Goddess of Love Read Free Page B

given him sudden, sweet hope.
    â€œI wouldn’t be recognized as Love?” Venus said at the same instant Vulcan realized that he wouldn’t be recognized—or judged or shunned—as the God of Fire.
    Persephone smiled impishly. “You could practice your skills of seduction without anyone knowing that you are the incarnation of love.” The goddess sighed romantically. “Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?”
    â€œIt does indeed.”
    Yes, Vulcan agreed silently. Not being recognized did, indeed, sound intriguing.
    â€œAnd don’t forget the excellent shopping,” Persephone added, gracefully pointing her toe and holding up her foot so that she could show off her black alligator-skin cowboy boot.
    â€œPersephone, my friend, perhaps you would like to show me around your entertaining little kingdom?”
    â€œIt would be my pleasure.”
    The two goddesses linked arms and, laughing, walked off in the direction of Persephone’s mother’s temple, where Vulcan knew Demeter kept open a portal to the modern city Tulsa.
    â€œFascinating…” he murmured to himself. Leaving his parents’ temple he hurried to the stairs that would return him into the bowels of Mount Olympus and his own fiery realm. By the time he reached his great hall, Vulcan’s mind was buzzing like the brown bees of Greece. Modern men didn’t have the ancients’ prejudices…. They wouldn’t even recognize divine Venus as the physical incarnation of love. So it wasn’t entirely impossible that maybe, possibly, there might be a modern man in the shining Tulsa Kingdom who could be enticed into stepping into his immortal place. Especially if Love herself was unknowingly involved in the enticing…
    With a new sense of purpose, Vulcan strode to the heart of his realm, stripping off his toga as he went so that by the time he faced the pillar of open flame that heated the world his muscular body was naked and already glistening with sweat.
    He raised his hands, palms open. In recognition of the presence of the Fire God, the orange pillar rippled and flashed. Vulcan closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he began the incantation.
    Fire swirl and burn, strong and clear,
    like passion does love, to Venus stay near.
    Follow Love’s sweet path through Demeter’s portal,
    search, test, seek, find a modern man who is mortal.
    The fire danced around Vulcan’s palms like an exuberant child, mirroring the unusual excitement that suddenly burned within his breast. He was so intent upon the spell that he didn’t notice the thread of Hera’s power that snaked from around his body and joined the pillar, making it flare and swell with magic straight from the queen of Olympus. Vulcan clapped his hands together and completed the spell.
    With the unbreakable strength of an immortal’s belief,
    find a mortal man who can grant me relief!
    The pillar of flame exploded with a roar that would have instantly deafened a mortal man. Unscathed, the Fire God watched as a sliver of golden flame, invisible to all except for the God of Fire himself, formed within the pillar and then split free of it to hover in the air in front of Vulcan.
    â€œGo! Do my bidding!” the god commanded. Quick as one of his father’s infamous thunderbolts, it dashed from the heart of Mount Olympus. Vulcan knew its path. The questing flame would follow Venus all the way through Demeter’s portal and into the Kingdom of Tulsa. There it would seek and search for something it could never find in the ancient world of man—a modern mortal who could take his place as God of Fire.
    Vulcan smiled in satisfaction and settled down to wait.
    Â 
    Hera felt the tug of her power being used. She glanced surreptitiously at Zeus. He was busy with Demeter. The two of them were arguing good naturedly over the quality of the ambrosia harvest.
    â€œDearest, I need to check on some last minute details for