A Scent of Greek: Out of Olympus (13 page)

“I can’t just wish for something and—” Dio stopped his own words. The night after his bender, he’d wished for food and had suddenly found a platter of delicacies in his kitchen. Had he done that after all? Had it not been a hallucination?

“So you remember …”

At Triton’s words, Dio snapped out of his thoughts. “No, I don’t remember, but something strange happened a few days ago. I wanted some food. And I thought I saw it appear. But it can’t have been real. I had a hangover and was imagining things.”

“You conjured it without knowing what you did. Do it now. Get us that bottle, because I for one need a drink now.” Triton gave him another encouraging nod.

“It’s not gonna work.” Despite his words, Dio did what Triton had suggested. He thought of the bottle of French Chardonnay he’d seen in the kitchen and imagined it on the table.

Out of nowhere, the imagined bottle suddenly stood right in front of him. Dio jolted back, but Triton’s hand kept him seated. “Shit! Did I do that?”

Triton grinned, showing his white teeth. “Believe me now?”

Did he have a choice? “Shit! I’m really a god, aren’t I?”

Chapter Twenty

Dionysus watched as Triton paced in his private residence on the third floor of the Bed and Breakfast. Sophia had left them to their own devices in order to take care of some arriving guests. The private area was modern yet warm and comfortable with a nautical theme that seemed to repeat in the entire apartment. It wasn’t large, but since the couple probably spent most of their time on the lower floors tending to the guests, a small private space was all they needed.

“I think we can eliminate the possibility that you lost your memory because you hit your head.”

“But I probably did hit my head,” Dio protested.

“Which wouldn’t have lead to amnesia. A god can’t simply be injured like that. We are immune to mortal illnesses.”

“But I was bleeding.” Wasn’t that considered a
mortal
injury?

“We inhabit mortal bodies that function just like any other body. So we bleed, we eat, we drink; our beard grows. But we’re able to heal this body with our godly powers. Any injury is fleeting,” Triton explained.

“Then what’s wrong with me?” Being a god sounded cool, but what was the point if he didn’t remember anything about his life or what he was capable of?

“We’ll figure it out.”

Dio nodded and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “What’s it like to be a god?”

Triton grinned. “You love it.”

He couldn’t stop his own grin from bursting from his lips. “I do, huh?”

“There’s nobody else who makes being a god as much fun as you do.”

“The god of wine, huh, no shit!” Then he remembered something. “I suppose that means I don’t have a drinking problem, do I?”

“Why, for Hades’ sake, would you have a drinking problem?”

“Ariadne, my fiancée, she thinks so. She dragged me to the AA meeting the other day and—”

Triton’s laughter interrupted him. “Okay, there are two things fundamentally wrong here: first of all, you don’t belong in an AA meeting, and secondly, you don’t have a fiancée.”

Dio’s body stiffened. “I agree with you on the AA meeting, but Ari and I, we love each other.” There was just no two ways about it.

“Love?” Triton took a step closer and shook his head. “Dio, I’m your friend, so don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve never loved anybody but yourself.”

“No!” He loved Ariadne, and nobody could convince him otherwise.

“And I guarantee you that you’re not engaged. Whoever this Ariadne is, I’m telling you she’s an imposter.”

His Ari was lying to him? No, he couldn’t believe that. He didn’t want to believe it. “If you’re trying to drive a wedge between me and Ari then you and I are no friends. Do you get that?” He glared at Triton, intent on making him understand that he wouldn’t give her up. There had to be some misunderstanding that would soon clear itself up.

“We’ve been friends ever since we were toddlers, and you would let a woman come between us? Do you want me to tell you who you are?” Triton didn’t wait for Dio to respond. “You’re the worst womanizer this world has ever seen. You’re worse than I was before I met Sophia. You spend every night with a different woman. You have a strict one-night-only rule. Shall I continue?”

Dio took a few steps back, crashing into the wall behind him, shaking his head as Triton went on, “You’ve never been in a relationship. All you care about is the conquest. As soon as you have a woman in your bed, you’ve already lost interest.”

“You must be wrong.” He didn’t want to be the person his friend described in such detail. He didn’t want to be that kind of jerk.

Triton gave him a sad smile. “Dio, you are who you are. It doesn’t mean you can’t change. But the Dio who was at my wedding last week was the person I described. What you’re telling me about having a fiancée isn’t possible. You can’t have changed by a hundred and eighty degrees in a week.”

“But I don’t feel what you’re telling me. It doesn’t resonate. Yeah, about the wine, sure. You’re right. I feel a connection to the wine. When I was in Ariadne’s wine store, I felt at home. I sensed the bottles speaking to me. It was the strangest feeling.” Dio recalled the moment he’d stepped into the shop and instantly felt at ease. “But the rest, I’m sorry, the rest of your story doesn’t sound like me.”

“If you remembered your life, you’d know I’m telling you the truth.” He paused for a moment, contemplating something. “We somehow have to restore your memory. I think we need help.” Then he lifted his head. “Hermes, get your butt down here. Urgently.”

A moment later, a man appeared in the middle of the room, out of nowhere. Dio felt a bolt of adrenaline shoot through his body as his heart pounded like a jackhammer. One of these days, these guys would give him a heart attack.

The guy, presumably Hermes, wore the most ridiculous outfit Dio had ever seen: a white flowing tunic reaching to his knees and tied with a golden sash. On his feet, he wore sandals. Dio took a closer look: were those wings on his sandals? He blinked, making his eyes refocus, but the wings remained where they were, attached to the guy’s sandals.

“Hey, Triton, Dio, what’s so urgent? I didn’t even bother getting changed.”

“We have a problem: Dio’s got amnesia.”

At Triton’s announcement, Hermes shot Dio a surprised look. “You’re shitting me!” Then he took a step toward him. “Is this one of his jokes?”

Triton shook his head. “Nope. He really doesn’t know who he is.”

Dio planted his hands at his hips, annoyed at being ignored. “I’m in the same room as you guys.”

Hermes tossed him an amused look. “Nothing wrong with his attitude though.”

Was he really friends with that frilly looking guy? He looked like he was wearing a dress.

“Hey, Dio, I can see what you’re thinking. But as the messenger god, that’s my outfit.” He glanced at his tunic and sandals. “Trust me, you don’t look any more manly in your tunic either.” Then he snapped his fingers and voilà, he was clad in jeans and a t-shirt.

Dio jumped again. “Shit! You guys gotta stop doing that!”

Hermes exchanged a look with Triton. “He really
has
lost his memory, hasn’t he?”

“Any ideas what to do about it?” Triton asked in return.

“You called the right god.” Hermes smirked. “I suppose Dio pissed one of the Olympians off and got punished. Now we just need to figure out which one.”

“What’s an Olympian?” Dio asked, feeling stupid because he didn’t know what Hermes was talking about.

“Upper-level god,” he answered dismissively. “There are twelve of us.”

“Am I one of them?”

Hermes chuckled. “You wish. But
I
am, so whatever one of the other Olympians did to you, I should be able to reverse it. Unless poor old father has his hands in this. Then we’re screwed.”

“Whose father are you talking about?”

“Ours.” Hermes gestured between him and Dio.

“We’re brothers?” Dio let his eyes sweep over Hermes once more. He was brother to a guy who wore winged sandals? Freaky!

“Half-brothers.” Then he winked. “And best friends.”

If he was honest with himself, Dio kind of liked the guy almost as much as he liked Triton. “How many best friends do I have?”

“Three: Triton, Eros and me.”

Curiosity made him ask. “And this Eros, what kind of god is he?”

Triton grinned. “The Romans call him Cupid. He’s the god of love and probably busy shooting his arrows at unsuspecting mortals.”

Dio shook his head. “Guys, I’m just totally stumped. I mean, I believe you. How could I not with Hermes just teleporting in here, but that doesn’t get me any closer to
knowing
who I am.”

Hermes nodded, his face serious now. “Okay, let’s look at the facts then. Triton, what are the facts?”

“He got beaten up in a bar fight—”

“What else is new?” Hermes interrupted.

Was he really constantly getting into bar fights? Dio wondered what kind of man he was if he constantly had to fight and beat people up, or get beaten up in the process. What did he have to prove?

“—and when he regained consciousness, he couldn’t remember anything. His so-called fiancée patched him up.”

“Fiancée?” Hermes shot him a stunned gawk.

Dio shrugged, having been through it with Triton already. “Don’t even start. Triton has already given me the third degree on that.”

“Okay. Later maybe. Back to the facts. I saw you last at the wedding and you were telling me about this chick you were gonna do that night.”

He was gonna
do
somebody? Was that really how he’d put it or was Hermes exaggerating? “But Ari and I … I mean I don’t think I would cheat on her.” The thought alone was revolting.

Hermes rolled his eyes, then pointed at Triton. “If you don’t tell me the whole story later, I’m going to wring his neck right now.”

Triton’s lips quirked into a suppressed smile. “Anything you want, just figure out how we can get him back to normal.”

“Normal?” Dio protested. “I
am
normal.”

“No, you’re not,” his friends said in unison.

Ignoring their jab, Dio asked, “Did I say anything else at the wedding?”

“Only that you were gonna dump her the moment you’ve had her.” Hermes put his fingers to his lips. “Hmm. This reminds me, Hera was loitering.” He looked up at Triton. “Do you think she could have overheard Dio and decided to interfere somehow?”

“She hates his guts as we all know. I wouldn’t put it past her.”

Hermes nodded in agreement. “And as one of the Olympians she would have sufficient power to wipe Dio’s memory without him being able to do anything about it.”

“How about any of the other Olympians? Zeus was there.”

“He was too busy trying to get into Francesca’s pants. Poseidon was at your wedding too.”

Triton’s protest was instant. “My father would never do that.”

“How about Apollo?”

“Too busy chasing one of the waitresses.”

“You’re right. I think our best bet is Hera. If anybody is truly vindictive, then it’s her.” Hermes gave Dio a sideways glance. “Our stepmother is a cold-hearted—”

“Better not say it,” Triton advised. “No need to make her come down here. So, can you reverse whatever she might have done?”

Dio took a step toward Hermes. “Can you?”

“Of course I can.” There was an air of confidence in his voice that made Dio take a relieved breath. Soon, he’d remember his past and his world would be righted. Then he’d just have to convince his friends that he’d fallen in love and introduce them to Ariadne. Everything would be perfect.

“Here we go.” Hermes walked toward Dio and stopped a foot away from him. Then he laid his hands on Dio’s head and closed his eyes.

A strange sense of warmth swept over him as tendrils of energy passed from Hermes’ fingertips to Dionysus’ skull and penetrated. At first, he fought the invasion, but his friend’s calming voice soothed him. “Easy, easy. Just let go.”

Dio forced himself to relax and dropped his shoulders that he’d inadvertently hunched. Electrical charges infiltrated his head and took hold of his body and mind. When darkness threatened to encroach, white light suddenly emerged and fought against the dark, pushing it back.

Dio’s eyes flew open. “That fucking bitch!”

Chapter Twenty-One

Dio was seething with anger. “I’m going to take Hera’s head off and feed it to the Gorgons!”

“Guess it worked.” Hermes smirked. “And thanks very much, Hermes, for restoring my memory,” he said full of sarcasm. “Why, Dionysus, that’s mighty nice of you to say.”

Dio looked at his friend, forgetting his anger for an instant. He threw his arms around him and pulled him in for a bear hug. “Thanks! What would I do without you guys?” He looked over Hermes’ shoulder at Triton. “Both of you.”

“Good to have you back.” Triton smiled back at him.

He released Hermes and focused back on the issue at hand. “I’m going to take a bite out of Hera!” He remembered every single second of their exchange in the parking lot, how she’d admonished him because of how he’d treated Ariadne.

Ariadne!

“Ah, shit!” The truth slammed into him like an overweight freight train. “That devious … scheming … lying …”

“You said that already,” Hermes noted.

“Not Hera!” Dio made an impatient movement with his hand. “Ariadne. My fiancée.” Fiancée, his ass! “I’m not fucking engaged to anybody!”

“Just as I thought,” Triton agreed. “So, what’s the deal with her?”

“She was the one I … you know …”
Did
, he wanted to say but couldn’t. Dio took a breather and slumped down on the sofa. Ariadne had lied to him about everything. Not only were they not engaged, they’d also had sex—pretty mind-blowing sex from what he remembered clearly now—and they had certainly not practiced abstinence like she’d had him believe.

Why in Hades had she made all this up? He’d broken up with her that night, so why would she even bother him after that? He’d walked away from her, because she was better off without him. At least that’s what he’d thought then. But he’d gone about it the wrong way. He’d been about to go to her and make her understand his reasoning when …

“She sent those two goons after me to beat me up.” Why had she done that? Had she set it all up so she could nurse him back to health and make him fall for her in the process?

“Who? Hera?” Hermes asked.

“Keep up with me, will you? Ariadne, of course.”

Hermes chuckled. “Your
fiancée
had you beaten up?”

Dio glared at his friend and clenched his jaw shut. “She’s not my fucking fiancée!”

“She was ten minutes ago.”

Dio shot up from his seat and pounced, slamming Hermes against the wall as he held him by his throat. “Another stupid word out of your mouth, and I’ll wipe that idiotic grin off your face. Permanently.” It was bad enough to wrestle with the warring emotions inside him; he wasn’t in the mood to justify his actions to his friends.

“Dio, let him go,” Triton said calmly. “We all know who you’re angry with, and it’s not Hermes.”

Dio dropped his grip. “Sorry.”

Hermes gave him a shove and pushed away from the wall. “You seemed a lot nicer when you didn’t remember who you were.”

Dio stopped in his tracks. Was it true that he’d been a more agreeable guy when he’d had amnesia? Or had Ariadne tried to turn him into some docile pet? “If she thinks she can turn me into some pussy-whipped doormat, she’s in for a surprise.”

“Who are we talking about now?” Hermes asked, pulling his t-shirt straight.

“The woman who made Dio think he’s engaged, and if I remember correctly, he also said he’s in love with her.” Triton leaned nonchalantly against the window frame.

“Bullshit!” Dio protested maybe a bit too loudly, trying to hide what lurked behind his outburst. “I’m not in love with that scheming, lying, annoying …”
Darn sexy, hot temptress
. “… woman.” He took another deep breath. “How dare she lie to me like that? What have I ever done to her to warrant such deviousness?” He was seething with anger. “Oh, I’ll give her a wedding! But there won’t be a groom!”

He caught Hermes and Triton exchanging a knowing look. “What?”

Hermes cleared his throat. “If she’s the woman you had sex with the night of Triton’s wedding, I believe you were planning on dumping her the next morning.”

“Well, of course!” He didn’t do relationships. Everybody knew that. A small ball of guilt formed in his stomach and worked its way north. From Ariadne’s reaction the day after, he realized she hadn’t known. No, she’d assumed that they had something more permanent. “She should have known.” But there was no conviction in his words, because the memories of that night were gnawing at him. He’d felt something with her. A closeness he’d enjoyed, a warmth that he’d wanted more of. But instead of owning up to it, he’d shied away from those foreign emotions and dumped her. What a heartless bastard he was.

“Guess she figured she’d get back at you for that when she realized that you had amnesia.”

Dio nodded slowly, then let himself fall back on the sofa. It all made sense now. No wonder she didn’t want to sleep with him. “She told me we were abstinent.”

Both Triton and Hermes snapped their heads toward him and stared at him in disbelief. “Abstinent?” they both echoed.

Dio nodded grimly. “While I was without my memory, she was trying to convince me that we’d agreed not to have sex until we’re married.”

“Crafty!” Hermes slapped his thigh.

“If that’s not punishment then I don’t know what.” Triton couldn’t suppress his grin.

“I guess she’s had her fun.” Hermes sat down in the armchair opposite Dio and put his feet on the coffee table. “Can’t really blame her.”

“Can’t I?” Dio tilted his head. “And the fact that she told me that I work as a waiter in a restaurant? Do you know how hard that job is? My feet are killing me!”

“You, a waiter? I’ve gotta see that!” Then Hermes glanced at Triton. “I like that woman. I like her a lot!”

“Whose fucking side are you on?” Weren’t his so-called friends supposed to side with him? Ari had humiliated him, and Triton and Hermes were having a laugh at his expense.

“Listen, Dio,” Triton said calmly. “Let’s just put this behind us. I’ll call Eros and then we’ll have a nice boy’s night out and just laugh about the whole thing. Everything’s back to normal.”

Normal? Didn’t those two get it? Nothing was back to normal. The woman he thought himself in love with was a liar and a cheat. She’d made fun of him and had a good old laugh behind his back—probably with Natalie from the restaurant, because she had to be in on it to have pretended that Dio worked there. And they expected him to just let that go?

“I can’t go out tonight. I’ve got the evening shift at the restaurant.”

Hermes’ jaw dropped. “Didn’t you just say in not so many words that you hated that job? And besides, you’re a god.  Why would you work?”

Dio lifted himself out of the couch and strode to the door. “If I don’t go back to work, Ariadne will think something is wrong.”

“What in Hades are you planning?” Triton asked.

Dio tossed a look over his shoulder. “If you think I’m just going to let her get away with this, you don’t know me at all.”

Yet he couldn’t tell his friends that he didn’t recognize himself either. Somehow he’d changed. And so far, he didn’t know how to handle that changed man that now inhabited his body.