Chapter Ten

“The child of destruction, a child of pain, one that

was never supposed to live. Will live well in the human

realm until her time comes to ascend, the gods will

quake, Olympus will fall the true goddess will come

home and rule them all.”

-The Fates, Mount Olympus, 1 January 2008

Aiden sat in his dark blue F-250 with his hand on the stick shift, drumming his fingers along with the music. He was in an odd mood that day, listening to the country rubbish that most of the state loved. In his opinion they should have just left the music in the 1920′s when it began to really find its feet and never thought about it again, now it was a genre of its own and a power house in the state. Every few stations were either solely country or played it with an interspersing with pop. That was the only genre of music that truly made him want to hurl, he had had enough of the Britney Spears of this era to last him all of eternity.

As the light turned green he heard the voice of his father boom in his head and he cringed, Mathis must have delivered the message to him, although he didn’t expect it to be this quick. Most gods would not want to let Zeus know that he had signed his own death wish, it was a suicide mission. Of course, so was coming after him and someone that he cared about. He didn’t care what the prophecy said about Kasey’s daughter, all he cared about was the fact that she didn’t deserve to die. At least not because of the fact that she was going to be a mother some day, that was a fate that he would not wish on anyone. People deserved to be happy, even if it was only for a little while.

“What is it, Father?” Aiden asked aloud as the music continued to blare as he enjoyed the sounds of the group Alabama. He had to hand it to them, they were one of the few country bands that he tolerated well and right now he just wanted to get lost in the music.

“I’m so glad for you son, so glad that you have finally found a good woman that will love you, that will have your children,” Zeus said, in a rare moment of compassion for his illigetimate son.

Three thousand years before he had met Aiden’s mother and he missed that woman, he missed a mortal that had made him feel again. All the gods on Olympus knew that if it had been possible, he would have kept her from dying, but they hadn’t discovered the way to do that at the time. She was the only reason that he had even begun to search for a way to let a mortal stay with a god for all eternity and he had found it, but he had found no one that was worthy enough to bestow it upon. None of the mortals had passed the necessary test.

“One that you sent a god hit team to kill or do you not remember doing that?” Aiden spat out as he felt the shock ripple through his father’s thoughts. Either he had not sent out the hit team or Aiden was never supposed to know to find out about it, he personally voted for the latter. It was one of those underhanded things that his old man was known for doing, especially when it came to a delicate matter like this one. He just should have picked a better person to carry out the task, one that would not break to Aiden’s will.

“I didn’t send out a hit team,” Zeus said as he materialized in the passenger’s seat and looked over at his son. He could see the doubt in his eyes and he could also see the hatred that his son had for whoever had put out the hit. He had always been smart enough to keep Aiden out of the loop of some of the more vicious god goings on and now he knew that he had been right to do so. The amount of times that hits had been put out on humans was astronomical, although he doubted that Aiden would care about most of them, this one was different though. Kasey was a woman that had proven herself to Aiden, even if Aiden was a complete imbecile and could not admit his feelings for the woman to save his life. “You know I wouldn’t have to, if I wanted her dead I would just do it myself. I am not some young god who sends out hit teams when I can do the job myself.”

“Then who did? Because it was a god hit, she’s not even a demigod, if we had gotten there five minutes later…” Aiden trailed off as he looked over at his father and shook his head. They both knew exactly what would have happened if Aiden hadn’t been heading out of the dojo when he was and it made him physically ill. He could not imagine a god killing a mortal over a prophecy, one that might not come true. The Fates were good, but even they got things wrong from time to time. “Can you find out which god did this and get them to call it off? Preferrably before something else happens to her.”

“I might be able to, did you get the hit team to tell you why it was issued?” Zeus asked as Aiden nodded his head that he had. He had learned many of the ins and outs of god mitigation during the last war, it was the primary part of his job. He was basically god law enforcement and when he was called in things were bound to get ugly. That was mainly why he kept himself far away from the politics of day to day life on Olympus.

“They told me that the hit was placed because Kasey is going to have a daughter, one more powerful than all of us, one that will eventually ascend to take your place on Olympus. They said that you couldn’t have that happening, that was why you put out the hit,” Aiden said as Zeus sighed. He had heard the prophecy that Aiden spoke of and at first it had made him angry, but he had lived a long time and ruling Olympus was a tedious job. He would almost welcome someone to take it off his hands, as long as he was still alive to enjoy the after effects.

“I’ve heard the prophecy son and I can also tell you that I would willingly give up the rule of Olympus if that day came. I’m getting too old for this mess,” Zeus said as Aiden laughed. There was no way that his father would ever willingly give up Olympus, all of the gods, even the lesser ones, knew that. “You may find it funny, but it’s the truth. It’s hard enough to keep the major gods and goddesses happy, let alone the minor gods, goddesses and demigods. I’ve had a permanent head ache for the past seven thousand years thanks to some of them- I’d like to be able to retire, like most of the other gods from my time have.”

“So you would have no problem with someone taking your throne?” Aiden asked as he gave his father a perterbed look, this was most definitely something that he had a hard time believing.

“As long as they do not try to kill me in the process and they have some of my blood running through their veins, I could take it,” Zeus said as Aiden nodded.

“I have a question,” Aiden began as Zeus nodded and he knew his time was nearly up with his father. “How am I going to get over her dying? She’ll only live to be eighty, maybe ninety if I’m lucky and then she will die and I’ll be left alone, I can’t do that. I can’t lose her.”

“There are ways to circumvent that, but I can’t say anymore, just let me say this- when the time comes, you’ll know what to do,” Zeus said as he disappeared and Aiden let out a curse. He might as well have asked a goldfish, he might have gotten a better answer or at least an answer that was not something that he already knew.

“Time to play devil’s advocate,” Aiden said as he switched the radio to a rock station and smiled. This was his favorite game, a game that he had played many times over the centuries. If anyone ever watched him, they’d think him psychotic, luckily enough all his friends already knew that he could be, so he played the game anyway, knowing that it would clear his mind and hopefully let him find an answer. On most occasions he finished the game and knew what he must do, he had a feeling that this would not be one of them. “Side one: date Kasey. Side two: stay her friend.”

“Side one: dating Kasey would take care of a lot of things, I would have a woman to love me, a woman that I trust, a woman that I would give my life for without a second thought. Even with Sam, I was still alone, I was still treated differently, like someone that should appreciate her just being there in my presence, like someone that didn’t matter.

“What about when she finds out that you’re a demigod? She will have to find out some day. And you know how most humans don’t even believe that gods and goddesses are real- they think it’s a myth.

“Considering how well she takes MMA fighting and all that gore, she might not take it too badly, plus she’s an English major, they get the priviledge of reading through tons of crazy stuff. I’m sure that this isn’t the most far fetched thing that she has ever heard of and actually believed.

“If she takes is badly?

“I’d lose her.

“And can you live through that?

“No.”

Aiden glimpsed around the interior of the truck, trying to stop the pain that assualted him at his own admission. There was no way that he would ever be able to tell anyone how he decided what he was going to do with Kasey, because the moment that he did, he would open himself up to all sorts of pain. Pain that he did not need to add into the equation. It was enough to know that he was going to have at least one child with her and probably lose her- no human had been made immortal, even though he knew there was a way. No one had been deemed worthy enough for this special treatment, he doubted Kasey would be the first. She would have to do something exceptional for it to be granted.

“Side two: if I stay her friend I won’t have to worry about her finding out that I’m a demigod and freaking out and throwing me out of her life. She’d also still be there in the same capacity as she is now and I can always use a good friend.

“What happens when she meets a man that wants to date her? Wants to marry her?

“I’d probably start losing her.

“And when she did marry?

“I wouldn’t be able to attend the wedding, it would hurt too much to see her join herself to another man.

“And when she had his children?

“It would be another reminder of what could have been mine if I had opened up to her and let her in.

“And when she dies?

“I would die with her.”

“Man I’m screwed,” Aiden muttered to himself as he banged his head against the head rest, either scenario could end badly, but he had learned one thing in all of his years- opportunity knocked once and you had to be ready to take it by the reigns and go with it. That was what his gut told him to do, wait for the opportunity to come and take it by the reigns.

His father was right, he’d know what needed to be done when it was time, until then he would prepare for everything and hope for the impossible- that Kasey would accept him as he truly was, as a demi-god, a god of war and most importantly as a man. If she couldn’t do that, no one would be able to, he knew that this was his last chance to have something that was more than just a one night stand and he did not want to screw it up. He did not want to be alone for the rest of eternity.

Chapter Nine

“My parents have never really traveled a lot,

we rarely went on vacations as children. We

spent most of our time around the house

for our summer breaks. Now my parents have

the luck of driving a couple thousand miles to

see me. That is something that I know they

never imagined having to do in order to see

their own child, the good thing is- they are

finally getting to travel.”

-Kasey Marshall, University of Texas, Essay, 20 April 2001

Three days later a yellow car pulled up in front of Baylor University Medical Center and parked. A couple in their mid-fifties exited the car and made their way towards the building. They had been driving for two days in order to get to Dallas and their daughter. Steven and Ginny Marshall were greatly worried about their eldest daughter and what could have happened to her. They knew that she was safe, but they did not know the exact extent of her injuries, her friend had told them to just worry about getting there, not to worry about her injuries. He had said that she was in good hands and from the worry they had heard in his voice, they believed him.

They had been reluctant to let her go to the University of Texas, but they had never questioned her happiness here until now. She had been mugged all of three blocks from her home and she lived in a relatively safe part of town. The man that had called had introduced himself as Aiden, but the only Aiden they had heard about was an MMA fighter that seemed to get along very well with Kasey. Neither of them had ever asked her, but they were sure that there was more than just a working relationship between the two of them, it was the only thing that made sense from the way that she talked about him.

They went up to the fourth floor of the hospital and searched for room 415, which was easy enough to find, although it was tucked back in a corner of the hospital, away from much of the commotion that was a constant here. They paused outside the door and exchanged glances before they heard Kasey’s stifled laughter through the door, at least she was feeling a little bit better.

“No, I’m serious, as a kid my friends and I would see who had the most guts by walking through the center of town in a couple of rags,” Aiden said as he ran circles over her hand as she laughed at his story and leaned in towards him. He reached over and gently ran his fingers through her hair, watching as her eyes trailed from his eyes to his lips. She then closed her eyes and shook her head as she continued to laugh.

“You’re crazy,” Kasey said as she held her ribs and tried to stop laughing, although it didn’t hurt nearly as much with Aiden there. She looked up in time to see her parents giving her a puzzled look from the door way and she did a double take. “Mom, Dad?”

“Hey bug,” Steven said as he walked over to give her a hug and Aiden took several steps away from the bed. He saw her mother sizing him up and he looked away. He hated this sort of thing, he always had. These people would remember him for years, but if he ever met them again, he would be the son of Aiden Urian, since he didn’t age the way that mortals did. “Who’s this?”

“Dad, this is Aiden Urian, Aiden these are my parents Steven and Ginny Marshall,” Kasey said as she motioned towards the man that was standing against the wall, with his hands shoved in his pockets. She gave him an odd look as she felt the knot return to her stomach, Aiden didn’t want to meet her parents or even talk to them. He had only stayed with her to be nice, not because he had actually wanted to. “He’s usually not that shy, actually he’s usually not shy at all. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Aiden stuttered as she just shook her head and smiled over at him. Unless he had suddenly developed a stutter, he was really nervous and she had to admit that it was kinda cute to see him this way, to know that he was vulnerable. She saw the sweet side of Aiden, but she did not often times see the man that was like this, the man that was scared of something. Aiden always pushed his fears to the back of his mind, but she could tell that he was losing that battle this time.

“He was one of the people that got the guy off of me,” Kasey stated as he blushed at the extra unwanted attention. She watched him become very uncomfortable and she suddenly felt bad for saying this in front of him. He didn’t want to be treated like a hero, he just wanted to protect her and that was what he had done.

“Why would he do that? No offense, but most celebrity fighters would run from something like this, “Ginny stated as Aiden looked around the room, trying to find a hole big enough for him to climb into and disappear.

“Gin, you’re making the boy uncomfortable. Ignore the two of them, sometimes they forget how normal people act. I don’t care why you saved her, just that you did. Thank you,” Steven said as he shook Aiden’s hand and gave him a hard look. The boy wanted to leave, but he did not want to leave without saying a proper good bye, that much was certain. “Bug, do you want anything to eat besides this hospital junk?”

“I’d kill for a hamburger right about now,” Kasey said as her dad nodded and then walked over to collect her mother. “Where are the two of you going?”

“To get you a burger,” Steven stated as he gave Aiden a pointed look and it was then that the boy understood, he was giving him an out if he wanted to say good-bye to Kasey without making a scene of it in front of her parents. He wanted to stay, but even more he wanted to hold onto the last shreds of his dignity.

“So Dad’s letting you say good-bye without an audience,” Kasey stated as Aiden gave her a guilty look and nodded. There were so many reasons that he wanted to stay, but he knew that he needed to find out the exact terms of the god hit that had been placed out on her. Without that knowledge it would be useless to even try to save her, he had to know what he was up against and how many gods were coming after her. He could take on one or two gods, but if any more were involved, it was going to be hard to keep her alive. “It’s okay, I had hoped you’d stay for a little while, but…”

“Kase, I really should get back to my workout schedule and the dojo, I’ve taken too many days off…” Aiden started as she held up her bandaged hand and glared over at him.

“The truth Aiden, not the bull shit that you can get away with telling your friends,” Kasey pleaded as he let out a sigh and then tucked her hands in between his. She had never let him have the easy way out of anything, why would this be any different?

“The truth. I don’t really know what to do anymore Kasey and the longer I stay, the more confused I get. You are one of my few friends and I just need some time to think,” Aiden said as she gave him a smile and then pulled him into a hug before she kissed him on the cheek. He looked down at her and knew that his eyes betrayed him, but she let it go. She would let him think this through.

“Just don’t take too much time,” Kasey whispered as he nodded and smiled down at her. “Now get out of here so that you don’t have to deal with my parents.”

“Be glad that you have them,” Aiden said as she just nodded and watched him leave. It hurt to watch him go after spending three days with him, but she knew better than to ask him to stay, he’d be there when she needed him, like he always was. He was not a fair weather friend, he was a friend that would be there in the middle of a hurricane with her and an umbrella to try to shield them from its wrath. She could depend on him and she only hoped that she would be able to return the favor one day.

“Your friend is gone,” Ginny stated as she looked over at her daughter with knowing eyes. “Not that that boy is by any stretch of the imagination just your friend. If I had to guess, I’d say that he’s smitten with you. No wonder you enjoy covering MMA so much.”

“Mom,” Kasey groaned as she looked over at her father for help and he just smiled that knowing smile of his. He had seen his eldest daughter and wife argue enough to know when it was best to let the arguement continue and when it was time to intervene, right now it was best to just watch what was going on and hope that neither of them started yelling.

“Tell me that you aren’t interested in him and I’ll leave it alone,” Ginny said as she pulled the table over the hospital bed and Kasey sighed. Her mom most definitely had a point about Aiden, one that she tried to ignore herself. If she ignored how much she liked him, then she wouldn’t be as disappointed with the fact that he had never said if he liked her. That he only had to give her a look and she was hot and bothered inside, but that was all she ever got- the look that was a promise, of something. She just didn’t know what the something was and that worried her.

“Mom, can we not have this discussion today?” Kasey asked as Ginny shook her head no and Kasey glared over at her. “Fine, I like him, I like him a lot and I don’t want to mess that up by moving too fast or forcing his hand. He just said that he needs time to think it through, I want to give him that time.”

“From what I can tell the both of you are at a stand still about it and there is no reason to be, you like each other- isn’t that enough to start a relationship with?” Ginny asked as Kasey forced back the tears, her mother did have a point, but she knew there was a good reason that they couldn’t just dive in. The problem was she didn’t know exactly what was stopping them, but she saw it in Aiden’s eyes when he looked at her. The look that a man gave a woman that he was sure was out of reach, whether it was because of status or intelligence or just plain nervousness. The look that she had given him so many times after fights when he had been surrounded by reporters and all he wanted was a little peace. They both knew that their worlds were completely different and that they rarely mixed well at all.

Her mind flashed back to the first night she had been in the hospital, to Aiden in the billowing crimson robes. There had been some sort of medallion holding them together, but she had not been able to distinguish it due to the darkened room and her contacts being removed. Aiden had obviously taken her glasses off when she had fallen back to sleep, otherwise she might have stood a shot at getting it. She had been so sure that she was hallucinating, but what if she hadn’t been? What if he really was the man in the robes? What if that was what was keeping him from dating her? But that was insane, it wasn’t possible.

“Kasey, Earth to Kasey,” Steven said as he waved his hand in front of her face and she shook herself out of her thoughts. “I haven’t seen you zone out like that since you stopped writing that book. By the way, have you worked on it anymore?”

“Not lately, between MMA fights every few days and pre-season college baseball coverage, I’ve been a bit busy. One of my colleagues was supposed to do the fights Monday night, but he had a last minute engagement that he had forgotten about. So yours truly got to do his job, that was why I was heading home early Tuesday, he took my assignments,” Kasey trailed off as she let out a sigh. “I didn’t even see the man’s face, all I saw were these white gloves. Then somebody pulled him off and Aiden was there, I don’t even know what I said to him.”

“I can hazard a guess,” Ginny said as she crawled into the hospital bed with her daughter. At five foot nothing she was a tiny woman and could easily fit into the minute bed in order to hold her daughter. “You asked him not to leave you and he didn’t. Take the leap Kasey, it’ll be worth it.”
“It’s his job to…” Kasey started as her mom held up her hand to stop her.

“I know, but sometimes you just have to put a little more of yourself out there, let him know you trust him. He is just as scared as you are, possibly even more scared because you cover his sport and could turn him into the anti-Christ of MMA if you felt like it. You have to give him something that will make him see that he’s safe to let down his guard around you,” Ginny said as Kasey nodded and let out a sigh. She had felt Aiden slowly letting down his defenses when he was around her, but not nearly enough for him to be willing to make a move. He still held onto all the emotions that she craved from him.

“When’s his next fight?” Steven asked as Kasey looked down at her hands. This absolutely sucked.

“The day of Addison’s wedding and then he’ll probably go a couple of months without a fight. He made a point to telling me when his next fight would be…” Kasey trailed off before she let out a groan. She was so tired of having to juggle everything to even try to get a date. If a guy asked her out, she usually was not free for weeks at a time and none of them believed her when she said that it was because of her job. “This always happens to me.”

“He’ll come visit you, I’m fairly sure about that,” Ginny said as Kasey reached for the burger and savored the taste. She might not be able to fix her love life, but at least she was with her parents, had food that did not taste like cardboard and a rough idea as to what needed to be done to get Aiden to like her. Now if she could only do it without having a nervous breakdown.

“Born of a mortal and the king of the gods- the man

will be indestructible. He will be the savior of many

and he will be the doom of those that cross him. If

he dies, his revenge will be legendary, he will not

sleep until every soul that had a part in his undoing

has met their demise. He will be human and yet he will

be much more, the only god of war who is sane, but

sanity comes at a price, for he will be on the brink

until he finds that one true solace that every man

seeks, until he finds the woman that he loves and

loves him in return.”

-The Fates, Mount Olympus, 17 August 1347 B.C.

*****

Aiden crouched in the far corner of the room, well concealed from most people’s sight. They wouldn’t kill her here and if they tried, well there was a damn good reason that he was a god of war and these bastards were going to regret the day that they crossed him. He had never meant to become Kasey’s protector, but he was that now and he was not going to let someone else die on his watch. He had seen far too many deaths in his time, he had seen the suffering and the pain after-wards, he was not going to watch another family go through that pain. He was not going to go through that pain ever again, not if he could stop it.

He saw the fluorescent orange coats as they walked in and he cringed, he had some color in his wardrobe, but neon’s were something he refused to touch. He shook his head at their arrogance, they were sure that she had no protection, sure they’d be able to finish the job without a trace. He stepped out of the shadows and saw the shorter one tremor at the look on his face. He knew what he looked like and he knew exactly what he wanted them to feel. He wanted them to fear for their lives, to fear for everything that was near and dear to them, because they were coming after a woman that was near and dear to his heart. Even if she did not know how he felt about her, he knew that this woman meant so much to him- she meant more than any other woman had.

He watched as the taller man turned to face him and he let out a curse. The smile grew on his face as he stalked towards the two demigods. So, it had been a hit, but why? He aimed to find that out before the night was through, they had been stupid enough to come back after he had thrown them off of Kasey earlier. They deserved what was coming to them. They had to have known that he would figure out that it was a hit, unless they thought him stupid. Of course, they were younger gods, they had never seen him at his full strength, they would not know to be scared of him until it was too late to save themselves.

“Aiden Urian, I should have known you would be here, watching over your pathetic little human,” Mathis said as Aiden sneered and he had to force himself to not growl. The two of them had met in the ring several times before and the black eye that he had was all the confirmation Aiden needed. So, he had attacked Kasey, at least that part of the equation was solved. But who sent him? It was rare that a god of his caliber would be out working for free or that he would hold enough grudge against a human to kill her.

“Mathis, I’d watch what you’re saying. That pathetic little human is worth a hell of a lot more than you. Or did you forget? You’re a god of love and I’m a god of war. There are countless gods just like you, but there are only a handful of me, tread lightly and you may make it out of this alive,” Aiden muttered through clenched teeth as the other god laughed at him. He knew that Aiden would not kill him, he would not start a god war over something like this. Gods were smart enough to not start wars over humans, even if the human did mean something to them.

“You know how it is, they put out the hit and it is executed, no questions asked. She made the list and the job was given to me,” Mathis said with a wicked grin as Aiden’s glare hardened. He was ready to kill him, but he wanted to give the man a fighting chance- at this rate he would be dead with one skillful blow.

“Why would someone put a hit out on a human?” Aiden asked as he tried to keep himself from slamming the man against the wall, but it was very hard. The look of satisfaction on the man’s face was enough to make him wish to do him bodily harm.

“She’ll have a daughter, a daughter that will be more powerful than all the other gods on Olympus combined, one that will change this world and ours, ascend to take Zeus’s seat and you know the big man can’t have that,” Mathis stated as Aiden laughed. If Zeus wanted someone dead, he would just kill the girl, that was how it went, there was no need for him to send out a god hit, unless something had drastically changed up on Olympus. That kind of shift would have been noticed, even by a demigod who seldom paid attention to the lovely politics up there.

“Can’t they just drain the child of her powers, make her mortal? Hell it’s offered to every demigod at birth, their parents can decide,” Aiden said as Mathis just shook his head. No demigod would willingly take away his own child’s powers. They all knew that, at least the ones who had children did.

“Who do you think the father of her children will be? He can’t be killed or war will break out on Olympus, we can kill her and nothing will change, our life will be preserved, at least if we do this before the father gets too involved. If we don’t do this soon the father will come hunt us down for touching her,” Mathis stated as Aiden summoned his powers to him and threw the two men out of the room. He had had enough of this mess for one night.

“Tell Daddy dearest that he’ll have war if he kills her, I promise you that,” Aiden muttered before slamming the door and sealing it against gods while allowing the doctors and nurses to check on Kasey. Mathis had better enjoy his last days while he was breathing- if the hit was not called off, Mathis was going to die.

“So Zeus is your father?” Mathis asked through the door as Aiden glared over at him and cursed in ancient Greek. He could tell that the man on the other side of the wall was not fluent in the language, which only made him wish to curse in English, but he refrained. “I’ll tell him what you said Aiden, I’ll tell him how much you love the girl. I’ll tell him that he should be more worried about the baby’s father.”

“You’re out of your mind, Mathis, if you think I’d put her in that sort of danger. I know better, I’ve been alive long enough to know the difference, I know what Zeus will do to me if I find someone that loves me. Tell Zeus that she if off limits and if he sends out another hit team I will rip them limb from limb and then, no one on earth and heaven will be able to stop me from killing him. That might be something you should tell him,” Aiden said as he stood and opened the door, turning his back to Kasey. “Tell him the god of war wants his blood and I’ll get it if he hurts her.”

Mathis stared as he saw Aiden’s god form flash before his eyes and he took a couple steps back. He grew four inches taller and his hair grew to where it his his shoulders. The Greek robes billowed around him as he pulled out a sword and turned to face Mathis with a sneer. His eyes were black as ice and he could hear the growl that emanated from his throat. Aiden might not kill him, but this being most definitely would and he would not think twice about it. He would start a god war for Kasey, if they were not careful about it.

“Make sure you give him that message for me or it’s you I’ll come after,” Aiden rumbled as the lightning flashed outside the window and set him off in an amazing reflect that let Mathis know that the robes were more than just for show.

Mathis nodded before sprinting down the corridor, now he knew why no one else had taken the hit- it was a suicide mission and all the other gods had known it. He was much younger than Aiden, but he had heard the stories of the battles between the gods and he knew that Aiden had been the key in the last one. No wonder why he couldn’t be killed- war gods didn’t die, they got their vengeance and then turned into something worse, something that no one would speak the name of. He had only met one of them in his time and he had been lucky to escape with his head still attached. If he was right, Aiden would be far worse than that.

Aiden returned to Kasey’s side as his clothes shifted back to the bloody, battered ones he had been wearing before Mathis’s intrusion. How dare his father do this? How dare he try to take away the only thing that gave him solace? If he ever saw his father again, they’d definitely discuss it. No one deserved to be killed because of some stupid prophecy. Mind you, a prophecy was the only reason that he was still alive. Zeus’s illegitimate off spring were usually killed long before birth, he had only escaped because of what the Fates had said about him and what he would do on Olympus if he was killed. Demigods had powers, even in the womb and he would have been vicious to deal with, without having anything to pull him back.

Kasey glanced over at the man in the billowing robes and closed her eyes tightly before chancing another glance. Thanks goodness it was just Aiden, although she could have sworn that the other man was Aiden too, how odd. The pain killers that she was on must be making her hallucinate, there was probably no way that that was possible. Aiden couldn’t be two people at once, could he?

“Crime rates in Dallas have been dropping, thanks to a

new aggressive tactic that the mayor’s office has taken

with criminal activities. The Dallas Police Department

has reported a drastic decrease in armed robbery, muggings,

petty theft and murders recently. It seems that the thieves

and crooks are running scared and with good reason- jail

time is the only thing on the horizon for them now that the new

commissioner is not afraid to back up the mayor. It is not a

good time to be a criminal in Dallas.”

-Cameron Forrester, The Dallas Morning News, Reporter, 20 November 2007

Kasey was walking home from work that afternoon with a smile on her face. After tearing into Gabriel earlier that day, he had agreed to take the end of the fall baseball league stories for her tonight. She had not gotten a night off like this in months and it was completely worth the blackmail that she had had to threaten Gabriel with. She had found out that he had ditched the MMA fights for a date with one of the girls in accounting- she was certain that he would never be stupid enough to do that again. Now she was going to have a night with NCIS, a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream. It might sound mundane, but to her it would be heaven, she rarely got in before midnight and those were the good nights, on a bad night she was not in bed until four or five in the morning and she was out the door by seven on those days. She needed this break, more than she needed anything else at the moment.

As she neared Leopard Dojo with her purse slung around her, she felt the urge to turn around and check the area. She had just started to look back when she felt the first punch nail her in the stomach, letting up a scream that never reached her lips as she had the breath knocked out of her. The second punch landed against her right cheek and she threw up her arms in front of her face to try to protect herself. She then took in a deep breath and kicked with all her might. She heard the other voices and looked back in time to see Aiden running towards her. She vaguely remembered that he owned Leopard Dojo, but that was not the important thing right now. The important thing was that he had two other men with him and they looked as if they were more than willing to help her out.

She felt the weight of the person lifted off of her as her ribs cracked and she screamed again, this time with all the pain she felt. She had been through all sorts of pain in her high school years while she was a cheerleader, but that was nothing compared to this. She had been lucky and only ever broken one bone, at least until now. She felt someone settle over her as the tears streamed down her face and the pain washed over her, worse than before. She heard a muffled “Call 9-1-1″ as she gasped for air and felt someone take her hand.

“You’ll be fine Kase, you’ll be fine,” Aiden muttered as she looked up at him and he could tell she was barely hanging onto consciousness. She was a tough girl, but with where she had been hit, the pain was bound to be nearly unbearable. Who would attack her like this? They hadn’t even bothered to grab her purse, the attack had been purely for the physical violence aspect, which most definitely worried him. Rapes didn’t usually happen in broad daylight, but the thought did cross his mind. If that was all- they would most likely leave her alone, but something told him that that was not it. “Stay with me, I got you.”

“Aiden,” Kasey muttered as he gave her hand another squeeze to let her know that he was there and he watched as she tried to focus on his face, but couldn’t. She wound up staring somewhere over his shoulder and he cringed as he realized that her contacts must have been knocked out in the attack. “I’m cold.”

“I need a blanket!” Aiden yelled as Erik tossed him a towel and two shirts before he headed back into the dojo to grab a blanket. Aiden quickly tucked them around her body and watched as some of the shaking decreased. “That’s better, how are you feeling?”

“Not any better. Don’t leave me please, please Aiden,” Kasey muttered as he tucked her hair behind her ears and ran his finger along her jawline. She grasped his hand and he held on tight, he had never seen anyone like this. She shook in his arms at what had happened and the injuries that riddled her body. He knew that she had cracked ribs, whiplash and a jagged cut on her forearm and she was scared to death, not that he blamed her in the least bit. Attacks like this didn’t happen often around here- it was a good neighborhood.

“I won’t,” Aiden muttered as she heard the ambulance in the distance and he watched her pass out from the pain. His arms tightened around her compulsively as he forced back the tears and he looked over at his friends. “They’ll die for this.”

“Be careful, Aiden,” Ashton said as he saw the small fury building in his friend and knew just how close he was to losing control, of everything.

“We’ll meet you at the hospital. Do you want us to swing by and get Wilkes?” Erik asked as he returned and passed him a blanket. Wilkes was Aiden’s ‘bodyguard’, although that was the most counter intuitive thing that they had ever seen him do. Most people with his status of celebrity had one, even if it was not necessary. He was just following the trend- it was what demigods did to help themselves blend in.

“Yes, he’ll have to stay with her when I can’t,” Aiden stated as he saw the ambulance and he sighed. “Go, find out who did this I would like to know by sun-up.”

Aiden rode along in the cramped ambulance in silence. He was covered in Kasey’s blood, something he had only realized when the EMT had passed him a towel. The woman sitting next to him offered him a smile- sure that the two of them were much more than friends. Sure that he was someone that she knew well and trusted. For all of Kasey’s brains, she still had not figured out his secret. She still lived in the dark about what he really was and for that he was grateful.

He knew that tonight would be a waiting game, one that he had played many times before and one that he hated. The EMT’s had confirmed what he already knew, now the doctors needed to do the same and then she would be put in a room for the next several days until they were comfortable with letting her go. None of her injuries were life threatening, but they could very well cause her some severe issues if not monitored properly.

“Mr. Urian, I didn’t know that one of our benefactors would be coming in tonight, I hope you do not mind, I was not expecting you,” Alexander Mansmann said as the man waltzed into his office, it was then that he noticed the blood stains and tears. In all the years that he had known Aide, he had never seen him this distressed about something. “This is not a business call, is it?”

“Far from it Alex: I had a friend just admitted a few minutes ago under some odd circumstances, can I stay with her until her parents get here? They live in Alabama and it will be at least a two day drive,” Aiden explained as Alex gave him an odd look. “I know it’s a weird request, but this girl does not deserve to be left alone after what happened.”

“Can you tell me what happened exactly? I need details,” Alex said as Aiden let out a sigh and then sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

“She was mugged a couple of minutes down the block from my dojo and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that it was a hit, a god hit. Nothing else really makes sense,” Aiden clarified as Alex gave him a skeptical look. God hits were usually something that was well publicized among the god world and even then they usually had massive casualities, so as to not be blamed on any one god. The other gods always feared that Zeus would come after them if he could pin point who did it.

“You can’t be serious, wouldn’t you have heard something about it?” Alex asked as Aiden shrugged. He supposed he would have, unless it had some sort of direct connection to him, then he would have been left out of the loop on purpose. No one would want him to get involved in a hit that was meant to harm someone that would be near to him, it would be their death. For all of his issues, he never purposefully set out to kill someone, usually they messed up somewhere along the way and he had killed them because of that.

“You haven’t seen her, she’ll be safe with me, we both know that, but I need permission,” Aiden explained as he stood up from the chair and began pacing in front of the desk. “Please Alex, can you do this for me?”

“Only this once, but don’t expect for that to happen again,” Alex said as Aiden nodded with a smile. “You owe me.”

“Dually noted, I have to go but give me a call when you need that favor, I shouldn’t have a problem doing it unless it is a public appearance- then you’ll have to black mail me,” Aiden said as he stopped at the door and looked back at the desk. His hands trembled as the wave of grattitude ran through him and he tried to ponder the right words to say. He had never been good at thanking people, even his friends.

“Don’t thank me right now, you’ll do that later, get back to your girl, she needs you,” Alex stated as Aiden smiled and then headed out the door. His friend shook his head at him, he had never seen him fall this hard, in the past. Come to think of it- he had never seen him fall period.

Aiden sprinted up to Kasey’s room, taking the stairs three steps at a time. His gut told him to get to her quickly, get to the woman he loved and never let go. He loved her, that was a shock to his system, but he did not think about it long enough for it to register. The rain had started pouring a couple of hours ago and there was a good chance that the pitter patter would mask any noises of a struggle easily. He was not going to give them a second chance to kill her if he could help it.

He burst into Kasey’s room and saw her hooked up to an i.v. with a bandage across her forehead and another wrapped around her forearm. He grimaced as the thoughts assualted him and he felt his heart break. He walked over to her bedside and gingerly touched her ribs, then let his hand caress her cheek. She looked so weak and frail, she’d never looked weak or frail in all the time he had known her. She was a woman that held her head high when she walked into a room full of men that hated her, a woman that demanded respect, from everyone that knew her and even the people that didn’t. Seeing her in a hospital bed was something that he wished he could have avoided, something that he wished he would never have to see.

“Aiden,” Kasey forced out as she captured his hand and held it tight. “Don’t let him get me.”

“Who, Kase? Tell me who it was,” Aiden coaxed as his hands covered hers and she looked up at him, bleary eyed. He reached over for her glasses and gingerly placed them on her face to help her focus. He saw the relief on her face when she realized that she could actually see and that it was only the fact that her glasses had been removed that made it so rough. “It’s okay, just tell me what you remember.”

“He had white gloves on, a hood pulled over his face, combat boots that’s all I remember,” Kasey stated as he nodded and pulled up a chair. “Do my parents know?”

“I called them, don’t worry about it, they’re on their way out here to look after you for a couple of days. Then they’ll take you back with them for Addison’s wedding, get you out of here for a few weeks,” Aiden whispered as she looked up at him and smiled. Her hand reached out for him and he let her gently cup his cheek. His eyes closed at how good she felt, but he knew that this was only the pain meds that had lowered her inhibitions. He knew that she would never do this, except for the fact that she was probably on morphine.

“Thank you, my friend,” Kasey muttered as she passed out again and he watched as the power flickered and then went out. The generators switched on and he sighed as he watched the lightning storm as it played off her features.

It was then that he heard it, the clicks of shoes against tile floors, the lope of predators. He knew that walk, he had it himself from time to time. He also knew that these people might just be there to finish the job and he wanted to know exactly what it was, that way he could kick their asses and send them straight to hell, where they all belonged. No one messed with this mortal- she was off limits and he was more than willing to start a god war to prove it.

“Aiden Urian decided to take his MMA career up a notch

and become a professional fighter. His debut match is to

be one for the record books, boys and girls. You shouldn’t

miss this one unless you are sick and even then, it might

be worth seeing these two men fight. Aiden Urian and

Mathis Simmons are going to be the main event at the Cage

Rage in Hidalgo in two weeks time, so mark your calendars

and be prepared for a doozie, Urian may be new to the

MMA world, but there is already talk of how long it will

be before he is sitting in the number one position.

Personally- I would say that all the talk about this

boy is true- it is only a matter of time before he

takes the thrown and I would wager that it would

take a miracle to get him to relent the title.”

-Dane Cardigan, The Dallas Morning News, Sports Columnist, 30 August 2005

******

******

Aiden grimaced as he walked into the dojo, the leopard print walls being a particular nuisance but they could not get rid of the atrocious paint to save their immortal lives. He had made the mistake of letting Samantha paint the walls one day and he had walked into this fiasco. As a goddess of love, he should have known better than to let her do any sort of decorating- only when they broke up did he find that there was no way to get rid of it. Only Sam would find it interesting for him to have walls that he hated surround him for the better part of his waking life. It was just another reason why the two of them had not worked out- that and the fact that she was a controlling bitch.

He went to the back and slipped off his jeans in favor of a pair of black, slightly padded, shorts. He then pulled the gloves from his bag before tugging them on and walking back out to get his ankles taped. His gut said that he most certainly would need it today. He usually only taped his ankles for fight days, but the way that Erik had looked at him this morning let him know that it might be wise to go against the grain and treat today like a fight night. He would rather not risk spraining an ankle this close to fight time. There was too much on the line if he did not make this fight.

Erik and his sparring partners exchanged a glance as they watched him leave the dressing room, none of them had ever seen him this bogged down by his thoughts and all of them knew it was thanks to a certain brunette, that woman had given him back his life, given him back his destiny and they all were thankful for that. Thankful that the ruthless war god was slowly being tamed and he didn’t even know it. He didn’t know that he was slowly becoming more human than a god and it was exciting to see. He deserved a chance at having a life that existed outside of the god realm, if only he would take this risk- he could have it. He could finally know what love was, but he was not ready to take the risk necessary to reap the benefits that would be bestowed upon him.

As Aiden sat down and plopped the tape down next to him, Erik walked over to tape him up and motioned for the other men to leave them alone. He was going to need to talk with the man and hopefully get him to see sense, not that that had ever really worked with Aiden in the past, but he had to try.

“You know that you’re going to get hurt out there if you don’t…” Erik trailed off as Aiden held up his hand. He was in no mood for a lecture today, he knew exactly what was going on, he knew that there was not going to be much that could change it. Unless Kasey did something drastic that made him fall out of like with her and that was not likely to happen any time soon, even the things about her that he didn’t care for-he could stand.

“We both know why I can’t do that, I don’t want to put her in danger and I’m a demigod, what will she do when she finds that out?” Aiden asked, the frustration evident in his voice. “The goddess I nearly married couldn’t take it, why would a human be able to deal with it any better?”

“Because that human might actually love you, if you ever give her a chance. Eat dinner with her, go out to a movie, do normal things that a guy would do with the girl that he likes and it might work out,” Erik stated as Aiden gave him a sharp look. “What?”

“She has this friend that likes her a lot and I’d rather not make things worse on her,” Aiden said as Erik wound the tape too tight around his feet and he sighed.

“Bull shit, get in the ring,” Erik ordered as Aiden jumped up and all but ran from the man. He had never been scared of any other being, but Erik and now he remembered why. The man could fight just as well as him, he had in his day. Of course that had been in the times of the gladiators, a time that Erik rarely talked about. For all of the time that he had known the man he had only gotten him to talk about his past once and he had been wasted when he had done it.

Aiden climbed into the cage and she walked into his mind. He forced the thoughts from his mind and he squared to face Ashton. The two of them had known each other nearly all their lives, he had lived four shacks down from him as a child. They had discovered their godhood together and they had stayed together ever since. It had been nice to know that someone had their backs when they were learning how to navigate the system, how to explain to people that they didn’t age, how to survive for years without someone realizing those sort of things.

He loosened his neck before he began his warm up sets of kicks and punches. Ashton had thought him crazy when he decided to do this, but he was not crazy, he was a god of war, one that had not seen any action in over two thousand five hundred years. He needed a break, he needed something to hone his skills and this was it.

Ashton grimaced as the kicks became sharper and harder. Aiden was trying to avoid thinking of her again, he knew it. She was his lone weakness and if it ever got out-opponents would use it against him. There was something to be said about being able to scare just about anyone, because they thought that you had no weaknesses. Aiden was infallible in the eyes so many people, if he let his guard down it would ruin him.

Ashton held down his hands as he took a few steps away. He knew that Aiden was good and warmed up now, ready to take on Dmitri. He was older than the two of them, but they didn’t know by how much, it was something he didn’t talk about. He had a scar that ran the length of his torso but it was the only sign left of his past battles. The only sign of his past at all.

Aiden rocked on the balls of his feet before diving into the attack with his full force. Oh how he had missed this, how he had missed the raw, unaltered show of force. After his last beating, he had taken a couple months off to recondition his mind and body and now he was ready to go back into the ring and hopefully prove that his last fight had just been a fluke.

“Home theaters are an odd thing among the well to do,

some celebrities use it to flaunt just how rich they are,

others have one because they hate being among normal

people. That is odd enough for someone that makes their

living off other people liking them, but even here in Dallas

some of the local celebrities have taken a liking to these

places and now enjoy movies in the comfort of their

home, with surround sound, theater seating and a

popcorn machine. Is it really necessary for the rich to

poke at normal people this way? Or are they just doing

this so that they won’t be treated like a science experiment

because they wished to go see the last ‘Lord of the Rings’

movie in theaters? At this point, I would suggest the

following to my readers- give the local celebrities

a break- they just want to be normal too.”

-Evelyn Knight, The Dallas Morning News, Home and Garden, 20 August 2006

******

******

******

Aiden sat in the theater and waited for the movie to begin. His trainer, Erik, had insisted that they sit down and watch a movie. He had seen the look on Aiden’s face that morning when he walked into the dojo, which could only mean one thing. He had had another run in with Kasey and he was still reeling from it. The woman had a way of making him into a useless fighter for a couple of days and right now they couldn’t really afford for him to be distracted. He needed to focus for his upcoming match, a match that would prove that he still belonged in the MMA world. The older fighters were falling left and right and they needed some hope that this new generation was not going to completely wipe them out. They needed for one of the older fighters to hold their ground and Aiden might be the only one that could do that, he was most certainly the only one that had a chance at getting the number one spot any time soon.

The beige walls here were one of the few things that bothered anyone about this theater, but Aiden never complained. He was just glad to be this close to home in case he was needed there for some unforeseen reason. That did not happen very often, but when it did things got ugly, very quickly. One of the perks of being a war god was getting to do negotiations between gods that were ready and willing to start a full out war. Yes, gods of justice were good for this, but only so far as to say who was guilty or innocent. He was the one that got the privilege of pointing out exactly what would happen to the other pantheon if they ever crossed them, usually that was enough to deter the gods from fighting. If it wasn’t, he just killed the two quarreling parties and moved on with his life- it might be cruel, but it sure beat all out war. The last god war had left all of the pantheons devastated and they were in no mood to repeat that again.

“Aiden, how’d it go last night?” Erik asked as he watched the man eat popcorn one piece at a time. As a fellow demigod, he had no clue how Aiden could tolerate the stuff, but he didn’t care about that at the moment, that was not the reason for this break in training. The movies were always a way to get Aiden to relax and talk about all of the things that were going on in his life. The things that he usually buried so deep inside that no one could pry them out, not even the people that had known him for most of his life. Aiden liked to keep things to himself, which was usually a bonus for a demigod, but as a god of war everyone worried that one days his pent up aggression might just kill someone.

“Fine, Frank took a pretty good beating last night, mind you, he also gave out one hell of a beating. Jackson looked bad by the end of it, hell they both did. I haven’t seen too men with that many bruises from an MMA fight in a long time,” Aiden stated as Erik groaned.

The boy was so stubborn, he would never willingly talk about Kasey, but he knew why. A demigod should not care for a human this much and if he got any closer he was sure to fall fast and hard, it was a miracle that he had held up this long with the pull that girl had on him. He was almost sure that Aiden and Kasey were fated to be together, but he had long ago stopped talking to the bitches that controlled the greater part of the universe. The last time he had done that, he had found out the fate of two of his children, a fate that no father should ever have to live with.

“Did you tell Kasey about the next fight?” Erik asked as Aiden nodded. Of course it would kill the man to elaborate without being prodded for the answer. “And?”

“She’s going to be out of state, at her sister’s wedding,” Aiden forced out as Erik just nodded. Aiden thought back to last night and how she looked at him, how she made him want to be human, but that would never happen. It would be suicide for him to give up his powers at his age, no mortal man was over three thousand years old, he would die. The only reason he would even consider this kind of thing was if the woman that he loved was dying and he was going to be without her. He had not found that woman yet, he might never find that woman at this rate.

“Take my advice, just do this one day at a time and it will all work out. You need some space, Aiden or you’ll betray yourself, unless you want to let her know about this,” Erik said as he watched the younger man nod, but he knew the truth, he was too far gone already and given the opportunity he would take her, he would love her, but he would have to admit it to himself first. That was the only thing that had stopped him from acting and slowly even that was wearing thin- a person could only lie to themselves for so long before they had to face the facts.

“She doesn’t know,” Aiden stated as Erik quirked an eyebrow. That was most definitely not the surprise of the century, Aiden kept the secret of his godhood very close to the chest. Telling this mortal that he liked her put a chink in his armor and he did not allow for chinks. If any of the other gods found out about her, they would have something to hold over him and that was something that he was not ready to accept. “I’ve never told her.”

“But you both wonder why you haven’t made a move, be careful, I don’t want to see you hurt again. It took you centuries to get over the last woman that you kinda fell for. You’re not going to pull yourself out of the hole this time,” Erik said as the opening credits started rolling and he decided it was in his best interest to be quiet and let his friend watch the movie as he mulled over his love life or more accurately, the lack thereof.

Three hours later the two of them left the theater to head to the dojo to spar. While getting the morning off had been great, he also had had an abundance of time to think about things, things that were normally better off left alone. There was a time when he didn’t think about Kasey except when he saw her and now she was walking into his mind at all times. He knew that whatever it was that he felt for her was growing, but he also knew that if he thought about it anymore it was going to hurt his fight chances. That was something that he could not risk right now.

He packed his bag and headed for the front door, hopefully Erik was not going to be in a torturous mood today, but he had learned to remember that his friend knew him, which meant that today was very likely to be hell on Earth. This often times happened whenever he was interested in a girl, but they both knew that Kasey was not just a girl and that Aiden would take the hellish pains in stride. Pain only made him stronger, it very rarely made him weaker.

“The main event tonight involved an MMA legend and an
up and coming fighter. Curtis Frank and Ronin Jackson
fought tonight and this fight will go down as one of the
goriest in recent history. It was a grueling three round,
point decision battle, which the judges had a hard time
scoring. Jackson, however, came out the victor and thanks
to this victory he is going to get to fight Aiden Urian, in
three weeks over at Red Wall Arena. This is Urian’s
first fight back since the devastating knock out from
Jensen Farrior, whose wereabouts are still unknown,
three months ago. The MMA world can only hope that
Farrior will resurface soon, he had a lot of promise for someone
so young. He also was the first person to beat a veteran
in many years, which has to make a few people
wonder just how much longer the veterans are
going to last or if they can even come back from these
defeats.”

-Kasey Marshall, The Dallas Morning News, Sports Columnist, 14 January 2008

*****

*****

The sports section was quiet at this time of night, with football season over there were rarely any other reporters there at midnight anymore. She typed up the story as quickly as she could and took it down the hall to Dane, her somewhat crazy editor. At barely five foot five he made her feel tall, but he was avid about sports and that was what was needed here. The last editor of the section had been a person who preferred poppouri stories to anything that was actually resembled valid reporting. She could not count the number of hours that she had spent there writing stories on things she had never seen, that had all changed when Dane took over two months into her tenure in the sports section. She had actually been able to write the way that she liked to, even though that did mean endless hours in the field, it was worth it.

She stood in his office as he read through the article before nodding his head and passing it back to her. He had only made her re-write a story once and that was mainly because of the fact that she had rushed through it to the point that it was obvious. It was then that she learned to have a killer opening and closing paragraph and then she could add as much fluff as she saw fit in between. Dane might quirk an eyebrow at things that she wrote, but he rarely changed them. He knew that she was the reason that they got most of the MMA exclusives without having to fight for them- leave it to her to befriend one of the most influential fighters alive.

“Take it to print Kasey and go home, I better not see you in here at noon tomorrow. Thanks for covering this last minute, I owe you one,” Dane said as she nodded and all but sprinted to the print shop downstairs. As usual, they were waiting on her so that they could start the printing. She felt bad, but Dane insisted that everyting go out same day or next day at the lastest and it was because of this method that they were able to break many stories before their competitors.

She walked down the stairs and looked out the grimy windows, she had always hated them, but on nights like this one she didn’t care, she was just happy to be getting a full night’s sleep. She was going to murder Gabriel in the morning for forgetting about the MMA fights. She didn’t care what it was-since she knew it was not a death in the family. The man was going to wish that he had never forgotten to cover this night, especially since she was in desperate need of sleep and that was the one thing that she never took lightly.

———–

Evie stood at Kasey’s desk, waiting for her friend to grace them with her presence. It was 11:55 and this was cutting it abnormally close, even for her. She saw the bob of brown hair before she saw her friend and smiled. Rumor had it that she had been seen with Aiden Urian again and she wanted to have that confirmed by Kasey before she said anything to their other friend. Cameron would not take this type of news well and Kasey was likely to say something to him about it before thinking. She often times did that, even under the best of circumstances. Knowing that Kasey was going on nearly no sleep- made Evie want to be there in case she needed to intervene; she did not want for their fight to happen in the work place.

“Mornin’ Evie, what has you at my desk at this ungodly hour?” Kasey asked as she forced the coffee down her throat in an attempt to wake up. Even with ten hours of sleep, she still had a sleep debt from hell and it was catching up with her. She needed a couple nights off from reporting or her articles were going to start suffering from her lack of sleep. She had been down this road before and she knew that Dane was not going to like it when he had to re-write half an article because she was falling asleep at her keyboard and mis-spelling even the simplest of words. She believed whole-heartedly that that was the only reason she had been given the morning off. Dane knew that all of them had breaking points and Kasey had reached hers.

“Kase, it’s noon,” Evie pointed out as her friend began unloading her bag, making her unorganized desk seem even more unorganized. Evie had organized it one time and although Kasey said thank you, she had also been looking for things for about two weeks because of the orginization. At least in the sports section the desk fit in with all the men and their nuclear fall out versions of desks, in the Home and Garden section she had been the odd man out, over here she was just one of the guys. Of course, none of them would ever ask any of their other co-workers out, that was what kept her from truly just being one of the guys, although it did lead to some awkward conversations every once in awhile.

“I was up until two last night, so I got a whopping nine hours of sleep, that makes eleven in the past four days,” Kasey said as she turned on her computer and settled in as she continued to chug the coffee. “But you’re not here to talk about my sleep deficit, you only do that when I start falling asleep at my desk, repeatedly. So what is it?”

“You caught me, I’ll just cut to the chase,” Evie stated as Kasey nodded and then rubbed her temples, it was never good when Evie felt the need to have one of these conversations with her. A ‘where is your moral compass’ kind of conversation that was usually pointless, Evie knew that Kasey was not planning to throw her morals out the window any time soon, but she insisted on having these conversations. It was something that endeared Evie to her, but it also made her a pest at times. “Did you run into Aiden Urian last night?”

“Yeah, he was down there scouting out the competition, if you had read my article you’d know that,” Kasey pointed out as Evie sighed.

Kasey saw Aiden as a guy that was nice to her and would occasionally stop by fights and talk to her about some sort of news. Just about everyone else saw him as a guy who was desperately trying to be a friend with someone that he liked as more than a friend. The one time Evie had talked to him she had basically frozen from his gaze, she didn’t know how Kasey dealt with the man, but then she had seen him around her and it just clicked. Aiden had never been the harsh man that he was to everyone else with Kasey, he didn’t know how to be that man with her. Evie could tell that it made him uncomfortable to feel the way that he did about Kasey, but he couldn’t shut it off. The look in his eyes had told her that he had tried.

“I know you don’t like Cameron the way that he likes you, but he’s going to be heartbroken, Kase. Everytime Aiden comes up he is, the boy believes that one day Mr. Urian is going to open his eyes and any chance that Cameron had will be shot to hell,” Evie said as Kasey groaned. Cameron had been her friend since her senior year at the University of Texas and about six months ago he had confessed to liking her. She didn’t have men lining up at her doorstep, but she didn’t want to hurt Cameron. She couldn’t imagine him as anything other than a friend and she was not one to give someone false hope just to make them feel better. She had had that happen enough times to her that she did not want to deal with doing that to someone else.

“Evie, I can’t pretend to like him though, that will hurt more and Aiden and I are just friends, actually more like close accquiantances who happen to bump into each other on a regular basis, because of the fact that we run in the same circles,” Kasey babbled as Evie smiled.

Most people at the paper suspsected that something had happened between the two of them, but nothing had, nothing except raw chemistry. And that was something that never happened to Kasey, Evie knew that from the failed relationships of the past five years. It was nice to see her friend talk about a guy that probably did feel the same, he had been coming to her for exclusives since the first night she covered one of his fights. Any fool was able to tell that he didn’t do it for her writing skills, he did it for a few precious minutes alone with her. A few minutes with a woman that treated him like a normal person, not like the trained fighter that he truly was. There was something that was holding Aiden back though and whatever it was made Evie uncomfortable, she knew that it could very well be a deal breaker in Kasey’s eyes and that would truly be a shame.

“Kay, when are you going to wake up and realize that he likes you?” Evie asked as her friend turned bright red, she usually avoided this conversation if she could help it. She always said or did things that made it painfully obvious that that she did indeed like him and that it hurt her to question whether or not he might like her as well.

“When he kisses me,” Kasey muttered before she could stop herself and looked away from Evie. The sight of him looming over her with that smile on his face flashed through her mind again, he had been so close, but something had stopped him, something always stopped him. She didn’t even know if he realized that he did it, but every time he was within arms length he stared at her lips and then her eyes, he even leaned in, but he always stopped himself. “He almost did last night, like he does every time it’s just us.”

“He will one day hun, but until then think about what I said, you don’t want to hurt Cameron any more than you already have,” Evie said as Kasey nodded and turned to her computer before she looked at her cell phone and groaned. Aiden would never call her, they both knew that. He didn’t even have her phone number.

“There is skill in writing the perfect news article-
it must be something that the public is interested
in, something that deserves this sort of attention
and prestige. If an article is too boring, you will
not be in this business for long- the public will not
read your riff raff. If an article is too emotional, you can
pack your bags as well, unless you’re an advice columnist,
you guys are special breed. You must understand your audience-
that is the ultimate goal of a journalist, the one
thing that can make or break a reporter, do not make the
mistake of thinking that it will be easy, it will be
anything other than that. Once you find
your audience though, you would be a fool to
lose them- that is when the true work begins. You
have to try to keep these finnicky people interested,
for twenty or so years.”

-Angela McGregor, The Dallas Morning News, Editor, Staff Meeting, 2 July 2006

Kasey sat in the aluminum chair as she patiently waited to get her chance with that nights winner. She had learned long ago to just wait, the male reporters would wear the winner down and he’d be happy to talk about anything but the fight. In truth, she was still a writer for the female audience, but she had found that her male fans didn’t mind her fluff, especially when it led to these god-like men looking like humans. It made them look better to their wives and that was something that they usually needed after one too many nights of watching MMA fights. One of her best friends was an advice columnist and Geneieve had been unfortunate enough to get a couple of sticky questions that dealed with husbands watching too many sport broadcasts- luckily for her she did not have to try to find an answer to those questions.

Admittedly, some of the MMA fighters hated her for the way she wrote, when she placed their worst fears or dating status in her column, but she didn’t care. The people that followed her over to sports expected her to write like this and she was never one to disappoint. It would be one thing to fabricate the facts, but she never did that, she dug for the answers, some times taking weeks or months to get a good feel for what a person’s weakness was, the deep, dark secret that they hid in their broom closets. She was not in the business of ruining lives, she was in the business of getting the paper attention and detailed summaries of fights didn’t do that. A revelation or two about the winner or loser, most certainly did. If the audience suddenly knew that the loser had been sick for the previous week- things might look up for his fans. Then there were other times when the sympathy card had come in- but whatever the case was, there was always some emotion. She just knew where to draw the line of making it too much.

Aiden kept his distance as he watched Kasey twirl her pen around and play with her tape recorder. He had seen her do this for months and he was starting to figure out why he did it. She did it so that she wouldn’t be writing the cut and dry crap that everyone else did. She wanted for her writing to be something that people would enjoy and it was hard to do that after so many articles on the same subject, but somehow she did. Somehow she made them come back to read the next article, about the next fight or the next showdown of ‘The Greats’- her personal top five. She didn’t care about the rankings, her top five was based solely on how she felt about them as people and for some reason he had made the number one spot in her first yearly list. If he was honest with himself, he knew why- but that was something that they didn’t talk about. It was the one thing that they absolutely avoided at all costs, they were too comfortable this way.

She jumped up from her seat as one of the security guards called her over and Aiden slumped back down in his seat. He wanted to have two words with her, but not in front of the others, not when it could cause the mob mentality to come out. So he waited, like he always did. No wonder there were rumors about the two of them sleeping together, but he didn’t care. None of the reporters had ever been stupid enough to ask him that and if they did, they wouldn’t live to see daylight. She was the only good thing that he had let get close to him and it had been on accident. He did not want to lose her because of someone starting a vicious rumor about her.

“Mr. Jackson, I would like to congratulate you for beating Mr. Frank tonight. How are you feeling?” Kasey asked as she sat down in the chair in front of the tired fighter. He had gone three rounds with a legend and had somehow beaten him. This was going to shake things up in the world of MMA, almost as much as Urian’s loss had. A lot of the more experienced fighters were being beaten and it was starting to look like the generational gap was swinging in the other direction, something that the older fighters were most definitely not happy about. She knew that the older fighters needed someone to rally around and with any luck, Aiden would be that man, if he ever fought again.

“I’m tired,” Ronin stated as he looked over at the girl and shook his head. He had been warned by his management to be careful of what he said to her. She didn’t look the least bit intimidating and he had read her stuff, she was just a normal reporter, one that didn’t twist things to make it better or worse. She wrote the truth and even if that did hurt sometimes, it was better than the fabrications that other papers were likely to print.

“How are the wife and new baby?” Kasey prodded as Ronin sat up and smiled. She had hit the jackpot, only new fathers had that kind of smile. She had seen it before in her home and garden days, when they would do articles on baby rooms, mothers always cooed over the baby, fathers were just proud of what they had made, proud of something that they had not really had any evidence of except for their wife’s belly. Seeing the baby made a world of difference for them, they didn’t have the bond until the child was born and then they had to play catch up.

“Bella’s doing great, she’s still getting used to being a mom, but that’s expected and Mason is a very happy baby,” Ronin said as the tension in his body released and he faced the nutcase reporter with a smile. If this was the worst that she was going to do to him, he had nothing to be afraid of.

“How are you doing with the baby?” Kasey asked as he reached over for his wallet and passed her a picture. She looked at the picture of the three of them together and smiled. They were a happy little family and she knew that Ronin had thought more than once about ending his MMA days when his wife had found out she was pregnant.

“I’m getting less sleep, but the little bugger is worth it,” Ronin said as she nodded and stood up. “That’s it?”

“I can describe how the fight went without any questions, but people are going to hate you for beating Frank, so I am going to try to make you human or at least make you human enough. Have a good night Mr. Jackson, hopefully little Mason will sleep good tonight, you’re going to need your rest,” Kasey said as she smiled over at him and watched as he just shook his head.

She walked out of the room and tossed her notepad, pen and tape recorder in her bag before she headed for the exit. She had traded the flats for the heels, like she did before every interview. For some reason the men were more willing to spill their guts to her when she wore heels and a skirt, of course that had been the same in the Home and Garden section as well. Her feet ached, but she had to get the story in and get some sleep before sunrise. The last week had taken it out of her and with any luck she might be allowed to come in late tomorrow. She was starting to worry that if she didn’t get some sleep soon that she might start going crazy.

Aiden met her at the door as she fell into stride with him. He had to admit that the girl did what he had asked; she never talked to him if he was not fighting until they were outside. It made things much easier on him.

“How is my favorite reporter?” Aiden asked as she looked over at him and forced a smile. “That great?”

“I was supposed to get the night off, but that didn’t happen,” Kasey stated as she climbed into the drivers’s seat of her car and exchanged the heels for flip flops. The inside of her car looked like a small bomb had gone off, but she seemed to know where everything was in the train wreck of a car. Aiden cringed at the idea of letting one of his cars look like that, then he shook his head. If he had to guess, neatness was not on the top of Kasey’s to do list- sleep seemed to be more important right now. “They can’t be without their top MMA journalist for one night, so here I am.”

“I have some news you might like,” Aiden stated as she pulled out her notepad and dug for a pen and tape recorder. Finally she pulled out the recorder, but no pen, her purse had a wonderful talent of swallowing pens at the most inconvienent of times. “Here…take this pen. I came here tonight to set up my next fight. In three weeks time, I’ll be fighting Jackson at the arena downtown.”

“Red Wall?” Kasey asked as he nodded and she scribbled down the note.

“First fight back, I’d hate for you to miss it,” Aiden said as she nodded and pulled out her planner. He had seen the archaic book several times before, it was part of her, it was something that he had gotten used to as one of her quirks, like the fact that she always wore clothing that was distinctly preppy in nature. He had the feeling that it was just to throw the MMA fighters off, since he had seen her in jeans and heels a couple of times and knew that she would fit in just fine at an MMA fight like that, probably a little too well, in her opinion.
“Aiden, I’m sorry, but my sister’s getting married that weekend, I can see if they’ll let me cover it, but I doubt they will. I’ll be in Troy the entire week,” Kasey babbled as he grasped her arm and she looked back up at him. His eyes flickered from her lips and back up to her eyes, before he shook his head and forced the thoughts from his mind. As much as he wanted to, he knew better. He knew that if he opened that can of worms there would be no closing it any time soon. The only reason he had his sanity left was because of the fact that he hadn’t fallen in love with any woman- at least not to the extent that he was sure he would with Kasey.
“It’s your sister’s wedding, my fight is not that important,”Aiden said as she nodded and she tucked her hair behind her ears. He loved watching her be nervous around him. He loved that she could hand it to him one moment and then feel bad the next. She was the only reason that he read the paper most days, her articles always spoke to something more than sports, which was hard to do with the limited space that MMA articles got.
“I just feel bad,” Kasey muttered as she pulled off her glasses and sighed as she rubbed her forehead. “Of course that could be the two hours of sleep over the past three days getting to me.”
“Can you drive?” Aiden asked as she nodded and held up the bottle of Mountain Dew that she had stashed in a small cooler. “You came prepared.”
“Always, I better be going, I have to get this in and then go get some sleep. Have a good night, Mr. Untameable,” Kasey said as she crawled into her Mustang and started the engine. He watched as she drove out of sight and knew she was thinking the same thing he was. Why had he never kissed her?
He walked over to motorcycle and climbed on, she always left him with more questions than answers, but there was always one absolute-he was a demigod and she was mortal, that never mixed well. As he peeled out of the parking lot he let out a sigh- the next week was bound to be a rough one.

“As I sit here and write this essay, I find that

I am having a bit of a hard time saying the truth.

I honestly do no know why I want to go to the

University of Texas, other than I need to experience

something other than what has been laid out for me.

I need to be tested and tried- I need for my life to

be more than this small town and the expectation

to marry immediately after my college graduation and

have babies. I need to be trusted for my brains, as much

as my body. I need to be loved, in a way that no man here has

ever appreciated and maybe, just maybe, I will

find that in Texas. If not- it is only the beginning

of my adventure. I’m sure that somewhere out there, someone

holds all of the answers I’m looking for.”

-Kasey Marshall, Entrance Essay, University of Texas, 29 December 1999

The brown haired woman stood on her chair to get a better view of the fight, at five foot four she could barely see over the front row, much less through the video cameras that were pressed up against the ring to get the perfect video for the various websites that covered this sort of fighting. She looked down to make sure that no one would see up her blue dress and let out a sigh of relief. Her grandparents would roll over in their graves if that happened and she did not need any other reason for her family to come and haul her back to Alabama. She loved her family, but she had to live her own life, which was something that they had a hard time accepting, at first. She had always been the one that they were sure was not going to leave the home nest and she had also been the one to feel the pull- the need to get away from it all. That was why she was standing in the middle of a crowd of men as they yelled for whichever fighter they thought to be the best. Yes, they were all journalists, but they were far from un-baised. No one would be the wiser when they read the articles they produced, but they all had their favorites.

She had long ago kicked off her high heels for her flats and smiled as she watched two of her favorite fighters duke it out. No one would guess that she came from a place where martial arts and boxing were nearly obsolete, no one except a select few people and that was only when she went to talk and her southern drawl came out. Yes, she lived in Dallas, Texas, but she was a completely different brand of southern from the Texans that lived here.

She spent the first eighteen years of her life in Alabama; Troy, Alabama to be exact. Then she had done something that shocked her family to no end, she decided to pick up and go to the University of Texas for college. They had all been so sure that she would hate the place and come running back to Alabama to attend some college nearby after her first semster in the foreign state. Instead she fell in love with the state and had only gone back home for Christmas and the family reunion for the past ten years, her family came out to visit a good bit, but it was not the same. It would never be the same and she was okay with that, she loved the life that she was living and it was well worth the long distance bill from hell.

After graduating college, she had started working on a novel, but she soon figured out that it was not going to put food on the table any time soon, so she decided to try reporting and she loved it. She had been working at The Dallas Morning News for the past five years and it had always been good to her, even if she had had her doubts about some of their choices for her. She had moved from the ‘Home and Garden’ section of the newspaper to the sports section about a year ago and she was in heaven. She got into just about any sporting event for free, but her specialty was MMA, a sport that was more violent than anything she could have ever imagined herself watching- much less writing about.

She had become fascinated with the sport the first night she covered it. She had been filling in for Dane, due to a family emergency. Before that she had sworn off ever covering it due to the nasty pictures she had seen of some of the fighters after a grueling match, but there was something to be said about two men that were willing to put themselves in harms way, for a buckle and a title. They were most definitely not the type of men that walked around her cubicle and they were also the kind that made her heart melt, just a bit. She had to admit that most of them were fine male specimens, the kind that belonged on the cover of dirty novels, not inside of a ring where their beauty could be damaged by an errant cross. It was that very fact that made them so alluring, none of them cared about their looks, they cared about the fight.

She would never forget the fight between Aiden Urian and Lucian Thomas. She had been shocked to see the power and the fluid grace that they moved with. It was like a very violent ballet and it was something that fascinated her, she wondered what would drive someone to do this- to join a sport that would get them hurt. The only question was just how badly that would be and how long the pain would last when the time came. That night she had interviewed Aiden and she still smiled at the memory, she had never known what that interview would do for her career. She had never expected for him to take a liking to her or more accurately, for him to not rip out her heart and feed it to her. She had been warned about what he was like, but when she had seen him, she couldn’t find it in herself to believe that he was truly a horrible man. She just thought that he was misunderstood, the smile she had seen after the fight told her that much. There was much more to the man than all the stories said, she was sure of it.

Aiden had showered before the interviews, causing him to become more alluring in her eyes and he walked out in what she now knew was his uniform- jeans, a black t-shirt and some sort of boots. While all the other reporters asked him to describe the fight for the millionth time, she had watched him closely. She noticed the way that he reacted to all the pestering and remebered herself wincing. She could tell that he felt like a caged animal, it was then the real question popped into her head.

Could he be tamed? Could he truly go from this crazy man to a man that would play house with one woman for the rest of his life? She doubted it, she knew his kind. They were great for one night stands, but horrible for anything that resembled a real relationship. They wanted no commitments and they usually got that, at the expense of the woman. She had almost been that woman a couple of times and she knew the hurt that a man like this could inflict. She also knew that there was probably a list the size of a scroll hidden somewhere with all the women that he bedded and then left, but she also knew that wouldn’t keep women from trying to get him to settle down. It would not kill their hope that he would change for them.

She was shaken out of her revelry as the buzzer sounded to end the first round and she lowered herself off the seat and looked back at the rows of people. Her eyes then settled on the familiar brown eyes and half smile that she knew so well. She knew she could bust him, but she didn’t, they had an unspoken agreement about that. She let her eyes linger on him for a moment and watched the slight blush creep into his cheeks- he didn’t know that he did that every time that she scrutinized him and it made her smile. It was nice to be able to get to someone that was a prestigious fighter and generally scared anyone that came near him. It was one of the things that allowed her to trust Aiden, even though there were times when common sense said she shouldn’t.

She turned around and straightened her dress, knowing that Aiden would be watching her, she could always feel when his eyes were on her. She let out a sigh as her mind wandered off again, to a not so distant memory of how their odd relationship began. She still remembered his intense eyes as he answered her question, with a sincerity that had shocked nearly everyone in the room.

“Of course I can be tamed, but I haven’t met the right woman yet.”

“Lucian Thomas and Aiden Urian are two of the best MMA fighters known to man and tonight they fought each other at Red Wall Arena in downtown Dallas. It was my first taste of the sport and it was enough to get me hooked as a fan for life. What girl wouldn’t love to see two half naked men duking it out? Any ways back to the fight- the fight started out with the normal show of power and it ended in one quick motion, a knock out in the first round. Then I had this crazy idea, there was no reason to ask Urian how he had won the fight, I didn’t need another recap, I did ask a personal question. And the risk has seemed to pay off. Mr. Urian just might be human after all.”

-Kasey Marshall, The Dallas Morning News, 15 December 2006

The black haired man sauntered into the arena, dressed in what most people would describe as his uniform: a snug black t-shirt, ripped jeans and biker boots, with his leather jacket and helmet securely nestled under his arm. Some eyes turned to face him and there were others that did not even sense his presence. There was a shudder from some of the humans as they took in his appearance. At six foot one he was by no means the tallest of people, but his aura was enough to keep most people far away. Demigods generally did that when they were around humans, leave it to someone who had lived for nearly 400 times the average human life span to not want to talk to them anymore. They found ways to keep people away and they were very good at it, it was one of the few things that made it possible to survive in the human world.

He stretched his arms over his head as he walked up to the metal cage and took a look at the fighters, neither of them knew they were being sized up as his next opponent. He had taken a beating about three months ago that had left the world of Mixed Martial Arts in shock, of course he knew the other “man” had cheated. He used his demigod powers on him and was now paying for that in a special version of hell. It had been a rule for as long as there had been demigods-do not attack each other unless you were willing to start a god war. MMA had given them a type of reprieve from this rule, they could fight inside these rings to their hearts content, but they must never use their demigod powers, they must never risk that they would expose the pantheons that still thrived today in the shadows of humanity.

The man had soon disappeared off the face of the earth, which was suspicious to all of those that didn’t know the truth. There were rumors that he had killed the man, but that would have been far too easy of a fate. In Hades the errant demi-god would be tortured for this small mishap and when he returned, he would never risk something like this again. He took no solace in the other man’s demise, but it did make him smile, justice always seemed to be swift among gods. There was never any gray area, things were black and white and that was something that he had always appreciated about Olympus, even if it was something that had always confused him. He did see things in shades of grey, but he knew better than to tell any of them that, he would have been disowned otherwise.

In his three thousand years of existence, he had only been called on with his full powers once. As a god of war, he was called upon whenever the pantheons started taking issue with each other. If war was imminent, he was to be there and he was to be among the front lines, forming strategies and plotting easy ways of defeat. He was not considered to be as important as Athena, but they all knew better when it came to power, Aiden Urian was a man that no god wanted to cross and when he was in his god form, none of them did, unless they had a death wish and he had been glad to grant them their final wishes when they were that stupid. Taking a life did not phase him in the least, it was the way that he had survived for so many years, war always benefitted him. It always made him into someone that was seen as a hero, he did not like that, but he did wish to help and that meant fighting- it always had.

He took several steps away from the cage and sat down in the third row of seats. He was now among the reporters, but he did not worry that any of them would recognize him. All of them were used to seeing him in a pair of black shorts with “Untameable” written across his backside and unless they took a good look at his face, they’d never realize that the number two ranked MMA fighter was sitting beside them. Most of the reporters weren’t smart enough to take a moment and look around at anything but the fight, if they had he would have been caught on several occasions. He did this on a regular basis, some times to scope out the competition and other times in hope of seeing the one person that he didn’t snarl at. The one person that he had learned to trust above all others.

Then he saw her, his favorite reporter. She looked over at him and her gaze lingered for a second longer than necessary, but she just smiled and nodded a ‘hello’. In all his years of being a fighter, he had never met a reporter that didn’t pounce when they recognized him, but that was why he respected Kasey. She made sure he was left alone, she made sure that he was not just treated like a piece of meat and he didn’t know why she had done it. It was almost like she understood why he was this way, but he knew that was a far cry from the truth. No one understood why he was like this, especially not someone as goodhearted as Kasey. They were from completely different worlds.

He watched her return her attention to the match and he openly smiled. If he had anything to do with it, she would not be stuck here writing MMA articles for The Dallas Morning News, but she didn’t seem to mind, so he kept his mouth shut. She had more talent than what could be used at a newspaper, but it seemed that he was one of the few people that saw it. She might not be a friend in the normal sense, but she most definitely became that when she asked the one question he had been dying to answer, but no one else would dare to ask. No one else had felt that they would survive a lashing by him if he reacted to it badly, it had been her first night and she had not really known any better. He knew now that she didn’t know all of the stories that the other reporters did about him. That night, she had looked up at him and faced him head on, when other people shied away from him on principle. It was unnerving and refreshing-she was the first person to have done that in nearly two thousand years and she had not even known what a miracle that it was. The question she asked, rocked him- but he was glad, even now, that it was finally out in the open.

“Can you be tamed, Aiden?”