Aphrodite and Azan entered bravely. As soon as they stepped through the door, the bravery drained away like water in a bath. Calliope shut the door behind them and stood with the smith outside.

“Skip the courtesy,” Mellio said as she leaned back against the pillows that propped her up. Epadus hid under the bed, covering his ears with his paws.

“How could you do this to me?” Mellio asked. She lifted up her right hand, light scars stretching across the skin. “I could have returned to this form on my own,”

“You were so weak,” Aphrodite said, wringing her hands. “And Azan wasn’t going to go willingly.”

“So you took advantage of a muse ripped to pieces?” Mellio shouted, then immediately regretted it as she struggled to breathe.

“We had to,” Aphrodite looked like she was on the brink of tears. “I wouldn’t have lived until the next opportunity. Azan couldn’t receive it if he wasn’t willing. Who else?”

“While I was unable to protest, you made me, the muse who lives off the darker, weaker side of humanity, into the goddess of love. That breaks every law in the matter!”

“In order to protest it, you must go before Zeus and Hera.” Aphrodite said with only the glimmer of a smirk on the edge of her perfect lips. “And even then, the stars are not perfect for another set of centuries.”

“You cold hearted bitch,” Mellio spat out. “I got your son back and you repay the favor like this? Get out! Because of you, humanity will rot!”

Several months after Mellio had regained consciousness, Jelan awoke during the night and untangled his arm from around a woman. She wasn’t a woman a madam had sent him. She was a woman he had met only weeks earlier. His car had broken down and before the tow truck and spare car had arrived, the woman had pulled up beside him.

“What’s messed up?” She asked as she got out of her pick up truck. She wore overalls under a shirt that was several sizes too big. Her thick brown hair was tied back in a tail, and curled up at the ends.

“It’s alright,” his driver had said. “I’ve already called the truck.”

“I’m a mechanic. I can solve your problem for a fraction of what the trucking company will charge.”

“Money isn’t an issue.” The driver said coldly. He nodded back, drawing her attention to Jelan in the backseat, busy with papers and talking to his secretary to rearrange meetings.

“Hm, top boss huh? What if I work free for fifteen minutes on this? I’ve never worked on this model before. I love challenges.” She beamed a smile that was so intense, Jelan caught a glimpse of it in the corner of his eye and had to look up.

He knocked on his window, calling the driver to him. After an exchange of words, the driver nodded to the woman.

“Awesome,” she went to the driver’s side, popped the hood, and disappeared behind it. Jelan came out of his car to watch her work. Her thin hands squeezed into the areas between machines. She hummed while she worked, paying no attention to him.

“What’s wrong with you?” She asked finally as she unstuck her hand from between the gears.

“Who are you speaking to?” Jelan asked.

“The car,” she shrugged. “But since you’re here too, I can ask you that too. But hold that thought,” she ran to her truck and grabbed something Jelan couldn’t make out. She pulled a cap off whatever it was she was holding and squeezed until a clear substance oozed out. Her hand slid into the car again and after some wiggling, she removed her hand.

“Okay, try starting the engine.”

Jelan motioned to his driver. The car started, purring happily.

“I knew expensive models weren’t so different.” The woman said as she wiped her hands on her shirt and beamed another smile. “Thanks for the fun. I never get any of these models at my shop. Tell your driver to go easy on the potholes. Later Mr. Somebody.”

Before she could get into her truck, Jelan took two steps and caught up with her.

“Thank you for your help,” he started to reach for his pocket.

“Hey, no money. I already agreed to work for free.” She rubbed her nose with her fingers as she sniffed.

“How about dinner?” He heard someone say, then realized it was his voice.

“Eh,” she made a face that told of uncertainty and discomfort. “I don’t date clients.”

“I haven’t paid,” he said, “Not a client,”

“Alright, just gimme ten for a new tube of SuperStick and call it even. Can’t get a dinner with you for ten, judging from your suit and shoes,”

“You certainly don’t filter your opinions,”

The woman sniffed. “Life’s too short to be so careful,” She made another uncomfortable face. “How about you pay for dinner, but I pick the place.”

He agreed to that. Their first date, followed by a second and third and so many little bits more, went well, each taking their turn embarrassing themselves in the other’s most comfortable surroundings. Finally, they settled on home dinners.

Jelan, now awake in the darkness of his room, slipped on a robe and walked into the hallway. A shadow stood a few feet away, leaning against the banister.

“Didn’t think I’d see you again,” he said in a half whisper, half accusation.

Mellio shrugged. Her arms were crossed over her chest. She wore long gloves, a long sleeve shirt, pants, sneakers, and a turtleneck. All black. All to cover the scars that ran like veins in marble across her skin.

“What are you doing here?” Jelan asked as he stopped a foot from her. Jelan paused for a moment. “I haven’t told anyone,”

“I know.” She extended a covered finger at his chest. “Before you can get a syllable out, you’ll suffer a heart attack.”

“That’s reassuring,”

Mellio nodded matter-of-factly. “I now control the heart, in all the ways.” She still couldn’t bring herself to say that she controlled love.

Jelan looked nervously at the closed door of his bedroom. “The woman in there, is she the one?”

Mellio opened her mouth in a mute laugh. “If I said no, you’d discard her and wait for me for every one of your relationships. If I said yes, then you’d stay with her, even when things go so wrong even the blind and deaf would know to end the relationship.”

Jelan blushed perceivably in the darkness. “So—what are you doing here, if not checking up on me?”

“Business, your business.” Mellio stiffed. “Stop praying in your boardrooms. We hear it all, but we’re not listening. We don’t particularly care what company has higher quarterly reports. Just because we’ve proved to you our existence doesn’t mean anything.” Mellio touched a gloved hand onto her ear. “So stop it. Or else we’ll get angry. Hell, I’ll get angry and I’m strong than ‘we.’”

With that, Jelan couldn’t see her anymore. Jelan sighed, drew the robe around him and walked back into his bedroom.

Mellio was out of the building by then. Outside, she leaned her invisible head against a shadow’s shoulder and tried to catch her breath. A hand brushed her hair. Mellio winced.

Epadus stopped his hand. “It is still bruised, isn’t it?”

Mellio mouthed an affirmative.

“And, unless my eyes deceive me, you are growing blonde roots.”

Mellio half-scoffed, half-whined. “It comes with the position.” She slapped his hand away. “Come on, we have to go house hunting in the next time zone. I don’t think Jane is going to extend my lease after the store got trashed and I disappeared.”

When she took a step, her body trembled. Epadus lost his focus on the shadow spell and became visible as he caught her in his arms.

“Damn it,” she said past clenched teeth. “I have one more…argh,” Mellio clung to him like a child. “It’s too painful to fight. Go back to the apartment. I’ll make my way back when this is over.”

She leaned her lips against his cheek in a kiss that ended in a pained breath.

In a moment, she was gone from Epadus’s side. She felt herself pulled through space until she finally landed.

“One who reigns love,” said a chorus of voices in a language Mellio hadn’t heard in a very long time. “We summon you,”

“Shut the fuck up.” Mellio shouted. The voices immediately obliged.

In the candlelight, she could see the people all around her, at least a dozen, male and female. They wore ridiculous robes, holding artifacts that have no meaning until they gave it meaning. Small stones, a dozen of them, encircled her, glowing a cheery pink. There were symbols and markings on the floor around her, but Mellio couldn’t read them in the dim light.

“Goddess?” said one of the figures in English. “Are you the goddess of love?”

“Quiet,” snapped another figure. In the old tongue, she started again, “We have brought you here to bring us love.”

Mellio laughed and spoke in English, “You didn’t bring me here. If I was stronger, I wouldn’t even hear your droning. I came here because you are seriously annoying me.”

Slowly, she stood and reached her arms out. The stones changed their glow, from pink to a fiery red. “Oh, charged stones to keep in love. How nice,” Mellio pressed her weight against it.

“Do not bother trying,” said the second figure, who seemed very much in charge. “It is powered by the belief in love, so it is as strong as you are.”

“And I can’t control it because I can’t control the belief of love. Smart chick, someone give her a bloody star.” Mellio narrowed her eyes. “Fatal flaw, what if I’m not Love?”

Everyone, in unison, took a step back. Mellio smiled. “People question love’s existence, but not pain, not suffering’s presence. Here, feel,”

She closed her eyes. Her body radiated suffering and swayed to the rhythm like a dancer to music. Suffering was her music, the rhythm of her heart and breaths. When the pulses died away, Mellio collapsed onto her knees. Her head pulsed, though not pleasantly. Mellio groaned and slowly got to her feet. The robed bodies lay motionless around her. Mellio wondered if they were dead, and if not, if they would have any memory. It wouldn’t matter.

Mellio listened for the fear from Epadus’s heart, and walked toward it.

The End

Author’s note: Jelan got a woman into bed really quickly, this is a reflection of what seems to happen in present society. This does not reflect the author’s personal beliefs, standards, etc.

P.S. There will be a length of time before another long story is uploaded, as I am awaiting comments from confidants. In other words, I’m not dead if nothing happens for a couple months.