The Cursed Greek Heroes Series: Wicked

Chapter 1

New York City
One week in Scotland.

Ella raked fingers through her hair, disturbing the dry, malnourished mass that cascaded down to her back. She made a mental note to wash her hair tonight, that is, if she managed to get home before she was too tired to function.

One entire week in Scotland.

Old Ella would have jump at the idea in a heartbeat. But present Ella, could not afford to abandon her work. She had barely gotten used to a life where she can never again afford that kind of luxury.

Crossing the small space of her office, Ella head to her table and sat down on her chair. Leaning forward, she picked up her phone which immediately connected her to her personal assistant slash best friend, Annie. Her only friend, if she was to be honest.

"Yeah, boss?" Annie's chirpy tone greeted Ella's ears.

Ella let out a long suffering sigh, sank back to her chair and closed her eyes. "It's about my trip to Scotland scheduled for next week. Remind me again how much that will cost me?" Ella pinched the bridge of her nose as she prepared for the worst. Knowing her friends, it would be probably cost as much as the car she's been driving.

"Your weeklong accommodations amount to... we're looking at a rough 12K. And I've already booked you to fly economy too."

Ella's shoulders sagged. Twelve thousand dollars?

After a few seconds of total silence, Annie spoke up. "Hey El, are you okay?"

Ella ran her fingers through her hair once more as a wave of dizziness swept over her. "No, how can anyone be okay with throwing away that much money?"

She heard Annie sigh on the other line. "I don't understand why it is so important for you to join this stupid sorority reunion thing, anyway. It's not that you hang out much with any of your old sorority friends anymore." Annie commented.

Well, it was true. After Ella completed her Ivy League education four years ago, she rarely got together with any of her sorority 'sisters' except for business reasons. Most of them came from very wealthy families with old money, some of them are crazy successful in their own rights and others also married to rich husbands while some even had political pulls. So it pays to be connected to them, literally.

"A few of my friends and their husbands are our shareholders, Annie. If I don't show up for the stupid trip, they're gonna think that I can't even leave the office for fear the company's gonna collapse on itself. It's definitely not the image I want to project. Besides, David invited me, personally."

"David Richardson. He's campaigning for mayor in the upcoming race right?" Annie inquired.

"Yep."

Annie hesitated for a moment before inevitably she asked for the final verdict. "So, what are you going to do?"

"This is not going on the company's expenditure. Put everything on my personal account please, Annie."

On the other line, Annie made some sympathetic cooing sounds. Ella smiled a little. Annie had always been maternal, a trait which drawn Ella to her in the first place. "Got it boss. Don't worry! Go on on this trip and de-stress. Don't even think of work. You need it."

"Keeping this company going is all I've done all these while. Worrying comes with the territory."

'"Not to mention you've sacrificed your love life too."

Ella chuckled humorlessly. Just so that she could focus on reviving Aristo Corp, she literally had no personal life to speak of. She have not had a romantic relationship with the male species since she left college. And that was years ago. "I don't need to be reminded of that every day of my life Annie, thank you very much."

"Yes you do. If I don't remind you, who else is gonna do it? You deserved to be scooped up by some beautiful man with an equally gorgeous body." Annie ranted on the other line. Leaning forward, Ella flicked the pages of an open folder resting on her desk. It was hard not to be tempted to succumb to those juicy desires. It would be nice to at least get laid again, God.

"Scooped up? Like an ice cream? No, thank you. What I need now is a new investor with a few million dollars lying around." Ella heard Annie chortled and it brought a small smile to her own lips.

"What about his gorgeous body?"

"Annie, if he's a millionaire investor, I'll have him even if he has claws and horns."

On the other line, Annie burst out laughing. Ella joined in and felt her worries melted away for a brief moment.

********

Scotland
"You're pacing again, master." Dorien commented as he entered the greenhouse bearing a silver tray and a pair of trimming scissors.

Dorien proceeded to crouch down near a bush of heavily blooming roses and began clipping stems of the flowers with a metallic snip snip snip. "Aren't you going out to patrol, master?"

Choosing to ignore Dorien's question, Adamus paused to consider the man before walking up and down the aisle. The shadows gave him up to the light of the moon and Adamus were forced to stare down to the shadow that he cast. He walked towards Dorien, pausing only to admire the fat blooms of the roses. His footfalls were curiously quiet against the paved walkway. "Are you going to lecture me about that fight with Chris?"

"Christopher have come and goes whenever it pleases him." answered the man as he performed a perfect slanted cut on one of the stems. "Besides, his young soul is always eager to see the world. He would've left for some far flung Southeast Asian country, sooner or later."

Adamus pondered on the string of words produced by Dorien. He too was young once and rearing to explore what the world had to offer. But that was a long, long time ago. A time that was best left alone and forgotten.

Nevertheless, the memory pricked him.

Dorien's methodological movements as he harvested the roses drew Adamus to look at him again. The crisp sound produced by the silver scissors was picked up by his sensitive ears and the delicate smell of freshly cut stems intermingled with the fragrance of roses and the rich tang of soil.

"Aren't you going to patrol tonight, master?" again, Dorien asked him.

Adamus huffed, producing an almost angry sound. But Dorien knew him enough to interpret that as rebellious annoyance. "Yeah yeah, I'm leaving." Stepping into a dark corner of the room, Adamus willed the shadow to bend around him and in an instant he was transported away for the heady fragrance of blooming roses.

As soon as he materialized, his sensitive senses were assaulted by the smells of rotting garbage and Adamus squinted as the harsh bright and blinking neon light hit his eyes. The sound of horns blared in a distant, followed by an indistinguishable masculine shout. He also heard dull thumping of EDM music from the nearby club.

After gaining his bearing, Adamus stepped away from the shelter of the shadows. Just as he did so, Adamus heard a dry rasping voice behind him.

"Ah, son of Apollo! I have been expecting you."

Oh to be this lucky, this early. He thought wryly. The gods must either favor him specifically or hate him selectively. Adamus quickly turned around. But before he could face whoever it was who had been waiting for him in the alley, he heard a loud bang and felt a stinging pain, biting into his shoulder.

The son of a bitch just shot him.

Wrong move.