Chapter 5
Fuck me, but minding shop is boring. As to how Taurus got stuck twiddling his thumbs…
After Taurus left Circe, he had debated returning to Tower. However, a text from Aries kept him in Athens.
Find out how the astronomer managed to use the Athens portal.
The how part proved easy. Libra hadn’t done his job. Which left, why?
He could have gone banging on Libra’s door demanding an answer—after all, he lived just upstairs—but instead, Taurus chose to squat in the shop, which got boring real fast. Given the store wouldn’t open for another few hours—assuming Libra even showed—he decided to speed things up by thumping on the ceiling which also happened to be the floor of Libra’s apartment.
When Libra arrived, his eyes went wide. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking to see if you still actually work here,” Taurus had sarcastically drawled.
“Of course I do, and I resent being asked if I’m doing my job.” A disgruntled reply.
Of all the Zodiac Warriors, Libra had become the most distant in the last decade.
He rarely visited Tower anymore and forget him keeping in touch with his brothers.
Taurus reached out a few times, only to get rebuffed with I’m busy.
We’ll catch up later. The reason for the distancing appeared to be twofold.
Firstly, Libra became tired of their lifestyle.
To him, an apartment in Tower wasn’t a true home but an extension of the office.
Libra decided he needed more balance when it came to work and life.
Being understanding, Aries told Libra he could start a business in the shop and live in the flat overhead so long as he promised to keep watch over the portal while also keeping an ear out for local issues.
Greece had long been a hotspot for supernatural shit.
After all, the myriad legends emerged from this area for a reason.
The stationary mission seemed to do the trick.
While Libra didn’t visit often, he seemed happier, and the city had never been safer.
About five years into his new job posting, Libra met a woman and fell in love. A woman who knew nothing of their secret. It led to Libra distancing himself even further, and now, it appeared, he might be shirking his duties.
“You forgot to check for clients before leaving last night.” Taurus didn’t mince the reason for his presence.
“What clients? We only get a handful a day,” Libra had stated.
“Meaning they should be easy to keep track of, and yet, one entered and got stuck inside when you closed shop. In her attempt to escape, she found the portal and ended up inside Tower.”
“Bullshit,” Libra had exclaimed. “For one, no one came in all afternoon. Don’t you think I would have noticed? And two, the portal room is kept locked. No one can get in the chamber without the code.”
“Oh really? Check your surveillance.”
It didn’t take long for Libra to rewind the footage from the discreetly placed cameras on the main level and in the basement. Libra’s expression went from confident to shocked. Without a word, he raced down the steps. Taurus, with crossed arms, waited in the storage room.
An ashen Libra had returned and immediately began stammering, “I had no idea.”
“Obviously.”
Taurus then got the non-enviable job of chewing him out since Aries remained stuck with the baby. A chastisement that quickly ended when someone entered the store, despite the hours indicating it wouldn’t be open for another hour.
Not just anyone. Circe.
Apparently, she’d woken and decided maybe everything wasn’t a dream. Taurus had ducked into the basement while Libra covered for him. Who knew what might have happened if she’d seen Taurus. Maybe they should wipe her memories after all.
“You always leave the door unlocked before you’re open?” Taurus grumbled once Circe left.
“No,” Libra muttered. “I was just popping in to put up a sign saying the store would be closed today.”
Apparently, he needed to make arrangements for his wife and child to receive in-home care if he was to continue working. Something about her pregnancy and bed rest. Blah blah, excuses.
Libra’s concern for his family, while admirable, placed Taurus in a dilemma.
Rat out his brother, who obviously no longer took his task seriously, or cover for him so Aries didn’t find out.
Libra had only been a warrior for a few decades at this point, when most went nearly a century, and some more.
If you asked Taurus, it might be time to nudge Libra in the direction of retirement because he had to wonder what Libra would do if told to leave Athens—and his family—for a mission that might last days, weeks, or months.
Being an avatar meant sacrificing for the greater good, and when the time came that a man—or woman—couldn’t commit, that person was expected to step aside so another might take their place.
Taurus’ predecessor unfortunately never got that chance, killed in the line of duty, a nicer way of saying tripped and fell into a volcano while fighting a fire lizard.
Seventy-five years Taurus had been doing his job, and he saw no end to that in sight.
Unlike others, he didn’t do serious relationships.
Soon as a woman began talking about taking things to the next level, he found a reason to piss her off so she’d dump him and move on.
He preferred them angry when the end came rather than tearful.
As for kids? Cute, when they belonged to other people.
The idea of having his own? Shudder. No thanks.
Libra, on the other hand, embraced being a family man and, despite the dressing-down, still insisted on leaving the shop—choosing his family over his job.
Aries wouldn’t be pleased. For some reason, Taurus decided to stick around, a waste of time, as it turned out.
Only three people came in and, from that, only a single trinket sold.
Good thing Tower provided the funds to keep Zodiac Emporium open.
The shop, under various guises, had been guarding the portal beneath it for a crazy amount of time.
All of the portals had safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized access, although few of them had actual warriors living or working in and around.
If Libra retired, likely the shop would end up shuttered for a while until the monsters in Athens began running rampant again.
As the afternoon waned, Taurus yawned. Time to go home. He doubted there’d be a sudden rush of people clamoring to buy the figurines—that looked nothing like Taurus and his brothers. A prickling sensation led his gaze to the display window—and the woman on the other side.
Oh shit. Circe!
Before he could disappear, she stalked in, pointing a finger. “I want to talk to you!”
He played dumb. “Afternoon, ma’am. How can I help you?”
“Don’t ma’am me. We met last night.”
“Did we?”
Her glare would have melted a lesser man. “Not funny. I want to know what happened. Were you the one who rescued me from the shop and brought me home?”
Should he lie? Fuck it. “I did.”
She jabbed a finger in his direction. “Then why pretend you didn’t know me?”
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to be reminded.”
“What happened?”
He repeated her own summary. “I found you in the shop and, given you weren’t yourself, brought you home.”
“And why wasn’t I myself? What kind of toxin did I inhale? Should I be heading to a hospital?”
Oh boy, now what should he say?
The tinkle of the bells over the door saved him from replying as someone entered the shop.
“Circe, what a nice surprise,” said a man who might have been handsome if he had a splendid beard like Taurus. “I thought you left work early due to a headache.”
“Andreas?” Circe turned to frown at the fellow she knew. “Yes, I was heading home to rest when something in the window caught my eye. What are you doing here?”
“Same thing as you, I imagine. Looking for a gift. What better than something that reflects our passion for the stars?” Spoken with a smarmy smile.
“Good luck finding a present. It’s mostly junk,” was her flat reply. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was leaving.”
“Don’t run off. Let’s grab a drink or bite to eat,” Andreas suggested, which, for some reason, made Taurus bristle. Something about the guy didn’t sit right.
“No.” Circe stalked for the exit, and as she went to brush past Andreas, he put a hand on her arm, which led to Taurus tensing.
“Come on. Just one. Your cat can wait to be fed.”
What cat? Taurus hadn’t noticed signs of one when he’d put her to bed. It took a second for the light bulb to go on in his head. She’d used a cat as an excuse with this guy before.
“Andreas, I’m sorry, but I have a strict no-socializing-with-co-workers policy. So while it is kind of you to offer, I’m afraid the answer is no.”
“I see.” The man’s tight expression clearly showed his displeasure at her reply.
Circe didn’t notice or care because she exited the store and began stomping in the direction of her apartment.
Andreas stared a moment before grabbing the door handle to exit.
“I thought you were buying something,” Taurus called out.
“I changed my mind,” the guy muttered before exiting the shop, heading in the same direction as Circe.
Could be innocent. Maybe he lived that way.
But... Taurus listened to his gut and vaulted the counter, pulling the new key for the lock he’d had changed since he’d broken the previous one.
It took only a second to shut the shop and secure it, long enough for Circe to be a speck in the distance.
Seemingly shadowing her, Andreas. Trailing behind them both, Taurus.
Not that either would notice if they looked back.
Zodiac Warriors had many gifts, which varied from person to person, magic tricks fueled by their Astraeus benefactor.
In Taurus’ case, one of his specialties was not being noticed, a useful trick to have when you were larger than most people and sporting a splendid beard that drew stares of admiration.