"The Huntress and the Champion"<br/><br/><br/>In a world of Greek Gods and Goddesses, it was both easy and hard to form romantic entanglements. Zeus, the King of Gods, was with a new woman nearly every day, going through partners like it was going out of style, whereas his elder brother Hades, the ruler of the underworld had just one. Artemis was her own rarity within her pantheon, with only one other Goddess as sexually pure as herself. A large part of her preference to be chaste was due to how every time she began a romantic relationship something went terribly wrong. After Orion and his untimely death at her hand, the raven-haired huntress swore off any lasting ties with males.<br/><br/>Apollo, her twin brother, was the jealous sort and seemed to like to keep his sister for himself as he saw her as a reflection of himself. Yet, he could consort with whom he wanted. As much as Artemis loved her brother, she hated him just as much. After she had discovered his trickery in having her shot down her one love, she vowed to never let him see her pine for anyone else. Which is why she kept all men at an arm’s length and could only watch them from afar.<br/><br/>There was one person admittedly that the Virgin Goddess looked forward to seeing once every year at the Artemis Games, and that was Archie Barlow.<br/><br/>She remembered the first time she had witnessed Archie’s skills in the games, even though he had only placed third that first year, it was impressive considering that most other competitors had known and trained for the Games for the majority of their lives. Even more impressive was his ongoing track record with being the Games’ Champion. Even the Virgin Goddess could feel desire for a male mortal, and she wanted so very much to speak with him, even just once.<br/><br/>Making sure that her brother would not be anywhere within Dion’s Restaurant, as not only would he be with a new lady, but she had fed him a story of going hunting in her forest until the next day. She discreetly made her way in and lightly disguised herself with a glamour that would make her only recognizable to other immortals who did not possess ‘The Sight’ as Apollo did. Taking a seat as close to Archie as she dared, she watched him for a short time as she pulled up her courage to go over and speak with him. Little did she realize that she was staring pretty hard at him.<br/><br/>(To Be Continued)