Page 8 of Achille's Earth Angel
Achilles finally shot the old man an impatient scowl and opened his mouth to retort when the man’s features and body swirled around and materialized into a laughing Hercules.
Chapter 3
“Hercules,” Achillesexploded, his fist reaching out and socking his friend in the jaw. “What are you doing here? And where did you get this car?” He was actually relieved to see his friend because he was already wondering how far it was to the Nas temple foundation. He could see the pitfalls looming ahead of him just from the old’s man’s questions. He had to be careful not to make a disturbance in case Zeus were to spot him on earth.
“I decided to make the old man wait a few more hours,” he joked, moving his jaw from side to side. “And I can see I was right, you are like a newborn babe in this world.” He reached into the back and grabbed a bag to throw in Achille’s lap. “Here—some new clothes. There’s also a bag of coins in there, you’re going to need money. And you’re going to have to find a job to earn money, you can’t make a living as a warrior in this time.”
“I was becoming painfully aware of that while conversing with your alter ego,” Achilles ripped back. “If you ever get old, at least I’ll know how to find you,” he added with a sizzling barb.
“Just fitting into the culture,” Hercules replied cheerfully. “Ikarians can live to an average age of ninety-seven here on the island. It’s not uncommon to meet some over one-hundred at any given time.”
They were coming into the village now and Achilles looked around with interest. He’d already changed clothing. One of those blue T-shirts and a pair of shorts in a sturdy material called denim. They were very comfortable and he now looked similar to other residents wandering about the streets. A few blocks into the city and he spotted his Angel’s little yellow car. “She must be in that building,” he said, pointing to the car. “Stop there.”
Hercules glided up behind Ange’s car and stopped as Achilles fiddled with how to open the door. He put his hand on his friend’s arm. “Wait. You need a plan.”
Achilles frowned, but he hesitated. “I have a plan. I’m going to find Angel and take her back to her home.”
“And what if she doesn’t want to go?” Hercules asked with a smirk. “These women aren’t like the women you were used to. You don’t get to just command them to obey and they have to. And you can’t order me to grab her for you because I’m not one of your army of warriors you used to order about. Here you can get arrested for assaulting women.”
Achilles eyebrows went sky high. “And what makes you think I’m going to assault her? I’ve never assaulted a woman in my life, not even when I was mortal. I’m not a half-wit, Hercules, I’m quite aware of the possibility of being thrown into a dungeon. Every civilization has its laws and enforcers.”
“You’ve already threatened to spank her,” Hercules pointed out.
“That’s different, it’s a correction. What makes her think she can get away with attacking me without a punishment in return?”
Hercules shook his head. “To be clear, she wasn’t so much attacking you, as defending herself.”
Achilles frowned. “Call it what you will, but she deliberately sought my weak spot and used it to her advantage. That’s the strategy of an attacker. Besides, shewasattacking me. She hit me in the face when she opened her door,” he huffed.
Hercules threw his hands in the air. “Fine, I’ll visit you in jail when the time comes.”
Achilles just shot him a scorching glare and finally got the door of the red car open and climbed out. He didn’t even look back as he strode up the door of the low-slung stone building on the flagstone path and pounded on it. There was no answer and when he tried the knob, it was locked. Finally realizing there was a note on the door, he read it and turned around, his gaze searching for this Soukis mentioned on the paper. He spied it immediately across the street.
He ignored Hercules who was still sitting in the car watching him in amusement. If they were anywhere but among people, he’d take great pleasure in wiping the smirk off his face.
Since wiping the flagstones with his friend wasn’t an option, Achilles stalked across the roadway and up to the window of Soukis eatery. His eyes were immediately drawn to his angel—eating with another man! Instantly Achilles was on fire, an inferno of jealousy that had him reaching for the sword at his hip, only to remember he didn’t have one.
