Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(3)

"How many times do I have to explain it to you? Tulsa, Oklahoma, is not a kingdom, nor is it mine." Persephone's laughter was light and carefree, beautiful in its own right, even though it didn't have the seductive lure of the Goddess of Love. "Think of Tulsa as you would one of the ancient cities, like Pompeii or Mediolanum, only the sewage systems in Tulsa are better." She paused and frowned. "But I cannot say the traffic has improved."

"Are you telling me that you spend six months of the year in a city with fabulous marbled baths like Pompeii?" Venus asked eagerly.

"No. Sorry. Tulsa doesn't have Pompeii's baths."

"Then does it have Mediolanum's delicious red wine?" Venus moaned in remembered pleasure.

"Red wine from Italy's Mediolanum region is sinfully rich and wondrous."

"Uh, no. Tulsa isn't a wine region, although they do import wines from all over the world."

Persephone chewed her bottom lip delicately while she paused and thought for a moment.

"Actually I've found myself falling in love with a drink called a specialty martini. And they are definitely made right there in Tulsa."

"That only sounds vaguely interesting. Certainly not enough to account for your obsession with that place."

"I'm not obsessed!"

"Of course you are," Venus said. "You spend six months out of the year in Tulsa. And right now it's not even spring or summer there, but you've just returned from yet another visit. You can't fool Love, Persephone. I know obsession when I see it."

Vulcan assumed the Goddess of Spring would be angered by Venus's words, so he was surprised to hear her respond with good-natured laughter.

"Maybe I am obsessed. And why not? I do adore Tulsa. There's something about walking the streets of a modern city, one where no one recognizes me as an immortal, that is just so wondrously freeing. Think of it, Venus. No one prejudges you by what you may or may not have done for uncounted centuries. No one knows who your parents are. No one cringes in fear if you get annoyed. And here's the best part - no one worships you because you're a goddess. If you're worshipped" - she smiled seductively - "it's because you're a desirable, intelligent, fascinating woman. Can you imagine what a lovely change that is?" Persephone didn't give the goddess a chance to answer. "And the men! Modern men are different than ancient mortals. They don't have their hang-ups."

Venus's smooth brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Hang-ups - it means that they don't think like archaic, barbaric dolts. Well, most of them don't. Modern men don't have the prejudices the ancients have; they know how to appreciate women as equals, and that is very, very sexy."

From the shadows Vulcan watched understanding dawn over Venus's beautiful face at the same instant he felt a shock of something that he didn't recognize at first because the emotion was so foreign to him - hope. What Persephone had said about modern men being different had given him sudden, sweet hope.

"I 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?"

"It does indeed."

Yes, Vulcan agreed silently. Not being recognized did, indeed, sound intriguing.

"And 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.

"Persephone, my friend, perhaps you would like to show me around your entertaining little kingdom?"

"It 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.

"Fascinating..." 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.