Gods Behaving Badly (Hecate – Book One)
Copyright 2016 Mickey Ann
Published by Mickey Ann at Smashwords
Cover Concept by Mickey Ann. Design by Alex Rosca
Image Licensed through Adobe
1
Editing provided by Elisabeth Kaufman (writingrefinery.com)
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other
people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each
recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then
please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting
the hard work of this author.
1
Author is responsible for any editing errors!
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Preview of Book Two (Isis)
About Mickey Ann
Other Books by Mickey Ann
Connect with Mickey Ann
Acknowledgement
For Curtina Renee—First Fan and Best Friend—Rest in peace, Baby Girl.
Chapter One
Throughout the ages I had been known by many names. Ares’ whore. Bacchus’s muse. Goddess
of witchcraft and magic. Hekata. Hecate.
Cate was what I called myself.
Even after almost eighty years, I still hadn’t recovered from my fall from grace. It had made me
ordinary. Not quite human, but ordinary, nonetheless. I had an apartment. I paid rent. And, when
I could afford it, I even ate.
I didn’t know if I was fooling myself, but I believed that if I could carry on like this for another
hundred years, Hades would eventually “get over it” and return my soul. But already the world
had crushed me. I was tired of the rankness that greeted me each time I rode the subway and I
was tired of enduring the human tendency to inquire about my well-being.
I didn’t say any of this out loud, however. Taking the first empty chair in the circle, I stuffed the
extra cookies in my pocket, daring anyone to call me out on it. They shouldn’t put the cookies
out there to tempt me if they hadn’t meant for me to eat them.
I needed these anger meetings, though I would never admit this out loud to anyone. I had always
been a carefree girl before I lost my soul. Perhaps my soul had made me tolerable to be around.
Now, I was full of resentment for this ordinary life I was living. Yet, I was conflicted about
whether I wanted to be restored to my former glory.
I just wasn’t very good at being human—I really didn’t like anyone or anything much these
days.
“So, Cate, is this the night you finally tell us why you’re here?”
The group leader asked the same question every night, and every night I gave him the same
answer. I hung my silence around his neck and gave him my usual thousand-yard stare. He
ducked his head before moving on to the next person.
I desperately needed a drink and a cigarette. My finger itched for it and I seriously thought about
bumming one off the girl sitting next to me. I needed the cigarette, but not the conversation that
came with it as she tried to bond with me over our love of cancer.
As usual, I left the meeting early, right about the time they ran out of coffee and cookies. It
didn’t matter to me that it was close to midnight. I walked with my head down in my normal
way, seemingly completely oblivious to my surroundings. But then I ducked into an alley
suddenly, trying to shake whoever had been following me since I left the meeting. It wasn’t
anyone from the meeting. That much I could tell, plus the hairs on my arms were standing on
end. The instinct to cut and run should have disgusted me. But it didn’t.
Because I had no soul, I rarely felt anything, and the fact that I could feel anything at all was
fascinating. It was something I desperately wanted to explore on some other night when I wasn’t
being hunted. Perhaps it was a nightshade, a bloodsucker. But no. I could hear only one set of
footsteps and the nightshades didn’t fuck with me unless they had the numbers. Finally tired of
speculating, I stopped and faced my stalker.
“Ares,” I snarled. The sound echoed loudly against the dark that now claimed the city. The lights
from the Chinese food place and the bodega didn’t illuminate his presence, but I knew it was
him. We had always been able to sense each other no matter the distance and no matter the
lifetimes we had lived trying to avoid each other. That wasn’t quite right. I was the one always
avoiding him.
Stepping out of the shadows, he raked his eyes over me possessively, as if I was still his
submissive.
I shivered involuntarily at the memories. The devil himself was standing in front of me and I still
yearned for him. He was beautiful in this lifetime. In every lifetime. Tall, dark, and dangerous.
I had been an innocent girl when I met Ares, a simple farmer’s daughter who had never traveled
beyond my village. He had appeared to me, an undeniable temptation, and I had followed him
willingly as he raised wars throughout my country. I had never protested. As a matter of act, I
had been his willing general. The power had been intoxicating, and even now, it still made my
blood race. No, that wasn’t the reason I resented him.
The easy smile stretched across his smug face almost made me forget he was the reason I had to
suffer another hundred years working off the debt to get my soul back.
Damn him. My beautiful god.
“Hello, hellcat.”
I actually growled at him. I hated that bastardization of my name. He said it innocently and
guilelessly, but I knew better. He had a way of getting under my skin that made me want to stick
a knife in him and then cling to him after like a satisfied lover.
“It’s Cate!”
“Yes, right. I forgot,” he said with a shrug, all the evidence in that gesture that he was anything
but sorry. He wasn’t acquainted with the word.
He stepped closer to me, invading my space, backing me against the side of the building. The
voice in my head tried to warn me, but I ignored it with a shake of my head. I should have lashed
out at him. He was keeping me from my pity party. I should have done a lot of things, but I was
overcome with memories, the specter of a rope, wrists bound, powerless to the exquisite pleasure
that usually came next.
He looked back over his shoulder, and thumbed in the direction I had just come from. “You still
trying to regain your humanity? You think those meetings are really gonna help?” He scoffed at
me, answering his own question.
He dipped his head towards me and examined me critically. He didn’t touch me though, he
knew better. No, he simply stood so close to me that I could feel the heat emanating off his
body. I had no protection against him except my pride.
“Why are you following me?”
“I miss you.” I could feel his words roll against my lips and I licked them, taking those words
into me. “Don’t be mad at me. I’ve been trying, Cate. Really trying. Do you know how hard it is
to try to stay away from you? Let’s go someplace and talk…my place maybe.”
“We don’t talk Ares.”
“Yeah we do, we just don’t use words. And we don’t need them. Just come home with me. I
know you want to—”
“You don’t know me anymore. That naive girl you corrupted is long gone.”
He pushed himself off the wall, away from me, leaving me cold.
“I corrupted you? Hah! Yeah. I made you a god. My queen. I made you free, Cate. I saved you.”
“Yes, there are many days I wish you had let me die. Perhaps Persephone wouldn’t now bear the
scars of my devotion to you. Now, stop stalking me and leave me the fuck alone.”
He pulled my hand to stop me from leaving.
“Have dinner with me.”
He still made my skin overheat just with a touch. I couldn’t go back to him, though the familiar
misery was tempting. I only wanted one thing more than him. I wanted my soul back. If I let
myself be seduced by his forked tongue again, I wouldn’t give a damn about my soul. I inhaled
him one last time, and turned away with a curse on my lips.
Chapter Two
My boss, Marlowe Colère, was swearing at someone again. I could hear her voice through the
elevator doors. I walked towards the screeching and saw the turgid veins in her forehead. I
dropped heavily onto a chair in her office and waited for her to finish. Blessedly, it wasn’t long
before she hung up on whichever poor sap had pissed in her coffee.
Marlowe was one of the few people I actually liked. I grabbed the cup of coffee sitting on her
desk, since I now had coffee on the brain. I raised it to my lips with deliberateness, and took a
long sip before returning it to the desk. Marlowe raised one eyebrow all Spock-like cause she
knew I was just winding her up. Marlowe hated when people touched her shit, and she especially
hated when people touched her coffee. If anyone deserved to be in an anger management class, it
was Marlowe.
She didn’t say anything about the coffee, though. “You’re early,” she said instead.
“Problem with the ex.” I shut my mouth, preventing any more words from following that might
count as an explanation, or worse, an invitation to elaborate. She nodded her head knowingly and
turned back to the papers on her desk.
“I got something for you,” she said, tapping her fake nails on her desk. The sound drove me
crazy. She knew this. It was payback for the coffee. We stared each other down. One, because
we were two very seriously angry females and pissing on the desk didn’t quite seem the thing to
do. And two, she was a fury, and everything pissed her off. She finally picked up the coffee cup
and threw it at me. I didn’t duck. I just let it hang there long enough for me to make my point.
She nodded her head, apparently satisfied she had also made her point.
“So, as I was saying, I’ve got something for you.” She leaned over her desk and pinned me with
a painful smile. “He’s human.”
I hissed my disgust and bolted out of the chair. Marlowe knew how much I hated being around
humans, so I didn’t even need to explain why my ass was out of the chair and already halfway to
the door.
“That’s all I have for you this month, kitten, so take it or leave it. Unless you found some sugar
demon I don’t know about.”
“I thought you didn’t take on humans as clients.”
“I don’t.”
I Spocked her back with my own raised eyebrow.
“Well, I don’t—normally. But when they are paying what this guy’s company is willing to pay, I
can extend my friends-and-family services. The company, Hoverton Solutions, is paying me big
to find out who’s behind the threatening letters their hot shit geek programmer has been getting.”
“Fine,” I said, snatching the file out of her hands. I didn’t need to stick around to find out
anything else about the client. I turned back and took another sip of her coffee and spat it back
into the cup. “Hot.”
I could hear her cursing me all the way back to Hades. No need Marlowe. Been there. Done
that.
I stopped at the lunch truck outside Marlowe’s Manhattan office. It was cheap, and my caffeine
levels were dangerously low. I asked the guy if he had any of the special IV Drip coffee, but he
just rolled his eyes and handed me a large cup of Columbian instead with two extra shots of
expresso.
Then I headed to the library to do my research on this human.
Connor Graves. I found nothing on him personally, but learned quite a bit about the company.
He worked for a cyber security company. Hoverton Solutions had made a killing last year and
was set to exceed those profits this year. Connor was the hi-tech genius who had invented some
new software that was going to revolutionize the industry. I put all the knowledge about
corporate espionage and technology into the give-a-damn file and headed out to introduce
myself.
I walked with my eyes on my boots, feeling the wind whip my kinky hair into a frenzy. I didn’t
need a mirror to know the wind had won this round against my hair. Thankfully, my dark skin
concealed the flushing effects of the cold. It didn’t shield me from the cold-as-a-witch’s-tit wind,
though. I wrapped my coat tightly around me like a cloak of invisibility and tried not to run
down the hapless tourists taking photos of the soiled snow and the wall of rankness leading to the
subways.
I took the elevator up to the fifth floor of Hoverton Solutions and asked for Connor. The
receptionist behind the desk scorched my cornea with her perky smile and picked up the phone to
let Connor know I was here. While waiting, I grabbed a stale magazine and became consumed by
an advertisement for some happy pills. I tore out the page and put it in my satchel. I planned on
bringing it up during my next therapy session.
“Ms. Theos?” I looked at the hand extended to me and almost recoiled.
“It’s just Cate. And I don’t shake hands…like, ever.”
“OCD?” he questioned sympathetically.
“No.” His brows knitted in confusion. Then, he turned and headed toward his office.
The glistening surface of his desk indicated it had been subjected to a recent cleaning. Perhaps
seeking safety in numbers or working up the courage to make a run for it, a computer and a
phone were huddled together at the very edge of the desk.
He gestured for me to take a seat, which I did loudly.
I stared at him suspiciously.
He stared back at me with an openness that irritated me.
I admit that I still failed miserably trying to blend in with the humans. The concept of small-talk
still eluded me and I easily got distracted by subjects that didn’t involve food or alcohol.
It didn’t help that the humans I had dealt with in the past always had an agenda but failed
miserably to hide it. Connor confused me. I took him all in. Blond hair, a little overlong, like
Owen Wilson. He still had a dust of youth on his cheeks, so I put him around my age, twentythree. No pocket protector, but he was garbed in the nerd-wear: a buttoned up shirt with sleeves
pulled all the way down and buttoned at the wrist, a pastel sweater, loose khakis, and a Colgate
smile. He smelled clean, like he had just taken a shower. The way he looked at me behind his
glasses made me feel naked. This was all new to me.
Finally, tired of waiting, he asked, “So, you’re the investigator they hired?” I nodded once.
“Well, I do think they’re overreacting a bit, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe, right?”
“I took a look at the letters. I’m not yet sure what to make of it, but I get paid either way.” I got
up abruptly after my verbal diarrhea, already having gotten the information I needed and ready to
get the hell out. It was hotter than the underworld in this stuffy office, and I should know. I had
never gotten used to the heat. I could feel moisture oozing from my armpits and from more
southern locations. I hated sweating the way some people hated kale and yoga. I pretty much
hated anything that reminded me of my ordinariness.
“Oh, that’s it? Don’t you want to interview me, or something? I could get you a cup of coffee if
you need that.” Connor pushed his glasses further onto his face in a curiously appealing gesture.
He had moved closer to me, and I could now smell a hint of sandalwood and infernal optimism.
I wagged my head, even as I continued to watch him like I was getting ready to mount a SEAL
operation. The explanation for my curtness was on the tip of my tongue, but I bit down hard on
it. I didn’t want to get coffee because I didn’t like humans. And I didn’t like talking. And I didn’t
like having to pay attention to the individual words in a conversation. And, ‘cause it was
Tuesday.
I could feel his mild shock follow me out his office all the way to the elevator bays.
Chapter Three
Standing at my kitchen sink, I swallowed hard around the last bite of canned tuna fish and
washed it down with a glass of water. I threw the can in the sink, though I could easily have
walked it over to the garbage. The sink was disgusting; a cesspool of unwashed dishes and
coffee, but it didn’t bother me.
I looked at poor Cerebus in the corner fighting with his bowl of food. His ears were getting in the
way. I took pity on him and held the bowl so he could eat. Then I gave him a good scratch
behind the ears. Bussy was the only man I let see me like this and he was the only one who
warmed my bed. Though, I caught myself sometimes wishing otherwise. Like now, as I was
remembering my encounter with Ares.
In the last eighty years since I had inherited this body, we had only seen each other a dozen
times. Each time he had initiated it, and each time it had ended badly.
I didn’t want to think about the past. Besides, I needed a drink. Since I was on a budget, I got
dressed and headed out to see Bacchus.
Bacchus had done well for himself. I stood in front of his flagship club, Pulse. He had clubs in
L.A., Miami, and even Chicago.