Chapter 8 HO OH NH2 that's part of love

"Wakey, wakey hands off snakey." Tamera whispered in my ear, poking my arm repeatedly.

"'Hands off' what now?" I asked with confusion.

"Sorry, it's what my cousins say to each other. I guess we don't have any snakes...hands off kitty!" Choking on a laugh I stretched out my arms and legs before sitting up in the bean bag and looking around the emptying room. I looked to Tamera and Aine, wondering if we were late to our next class because of me.

"Class was just dismissed, time to go to Chemistry class. No napping in that one."

I stood up, grabbing my bag, putting my phone inside the front pockets as we made our way into the crowded hallway. "Well I would hope no one is napping, chemicals tend to explode if you don't pay attention."

Aine chuckled while Tamera shook her head. "No girl, not that kind of chemistry class. This is love chemistry. We talk about love languages and recognizing when there is chemistry between people and the levels of that chemistry."

"Oh." I said, with a pout. I had been looking forward to playing with chemicals. It was the one thing I had enjoyed in the public school system, though even there we didn't go into the lab as much as I would have liked. Budget cuts or some bs like that.

Walking into the Chemistry Classroom, it was back to desks and normal chairs. No bean bags, no recliners. Just plain ole desks and chairs like the rest of the classrooms in the school. I spotted some posters on the walls charting out the different love languages and a poster with what looked similar to the periodic table, only instead of elements it showed hormones. Norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and some others that I had not heard of before. Next to that poster was another with chemical formulas, each labeled as 'Love Attraction' or 'Lust'.

The class ended up being really interesting. Not as interesting as watching chemical reactions in glass beakers, but it put love into such a scientific outlook on love and attraction I couldn't help but to be drawn in.

"Now, remember, although love is a chemical reaction, you can't take away the magic of it. As gods and goddesses of love you have the special ability of witnessing where the reaction has the best potential to take place between two humans. You can even recognize the most optimal time to bring the two together for the chemical reaction to happen." Catching her wording I raised my hands. "Yes, Miss Blake."

"You specifically said we can see it in humans. Does that mean we can't see it between deities, or between a deity and a human?"

The professor nodded. "Yes, that is correct. We as deities have more complex chemicals that can't be seen even by love deities. Many have tried, however we are mysteries to the world. Some believe that it's due to deities finding true mates, though it's rare." She shrugged and a smile at me, "Now for the weeks assignment!"

The class fell into groans as they all pulled out their school tablets and smart pens. I followed their leads, watching as with a quick click of her smart board the entire class received the syllabus of the assignment.

'Find your love language, your compatible love language and your opposing love language.'

I looked over at Tamera who was already whispering with Aine about the assignment enthusiastically. Looking around the class as everyone else also began talking to their neighbors excitedly. I turned back to the professor, finding her waiting a moment before continuing. Once the class quieted she went on to explain.

"You should see a link to the love language list and quiz to help you determine your language, however you will have to discover what other languages compliment your own, or oppose it. You will present your discoveries to the class, where we will all discuss and debate if we agree or disagree with your findings based on our views of you. Again, we can't tell with deities, but this is an excellent way to practice our knowledge."

I scrunched my nose at the idea of being analyzed by my peers like that, but I guess it was the whole basis of this class. Analyzing others to find their match. Although we couldn't see each others chemicals, love languages were as good as any way to analyze one another.

With our work now assigned we were dismissed from the class, and since this was our last class for the day, that meant we were free to do as we please. Walking beside Tamera and Aine I pulled out my tablet and opened the link to the love language guides and began to read through them. "What is your love languages? I asked as I scrolled down the list.

"My love language is touch." Aine stated, smiling as Tamera brushed a stray strand of auburn behind her ear.

"Which is why I always make sure to touch her. Mine is quality time." Tamera adds, looking back at me with a grin.

"Which is why I always make sure to have time for her." Aine chimed, intertwining her arm with Tamera's.

I tried my best not to gag at the utterly sweet and adorable sight of them. They certainly had their relationship under control.

"I wonder what mine is." I thought aloud. "I've never thought about it before. Haven't felt love like that since I was a toddler."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over at Aine as she smiled sadly at me. "We love you Hadie. The best way to find your love language isn't necessarily found looking at what makes you feel loved, it can also be how you show love to others naturally."

"Yeah, like how Ally is always spending money on us. Her love language is gift giving. As much as she loves showering us with gifts, the way to her heart is by giving her gifts as well. Which is why her parents are constantly using money and gifts as a competition for her love."

I thought about their explanations and looked over the list again, looking up only when I heard girly squeals up ahead. I quickly looked back up from my tablet. I had found what it was getting the girls all excited. Damien and a couple other death gods were playing soccer against some war gods on the lawn between their houses. The big dirt hill acting as bleachers for girls to sit and watch. Cheers for both sides as they roughly stole the ball from each other, rushing for makeshift goals on either end of the freshly cut lawn.

I stopped walking, looking back up at the show. The gods quick foot work and the pure brutality of their game as they took advantage of no referee, throwing elbows and tripping one another. Blood and sweat dripped from all involved, yet the gore of it only added to the attraction of their game. My eyes gravitating to Damien, his shirt soaked and clinging to his back.

As if sensing me, he looked over and gave me that all too familiar cold look before turning back and knocking into his opponent with such force the ground seemed to tremble. How had my mind conjured such gentleness in this powerful god. Better yet, how had my brain replaced the cold eyes with warm, caressing eyes.

"They are sure taking advantage of Evander and Alaric not being in the game." Tamera stated, watching the game with me. "Damien is a powerhouse sure, but when my cousin and Alaric are in the game, they don't stand a chance. It's basically two against one when the three of them play."

"Who is stronger? Evander or Damien." I ask, keeping my eyes on the dark haired god as he knocked a war god down again, racing for the goal.

"Neither, they are evenly matched. If you had all three on a team they would be unstoppable." She replied. "Come on, let's get to the house and see who all is there now."

I nodded, turning to follow her, my eyes still glued to Damien. The game over now, the two teams standing around shaking hands and laughing. Damien lifted his shirt off over his head. I felt all the air leave my lungs. His back turned to me gave me a full view of bright scratches dug deep in his skin. Just like the scratches I inflicted on him in my dream.

Was it a dream?

Ally and Lily were together in the common room when we got to the house sharing some kind of pastry. Ally greeted us all, asking how my first love and beauty classes went. Lily greeted Tamera and Aine ignoring my existence entirely.

"Anyone else done for the day?" Tamera asked, sitting down on the love seat next to Ally's chair. Aine sat with her, kicking off her shoes and putting her legs in Tamera's lap. I watched as Tamera absentmindedly began massaging Aine's feet, still standing off to the side, feeling only slightly awkward as I glanced at the chair near Lily.

"Chloe and Candy are still out in the orchards south of here. They probably won't be home till late. Chloe said harvest was picking up soon." Ally stated, making room in her seat and patting it for me to join her there.

Lily kept her cold expression in place as she watched me move to her sister. I sat, but as Lily narrowed her eyes at me, I went to move again. Ally grabbed her arm, looking pointedly at her sister, A wordless conversation exchanged between them, resulting in Lily groaning and looking away from me.

"I saw the article Hadie. It's still so hard to believe that you spent so much time in the human's foster system like that. What was the reason you weren't adopted. The article mentioned a few near adoptions that fell through." Ally asked, pulling up the article on her phone. She handed me the phone, the picture of me on the balcony overlooking the night to the side of the article.

"I don't know, I was always just told that it was unsuccessful and then the next day my case worker would be there, taking me to a new house." I told her, sighing at the memory. "My first family, the Blakes, they fought the hardest for me. They even tried just being my foster parents again, but whatever it was that stopped them from being able to adopt me kept them from being able to have me at all. I have their name, being that they never knew my birth family name. Had to give me some last name for my file."

"She's going to be doing a fundraiser in a couple weeks for the local foster care. You want to join her?" Tamera asked looking down at her own phone to read the article.

"Of course! I'll have my dad send me some extra money to donate too. Lils, you're coming too."

"The hell?" Lily looked at her sister with a bewildered expression. "Ally, you can't just decide that. I have plans."

"No you don't, I've seen your calendar for the month. Come on, help raise money for the kids." Ally pouted to her sister, batting her eyes and puckering her lower lip out as far as it could go. She even let out a whimper, like a puppy begging for a treat.

Lily grumbled, getting up and walking to the stairs. "Fine, now I'm going to go take a nap." She called out to her sister. She mumbled something unintelligible as she stomped up the stairs, casting a dirty look my way before disappearing.

Ally smiled, turning back to the article. "These photos are amazing too! When do you think they will let other deities in on some shoots again? So unfair that love and beauty deities get so many photoshoots."

Ally continued to admire our photos, asking about costumes and what the shots not shown in the article looked like. I couldn't answer that question since I hadn't seen them but Tamera and Aine shared some raw shots they had on their phone from the photoshoot. I was surprised to find they had a candid shot of me getting changed between shots. I hadn't even realized they were around with all the chaos of the photographer shouting instructions and clothes being ripped on and off me.

"Since the photos are live now we can post these to our DeitusSpace, right?" Tamera asked Aine, her finger hovering over the privacy settings of the photos she had already uploaded.

"Ask Lana first." Was her only response, nudging Tamera's phone away from her with a coy smile.

Tamera quickly sent out a message to Professor Lana before setting her phone down on the arm of her seat. She told us she would tag us in the photos if she could post them, returning to rubbing Aine's feet, tickling her a couple times to draw out a surprised squeak and laugh from her girlfriend.

At the mention of DeitusSpace, I pulled out my phone and opened the app. I hadn't looked at it since the night of the party. That fact showing as over a hundred notifications blinked at the top of my page. Tags to the article and photoshoot. Tags to the video interview, and some friend requests from students who's names I vaguely recognized.

I played around on my page, Ally guiding me on customizing my profile. She helped me code a unique background and showed me how to set up a music player that would autoplay when anyone came to my page. She also insisted I change my profile picture to my night shot from the article.

"You look so sexy and mysterious. Total goddess look." She explained.

We all stayed in the commons for a few hours. I had moved to the chair Lily vacated before, taking the opportunity to complete my love language quiz. My language being words of affirmation. I was working on finding what languages I was personally compatible with when Candy and Chloe sent us all a text to meet them in the cafeteria for dinner.

When we entered the cafeteria, making our way to our table, my eyes somehow found Damien standing at the buffet with Evander and Alaric. I looked the three of them up and down, wondering if maybe I'd have another dream but with all of them and not just Damien. The idea instantly turning my face red, embarrassment and guilt for imagining Alaric, who was Lily's boyfriend, in my sex dream. The thought of the dream bring back up my question from earlier.

Was it really just a dream?

I had no dream that night, or at least none that I could remember, waking with a frown as my alarm went off. I had spent all of dinner thinking about the dream, adding Evander to the mix and Alaric, despite my guilt over it. When Alex joined us again for dinner, my imagination added him, then the thought of Malachi sent my imagination into overdrive. Yet, nothing, no dream what so ever.

Throwing a small silent fit, kicking my blankets off my bed, I realized just how sex obsessed I was becoming. Was this really part of my gifts awakening? Maybe it was the mixture of my love and fertility gifts causing this chaos in me. The needs and desires of both gifts demanding to be met.

I mean, how many girls go around fantasying about having sex with five guys at once? Was this even normal virgin behavior? Shouldn't I be shying away from the thought of sex, scared of the pain that everyone claimed would occur the first time? Getting ready for school quickly, I made it to the cafeteria for breakfast with the others, not needing to check in with any professors.

Today was general studies. Math, English, Science and Social Studies. Even Deities had to learn these things, no matter what kind of gifts they controlled. I looked over my schedule. It was like looking at my old high school schedule. Nothing peculiar. Just plain ole school. My first class would be English and I couldn't wait. English was my best subject when I was in the Wichita public school system. I had even won some writing contests my teacher had submitted me into a few times.

Mrs Falkner had once told me that she wouldn't be surprised if one day she was buying a book with my name on it. I use to think that would be my future career. Now, it looked like my future would be working for one of the companies owned and ran by Deities. Although I had heard that a few deities owned some publishing companies, so I could still find my way into the literary world.

I was excited to get into a class that I knew what to expect with. The other classes I wasn't as excited about. I was terrible at math and despite my love of chemistry, science was just a notch above math. While I wasn't terrible with Social Studies and History, it still wasn't a favorite class of mine. Even if Malachi was the professor for all things history and Social Study related, aside from war.

I didn't share the same schedule as the others, so when we finished breakfast we all went towards different classrooms. Tamera to Science with Candy, Chloe to Math, while Ally and Lily had to Social Studies together.

I entered my English class and smiled at the professor who stood in front of the classroom with a stack of notebooks, handing them out to everyone as they entered. I took one and when I turned to look around the classroom, I was surprised to find four of the stars from my dinner time fantasy. The site of them all together stopping me in my tracks for a moment, until Alex waved me to the empty seat next to him. His bright smile bringing me back to reality, giving me a soft sense of comfort from him.

Alaric and Evander sat directly behind me, while Damien was all the way to farthest back corner of the room. I felt all their eyes burn into the back of my head a few times, though when I'd look each of them were looking at their notebook or the teacher in the front, making me wonder if it was all in my head.

"You going to take good notes for me?" Alaric asked, leaning forward to whisper into my ear, startling me.

I looked back at him again, rolling my eyes when he grinned back at me. Shooing him back from my ear, he let out a smokey a chuckle, leaning back into his seat. Evander remained quiet, although when I looked back, he was looking at Alex like he wanted to run him through with his sword. The look so out of place of the man who was so cool and collected, all smiles and jokes on Friday. I wasn't sure exactly what he had against Alex.

Doing my best to pay attention, I looked away from the men around me, the professor explaining what our notebooks would be for. A creative writing assignments. She wanted us to write short stories everyday until the note books were filled, then we would be given the opportunity to share the stories with the class, or simply turn them in for a grade. The assignment should have had me jumping for joy. This was my forte, an easy grade, but all I could focus on was the heat of eyes on me, and the lack of them on me when I checked behind me. I looked towards Alex, his eyes on the teacher until he noticed, turning and smiling at me.

"You okay?" he asked.

Nodding, I looked away, grabbing my pencil and pretending to think about something to write.

He leaned over to me, watching me tap my eraser on the blank page. "Got any idea what you will write about?"

I shook my head, my mind only circling around that dream, and the day dreaming I had just last night at dinner. There was no way I could write that kind of story in my school assignment though. That kind of story was meant more for online fan fiction forums, deeply hidden behind pseudonyms.

"Maybe you could write a story of an orphan who discovers she's special." Alex said, "You could use your own life as the basis of the story."

I gave him a thoughtful look, tilting my head to the side as I considered his advice. "That's not a terrible idea. I definitely have some life experience with that." I replied, flipping my pencil to begin writing as ideas pushed back my dirty fantasies.

We worked for the rest of class, bouncing ideas off one another until the professor dismissed the class and we were heading out the door. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered we both were heading to the same class again. Grateful to have someone to walk with, preventing me from somehow getting lost.

Alaric laughed out from behind us, talking with Evander about who knows what. I glanced back at them, finding them closer to us than I had realized. Alaric caught my gaze and smiled. "Hey Shortcake."

" Shortcake?" I laughed with surprise. "Where did that come from?"

"Well, you're short and from what I hear, you're also pretty sweet." He explained, winking and smiling at me.

Alex laughed, "Well, she is pretty sweet. But we all know you like sour patch kids. You know, like my sister's big sister, Lily." He gave Alaric a pointed look as he emphasized Lily's name.

Alaric shrugged, "Sour patch kids are sweet too, after awhile. Although here lately she's been more like a warhead."

Looking to change the subject I asked the first thing that came to mind. "So what stories are you all writing in your notebooks?"

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Evander. "I was thinking about writing a story of a knight saving a princess from a vicious dragon."

"That would be a good story." I replied, smiling at the fact that he was talking, I hadn't heard him speak since Sunday outside of Love and Beauty house.

"Yeah, I think my favorite part will be when the Knight pulls away the dragon's disguise." He said, his attention on Alex who gave him a confused look. I looked between the two of them, even more confused as to why Evander disliked Alex so much. Something had to of happened between them for this much friction.

"Anyway." Alex said, placing his hand on the small of my back, directing me to an open classroom. "Here's our class Hadie. You ready for some science experiments?"

The rest of the day went by uneventful. Most of my classes I had at least one of the four gods I had recently found myself fantasizing over. My last class had the extra bonus of Lily and Ally in it. Ally calling me over to where they sat, placing herself between the her sister and me. She smiled excitedly, obviously happy I was in her math class. Her favorite class as it turned out. Anytime I got lost with the lesson she was right there simplifying the lecture to terms that I understood, making it all so much easier for me.

My day finished with two hours to spare before my first tutoring with Malachi and I decided to use those hours to return to my dorm and get a head start on some school work I had been assigned. Though once I got to the house, I found Evander sitting on our porch.

"Hey little Warrior." He greeted me with a smile, leaning against the porch railing.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked, smiling, he hadn't called me little warrior all week. Not since the party, and I found that I had missed the nickname. Missed this fun atmosphere he brought with me when he smiled.

"Aren't we friends? I thought maybe we could work together on some of these assignments." He answered, pushing off the railing and walking over to me. "Well?"

Shaking my head with a chuckle, I opened the door and gestured for him to follow, heading up to my dorm. Once in my room, Evander suddenly felt huge in comparison the space. I knew my room wasn't small, it had fit myself and my five friends well enough to hang out before the party Saturday. But Evander somehow made it feel smaller. Every time I turned around, he was there, bumping into me. He laughed every time, telling me that I couldn't be klutzy like that in class on Friday. Promising that he would knock me on my ass in five seconds flat if I was.

I didn't feel like I was the klutzy one here. Suspicious that he was doing just as Damien had done the other night at dinner. Setting it up for me to bump into him. After the tenth time I was pretty confident that that was exactly what he was doing.

"Maybe you aren't a klutz Little Warrior." He teased, leaning forward, the scent of citrus and something purely him filling my nose. "Maybe you just like bumping into me."

I gave him a crooked grin, leaning closer to him, our lips only inches apart. "I'm thinking that you're the one enjoying bumping into me. What are you trying to do exactly?"

His breath brushed my face, his lips came closer to my own ever so slowly. Electricity charged the air around us, as if the universe itself was watching, waiting for something to happen. "What makes you think I'm trying to do anything Little Warrior?" He breathed, his eyes hooded as he looked into my own.

I licked my lips, watching his eyes following the movement. I could feel myself being drawn closer to him, the desire to close in the small space still between us. I wanted to kiss him. I felt myself moving to do it, only to jump back as my phone alarm went off, signaling my ten minute warning to be in Malachi's office for tutoring.

Picking up my phone, I looked back at Evander as I explained that I had to go. Looking at him I thought I saw disappointment settling over his face, before he gave me that same goofy he gave me when I knocked him on his own ass in class, getting up and stretching out his arms over his head

"Alright, but let me get your number. I was under the impression you didn't have a phone." He joked, gesturing for my phone. I handed it over watching as he shot himself a text message, then saving his number into my phone.

"Really? 'Mr. Knock you on your ass'?" I laughed, seeing the contact name he saved. "And I just got this phone Saturday. You also never asked me about a phone." I laughed again when I looked at the message he had sent to himself.

Hadria: Evander is the best fighter and can knock me on my ass any day.

He gathered his things from my bed where we had been working since I didn't have another desk chair. Leaving together and walking for as far as the path leading up to his house. We had laughed and joked before splitting off. He told me to text him later, watching as I headed towards the classrooms before proceeding the rest of the way to War House.

Before I made it to Malachi's room my phone pinged and I glanced down, snorting as I read the message.

Evander: Hadie is a bad ass goddess who can beat my ass any day.

"What's so funny?" A voice asked from behind me, startling me as I clutched my phone to my chest to keep my heart from coming out.

"You scared the shit out of me Professor!" I sighed, seeing Malachi behind me, an amused grin on his face. I relaxed my stiffened body, peeling my clutched phone from my chest.

Malachi chuckled, opening the door to his office and holding it as we entered first. "Sorry about that, maybe that could be our first tutoring lesson. A goddess should be able to sense the power of other deities approaching her. Especially a war goddess. That skill could be the difference between life and death."

"How does that work?" I asked, sitting in the chair across from him as he sat at his desk, opening up a book he had grabbed from one of the book shelves behind him.

"Same way that we found you when you came of age and your gifts unlocked. Only on a bit of a smaller scale. You will only be monitoring your surroundings when you do it. Unlike the deities whose job it is to monitor entire regions of the world."

I frowned. "That's how you found me? A deity monitoring Kansas felt me appear in their region and reported it? How did they not notice me ever before?"

"Children don't come into their power until a certain age. The age is different for everyone, like puberty. The real question is how we didn't sense your family who wouldn't have matched the signatures that already reside in the region. We checked all the families there and none of them match your signature." He explained, flipping through the book in his hands.

"Is that what Alex meant when he said that some family lines were claiming that I belong to them?"

Malachi nodded, "Signatures are like DNA, you can trace the family lineage by it. However, we haven't found one that matches yours yet. Furthering the mystery that surrounds you." His sky blue eyes looked up from the book, studying my face with awe before quickly looking back at the book.

"That's me, woman of mystery." I joked, pretending that it didn't bother me to not know my bloodline. I wondered if I'd ever find my birth family. Ever have the answers of why I was abandoned. "What if they're dead, what if I'm all that's left?" My voice was a soft whisper as I let the dark thought slip out. Let my fear be voiced to the one person that I've now known the longest in this school. The one person I who knew exactly where I came from before he brought me here.

Malachi stood and walked around his desk to me, kneeling beside my chair as he took my hand and squeezed it. "That's a big if Hadie, a big, big if. But IF that is the case, then I'll be your family, if you will allow me the honor. My blood line is all but extinct. We could always use a knew name on our tree." He gave me an encouraging smile, his thumb tracing circles on the bask of my hand.

I squeezed his hand back, watching our intertwined hands "Thank you Malachi."

His smile grew a bit larger as he said, "I never thought I'd be okay with a student saying my name instead of 'Professor' before it, but it certainly doesn't sound wrong when you do." I smiled back him as he rose back to his full height and walked around his desk, "Just don't do it in front of others. Might start some nasty rumors about us." He gave me a wink and I could have melted on the spot.

"So," I cleared my throat to hide what that wink did to me, "How do I monitor my surroundings for other deities?"

"Right, read this chapter here and then we will practice it a few times." He nodded, handing the open book over to me. We worked on my ability to sense those around me, taking the lesson to the abandoned halls of the school. Malachi sneaking up on me until I was finally able to sense his approach. If I didn't know any better, I would think that he was enjoying hunting me through those dark halls. Like a cat stalking a mouse. That, or I was projecting my own pleasure onto him, but the smile on his face when I caught him had me believing the latter.