The Love of War

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Xena/Hercules characters. They belong to Renaissance Pictures. I don't profit from this fan fiction (sigh), I write for the love of smut readers everywhere.

WARNING: Do I really need to warn you that this isn't the normal setting for these characters? If you've got to this point in the story, I would hope that you'd have figured it out by now.

The Love of War, Chapter 10

"Tease." Cupid muttered at the image in the glass. Jessie was setting up camp for the night. He watched her move around her campfire, unrolling her bedroll, eating her dinner, brushing her horse.

She didn't look smug or in any way pleased with herself, which did soothe him a little. In fact, she looked a little lost. She was laying on top of her bedroll, looking at the night sky. He watched her reach up and wipe a tear from her eye. Why was she crying? He tamped down any soft feelings that were rising in him.

"Well, tough," he told the image in the glass. "If you were here with me, you'd be smiling."

While he was watching, another figure entered the scene. His cousin, Strife, was approaching the reclining warrior, unseen to her eyes. There was a compassionate look on the God of Joy's face as he laid a gentle hand on the woman's forehead. Why was the Wimp of Joy messing with his Jessie? She belonged to him and it wasn't Strife's job to see to her. Strife leaned back when Jessie slid under the blankets and then leaned back over to lay his hand on her again, stroking her forehead.

Cupid felt his stomach clench as the scene of the two of them reminded him of his daydream from the other day. The both of them laying before him, limp and exhausted from his attention. Jessie's long hair spread out over the bed, Strife's black curls tousled over his forehead.

Cupid throttled any impulse in that direction down with ruthless self-mastery. Jessie was his, she just wasn't acknowledging his claim just yet. Strife belonged to the House of Love, not War. When Strife finally stood, Cupid reached out with his powers and pulled his cousin to him.

"Cupid? What?" The God of Joy was looking around with confusion. Why had Blonde and Deadly brought him here?

"Why are you messing with my mortal?" Cupid asked with narrowed eyes.

"Your mortal?" Strife asked. "She doesn't have the feel of someone who is pledged." He smoothed down the front of his white leather vest nervously. Strife never messed directly with Cupid's people, not after what happened when the twins, Deimos and Phobos, had seduced one of Cupid's few female warlords. She had been sullen when they left and moped in her tent for a month. It had taken weeks for Passion and Pleasure to heal.

"My mortal." Cupid's voice was firm. "So what were you doing around her?"

"Well, if you must know, your father asked me to stop by and give her some Joy." Strife didn't think to mention that he'd been asked a couple of days ago. It was hard to concentrate with his cousin lounging there, all dark power and smoldering sensuality barely leashed.

"My dad?" Cupid *knew* that his father couldn't resist meddling, especially with someone that Cupid had taken an interest in.

"Yeah. She's feeling lost and confused, Cupid. She doesn't know how she got here, there isn't anything familiar around her, and she misses her dog badly." Strife defended himself. "Even if Unc hadn't asked, I would have gone. I could feel her needing me."

"So what were you doing?" Cupid crossed his arms and glared. Erin had a point. Damn it. And the appearance of his cousin so close to his mortal was giving him flash backs to the daydream that he’d had. He ruthlessly throttled the images down.

"I got permission from Uncle Hephaestus to give her a really good dream tonight." Strife couldn't stop himself from swallowing hard. He really didn't want to be on Cupid's bad side.

"All right," Cupid allowed. He wasn't going to allow Strife to give his Jessie a more personal touch, but a dream would be okay. "But from now on, I'll see to her."

"How are you going to 'see' to her?" Strife allowed some sarcasm to color his voice now that he knew that he wasn't going to get blasted. "Happiness isn't exactly your thing. I wouldn't bet on your being able to help her."

"I'll think of something." Cupid smirked and waved a hand, sending his cousin back to the House of Love. He planned his next course of action while he studied his prey in the mirror. He smiled as a plan formed from that one word his cousin had said; bet.
A wager. If Jessie lost a wager, and he made her compliance the payment, he could begin her conquest. Now, how to get her to bet? She wasn't stupid. She wouldn't enter into a bet without getting his promise not to use his powers to affect the outcome. Wait a minute, his powers, she might not think to forbid someone else’s powers. Yeah, that could work. Unfortunately, it would mean owing a certain someone a favor.

He needed to speak to Ace.



Cupid found Asclepius, the God of Thieves, Messengers, and Gambling watching a mortal break into what looked like a very wealthy man's house. His cousin had a pleased smile on his face and hadn't even turned to see who it was that was flashing in next to him. He had merely held up a hand for silence while watching intently as the mortal broke into the house.

Cupid obediently kept silent. It wasn't like him to meekly follow someone else's orders, but he did need a favor. Besides, from the look on his cousin's face, this mortal was one of his favorites. The man's movements were smooth and practiced. He expertly found the hidden cache of gold coins and jewels and avoided the traps around it. It was instructional to watch an obvious master at work. The man's breathing hadn't even quickened until after he'd left the house. Only when the mortal had faded into the night, did Cupid speak.

"So, who is he?" He asked his cousin.

"My son, Hippocrates." Ace said with a proud smile. "The kid's a natural."

"He looks like he enjoys his work, all right." Cupid nodded, then he immediately got to the point. "Ace, I need a favor."

Asclepius turned fully to face his cousin. Cupid asking a favor was a rare event. And the fact that he wasn't trying to maneuver to get something that he wanted, and was just asking for it was odd. The God of War usually got things done on his own, no help needed or wanted. His big, blonde cousin owing him one was something that Ace could enjoy.

"I'm listening."

"I need you to bless me with really good Luck." Cupid put heavy emphasis on the last word, letting Ace know that he needed the full measure of the other god's focus.

"You don't believe in relying on Luck," Ace pointed out. "You believe in planning your contingencies and keeping the initiative. Why would you need Luck?"

Cupid bit back a growl. He really didn't want to have to explain to Ace why he needed help, but his cousin had a double dose of the usual Olympian curiosity. He probably wouldn't help if Cupid didn't tell him why he needed it and he was too impatient to circle around the issue.

"I want to make a wager and the other person will make me promise not to use my powers to win."

"Ahh, and you're hoping that they won't think to forbid the use of somebody else's powers." Ace nodded in satisfaction. His cousin was almost as sneaky as he was.

"Yeah." Cupid admitted. "So, are you going to help or what?"

"Yeah, cuz. Sure." It would be great to have the God of War owing him a favor for something so relatively easy for him to do. Ace brought his hands in front of him and put them about six inches apart. He concentrated and a glowing ball of pale green energy formed. While he closed his eyes to block everything out, the ball took an emerald hue. If his cousin wanted Luck, he'd give it to him in full measure. Ace opened his eyes, gave his fellow god a gamine grin, and tossed the ball at him.

Cupid had to consciously keep himself from ducking or tossing a ball of energy himself. It wasn't natural for him not to retaliate when it looked like someone was attacking. The emerald ball of Luck hit him squarely in the chest and he could feel the foreign kind of energy race in his bloodstream. It felt so different from his usual power buzz.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Thanks, Ace. I owe you one."

"Yes, you do." Ace grinned evilly. Cupid grimaced and flashed out.


Another day on the road. Jessie looked at her map, the second pool that Nikos had told her about was supposed to be a good place for fishing, so she decided to stop early and supplement her supplies with a little fresh fishy-type protein. She needed a better meal than a biscuit and apple.

She'd woken in a much better mood than when she'd gone to sleep. She couldn't remember the particulars of the dream, but the sense of loss and being out of place had faded with the morning light. Jessie had faced another day on the road with calm acceptance, and only a little pang at the absence of Alexi.

There were no appearances by a certain god during the day. Jessie didn't know quite what to think about that. She was pretty sure that yesterday's 'dessert' was going to have consequences, but she decided not to worry about them until they arrived. What could she do until then anyway?

She tethered Kyria and unsaddled her. Then she checked her hooves and body to make sure that there weren't any chafe marks on her body or stones in her shoes. Everything was okay. Jessie headed to the pool.

She didn't have any fish hooks, so she'd have to tickle them. A few months ago, Sensei Jimmy had taken a few of his students camping. He taught her to tickle fish as a lesson in patience. It had been a frustrating couple of hours, but she'd eventually tossed enough fish onto the bank for supper.

She removed all her leather and waded into the water. She leaned over and took a deep, centering breath and waited. She let go of her sense of time and waited for the right moment. A fish swam between her hands, but it was too small, so she let it go. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a likely candidate and waited. It was large and would make a fine meal. It darted close a few times, but not close enough. She waited. Finally, her dinner swam between her cupped hands and she tossed it up onto the bank. The fish was large enough that she didn't have to catch another, so she charged after it. It was flopping around on the grassy bank, trying for a breath that wouldn't come.

Like the bandit at the temple.

Jessie pushed that image away and grabbed a large stick off the ground. She bashed the fish's head, killing it fast, rather than let it suffer. The silver form stilled.

Like the bandit at the temple.

Jessie snarled to herself and refused to let the memory of one of her would-be rapists spoil her dinner. She picked up the fish and set it on a rock near where her campfire was going to be. She gathered some firewood and got her campfire going. Then, she scouted the area for wild additions to her meal.

Cattail roots, she remember Sensei Jimmy telling her that they were edible. Water cress, and over there was some wild lettuce and onions. Cool, she could add the onions to the fish. Tarragon and mustard greens, dandelions, all the makings of an interesting salad. She wasn't sure if those mushrooms were edible, better leave them alone. She waded back into the water and pulled cattail and water cress. Then she harvested the rest of her dinner salad. Ooooo, were those carrots? She grabbed the top of the plants and was pleased to be correct. Ohh, there was some parsley! She carried her dietary loot back to camp and rinsed the soil off her food. Then, she gutted her fish, skinned and filleted it. Jessie dug her small skillet from the pack and put it on the fire to heat. After the pan was hot enough she used a little of her precious wine with the onions and tarragon to make a sauce for the fish and set the fillets in the pan. While her dinner was cooking, she went back and pulled some more carrots for Kyria. Kyria's ears perked when Jessie approached with some rinsed carrots to go with the grass she was grazing on. She took them with great delicacy from her rider's palm and the whiffed Jessie’s hair.

The cattail roots tasted a little strange, but she was hungry. She wolfed down her fish a' la wild sauce and her salad with gusto. She made a tea from the parsley and sat for a little bit, digesting her meal and drinking her tea. She didn't want to move, but after another day in leather armor with no deodorant, she wanted a bath. She stripped off her tunic and went back into the water.

She took a handful of mud from the bottom and scrubbed her skin with it. Then she just swam. She hoped that the information about not washing your hair every day was true, because she didn't want to pollute her drinking water with soap. She left the pool and was just pulling on one of the long tunics that Demetrius had given her when she got a winged visitor.

"Damn, I missed the show." He pouted.

"One would think that the God of War had better things to do," she observed. "Aren't you busy? Aren’t there battles to plan? Massacres to oversee?"

"I have a proposition for you."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that earlier." She said in a dry voice. She got the feeling that Cupid liked the fact that she didn't give him the 'god' treatment.

"I wasn't being subtle." He acknowledged. "I propose a bet."

"A bet?" She raised one eyebrow.

"A single toss of the dice. If I win, I get you."

"And if I win?"

"You get me?" He grinned hopefully.

"Try again."

"Damn." He heaved a great sigh. It was worth a try. "I'll transport you and the horse to Delphi. You'll save weeks of travel time."

Cupid looked at Jessie. She had a thoughtful expression on her face. Good! She was considering it.

“It occurs to me that you wouldn’t be suggesting a bet if you thought that you would lose.” She said with an arched eyebrow.

“Well, I figure that I have a decent shot at winning, and that would cut down on this whole ‘wooing’ thing.”

“You’ve been wooing?” She asked archly.

He affected a mock injured expression while placing a hand over his heart like she had cut him to the quick. “What? Gifts and food are supposed to be acceptable ways to start a courtship.”

“Gifts and food usually mean flowers and candy, not weapons and trail rations.” Jessie pointed out dryly.

“You’re forgetting the hair combs and the apple.”

“I’ll grant you the hair combs and the apple.” She conceded

“Besides, even if you win, Delphi is a big place and I’ll just keep showing up until you realize that no mortal can give you what I can.”

“Nothing’s wrong with your self image.” She observed.

“I’m a god, Precious, I can go all night. In fact, I can go all week.” He let his eyes run down her body and licked his lips.

Jessie swallowed. “You get me for a day. I refuse to wager the rest of my life on a dice throw." One of the rules of Vegas was never bet anything you weren't willing to lose. Breaking her long spell of celibacy with Cupid wouldn't be a bad trade off for possibly getting to Delphi sooner, but she wasn't going to dedicate herself to War.

Zeus' balls! Cupid swore silently. He'd hoped that she wouldn't catch that. It would have been nice to have her permanently at his disposal. Oh, well.

"A month."

"Three days."

"Two weeks." He countered. At least she was going along with it.

"Five days." This was felt like the last time that she and her boss, Ronald, had been dickering for her vacation time, only reversed.

"One week." The least of the things that he wanted to do with her would take that long.

"Six days."

"One week." His voice was firm. Well, that had been all that she could squeeze out of Ronald too.

"One week." She agreed. "I do have some provisions."

"I thought you might." He said wryly.

"One; you don't tell me to kill anybody. Two; you don't do anything that will permanently injure me. Three; you don't use your powers to affect the outcome of the toss. Four; my horse is taken care of and I get her back."

"Your horse will be seen to and you’ll get her back. I wouldn't injure you anyway, where's the fun if I can't play with you the whole week? And when I want someone dead, I usually see to it myself."

"I notice that you don't protest that you wouldn't cheat with your powers." Jessie pointed out with two raised eyebrows.

"I would if I thought that I could get away with it." He smiled.

"It's only cheating if you get caught?"

"Right."

"No loaded dice either. A fair toss. And, you let me go after the week is over."

"I give you my word. On the River Styx and the Sword of War, I promise to accede to your rules." He hid his glee. Jessie hadn't gotten a promise not to allow anyone else's powers to affect the outcome. Luck was with him, courtesy of Ace. “I have a rule of my own; you do whatever else I tell you to for that week.”

“Agreed,” she said steadily.

He held out his palm and a pair of six sided dice flamed into existence. He held them out.

"Ladies first."

Jessie's fingertips brushed his palm as she took the dice. She examined them for a moment. They looked like any dice that you could find in Vegas. She knelt and made a flat spot in the dirt, then took her shot. The dice landed on a five and four.

"Nine." She looked up at the god. He slowly crouched down beside her and cupped one wing around his prey. He picked up the dice and shook them in his hand. The dice seemed to drop and roll in slow motion to land on a five and a six.

Jessie shot to her feet and looked at the dice. Cupid rose a little more slowly, savoring the moment. Jessie's blue eyes were wide and she swallowed. He snaked out an arm and anchored her against him. Her hands were pressed to his chest and her wet curls were dripping on his armguard.

"Looks like you’re mine, Precious." He didn't stop the gloating smile from spreading over his face. He flashed them both to Olympus.

****Thanks for the 'please write more's, guys. It warms an author's heart.