Page 14 of Taurus's Quest
“What clients? We only get a handful a day,” Libra had stated.
“Meaning they should be easy to keep track of, and yet, one entered and got stuck inside when you closed shop. In her attempt to escape, she found the portal and ended up inside Tower.”
“Bullshit,” Libra had exclaimed. “For one, no one came in all afternoon. Don’t you think I would have noticed? And two, the portal room is kept locked. No one can get in the chamber without the code.”
“Oh really? Check your surveillance.”
It didn’t take long for Libra to rewind the footage from the discreetly placed cameras on the main level and in the basement. Libra’s expression went from confident to shocked. Without a word, he raced down the steps. Taurus, with crossed arms, waited in the storage room.
An ashen Libra had returned and immediately began stammering, “I had no idea.”
“Obviously.”
Taurus then got the non-enviable job of chewing him out since Aries remained stuck with the baby. A chastisement that quickly ended when someone entered the store, despite the hours indicating it wouldn’t be open for another hour.
Not just anyone. Circe.
Apparently, she’d woken and decided maybe everything wasn’t a dream. Taurus had ducked into the basement while Libra covered for him. Who knew what might have happened if she’d seen Taurus. Maybe they should wipe her memories after all.
“You always leave the door unlocked before you’re open?” Taurus grumbled once Circe left.
“No,” Libra muttered. “I was just popping in to put up a sign saying the store would be closed today.”
Apparently, he needed to make arrangements for his wife and child to receive in-home care if he was to continue working. Something about her pregnancy and bed rest. Blah blah, excuses.
Libra’s concern for his family, while admirable, placed Taurus in a dilemma. Rat out his brother, who obviously no longer took his task seriously, or cover for him so Aries didn’t find out. Libra had only been a warrior for a few decades at this point, when most went nearly a century, and some more.
If you asked Taurus, it might be time to nudge Libra in the direction of retirement because he had to wonder what Libra would do if told to leave Athens—and his family—for a mission that might last days, weeks, or months. Being an avatar meant sacrificing for the greater good, and when the time came that a man—or woman—couldn’t commit, that person was expected to step aside so another might take their place. Taurus’ predecessor unfortunately never got that chance, killed in the line of duty, a nicer way of saying tripped and fell into a volcano while fighting a fire lizard.
Seventy-five years Taurus had been doing his job, and he saw no end to that in sight. Unlike others, he didn’t do serious relationships. Soon as a woman began talking about taking things to the next level, he found a reason to piss her off so she’d dump him and move on. He preferred them angry when the end came rather than tearful. As for kids? Cute, when they belonged to other people. The idea of having his own? Shudder. No thanks.
Libra, on the other hand, embraced being a family man and, despite the dressing-down, still insisted on leaving the shop—choosing his family over his job. Aries wouldn’t be pleased. For some reason, Taurus decided to stick around, a waste of time, as it turned out. Only three people came in and, from that, only a single trinket sold.
Good thing Tower provided the funds to keep Zodiac Emporium open. The shop, under various guises, had been guarding the portal beneath it for a crazy amount of time. All of the portals had safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized access, although few of them had actual warriors living or working in and around. If Libra retired, likely the shop would end up shuttered for a while until the monsters in Athens began running rampant again.
As the afternoon waned, Taurus yawned. Time to go home. He doubted there’d be a sudden rush of people clamoring to buy the figurines—that looked nothing like Taurus and his brothers. A prickling sensation led his gaze to the display window—and the woman on the other side.
Oh shit. Circe!
Before he could disappear, she stalked in, pointing a finger. “I want to talk to you!”
He played dumb. “Afternoon, ma’am. How can I help you?”
“Don’t ma’am me. We met last night.”
“Did we?”
Her glare would have melted a lesser man. “Not funny. I want to know what happened. Were you the one who rescued me from the shop and brought me home?”
Should he lie? Fuck it. “I did.”
She jabbed a finger in his direction. “Then why pretend you didn’t know me?”
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to be reminded.”
“What happened?”
He repeated her own summary. “I found you in the shop and, given you weren’t yourself, brought you home.”
