Chapter 1: Hot august days and Georgian heat waves.
I laid there on my bedroom floor feeling utterly miserable, even with the air conditioner on the Georgian heat was unbearable and I could hear a fly buzzing around the cracked open window and smell the daisies right outside.
"Ugh" I groaned trying to find the will to sit up. I looked around for a second and got dressed. As I entered the kitchen I glanced at the clock that read 9:25 am and then noticed a bowl of various fruits on the counter and my stomach growled. Instinctively I grabbed a crisp red apple and took a bite; although I wasn't hungry it became a habit to eat. Being a goddess did have its pluses and minuses, like not needing to eat or not gaining weight, being young forever and of course immortality, but, it still didn't protect me from heat, or god forbid, insomnia. Last night I could not sleep at all, and like eating, I don't really need it but it is a nice habit. Last night I had the same reoccurring dream of that night of the attack. The night that a group demons attacked Olympus who were led by Mephistopheles, and his son, Blackheart. It's bad enough my sweet Hephaestus was killed by Cronus 300 years ago but now Hades. I sighed. After Hephaestus's death Zeus had me marry him knowing he still missed Persephone after she left him for a mortal. I was told that if I married Hades I would become the queen of the underworld which did have its advantages. I could talk to the dead and remove souls from others bodies but I didn't really find that necessary. I had grown to love him and he me. Anger grew in me as I remembered the sinister devil son, Blackheart drive a dagger enchanted with hellfire flame into his heart, and me standing there helpless to save him. I grew sick thinking about it two husbands in two centuries I couldn't believe it.
Love, out of all the powers I could have had, love, beauty and sex, I mean yes it's a wonderful gift to have but, it means nothing when you are around people with gifts of strength, or elements or even wisdom. Yes I did have a few controls of other things besides love and beauty but nothing no other god or goddess couldn't do like create objects, disappear and reappear, teleport, and even shape shift. All of the gods also had a limited power control of holy light some more than others which was a perfect defense against demons but only to a certain point. I however had more power over it than most of them the only ones who had more than me were Zeus, Hera and Artemis the other sonly had a small amount. Holy light could be summoned upon a prayer and when it touches the demons skin it burns them leaving defenseless for several days or even killing them. Of course if we practiced we could learn to do other things. Artemis and I had been learning to heal others, we couldn't bring them back from the dead but we could stop them from dying.
I shook it off and got ready to leave. On my way to the studio I stopped to put gas in my car which was a metallic grey corvette convertible. Reaching in my purse I realized I didn't have my wallet.
"Crap." I whispered to myself. Checking around me to make sure no one was paying attention my wallet materialized in my hands. Grinning, I fetched my credit card under my fake human name, Alice Knight. Swiping my card I filled my car and headed over to the studio. My studio was originally meant for storage space, I had it renovated into a decent art studio not small but not too big. 15 ft tall from floor to ceiling and a 21x23 ft room. Opening the door the heavy smell of paint, wooden brushes, canvas paper and coffee hit me as hard as the rush of cool air.
"Alice!" came a loud high pitched shout. "I didn't think you were gonna make it today." Ironically, the loud voice came from Tory, one of my few friends in town who was a quite small and petite girl with pretty features and dark chocolate brown hair and to top it all off she had a sweet southern accent. She worked in my art studio a few times a week and eventually we started talking and became friends.
"Me either, I really didn't want to get up today." I said setting my bag down beside my easel.
"Well hopefully today I can finish that painting I started last week." She said grabbing a new cup warm water to rinse her brush. I glanced at her panting, a wine bottle with grapes hung behind it with the grape vine and leaves spiraling up the bottle.
"It's looking good." I said approvingly. "I'm sure you'll get it done today all you need are few more finishing touches." I smiled.
"Yeah it's okay but ain't nothing compared to your paintings Alice." I looked at mine and shrugged.
"I dabble in many things but practice makes perfect and once you get enough practice in you will be as good as I am, maybe even better." I encouraged as I cleaned my brushes. She smiled and we continued our work.