Eris’s hands went to his thick wrist, struggling against it. “She has the power of Aphrodite now!” she cried. “If I could have gotten my hands on it, I would have made you—”
“Oh, I know!” Quinn jumped up and down, her arm in the air, everything making complete sense in a rush of understanding. “You wanted my power so you could make Zeus fall wildly in love with you and steal him from Hera! Am I right?”
“Yes!” she wailed a sob, her head falling back on her neck. “She doesn’t deserve you! I do! Don’t you remember all the things you told me that night on the Aegean, Zeus? Do you remember the sailboat and our lovemaking? You told me you loved me!” She let out a sob. “I’ve waited lifetimes for Khristos to become distracted enough to get my hands on that ludicrous apple. Lifetimes!”
Zeus clucked his tongue at her in admonishment. “Tsk-tsk, Eris. You know Hera’s my one true love. I made that clear from the start. And now look what you’ve done. You’ve made a mess of everything.”
She clawed at his wide hand, tears streaming down her face. “Let me go!”
Zeus made a sad face at her, puckering his lips. “I can’t do that, Eris. We don’t subscribe to the old ways any longer, and you know that quite well. You can’t go around creating this kind of havoc anymore. Remember what I told you the last time you took it upon yourself to react out of spite when your candidate didn’t win and you almost wiped out the White House with Talos? And what will Ares say when he sees you’ve stolen his horses—again? Unacceptable, Eris. You must be punished. Our new Aphrodite is to be celebrated, not nailed to a wall like some cheap art.”
Carl stirred on Nina’s shoulder then, slipping to the ground and landing on his feet, currently pointing outward to either side of his legs, his left hand completely torn off.
“You’d damn well better make her pay, Zeus, or I swear on all that’s fucking holy, I’ll hunt you and her down, and drop you both from the top of that damned mountain,” Nina growled, cracking her neck by rolling her head side-to-side.
Zeus dropped a jovial kiss on her cheek, clearly not at all fazed by her threats. “As pleasant as ever, Nina! I assure you, punishment will be meted out appropriately. Let’s do a Save The Date for another round of Vampires vs. Gods, yes? I’ve had some time to think up our line of defense.”
Nina huffed at him, pulling Carl close to her and hissing up at Eris.
Khristos moved in closer to the dangling Eris and looked up at her, his face a mask of rage, an emotion that almost startled Quinn. “Let me make myself perfectly clear. If you ever, and I do mean ever, come near my woman again, I’ll hunt you down, Eris. I’ll hunt you down, I’ll flay you alive. I’ll kill you myself.” And then he smiled, his expression light and easy as he held out his hand to Zeus. “Thank you for showing up. Sorry to bust up your golf game.”
Zeus used his free hand to shake Khristos’s, his smile warm. “Got here as soon as I could, but you know how hard it is to get a signal on the mountain. Sorry it took so long. I’ll have Ares come collect the horses. The rest you can handle, yes?”
Khristos scrubbed a weary hand over his face, blood still drying on his forehead. “I can.”
The god held Eris up for inspection, letting her dangle from his grip as her long hair streamed down her back. “Say goodbye to all the nice people, Eris. Quinn, it was great to finally meet you. See you around the forums, huh?” With a wink and a smile that would make women all over the planet melt, he and Eris disappeared.
Marty and Wanda shook their heads in unison, glanced at each other and squealed. “Was he not the most divine, Wanda?” she gushed.
Wanda grinned, half of her hair falling from the perfect chignon she favored, her red wool dress torn and covered in soot. “Not a lie! Did you see him just make everything stop? Like just done. Totally over. And the way he kissed Quinn’s fingers to heal them? Sa-woon!”
Their giggles warmed Quinn’s heart, and when their eyes landed on her, they held out their arms and she gave them each a tight hug. “Ingrid told me about you guys in action, and I thought I believed, but after seeing that, there’s not a shred of doubt. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Jesus,” Marty breathed into Quinn’s hair. “You pulled yourself off that wall, Quinn. To see you nailed there…” She stopped herself and audibly gulped.
Wanda pressed a kiss to Quinn’s forehead, her breath shuddering in and out. “Thank God you’re all right,” she whispered before setting Quinn away from her. “Now let’s get this mess cleaned up, ladies!”
Ingrid, Archibald and Darnell plowed into the coliseum—which was slowly returning to her tiny bedroom—their eyes wide. Ingrid stumbled over the littered floor and lunged for Quinn.