Son Of The Cup Bearer {Percy Jackson x Ejen Ali}

Venus Is A Terrible Flirt

When Khai regained consciousness, he wished he didn't. First, he saw a beautiful woman sitting next to him with her legs folded underneath her. Her features constantly shifted, her hair length, her eye colour, her skin tone, and Khai instantly knew who she was. And he didn't like it.

Secondly, the searing pain like someone had drove a burning iron on his back. As the feeling became more vivid the more conscious he became, he just wished the goddess of love could knock him out. 

"Finally, you're awake," Venus sighed.

Khai blinked. The fluorescent lights above him glared down at him, blinding him. He sat up, and made the mistake of taking in a deep breath of disgusting fresh meat. He instantly retched. 

"Whoa, there, sweetheart," Venus said, alarmed. 

"I-Iman," Khai managed to mutter softly. Even that took him a lot of strength. "Where is she?"

"She's battling the ugly giant, hon," Venus supplied a little too helpfully. "And you're safe. We should really get out of here."

Dazedly, Khai touched the wound on his back. He nearly screamed as his fingertips brushed it in the slightest. 

"T-the wound," Khai gasped, after heaving several breaths. He didn't care about the disgusting stench anymore, the pain was more of a priority. It was overwhelming. "Could you help heal it, Lady Venus?"

For once, Venus seemed uneasy. 

"Here's the thing, hon, Imperial gold or Celestial bronze wounds are unhealable by simply just by treating it. It must be healed from wi-"

"I DON'T CARE!" Khai yelled. The goddess seemed to be surprised by his screaming, but not afraid. This made him even more angrier. "STOP IT WITH THE SPIRITUAL TALKING AND TALK REAL STUFF."

"But it is real, hon," Venus said, with the slightest hint of annoyance in her delicate voice. "Your wound is real, and so is the way of healing. You'll need to heal the soul; any attempts at the external wound would do no good." 

Suspiciously, Khai narrowed his eyes at her. Through all his pain he was trying to resist, the goddess' annoying entrancing ability was extremely distracting. And annoying. 

"Why are you not telling that in riddles?"

Venus looked stunned, as if slapped. "What do you mean?"

"Gods don't give information in a straightforward way," Khai said. "If otherwise, they make it ambiguous."

Khai didn't know where she got the nerve to do it, but she gave a ringing, beautiful laugh. 

"Oh, Khai, Khai," she giggled, wiping away a non-existent tear. "I'm the love goddess! I don't give information in riddles."

Khai glared at her. 

At long last, Venus' smile was wiped off her face as she sighed. "Fine. I was sent here by Vulcan, that ugly blacksmith excuse of a god. Asked me to keep an eye on you."

"You should be helping out with Iman then," Khai said through gritted teeth. 

"Oh, but didn't you hear me, hon? He only asked me to keep an eye on you." Venus batted her long eye lashes. Khai swore, if he had to be stuck longer with the goddess, he would let the wound on his back to consume his soul. 

"Fine," Khai sneered. "Fine! I'll go save her myself then."

Before he could stand up, however, Venus' eyes instantly turned from flirty sweet to I-will-murder-you-this-instant pink. Khai felt an invisible force push himself down, sending a shock wave right up from his bum. Khai let loose an unholy scream as it rippled his wound.

"This isn't helping!" Khai turned to the goddess, seething. The temperature around him grew mildly warm, but he was too angry to care. Neither did Venus, apparently. 

"Now, now, child," Venus chided, already directing her attention to more important things, like whether nails were polished. "I wouldn't want to risk my neck for something not worth it. Unless..."

"What?" Khai shot.

"Well, I do have this makeup palette that I've dropped from Olympus, and I have no idea where it went!" 

Khai rolled his eyes. He knew where this was going.

"Lemme guess," he interrupted her rather rudely before she could go on. "You want me to find this makeup palette in exchange for help for Iman."

Venus eyes sparkled. "Why, aren't you a smart little boy?" She moved to pinch his cheeks, but he slapped her hands away.

Then, it must have been a trick of the light, but for a moment, Venus appeared to look like a certain girl-

No. He must have been hallucinating. The pain was blinding him. But something in Venus' eyes told him otherwise. 

"Mmmm..." she considered, pretending as if nothing happened, but giving him a sideways smile anyhow that makes Khai more tempted to slap her in the face. "Well, I guess it would be my side of the bargain that has to be done first. But don't forget hon, the makeup palette."

She gave him a wink, and then she disappeared in a shower of glitter. Khai stared at where she was last, his hallucination of the girl Venus had appeared to be burned into his irises.

Then there came a ferocious yell, followed by the slashing of blades. His suspicion was confirmed when the floor shuddered as if a ten ton elephant had crashed from the sky. 

"Iman!" he shouted.

There was a scrambling of footsteps and Iman was next to his side, the goddess Venus nowhere to be seen anywhere nearby. And-

"Oh, gods, Iman, are you alright?" 

Iman seemed to have been through some serious battle. Her left eye was bruised and she was moving her arms in a rather odd position. 

"I'm OK," she groaned. "Are you OK?"

Looking at her state, he decided that he wasn't the one that she should be worrying about now. So he lied, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Iman stared concerningly at him, then sighed. "Well, guess I better call a taxi. Can you get up?"

Khai attempted to, and immediately fell back. The wound on his back felt like ripping itself open as he did, and that was simply unbearable.

"OK, you know what," Iman said. "Imma just...summon a ride."

She extracted from her the folds of her silver jacket a gleaming white whistle, which probably had endured a lot of jiggling in Iman's pocket. She blew on it, and came a sharp ringing sound. 

"Wh-what was that for?" Khai yelled over the sound of her whistle. 

Nothing happened, but Iman apparently was satisfied by letting lose a loud noise in the meat section of a deserted mall.

"Look," she said, pointing to the end of the aisle, where two white wolves prowled. Khai's blood frozen over. "Our ride has arrived."