Chelsea
Baal slipped his key into his front door and twisted it open, letting me step inside before him.
Curiously, I entered his home. “You know, I actually expected you to live topside.”
“That’s because you didn’t realise I was a god until last week,” I pointed out. “And I do have a flat there.”
“That makes me feel better. Where am I taking these?” I asked, lifting the bag of takeout.
“Through there.” He pointed to a door opposite. “I’ll just grab us some plates.”
“We can eat out of the containers like normal people,” I countered. “You don’t have to try and impress me with fancy china.”
He snorted. “Fine, but we still need forks, I can’t stand the wooden ones.”
“I know what you mean.” I left him to it and headed into the room he’d indicated, stopping in my tracks the moment I saw the wall.
I set the food on the table and went over to the framed pictures, wanting to make absolutely certain that I was seeing what I thought I was. Dozens of photos of animals decorated the wall, and I recognised every single one of them.
“Ah, I forgot about that,” Baal said from the doorway.
“These are all the photos I told you were my favourites,” I said, moving down each of them in turn.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to display my work, and whenever I found myself looking through them, I was always drawn to the same one that you selected. After a few times of that happening, I just stopped trying to choose and put up the one you said.” He came to stand beside me. “Do you have a favourite of these ones?”
“This one.” I pointed to a running ostrich.
“Let’s guess, your favourite flightless bird?”
I let out a small laugh. “Just bird in general, I don’t have categories for birds.”
“Interesting.”
“You never told me what your favourite animal is.”
“A ram,” he responded instantly.
I gave him a strange look.
“Not what you expected?” His lips quirked into a smile.
“I think I expected something more ferocious, like a lion or something.”
“And now I know you didn’t do much research when you found out I was a god,” he joked.
“Ah.” Well now I felt silly.
“We should eat before it gets cold,” he said, gesturing to the food.
“So you can shift into a ram?” I asked as I took a seat on what turned out to be a surprisingly comfortable dining room chair.
He nodded. “I don’t very often.”
“Why not?”
“People don’t tend to take sheep very seriously,” he pointed out. “Even if they’re really ancient gods.”
“Well that’s ridiculous,” I responded. “Sheep are beautiful creatures.”
“They’re nobody’s favourite animal, though, are they?”
“I’ll create a new category just for you,” I promised. “What kind of sheep are you?”
“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easily. You put a lot of effort into choosing your favourite pig, now you have to do the same for sheep before I tell you which kind I am.”
“That’s no fun.”
“On the contrary, it’s very fun,” he responded.
He unwrapped one of the containers and handed it to me. I took it from him, our fingers brushing against one another as I did, sending a small thrill through me.
Maybe it was foolish for me to have agreed to come to his house with him. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, more that I was starting to blur the lines between us.
But wasn’t that partly what I’d wanted before I’d discovered that he was a god?
I pushed the thought to the side. I’d deal with it later when I was alone.
“Thank you for letting me help you today,” I said, mostly to distract myself from the less professional thoughts I was having of him.
“I’m not sure you were helping so much as doing my job alongside me,” he responded. “You’re good at this.” It came out as more of a statement of fact than anything he was surprised about, confirming what he’d said about wanting me to help with this because he thought I was capable, not because it was easy to get me to do the heavy lifting.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I can’t wait to see the photos.” I popped the lid off my salad, my mouth watering at how laden it was with croutons and dressing. In theory, it might be healthy, but the amount of bacon in the bowl made it otherwise.
“They’re going to be good, I think. We shot some strong ones today.”
“You really think so?”
He nodded. “We should make sure that we choose some for your portfolio while we’re going through them,” he said. “They probably won’t all end up in the calendar, but there’s no reason you can’t use your own from the shoot to show off your skills.”
“You think they’ll do that?” There was no denying the hope that was in my voice as I said the words.
He nodded. “I had a look through some of the photos you took on the laptop as they popped up, they’re good. You’re going to be able to find some great shots.”
“I really hope so.” I sighed and leaned back in my seat, almost forgetting about my salad.
“If you don’t mind me helping, I can pick some that I think clients will respond to well. They might not be your favourites, but they’ll be the ones that will get you hired.”
“Are you sure? That sounds like a lot of work.” I picked up my fork and loaded it up.
“I partly offered you the job because I knew you needed a chance like this and I was in a position to offer it. I did hope that it would mean I got to spend more time with you, but that’s a side benefit. I wouldn’t have asked you to come on the shoot if I didn’t think you were capable, or that you wouldn’t be determined to make the most of it.”
“I actually believe you,” I said.
He chuckled. “I’m glad because I’m telling the truth. And if any doubts creep in, remember that this is my career and name on the line. If I don’t pull this off, Horus will make sure everyone knows not to hire me again.”
“Would he really do that? Aren’t you friends?”
“He claims that there are no friends in business.”
“That’s utterly ridiculous,” I countered.
“I don’t disagree. And deep down, I don’t think he does either.”
“Of course not. If there weren’t any friends in business then he’d be paying you to do this,” I pointed out.
“He did offer.”
“But I bet it was in the polite way that was mostly because he felt he had to,” I said.
“That’s a very astute observation, especially to say you’ve never met him.”
“He runs an animal sanctuary,” I said. “And I don’t imagine it’s hugely profitable.”
“All the money goes back into the sanctuary, to my knowledge,” he responded.
“Then what does Horus live off?”
“Ancient treasure,” he joked. “But actually, he also does some consulting work. Though I suspect there are some ancient treasures in the mix somewhere.”
“Do you have any of those?”
To my surprise, he nodded. “Though they’re a lot less vast and a lot more mundane than I imagine you’re thinking they’ll be. There have been some unwise investments in my past.”
“So you work because you have to?”
“Kind of. I got my first camera in the early eighteen hundreds...”
“Wasn’t that when they were invented?”
He nodded. “Good knowledge. But yes, I got my first camera not long after they were invented and I’ve been hooked on photography ever since, much to the annoyance of some of my friends.”
“And the delight of those who can take advantage of it, no doubt.” I took another bite of my food. “This is good, by the way. It’s got to be made with magic.”
He chuckled. “Only standard underworld stuff.”
“I’m not going to get stuck here, am I?”
Bemusement flashed over his handsome face. “No, that’s only a rumour. You’re fine.”
“Oh good. So photography.”
“Right, well at first it was just a bit of fun, but then I started to realise that if I wanted the really fun subjects, I had to become an actual photographer. Every now and again, I have to reinvent myself as my son or nephew, but it seems to work.”
“Right, because you can’t age.”
“I can, actually. I just choose not to. It raises more questions than it avoids.”
“You’ve lost me there.”
“Okay, think of it like taking one of your potions. The effects will be instant. In order to look older, I need to age at least ten years, but then everyone notices that I look older and they start asking me what happened in order to make me like that.”
“Ah, yes, I can see how that would be an issue,” I said.
“The easiest way of dealing with it would be to stay away from Earth, but there are a lot less opportunities for a photographer here.”
“I can see that. Would you stay down here if there were more?”
“Probably not. Once I stumbled into the field of wildlife photography, I knew there was no going back for me. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but this feels like it. Do you know what I mean?”
“Every time I pick up the camera,” I admitted.
“When did you first realise?” He held out a bottle of wine to me to offer me a drink.
I nodded despite knowing that it was probably a bad idea and that I’d regret the hangover in the morning.
“My dad bought a polaroid camera for my thirteenth birthday party. He thought it would be a fun way of taking photos of all the guests and sticking the photos in a scrapbook so I could keep it.” A smile spread over my face as I recalled the memory. “He let me try it out a couple of days before and it just felt right. I saved up all of my birthday money and did some extra chores so I could buy my first proper camera.”
“How long did it take?”
“About six months, but only because Dad found out what I was doing and promised me that if I could save half the money, he’d give me the rest. He’s been cheering me on from the side lines. I think he was even more disappointed than I was when I had to settle for a job at the copy shop just to even be close to photography.”
“Ah. Have you told him about this job?”
I shook my head. “I figured I’d tell him after. I didn’t think telling him I was going to be taking a load of nude photos over the phone would be smart, he’d probably march all the way down to purgatory as if I was still thirteen.” Amusement filled me at the image.
“There’ll be some animal shots too,” Baal promised.
“I’ll make sure to pitch that to him when I’m trying to convince him that you’re not trying to corrupt his innocent thirty-year-old daughter.”
“I’ll corrupt you as many ways as you want,” Baal said in a low voice filled with promise.
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Just say the word.”
“Maybe.” My answer slipped out before I had a chance to think about whether it was a good idea. But there was something about him that made me want to surrender to my desires completely, even if I wasn’t completely sure what they were, other than wanting to spend more time with the man sitting opposite me.
“I’ll settle for that,” he responded.
“Good, because that’s all you’re getting for now.”
“I’m going at your speed, Chelsea.” The way he looked at me made me certain of the truth in his words.
Something coiled tightly within me, and there was certainly more than a little temptation to give into him right here and now.
But that was a bad idea, for multitudes of reasons.
“Shall we go look through the photos?” Baal asked.
I cleared my throat. “That sounds good.” And like it would be a welcome distraction from the thoughts racing through my head.