The War Within: Curse of the Gods, #1

The following is a work of fiction. Any reference to any real person, place, or thing is coincidental and is not intended as an endorsement or advertisement in any way.

This story is intended for mature audiences. It contains explicit language, sex, and adult situations. If you are easily offended, consider yourself warned.

Thank you, always, to my readers. Without you, my books are just words on a page.

A very special thank you to Karen Taylor for helping me with a few things in this book. I am exceptionally grateful for your help and your ideas.

Thank you to P.T. Macias, R.L. Merrill, P. Mattern, and Julia Mills for allowing me to be a part of this incredible project. This has been the most fun I have had working with other authors. I can’t promise you that some of our late night conversations won’t make into another book.

Thank you to Tara Dawn for doing a bang up editing job for me!

And last, but not least, thank you to Jessica for pimping me out like the book whore I am!

Prologue

Many eons ago, the Creator, the one true God, created all that is. He created the universe, the stars, and the planets. He created the plants and water on those worlds. He created realms and different planes of existence. Yet, there was something missing. That was when He created life forms. Not only did He create humans, but Fae, shifters, elves, gnomes, sprites, nymphs and many, many more. He gifted some of these beings with special magic that would ensure that every species lived in harmony and that this world, this entity that He created, would survive.

Knowing that this thing He had created would need constant love and attention, He created beings to assist Him. Lesser gods and goddesses to watch over His wondrous creation. He gifted them as well with the power to influence things such as love, fertility, war, and peace. He loved these gods and goddesses so much, that He gifted them with their most prized possession. Free will.

For a time, everything worked in complete melodiousness; everyone did their jobs, and all living things were exultant.

But that was not to remain.

The gods and goddesses became different over time. The entities that resided on the sky mountain, Olympus, in particular. They had become selfish, petty, and cruel. Some interfered in the lives of humans for their own entertainment and not for the greater good. This was not what they had been created to be, and their actions and self-importance became so atrocious that the Creator knew He had to do something. Unwilling to destroy his beloved, albeit misguided, gods and goddesses, He imprisoned them all with a curse, each unique to the deity that it confined. The curses were meant to be broken, of course, but only when the cursed learned the lesson the Creator intended ...

THE TRIP DOWN THE SIDE of Mount Olympus was physically taxing and more annoying than it should have been. There had been a time when Ares could have just willed himself off the mountain and went wherever he pleased. That was before. Now, he had to hike down the side of the damned thing and hope no one saw him. It was time. Ares had spent far too long helplessly listening to the ramblings of his parents and siblings. Their self-importance was over-inflated, and if he had to listen to one more of Zeus’s stories of how fucking fabulous the Olympian God was, Ares was going to have to cut off his own arm and shove it in his ears to mute the bastard.

He stepped carefully over a prickly bush that threatened to cover the path. No one had bothered coming this way in more years than he could remember. They were all stuck on that sky mountain, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Well, Ares was sick of it. He had always been a take charge and get-it-the-fuck-done kind of man, and there was no time like the present to act.

As he neared the foot of the mountain, the cloud cover got thicker, but he could see the mouth of the cave that would lead him to freedom. It was covered over with tall grass and limbs, but it was there. Ares pulled his sword from its sheath and held it at the ready as he approached. The brush was no match for his sharp blade and the entrance was open in no time. Ares walked on silent feet, thankful that he had fashioned new sandals before this trip.

As the cave descended, a false sense of safety surrounded the God of War, but he knew better. The cavern took a sharp turn to the left and he was met with six brightly glowing yellow eyes.

Hello, Fluffy, he said with a grin to the three headed dragon. It is time that you and I have it out.

The dragon reared its heads back and roared, recognizing Ares immediately. As its massive heads descended, fire raced from its mouths. Ares held his shield up, blocking the deadly flames from his body.

Ha, old girl, you’re gonna have to do better than that! he shouted as he darted out of the line of fire.

The dragon stomped with her foot, narrowly missing Ares. He ran to the left, taking cover behind a large stone, when Fluffy tried to fry him again. He played the dodge and miss game with her several times before getting serious.

The exit was just on the other side of this cavern. All Ares had to do was get past the dragon. He made his move and Fluffy dropped her massive claw in front of him. Her claw raked the side of his face and Ares plunged his sword down, piercing her foot, then yanked it out again. He jumped over the injured limb and ran full force toward the exit with blood pouring down his face. 

The dragon wailed and the cavern filled with fire. Ares could feel the heat on the back of his neck, but he kept running. He had no desire to kill the dragon, only to be free. As he ran through the exit, the dragon’s paw landed so close to his backside that he thought his ass might have been scraped. Two more steps, and Ares was falling.

Falling to Earth and falling to freedom.

ATHENA HAD FOLLOWED her brother off the mountain and stood watch in the shadows as he sparred with the dragon. He could have beaten the beast any time he wished, and, yet, he did not. It was very much in Ares’ character to indulge in an unnecessary fight. That was his downfall on many occasions. He allowed too much, instead of setting a goal and going straight to it. As the pair were fighting, Athena saw the opportunity to slink past them and through the exit of the cave. She didn’t know if Ares would be free of Olympus, and she didn’t care. But she was going through that exit, one way or another. She wondered to herself why she hadn’t thought of it before, working together. As a goddess of war and strategy herself, Athena should have seen the opportunity. Whereas Ares was all brute force, she was the strategist. Perhaps she had been blinded by the curse she carried as did the other gods of Olympus. She decided that it did not matter as she fell through the sky to the Earth.

Chapter One

He pulled his hoodie down further, covering more of his face as he pushed his way through the busy streets of New York City. His shoulder brushed that of another man, causing the man to turn.

Hey, watch it! he shouted at yet another man, one who was completely innocent, and shaking his fist.

You should watch your attitude, the other man shouted back.

As the pair