The Switch

THE SWITCH 12


PART TWELVE

 

 

Cupid
was in one of the village pubs, pretending to be a mortal man, and doing his
best to coax a poor farmer into a fight by making passes at his wife, when he
heard Aphrodite scream for help at the top of her immortal lungs.

 

Only
the gods could hear her, and every god in the realm had indeed, as well as the
panic in her voice. Cupid abandoned his
little game and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind a group of
surprised villagers.

 

By
the time he arrived to where Aphrodite and Ares were, most of the other gods
had already shown.

 

“What’s
all the commotion? What’s wrong
Aphrodite?” he asked.

 

She
just broke out in a flood of tears.

 

Artemis
answered. “Ares is dead. Aphrodite said he clutched his side and then
just keeled over. No one can figure out
what happened.”

“You
wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would you, Cupid?” Hades accused.

 

“Me? Why I wasn’t anywhere near here. Just because I couldn’t stand the little
fruit fly, doesn’t mean I killed him. Really,
Hades, I wouldn’t go around accusing anyone so quickly. For all we know, it could have been you who
did this. Everybody knows how jealous
you were of him. All those women he
fucked . . .”

 

“CUPID,
that’s enough!” Athena snapped. “No one
is blaming anyone right now. Not until
we’ve figured out what’s happened here.”

 

“Well,
I’ll leave you all to your investigation.” Cupid said snidely. “Dite, dear, if you need some consoling, you
know where to find me.”

 

“Go
to Tartarus!” the distraught goddess snapped.

 

Cupid
disappeared.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Tori
stumbled back in horror. She was still
holding the bloody dagger in her hand.

 

“Oh
Gods! What have I done?” she whispered
in shock.

 

The
gorgeous, dark God of War lay motionless in a pile of blood in front of her. She knelt down next to him and pushed the
hair out of his face.

 

“Oh,
Ares, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to .
. .”

 

At
that moment, the wind kicked up around them.
It began to swirl and swirl into a tighter area and then it ripped in
the center of the eye.

 

A
vortex was beginning to take form.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Cupid
had gone back to his temple and immediately conjured up a viewing mirror into
the other realm. He saw Tori kneeling
next to the war god with the bloody knife in her hand.

 

“My
little thief. I knew you could do
it. Thank you, my dear.” He kissed two fingers on one hand and
pressed them against Tori’s image in the mirror. “Have a nice life.”

 

Then
he felt it as much as he saw it in the mirror.
A vortex was forming between the two worlds. It was getting stronger and stronger and he knew in a few more
minutes Tori would be able to cross over again.

 

“What? How?
SHIT! She’s going to use the
portal. How the fuck did she . . .?”

 

Cupid
was in total confusion. He didn’t know
how she got the vortex to open again, nor did he really care at the moment, but
he would be damned before he allowed her use it to get back. “Oh no you don’t, thief. You’re not coming back here.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

By the time the portal door
had completely opened, Cupid was standing at the edge of the tunnel. Tori was still in shock over what she had
done. She stood frozen, looking down at
the dead god with an expression of regret on her face.

 

“Tori, my sweet. I knew I could count on you,” he said.

 

Cupid’s voice startled
Tori, and she whirled around, holding up the bloody dagger to attack whoever
was there.

 

“Cupid,” she whispered in a
voice that was barely audible. She
looked like she was going to cry, but didn’t move.

 

“Tori, darling, I’m so
proud of you. I knew if anyone could
kill a god, it would be you. Oh, and
the hind’s blood, of course. Now why
don’t you just hand me that knife and we can go home.”

 

“Cupid, I killed him. I killed the God of War.”

 

“I know you did,
sweetie. Now, hand me that dagger and
we can go. Come on, now.”

Tori looked at Cupid and then down at Ares and back to Cupid again. She slowly started to walk towards the
vortex.

 

“That’s right, Tori, come
on. Gods, how I’ve missed you,” he
coaxed.

 

She reached the doorway and
stepped inside. Slowly, she handed the
bloody dagger to Cupid.

 

“That’s my girl! It wasn’t so hard to do now, was it?” He embraced her halfheartedly. “Now you’ll get to join your friends.”

 

She pulled away from him
and looked him in the face. “The
boys? You didn’t do anything to them
while I was gone?”

 

“Why of course not, my
love. We had a deal, remember? I’ll take you to them right now, if you
want.”

 

Tori shook her head. Cupid grabbed her hand and started to lead
her further into the tunnel. When his
back was turned to her, she reached down and grabbed the real hind’s blood
dagger that was strapped to her leg.

 

“You’re a liar!” she yelled
and she ran the knife into his side.
“You killed them the same day I left.”
She withdrew the blade and drove it in a second time and then a third.

 

Cupid fell instantly. He didn’t even make a dramatic exit. No sharp or hurtful last words for her to
remember him by. Nothing. He just collapsed.

 

She quickly retrieved a
small bottle from a pouch around her waist and collected Cupid’s godly blood,
filling the bottle completely before returning it to the same pouch. She stood up and hovered over the god for a
moment, and then kicked the limp body at her feet.

 

“That’s for tricking me,
you worm.”

 

Just as she turned to leave,
Cupid grabbed her ankle. She fell
forward and landed on the ground next to the dying deity.

 

“I’m taking you with me,
bitch!” With every last bit of
strength he had left, Cupid pulled himself closer to her and stabbed her once
with the knife that she had handed him earlier. He knew he only had one good shot, so he aimed for her
heart. The knife entered just below it,
so it did not kill her instantly.

 

“Nooooo,” she cried and
kicked her feet, only breaking loose from him when he finally expired. She crawled for a couple of feet before she
was able to pull herself up and stumble out of the portal. It sealed up behind her the moment she
stepped out.

 

Some how she made it to
where Ares was still laying. Her vision
was beginning to blur around the outermost edges of her sight, and there was a
hot, numb feeling in her chest. She
started to sweat and her head echoed with the sound of her heart pounding.

 

“Ares. Ares!
It’s done. Cupid is dead,” she
said through gasps of air.

 

Ares opened his eyes, and
his wound healed instantly. He stood up
and brushed himself off before he looked up to Tori with a huge smile.

 

She was holding herself up
against a stone bench. Her face had
paled and she started to cough, spitting blood out into her hand. Weak from her injury, she tumbled backwards
over the bench.

 

Ares’ smile was replaced
with shock and concern. He rushed to her side.
“Tori, your wounded!” he said in surprise. He picked her up they disappeared.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

They reappeared in Ares’
chambers and he gently laid her on the bed.
She was beginning to fade in and out of consciousness. Ares ran his large hand over her face and
pushed the hair out of her eyes. He
kissed her forehead.

 

“Don’t worry, my little
tigress, I heal you. You’ll be fine!”

 

He placed both hands about
six inches above her wound, closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Power flowed through him, causing his hands
to glow a bright gold color, yet the wound remained unaffected. He stopped, and looked at the wound in
confusion and tried it again. Still
nothing.

 

“What is going on? Why aren’t you healing?” he said, annoyed
with himself.

 

Just then, a flash of white
light, showered with little pink and red hearts happened. Ares, God of Love materialized, laughing his
head off.

 

“Hi handsome,” he said in
his flirty way, “looks like we really pulled it off. You should have heard him when he thought I was really dead. Ha ha, it was so classic. I just dropped by to thank you for saving my
life. I had no idea he would go to such
lengths to get rid of me.”

 

“Um, excuse me. Can’t you see I’m a little busy right now?”
the war god said in frustration.

 

The love god walked over
and veered over Ares’ shoulder to get a better look at Tori. He licked his lips in desire when he saw
her.

 

“Mmmm. Who’s the babe?” he asked.

 

“She’s a warrior, my
servant. She helped me play out this
charade with Cupid and got wounded in the process.”

 

“So, why don’t you just
heal her?”

 

“What do you think I’ve
been doing? I’ve tried, but I can’t
seem to do it. And quit looming over my shoulder, will
ya?” Ares, GOW, was really getting
irritated with his twin. There wasn’t
much time left before he would loose Tori for good, and he wasn’t ready to give
her up yet. He had so many plans for
them.

 

Saddened, he stroked her
pale cheek with his hand and whispered to her.
“Come on, Tori. You can pull
through this. Fight it. It’s not your time to go, tigress,” he
urged.

 

“Tori? Did you say Tori?”

 

“Yeah, so?”

 

“There had been rumors that
Cupid banished his ex-lover, Tori, from our realm, although he denied it
repeatedly. Is that her?”

 

“The one and only,” the God
of War confirmed.

 

“Oh, no.”

 

“What? WHAT?”
Ares looked at the love god in confusion.

 

Ares placed his hand on the
war god’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, but you
won’t be able to save her. There is
already one of her in this realm, your powers are useless on her.”

 

Ares, determined to find
away around this situation, stood up and paced the floor in thought. He ran his hand through his thick hair,
repeatedly. Suddenly, he turned to his
twin as an idea came to mind.

 

“What about you? You’re from the alternate side, won’t your
powers work on her?” he asked.

 

“I’m not sure, but we can
give it a try.” Ares, GOL, responded.
He moved to where the war god had been sitting next to Tori and placed
his hands above her wound. They started
to glow as he concentrated his power into healing her. The wound began to glow, but only slightly. It was not enough to heal her.

 

“What’s wrong? Why isn’t it working?” You could hear the desperation in war god’s
voice.

 

“My power is not strong
enough. We’re too far from home. I’ll have to take her back with me and do it
there.”

“You better do it quick,
we’re loosing her.”

 

The God of Love stood and
placed a hand on her head. In a flash
of pink and red light, he disappeared.
But Tori was still on the bed.
Immediately, the love god reappeared again.

 

“What happened? Can’t you transport her?”

 

“I’m not sure. I should be able to. I don’t know why she couldn’t cross
over.” The white leather clad god
thought for a moment. “Hum. I don’t understand it. What could be keeping her here?”

 

Ares, GOW, frowned. He knew the answer. “Me,” he said regretfully. “She pledged servitude to me. She belongs to me, now.”

 

“You must release her from
the vow, or I can’t take her back,” the love god said urgently.

 

At first, Ares didn’t say
or do anything. He had never released
someone of his own free will. Not even
if it had meant their life. Gods just
don’t do those kinds of things. And he
didn’t want to give her up. He really
was quite fond of the little argumentative woman. She exhilarated him, made his blood boil and drove his ardor to
the edge all at the same time. He
wanted her to be with him. But if he
didn’t release her, she would die and she wouldn’t be with him anyway.

 

“Ares, release her or
she’ll die!”

 

“All right. All right.”
He waved off the love god. He
walked to Tori and placed his hand on her forehead. “I release you from you vow
of servitude to me, Ares, God of War.”
He took a few steps back. “Now
go,” he spat in angrily.

 

Ares, God of Love and Tori
disappeared instantly leaving the God of War alone in the room. He ran his hand over the bloody spot left on
the bed and then punched it.

 

He was upset. Upset that he had to release her from his
service. Upset that he, himself,
couldn’t heal her. Upset because that
asshole, Cupid, wounded her to begin with.
And even more upset, or perhaps, jealous, that he had released her into
the hands of that horn-dog that was his twin.

 

He knew she was in capable
hands, that the god would do everything he could to make sure she was all
right. It was just what might happen
afterwards that really bothered him. If
his twin were anything like he was when it came to the ladies, he would take
her in an instant. And the thought of
her with another sent his fury through the roof.

 

He disappeared in a flash
of blue and white light.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

 

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