The Adonis of Weho (15 page)

“I’m hoping someone else becomes Hera’s next obsession. That goddess has too much time on her hands.”

“Well, we are the immortals.”

“True.”

“So…I wasn’t going to mention it, but…”

Adonis rolled his eyes. “Yes, I have wings. Shut up.”

“You look like Pegasus.”

“You’re not helping matters.”

“Did you scare the mortals to death with them?”

“No. Only one. Zeus allowed me to keep them concealed from them. But one can see.”

“One can see?” He sat up. “One mortal can see among all the other mortals?”

Adonis wondered if that was significant. He sat up as well, tucking one foot underneath him. “Yes. Why can he see?”

“He must be a half-breed. He has to have the blood of a god in him.”

Adonis opened his mouth to speak, but closed it to think.

“Yes! He must have the blood of a god or goddess in his ancestry.” Adonis made sure no one was lurking as they spoke. He scanned the area and scooted closer to speak quietly. “How do I find out which god?”

“Other than consulting the Oracle of Delphi, I have no idea. What is the mortal’s name?”

“Reese Anderson.”

“No sign there of a god. But it is possible he is a descendant. I mean, why else would he be the only one with vision to see your…um…” He giggled.

“Oh, shut up.” Adonis whacked him.

~

Reese couldn’t focus…at all.

He stood on his balcony staring at the few people in the pool who did not work nine to five-Monday through Friday, and rested his chin on his arms.

He had written one chapter about the strange meeting on the beach of this ‘Adonis-like’ man, who had wings. But Reese didn’t know if this story was going to have a happy ending. And he didn’t like ones that didn’t.

Taking his cell phone out of his pocket, he dialed. What the hell. It wasn’t every day you had a Greek myth to talk to on the other end of a mobile phone. He listened to it ring and moaned.

“Not voicemail. Come on.”

Am I willing to go and do battle with you? Yes!

After a morning without him, Reese decided Smith was worth fighting for. How he would win this war was beyond him.

“Smith, err, um, Adonis…Smith. I’ll call you Smith. This is Reese. I…uh, yes. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do. Can you call me? Bye.” He hung up and looked at the phone. “I really don’t know what I’m in for. Turning into a woman?” He touched his rough jaw and couldn’t imagine it.

Returning inside his unit, and sliding closed the glass door of the balcony, Reese entered the bathroom. He turned on the light and inspected his face and chest. Still all male. But wasn’t the idea that he could somehow morph into a female slightly nutty?

“More like totally insane?” He checked out his hair, his brown eyes, his sideburns, the roundness of his pectoral muscles. Lastly he peeked into his shorts. His cock was most certainly still there.

He met his eyes in the mirror again. “What am I willing to lose in order to keep Smith?” Looking into his pants again, he said, “Not that.”

~

Adonis heard a strange metallic noise. He took the phone out of his leather pouch and stared at it.

“Mortal devices. I can’t keep up.”

“I’m learning all about them. They’re ingenious.” Adonis put the phone to his ear. Reese’s voice made his chest tighten. He missed him. “He said he will help me fight.” Adonis looked at his friend. “That he will do whatever it takes.” He smiled.

“A mortal not afraid to take on the gods? Hmm.”

“He is not just any mortal”—Adonis smiled as he spoke—

“he’s too fabulous for mere words.”

“That sounds a lot like the goddess Styx. After all, she bore the children which helped your father in battle during the Titan War.”

“Yes. Perhaps.” Before Adonis returned the land of mortals, he craned his finger at his companion. “Can you do me a favor while I’m gone?”

“For you, Adonis? Anything.”

Adonis smiled. “I knew I could count on you.”

~

Reese checked his phone again and again for messages or texts. Since Smith wasn’t exactly the texting kind, he grew anxious and claustrophobic in his two bedroom unit. He just had to decide where to go. His urge was to head to Smith’s home. He just didn’t want to become a stalker.

“Screw it.” Reese stuffed his wallet and keys into his pocket and left.

~

Adonis stood before the oracle, smelling something rising up from the bowels of the earth. Was it any wonder the oracle hallucinated? The stink of the air made Adonis cringe. “Where do I find the family tree of the Titan Styx?” He waited as she sat with her back to him, her long black hair covering her like a veil. She didn’t move or acknowledge him.

“Hello?” Adonis walked closer. Still he was not noticed. He cleared his throat loudly and his wings flapped with his annoyance. “Anyone home?” he yelled.

She spun around and stared at him. “Huh?” She removed earbuds from her ears and said, “What? I was just enjoying some Alanis Morrisette. What’s up, Adonis…” She held a small electronic gadget in her hand, which connected to the ear-buds.

“Dude! When did you sprout wings? Don’t tell me. The wicked step-monster is at it again?”

“Yes. You are so wise…” He made a silly face at her at stating the obvious. Adonis walked closer to her, hearing the music spilling out of the ear pieces. “I asked where I can find the family tree of the Titan Styx.”

“Have you tried Ancestry dot com?” She put the buds back into her ears and stood to dance to the music being pumped in her head.

Adonis nodded in thanks and left.

~

Reese knocked on Smith’s front door. The curtains moved and he spotted a woman—his ‘housekeeper’—peek out. She frowned at him and didn’t answer the door. “At least tell me if he’s home!” Reese yelled through the door. He didn’t see the Ferrari anywhere. He looked around the neighborhood at the fancy high end homes. Would he ever earn enough to live like this? He doubted it. He was just a lowly gay romance writer from San Diego. One of a million authors who decided to write the same genre—gay romance, gay erotica, gay smut, whatever they called it. A slush-pile of stories from masters and one-hitwonders that had become tough to wade through for readers. He sank to the front stoop and sat down, holding his phone in his hand and wishing he had power and insight enough to figure out how this would end.

Most of the Greek mythology he knew had unhappy endings. Not his kind of story. Hadn’t Adonis been killed by a boar?

Reese didn’t know what to believe any longer. And even though the guy had wings, he couldn’t be
the
Adonis. That was simply absurd. He was ‘like’ an Adonis.
Yes. That I’ll buy
.

~

Adonis leaned over Heath as he sat at a computer at a desk in an office. “Right.” Adonis pointed to the screen. “How far back does this information go?”

Heath looked over his shoulder as if to see if anyone was overhearing them. “Dude, this is my boss’ computer. Ya shoulda told me you needed help. I would have seen you at my place or Doug’s later.”

“I’m hoping this won’t take long and I need to know now.”

Adonis pointed to the flat screen. “Does this tell me who Reese’s ancestors are?”

“Yup.” Heath tapped keys quickly. “Goes way back. Never checked this site out. I like it. Dude! Look! Norway…cool.”

“I see. There are Andersons that go back generations.”

Adonis rested his hand on Heath’s shoulder. “Keep going.”

“What exactly are you looking for, Smith?”

“The name Styx.”

“Cool band. Very eighties.”

Adonis had no idea what he was talking about. “Keep going.”

Heath peeked around again. “Dude, you be my lookout for my boss, deal?”

“Deal.” Adonis knuckle-bumped him.

~

The sun became obscured with a cloud.

Reese panicked and jumped to his feet, then exhaled when it passed without incident. He’d never been so jumpy. Checking his watch, seeing morning quickly changing to late afternoon, Reese hadn’t gotten a thing done. And he needed to write. It was as if his life had gone on hold until he and Smith worked out how they could manage to stay together. If he could write this romance story, he’d make sure love found a way. Wasn’t that what everyone wanted to read? Love conquers all? Love conquers hate? Wipes out ignorance? And makes the world seem like a better place…even in an election year?

Reese took a look at his phone and dialed Smith again. This time he answered.

“Hello?”

He jumped to his feet. “Smith! Where are you?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at your house. Your housekeeper won’t let me in.” He looked up and down the street. “I’m on your front porch.”

“Do you know you have a great-great-great-great-…”

Reese had no idea where this was going but Smith repeated the word ‘great’ too many times to count.

“…grandfather who was a Viking?”

“Huh?” Reese looked back at the house and took a few steps away from the front door in case the woman inside was listening.

“No. Look. Where are you?”

“And did you know Styx is a band as well as a Titan and a river?”

“A band? Smith, what are you talking about?”

“Heath let me listen to their music. Did you know they sound quite good? Though the oracle seems to prefer Alanis Morrisette. And she’s very good as well.”

“Are you high?”

“High? No, I’m on terra firma. Or should I say the red metal firecracker is. I’m headed home.”

“Home…here.” Reese pointed to the ground at his feet.

“There.”

“There here?”

“Therehear? Is that such a place?”

“Are you headed to your house on earth?” Reese yelled in exasperation.

“No need to raise your voice. And yes. With any luck it will become my permanent dwelling.”

“With luck.” Reese looked up to see the Ferrari pull into the driveway. He shut his phone and put it into his pocket, walking towards the car as it slowed to a stop.

He peeked into the passenger’s side and saw Smith still holding the phone to his ear. Reese tapped the closed window. Smith looked at him.

“You can hang up now.”

“Oh.” Smith pushed a few buttons on the phone and climbed out the driver’s side door. He had a folder with him and was dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt, looking like any other mortal, except for the large white wings he had protruding from his back.

“This you must see.” Smith rushed to the front door, turning the knob, which didn’t seem to be locked, and entering. Reese spotted the housekeeper lingering close. Smith waved her off dismissively and walked straight to his bedroom. He sat on the bed, one knee bent under him, and removed a pile of paperwork from the folder.

Standing beside the bed, Reese missed this man so much, he knew if he lost him, he’d go insane. While Smith sorted through the pile of papers, Reese touched the soft waves of Smith’s brown hair.

“Look at this!” Smith’s eyes were on fire. “You have god blood in you!

“God blood? You mean ‘good blood’? Like Nordic?”

“No!” Smith grabbed a handful of Reese’s shirt and yanked him down to sit beside him. “The Titan Styx! You are a great, great…”

Reese held up his hand. “Don’t do that again.”

“Look.” Smith tapped a page of the paperwork with his index finger. “You are a descendent of one of Styx’s children, Power.”

Smith’s eyes were on fire.

Reese was very confused. He picked up the wad of paperwork and read the header. “You looked up my ancestry?”

“I did! Heath helped me. He works in a building that repairs computers. Isn’t that amazing?”

Reese picked up the pile of paperwork. “There must be a hundred pages here.” His eyes widened in awe.

“More numbers? Why are mortals so consumed with numerics?”

Reese thumbed through the body of information until he came to the last page, which consisted of his immediate family tree. “This is impossible. There are no records dating back to…”

Reese returned to the first page. “Dating back to the immortal Greek gods, let alone the Vikings.”

“You see there is. Never underestimate the power of Google. I hear it’s the newest oracle.”

“No. Google is a search engine and Oracle is a computer company.”

“Huh?” Smith tilted his head in that puppy-dog way again.

“Never mind.”

“No! No!” Smith pounded the papers with his fingers. “This is why you can see!” He pointed to his wings. “You are descended from the Titan god Styx and Power. Hello!” Smith went to tap Reese’s head the same way as he hit the paper. Reese swatted his hand aside. “It will take me a week to read through this.”

“You only need this,” Smith picked up the first page, “and this,” he picked up the last. “The rest is filler. And did you know the ink to print this is more expensive than the gasoline for my red metal firecracker?”

“I know. Obscene, huh.”

“Obscene? No. Stupid. Yes.”

Reese’s head began to hurt as he tried to process the information. “So, other god-descendants can see them too?”

“Stands to reason.” Smith pushed the papers to the floor where they fell in a fluttering pile. “Now. Can Hera cast a spell on you?”

“Huh?” Reese read the two pages he had in his hand—the first and last—and couldn’t figure out how they connected since the rest were in a pile of disarray on the floor. He looked at Smith.

Smith looked at him.

Tossing up the last two pieces of paper into the air, Reese leapt on top of him, pinning him to the bed.