For a moment I think I'm going to be sick. My heartbeat pounds in my ears and my whole body starts to shake.

Venus will see me now.

Cal rises from the armchair and stands up rigidly beside me. I look up at him and our eyes meet. I shake my head softly.

This can't be happening.

"Get up," says Cal.

I look over to Venus' PA who is tapping his fingers against the reception booth impatiently.

"She hasn't got all day," he says – his voice high pitched and musical.

I look up at Cal again and through my panic I manage to push myself up out of the seat. The moment I no longer have the chair for support my legs give way. Cal catches me, grabbing one of my arms and pulling me up towards him.

"Cal..." I say weakly – my anger replaced with fear. "I don't want to meet her. I want to go home. Please."

He stares at me for a moment then lets go of my arm – running his hand through his hair. Despite his cool demeanour I can tell he is nervous. I cast my gaze to the quiver still on his back.

He still has The Finis.

Maybe if I could get hold of it I could....

Cal follows my eye-line and shakes his head subtly. He frowns– his eyes blazing silver. Grabbing my arm he pushes me ahead of him towards Charles.

"Don't do anything stupid Lila" he whispers into my ear through gritted teeth.

As we start to move forwards the PA rolls his eyes and spins haughtily on his heel – making his way past the reception booth.

"This way please" he says in his sing-song tone.

Cal marches me after him – his hand still holding tightly onto my arm. This time I don't try and shake him off. If he wasn't holding on to me I think my legs would give way.

We follow Charles down a long, arched corridor. The walls are a bright white, and our footsteps echo off the black and white chequered floor. The air smells sickly sweet and turns my stomach.

As we move on I wonder if Cal is going to deliver the Finis directly to Venus.

After all we went through to get it.

Then my thoughts jolt back to Cupid – lying unconscious on the floor.

What if she goes back to his house?

She could use it to kill him.

I glare up at Cal.

"How could you do this?" I whisper again.

He says nothing – only gestures subtly with his head to the door straight ahead.

Two armed cupids – a female and a male - stand in front of it. As we get closer I notice the black plaque with Venus, CEO written in elegant pink calligraphy nailed to the dark wood.

Charles stops in front of the two agents guarding the doorway and spins back around to face us. He brings his gaze up to Cals – his eyes a dull green.

"Leave your weapons outside the door please" he says disinterestedly "You can collect them once She is finished with you."

My eyes flicker onto Cal's face.

If he's going to hand in the Finis then surely this is the moment that he reveals its presence.

His expression doesn't falter and he makes no movement to give in his bow or arrows. He looks at Charles squarely.

"No weapon can harm Venus" he says.

Charles shrugs.

"I didn't make the rules" he says "Leave your weapons with one of the agents please."

Cal stares at him coldly for a few moments and the agents by the door reach for their own weapons – suddenly alert.

Then he gives a thin smile.

"Of course" he says "As She wishes."

He passes the bow to the male by the door then shrugs the bundle of arrows off his shoulder. The female agent takes it and balances it against the wall.

Charles nods – then raps lightly against the black door.

"Come iii -nnn" chimes a high pitched voice on the other side.

Oh god.

I take a deep breath and look up at Cal for some form of comfort but he doesn't give it. The angles on his face are rigid and his skin looks paler than usual. He stares straight ahead at the door as Charles pushes it open and walks through.

The first thing that hits me is the smell. It's even stronger than in the corridor; the scent of sweetness with an undercurrent of something else – something nasty. I feel bile making its way up my throat but I swallow it down as Cal pulls me inside

We've entered a narrow room. The area we stand in is lit brightly by a cold, artificial light – but the end of the room is shrouded in darkness.

I can't see Venus.

I look around frantically.

The floor is a black wood, and the high walls are painted a dark pink. There are bouquets of flowers everywhere – a mixture of blood red roses and white myrtle - bursting out of vases and wrapped around beams that reach up to the ceiling.

I can hear the trickling of water but I can't work out where it is coming from.

"Here they are Ma'am" says Charles "Cal. And the girl who is Cupid's match."

He bows a low bow then hurriedly dismisses himself from the room – closing the door behind him. There is silence for a moment. Then a shuffle from the dark end of the room.

"Come forward plee-aaassee" chimes the female voice.

The voice is the embodiment of the smell – sickly sweet with something below the surface.

My heartbeat quickens. Cal lets go of my arm and slowly walks towards the darkness. I hurry a look over my shoulder at the door we have just come through.

But what's the point in running. They'll only bring me back again.

Filled with dread, I begin to move forwards after Cal – my breathing quickening with each step that I take.

"That's right" says the voice "Come here. Let me have a look at you both."

As we get closer, I see we are approaching a large, desk. There is a silhouetted figure sat behind it.

Venus.

The sound of water is stronger here – and for a moment I think I hear the sound of thudding against glass.

"That's quii-ttee close enough" sings the voice. "Now – let me have a look at you,"

The shadowed figure rises from the chair – slowly and fluidly – and stands to her full height. She is bigger than a human woman – both in height and breadth. Her body is exaggeratedly curved but I can't determine from here whether it is due to clothing or her actual shape.

I blink to try and see through the darkness.

And then suddenly she is stood just inches in front of us.

My heart catches in my throat and I inhale sharply - taking in a sickeningly large gulp of the now overpowering scent.

I manage to stay upright and I stare at her – unable to look away.

At first look she is beautiful.

Her hair, a fiery red, is entwined with white flowers and braided around her head. Her skin is pale white, accentuating her clear blue eyes.

She's wearing a large ball-gown which looks to be made entirely of crimson roses. It's bare shouldered and synched in at the waist with a big billowing skirt that seems to sway in a breeze that isn't there.

No-one speaks. I can feel the tension in Cal's body as he stands close-by. Venus continues to look at me, and as I stare back I find my skin begin to crawl.

There's something behind the beauty; something not quite right.

Her skin is too pale – almost translucent – and completely pore-less. It looks slippery - like an imitation of skin – stretched over the angles of her face. The pupils in her eyes are too small – and she doesn't blink often enough. They make me think of the eyes of a doll.

She is smiling at me, with full, red lips, but there is something twisted about it.

Suddenly, in a movement too fast for me to pre-empt, her fingers are caressing the side of my face. They are long, and cold – corpse like– and my skin crawls where she has touched me.

"So this is her" she says "the match."

Her voice is like that of a little girl's.

My heartbeat is thumping so fast I feel sure she can hear it. She tilts her head to the side in an almost robotic movement.

"The reason I've been called back in to work."

She prods me in the chest with each word – the last push so forceful that I am thrown a few feet across the room – landing hard onto my back.

I blink and she is towering over me.

Fear fills my body.

What is she going to do to me?

"You know – that's not very nice" she says – her voice like that of a petulant child "Being called into work on your millennium off."

She stoops down, picks me up like a ragdoll and plants me back on my feet.

"There are a lot of things I could do to you" she chimes "If I wanted to. And you must be punished, you know? You have been a very naughty little match."

"Mother..." Cal warns.

She turns her head suddenly to focus on Cal.

"I've heard you've been a naughty little boy too" she says – picking up her skirts and running with tiny steps over to her son. "Again."

There's almost something comical about her movements – if she weren't so terrifying.

She's completely unhinged.

"Do you like my new hair?" she asks him beaming "It's red. Like Charles'. We're matching."

Cal ignores her words – and looks her straight in the eye.

"If you don't hurt Lila now - If you give her a trial – you can make an example out of her" he says slowly.

She sticks out her bottom lip.

"But I want to hurt her now" she says.

Cal looks at her sternly – his silvery eyes blazing.

"Mother..." he says again.

Venus sighs.

"But of course you're right." She says "We'll keep her for the trial. She'll be our little human pet."

She looks back at me with those unblinking eyes, and smiles a smile that makes my skin creep. Then she claps her hands together.

"Anyway - I've got you both presents!" she says excitedly, "Come! Come!"

Cal frowns, and stands more alert. Dread fills me.

What present could the Ancient Goddess of love possibly have for me?

Suddenly she's at the other end of the room – back in the darkness. She claps her hands again and the lights spring on.

My stomach turns and bile forces its way up my throat.

She stands in between the doors of two glass containers built into the wall. They are filled to the top with water, dyed pale pink by blood.

Inside one – unconscious and ethereal – floats Crystal.

Inside the other – thumping the glass wildly with his fists - is Cupid.

Venus looks at us and smiles sweetly, but there is malice in her eyes.

"Do you want to open them?" she asks.