now? Music’s about to change, and we’ll need to start walking, or all hell is going to break loose.”

  “I don’t think I can move.” Ava began to panic a little. “There has to be a reason that Ares has kept me from meeting his parents for more than a year, right? I mean even Willow and Denise have met them, but he hasn’t introduced them to me, so there has to be a reason, right? I’m not good enough am I?” Her old insecurities were surfacing and hitting her hard.

  “You are more than good enough, Ava. He just didn’t want to pull you into that nightmare. Besides, you met me, and I like you,” Hades pointed out. “And Willow and Denise are both descendants of the Gods. You are much more precious, unique and unbelievably sweet in the fact that you’re human. Plus, Zeus is a dog, no one needs to meet him until they absolutely have to. Trust me.”

  “Yeah, but you are really sweet and nice,” she whispered and chewed her lower lip when the wedding march began. “Are you sure?” She hesitated. “Are you sure that is why he didn’t take me there? Oh, God,” she sighed and closed her eyes. “I need him.” She whispered. “Can I have him for just a moment? Can you stop the wedding for just a few minutes so that I can have him hold me for a moment?” Okay so she was freaking out a little, she had a right, didn’t she? She was wigging out more than she had thought she would.

  “Ava, he loves you more than his own life. For a God that says a lot,” Hades cupped her face. “Look at me and listen. You can feel his love from here; it’s wrapping around you, holding you tight and asking you to walk out there. If I go out there without you, he’ll think something is wrong and freak out even more. Chin up, let’s walk out there, and you can see him for yourself. If you need a hug when we get there, take it. It’s your fucking day, Ava. Do this however you want to do it.”

  “Alright, then let’s get down that aisle quickly because I really, really want and need to have that hug from him.” She was all for running down the aisle now. Linking her arm with his, she took a breath. “I do love that man, more than life itself.”

  “Remember that and keep your eyes on him the entire walk. Be glad it’s short,” he said as he guided her out of the tent. They got pointed the right way and paused as the music swelled. Then, as it calmed they began to walk down the aisle. “See, he’s looking more relaxed already.”

  She smiled, nodded and couldn’t keep her tears from falling. God, she loved that man. When they finally made it to the end of the aisle she didn’t wait, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. Against Ares' ear she whispered, “I needed this. You to hug me and me you.”

  “Shh, babe, I’ve got you,” he said holding her tight. He rocked her in his arms, rubbing her back in that soothing way he had. “I’ve got you, and I’m never letting you go. You’re mine, Ava, and you always will be.”

  “Good, I’m glad that you’re never letting me go,” she whispered in his ear. Nibbling on his neck she sighed and then nodded. “I was perfectly fine until your father showed up. Then I wigged out. You owe Hades big for talking me into walking down the aisle for you, baby. I wanted to have you come and whisk me away to elope.”

  Chuckling he squeezed her close, “I’m just glad he got off his ass and came.” His words were a dark mutter in her ea
r. Hmm, sounded like a little bad blood there. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he drew back and smiled at her. “Ready to get this show on the road?” he asked softly.

  “I’m ready to get it on the road and us on the road. I need to have you with me for as long as I can keep you, so let’s make this legal.” She didn’t let go of him fully; she just turned with him to face the priest and smiled. “Please, begin.”

  The priest, and several guests, chuckled softly. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today-”

  *****

  “Holy hell, we’re married,” Ares said with a grin. Spinning her around the dance floor, or rather his patio, he pulled her back into his arms. The reception was well under way; everyone was dancing or drinking and talking.

  “I’m just glad my family all behaved themselves. The fact my dad showed up was a little shocking. I’d hoped but really didn’t expect it. And,” he frowned down at her. “You never did explain why you were so upset and nervous, love. Why did you practically tackle me at the alter?”

  “Why did you never introduce me to him?” she asked softly. “Willow and Denise both met him, but I haven’t. Why? I guess I was worried. Worried I wouldn’t be good enough,” she admitted bluntly. “And then Hades set me straight.” She smiled and shook her head. “I adore your uncle by the way. He talked me into coming down the aisle and then I had to just jump into your arms.”

  “Hell I adore my uncle right now too,” he laughed hugging her tight. “Zeus is, well, he’s a randy bastard who thinks with his cock and tends to ignore the word no more often than not. He gave humans free will and yet he’s always been a little loose with the rules. The rest of us get bitch slapped if we interfere or step on free will. I was worried he’d try something with you and didn’t want to put you into a position like that until we were married and tied together fully.”

  “Step back, boy, time for the favorite uncle to take the bride for a twirl. And since she adores me, you can’t say shit,” Hades said clapping a hand on Ares’ shoulder.