Tattoos of a Goddess

I stared at the four men in front of me, my eyes shooting between them as if that would make the tattoos disappear. In the background I heard Harmonia and Hebe giggle, along with Asteria’s attempt at hiding a laugh behind a cough. Aside from my fast pace breathing and the girls’ laughter, the room was utterly silent. Four hundred creatures from four different kingdoms standing in a room, and I could probably hear a pin drop in it.

This is not good, what am I going to do?

I knew all eyes were on me, waiting for a reaction, but I was stalk still. Shocked into a standing position and staring down four men I am now betrothed to.

The Vampire king, Harold, was the first to attempt to recover from the shock. He cleared his throat and said, “Well then, it seems fate has a funny way of working things out, now doesn’t it?”

He added in a chuckle, to release the tension I assume, then clapped the man I believe was his son on the back before going down the line of men, shaking each king and prince’s hand.

Still I was frozen in shock. How am I going to work this out? What am I going to be after they’re through with me? Each of them has to turn me. I shuddered. If I thought I was going to be a monster before look at what I’ll be now.

In the midst of my thoughts my brain vaguely registered the feeling of someone gripping both of my hands tightly. As I took a look around I noticed a blue blur next to me, and then realized my twin stood beside me in all her bright blue glory, gripping my left hand in her right so that our identical tattoos would intertwine. Never in my life had I appreciated someone as much as I did my sister in this moment. I took my time surveying her, trying to commit what she looked like in this instant to memory, so as not to forget the person who would always be the source of my strength no matter what happened to me. From her long flowing bright blue hair, to the identical tattoo on the right side of her body only differing from mine in its bright blue color. Our eyes the same shade of gray, our bodies the same build. She was the only family I had left besides Harmonia and Hebe, the center of my world the way I was the center of hers. She smiled at me and I smiled back, before noticing a squeeze on my right hand.

Turning to look to my right I found Harmonia, a bright smile on her face, showing me the perfect picture of a green goddess. Her pale white skin, only interrupted by the unique green design that ran down the entire right side of her body, only added to her beauty. Forest green eyes shown happily back at me on a face complimented by short green locks. My eyes followed her curves as I remembered all the trouble her beauty had gotten us into throughout our lives, how many men she had unintentionally lured away from their loved ones while she stood forever in love with Eros, a man that was considered a brother to us all. I felt arms around my waist as I came back from my thoughts again, knowing instantly that it was Hebe. The first friend I had made in life that wasn’t my “sister.” Her short stature fit easily under my arm as she walked herself in front of me, grabbing my face in her hands and shaking my head back and forth. We all giggled as I took a good look at her. Bright white hair, that she had recently cut to shoulder length, matched her silver eyes. The pure white tattoo descending the entire left side of her body matched Harmonia’s only in its design. Her caramel colored skin made me smile and remember our home, our first day of Pre-K when I had met her, not yet knowing what we were and not a trace of tattoos on our little bodies.

The clearing of a throat snapped us all back to attention; in front of us stood all four of the kings and their sons, each one looking even less pleased than the last, though they were trying to hide their displeasure with this situation. One of the boys stepped forward, putting a real smile on his face. Looking him over, I couldn’t help but feel a slight pang go through my body, he was beautiful. Shaggy blonde hair, green eyes and my red tattoos streaming down his left side. He was tall, at least six feet compared to my five foot six inch stature.

Do you see that boys fingers?

This thought was shoved into my head from all three girls as he reached his hand out towards me and gave a slight bow.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Artemis, I’m Mason,” left his mouth in a smooth deep voice.

“Nice to meet you, Mason.”

Mason’s introduction seemed to push the other three men into motion.

The next to step forward was only an inch or two shorter than Mason, however he seemed darker then the blonde man.

“I’m Heron, nice to make your acquaintance, Artemis,” the dark haired male commented. I looked him over and was amazed. His long dark hair was neatly combed out of his face, his skin completely undisturbed except for my tattoo running down his left side. The red on him greatly contrasted his almost sickly, pale skin color, and was exaggerated even more by the black irises and pupils he contained. Heron didn’t radiate the same happiness as Mason had; he had cold, analyzing eyes that did not seem to welcome me in.

“Don’t scare her away, Heron, she’s going to be our wife, too,” a rather large man spoke up, coming into view from behind Mason. “I would be Joshua,” he said to me, walking straight over and enveloping me in a hug, pulling me out of the safety of my coven’s arms.

I looked up at the man now hugging me, taking in his appearance while he gave me a hug I didn’t really want. He had tanned skin, more like a golden glow than anything, with ginger hair that hung down past his ears and tickled the side of my neck. He had freckles across the bridge of his nose and dusting his cheek bones that looked like nothing compared to his hazel eyes. For some reason, when he finally stopped hugging me and just gave me a smile, I felt utterly at ease, the same way I felt with my best guy friend. I was staring at the way his freckles blended into the tattoo on his face when a sound caught my attention.

The last man had cleared his throat and drawn my eyes away from Joshua. When he finally registered in my mind I may have actually gasped. Though I had been staring these men down earlier, I hadn’t actually been taking in their appearances and I had definitely not paid attention to this man. He wasn’t a giant like Mason, but he was tall enough. Lean and dark, yet he seemed happy and calm, like someone I would trust my life with. His dark brown hair barely brushed his shoulders, falling messily into his face. His bright white teeth almost sparkled at me when he smiled, dimples being exposed on the sides of his mouth. His eyes were a shade lighter than my gray, barely darker than Hebe’s silver eyes and he had a milky complexion that rivaled my own. The tattoo that ran down his left side accentuated his beauty, never looking out of place or showing a drastic difference from his complexion; it looked like it was meant to be there.

I must have been staring because he began to chuckle, a slight blush actually dusting across his cheek bones.

“Hello beautiful Artemis, I am David. It is a pleasure to meet you,” he smiled at me, reaching out and grabbing my hand before placing a kiss on it.

It was my turn to blush as the four of them chuckled at my reaction. I felt myself become embarrassed by my behavior as I remembered the crowd still in the room with us, along with the kings still standing to the side, watching us interact.

I stepped away from David, fixing my rags and glancing at the girls before speaking:

“Shall we go speak somewhere more private and figure out what shall come of our situation?”

“That would be a good idea, don’t you agree, boys?” Harold answered, stepping back into the conversation. They all gave a confirmatory nod before gesturing for me and the girls to go first. I looked at them, receiving a nod as they resumed the formation we had originally entered in as we made our way back out of the ballroom with my new husbands following closely behind.