Forbidden To Love (The Erosians) Read online

  I'm not sad he didn’t want me. I don’t even want to imagine what my life might have been had he said, “Yes, Zeus. She’s the one.” The pain of the speedy rejection is what hurts; he only took one look at me. I felt a dagger swipe through my body, and the wound is still raw. At times, I wish Zeus had done what Eros was demanding from him and thrown me back to Prometheus so he could roll me up and try again!

  I start re-scanning each of the cliques here at the school hoping someone new has magically appeared whose aura fits perfectly with another’s. I hate the way the school groups itself into small bands of people, they become so stuck in the same patterns they never pay attention to anyone else around them. On the rare occasions I do find matches if they’re from different cliques there’s a whole social divide to get over before they’ll let themselves be together! That is one of the things about the mortal world which undoubtedly drives me insane.

  If I’d been blessed or cursed enough to stay in Olympus I’d still be surrounded by cliques, the court there is just as guilty. The few weeks I spent there before we came to the mortal world were a lot like high school, but with eternal sunshine, the most gorgeous kinds of food and the most spectacular gardens you’d ever seen. Honestly, though the Prom King and Queen titles would go straight to Ares and Aphrodite, the geek clique would be led by Hepthasteus, and Moirae with Persephone would be representing the more Gothic types. Imagine high school with magic and immortality, and you’re close to Olympus.

  Thank the Gods I can finally see a potential match. A dark haired beauty looks miserable in her emo-esque circle, pretending to listen to one of the other girl's stories about how she almost lost her ‘V’ with some guy she met the other night. She is practically crying out to be matched with someone. She has a beautiful golden aura that shimmers in the afternoon sun.

  The gold would knit almost perfectly with the green one from the jock guy who has been stretching the same calf muscle for at least twenty minutes while he gazes distractedly towards the school gates. His thoughts may be off somewhere else, but his aura is glistening.

  It’s a good job I'm here because they’d never notice each other or act upon the sparks of lust which might be simmering down in their bodies if they did. They’d be too afraid of the judgments they’d get from everyone else. Sad really, but clique or no clique, my job is to pair people up where they appear, and they belong together.

  Focusing in on the golden haze surrounding the girl I close my eyes and allow all my energy to leave my body. The usual ball of heat swells in my stomach, drawing warmth from every part of my body leaving crisp tingles behind. The ball explodes into two streams that shoot from my arms, flowing out to where I’m aiming. They reach her and begin to stretch the edge of her aura to a point in the sky halfway between where she’s sitting and where he’s doing his stretches.

  The gold arc floats in the summer breeze, I shift my attention to the guy’s green glow and quickly begin pulling. My energy moves before me and takes hold of the shimmer pulsing around him. I gently knit the two of them together, taking care not to cause any fractures that would manifest later in their relationship as rough patches.

  Pulling the guy's aura takes more energy than I was expecting. He’s pretty reluctant to be tied. Concentrating harder I finish the pairing seconds before my energy gives way. I almost fall backwards off the bench as my energy snaps back to me after it had been pulled so thinly. The beautiful colors of their auras melt into each other quickly creating a complete new shade that will be unique to their love.

  My job is now complete. I’ve joined them to each other, and now their auras will do the rest. Gradually they’ll be brought together without them realising. There’ll be accidental shoulder bumps, and delightfully confused expressions of 'Didn’t I see you earlier?', until they giggle nervously and begin talking, slowly becoming more than strangers.

  Cassidy and Keagan are their names. I heard them being used by their friends and pretty soon both groups of friends will be whispering about them as a couple. A small burst of satisfaction explodes in my chest, I guess I do get some happiness from helping others find love – how could I not want to help others fall in love when I want so badly to fall myself. I guess when you’ve had the feeling and lost it; like Eros.

  The bubbles of happiness all pop and the familiar painful surge of loneliness fires through my body. I grit my teeth trying not to focus on the pain as it soars along every vein.

  The bell’s about to go ending our lunch break. I get up quickly and head towards the beige brick building that will trap us for the next couple of hours. I want to get there before everyone else as I usually do, so I can stand near the door and watch for any matches wandering past. Bending down to pick up my bag full of the school books I’ve never had any intention of reading, I do a quick final scan of the students.

  What the hell?

  My eyes are forced to stop on something weird on the football field. Something I’ve never seen before and no one told me about the possibility of it existing. Squinting to try and get a better look doesn't help. Neither does shielding my eyes from the sun to make sure they aren’t messing with me.

  Walking slowly and cautiously towards the edge of the field my heart starts thumping in my chest. I can’t tear my eyes from the abomination before me; my legs move without instruction almost landing me in the lap of one of the girls I’d been listening to earlier. This can’t be right. My stomach starts to twist itself into knots, but I can’t figure out why.

  Fear?

  But why should I be afraid? This feels nothing like what I experienced in Olympus when I was faced with Eros.

  Reaching the edge of the group of football guys who are no longer stretching, I can’t pass what I'm seeing off as a mistake or a trick of the light. This guy has no aura! My heart starts to rattle loudly in my chest, my throat becomes dry, and my head is screaming for me to run. But I can’t. Something has me locked down in place.

  A pain starts to swell in the bottom of my stomach; erupting into flames that burn towards my chest, like flaming claws ripping away at me from the inside. Bile rises in the back of my throat as I almost succumb to this pain and crumble right now before him. I need to assess him properly to try and figure out what he truly is, but the torture I'm under is forcing my eyes shut; like someone doesn’t want me to see him!

  I take a deep breath and throw my head upwards towards him, I hold back the scream that rises from the channels of pain contracting around my neck as I arch it back. I can’t think of any rational excuse for the pain he is putting me through.

  I can take him in clearly now, and there’s no doubting that the guy certainly has no aura. He is not of this world. Nothing surrounds him; no glow, no shimmer, and no halo of light all mortals possess some inner light that I can see wrapped around them like a full body blanket – but not this guy. What type of immortal can he be? His powers must be advanced; he isn’t even looking at me and I'm suffering from the effects of his talents. He must be so experienced in inflicting this type of pain that eye contact isn’t a factor in his abilities; unlike most immortals I’ve heard stories about.

  I stare at him, not knowing what to do or what he is, or whether I should do something. My focus is torn between controlling my breathing, so I don’t succumb to this agony and trying to figure out what he is. Is he a creation of Hecate, a lycanthrope or a vrykolakas? They’re only sent to the mortal world on missions from Hades and those missions always end badly for someone.

  Goosebumps rise all over my skin momentarily distracting me from my hell; I haven’t had them since I was presented to Eros. They are only brought on by fear, and nothing has scared me since Eros threatened to destroy me. Why am I so afraid now? What sort of creation is he? They aren’t even the worst questions to be asked: the most troubling is what purpose has he been created for?

  I carry on staring at him, sure he’s going to charge towards me if he is an Underworld immortal, or maybe he’s going to make all the mortals freeze, or
instantly kill them so he can deal with me alone no one sends this sort of advanced immortal just for a chat. My internal fiery pain has no further north to travel and is now rushing south quicker than it rose; as if gravity is helping with my destruction.

  If he has been sent by Hades, then I'm the only one he could be here for. There’s no way he would be here for a mortal at the school I happen to be working in. Coincidences like that don’t happen. Maybe Zeus and Eros reached a deal before the end of his deadline, and he is now getting his wish. I'm going to be destroyed!

  Swallowing hard, I continue to fight to get my breathing back under control. I focus on taking in the air and releasing it. If I don’t focus on something repetitive he’s going to win.

  I'm close to giving in until he looks at me. My head is silenced as my body is washed with instant calm. My heart returns to a normal rhythm, the shivering stops and the urge to run is gone. The agonizing fire dies away, allowing my brain to concentrate again. The pain has lost; our eyes meet, torturing me now will do nothing.

  Staring into his eyes I can’t doubt he is alive and isn’t from the undead. Hecate uses those that are already dead to create that race. The life has already left them and even after she invokes them their eyes never shine with life; like his are. Hecate invokes corpses with dark intentions, giving them one mission to complete before they return to their motionless state. Even if his eyes weren’t glowing I would know if he were one of them. He would be as grotesque as a lost soul that wanders the Underworld; like the ones I witnessed that time in the portal Amora created when she was trying to scare me.

  This guy certainly doesn't have the body or face of a lost soul or one of the undead for that matter. He looks sensational and doing what I do, I’ve seen a lot of attractive people walking around, but never someone as handsome as he is. I’ve been witness to the Gods of Olympus who are all pretty hot, but nothing compared to him.

  There’s more to him though than the breathtaking features that create his alluring image. There’s something else that sets him apart from all the others. He is slightly taller than the rest, his shoulders are a touch broader, and you just know he’s stronger than them all. His body is muscled but, not in a ripped, bulging way. The power he holds rests confidently under his impressively taut skin. He acts differently from the other jocks as well. They’ve all torn their tops off as they always do at the first ray of sun, and are doing their cool down stretches, which they usually do in the lockers, at the edge of the field and are bordering on a pretty x rated performance for the growing crowd. He though isn’t interested.

  But, if he is an Underworld demon, why would he care about anyone else here? He wouldn’t be showboating like the rest; he’d be as focused as he is now on his target, on his prey, on me! This relief he’s providing me with is to taunt me. Before was probably just a demonstration of his power; putting me in that heart stopping pain to show me what he is capable of doing! If I don’t cooperate with his wishes - I swear his lips twitched into a smile.

  I’m suspicious that Allana can read my mind and, if she can, there’s no reason this guy in front of me can’t. He must be a God.

  Dragging my eyes from his, I run them down the rest of him. The more I take in of him, the more I'm sure he’s a God. Wait, why am I so sure that if he is an immortal he has to be from the Underworld? He could be from Olympus. That would explain his freaking hotness, and his lack of an aura. But surely I would have been told? And his skin isn’t shimmering purple like those from Olympus. But then our ethereal radiance does fade the longer you’re in the mortal world. Good job too or the school nurse would be doing all sorts of tests on me to figure out why I'm glowing violet.

  I’d need to be told; especially if he’s going to turn up here at the same school where I'm playing a mortal! Unless I'm not meant to know; there is the possibility he’s here to take me back to the court of Zeus to be destroyed. What if he’s been following me for months; waiting for his best opportunity to strike. I guess he doesn’t need to be from the Underworld for my fate to be sealed.

  One of his friends slaps him on the shoulder, laughing, and he turns to glance at them. The force of something snapping between us is intense, like we were both holding the end of an elastic band and he just lets go. Tingles start up in my arms and legs as my body returns to me. I'm no longer held in his gaze. A new breed of fear awakens in my veins and so does the desire to run.

  “Like what you see?” one of the jocks asks me whilst flexing one of his biceps. The rest of them fell about laughing, except him. I watch all the football guys staring at me as I figure out the best way to take off. The sane part of my brain tells me screaming and running through the school common is not going to be the best way to end this situation. The jocks' laughter gets louder, and my cheeks start to burn as I scold myself for standing here like an idiot as they continue looking at me then at each other and start smirking and shaking their heads. I give in and run towards the school I don’t care how crazy I look.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “No idea, maybe she wants you”

  “Seriously, no thanks! I mean she’s hot an’ all but with a reputation like hers I’m not going there”

  Their mocking stings more than usual. I glimpse back at him, the aura less sadistic angel to gauge his reaction, but he is deliberately staring into the distance.

  I pass other clusters of students dispersing to get back to their classes on my way to the entrance doors. They’re all grinning madly, so they all saw what happened.

  My body flushes brightly with embarrassment! Thankfully the further from him I get the weaker the stabs of fear are in my body. What they leave in their wake though is almost as distressing - an ache that stinks of rejection. I actually wish the ground would open and let me fall straight through into the court of Hades so he could relieve me of my life. I may not have liked this way of living before but now it's worse than ever.

  My brain kicks into overdrive as it tries to rationalize the whole situation, telling me not to worry about the mortal embarrassment and that they probably didn’t even notice my open-mouthed fixation with him. The irrational side of my brain is screaming for me to forget about the mortal embarrassment and to concentrate instead on the new threat of an immortal enemy who can cripple me without even peering in my direction. But the laughing of all the guys around him silences both of those voices.

  “Hey Josh I think it was you she was after, guess you’ve got a stalker.”

  Why care what they think; my mind tries to soothe me, but those calming words are shut down quickly by the hysterical questioning that overpowers any type of sense. What is he, why he is here and why am I terrified of him!

  Revelation

  ~2~

  Slumping by the school entrance after the bell has already gone; I watch carelessly as everyone rapidly piles their way into school. I guarantee you none of them is that desperate to get to class. The heady stench of perfume, aftershave and sweat hits the back of my throat as they all rush past. I choke down the gag erupting inside of me.

  As I try not to choke, Keagan’s dark blue hoody emerges at the back of the crowd from my left. He’s on a direct collision course with Cassidy who’s walking to my right. At least I’ve done one thing right today.

  Glancing shyly at each other simultaneously, their auras start to pulse because of their proximity. The last of the crowd files into the school leaving them alone in the foyer, well apart from me, but they’re too busy staring at each other to notice I'm here.

  Keagan moves towards the door and holds it open for Cassidy. Confusion shrouds her face as she walks through mumbling some form of thanks. Keagan’s lips tighten into a weird sort of smile in response, and he nods at her. Their first meeting over and I suppose it went as well as I could hope. The mood I'm in though wouldn’t change even if they had run into each other’s arms and announced to whoever would listen how in love they are.

  I exhale loudly. I'm alone, so no one’s going to pay att
ention to my sighs of despair. The double doors swung shut minutes ago, I should push them open and head to geography, but how is learning about the different continents going to help me?

  None of the questions currently dancing around in my head will be answered by which country has the highest amount of rainfall. I can just picture the teacher deciding to take a detour into the unknown lives of the hidden immortals who walk among us and their mind spinning dilemmas. It’d be pretty cool if the teacher did though!

  The blood finally starts draining from my cheeks so at least I don’t appear as embarrassed as before, but this unease in my stomach is refusing to leave me. Thankfully it’s not the intense cramp I got when I was near him, but I feel as if my body has been coated with a simmering pain that is just waiting to burst into flames. I bite my lip with a little too much force. I always chew on my lip when I'm anxious, but I never draw blood.

  What’s happening to me?

  With my footsteps echoing in the deserted strip of the hallway, tiny spasms - like electric shocks, start to erupt inside of me. I know they’re only baby threats to some mother of all attacks that could be approaching me. I daren’t glance behind me for the cause. I'm afraid I’ll spot the aura-less figure, or Josh as he seems to be known, ready to chase after me. If this pain only happens when he is close to me, he can't be too far from me right now.

  Quickening my footsteps, I hurry to the end of the corridor and throw myself around the corner, straight into the welcome relief of other girls running as late to class as I am.

  “Did you notice Blane’s body? He has undoubtedly been hitting the gym” One them gushes as she waits for her friend to gather her books.