Kate's alarm woke her from a beautiful dream of a place she had never been to felt like home. She had been running through the woods of this place with the two most beautiful wolves by her side, she had been content and happy. Groaning she sat up and looked around, the day after a full moon hunt she always felt exhausted. Swinging her legs out of the bed she headed to her coffee maker, she had so much to do that day and she was dragging.
"You could always allow me to help out," the Mother's voice said cheerfully.
"No thank you, I need to keep my life as normal as possible and that means running the cafe without help from you," she poured a generous cup of coffee, added cream and sugar, and snagged her phone before sitting down and texting Ollie. Hopefully, he had some fresh pastries already made up she didn't think she had time to wait for them. She looked at the clock, nope, she barely had time to finish her coffee and get dressed. She took a big gulp from her mug and stood up, so much for a few calm minutes. Heading to her room she grabbed a pair of jeans and a tank top. It was comfortable and fit snuggly against her athletic frame, nothing loose for a demon to grab onto, rule number one. She pulled her hair into a bun and threw on her boots. Grabbing her bag she tossed her wallet and keys inside. Her phone sounded, Ollie, he had anticipated she would need them today and had them packed and ready for her. She breathed a sigh of relief, one less thing to worry about.
She headed out locked the door and started walking away, "Aren't you forgetting something," Crone's voice whispered. She paused and thought, of course, she smacked her forehead. It had been two years and she still forgot some of the most basic things, and a lot of those things are what kept her safe. She started to think about it, if the runes and charms were supposed to keep the gods from being able to hurt her why was Nyx able to come right on in?
"Nyx was able to enter our home because she meant no harm to us," the Mother said.
"Then why did you react the way you did, especially you Mother, I only ever see you that way when you are afraid for me."
"You are right Kate, but I may have overreacted, you are still new to this, you can't access our magick without help and I didn't want you to be vulnerable."
"So it's still important to charge the runes?"
"Of course, why wouldn't you, you did hear her tell us Venus and Hera are working together yes?" the Maidens sarcastic voice replied.
"No need to be touchy, I was only asking," Kate snarked back, she placed her hand on the door and let the magick of the three-faced goddess fill her, it flowed out of her hands and into the door making the runes she had painted there glow with a silver light before fading into the door.
"There now can we go please?" she headed to her station wagon. It may not have been the sexiest vehicle but it was reliable and had all the room she could need. Turning the ignition it kicked right on and she put it into gear and made her way to Ollies.
She pulled into the parking lot of Ollie's bakery, put it in park, and pulled her phone out. Ollie was the best pastry chef in town but he was very secretive about his kitchen.
"Yellow!" Ollie's cheerful voice answered after a few rings.
"Hey Ollie, I'm in the parking lot, are you ready for me?" He didn't answer but the metal door rolled open and there was Ollie. He stood there his cheesy smile beaming down at her, his tan arms were crossed across his broad chest. His black hair was combed away from his face and had bits of flour on it. He jumped down from the loading area, his boots slammed to the ground and he opened the door for her.
"Hello beautiful," his thick Italian accident rolled off his tongue smoothly. She smiled, which may have made her melt once upon a time, sadly Ollie wasn't interested in her that way, he wasn't interested in anyone romantically, not women, not men, he was just Ollie and he liked it that way.
"Hey Ollie, thank you so much you are such a lifesaver, I meant to call you last night but was asleep before my head hit the pillow," she tossed her phone in her bag avoiding his eyes, he was good at reading them and she didn't want him to know she was lying. She hadn't told Ollie or Amanda about Hekate, it wasn't the easiest thing to explain and she was sure they wouldn't understand, in fact, she was sure they would think she was crazy.
"It was no trouble Katie, I was in the kitchen last night anyways," he led the way to the stacks of boxes sitting on the loading area and started loading them into the back of the car.
"I know, I'm still sorry though, the cafe was busier than usual yesterday and then I had errands, by the time I got home I was so exhausted I barely had time to brush my teeth."
He laughed putting the last box in and closing the door, "I bet Amanda was in a great mood by the end of the day."
She shook her head, Amanda was a good sport but at the same time, she had been known to get a little...cranky with customers from time to time. Maybe it was time for her to take a vacation, it would be summer soon, which meant she could hire a college kid to help her at the shop, it wouldn't be a problem at all, and she did deserve it.
"Well gorgeous, I must head back in, I have a large order that has to be finished by tonight and I still need to make the frosting for the feathers."
"Feathers?" she looked at him confused.
He nodded, "Well, of course, I can't make a peacock cake without feathers." Kate's palms became sweaty, and her heart sped up.
"Calm down, it doesn't mean anything, people order all sorts of things from Ollie," the Maiden said.
"That's interesting, what kind of person orders a peacock cake?" she fiddled with her keys, she only knew of one god that had any interest in peacocks, she had read it in one of her grandmother's books, Hera.
"The same kind of person who wants it sitting in an open clamshell," he looked at her a little concerned, "Are you okay Katie? You seem a little pale."
She laughed nervously, "I'm just naturally pale Ollie, you know this," she turned to open her door. She needed to get away from him, she felt a panic attack coming on.
"Okay, but just know if you need anything I am always here," he helped her open the door and closed it for her. He stood there and waited for her to pull out of the parking lot before going back inside.
She drove in silence for a minute, before she started to ask questions she needed to calm herself down, she may not be able to access Hekate's magick on purpose but it had gotten the best of her from time to time, especially when she was panicking.
"It will be okay," the Mother said comfortingly.
"You don't know that, they ordered a cake from Ollie. Why would they need to do that if they weren't trying to tell you something? How did they know I knew Ollie?" she gripped the steering wheel tighter, she kept her friends in the dark for more than fear of them thinking she was crazy, if they knew who and what she was they would be targets for Ares and his demons.
"She has a point Mother," the Crone said pointedly, "We know Hera likes to send messages and this has her fingerprints all over it."
"You may be right but at the moment we need to keep Kate calm, she is driving this hunk of metal and I don't want it to crash because she can't breathe," the Mother said a little snappy.
"Don't snap at her Mother, she is only pointing out that Nyx's warning may be more serious than we originally thought," the Maiden said.
Kate couldn't take it anymore, all their voices were giving her a headache on top of the fear coursing through her body, she pulled over and reached for her amulet.
"No!" the goddess's voice echoed loudly in her head making her bite her lip and lean against her steering wheel.
"Ow! Not so loud please," she begged rubbing her temple.
"We are sorry but you can't take the amulet off, not only would it make it impossible for us to talk to you it will also show Ares just where to find us."
"Fine but please just be quiet for a minute, I just need a minute and then I can go back to trying to be my grandmother."
"We do not want you to be your grandmother, Kate, we want you to find your strength, you have it inside you, you just have to access it."
She sighed, "Please just give me a few hours to be normal, let me run my cafe, at the end of the day I promise I will feel better and we can deal with all of this," she waited a few minutes but no one said anything, she sighed and pulled back on to the road.
She was headed to her car at the end of the day, it had been just as busy as the day before and she had let Amanda leave early since she closed up last night. The only sound was her shoes tapping against the asphalt, she hated when she had to park in the alleyway but the entire parking lot had been full when she had gotten there this morning. The alley was her backup spot and Amanda hated when she parked there but with Hekate, she felt pretty safe.
She was about to unlock the door when someone slammed into her from behind. Her head bounced off the door disorienting her and giving her attacker a chance to spin her around and grip her throat.
"Hello Hekate," the man stood a foot taller than her, his hair was cut so short she could see his scalp, and his calloused hands squeezed just enough to stop her from crying out but not enough to stop her from breathing. His eyes were deep circles of dark flames and she could see the anger flaring.
"Deimos," the goddesses voice, usually so strong and sure of herself was a whisper, Kate could almost feel her shrink back from him. It was odd to feel them so scared Kate froze for another second but then she realized he was a man, and god or not all men had one weak spot. She drove her knee straight into his groin making sure to put all her power behind it. He howled and released her throat falling to his knees. She didn't waste a second, she jumped in her car, started it, and threw it into drive leaving him kneeling on the ground his eyes following her.
She drove straight home, jumped out of her car, raced into her apartment, and slammed the door. Spinning around she flipped all the locks, put her hands on the door and let Hekates magick renew the ruins powers. Once she knew she would be safe, at least for now, she took a deep breath and threw her bag on the couch, and spun towards the bathroom. Her head was pounding she needed aspirin now, she flipped open the cabinet and searched around for the bottle.
"It will be okay Kate," the Mother said sounding calm but Kate could feel her panic, she could feel all of their panic.
"I find that hard to believe, you called that man Deimos. Ares is supposed to be trapped in your realm, why is his son able to find us now? Is Ares not trapped in your realm? Why isn't Ares trapped in your realm?" she couldn't find the aspirin, she knew she had aspirin, where the heck was it? She huffed and slammed the cabinet closed, sliding down the tiled walls she slumped and curled her legs up resting her head on her knees.
"He is supposed to be in our realm, I am not sure how he escaped but I would think it might have something to do with Hera and Venus," the Maiden's voice said frustrated, "Collapsing to the floor isn't going to help anything, and it's a matter of time before he figures out where we live so we need to stop pouting and figure this out."
"It's not as though we don't know that, but this is a lot for her, especially since we still haven't finished her training," the Crone said.
"Could you please stop arguing, it's not going to help us figure out what to do," Kate groaned into her legs, she had known this was possible when she accepted this gift, but nothing like this had happened in the thousands of years Hekate had been sharing a body with her ancestors.
"She is right, we need to decide what we are going to do," the Mother said, her calm voice usually helped Kate but now she just wanted answers.
Standing up she went to her room and kneeled in front of the piles of books and journals her grandmother had left to her. Skimming them she pulled out a few volumes and started flipping through them hoping somewhere there was an answer. There were entries about a ton of different interactions between her ancestors and Hekate's family and though not all of them had been bad she didn't see any that referred to anyone meeting Deimos. Flipping through one of the final books she happened across an entry on Venus, or as this person named her Aphrodite.
"We have met Aphrodite, she has shown up at the markets
and decided to try and corner us in the alley on our way
home. Though a goddess her powers were nothing compared
to the power my goddess allows me to hold. She could have
chosen to walk away when it was clear she couldn't win
against me, but jealousy made her choose to lose violently
instead. Before she faded back to her realm she promised to
come for Hekate again and this time she would not be alone.
I suppose that is a problem for a future vessel, and I hope
when the time comes she is ready, jealousy does ugly things
to people."
- Kathryn 1438"
Although interesting this tidbit seemed to be nothing but another entry until she realized what Kathryn had been saying, she had been warning future vessels to be wary of Venus and now the goddess had teamed up with one of the meanest goddesses there was.
"Did no one remember this?" she asked the goddess in her head. There was no response, and Kate cleared her throat irritably, "No one remembers this cryptic threat from Venus?"
"At that point, she was no threat to anyone, it didn't seem likely she would be back anytime soon," the Maiden said sniffing. Her attitude was starting to irritate Kate, it wasn't like she had asked for this, she was handling things the best way she could.
"Well she is here now, and she seems to be causing a lot of problems, I can't say for sure but I am willing to bet she and Hera have something to do with Ares attacking us. So maybe we should start taking her a little more seriously." Kate stood up and set the book down on her bed, and headed back to her kitchen, she needed something with alcohol.