Chapter Ten: In which there is a gamble.

Eliana was waiting for Eros to call. Tonight was the night she would try and win his bow back for him. She'd been practicing both holding her liquor (not much of a challenge) and kicking ass at poker while doing it (a little more difficult).

Eros had been tracking down the errant drunken god. Thankfully, he wasn't too far and agreed that San Francisco would be very fun vacation from LA.

Her phone rang and she answered it almost immediately. "Yeah?"

"Are you ready?"

"I've eaten a full meal and I have a bottle of Cuervo. Are you sure he doesn't touch the stuff?"

"Greek, remember?"

"Then I'm going to get a god shit faced. This is going to be one of the greatest achievements of my life, isn't it?"

"Well, that would be rather pathetic, wouldn't it?"

"I would take offence to that, but I think you just insulted Dionysus more than you did me."

"Eliana, his default setting is drunker than fuck."

"Which is why it'd be so impressive if he lost his wits because of me."

"Enough. We're waiting for you. I do hope you're ready for the debauched god that is Dionysus."

She heard a loud 'hey!' from the line, apparently Dionysus had taken exception to Eros' description. She laughed before saying, "As a poker extraordinaire? I think I can manage."

"If you say so."

Walking to the gods waiting in Eros' town house was more than a little bizarre. Clutching her brown paper bag of tequila , the air around her seemed redolent with anticipation and, if she were to be completely honest with herself, anxiety. She herself may her quietus make, to misquote the Bard.

"And then the cats are still going to eat me," she muttered. She stopped at the row of similar houses that would have been nearly identical if not for the various color schemes. Checking the address written on her hand, she backed up two and jogged up the concrete steps.

Eros answered the door before she could knock properly. "I saw you walk by. Get confused?"

"Too busy thinking about more important things than where I'm going."

"And that would be?"

"Monkeys."

"I see. Well, come inside."

"This must be the new girlfriend," s short soft looking man said, already drinking wine straight from the bottle.

"It's completely platonic," Eros denied.

"Now that's just weird. But good news for you and me, eh cutie?" he asked and patted her ass.

"Groper!" she shrieked and smacked his hand away.

Eros covered his face with one hand, looking as though his patience was already worn thin. "Dionysus, behave."

"I came to whip your ass at poker, not be molested. Are you making cookies?" she asked, completely changing the subject.

"No…."

"I smell cookies," she said then shrugged. "Olfactory hallucination, I guess. Anyway. Gimme the shot glasses and point me in the direction of the table. I'll deal."

"Table's that way, and I'll be back."

Dionysus shuffled along behind her, humming something or another under his breath. "What offereing did you bring me?" he asked as they sat down at Eros' kitchen table.

"A bottle of Mr. Cuervo," she said, placing her bag in front of him.

"Oh my. I am often reduced to a state of surfeit by that foul spirit. And I don't look very good with jaundiced eyes."

"And wine stains down your front are the epitome of attractiveness," Eros pointed out, placing two shot glasses on the table before leaning back against a wall to observe the strange proceedings. He wasn't handling this nearly as well as he would've liked, unfortunately when he thought of words to describe Eliana 'capable' wasn't one of them.

"There's nothing foul about Cuervo, dude, it's cheap and tasty," Eliana said, sounding truly offended. She wasn't doing much to raise Eros' confidence.

"If you say so, dear," Dionysus said with a bemused smirk.

She merely shrugged and began shuffling the deck. "One hand. For the bow."

"And what will I get if you lose?"

There was an awkward silence. She hadn't really considered the possibility of her losing. "Err…."

"I can come up with a few suggestions, if you're at a loss," he said with a wink.

"Hang on, let me think about this… my ability to get drunk."

"Oh, that's a good one."

"And an especially painful one, considering what a lush I am."

"Very well. Deal."

"Wait," she said and poured them shots of tequila. "I want that bow."

"I want you never to be able to get drunk again."

"You're cruel."

"Blame my cousin."

"Hey!" Eros protested.

After they downed the shot, Dionysus shuddered, "Merciful grape, that's horrible."

"Sorry you think so, we're not done. The rules are we play three sheets to the wind."

"Fine, fine," he said and accepted the second shot she poured. This time she ignored her own glass and took a swig from the bottle.

After his shudder he said, "You're a woman I could love, Eliana."

"It's just tequila," she said, but placed a hand to her chest as the artificial warmth spread through from the throat on. "Ready?" she asked after pouring a third shot.

"How much of this do I have to knock back?"

"Until I say you're done."

"Oooh, she's feisty," he said to Eros in a too loud drunken whisper.

She ignored him and poured another. "This had better be worth the pain I'm going to feel tomorrow," she informed Eros.

After they'd downed more than half the bottle, she dealt. After he looked at the cards he sighed and said, "You win."

"Whuh?" she asked, confused. "But… this is just the blind. We haven't even properly begun yet."

"I know. But no matter what cards you give me, I lose. And so do you, in fact."

"Not following."

"I don't have it."

Eros wasn't pleased to hear that, jerking forward off of the wall. "You what?" he demanded, walking slowly toward the god of the grape.

"It was stolen."

"Really?" Eros asked, eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"For once I didn't gamble something away. It really was stolen."

"Who has it?"

"You're not going to like this."

"I already don't like this."

"Coyote."

AN: Sorry this is so short, but I figure better short than falsely inflated (and compared to earlier chapters this is a veritable tome, heh). I don't know, if it seems like there's something missing, or it could conceivably be attached to the next chapter without making that one long-winded and boring, let me know. Also, I was running on very little sleep when I went through this one for mistakes, so let me know about any typos, awkwardness, confusion, whatnot. Thanks for sticking with me, and letting me know what ya'll think.