P ea pulled up in front of the fire station. "Okay, if you don't want to zap yourself back to my place, just call me when Griffin's break is over and I'll come and get you."
"I don't want to interrupt your time with Vulcan."
"Oh, don't worry about it. He doesn't know I got off work early. He won't be over for another two hours or so, and if he is, so what? He said he was dying to ride in a car. He can just come along."
"I'm nervous," Venus said.
"Well, that's perfectly normal. If you can use the word 'normal' in reference to telling the mortal man you love that you're a goddess," Pea said brightly. "Anyway, there's nothing wrong with being nervous. But my gut tells me everything's going to be okay."
"I hope you're right."
"I'm using my goddess intuition." Pea grinned and tapped the side of her head. "Oh, don't forget your picnic basket." Pea hande Venus the basket of cold chicken and some of the leftover bread and cheese and fruit Vulcan had zapped up for breakfast.
"That's right. Silly that the Goddess of Love would forget that the way to a man's heart is through here." She lifted the basket and pointed to her stomach.
"So the old saying really is true?"
"Darling, I made up that old saying."
"Wow. I had no idea the saying was that old," Pea said.
"Thankfully, I'm well preserved." She could hear Pea giggling as she drove away. Venus was smiling as she walked toward the front of the fire station. She had just figured out that she needed to press the little upraised button, when the door opened.
"I thought I saw you walk up! Come on in."
Venus nodded gratefully at the fireman and then remembered his name. "Thank you, J. D."
J. D. yelled into the back of the station, "Hey y'all! Our sex teacher is here!"
Venus braced herself for the inevitable stampede. It's true she was new to the modern world of mortals, but she certainly was not new to the world of male adoration. True to form, the guys crowded around her, all talking at once about how great the class had been and how much their wives/girlfriends/lovers had appreciated the increase in their education. The goddess smiled beatifically and thanked the men, whom she was beginning to think of as "her boys."
"Okay, okay, enough all ready. You're going to smother her." Griffin growled at the men, who parted to let him through to her with only a few disgruntled looks. "She's my date, which means I'm pleased to say I'll be taking her away from you knot heads." Griffin folded her arm through his lovingly and gave Venus an intimate blue-eyed look that made her want to begin at his toes and lick him all the way up.
"Look at me like that in public and I might make a spectacle of myself," he whispered, leaning close to her as he led her from the group of gawking firemen.
"I've been known to enjoy a good measure of pomp and spectacle," Venus whispered back. "But I do believe I'd prefer doing so in private."
"I'll be in the park. I have my pager on," Griffin called over his shoulder. "If anything happens, beep me, but only if someone's bleeding or on fire."
Venus thought she heard one of the boys mutter something about No fire could be as hot as she is, which made her smile contentedly. Men were men were men. It was just like Pea had said, all of this would work out.
They walked hand-in-hand to Fontana Park, which butted up to the backyard of the Midtown Fire Station. It was supposed to turn cold later that evening, but the sun still tinted the Oklahoma sky with a palette of brilliant colors, and the late February day felt balmy and unseasonably warm. But it was February, and an off-time for the park, so Venus was pleased to see that it was deserted. Griffin led her to a sweet little picnic table that was ringed with winter-naked trees.
"I like this place," Venus said, looking around at the well-kept park. "It feels nice here. Like it's somewhere families come and play."
"It is. For most of the year this park is filled with families and children," Griffin said. He tried to peek into the picnic basket, but she playfully slapped his hand.
"Let me set this out properly. Pea would be very upset if she knew you were grabbing at the food like a barbarian." Venus pulled out the checkered tablecloth and the place settings Pea had so meticulously packed for them, and as she did so she thought about what it would be like to be a mortal woman, to come here with Griffin and their daughters and spend the day as a family. The Goddess of Love stopped that indulgent fantasy. She could never be the mortal wife of an ordinary man, no matter how much she might secretly desire it. Her place for eternity was on Mount Olympus. The most she could hope for was that she would be allowed a brief respite of time with this man - this unexpected love of hers - before she had to return to the business of immortality. If only Griffin would understand that, accept that...
"Griffin, there is something I must tell you."
"You didn't make this chicken," he said, as he bit into a succulent leg. Venus's forehead furrowed. "No. I didn't."
"I didn't think so. I'll bet Pea did."
"Of course she did. Pea is an excellent cook, and she's very generous. It was her idea to fill this basket with food."
"She's a great girl." He popped a piece of Olympus's finest cheese into his mouth.
"Of course she is." Venus shook her head refocusing her thoughts. "Pea is not what I wanted to talk with you about. Nor did I want to talk about cooking...." She glanced at the food Griffin was busily tearing into. "Or chicken or whatnot."
"Sorry. I got distracted. I'm starved." He wiped his mouth, grinned at her, and gave her a quick, but thorough kiss. She thought he looked boyish and happy and very much in love. "What did you want to tell me?" But before she could reply, he said, "Oh, by the way, my sisters came by and asked if you'd like to come to dinner tomorrow. I know they're a little much, and yes, all four of them will be there, but I can promise you the food will be good." His eyes crinkled at the corners as he continued, "And they did ask me to invite you. I believe their exact words were,
'We like the goddess.'"
Venus felt her throat close with the intensity of her emotions and she had to take a quick drink from one of the water bottles Pea had packed to cover the fact that she couldn't make her voice work. His sisters recognized her. Oh, not consciously. Somewhere in the depths of their feminine souls, they knew who she was and they accepted her. It moved her beyond words. Now if only their brother would accept her, too.
"I would like very much to be with your family tomorrow," she finally managed to say. "Good. I want you to be," Griffin told her.
"Griffin. We must talk."
"You already said that." This time she seemed to have more of his attention, though. At least he was looking at her while he chewed. She drew a long, steadying breath.
"I want you to know who I really am."
"Okay with me. I want to know everything about you."
Stalling, she took another long drink of water.
"Hey, you're not going to tell me anything bizarre like you used to be a man, are you?" he joked.
"Of course I didn't used to be a man, but you might find what I have to tell you bizarre."
"Okay, go ahead." He wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Tell me something bizarre."
"I am Venus, ancient Goddess of Sensual Love, Beauty and the Erotic Arts." She used her full and most formal title, deciding if she was going to tell him, she might as well be thorough. "I visited the modern mortal world several days ago on a shopping spree with Persephone." Venus frowned, remembering. "Actually it's the Goddess of Spring who is really responsible for this whole incident. She took me to Lola's, and it just so happened that at the same time Pea was there. She invoked my aid using some kind of spell that bound me here until I helped her. You know Pea used to really be a mess - she was sweet, but had no idea what to do with her hair. And you should have seen the shoes she used to wear...ugh. Anyway I've been helping her, which is why I've been staying with her. Not that I'm sorry I came here and met you and Pea,"
she added hastily, then took a deep, calming breath, afraid the explanation was getting away from her. "Persephone and that whole thing really isn't what's important. What's important is that you know I am an ancient goddess, one of the Twelve Olympians. I live in my temple on Mount Olympus." Griffin didn't say anything. He was just looking at her with a very odd expression on his handsome face. He had quit eating, though, so she was sure she had all of his attention. "My temple is actually quite nice. I'm sure you would like it. Of course you may come there." She paused, frowning. "Unless the zapping between worlds bothers you, then I'll come here. Either way, like you said this morning, a long-distance relationship is possible. And I do love you, Griffin, and want this to work between us," she finished in a rush.
"Well, at least that explains why you were so moved by my sculpture."
"Exactly!" she said, beginning to feel the stirrings of relief. He didn't seem shocked or upset. Perhaps this would be easier than she thought.
Griffin started to chuckle. He reached forward and kissed her again. "One of the things I like best about you is your sense of humor. So what you're really telling me is that you expect me to treat you like a goddess. Okay. I can do that."
Venus shook her head. "No, that's not it at all. I actually like it that you treat me as if I'm a mortal woman. I don't want you to worship me or fear me or ask boons of me, which is really how a goddess is treated. I want things to go on between us as we have begun them. But you must know the truth about me."
"That you're a goddess."
She nodded. "Venus. Or Aphrodite, if you want to address me by the name the Greeks use. I've always preferred Venus, though."
"And you're being serious. You really believe you're Venus."
She sighed. The look he was giving her clearly said he was afraid she was completely mad.
"Remember when we first met at the masquerade ball? The clothing I was wearing wasn't a costume. It was what I normally wear on Olympus. Well, minus the mask," she added. "I simply zapped the robes from my temple for Pea and me to wear." Venus glanced around them. Good. The park was still deserted. "Like this - " Venus passed her hand in front of her body, and her jeans, sweater and jacket began to shimmer until within moments she was standing before Griffin, dressed in the full, glorious regalia of a true goddess.
"Shit!" he cried, and took two quick steps away from her.
"I'm sorry," she said hastily, walking toward him. "Pea hates it when I zap things, too. But I needed to show you that I'm not insane."
"I think I might be," Griffin said, taking two more steps away from her. Feeling foolish and a little worried, she stopped chasing him. "No, no. Don't worry, you're not. This is all true. See, you can touch the robes, they're real." She held out her silk-clad arm, but he made no motion to touch her. She sighed. "Pea made the chicken you were eating, but the cheese and bread were zapped from Olympus. You don't have to be worried about touching things from there; they won't hurt you."
"I need to sit down." Griffin walked around her and sat on the picnic table bench. He was still staring at Venus and shaking his head.
"I suppose this might take a little getting used to," Venus said. She walked back to the table, too, but was careful not to get too close to Griffin. She really didn't want him to move away from her again.
"A little?" he said incredulously.
"Well, it's not like it's changed who I am. I've always been Venus - from the first moment you spoke to me at the party until now. I'm no different. It doesn't really change anything."
"Yes. It does."
Venus felt a shiver of worry clench through her body, making her feel lightheaded. His voice had changed completely. He spoke in a cold, emotionless tone. His expressive eyes had flattened to those of a stranger.
"But it doesn't have to. I still love you. You still love me - me."
"No, Goddess. This changes everything," he said quietly.
She noticed he didn't comment at all on her declaration of love or on the reminder that he was supposed to love her in return. And all at once the worry that had been fluttering through her began to change to anger. Hadn't he meant what he said?
"Why?" Venus asked, her newly emotionless tone mirroring his. "Why does who I am change things? Or were you lying about loving me?"
"You're calling me a liar!" He stood up. "What about all that crap you gave me about not having love in your life until now? Christ! You are love! So what was I, just a mortal toy for you to play with? Some kind of rat in a maze experiment?"
"How dare you!" Her righteous anger caused the trees that ringed their bench to quiver as if the hand of a giant - or a goddess - had suddenly shaken them. Griffin glanced at the whipping branches, his eyes widening. "When I spoke those words to you I was showing you my heart. I have been alone, for far longer than your mortal brain could even begin to comprehend."
"The Goddess of Love? Alone? Because I'm a mortal man do you think that also makes me a fucking idiot?"
"Until this moment I didn't." In some part of her mind, Venus knew that his harsh words were more a reflection of his shock and hurt at thinking that she had deceived him, than a reflection of his true feelings for her. But once the wrath of a goddess is roused, it is a force that is hard to quell...and Griffin had definitely aroused her wrath.
"The Venus I loved was like me. She'd avoided love until we met. Now she was willing to finally commit, to figure out a way to make a future together."
"I am still that Venus!" Her shout caused the ground around them to shudder.
"How! How do you propose we make a future together? I may not know much about mythology, but I think I have the part right about you being immortal, don't I? Hell! Are we even the same damn species? Can we make children together? And what happens in ten, twenty, thirty years when I'm an old man and you're still young and beautiful and unchanged? Did you think about any of those things when you decided to play at loving a man?"
Venus stepped back. She felt as if he had slapped her. She drew around her the dignity and power of a great goddess. She felt the shimmer of her divinity caress her skin and the silverblond mass of her hair begin to lift and crackle with a life of its own. She knew her violet eyes were glowing with an unearthly light, just as she knew that the brilliance of her immortality unbridled would be difficult for any mortal to gaze upon. Venus didn't care. She wanted Griffin to see her magnificence. She wanted him to see what he had lost forever. When she spoke, her voice was magnified by the magic that was her birthright.
"No. I did not think of those things when I allowed myself to love you. I thought only of how our souls called to one another. I see now I must have been mistaken. Your soul is too tainted by mortal fear and selfishness. It is not courageous enough to love mine. I leave you now, Griffin DeAngelo, son of man, and return to Olympus where I belong. I could wipe your memory clean of me, as easily as I would wipe chalk from a slate, but I will not. I want you to remember always that you denied Love herself." Then Venus, Goddess of Sensual Love and Beauty, lifted her arms and in a cascade of shooting sparks, disappeared.