Aphrodite despises Aries and when Zeus proposes a contest, the prize being expulsion of her enemy from Olympus, Aphrodite cannot resist. The catch: should Aries prevail it is Aphrodite who must leave her home. Risks aside, she cannot refuse the possibility of a future without her former lover. The challenge: two mortals must fall in love. It is simple. However, the players could not be more ill-suited. Poetry, a free spirited artist and Adrian, a defense attorney would not normally choose one another. But when gods interfere anything is possible.
She pounced on his back before he could escape.
“I’ll kill you,” Strings of spittle flew from Strife’s mouth. “I’m going to snap your neck.”
Hermes struggled beneath her weight. She gripped his hair with one hand and groped his jaw with the other, but he wriggled free and tossed her before springing to his feet.
“Nice try. But you’ll have to do better.” He hurled a computer monitor from the desk.
She scuttled to one side and the equipment slammed into the wall. Glass and plastic showered Strife. She ducked and shielded her face.
The rumblings of wood rolling against tile alerted Strife and she stood in time to avoid decapitation. Hermes pinned her with the oak desk, grinding it into her hips with bone-crushing intent. Hot agony raced up Strife’s spine and Hermes increased the pressure, grunting with the effort like a wild beast.
She struggled, both hands prying at the solid edge in vain. Her thumb brushed her purse, and Strife wriggled her fingers inside, searching for anything that might assist her. They closed over a vial. She popped the top and dashed the contents in Hermes’s eyes.
Talcum clouded the air, instantly filling the small space with delicate sweetness, blinding them both. The painful tension ceased. Hermes bellowed in anguish. Strife collapsed to the floor, retching with the soapy taste of perfume in her mouth. From the corner of her watering vision, Strife saw Hermes lurch toward the entrance. You will not get away this time. She gave chase, determined to finish him.
But he’d almost made it to the door. She had to do something. Hermes made a critical error in judgment, shuffling left of the exit. Strife once again leapt on the service counter.
A cooler filled with lilies and orchids sat to her right. With all her inhuman strength, she peeled it from the wall. A metallic groan filled the room as the gargantuan refrigerator sailed through the air.
Hermes’s failed attempt to catch it bore him to the ground with a sloppy crash peppered with a chorus of breaking glass and singing shelves.
Yellow, orange, and purple petals fluttered throughout the store like confetti. Floral scents combined with baby powder made the room reek like women’s deodorant.
The abrupt quiet brought serenity to chaos. The only sound: the panting of a dying man.
She must hurry. The noise would bring curious humans, and she couldn’t be caught. Not with her objective so close at hand. She eased to the floor, her sandals transforming glass to powder. “That was too easy,” She strutted over to stare at Hermes’s ruined face. Shards embedded various pockets of flesh, including his left eye. “I expected better from a demi-god.”
Hermes glared contemptuously through milky tears, trying in vain to spit blood at Strife. His thoughts dimmed.
“Yes, it’s too bad,” she said, “but if it is any consolation…” She extended her hands to the multicolored carnage. “This is the prettiest death I’ve ever seen.”
Donna Milward lives in Edmonton, Alberta in a tiny house with a huge yard. She’s been writing all her life, but decided to put writing on hold to get ‘a real job’ as a meatcutter and build a future with her beloved troll, Dan and her cat Freya. Twelve years later, an invitation to a Romance Writer’s Conference in Washington D.C. led not only to new friends and new knowledge, but to the inspiration to write again. Thoeba was completed the following year. Donna likes to mix her fascination with reincarnation and all things paranormal with her love of mythology in her work, and has even written her own myth ‘The Sacred Truth” (on earthtothoeba.blogspot.com) as the lore behind Thoeba and future novels to come. Donna enjoys fishing, gardening and canning. Despite these hobbies, she much prefers city life.
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