It's all Cupid's fault (The Holidaze Book 2)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Mia marched into her house, before turning to slam the door in her dates face. Frustration fuelled her movements and bubbled to the forefront as a growling noise escaped her. She wiped at the slobber sliding down her face while glowering at the closed door.
Slobber was the only thing she'd received from the idiot outside the door when he attempted to kiss her. The moment he became all hands, which were far too adventurous, it forced her to drag her pepper spray from her bag.
Some men didn't like hearing the word no or stop. In some cases, like the lunatic outside her door, they thought if they changed tactics it would woo her. Tonight, there was only a man with streaming eyes who still stood outside of her door.
"Mia, darling, don't you think that was a little uncalled for?" the astute voice on the other side of the door called out.
"Get off my property before I call the police on you!" Mia snarled the words.
When she finally heard her horrible date shuffle away, she relaxed and released a breath. He complained once more of his burning and stinging eyes, but she ignored him.
Mia threw her keys and her handbag onto the kitchen counter. She shoved a hand through her long deep red curls and her bright green eyes narrowed. With her hands on her slim hips, she glared at her front door again.
A squeal of frustration escaped her. Why were all the men she met so damn incompetent, inconsiderate or just plain jerks?
She fell back on her designer leather couch and rubbed a hand down her face. This was all too much for one woman to bear. With certainty, she could see Cupid laughing at her, which fuelled her growing anger.
In the last year, she had watched her best friend find love. Sure, it was with Santa's son, but she had found her ever after. As happy as Mia had been for Meri, envy had bit at her. Meri had received the love that Mia had always wanted, not that she'd ever tell her friend that.
Mia always tried to portray the confident, 'my life is exactly the way I chose it to be' kind of person. Nobody had ever seen through that cover, not even her best friend. Now that Meri was a dimension away, Mia wished that she'd said something earlier.
Meri had also received the ultimate gift of a baby. Mia loved little Avery, and Meri insisted on calling her Aunty Mia, which she secretly relished. Meri had everything that Mia had ever craved in her life.
When would she ever find that right man for her? Everything else in her life was exactly where she wanted it to be. She had her own wedding planner business, which had grown successfully in the last few seasons.
Her house that she had always dreamed of by the beach was now hers, under a mortgage, but still hers. The car she had wanted since her teenage years sat in her driveway, and she loved her car.
The only thing that had eluded her in her life was love, any kind of love. Physical possessions were great, but she missed having someone to share her life with.
Being an only child, she never knew the love of a sibling. Orphaned at five, she could barely recall the love of her parents. Any friends, besides Meri, had never made it past the acquaintance stage.
Sure, she had her adopted parents, but she always felt that they adopted her for Meri, who they adored. Being next door neighbours to Meri's parents had to have influenced their choice. Not that she begrudged her adoption. She had needed Meri in her life and the gratitude she had for her adopted parents knew no bounds.
Love for her wasn't something that came naturally to her adopted parents. Meri was the one person who Mia loved and now she had lost even her to another dimension with a husband and a child.
Sometimes Mia wondered why she even tried to search for love as hard as she kept trying. It obviously wasn't meant for her.
Many times, she had questioned in her life why the Gods insisted on punishing her. Maybe she had acted horribly in a previous life, caused a disaster, or killed someone. She couldn't understand why any love she had offered to her always vanished before she'd even realised it was there.
She forced down the sigh and chose to focus on her burning anger. Yanking a piece of paper from her nearby desk drawer, Mia sat down to tell Cupid exactly what she thought of his cynical, degrading, and all-around unloving treatment of her.
For a second she pondered if this was the point where she lost her mind. Meri told her that Cupid existed. She had insisted that her husband had invented a gadget for him to match couples together.
With that thought, she shook her head and continued. Cupid existed and she needed to tell him how much she loathed him.
"Cupid,
I'm not sure if you think you're a comic genius, or if you're just a crass arsehole, like every other man I've met (if you are a man), but what the hell?
How many more years do I have to deal with these horrible dud men that you keep sending my way? I'd like an explanation and how about you set me up on a date with someone who's not a chauvinistic dick.
In case you're wondering, I'm Caramia Haywood, the woman you keep messing over in love!
Regards,
Mia."
Writing those words gave her a cathartic calmness. She looked at the paper after a swift wine and winced. Those words showed a loser, whiner of a woman.
On the off chance that her cleaner might find the letter, she lit a candle and burnt it to a crisp. The fire sparked with an odd pink flame that Mia didn't even notice.
With that done and forgotten, Mia prepared herself for the following day. She determined to never think of the inept Cupid or her weak moment when she sent him an angry letter.
An odd clattering noise distracted Devinah. She turned her head to find that a letter had landed upon her desk, and she stared at the unusual item.
Devinah was the delighter of the world, who unfortunately, according to her, held the title of Cupid's assistant. The powers that be determined that the delighter of the world and the God of love and desire fitted well together.
In the beginning, she had relished her job. In the beginning she had great fun working with Cupid. They had matched couples and sent the cherubs out to do their bidding. Nowadays, not so much.
Ever since Santa's son had made the Match-a-Matic, things had changed dramatically. Devinah was so tired of the lazy oaf who never moved from his recliner. Cupid demanded that she wait on him and her refusal led to many unconstructive arguments that went nowhere.
That stupid Match-a-Matic had turned her job from fun to as dull as she could never have imagined. Even the world around them had shrunken and gone dark. The cherubs had vanished and the magical realm she had once lived in now consisted of one building.
What happened to the gossamer clouds they used to float upon? Cupid used to use his wings to fly around but she hadn't seen that glory for an age. She missed the magic, the effervescence of love that used to overwhelm her, and even the amount of red and pink heart shapes that always fluttered upon the air.
Now it was one human building complete with human furniture and a God that never moved off his butt. The place was a depressing hovel compared to what it had once been.
She wanted to go back to the days where they would pour over the human characteristics, their likes, and dislikes before finding them a perfect match. She craved the intricacies of delving into a couple's world to find out what made them tick. Why were they perfect with that person? It had been an adventure, but now there only remained mind numbing boredom and gloomy predictions of perfect matches hailed from a computer.
Devinah picked up the letter to examine it. She took in the singed edges and the burnt smell that surrounded it. Taking an even closer look had her eyes glowing with a joy that she hadn't felt in the past few hundred or so years, since the introduction of the Match-a-Matic.
A triumphant smile spread across her face. Today Cupid would have to do something. Whoever sent this letter had done it in the old way, and that meant that Cupid had to see to its conclusion. Complaint letters were his own personal problem and that left her grinning. It also proved that the stupid Match-a-Matic had faults. At least some of the humans remembered the old ways.
"Oh, Cupid," Devinah sang out to him.
"What is it, Devinah? I'm busy," Cupid sounded distracted.
"Playing a dumb video game, that's for sure," she muttered under her breath.
"I heard that."
"I'm sure you did, being a God and all," she smirked as she marched into his private rooms.
Video games and different consoles lay strewn around the darkened room. Trying not to trip on anything, Devinah turned on the light. From his inner chamber, she heard a curse.
"Turn that off now!" Cupid shouted.
"No," she sauntered into the room, tapped the letter against her hand and stared at the God of love.
"Why, oh, why did they ever team me up with you?"
Sky blue eyes glowered at her and Devinah blinked innocently at him. He lounged back on his huge recliner set up in front of the human trappings, known as a television.
Being a God gave him a perfection and size that belied any normal human. The way his blonde hair sat and moved as if the wind flowed through every strand delightedly always made her jealous. He had more stunning hair than any woman she had ever met. Gods above how this perfect resemblance of male beauty became lost in this lazy oaf.
"I'm the only one who does any work around here nowadays," Devinah pointed out.
"Fine. What are you complaining about now?" Cupid growled.
"It's time for you to leave this nonsense behind. You received a letter."
Devinah flashed the charred paper around and that caught Cupid's attention. Letters were such a rarity in this new computerised era. The Match-a-Matic had taken away a lot of the stress in his day.
He recalled the constant complaints that he could never do his job right. All the matches that he supposedly ruined or ill matched couples. So many people whining instead of enjoying the many opportunities offered to them.
That's why he'd gone to the smartest man in the Holidaze to find a solution. Sander had such a brilliant mind. Tada! The Match-a-Matic appeared and solved all of the constant whinging.
Cupid had never in his existence had a chance for a holiday or a break from the daily grind of matching couples. He savoured every second of his time. No more people complaining of lost loves or crying that he had stolen the love in their hearts.
Devinah shoved the letter at him way too eagerly. Cupid huffed out a breath and took the paper. The singed edges showed that the person had burnt it in the traditional way.
"You'll have to deal with this in the old way," Devinah sounded so smug that he narrowed his eyes on his assistant.
"At least let me read it first. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Cupid replied, but that only made Devinah's smirk grow wider.
At the start of the letter, he blew out a breath. By the middle he struggled to keep in a chortle, and by the end he started to outright laugh.
"How does someone named Caramia struggle in love. Her name means my beloved," Cupid said around another chuckle.
"Doesn't matter. It still means you have to get your butt up off this couch, toss away those stupid video games and get to work," Devinah gestured with glee to the dimensional portal that Sander had made in the last year for an easier transition to the human world.
"I think she's just too fussy," Cupid argued.
"Not at all. I looked her up and the Match-a-Matic keeps setting her up with losers. There's no compatibility with any of the men she's recently dated. This will require your bow, arrows and a bit of sleuth work," Devinah held out the bow and quiver of arrows.
"Just find a cherub to sort it out."
"They've all disappeared because the God of love stopped giving a damn about love."
"But I've nearly finished the game," Cupid whined as much as those who had complained to him over the millennia.
"Don't care. You might need to recall the punishment for not doing your job," the way Devinah grinned made him shiver.
He did indeed know the punishment. The last thing Cupid intended to do was to give up his cushy life here to suffer a downgrade.
"Fine!" he refused to take the bow and reached for a handheld Match-a-Matic. "Let's hope you don't regret sending me on a wild goose chase."
"Oh, I won't. Bye, Cupid," Devinah waved him away.
It was about time he did some work. Devinah couldn't be more grateful to this Caramia woman for her furious letter. She could only hope that this would encourage Cupid back out into the world of love that he should reign over.