Blind Fury

“Are you all right, Eden?” the god asked. When she didn’t respond, he placed his hand on her shoulder to turn her towards him. “Eden?”

She shook away from him. “Don’t touch me. Don’t you ever touch me! What did you do to me?”

Ares stood and took a step backward. He crossed his arms on his chest and looked at her curiously. “I healed you. You could show a little appreciation, you know,” he said smugly.

Eden laughed. “Appreciation? For what? Lying to me all this time? Making me think that I had a real relationship going with someone who actually loved me? HA!”

“I do, Eden,” Ares said softly.

Eden stood and faced the god with angry eyes. “You do – what?” she said sharply.

“I care about you. Don’t you know that by now?” Ares sighed and started to pace. “You see? This is exactly why I didn’t say anything to you before. I knew how you would react when you found out the truth.”

“Is it all that surprising, Aaron … ah, Ares?” She watched as the god walked to the window, looked out briefly and then turned around and walked back. He was a sight for sore eyes, she had to admit. As angry as she was with him at the moment, he still made her heart leap when she looked at him. She quickly shook it off, her anger getting the better of her with every right, and continued, “Everything about you has been a lie.”

Ares glared at her. “That’s not true and you know it.”

“Really? Tell me what you didn’t lie about, then. Go on. I’m listening.”

Ares responded instantly, “Your sword. It really did belong to your father.”

Eden rolled her eyes.

“And . . . and Cashius. He wasn’t a lie, either. He was a part of us, of what we have together.”

At the mention of Cashius’ name, Eden covered her mouth with her hand as tears welted up in her widened eyes. “Don’t you talk to me about my baby. MY baby. My dead baby. Those villagers were after YOU. When they wanted me to call for you, I thought they were all crazy, but now it makes perfect sense. They couldn’t get to you personally, so they took their revenge on Cashius and me. It’s because of you that our son died.” Emotion took over and Eden turned and ran out of the room, crying.

She ran down the long corridor, not knowing where she was headed. The castle seemed completely different now that she could see. Without her sight, she knew where she was going, but now she was lost. She kept moving until she found a door that led outside and then sprinted to the cover of the nearby trees. She wanted to get as far away as possible. She was confused and needed to think about everything that was just dumped in her lap.

Ares materialized in the doorway and watched her run into the surrounding forest. He wanted to go to her, but he knew that he was the last person she wanted to see. Instead, he called for her dog, who ran up a few seconds later.

“Leader, go after her. Make sure she’s all right.”

The dog barked as if he understood, and then ran off after Eden.


**********


Hours later Eden returned. She was no longer upset; she wasn’t crying –just drained and emotionless. As she and Leader walked back, she realized that the so-called ‘castle’ belonging to Aaron’s parents was really one of Ares’ temples. She shook her head.

“Another lie,” she said.

The heavy set of carved wooden double doors creaked as she pushed them open and entered. Priests and servants rushed to her to see if she needed anything, but she told them to leave her alone. She wanted to know where Ares was.

“He’s in the main throne room, Miss. Eden,” someone responded. “Right down that hall.”

She nodded and slowly started to walk down the gray stone hallway. It seemed much colder to her now that she could actually see it. There were weapons of all kinds hanging along the walls and the floor was black and white marble, like a chessboard. It was nothing how she had pictured it in her mind. Even in her out of body experiences, she hadn’t seen it this way. She didn’t know why that was.

“Because I had put a spell on you, that’s why,” Ares’ deep voice came from the room at the end of the hall. He suddenly appeared in the doorway. “I’ve removed it now. No sense in trying to fool you any longer, right?”

He turned and walked back into the room, taking a seat on his throne. Eden followed and then stopped a few feet in front of him. She looked at him with a blank expression on her face. She was just about to speak when he spoke up first.

“I know, I know. You don’t have to say it,” he said sarcastically. “You’re leaving. You’ve come to get your things.” He sighed heavily and stood. He walked to the window and absently looked out. “I knew you would. Can’t say I blame you, though.”

He sighed again, struggling for the right words to say to her to make her change her mind. “Eden . . . I . . . I really need to tell you that . . .” He turned around to face her – but she had already left the room and was half way down the corridor. “. . . that I love you,” he whispered. He slid his back down the wall behind him, sat on the floor, and watched her until she turned the corner and was out of sight.


***********


To Ares, Aphrodite never showed up at a good time, and on this day, it was no different. Eden had been gone a week and the war god had been moping around the temple ever since she had left. When Aphrodite arrived for a friendly visit, she was immediately hit with the pain that Ares was harboring inside, and it didn’t surprise the love goddess to find her brother was half drunk and in a terrible mood.

“Hey, bro. What’s up with you?” she asked, sounding cheerful.

“Go away. I’m in no mood for you today, Aphrodite,” Ares growled, not even bothering to look at her.

Aphrodite cocked her head to the side and put her hands on her hips. “Now, is that any way to treat your favorite sister?”

Ares set down the empty goblet he was holding, and looked at her through narrowed eyes. He sighed. “What do you want?”

Aphrodite walked over to her brother and sat next to his throne, on one of the stairs that led up to it. “Well, I could tell you that Zeus sent me to check up on you, but that wouldn’t be true.”

“Then what is it? Can’t you see that I’m busy?” Ares said impatiently.

Aphrodite pulled her eyebrows together in question. “Doing what? Getting tanked? Oh, that’s real important.”

“I’m losing patience with you, dear sister.”

“There is no specific reason I came by. I just wanted to see how you were doing. So, how’s your little girlfriend? You know, the one you rushed off to save last time we talked? What’s her name? Eden?”

“Don’t mention her name to me, Dite. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ares! What happened?” she pushed, despite his warning.

“Are you hard of hearing, girl. I just said that I didn’t want to talk about it.” Ares stood and walked to the doorway, yelling for someone to bring him more wine.

Aphrodite followed and put her arm around him. “Ares please. You know you can tell me. What happened? Where is she?”

Ares shook away from her in disgust. “The truth happened, that what. And now she’s gone.” He stomped back to his chair and sat. “If you and Zeus had just kept your noses out of my personal life, none of this would have happened. She was fine with Aaron, but no – I had to tell her the truth. Come clean with her about who I am. And what did it get me? Absolutely nothing.”

“Oh, Are, I’m so sorry. I thought she loved you enough to forgive you for that,” Aphrodite said sympathetically.

“Just save it, will you? Now leave me alone.”

“But … but …”
“I SAID GO!” Ares roared.

Aphrodite took the hint and vanished.


*************


Eden had settled the past couple of days in Pella, a fairly large city tra travelers frequented often. She had gotten work as a dishwasher in tavern and taken a room at the local inn. She was planning to stay no more than a week – just long enough to make enough money to buy supplies and move on to the next city. She had two objectives working. One: to get as far away from Ares’ temple as she could, and two: start asking folks if any slave traders had been through recently. She wanted now, more than ever, to find her sisters and had to start somewhere.

It was close to closing time and Eden was finishing up her tasks at work, when Aphrodite appeared startling Eden and two other workers who were there in the kitchen.

“Yuk! What is this place?” Aphrodite said with disgust as she looked around at dreary room. “You left a god’s temple for this?” She hesitated for a moment and then said, “Well now that I think about it, Ares’ temple is almost as dreary as this place, with all those ugly weapons on display. And you’d think the guy could decorate with something other than red and black – it’s so . . . yesterday.”

After Eden had gotten past the shock of her sudden appearance, she ignored the goddess and continued washing the dishes.

Aphrodite wasn’t discouraged. She moved closer to Eden and sort of whispered loudly to her. “You know what that temple needs, don’t you? It needs a woman’s touch. Don’t you agree?”

“I couldn’t really say. I didn’t see much of it – or at least how it really looked. I suppose you could be right. Who am I to say otherwise?” Eden said nonchalantly.

“Well, you’re Eden, right?”

Eden nodded her head in confirmation.

“I’m Ares’ sister, Aphrodite.” She glowed as she introduced herself to the mortal girl.

“I d had have never guessed. It’s nice to meet you, Aphrodite.” Eden smiled half-heartedly at her. “But if you could please excuse me, I have work to do.” Eden brushed past her with an armful of pots and pans.

“Listen, I know you’re not real happy about how things went down and all, but I really need to talk to you, Eden.”

“Like I said, I’ve got work to do.”

Aphrodite waved her hand and suddenly the kitchen was spotless. Every pot and pan was clean and hung in place, all the dishes were dry and put away, even the floor was cleaner than it ever had been.

“There. Now you’re done. Let’s go have a little chat, now.” Aphrodite said proudly.

Eden just stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at Aphrodite and shaking her head at her audacity. “Who are you – to think you can . . .” Eden started.

Aphrodite cut her off, losing patience with the mortal. “Listen, honey, I can and I just did. So, let’s go talk. Now.” The goddess insisted.

One of the other workers, who had been watching with an open mouth, managed to say, “You’d better go, Eden. We’ll cover for you, don’t worry.”

“Yeah, Eden, you better.” Aphrodite repeated.

Eden threw down her towel in defeat. “Fine. You win. Let’s go talk.”

Aphrodite grinned and laughed. “Oh, goody! I love to win. Come on.” She grabbed Eden’s hand and pulled her out through the back door. “Where are you staying?”

“At the Pella Inn. Room eight.”

“Cool. Let’s blow.” She snapped her fingers and the two girls were transported to Eden’s room.

Eden felt a little displaced at the quick ride. She sat down on the bed, fearful that she may pass out.

Aphrodite noticed. “Oh, sorry. I should have warned you about thee.” e.” She took a seat next to Eden and patted her knee. “Well, here we are. Just us girls.”

Eden’s dizziness started to wear off and she looked at the goddess questioningly. “Yes, here we are. And just why are we here?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you.” Dite paused and then continued, “About Ares.”

Eden stood and walked over to the dresser, pretending to straighten up. “I don’t want to talk about Ares. Not now. Not ever. So unless you have another matter you wish to discuss then I don’t see us having much of a conversation.”

The mortal had spunk, Aphrodite thought. She could see why her brother liked her so much, but she was wearing the goddess’ patience thin. “Listen, sister. All I know is that the God of War is in one funky mood and has been since you left. Now he has done things for you that he’s never done for anyone else before – god or mortal – and he has helped you out many times. You owe him to at least listen to what I have to tell you.”

Eden stopped what she was doing and looked at her. “He’s a liar and a fake. I don’t owe him anything as far as I’m concerned. He owes me, if anything. But I don’t want anything. Not from him and not from you.” She went back to rearranging the bottles on the dresser. “All you gods do is mess with us mortals. You may think that’s amusing, but I’ve had enough of it. He’s been pretending ever since the first day I met him. He played with my emotions, my life. I didn’t do anything except try to help someone who looked in need of it. I’m sure that was just a set up, too, and I was a fool!” She swallowed hard, trying to keep her emotions in check.

“That’s not true. It was no set up. He didn’t pick you out of a group of mortals to terrorize, Eden, as much as you would like to believe that. But, I can see that no matter what I say, I can’t convince you otherwise. I’m sure it’s much easier for you to blame
Ares than to hear the truth, so you go right ahead and believe what you want.”

Aphrodite stood, as if she were getting ready to disappear, and shook her head. “You’re much too petty and immature anyway. I don’t know what he ever saw in you.” She raised her hands to snap her fingers but Eden interrupted her.

“Petty and immature! Now you just wait one minute.”

Aphrodite stopped. “Yes?”

“I can handle whatever truth you’ve got. So go ahead. Lay it on me.”

The goddess smiled a small victorious smile. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Eden said, becoming frustrated. She moved back to the bed and sat, crossing her legs and arms and giving Aphrodite hetal tal attention.

“Well, if you insist!” she said cheerfully as she bounced down next to Eden on the bed. “The day you met Ares, he wasn’t really Ares.”

“Huh?”

“I mean he was Ares, but not a god. He was mortal, just like you.” She could see the questions flooding Eden’s mind. “You see, he was being punished by Zeus at the time, and didn’t have any godly powers. Zeus had sentenced him to six-months of mortality. He met you during that time and I think he fell in love with you, because when the time came for him to return to being God of War, he told Zeus to stick it – he wanted to stay mortal, he wanted to stay with you, Eden.”

“Are you telling me the truth? You’re not just making this up so I’ll feel sorry for him or something.”

“No, I swear, it’s the truth. Pity is the last thing Ares would want.”

Eden’s mind reflected on the past. “That kind of makes sense, in a way, now that I think about it. I wondered how he got my father’s sword. He said he had connections on Olympus.”

“Guilty as charged. I retrieved it for him. He told me where it was. It was in the Halls of War.”

“And his abrupt departure…”

“You mean the day you got the note? Me again. That was the day Zeus snatched him up and made him a god again. I brought you the note so you wouldn’t worry about him.”

“That was you?”

Aphrodite morphed into the same boy who had approached Eden that day and then morphed back into herself. “In the flesh.”

Eden sighed. “Okay, that explains a lot. But it still doesn’t explain why he didn’t tell me who he was when I met him.”

Aphrodite frowned. “I don’t have an answer for that. I asked him a couple of times, but he just got defensive and told me to stay out of it. If you want the answer to that question, you’ll have to ask him yourself.”

Eden sighed. “I think I already know why.”

Aphrodite waited for her to continue, when she didn’t, Dite prompted her. “Well, why?”

“It’s probably because I voiced my not-so-great opinion about the God of War before I had even asked him his name. I guess I wouldn’t have said I who I was to someone who just told me that they didn’t like me. I remember he got a bit overly defensive about Ares when I was talking about him. But I was so mad at him for letting me down. I still am, and this situation hasn’t really done much to restore my faith, either.”

“Why were you mad at him? What did he do?”

“Well, my mother was extremely ill. I went to his temple with an offering and prayed that he send Apollo to heal her. He spoke to me in the temple that day. No one else heard him, except me, but he definitely spoke clearly to me. He promised me he would send Apollo and told me to go home and wait. I did, but Apollo never came. My mother died a little over a week later.”

Aphrodite patted Eden’s knee again. “I’m sorry. I can understand why you would be upset. But are you sure it was Ares that let you down? Maybe he did tell Apollo and he was the one who didn’t follow through.”

“Perhaps. But it doesn’t really matter now. Not after what he did to me.”

“Eden, I’m sure that whatever he’s done to you, he didn’t do it on purpose. He has a great affection for you.”

“He told you that?”

“Well, no. But I know my brother. You’ve changed him, Eden. All I’m asking is that you give him another chance. A chance as Ares.”

Eden stared down at her hands, which she twitched in her lap, and though before responding. She had missed him ever since she had left, but she wasn’t going to admit that to the goddess. “Well, let me think about it, Aphrodite. I promise, I’ll take what you’ve told me into consideration. Okay?”

“That’s all I’m asking, Eden. Just think about it. He really does care about you. And I know you’ve got to be feeling the loss, as well.”

Eden shrugged. “I’ll think about it,” she repeated.


**********


After Aphrodite left, Eden couldn’t get Ares off of her mind. She really did miss him, even though she hated him, too. He had lied to her – deceived her in the most personal way. She had every right to be upset – to never want to see him again. Then why did she want to see him so badly?

Frustrated, she sat on the floor and began her meditation to help calm her turbulent mind. At first she was just relaxing, freeing her thoughts and allowing the peace to enter. But soon thereafter, visions of Ares kept arising and she found her spirit leaving her body to seek him out.

She traveled to his temple, the same temple they had spent so many nights at together recently. She stayed hidden in the shadows as she entered. Quickly moving from room to room only to find them empty. Sovedoved down the hall and paused before the bedchambers door, unsure of if she wanted to enter.

There were so many memories in there. Memories of the two of them together, of making love together. He had been so gentle with her, so un-warlike, it was hard to believe that he was who he was. Could he really have feelings for her, as Aphrodite insisted? She wanted to believe it was so.

She passed through the heavy wooden doors and dashed off to the side, into the shadows. The god sat in the red velvet covered chair and stared, motionless, out of the window. Spread across his lap was one of Eden’s dresses. She just watched him sitting there and noticed every so often that his hand would stroke the material of her dress. The god sighed, as if he was extremely sad.

A knock came at the door. “My Lord? My Lord, are you in there?” the manservant said.

“Enter,” Ares called out.

The servant entered and bowed. “My Lord, is there anything I can get for you before I retire for the night?”

Ares continued to stare out of the window and shook his head as he waived him off. “No,” he said.

“My Lord, are you sure? Perhaps I could send in a couple of the women to entertain you this evening?”

“I SAID NO,” Ares roared, causing the servant to take a step back as the god glared at him.

“I’m sorry, Master. Please forgive me. I will leave you now,” the man said, bowing as he backed up and out of the room.

Once he was gone, Ares turned back to stare out of the window again, and said quietly, “You can’t bring Eden back.” He stroked the dress again and sighed.

“He pining for me,” Eden thought. “He really does miss me. Maybe what Aphrodite said was true. Maybe he didn’t deceive me on purpose.” She turned to slip back out of the room to return to her body. Perhaps she had left too hastily, not giving him the chance to explain himself. She decided she would give him that opportunity. She hurried back to her body so she could travel to the temple again, in the flesh.


***********


Ares got the strange feeling that someone was in the room with him and turned his head just in time to see Eden’s spirit leaving. He quickly stood, the dress in his lap falling to the floor as he did, and called for her.

“Eden? Eden, is that you? Wait, please!” But it was too late. She was gone.

Defeated, Ares looked down at the dress and kicked it across the floor. “You fool,” he said aloud to himself, “she doesn’t want you. So why am I sitting around feeling lonely when there are thousands of women who would give their lives to spend one night with me? I don’t need her. I am the God of War. I don’t need anyone.”

He glared at the dress on thoor oor and it turned to ash. Then he flung open the bedchambers door and yelled for three of his servant-girls.
x

*******

Once Eden had returned to herself, she immediately packed her bag and took the money she had earned for supplies and purchased a horse instead. She traveled through the night, only briefly stopping once for the horse to rest and drink. The closer she got to the temple, the more her stomach churned in knots. She felt nervous and excited at the same time. She wanted to feel his arms around her, embracing her like he used to do after he had been gone from the cabin for a while. She always felt that he really had missed her when he hugged her that way. And then they would make love, sometimes for hours or just sit and hold one another. She had been so happy during those times. Not at all like her life had been recently. Perhaps that could change.

She had heard the stories of how the gods were, of how they had little regard for human life. But Eden knew in her heart that she could forgive him for everything he had done, even for letting her mother die, as long as she knew that he truly regretted his mistakes.


*******

Just as the new day broke, Eden arrived at Ares’ temple. She quickly dismounted and entered through a side door by the stables. She looked a mess, but didn’t care. She had to see him. She had to throw her arms around the man she loved and hold him. She ran down the dreary gray stone hallway to Ares’ bedchambers, but stopped when she reached the door.

She could hear voices coming from inside the room. His voice and a female’s voice, laughing. No wait, multiple female voices! What was going on here?

“Miss Eden! Miss Eden! Wait, my lady,” the manservant called from behind. He was running down the hall to catch her before she walked in on Ares. “You should let me announce you to the god,” he said once he was at the door.

Ares heard the man calling Eden’s name and wondered what in Tartarus was going on. Naked, he rose from the bed, leaving three equally naked slave girls frowning at his absence, and went to the door.

“I’ve made a mistake. I should go,” Eden whispered to the man, realizing that he was not alone. Her heart sank when it hit her.

The servant grabbed her arm. “Wait. I’m sure my Lord would want to see you, Miss Eden.”

“What is going on out here?” Ares bellowed, yanking open the door. His mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw Eden standing there.

Eden looked at him, then past him to the three girls on his bed, and had such pain in her eyes. She swallowed hard to keep herself from crying, not wanting to look weak in front of Ares.

“Eden? I . . . ah . . .” Ares dressed himself with a thought. “Leave us,” he commanded and the three girls grabbed their clothes and scurried out of the room past them. “You too,” he indicated to his manservant.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt you, Ares. Please don’t stop on my account.” She began to walk away from him, back down the hall.

“Please, Eden. Don’t go.” He reached for her, but she had moved beyond his grasp.

She ignored him and continued walking. The tears had begun to streak her cheeks. She heard him call for her again, the sound of his voice tugged at her heart, so she ran.

The next thing she knew, she was back in his bedchambers on his bed. The place reeked of sex, of his smell and she quickly jumped off as if the sheets were on fire. She was crying uncontrollably.

“You sick bastard,” she managed to say, glaring at him. “Do you enjoy torturing me this way? Let me go!” She backed against the wall and slid to the floor, covering hece wce with her hands.

Ares realized what had happened and quickly changed the bed with a thought. “Oops, not to smart, Ares,” he thought to himself. He approached and squatted down next to her, moving her hair out of her face.

Softly, he said, “Eden. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Honest.” He tried to pull a hand away from her face, but she only broke free and covered her eyes again.

“Don’t touch me,” she sobbed.

“Eden, please. You can’t blame me. You left me.”

When she didn’t respond, the god got frustrated and stood. “Why did you come here anyway? What do you want?” he said coldly.

Eden sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked up at Ares, who was towering over her with his hands on his hips, looking very intimidating.

“Nothing. I want nothing from you. I made a mistake in coming here today. I thought you . . .”

“You thought what?” Ares probed.

Eden stood, feeling much more in control of her emotions now. Anger had started to build up in place of the hurt. “I thought I would give you a chance to explain why you pretended to be a mortal, but I can see now that I don’t really matter to you. It was all just a game, right?”

“A game?” he repeated as he felt the anger coming off of her in waves. It made his cock hard. “Yes, a game,” he said, baiting her, wanting to feel more of her anger move through his body, intoxicating him. He turned his back to her and walked towards the window. “You were just a diversion to me, Eden. Nothing more.”

“You fucking bastard!” she yelled as she ran and jumped onto his back. She tried to choke him with her arm, but he only laughed at her attempt and pushed her off of him. She fell to the floor and before the war god was able to turn around and look at her, she swept a leg under his feet and Ares came tumbling down next to her. She jumped on top of him, straddling him, and pounding her fists into his massive chest.

“You bastard! I hate you! I hate you!”

Ares laughed and let her hit him. “Good move, my sweet. I see I’ve taught you well. But the one thing I didn’t yet teach you is how pointless it is to try and hurt me. It’s a god thing, you know.” He laughed again, which just infuriated Eden more.

She pounded him even harder for a few more seconds before realizing it truly was pointless. She stopped, and buried her face in his chest, sobbing heavily. “I hate you. I hate you.”

Ares stroked her hair. “I know, my love. I’d hate me too, if I were you.” He put his hands on each side of her face and lifted her head to look her in the eyes. “But that’s only because you love me so much, isn’t it?”

Eden couldn’t bring herself to actually say the word, but nodded in confirmation. The tears were still spilling from her eyes.

Ares pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. His fingers entwined in her hair as he held her close to his body. Their kiss was so desperate, so needy. Both of them feeling the grasp around the other tighten, knowing deep inside that neither wanted to be without the other. They had a bond between them, the kind of bond that could never be broken.

Or could it?