Chapter 9
Skeletons in the Closet
1
Long Beach
Are my hands on fire?
Calliope awoke in the dark corner of the makeshift lab. She tried to lift them to make sure they weren’t on fire, but found them tethered to the hospital bed. Slowly, she became aware of her surroundings and remembered the night before. Her gaze lowered to the gauze covering her ruined appendages.
Her vision adjusted to the dim lighting and she surveyed her surroundings as well as she could from her position on the bed. The corner she was in was sectioned off from the rest by pale green cubicle walls made of fabric.
A figure lay prone on the other bed. Annie’s dark hair spilled out onto the white pillowcase. He slept deeply and was nude from at least the waist up, the blankets folded down across his middle. A large bandage covered his left side, from his nipple to his hipbone. Calliope furrowed her brow and tried to remember what happened to them.
A knife had been shoved into his side, the same knife that had sliced through the thin flesh of her palms.
Calliope felt betrayed, as though her own dog had bitten her. She was Frankenstein, a victim of her own creation.
Calliope suddenly realized she had no idea how critical her situation truly was yet. “Hello?” She spoke to the quiet darkness.
“Dr. Vandenheuval, the subject is awake,” a voice from behind the curtained wall said. Calliope paled at being called “subject.”
A smallish man came into the curtained corner. “Good morning, how are we feeling today?” He said in a low voice.
“My hands hurt,” she replied.
“That’s to be expected,” he told her.
Calliope swallowed.
“Hope you weren’t planning any concertos on the piano anytime soon.”
Warning sirens shot off inside her mind. “Is
“No thanks to you.” He was taking her blood pressure and checking her pulse as they spoke.
“I didn’t know it was him. I was attacked,” she said. “I didn’t know.”
“I’m sure you didn’t.” A hypodermic was slid into an IV she hadn’t even noticed before. “Now, I need you to sleep, can’t have you chattering away and impairing Mr. Swann’s recovery.” He turned to leave.
“Wait,” she said. “Where am I?”
“It won’t matter,” he said and then sighed. “You’re in the Kraken.”
Calliope stared at the ceiling, her consciousness beginning to ebb.
And me without a Perseus.
2
The Villa
Clio had slept with Cory upstairs. Mel, Trent, and Bliss were locked away in the darkest of guestrooms. Ares had stepped out at about
Clio came downstairs and tossed Crow a towel. He touched her wet hair and kissed her shoulder.
Their eyes locked and he pulled away. “Morning breath,” he said. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Clio padded into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and brew some hot tea for
“What’s going on with the Bliss situation?” Ares asked behind her.
Clio let out a small scream and felt the knife bite into her forefinger. Lemon juice seeped into the cut. “Ow! Ow-ow-ow!” She popped the finger between her lips.
“Here, let me see that,” Ares said as he pulled her finger from her mouth. His hand cupped her chin and he roughly swept his thumb along her bottom lip. Her eyes widened and he showed her the blood he had wiped away.
Ares pulled her over to the sink and he ran her finger under cold water. “I don’t think it’ll need stitches,” he said.
His temperature was down, only feverish, not the burning intensity she felt last night. He was wearing a tight, white T-shirt and his cuffed Levi’s, his muscular frame clearly outlined. His hair was damp from a recent shower and he had combed it back, a single curl falling into his eyes.
Clio stared at his chest and he had to shift his weight to look her in the eyes.
“Plasters?” He asked with that accent that had seemed so put-on before.
She pointed at the kitchen island’s bottom drawer. He opened it and found the first-aid kit.
“I haven’t seen Mel yet, Trent and Bliss should be sleeping the rest of the day,” she finally said.
“Disgustin’ lot,” he said. With a hard shake to the can, he sprayed her finger with Bactine and blew on it. “Stings right?”
Her brow furrowed at the sight of him blowing on her finger, but she allowed him to continue the ritual. He fastened the Band-Aid and went about putting away the first-aid kit.
“Thank you, Ares.”
Ares shrugged. Pulling himself back up from the bottom drawer, he reached for a mug, and poured himself some coffee. “Bloody lamias. We won’t be able to do anything until tonight? I’m beginning to lose my patience.” His fingers raked through his hair, mussing it.
Clio cocked her head. “Do you want me to talk to Zeus? Or Apollo?”
“No, we can handle this, Historian, we don’t need Sunshine boy or Daddy to know how badly we fucked this one up, do we?” His jaw tightened, his temperature raised.
“You’re right, I guess. I’m taking Crow and Alice to the hospital to see their grandmother, do you want to come?” She knew he’d decline, but she thought she’d ask anyway.
“No, take the Dancer with you, I don’t want her here alone. I’m going to try and track this bleedin’ wanker that’s nicked the Poet,” he said as he sipped his coffee.
“Cory wouldn’t be alone, Mel and Trent are here.”
“Dead to the world, what good are they?
“Are you getting protective of us, Ares?” She asked while stirring
“Do I look that poofter to you? I’m not taking Apollo’s bit,” he said. “I don’t care what happens to you lot after you check in with Big Zed, but until then, you’re all going to go home in one piece, including the bloody Poet.” He walked out of the kitchen and she wondered if he had slept at all last night.
Clio sat next to a pillow with fire-engine red hair splayed across it. “
“I made you some hot tea for your throat. Are you hungry? I can make you something if you’d like.”
“While we’re at the hospital, we’ll have someone check your throat.” Clio patted her knee and stood. “I’ve got to make everyone some breakfast, wanna help?”
Clio opened the kitchen door and hollered, “Ares! Come eat!”
They sat down to eat and a graceless quiet settled over the kitchen table, the only noise coming from the freeway below. It blew in through the open window like a dirty breeze and even the curtains danced around it.
“Do you have any idea how you’re going to even track him?” Clio finally asked.
“I have some addresses from Crow, I think I’ll start at his flat downtown,” Ares said.
“Good idea.” She handed him a cell-phone and a phone number. “This is Calliope’s number, I’ll have her phone with me. Take our spare and keep in touch if you discover anything and we’ll phone you if we run into any trouble.”
“Good enough, Historian.” Ares grabbed his keys from the counter.
“Clio,” Crow said beneath his breath.
“Beg pardon?” Ares cocked a brow at him.
“Her name is Clio, not Historian.”
Ares stood. “Listen, mortal, I have known the woman since before the Fall of Troy, I think I bloody well know her name.”
“Then why don’t you use it?” Crow was yelling now.
The room temperature suddenly flared. Clio looked from Crow to Ares and back again.
“Do you want to take this outside, pup? I’ve been bloody waiting for this,” he said.
Crow slammed his palms on the table and pushed back his chair. “Yeah, we can take this outside.”
“Nobody is taking anything outside,” Clio said as she moved in front of Ares.
“Oh, piss off, Historian, he started it,” Ares said and attempted to move her aside.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Crow said.
Clio stood between them, pushing them away from each other. She turned to Ares and shoved him into his chair. “Sit down, Ares,” she said and swung her cutting gaze towards Crow. “What do you think you’re doing? Do you think he won’t kill you? He knows my name, Crow, he’s Ares, he doesn’t have to use anybody’s name, and it’s his way of being the villain. He’s afraid that if he’s not the villain, he isn’t anything.” Clio pointed her finger in the war god’s face with every “he” and “his” as she yelled at Crow. “What are you thinking, provoking him like that? I like you breathing.”
Ares looked stung.
Crow slumped into his chair. Ares got up, mumbled something about who pinned her General and slammed the kitchen door. Moments later the
Crow opened his mouth, but Clio interjected, “Just leave it.”
Crow threw his napkin on his plate, stood, and stormed out of the kitchen.
Clio’s gaze followed him remorsefully. Immediately sorry, she followed him.
“Crow…” When he didn’t slow, she said, “Crow, stop.”
He stopped, but wouldn’t turn around. “Do you want me to just hand you my balls?”
“I’m sorry. Ares is dangerous. He is a murderer, he has been exiled for almost two thousand years. He could snap you like a twig, come back in, and finish his breakfast. Do you understand?”
“You’re not my mother. I thought you were my girlfriend, but I don’t know what you are.” He finally turned to her. “I’m in love with you. Did you know that?”
She bit her lip. “Oh.”
“‘Oh’? That’s it? Just ‘oh’? For god’s sake, Clio, find something better to say than that.” Crow searched her eyes.
“I’m going to tell Mel we’re leaving,” she said.
She turned and he wrapped his arms around her, resting his head against hers. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Me, too.”
3
Alice and Crow stepped inside their grandmother’s room first. Clio and Cory hung back to give them a moment.
Cory dug some change from her purse and excused herself.
“Don’t go too far,” Clio whispered.
“Yes, mother,” the blonde replied. Clio tugged one of Cory’s braids.
“I’m just worried.”
Cory shrugged as she turned down the hall. “We know.”
Clio’s cell rang. “Yeah?” She answered.
“Well, I have bad news and worse news, which do you want first?”
Ares. “Bad, then worse,” she said.
“Well, it looks as though our friend, Mr. Christ, has a history of what went on in that entry hall.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you know he had a real sadistic streak? I found photos of some fucked up shit, made your li’l girlfriend-on-a-rope in there look like he was in a rush. He gets real artsy in some of these.”
“I’m coming over, buzz me in when I get there.”
He hesitated, “I don’t know if you want to see this, Historian.”
“I’m coming over, give me the worse news when I get there.” Clio hit End.
“You have to go,” Crow said.
Clio hadn’t even heard him come back.
“Clee, I can’t –” He started.
“No, no, I’m not asking you to leave your grandma. Can I get your keys? I’ll be back after I see what’s going on at Annie’s,” she said.
“Be careful.” Crow brushed his cheek against hers. His keys pressed into her palm.
“I will.” Clio said.
“Tell Cory I’ll be back,” she said.
4
Downtown LA
Clio buzzed several times in her impatience to be let into the building. Ares got on the intercom, “Christ already, what sodding button do I push to get you to shut the hell up?”
“9,” she replied and lifted her middle finger to the camera.
“Oh, very ladylike,” he said.
The door buzzed and she hurried to the elevator. After punching the top floor button, she waited with an impatient tapping foot.
Ares opened the door and said, “Missed me that much, pet?”
Clio tossed him her best ‘spare me’ expression and followed him into Annie’s room. What he had found amazed her. The false back of the closet had a hidden panel pulled out.
“I thought the closets were bugger-all small for a flat this size.” He explained how Annie had converted the walk-in closets into ordinary wall closets. The secret closet was tiny with a darkened bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. “Remember, I warned you,” he sounded grim.
Ares pulled the cord on the light and it illuminated the demon inside Annie.
Pictures of the most horrific mutilations and savage butchery she had ever seen took up every square inch of wall space. Clio stared, transfixed by the barrage of images that assaulted her.
Annie had to be one of the most sought after serial killers in history. There were girls hanging from fishhooks, girls with their eyes removed or sewn shut, and still others with missing appendages. Anything he could tear out without killing them, he did. These were little girls, some as young as thirteen or fourteen.
Clio bent over, breathing through her mouth.
“Are you alright?” Ares asked.
Her hand jerked up in a ‘wait a minute’ position. The only sound in the room came from her breathing.
“I’m okay,” she finally lied.
“Right. I dunno if this will make you feel any better, but look here,” he gestured for her to look at the pictures he was pointing at. Her gaze remained fixed on her feet.
“Clio, I need you to look at this.”
“Looking at dead children will not make me feel better.”
“I don’t think that tosser did all this.”
This got her attention and she moved to where he was standing. “While I was waiting for you, I noticed something. These are all different, some of these are Polaroids, some of these are black and white, but they’ve all been killed differently.”
She shook her head, not comprehending what he was getting at.
“Look at this set, there’s three done the same way, and here there’s six done a completely different way from the first three. Serial killers, as a lot, do things the same way over and over. That’s where the serial part comes in.”
He pointed to one picture off to the side. “What year do you think this girl was living in?”
Clio stared at it until she saw what he saw. “The seventies?”
“Wasn’t this Annie chap born in the late seventies?”
Clio nodded. “Okay, so, he hasn’t killed all these women. So, he’s what?
In some club where they swap trophies?” Her finger pointed to four she recognized from the bus. Violet. “These. He’s done these ones. He hasn’t put Stasia’s picture up yet.”
“I don’t think he will. She was sloppy, wasn’t well thought out, completely different from these four. These four are only strangled, not gutted. He prolly made hisself sick with what he did last night, I don’t think he’s ever gutted anyone before. He wouldn’t want anyone to see that one. He’d be embarrassed if any of his peers saw her. Your friend Stasia was meant to frighten you off.”
“It didn’t work. I’m not gonna bug out because some little mortal got torn apart on my tile. He has my sister for gods’ sake.”
“Now for the worse news.” A large wardrobe trunk she hadn’t noticed before sat behind him and he moved to open it.
“Wait,” she said. He stopped and looked at her. “There’s not a body in there, is there? I can’t take any corpses today.”
“No.” Ares swung open the trunk where more pictures waited inside.
They poured out in a great pile, and she crouched down to pick one up, a photo of Calliope in the early sixties. The next one was a picture of Calliope and Ernest Hemingway in
Taped to the lid of the trunk was the most disturbing image of all. A photo of Calliope and Annie facing each other at a table, he had cut their heads off and switched bodies. They weren’t facing each other anymore, they were turned away from each other, and written in red beneath the photograph were the words, “She has always been me, now I shall be her.”
Ares heard her inhale, but she wasn’t letting it out. “Historian?” He shook her, but she wasn’t responding, only staring in horror at the message. With both hands on her shoulders now, he shook her harder and she looked at him, she sobbed as she exhaled.
Clio tried to stand but discovered she had no strength. Ares turned her around, his heat suffocating her, but she paid it no heed. He wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from slipping and lifted her, carefully carrying her out of the closet.
“He knows,” she said.
“It would appear so.”
Clio clamped her hand over her mouth and darted towards the bathroom. She held onto the tiled wall with one hand as she emptied her stomach into the toilet. Her head close to the bowl, she noticed the scratch marks beside the toilet. Her fingers lightly traced them and she got up to rinse out her mouth.
She glanced down at her hand as she dried it on the towel and then placed it back on the wall again. It’s warm. Something clicked in her mind.
“Ares,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“Come here.”
He came into the bathroom. She moved her hand to the tile where she had steadied herself only moments before.
“Feel this.”
He touched the wall. “Is the air on?”
“Always.”
“Then what’s behind this wall?”
“The hall,” she said.
They looked at each other and then the medicine cabinet. Clio examined it. “Two sets of hinges.”
“Let’s have a look then,” Ares said and swung open the entire cabinet. The medicine cabinet was a refrigerator door.
Clio took in the contents and it appeared to be full of prescriptive medications. Bottles of what she at first mistook for morphine turned out to be something she could scarcely pronounce. Loaded syringes, cough syrup sized bottles, tablets, caplets, liquid gels, and dozens of tiny bottles filled with different injectable drugs lay in neat lines on plastic shelves.
“What is all this?”
“I have no idea,” she replied. Clio pulled out her phone and dialed a number. “It’s Clio. I need your expertise.”
She rattled off the names of the drugs to the person on the other end and then said, “I see.” Her gaze took a sober turn. “Alright. Thanks, no it’s nothing, we’re fine. I’ll call you later.”
Clio hung up.
“Well?”
“The stuff Annie’s taking is probably for someone in the advance stages of HIV. Some of this stuff is experimental, but most of it is standard procedure.”
“Who was that?”
“It was Apollo.”
Ares only looked away.
“I didn’t tell him,” she said.
“I know.”
“Annie’s dying and he knows about Calliope.”
“I know.”
She gripped his t-shirt into her two fists. “Do you know, do you know what he wants, do you?”
“Yeah. I know.”
Shivering as though she were cold, she pressed into his stifling heat. “We have to stop him, promise me you’ll stop him, promise me we’ll get her back,” she said.
Ares lifted his arms as though he might wrap her up in them and then helplessly lowered them to his sides. He brought his hand to her head and roughly stroked her hair, making her look up at him.
“I promise,” he said.
5
Cory was curled in a ball on the chair in the corner of Mrs.
They hadn't spoken in a half-hour and she finally looked at her brother. He was staring at their grandmother. “You love her, don’t you?” She asked him.
“Yes.”
“How much do you know about her?” Her voice was still hoarse and whispery.
“Enough to know I love her.” He gave her a look that meant he thought she shouldn’t start this conversation.
“Tell me again why we haven’t called the police about Calliope’s kidnapping?”
He sighed. “They don’t want outside parties involved.”
“Ahh.” She raised an eyebrow at him and twisted her eyebrow piercing. “Do you believe?”
He stared hard at her. “Do I believe what, Alice?”
“Do you believe in all that garbage about them being the Greek Muses and him being the God of War?”
“Don’t worry about what I believe,” Crow replied.
“Well, if she is immortal, you’ll grow old and die while she remains young and beautiful throughout your life. Is that the love you want, Crow?”
“
Cory sat up and rubbed her eyes, “What’s all the hub-bub, bub?”
“Nothing,”
“Clio hasn’t been anything but nice to you.”
“I don’t have anything against Clio, personally. I know my brother is definitely going to get the shit end of the stick in this relationship.”
“You know all that?” Cory said.
Cory shrugged.
“What’s a ‘club cider’?”
“A what?”
“Club cider.”
“I have no idea. Where did you hear it?”
“Calliope said it on the night she…”
“Club cider,” Cory said and crinkled her face up in thought. “Club cider, club cider. Clepsydra?”
“That was it. What is it?”
“It’s a ritual those two still cling to. When Calliope finds a mortal to inspire, she gives him or her seven years. When seven years are up, Calliope gets a countdown from Clio, a clepsydra. It’s really old-school. Hardly any of us use them anymore. It’s an old timer made from two bowls of water. It’s set for twenty-four hours and then they leave. No more contact with that mortal. It’s sacred to Clio and Calliope.”
“Yeah, poor Calliope. Poor Clee,” Cory added.
“Tell me about Clio. How often does she do this?”
“How often does she do what? The clepsydra?” Cory asked her.
“Get mortal guys to fall in love with her.”
Cory snorted. “Clio doesn’t. She hasn’t since Julian and the baby.” Cory’s eyes grew huge, she had said too much.
“What baby? Who’s Julian?”
“Nothing, I shouldn’t be talking about this.” Cory looked around for a way to worm out of this conversation.
“Cory, you can’t say something like that and leave me hanging.”
The dancer studied
Satisfied, Cory released her pinky and drew in a deep breath. “A little before the Second World War, Clio and her husband, Julian, had a daughter named Miranda. The last time all nine of us were in one room was when Clio named her. It was like damned faerie godmothers giving Sleeping Beauty her gifts. We all gave her the gift of our individual arts. Each of us imparted some of our inspiration upon her.
There was no curse and no evil, forgotten muse came to prophesy about a spindle, but Persephone, you know, the Goddess of the Underworld, came as a guest to the ‘christening’. She brought her own gift.
Persephone gave Miranda the key to The Gates of Hades on a chain around the baby’s neck. She told Clio one day her daughter could save one soul with it, and it was their gift to her.
Six years later, Clio’s husband was killed in a terrible accident. It was awful, Clio went crazy with grief, stole the key from her six-year-old daughter, and went to the Underworld. Once she was there, she supposedly found Hades’ tower and demanded the soul he owed the key. He told her everything in the Underworld came with a great price, even so-called gifts. He returned her husband’s soul, but when she returned from the Underworld, twenty years had passed on Earth and she had no clue where he had reincarnated the soul. She’s been looking for him ever since, until,” she looked at
“Until she found my brother.”
Cory pursed her lips together and nodded. “You see, she sacrificed her daughter for her husband and lost both for her crime. She has paid for the last fifty years, she has loved no one else, and she tore herself up over mortal business.”
“‘Mortal business’?”
Cory sighed. “We aren’t supposed to get this involved. We aren’t supposed to love mortals above all because we grieve for you.” Cory looked away. “There’s no happy ending when you love a mortal.”
6
Annie sat in a wheelchair on the other side of the warehouse from where Calliope lay. Two machines roughly the size and shape of large home air conditioners sat beneath his scrutiny. Vandenheuval had been anxious for Annie to see these.
Vandenheuval opened his mouth to speak and Annie held a hand out to stay him. “I’m in pain, I’m cranky, and I only want to hear language come out of your mouth that I’ll understand. I swear to god, Vandenheuval, you say one thing that gives me a headache and I will watch you eat your own testicle,” he said.
Vandenheuval had to quiet down to hear what he was saying. That the scientist heard him at all was a sign of deference.
With that said, Vandenheuval carefully chose his words before he said, “These two machines are used to ‘clean’ blood. It pulls it in this side, cleans it, and puts it back in this side. As you should know, this was a popular method for a short period to try to keep the patient’s immune system strong. Now, what we’re seeing with the Fountain’s blood is it is mutating the recipient’s blood and we can’t have that. If the body believes the Fountain’s blood was the original blood and not an aggressive foreign agent, it may be more willing to accept it as it’s own and stabilize.”
Annie looked at him blankly.
Vandenheuval took a deep breath. “I would not be able to test this on anything, it’s going to have to be all or nothing.” He laid his hand on the dialysis machine. “Now, I ‘tweaked’ these machines to make them more powerful and about ten times faster than they were before. I could hook the source up to one end, and you to the other and vice versa, like one big daisy chain. It will extract your blood and replace it with hers, and we can extract her blood and replace it with yours in a matter of minutes.”
This last part piqued Annie’s curiosity. “Would she be able to live with my blood?”
“I believe you have a stronger chance of living with her immortal blood than she does, especially with your blood. I mean, your white blood cell count is so low, it’s a miracle you’re standing here talking to me.” Vandenheuval looked as giddy as a schoolgirl, Annie was surprised he wasn’t giggling.
“You’re saying my body will think her blood is mine, instead of fighting it off like Bliss?” A vicious grin crept onto his face. “Why should I trust you, Vandenheuval? You told me Bliss had an excellent chance of surviving and she didn’t.”
“Ahh, but Mr. Swann, she reanimated in less than 12 hours, remember?”
“I don’t know if I can trust you yet, I want all the information you have gathered regarding this exchange of blood. I’ll go over them in my bed and give you an answer in a few hours.”
He went to the corner where Calliope was sleeping, his Snow White, peaceful and still. She was wearing a white silk nightgown with little black roses at the empire waist, her face was pale, and her lips colored as though she had been eating a pomegranate. Her lashes were long and dusky, resting on her cheeks. His gaze dropped to her bandaged hands, the bleeding had still not stopped, and the blood was beginning to color the gauze.
With a deep frown, he chewed on his thumb thoughtfully. He read the reports and observations carefully, but he had already made up his mind while gazing at his sleeping muse.
7
Ares and Clio came in together, prompting a troubled frown from Crow. Cory and Alice sat in a corner, neither of them speaking, both of them deep in their own thoughts. Ares took a seat on the vacant bed, kicking up his boots, and resting his head on his hands.
“How is she?” Clio asked Crow after giving him a quick kiss on the mouth.
“The same, she mumbled something incoherent once, but that was it.” Exhaustion had settled into the lines in his face.
“What do the doctors think?”
“They don’t know why she isn’t responding, they feel she’s been traumatized by more than the heart attack,” he said as he looked helplessly at his grandmother. “I wish she could wake up and tell us.”
“What happened at Annie’s?” Crow asked.
Ares opened his mouth and Clio said, “Nothing. It was a dead end.”
“Oh.” Crow replied.
Ares watched as Clio wiped her palms on her pants. The others hadn’t noticed her burgeoning anxiety. Her troubled gaze swung his way.
“What’s the matter, pet?” He looked at Crow over her shoulder and raised his eyebrow at him.
“We need to get going,” she said in a low voice. She looked over her shoulder at Crow and Alice. “Maybe we should leave them here with their grandmother.”
Both her and Ares looked at her, surprised at the outburst.
“What?” Clio said.
“I said, ‘you have the look like you’re gonna run,’ any practice with that?” She looked at her like a rebellious teenager.
Clio’s face screwed up in angry confusion, “What the hell are you talking about? I have to find Calliope, there’s nothing I can do for your grandmother here.”
“What about my brother? Do you think leaving him here to deal with this is helping him?”
“I don’t think this is the time or place for this,
Clio brought her hands to her temples and looked stunned, Crow was instantly by her side. She flexed her jaw to keep from crying and said shakily, “Crow? What the fuck was that all about?” Her gaze centered on the ceiling.
“I have no idea,” he said.
Her incensed gaze swung on him. “You get her under control, or you keep her out of my way.” Her attention flew to Ares’ position on the bed. “Keep out of this,” she said, turning his own ever-present anger on him.
He held his palms up in mock surrender. “Easy, Historian, she got my ire up, too.”
“Yeah, well, keep your ire in your pants. I don’t need your help. Do us both a favor and don’t loan me anymore battle rage, Ares.”
His eyebrows shot up at her and he almost chuckled, but thought better of it.
“I’m sorry, Crow,” she said as she pressed her forehead to his. “There is too much happening here. All this with Calli, I feel like I can’t hang on much longer. I’m worn out.” Clio dropped on the chair as though she weighed a ton.
“It’s okay, I understand. I know if it were
Ares snorted on the bed and Clio shot him a warning glance. “He’s it, unless you want to bring Athene in on this.” Clio looked at Ares.
“I’d rather not, if you don’t mind, Historian, the last thing we need is her coming down on you for your irresponsibility and blah-blah-blah. She’d chastise us all to death before we had a chance to even look for Calliope,” Ares said.
“He’s right. He’s the only one that’s up for any action, unless I called Zeus in and we don’t want attention like that.” She thought for a moment. “There’s always –”
“No way, pet, I warned you, you call that ponce in and I’m hauling you in to Big Zed.” Ares stood and stretched.
“Alright already, geez,” she said.
“Who are you guys talking about?” Crow asked.
“Apollo, but he and Ares don’t get along,” Cory said.
“But if he could help –,” Crow began.
Ares hand shot out and gripped Crow’s shirt. “No. She doesn’t call him. Do you understand, Special Ed?”
Crow’s hand shot out and shoved Ares.
Cory and Clio leapt in front of Crow simultaneously, blocking him from Ares.
“Back off, Muses, he’s been arching for this,” Ares said.
“You talk a lot of shit you don’t back up, man,” Crow said.
“Shut up, Crow, are you crazy?” Cory yelled.
Ares pushed Cory away like a rag doll and Clio stood immovable in front of Crow.
Crow said in low voice, “I don’t need you to protect me, Clee.”
“Oh, I think you do,” Ares replied.
Clio suddenly struck Ares in the face with everything she had. She doubled over with her fist pressed to her gut. The incision in her wrist had opened back up and began to bleed.
Stunned, Ares blinked twice and pummeled Crow in the face. He took two shots when he stopped. His gaze swept across Clio and he flexed his jaw from where she he hurt him. He shook his head and muttered, “Bloody hell.”
He stormed out of the room and listened to them inside from the hall.
“Clee, are you hurt? Let me see your hand,” Cory said.
“I’m fine. I said I was fine,” Clio replied. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” She asked Crow.
“Leave me alone, Clio.”
Ares shook his head and left them to fight amongst themselves. She’s protecting him from me, but who’s protecting him from her?
Clio found him outside smoking a cigarette, leaning against the hospital’s brick wall. She sat on the brick flowerbed ledge across from him, staring at the Band-Aid he had put on her finger as though it were a new tattoo.
After a few minutes of silence, he finally said, “That’s a nasty right hook you’ve got there, Historian.”
Clio laughed that short snap of a laugh that meant she was reaching her breaking point. “I thought you were going to kill him.”
He flicked his cigarette away and squatted down to her level where she was sitting. “Look, pet, I don’t know where I get this awful reputation from, like I kill people for breaking wind in my direction.”
“Don’t you?”
“Well, during a war, yeah, I do, I’m different then, but not in a bloody hospital. Could you give me some credit? I know he’s mortal and I know they’re little glass trinkets. I promise I won’t be the one who breaks him, okay?” He gave her a sideways glance.
“You promise?” She had her hand pressed to her temple.
“Yes, I bloody promise. But you have to promise to stop overprotecting him like some infant in his nappies, it’s getting embarrassing for both us blokes.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small brown prescription bottle. Ares pulled her up from her sitting position and she looked up at him.
“What do you know about little glass trinkets?” She asked.
“Target practice, muse, they make right smart targets,” he said and dumped two of the pills into her palm. The bottle disappeared back into his coat.
Clio looked at the Imitrex in her hand. “How did you – ”
“I’m not a complete sot, y’know,” he said.
“We have a truce? I need to know we’re on the same team, Ares, we have to trust each other if we’re going to get Calli back.”
With a deep sigh, he regarded the Muse of History and said, “Yeah, historian, we’ve got a truce.” I thought that much was obvious.
8
Calliope awoke to excruciating pain. The drugs had worn off. Her gaze shifted around confused and helpless.
“What’s the matter?” Annie asked, his voice full of compassion.
“
“Yes, Princess?” He stroked one of her wounded hands. They were unwrapped, and she took a sharp intake of breath.
“Where are we?”
“We’re in my Kraken, Precious.” He cupped her chin with his hand. “Where did you think we were?”
“Oh god,
His little finger caught a tear heading towards her hairline. “Sweetie, don’t cry. There’s nothing you can do now, crying is only going to make this worse.”
She pressed her lips together to keep from sobbing aloud. “What are you going to do to me?”
“That depends on what you’re going to tell me.” Annie winced in pain when he took a seat next to her on the bed.
“What do you mean?” Her glance dropped to the bandage at his side.
“Calli, I know you’re not human, I need you to tell me what you are.” His hand caught hers and he turned it palm up.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered.
His thumb traced one of the gashes across her palm and then he shoved it in. She shrieked in pain. “Wrong answer,” he said. “Look at me, baby.”
She turned her head towards him and focused.
“I can keep this up until you pass out from the pain, and start over again, but the next time I might be pushing and prodding your internal organs.” His expression bore genuine distress over their situation. “Now, you have to tell me.”
“Please,
“Dammit, Calliope!” Annie stood and threw the small instrument tray that was next to her bed across the room. Fire glinted in his eyes when he swung his gaze toward her. “I’m going to beg you once, Calli, only once and then I’m going to have hurt you and I don’t want to have to hurt you. I have pictures of you from before my grandparents were even born.” His pacing halted and he whirled around on her. “I killed you. When we were on vacation, I strangled you and you were dead for hours. ”
Her eyes squeezed shut every time he shouted and she tried to lift her hands to her ears, but they were tethered at the wrists too tight. “Oh, god,
He sat back down. “Are you going to tell me?”
“I’m… not sure I understand what you’re talking about,” she squeaked out.
He sighed and brought his fingers to his temples. “Okay, Princess, if that’s how you want it.”
9
Cory came out to find Clio sitting alone in front of the hospital. “This is turning out to be one big drama with Crow that we don’t need right now, Clio,” she said quietly.
“I know, believe me, I know.” She looked to the sky and frowned. “I just found him and now this.”
“You need to let this go until we find her.” Cory took the seat next to her sister.
“I can’t, I can’t, I need him right now.”
“No, you don’t. He’s dealing with his own family crisis right now and burdening him with our own is only going to hurt both of you. He has nothing to do with this thing with Calliope now, he’s told us all he knows, now let him deal with his grandmother.”
Ares walked towards them, he had a can of iced tea in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other.
“There’s a vanilla coke in my pocket, Dancer, I figured you’d be out here,” he said.
“I’m not touching your pocket, you might smash my face into the hood of a car, handcuff and torture me for 2000 miles.”
“Look, no hard feelings, pet, I needed to find your sis.” He almost looked sincere.
“Whatever,” she said as she reached into his pocket for the soda.
The Dr. Pepper was tossed to Clio and he sat beside her. “Can we get the hell out of here?”
Clio looked at Cory, whose expression beseeched her to be logical about all of this. She opened her pop can and swallowed her pills with a long swig of soda. “I’m gonna tell Crow we’re gonna find Calli and then we’ll be back, but not before,” she said after some thought.
Clio got up and looked to them for support. Ares sipped his iced tea and smoked a Lucky. Cory nodded for her to hurry. She walked into the hospital and headed for Mrs.
The room was dark when she went in, someone had dimmed the lights, and Clio decided to leave it. With the exception of the comatose woman, the room was empty and she sat in the chair next to the bed.
“I don’t want you to think we’re leaving Crow to deal with you alone, Mrs.
At the mention of Calliope, Clio failed to notice the EKG beeped faster. “I need to be hunting for her and Crow needs to stay here with you,” Clio said and touched the woman’s hand. It trembled beneath her touch, causing her to look up sharply.
“What did you say to her?”
Clio turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”
“You upset her, look at the machine,” she said as she smoothed the woman’s hair away from her face. The EKG regulated and
“
“Because my brother loves you, and he never had a chance against it and you will hurt him.” She replied matter-of-factly.
“But I won’t –”
“Yes, you will,”
Clio opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut instead. She spun on her heel and exited the room, bumping into Crow on her way out.
“Oh!”
“Where were you going?” Crow asked while staring at the floor.
“To find you, to get away from her, to find my sister.”
“You’re going to go with them, aren’t you?” He was looking at her now. His hands captured hers.
“Yes. I have to find my sister, and I understand you have your own crises going on right now. I will come back to be here for you 100% once we get Calli back.” Please, please understand.
He pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head and stroked her hair softly. “I want to help you find her, Clee, I do. If my grandmother wakes up and stabilizes, let me back in the hunt, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered. They would either find her before Mrs.
He kissed her sweetly, his lips lingering over hers and said, “If you need me, you know I’m right here.”
“I know.” Her hand lifted in a wave as she left him standing outside his grandmother’s hospital room.
10
Annie was straddling the nearly unconscious Calliope on the bed. His breathing was labored as though he had been exerting himself. She looked at him through swollen, red eyes. Her mouth and nose bloody messes from his short temper. Every cough brought up a handful of blood. Her body shuddered in agony.
The nails on both her hands and feet had been ripped from their beds a couple of hours ago. Blood dripped in a steady tempo onto the warehouse’s cement floor where her tethered wrists hung over the edge of the bed. Her breathing rattled and she gasped like a dying rat. Annie slapped her across the face to make her come back, again.
“You’re not paying attention. Aren’t you tired of this game yet?” He sounded exasperated, but his cock was rock hard. None of the others had ever put up a fight like her.
A strange guttural sound emitted from her throat and her chest began shaking. She was laughing. From somewhere deep inside she had found the strength to laugh at him.
With a cock of her head, she beckoned him closer, he leaned in. “Fuck you, baby,” she said wet and thick. She laughed again. A thick, ropy wad of blood was spat in his face. It ran down his chin and clung there before he moved to wipe it away. Sweat and fear ran in rivulets off her pasty white forehead.
“Fine.” He decided to stop this madness. Obviously, this was not the way to make an immortal speak. The blood and tears maddened him each time he leaned in.
Calliope pulled her head up, her hair pasted to her face, damp with perspiration. “Is…that...all...you’ve...g-got?” She swallowed every word she spoke.
“If you won’t tell me, maybe she will,” he said with narrowed eyes.
“Who?”
“That silly little bitch sister of yours,” he answered.
If it were possible, she paled even more at the mere mention of Clio. She shook her head in denial, “You don’t have her, you’re fucking with me.” Every word was slow and deliberate.
“Oh, no? Then where has she been the last few days, Pumpkin?”
“No. No, you don’t have her, I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you.”
He left the room and wheeled in a security monitor on an AV cart. He plugged it in and put a tape into the VCR. “Can you see the movie okay, Princess, or should I move it for you?”
Clio and Crow were in a bathroom on the black and white security tape. Crow was lying on a cot and Clio was pacing the room like a caged cat. “No, you can’t have her, you can’t,” she said. With renewed strength, she strained at the tethers and began bucking in hysteria.
“Nurse,” Annie called.
A large man came in with a hypodermic and held Calliope down while she was injected with something. “That won’t put you to sleep, Precious, I’m sorry, but I can start all of this all over again on Clio if you won’t talk.”
Calliope settled down, a numbness beginning to seep into her mind. “Let me see her.”
“No, after you tell me what you are, then I’ll let you go in the same room with her and that backstabbing lackey of mine.” He lay atop her prone form, the sweat from his hair dripped onto her face. “Do we have a deal, baby?”
Calliope tried hard to focus, her tongue filled her mouth, and she shook her head to clear it. She nodded and closed her eyes.
A bucket of ice water was dumped over her face. She shrieked and sputtered, shocked from the cold.
“Now we’re ready to talk,” he said
11
The Villa
They all sat in the
Cory’s hair whipped and danced from the open window, her cheek resting on the window frame, staring at the passing houses. Louis Prima played softly on the CD player.
Ares smoked with his left hand, holding the cigarette out the window, and he had on a pair of rimless black shades. He turned his head and caught Clio observing him.
Her gaze shifted to the windshield. They pulled up in front of the villa.
Mel greeted them at the door. “Ares,” she said coolly.
“Tragedy,” he replied.
“You’re getting sloppy, I heard you coming a mile away.”
Ares suppressed a smile.
Mel’s navy blue hair was up in a bun with loose tendrils curling around her pale face. A long, black summer dress with spaghetti straps curled around her willowy frame. He was amazed to find how tired he looked in the reflection of her black shades.
Clio finally asked, “Any progress with Bliss?”
“They’re still asleep. What took you? I was worried.”
“We stopped for lunch and went to the Kraken, they’ve apparently moved, like I thought.” Her gaze fell to where Stasia had been slain the night before.
“You look like you could use a nap, Clio,” Cory said.
“No, Ares was going to equip us for war, remember?”
He stroked his chin in thought. “I’m going to take a shower first, Historian, if you don’t mind.”
“I guess not, I think I’ll join you, though.” Both sisters whirled their heads at her. “Oh, please, you two wish.”
Ares grabbed his bag from the sitting room and took it upstairs. He went into Calliope’s room.
Ares stood in Calliope’s bathroom with the door open, washing his face. He toweled off and contemplated his reflection. To his surprise, the mirror was in alignment with the shared fireplace and he discovered he could see Clio in her room. She stood in a pair of black thong panties and a pale blue halter-top. He took a quick intake of air at the sight of her.
With a quick grasp to the bottom of her halter-top, she lifted it over her head. She was thin, with small, firm breasts and coral tipped nipples. Her fingers hooked in her panties and she drew them down over her long, shapely legs. She pulled a towel from one of the cabinets and stepped into the bathroom. She was gone from his mirror.
He splashed his face with cool water again. “Get hold of yourself, mate, she bloody hates you,” he said to himself and decided to make it a cooler shower than originally planned.
He didn’t wait for her to emerge from the shower. Instead, he reached into his bag, pulled out a black T-shirt, jeans, and can of pomade.
Ares nosed around Calliope’s bathroom to get a more recent sense of her. In her makeup drawer, he found a picture of her with a man and he scrutinized it. The man had long black hair, big dark eyes, a full mouth, and a prominent nose. Reaching into his coat, he pulled the CD out of it.
“That’s Annie,” Clio said in regards to the photo in the makeup drawer.
“Thought I recognized this bloke.” Ares turned and found her sitting on the bed’s edge. “And good job sneaking up on me, if I were an ordinary man, you would’ve scared the
“You know what one of the worst things about all of this is?”
“Tell me, pet,” he said as he sat next to her on the bed.
“I can’t even tell her, ‘I told you so’. I mean, at this point, it’s so far gone, I’d be happy to have her back, let alone remind her I had been right about him all along.” She got up and checked her face in the mirror.
Ares nodded and pocketed the picture of Annie and Calliope. He left the CD on her bed.
“You promised to loan me a gun, Ares,” she stated and spun on her heeled boot. Her leather pants making creaking noises as she walked down the stairs. How on Earth did she sneak up on me in those pants?
They were waiting for him on the couch while Mel tinkered in the kitchen. They looked at him expectantly, and he was suddenly sorry he had agreed to equip them with munitions. “Historian, maybe this isn’t the most paramount idea, have you two ever handled firearms?”
Cory raised her hand. “I played paintball once,” she said. “Kidding.”
Ares closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Clio crossed her arms in impatience. “I am not going into the same room with that monster without protection. And I have used a gun a few times in my life.”
With a sigh of resignation, he asked, “Are you really afraid of some li’l mortal? I mean, honestly, what could he do to you?”
“Hi! Remember me, I’m Clio, my nephew, Orpheus, lost his head to a bunch of crazy mortals and since he’s immortal, did I mention, now he’s a talking head?”
Ares thought on this for a half of a minute, remembering the mess that was in the entry hall. “Good enough, then,” he said around a dangling cigarette in his mouth and pulled his big, black duffel bag open.
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