The Contest Winner

The next morning I woke up alone in the bed. I felt strange, like something – some part of me was missing. I rose and grabbed my robe and headed for the bathroom.

That’s when I heard them talking. Ares and Discord. I stood by the door and listened.

“Then it worked? You’re up to full strength again?” Discord asked.

“Not quite, but almost,” Ares answered.

“Well, you’re strong enough to give me back my powers now, right? Come on! Come on! I’m ready,” Discord said anxiously.

“Not just yet, my pet.”

“Why not? I’ve done everything you wanted me to do. Ares, you promised me you would.”

“And I will, but not just yet. There’s one more thing that needs to be done before my transformation into this world is complete.”

Discord sighed. “And that is …”

“I need a body to take physical form in, you know that!”

“Yeah, so, what’s that got to do with me? You can’t have mine.”

Ares laughed. “No, I don’t want yours,” he teased. “You can be treacherous, conniving, and even frightening at times, dear sister, but you just don’t have that animal magnetism I’m looking for. No, I have someone else in mind.”

“Who? Who is it? The President? The Dolly lama? Bill Gates? Tell me!”

“No, nobody like that. No, the person I have in mind really quite fitting, if I do say so myself.”

“Would you tell me who it is already.” Discord sounded impatient.

“It’s that actor. The one who portrays me in the TV show. Kevin What-ever-his-name-is. You know, the good looking one.”

“Kevin Smith?” she laughed.

“Yes. Who better than the one who has brought my name to so many woman’s lips, placed my image in their young minds?”

I gasped slightly when I realized his plan to take over Kev’s body. Discord must have heard me, cause the next thing I knew she had flung open the door and had me by the scruff of my robe.

“What do you think you’re doing, spying on us? Why I oughta …” She had her fist drawn and was ready to hit me.

“No, Discord. Leave her. We still need her and her friend to go to that silly party today, otherwise it might look suspicious. She won’t say anything, will you, Ginger?” Ares said, waiving his hand at me.

“Of course not, my Lord. Excuse me, please.” I bowed slightly and continued on to the bathroom.

As I stood under the warm running water in the shower, my mind played over the scene that had just occurred. The day before, I thought Discord was going to kill me. But I felt no fear of her that morning. Even when I thought she was going to punch me, I felt nothing. Then I realized I wasn’t even angry with her. I had a complete lack of feeling about the whole situation. I didn’t understand it. What spell did Ares cast on me?

I passed Melanie going into the bathroom when I was exiting. We barely spoke. I didn’t even dawn on me that she was conscience and walking around again.

“Hey, Mel!”

“Hey, Ging.”

That was extent of our conversation before she shut the bathroom door and started the shower. She looked to be feeling the same way I was at the time. Sort of dazed - lost.

I dressed and went into the living room to join Ares and Discord. They were sitting together on one sofa, with Discord’s legs draped over his, so I sat down on the empty sofa.

Ares smiled smugly at me. “As soon as Melanie is dressed, you two will leave for the luncheon. Understood?”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Be a good girl, sunshine, and do everything that Ruby tells you to.” He patted Discord’s knee.

“Yes, Lord,” I agreed again.

He pushed her legs off of his and stood. “Remember, I’ll be watching you.”

I shook my head. “Of course, Ares. I’ll do everything she says.”

In a flash of blue and white light, he disappeared.

Discord and I didn’t speak while we waited for Melanie to get ready. She just sat across from me and glared. Anyone who stared at me the way she had would surely cause me to feel uncomfortable, but it really didn’t bother me. I think it bothered her that she seemed to have no affect on me any longer. Ares definitely did something to keep me from fearing her. I was strangely thankful for that.

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

Once Melanie was ready, the three of us went downstairs to the car waiting to take us to the restaurant. Discord had the driver stop at a modest house in a quiet neighborhood on the way. She instructed us to wait while she went inside. When she returned, she had changed her clothes and looked more like normal – like Ruby.

The luncheon was held in the banquet room of a fancy hotel downtown. Apparently, it was closer to Renaissance’s main offices and therefore more convenient for the executives to be able to join us for lunch. Everyone was supposed to be there, the writers, the producers, even the PR Director, D.L. Blade, was supposed to make an appearance. Apparently, Mr. Blade was the one who came up with the idea for this contest promo.

Melanie, Ruby and I sat together at the main table and watched as the people filtered in slowly. The cast was some of the last to arrive. They had just left the studio where they had been doing some of the voice-over work for the show.

Kevin spotted me as he, Rene and Lucy headed towards our table. He smiled warmly and I smiled back and waved. Kevin took the vacant seat next to mine. After all were seated, I introduced Melanie. She responded the same way I did my first day meeting everyone - excited, stumbling over her words - like a fan would do.

A moment later, I felt Ruby touch my arm to get my attention. She leaned closer to me and whispered, “In two minutes, excuse yourself and meet me in the ladies room, got it?”

I nodded and then Ruby stood and left the room. Two minutes passed and I excused myself. She was waiting for me in the restroom lobby. She nodded her head towards a chair and told me to sit down, and then she checked inside the bathroom to make sure we were alone.

Satisfied, a wicked smile crossed her face. She pulled something out of her pocket as she returned to the lobby. It was a pack of cinnamon gum.

“Here. When we get back to the table, offer Kevin a stick of this gum.” She put the gum in my hand. “Do not give this gum to anyone else but Kevin, okay?”

“But what if some else asks for some?”

“Tell them no,” she barked. “Make up an excuse or something. I don’t care – tell them no. Just make sure nobody but Kevin eats this gum, got it?” She sounded stern.

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Good.” She turned on her heal and headed for the door.

“Ruby?”

She stopped, turned back around and signed. “What is it?”

“What’s going to happen to Melanie and me when this is all over?”

She laughed wickedly. “Well, Ares seems to think that you won’t be a problem if we let you go home, but I don’t agree. I think you know too much.” She walked back over to me and stuck her face in my face. “So you better not double-cross us or I’ll rip you to shreds . . . with Ares’ blessing – I might add.”

She backed off and headed for the door again. Before she exited she told me to hurry up and get back to the table. She reminded me that both she and Ares were watching me.

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

I sat in the lobby of the ladies room, looking at the pack of gum that Ruby had given me and started to cry. It’s not that I was scared of what was going to happen to me, it was more because I felt stupid for buying into this whole mess. I had believed Ares, but he was only using me to get back into this world. God, I was such an idiot. I really thought that I was special…

There was a sudden flash of blue and white light and there was the God of War.

“Oh, but you are special, my dear. Without you, I could have never entered into this realm again. Don’t let my sister fill your head with a bunch of nonsense. Nothing will happen to you. Remember – I am the god in charge now, not my whining sister. Come here.” He held his arms open to me.
I obeyed and went to him. He embraced me gently and stroked my hair. “Don’t you want to be with me, sunshine? Don’t I make you flikelike nobody else can?” He tilted my chin up to look him in the eyes.

His eyes were hypnotizing, his lips inviting. I had never seen anyone so beautiful before and I couldn’t help but be drawn to him. He touched my cheek before cupping the back of my head with his hand. Slowly, he moved his lips to mine until they finally touched, then passion started to flow. The kiss became intense and hot. He pulled away and whispered, “Well, don’t I?”

I was like jelly in his arms. I nodded. “Yes, my Lord. God – yes!”

He released me and smiled smugly. “I thought so. Now go. Do as Discord has instructed you.”
He disappeared.

I let out a big sigh and left the bathroom grinning.

I returned to a banquet room filled with the sound of laughter and chit-chat. Everyone had smiles on their faces, except Ruby, who was glaring at me watchfully. I rejoined my table and after a few minutes I felt Ruby, who was seated on my other side, kick me under the table. I looked to her and she mouthed “Do it now.” I reached for the gum and held it up to Kev.

“Kevin, would you like a piece of gum? It’s cinnamon.”

“Cinnamon? My favorite! Sure, I’d love some.” He took a piece from the pack and started to unwrap it.

“Hey, Ginger, I’d like some of that gum, too,” Melanie said.

I pretended like I didn’t hear her. Then I heard someone exclaim, “Look! D.L. decided to grace us with his presence.” There was a bout of laughter. Everyone started to greet the man who had just entered the room.

D.L. Blade was a tall, stocky man with dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes. He reminded me a lot of Kevin Sorbo – same build, same jaw, same hair, but this guy was even taller.

A second later, I felt an energy surge from beside me. Kev had popped the gum in his mouth and something was happening to him. I don’t think that anyone else noticed since they were all focused on D.L., who had sat down at the table with the executive producers and writers. I saw the light go out in Kevin’s eyes. He glowed softly for a moment and then his head fell forward, lifeless.
I put my hand on his back. “Kevin. Kevin, are you alright?”

He lifted his head back up and his eyes flashed quickly. A wicked smile grew on his face.

“I feel GREAT, sunshine! Never been better!”

It was Ares. Ares had taken over Kevin’s body again. Not like he had done at the filming. This time, I fel was was for good. He was here to stay.

He sat there looking at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists. Then he shouted, “YES. I’m alive again.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at him, unsure of his strange behavior. He looked back around at the people and said, “What is everyone staring at?” He waived his hand and every body was frozen except Discord, Melanie and me.

Discord jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around Ares.

“Oh, I just knew this would work beautifully! How do you feel?”

Ares removed her arms from around his neck and ran his hands down his new body. “I kinda like this body. The guy kept himself in good shape. I think I’ll keep it for now.”

“And it looks sooooo good on you, my love,” Discord said sappily. “Now me. Now it’s my turn. Gimme back my powers. Oh, I am so ready for this.”

She stood back, with her arms at her side, and closed her eyes.

“Not so fast, Ares,” a voice came from across the room.

We all looked to the source. It was D.L. Blade. He wasn’t frozen like the rest of the folks and he was headed our direction.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my medalling, do-gooder brother. As usual, Hercules, your timing sucks,” Ares said sarcastically.

“Hercules!” Discord exclaimed.

“Hercules?” I repeated, whispering.

Melanie fainted.

“On the contrary, I think I’m right on time.”

“Really? So you’ve come to welcome me back. I think not.” Ares shot a bolt of lightning at him. D.L., I mean Hercules, dove off to one side and evaded the blast. He stood up, smoothed out his shirt and continued towards Ares.

“Now, is that any way to greet your family? Especially after so long?”

“Not long enough!” Ares retorted with another blast of lightening. Hercules ducked and it missed him once again.

Discord ran up to Ares. “Ares. Ares. Give me back my powers so I can help you,” she pleaded.

“Not now, Discord.” He pushed her out of his way and she slammed against the wall.

“Damn you, Ares,” she cried.

Ares and Hercules continued towards each other, fists drawn. When they met, I heard Ares growl as he hit Hercules with a thundering punch. Hercules went flying across the room and landed on the buffet table. The food went flying everywhere. Angry, the God of War moved towards him again.
Herc picked up the dolphin shaped ice sculpture and heaved it at Ares. It missed him and he started laughing.

“Is that all you’ve got, brother? Come on! You can do better than that.” He grabbed Hercules by the collar and tossed him into another table. The table broke and the frozen people went tumbling to the floor.

“Okay, now you’ve done it. It’s one thing to try and kill me, but it’s another thing when you start hurting innocent people.”

Ares laughed evilly. “Still the same old Hercules, I see. Always looking out for his fellow man. Well the time has come to put an end to your pathetic crusade.”

They engaged in an all out fistfight. Every time one would contact the other the room rumbled and sparks would fly. They were all over the place and eventually ended up back where Discord and I were standing.

Hercules slammed Ares against the wall and had gone to pick him up again when I noticed Discord sneaking up behind Hercules. She had picked up a steak knife from one of the table. Just as she was getting ready to strike, I did something unexpected. I grabbed one of the folding chairs and clobbered her over the head. She fell to the floor and dropped the knife. She was out cold.
“That’s what you get for doing all those horrible things to me yesterday. You bitch!”

Hercules had Ares by the neck. He turned and looked down at Discord and then up to me. “Thanks,” he said, surprised.

I smiled and shrugged.

“You bitch! You’re gonna pay for that, Ginger. You’ve betrayed me!” Ares managed to say even though Hercules had a firm grip around his neck.

“Oh, leave the poor girl alone, Ares. You’ve put her through enough bullshit already.”

“Hey, what’s going on here? Did you start the party without me?” a voice came from across the room.
I turned to see Ramsey standing there. He had his hands on his hip and was tapping one foot on the ground.

“Ioulas! It’s about time you got here, little buddy.”

“Sorry. Got stuck in traffic. Hey, Ginger.” He nodded in my direction.

“Hi, ah . . . Ramsey, or ah, Ioulas.” I was stunned.

“Need any help, big guy?”

Ares successfully kicked Hercules with enough force to make him step back a few feet and loosen the grip around his neck. He shot lightening out of both hands – one at Hercules and one at Ioulas. They both were hit and flew backwards.

I watched Hercules and Ioulas rise again, so I didn’t notice when Ares moved in behind me. He wrapped his arm around my neck in a chokehold and whispered in my ear.

“You’ve not pleased your God, Ginger. I am going to have to punish you for that. Too bad, we could have had so much fun together.” I felt his hold increase.

“Let her go, Ares. Your fight is with me, not her,” Herc shouted.

“She belongs to me. I’ll do what I want with her.” He shot a fireball at Hercules, which was dodged.
I was finding it harder hardharder to breathe. My neck was getting hot and I felt lightheaded. I tried, unsuccessfully, to pull Ares’ arm from around me, but he was too strong.

I looked up at his face and begged him to stop. “Please. Don’t”

He looked back and for a brief moment, I thought I saw sympathy in his eyes. Then he mimicked me. “Please. Don’t,” he said before he busted out in wicked laughter. I felt him tighten the choke.

“I’m warning you, Ares. Let her go.” Hercules said.

“Or you’ll do what, little brother?”

“You’ll soon see, Ares.” He turned to look back at his friend “Hurry up with that scroll, Ioulas.”

“I’m doing the best I can. I’m a director, not a writer. It’s hard to be creative under pressure like this.”

I tried to focus on Ioulas across the room, to see what he was doing. It looked to me like he was taking notes or something. He had an old pen in his hand; the kind made from a feather and was writing on something.

Then everything went black.


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

The next thing I remember, Hercules was slapping my face and Ioulas was standing next to him holding a glass of water.

“Ginger, are you alright? Come on. Wake up now.”

“Huh? Wh…wh…what happened? Where am I?” I asked as I started to come around.

“Take it easy, honey. Here, have a sip of water.” He took the glass from his buddy and fed me some. “You really had us worried there.”

“Yeah. We didn’t think you were going to pull through.” Ioulas confirmed.

“I don’t understand. What happened?” Suddenly, I felt frightened as I remembered Ares choking me. All of my emotions seem to flood me at once. “Where’s Ares?” I asked as I nervously searched the room full of confused looking people.

“Shhhh. Not so loud. He’s back where he belongs.” Hercules answered with a smile.

“But…how?”

“We will tell you all about it later on. Right now we’ve got others to attend to,” he said as he helped me to stand.

“We’re just glad you’re okay.” Ioulas remarked.

“Th…thank you, Hercules. Thank you both.”

“You’re welcome. And it’s D.L., not Hercules. And he’s Ramsey.” He pointed to his buddy.

“We’ll come see you later tonight and fill you in on everything. But right now, I think you should take your friend back to the hotel and get some rest.” Ramsey instructed.

“But what about Ruby…”

“Ruby is not going to hurt you. I promise,” D.L. said.

“Really?” I questioned.

“Really,” he assured me.


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

That evening Melanie and I were back at the hotel, each resting on a couch when there was a knock at the door. We both jumped at the sound, still being a bit on edge from all that had gone on earlier. We looked at each other with wide eyes. Neither one of us wanted to answer it for fear of who was on the other side.

“Ginger, Melanie, are you in there? It’s me, D.L., Ramsey’s with me, too,” came a voice from the other side.

We breathed a sigh of relief. I rose and opened the door.

“Hi.”

“Hi there. We came to see how you were doing. Are you two okay?” D.L. asked.

“Yeah, I think so. We’re a little shaken up, though. It’s all t… ut… unbelievable,” I said. “What happened today?”

Both men entered and took a seat on the couch I just vacated. I sat down next to Mel.

D.L. let out a big sigh. “First off, I need to apologize for everything that happened to you both since you got here. You see I knew what was going on, even before it started.”

“You knew a thi this? And you still le hap happen?” Melanie asked, crossly. “Do you know what they did to us? They… they …” She started to cry, overcome with emotion.

Ramsey got up and sat on the other side of Mel. He tried to comfort her with soft words.
“I can only imagine how terrified you must have been. I’m so sorry you were put through it. You must be very brave.” He stroked her back gently.

I, on the other hand, had a much different reaction to this news. It angered me. Angered me to know that someone else knew yet still allowed it to continue.

“If you knew about this, then why didn’t you stop it? Why did you allow us to get caught in the middle of this … charade?” My voice was a bit louder than usual and I had stood up. My face felt hot, so I’m sure it was flushed.

"Please, Ginger, please sit down. I'll tell you the whole story - from the beginning, but you've got to calm down first. Ramsey, get her some water"

"I don't want any water!" I snapped. "I just want to know how we got involved with all of this? What happened to Ares and Discord? And Kevin! What about Kevin? Is he all right?" I moved closer to where D.L. was seated.

Ramsey looked at his friend. "I think you'd better tell her, big guy, before she knocks you on your ass," he laughed.

D.L. took hold of my hands and looked me in the eyes. "Please. Sit."

"Oh, God! What happened?" I asked as I sat down next to him.

"Nothing happened to Kevin, other than having a few bruises and one hell of a headache. He'll be fine. He doesn't remember a thing. Thinks he must have hit his head or something."

I sighed in relief. "That's good to know. I'm glad he's going to be all right. Now, tell me the rest, please."

"Okay, from the beginning... Many years ago, my father, Zeus, came to me with a request. He said that he had just left from visiting the Fates and had some disturbing news. The Olympian Gods would fade from existence in the next thousand years. All of them, that is, except one"

“Let me guess. Ares!” I interrupted.

D.L. sighed. “Yes, Ares. He told me that one day in the distant future, Ares would return in the flesh. He said that his return would destroy the world. Ares would destroy all of humanity with his wars and destruction, and breed discontent and anger amongst the people. Zeus couldn’t bear to know that his wonderful creations would come to such a horrid demise, and by the hand of his son. So he granted Ioulas and me immortality, until such a time that Ares returns, so we could stop him from ruining the world with his evil ways.”

“So you see, Ginger, I did know that Ares would return, I just didn’t know when it would happen. But even though I knew – I wouldn’t have stopped him. If I had interfered with his return before completion, then he would have just gone back to where ever he was and try to find another way back.”

I listened; it was all so hard to believe. But then, the return of a Greek God was also hard to believe; yet it happened, nonetheless. I shrugged. “So if you’re immortal, couldn’t you have just continued to stop him from returning each time? Foil his plans before they moved too far along?”

“Well, yes and no. You see I didn’t want to take on this job. The idea of living forever really didn’t appeal to me. I want to be laid to rest one day. I want to be with my family. Zeus knew that, so he only cast a partial immortality spell on us. The spell wore off once the task was complete.”

Concern flashed in my eyes, as I looked over the man, the son of Zeus, sitting beside me. “You not going to keel over on us right here, are you?”

Both men laughed amusingly. Ramsey answered, “No, but now we will grow old and die, just like everyone else does. I’m really looking forward to it, we’ve been around such a long time, ya know.”

“Oh, I see,” I responded.

“So Ioulas – I mean Ramsey and I really owe you a debt of gratitude for your help, for everything you had to endured with Ares and Discord.”

“Speaking of Ares and Discord, what did happen with them?”

Huge smiles found the faces of both of the men. Ramsey was the first to respond.

“Well, Ares was sent back to limbo-land – for good this time! And Discord… well; let’s just say that the authorities arrested Ms. Ruby Greene for the attack on Annie at the trailer.”

“Ruby attacked someone else, too?” Melanie popped out. “Ginger, you never told me about any of this.”

“To be honest, Mel, it sort of slipped my mind with everything else that was going on.”

“What else did you forget to tell me?” she inquired with a slight grin on her face.

“Nothing!”

She looked at me with a doubtful eye.

“Nothing! I swear,” I said in my own defense. I hurried to change the subject, sure that there were lots of things that I hadn’t told Melanie about yet. I could fill her in on all the sordid details on the plane ride back home.

“So what exactly did you do to Ares? How did you vanquish him?”

“Do you remember see Ioulas with an old scroll?”

I thought for a moment and then nodded. “Not really. I didn’t see a scroll. But I do remember seeing him writing on something when Ares had me in a chokehold.”

“That was it. You see, father enchanted a scroll for us to use to trap and imprison Ares. While I kept him occupied with a fight, Ioulas went to work on the scroll and wrote him right back where he came from. Then we destroyed the scroll so he could never escape again.”

“Wow, that’s trick, guys,” Mel commented. “But how do you know he trapped there for good? Couldn’t he travel to another scroll?”

“That’s a good question, but the answer is no. It was only through the scrolls, or scripts as we call them now, from the Xena show that he could exist spiritually.” Next week they will be filming the series ender. Ramsey and I willp a p a close watch, just to be sure, but it’s doubtful that he will attempt it again. It took him and Discord years before they were able to set up the attempt with you. It could never happen again so quickly.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you two were here to save us, or I would have felt pretty shitty about enabling the world’s destruction to occur. Thank God – or more specifically, thank Zeus!” I said.

We all smiled warmly at one another. D.L. looked to his buddy and asked him if he was ready to go. Ramsey said yes, we stood and Mel and I escorted them to the door. Before lng, ng, they hugged us, apologized once more, and wished us health and happiness in our lives.

“Try to enjoy the rest of your time in Auckland. It really is a beautiful city with lots of great things to do. And if you ever make it back here again – look us up.” Ramsey said.

“And if you come to California – you do the same,” Melanie said, blushing slightly while looking into Ramsey’s eyes.

“I heard that you did an extremely good job with your acting, Ginger. I can’t wait to see the final cut. You should be receiving your copy in the mail in a few weeks. If anything, I guess you could consider it a momentum of your time with us.”

“I don’t think I’m going to need a tape to remember what went on here. But nonetheless, my family and friends back home will be anxious to see it. I think the episodes don’t air in the states for quite a few months after they’re filmed.”

“True. Well, goodbye Ginger. Goodbye Melanie. Thank you for being so understanding.” D.L. said as he started down the hall.

“Goodbye, D.L., Ramsey. You two be careful, and enjoy life.”

Another moment later they disappeared into the elevator.


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

Two days later Melanie and I were back on the plane headed for the United States. And although the last two days were enjoyable, I was more than glad to be going home again. I know Melanie felt the same way.

Once we got comfortable in our first-class seats, I turned to Mel and said seriously, “Melanie, next time I get the chance to meet some silly actor I have a crush on, do me a favor, will ya?”
“What’s that?”

“Smash in my TV and poke out my eyes, okay?”

She laughed. “Ginger, do you really think you would be stupid enough to be tricked again? I seriously doubt it.”

“I hope you’re right, girlfriend. I hope you’re right.”