by A.J. Aaron
Continue on to read the first chapter of the next book in the series called, “Reluctant Gods - The Demon Seth”
“Most of us can, as we choose, make of this world either a palace or a prison.”
Sir John Lubbock
“There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.”
Ben Johnson
“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”
Mark Caine
Palace or Prison
The fire crackled in the library radiating its feverish heat to Leyna and I folded into one another reading on the leather sofa. The snow sparkled as it fell outside the windows in the spotlights. I wasn’t in favor of that waste of energy, but I was overruled.
Aided by the after dinner brandy and cigar, I was deliciously relaxed and felt I should stir about lest I fell asleep at somewhere before eight o’clock.
The three quarter hour Ave Maria strike on the grandfather clock alerted me to the time. I was just about dozing on the couch as I listened to the fire crackle and the steam from the hidden radiators along the wall trying to keep us warm.
I moved Leyna gingerly from my shoulder; her drooping eyes scolded me. “Leyna, it’s way too early to be falling asleep. We’ll end up waking at three in the morning looking for something to do.”
She continued to scowl, stretched her arms, curled her back, and opened her mouth in a yawn that reminded me of a cat awakening. Her long black hair shined in the firelight, her skin flushed radiantly from the heat.
“Oh my gosh! I know you’re right, Sevi. This is just too much being at home. I love this house and the things in it and us being together, but I wish we could escape. Even if it was just to the grocery store! I love Aysel, too, but she can be sooo…uh, sooo Aysel, ya know?”
I stood and poked the four-foot logs with the long poker wondering at the carbon imprint we were leaving with this massive old place. “Yes, I know, I feel the same.”
A new voice entered the conversation and it was berating to say the least. “What do you mean Aysel is sooo Aysel? And since, Mr. Decarain, you are agreeing, maybe you can answer that!”
My twenty-six-year-old looking great grandmother, Aysel, stood in four-inch stiletto heels and a black baby doll nightie. Her shoulder length earrings swung with the body language she threw at us.
She came over to the fire and looked up at me, since she was five foot six in her four-inch heels. Smug and afire, with hands on hips, she stared me down, or up as the case was, and waited for my reply.
“Aysel, Ninee, my god, well, I guess you are one of my gods that is, but can you please perform a little introspection right now? Can’t you see what this is doing to us? We’re all on edge from being cooped up so long. Now settle down, please?”
“First, I’d like to know what that comment was about!” Aysel stomped over to Leyna, glared at her, hands still on her narrow hips, and saying nothing except what her eyes spoke.
“Aysel, listen to Sevi, that’s what the comment is about. But, if you insist on asking!” Leyna stood and glared at Aysel and started reaming her. “If you have to know, I do not enjoy you running around the house dressed like the queen slut all the time. You could at least dress in street clothes!” The fire was in Leyna’s eyes and I saw tiny flicks of blue and white light flashing as she tried to remain in control of herself.
Aysel reached out to slap Leyna, but Leyna shielded herself quickly, which caused Aysel to slap her hand painfully hard on Leyna’s force. “Bitch! Prude!” Aysel stepped back, ready to throw a bolt of lightning, her hand rose, fingers grouped together and pointing in unison. Not a bit of loose blue flicks though, since Aysel had the advantage of years of control. Leyna stood and aimed the same way, but the blue lights zapped and flicked off her into the air at random.
I jumped between them and grabbed both of their aiming hands. “Enough! If you want to fight, do it normally! What kind of way is this for two gods to act anyway?”
I held their arms tight, pulled them both close to me, wrapped my arms around them and pulled the energy into me like a ground rod on a roof. I felt the burn as it moved through me, to the floor and into the earth. “We have to take action; we need to be doing something other than hiding out here in our safe house! Seth needs to be dealt with!”
I walked with their now relaxed bodies to the couch where we all took a seat. The leather creaked and the clock’s last strike of eight resonated from the hall, once again reminding us that time was passing.
Aysel leaned her head against my shoulder. She sighed loudly as she put her hand on my knee and ran it up my jeans to the top of my thigh and back. “Sevi, you’re right, we are going insane. I need to have a life again!” She looked up at me, took my head in her hands, and kissed my lips deeply, filling me with her energy and lust.
Leyna stood and glared at us both. “How can you two be like this? Aysel! You are his great grandmother! Just because you look twenty-six doesn’t make it okay. Sevi! I thought you loved me!”
“I do, I do! Uh…”
Aysel defended her actions. “Leyna, settle down, your old jealous self is coming back. Did you forget we are gods and gods have no morals? And Sevi and I are not blood relatives, remember?”
“Ungh!” Leyna stomped over to the fire; her oversized, favorite, and ragged sweatpants and top like flags stuck to her frame.
I stood and went to her. Aysel fell off my lap with a thump, startled. “Sevi! How dare you drop me!”
“Aysel, take a downer please. Let’s just all calm down.”
Alexander entered the room just in time with some nightcaps. “My lord, Lady Aysel, and Lady Leyna, please try this new concoction I came up with. It’s sure to bring a more pleasant disposition to you all. I know it has personally done wonders for me while listening to all of you.”
Alexander smiled his warm loving smile, revealing white teeth behind his dark Turkish skin. He passed the tray in front of us as he offered his newest creation, nodding his head as he did. We each took the large martini glasses carefully to our lips and sipped. “So? Lady Aysel? I’ll ask you first since you are the oldest soul.”
“How nice, the oldest soul. Alexander, as always, your work is impeccable. Thank you. I feel better about these two miscreants already. Sorry for the troubles, you two.”
“Lady Leyna?”
“Very nice, Alexander, leave it to you to keep us in check. Thank you. Aysel, apology accepted and I offer mine as well.”
“Thank you, Leyna.” Aysel nodded and sipped her drink. “So.” She strutted around the room. “What is the answer?”
She ended up by the fireplace with her hand gripping the mantle as she peered in at the flames. The stone griffins holding up the mantle stood like sentries. Aysel turned and wiggled her butt against the heat of the flame, smiled and winked at Leyna and me in turn, and was once more the Aysel we knew.
“Lastly, Lord Sevilen, does the drink meet with your approval?”
“Absolutely. I will certainly have more.”
“That’s why I brought the pitcher, my lord. Mind if I stay here a while? I’m interested in this conversation, as well.”
“Of course not, Alexander. Your presence is always an honor.”
Alexander sat in the great wingback chair by the fire; the only seat fitting of his stature and grace. It held his back straight and tall as he was, at six foot six. His regal and gracious manner flowed from him. Smiling, he sipped his drink. “So, Lord Sevilen, do you think there are things we can do to remove this blight on our lives? Something we might do to, on, or about Seth?”
“I’m sure we can think of something. Heck, we are gods and we weren’t stupid as humans either. We also have access to the Akashic Records, right?”
“Well yes, sir, we do, but things of the gods are rarely, if ever, written in them. That is, information of the things to come for us, the results of our labors, or our encounters. We are somewhat exempt. We would have to
be of the next level up in order to access those records. We haven’t the proper energies, so to speak.”
Alexander crossed his legs nonchalantly, a leather slipper dangled from his foot. He loosened his tie and smoothed his impeccable woolen dress pants. His drink went on the Louis XVI end table carefully. He removed a case from his pants, removed a cigar, snipped the end and tossed the bit in the fire. He lit it with a stick match using his thumbnail. “Like one, lord? Ladies?” He looked at Aysel and Leyna in turn, presenting the case.
Aysel took one. “Thank you.” She snipped it with the instrument Alexander offered and lit it with an ember-tipped stick from the fire. Aysel looked at Leyna then at me. She winked at me as she rolled the cigar in her lips, licked the tip with her tongue seductively, and then stood like a model in front of the fire.
Alexander gave a deep-throated chuckle and looked at me. “Lord, I think we have to resolve the Seth issue, or we will have chaos here.” Alexander grinned and looked at the two goddesses as they eyed each other up and down.
Leyna stood and walked to the other side of the fireplace. She strutted like a stripper, posed by the fire, and looked at me. She stripped her sweatshirt off revealing a black top similar to Aysel’s.
Leyna licked her lips and looked at Aysel, who was now smiling. Leyna slowly pulled her sweatpants down to her ankles, uncovering her stockings and garter belt. Then, Leyna proceeded to try to take the sweatpants off over her sneakers.
She stumbled and twirled about when her feet stuck. Aysel laughed with a hand over her mouth. Leyna balanced like a Russian ballerina after she managed to get one leg free. Her foot hit the floor then went back up as she tried to remove the pant leg from the last foot. Leyna twirled and landed head first into Alexander’s crotch. Sweatpants still stuck on one foot, hair a mess, ego bruised. Aysel giggled like a schoolgirl, smoked her cigar, and posed by the fire.
Alexander, always the gentleman, reacted as one. “Lady Leyna, please allow me to assist.” Alexander lifted her to her feet and then seated her in his chair while he held his cigar in his mouth. He undid both of her sneakers and helped her with the pants.
Leyna flushed and Alexander diverted his eyes. “Lady Leyna, my apologies, but you seemed in need. May I go get you some respectable shoes to go with the very womanly outfit you have chosen to wear this evening? It seems flatfoot or sneakers would not be flattering, if that is the intention you had with this outfit.”
Leyna’s eyes cried in despair. Her voice was tiny and childlike. “Please? I put them inside the grandfather clock case in the bottom. I was saving this outfit to surprise Sevi after everyone went to sleep, but it seems hard to compete with Aysel right now.”
Aysel went to Leyna, climbed into the big chair with her, and put an arm around her. Aysel nuzzled her hair and kissed her on the cheek. “Leyna, angel, I love you and Sevi, please don’t get upset at my antics. I am what I am.” Aysel sniffed Leyna’s hair, took her head in her hands, and looked her in the eyes.
Leyna nodded while Aysel held her head. Tears welled up in Leyna’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. We just need to fix this mess.”
“I know, dear.” Aysel kissed Leyna on the lips deeply, pulling her hair as she crushed Leyna in an embrace.
Leyna responded by grabbing Aysel’s head in the same manner and the two of them were locked in an embrace with Aysel’s hand on Leyna’s breast as Alexander approached.
The two were glowing bright white, which I could see as an energy exchange with the god’s eyes I now had. The time in the house had given all of us the opportunity to tune our abilities and right then I knew the two goddesses were not just touching, but exchanging energy in a blissful manner.
Alexander looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. One of Leyna’s eyes opened, seeing Alexander, then went wide as the energy field collapsed. She pulled back from Aysel and looked at Alexander and what he had in his hands as he knelt before her. “Oh my, I’m so sorry, Alexander.”
“Nothing to be sorry for, my lady. Allow me.” Alexander took her foot and slid on a five-inch, strappy, black satin shoe, and tied the strap around her ankle then did the same for her other foot. He stood, admired his work, and backed away.
Aysel sat on Leyna’s lap, content, and smiled at Alexander. “Alexander, could you take a seat on the couch? I’m afraid if I get up, Leyna won’t allow me back and this feels very nice. Sevi, you’re okay with this right?” She waved her hand over the two of them.
“Of course, Ninee.” I had to laugh. “You’re something else.”
Alexander responded next. “Of course, Lady Aysel, I would love to sit on the couch with Lord Sevilen.” Alexander sat next to me, puffed his cigar, and sipped his drink. “So, what do we do?” He looked at each of us in turn.
Aysel said, “I say we stay here forever and let Leyna and I become closer. Mmm.” She gazed at Leyna, enjoying the hair caresses from Leyna.
Leyna laughed and kissed her cheek. “Sorry Ninee, we do need to get back to reality. That was nice and I will probably feel different toward you from now on, but the reason it came to that is because of our being locked up together. Maybe we can try it again when we aren’t locked up and our libidos aren’t so abnormal. Right, guys?”
Alexander sipped his drink, smiling.
I addressed everyone. “Okay, we can talk now that we aren’t killing each other. Let’s think of ways we can solve this. I’ll get a flipchart from the office.” I went to the office, gathered the flipchart and some fresh markers. They were laughing and saying things about engineers behind me. A good thing from where we started tonight.
Alexander passed me on my way back, waving the pitcher in his hand. “I shall obtain more mental lubricants, my lord.” His cigar smelled sweet as he strode by. I set the flipchart by the side of the fire where we all could see it, and titled the top of the page: “Ideas To Solve The Seth Issue”.
Alexander reentered the room with a fresh pitcher. He poured mine first and put it on the mantel, along with a trimmed and lit cigar for me. He poured the goddesses’ drinks and handed them to them so they wouldn’t have to break their embrace. He poured his and took a seat as the clock chimed out the half hour.
Aysel took a fresh cigar from Alexander and lit it for Leyna who rolled it between her lips, puffed, and blew smoke rings into the air, then hugged Aysel. Everyone was settled. They looked at me.
“Okay, let’s go. What can we do to solve the Seth issue?”
Smiling, Aysel responded first. Leyna was obviously in collusion with her now because she smiled and nodded her head as Aysel said, “Let’s wait him out till he gets tired of it!” Leyna laughed and Aysel kissed her.
“Uh, that is why you two were fighting before and why we’re getting increasingly strange as time goes on. It’s what we had been doing and it wasn’t working. You two nearly killed each other with your lightning bolts less than an hour ago!” I wrote it down on the flipchart and Aysel and Leyna gave a “Woo Hoo!” as I did. “Okay, another one.”
Leyna responded after she exhaled smoke into the air. Her arm was around Aysel. “You’re an engineer. Isn’t there some kind of technology, whether mortal or magick, that can shield us from him so he can’t find or see us? Other than having to stay in a shielded place such as the mansion here or a church? Then we could go dancing, travel and play with Aysel and not worry.”
I nodded. “Good idea, Leyna.” I wrote it down. “Shielding technology/magick.” Leyna and Aysel clapped like little girls and hugged each other in celebration. It was weird to see them this way. If you remember from the first documentation of this strange journey of ours, they never really got along that well—like two cats in one sand box.
I looked around the room and sipped my drink. I puffed the cigar Alexander gave me. Alexander was pensive and crossed and uncrossed his legs as he sat on the couch. Aysel and Leyna were feeding each other drinks and, after Leyna sipped, she spoke up again. “Kill Seth!”
Aysel pulled back and looked at Leyna’s f
ace. “Sorry, dear.” She looked at me. “Don’t write it down. It would create havoc. If we start a war, we will regret it, and starting a war is what it would do.”
I stood and fidgeted with the marker in my hand. “But he’s threatening to kill us.”
“If he did, he’d probably get snuffed out by his side because we have an agreement to never harm each other. The balance could be affected and the world would cease to function. Even if all the evil ones were killed, there would be no balance. No, don’t even give that thought the energy of writing it down. Sorry, Leyna, my love.”
I puffed the cigar and tossed the head of ash into the fireplace. I sipped, tasting the intriguing flavors Alexander had incorporated into the concoction.
“Thank you, my lord. I do think it is one of my best. Though the enchantment of a fairy priestess always makes a concoction taste better.”
“Enchantment?”
“Yes, my lord. A dear friend of mine, Asha, made me a box of enchanted stirring sticks to mix drinks with when I wanted something special. A wonderful woman I have been amiss at seeing lately and miss greatly. Anyway! What if we defuse him, bind him such as High Priestess Asha might. Ancient spells exist and they can be very powerful.”
“Do you have such spells?”
“I believe I do. I mean, we could just do it ourselves, but to use a spell made specifically for the purpose is always good since the focus is guaranteed. Similar to having Gabriel help when you healed Leyna. Perhaps Asha would be willing to assist us.”
“Excellent!” I wrote it on the flipchart, bobbled my marker, which nearly whacked me in the face, then fell toward the floor. It never hit the floor, though, since I drew it back between my fingers.
“Nice, Sevi! You’re using your gifts unconsciously. Just be careful not to get caught in public, dear.” Aysel shook her finger at me as Leyna brought a drink to Aysel’s lips.
“But, Aysel, I could make them forget they saw it.”
“Touché! But if you didn’t know they saw…that is the problem.”
“Very sensible advice, Lady Aysel,” Alexander said as he stood and walked toward the still blazing fire, cigar in his mouth.
He warmed his hands and turned to face us, one hand on the mantel, one hand holding his drink to the light. “Which brings sensibility to mind. What if we talked sense to Seth? He’s more ancient than us and one would think he was sensible just by the fact he has survived this long. The balance of good and evil is always slightly off due to attrition anyway.”
Aysel waved her arm through the smoke rings she just blew as if erasing Alexander’s idea. “Alexander, I’ve known Seth for a some time and he is a stubborn little imp that always thinks he’s right. I’m not sure it would work, but I guess it’s worth a try. Though, not my vote as the best bet.”
Alexander nodded and bowed toward Aysel as he held his drink out before him. “Acknowledged, Lady Aysel. Strip it from the list, my lord.”
“No way. I think it should be tried. It’s the honorable thing to do.” I wrote it down.
The clock played “Ave Maria” and then chimed nine times while I walked back and forth before the fire. I stooped over and kissed Leyna.
Entwined and cozy in the wing chair, they smiled. The bronze Archangel Gabriel lamp behind them cast a warm glow from beneath the ivory silk shade.
I looked around this wonderful room, smelling the smoke that occasionally made its way back into the room from the fireplace. I smelled the fine cigars Alexander had given us and it all made me feel as rich as we were. The surroundings, the cigars, the wonderful people I was with—and all of us immortal so we could enjoy it for eternity. I started to lose sight of what we were doing, but Aysel brought me back.
“Yes, be thankful, always. It is a secret few know. Thankfulness brings more to be thankful for. It’s a shame most give thanks only once a year. Anyway, dear, go to your flippy chart thingy and write. This is something that might work well with Seth’s nature. Something for him to be thankful for.”
Brought out of my reverie, I walked over and picked up the marker. “Shoot, granny.”
“Aysel is the correct moniker, please, youngin. No Ninee. Certainly no granny. Do I look like a granny to you, sittin here with your babe in our hottie nightclothes? Now write what I tell you.”
“Okay, okay.” I waved my arm with the marker and faced the flipchart ready to write. The smoke from the cigar tip wafted under my nose, I breathed it in as I circled my marker hand above the paper ready to write.
“Busy him with an evil she god. Find the little pervert his hottie. Hotties distract those with proclivities for that sort of thing.”
I wrote it down, laughing as I did. How appropriate, I thought, as Aysel sat on Leyna’s lap, both of them very much distracted by each other. I had a feeling we were running out of ideas.
I had personally contributed nothing and felt amiss for that. I paced the oriental carpet then stopped at the flipchart and turned the pages back and forth.
I walked some more. I peered around the room from the doorway. I looked at Alexander, Aysel, and Leyna and wondered what can make someone feel so good. That is, the essence with which we can change Seth if an evil one does have such feelings. They must.
I looked, watched, and felt. It was love that made it all good. The love one feels when things are as they should be and the people you are with are all you know or want. Do evil ones know love? I went to the chart, picked up the marker, and wrote it down. Love. What a powerful motivator.
Aysel pulled free from Leyna’s kiss. “Won’t work, baby. They know love. Most love their own deeply. But, Seth is, uh, how do you say…messed up. Like Leyna was. And we can’t heal evil ones. Not allowed.”
“Hmm. Too bad.”
Leyna started to come out of her bliss with a look of epiphany on her face. “How about we talk to the other side about Seth? It seems he doesn’t quite fit and if they know he’s out to create a war between good and evil, I think they’d handle him themselves, whatever they do to him. Let’s squeal on him to their big guy.”
I wrote it down. Squeal on Seth. Aysel lifted her head from Leyna’s shoulder with eyes wide open. “Tristan is a rather sensible guy. He is, as Mick Jagger says, ‘A man of wealth and taste’. I think we could approach him and have a rather good discussion, not to mention a wonderful meal, and welcome greeting from him and Lillith. They are such nice people.”
“Tristan and Lillith?”
“Well, you know Lillith by her name, his wife, but Tristan wanted a more modern name with less connotations than his past names brought, and rightly so.”
I wrote it on the chart. Talk to Satan. “No Way. Talk to Satan?”
“Not Satan. Tristan.”
“Just a name.”
“Your paradigms are influencing you, Sevi. He’s a great guy and his wife is a doll. They’ve been together forever.”
“Nope, last resort, Aysel. Sorry. Can’t go there.”
“Okay, at least it’s on the list. Trust me. It’s a simple solution and fun as well. He’d take care of Seth once he knows what he’s been doing. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it right off the bat! Oh well, we’ll see. You’re the Designated One, baby. I’m retired.”
“Okay. I think everyone did well tonight. I only wish I could have come up with something myself.” I looked at them as I took the last puff off the cigar and tossed it into the fireplace. Leyna had fallen asleep and Aysel’s eyes were drooping as she sat on her lap. Alexander was slouched on the couch and he appeared ready for sleep as well. “I say we go to bed. Everyone looks done for today.”
Alexander roused himself, put the glasses on a tray and cleaned up. He looked at the sleeping goddesses. “Shall we carry them or magically transport them to bed?”
“Good idea, Alexander, I’ll put them both in mine and Leyna’s bed and I’ll sleep in Aysel’s. As well as they got along tonight, I don’t want to separate them.”
“Need any help?”
I stood
before them, waved my arms, closed my eyes, and visualized them in bed tucked in under the covers. They faded from the chair, leaving it empty.
“Good job, my lord. You have done well in relearning your powers. Congratulations!”
“Thank you, Alexander. I’ll go check that they actually made it into the bed okay and I didn’t put them in upside down or something.”
“Good follow up, my lord. Have a good sleep.”
“Thank you. Same to you. See you in the morning.”
With some good ideas and the girls getting along so well tonight, I felt we were at a turning point.
To buy a copy of the next book in this series, click here:
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Gods-II-Demon-Seth-ebook/dp/B009X0RG3W/
Or, for the entire four-book compilation, click here:
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Gods-Books-Through-Four-ebook/dp/B00K0WN4A6
If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review by continuing, if you are on a Kindle, or by clicking the link below. Thanks for reading. A.J.
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Gods-A-J-Aaron-ebook/dp/B005IQ5VXM/
Selected References
Arewa, C.S. Way of The Chakras. Hammersmith, London. Thorsons Harper Collins Publishers, 2001
Braden G. The Divine Matrix-Bridging Time, Space, Miracles and Belief. Carlsbad California. Hay House Inc., 2007.
Gardner, J. Pocket Guide to the Chakras, Berkley, California. Crossing Press, 1998.
Greene, B. The Elegant Universe- Superstrings, hidden dimensions, and the quest for the ultimate theory. New York, New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.
Kaku, M. Parallel Worlds-A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions and the Future of the Cosmos. New York, New York. Anchor Books, 2005.
Laszlo, E. The Akashic Experience. Rochester, Vermont. Inner Traditions, 2009.
Murphy, T & Hopkins, M. Rosslyn-Guardian of The Secrets of The Holy Grail Falmouth, Cornwall. Element Books Limited, 2000.
Pond, D.Chakras for Beginners – A Guide to Balancing Your Chakra Energies. St. Paul, Minnesota. Llewellyn Publications, 2005.
Walker, E.H. The Physics of Consciousness- The Quantum Mind and The Meaning of Life. New York, New York. Basic Books, 2000.
