by Sam Cheever
It was all Damian.
It was all good.
And it was, I suddenly realized, all I’d ever wanted.
Damian lifted my hips and drove more deeply into me. I could feel the fat tip of his cock bumping against a barrier inside my body. It was slightly painful but the pain made my clitoris clench with pleasure. “Harder!”
Damian complied happily. He increased his tempo and, shoving his knees under my butt to hold me upright, grabbed a breast in each hand and gave himself over to pounding into me, hard and fast.
Sweat gave a sheen to our skin, dribbling down between his taut pecs and running in sexy rivulets down his hard abs.
I experienced a strong urge to lap those droplets off his belly, savoring them on my tongue like fine wine.
My mind fractured, my body screamed for release.
My muscles tensed with expectation.
I was almost there.
I only needed a tiny impetus to take me all the way over. Damian pulled out of me and flipped me over, plunging deeply into my body from behind. I felt myself falling over that edge, hanging there in sheer delight for a long moment as my body tensed and throbbed in anticipation of full release. Damian reached around and covered my clit with a hand and pressed gently, sending me completely over.
Screaming like a madwoman, I exploded into release, pulling Damian over with me. He stiffened against my back, his cock stilling within my body and I felt him spurt and pulse within me as he came.
His head rested against my back, his hand pressed gently against my mons, pulling the final, satisfying surges of pleasure from my body and leaving me totally spent, blissfully lax and incredibly happy.
We collapsed in a limp pile on the bed and lay panting in each other’s arms.
After a moment, Damian pulled the covers back up and it didn’t take long for us to drift back to sleep.
When I awoke the second time that morning the rest of the house was quiet. I grinned, thinking poor Peter was finally getting some rest.
I was wrong.
He and Damian were sitting outside together, drinking coffee and making plans. I got a cup of coffee myself and stood inside the house for a few moments, just watching them. They looked very intense and very sexy, sitting side by side on the rock wall that separated the patio from the raging shoreline below the house.
“Did you enjoy the show?”
I spun, finding myself face-to-face with Simone. She wore only a sheer robe, which hid nothing and her hair tumbled sexily around her small face. She looked as if she’d spent the night rolling around in bed with a sexy demon.
“Good morning, Simone.”
She gave me a mocking smile and jerked her head toward the men outside. “Yummy.”
I turned back to them. “Yes. Extremely.” I frowned, suddenly realizing what she’d asked me. “Show? What show?”
Her smile was hungry, predatory. “Last night. I know you watched. I smelled your lust.” She moved closer, pressing herself against my side and resting her chin on my shoulder. She smelled of flowers and tousled sheets and illicit delights.
I stepped away, putting up a hand. “Whoa, girl, I don’t play on that team.”
Her pointed, pink tongue swept out and slid suggestively across her swollen lips. “Too bad. You’re yummy too.”
I grabbed the door handle. “Let’s go outside, shall we?”
She placed a small, pale hand over mine, stopping me from pulling the slider open. “Damian cannot be yours, pretty Cupid. He is demon. He must serve at the whim of the gods on Olympus.”
I frowned. My first instinct was to tell her to stay the hell out of it. My second was to crumple into a sobbing ball on the floor because I knew she was right.
Simone lifted my chin with a strong, delicate-looking finger. “He cares much for you. He will die to save you. It is a great burden. He must not die.”
I sighed. I hadn’t missed the implication in her tone. “I care much for him too.”
She nodded. “Good, then it is settled. You will leave.”
She swept through the glass door and out onto the patio, her sheer robe flowing out behind her like gossamer wings, leaving everything the gods had given her in the way of physical beauty exposed for all to see.
The men turned, taking in her nakedness with smiles of approval.
I frowned and slouched out after her.
Wearing my sloppy sweat suit, which bagged around my ankles and wrists and sagged at the butt.
Oh yeah. I was fully armed for battle with a succubus.
Chapter Eleven
Stone-Cold Sobered
Simone leapt into Peter’s lap with a giggle. He laughed and pulled her lush mouth down for a kiss.
I watched Damian carefully. His eyes slid to me and he smiled. I pulled self-consciously at the overlong sweatpants so I didn’t trip over them. I stopped in front of him, my eyes sliding toward the ocean uncomfortably.
I’d never felt more clunky and unsure in my life.
Damian grabbed my hand and pulled me close. Lifting the loose bottom of the soft sweatshirt, he swiped a hot, wet trail with his tongue from just below the folded waistband of the pants up to my bellybutton.
He laid a tender kiss on my belly. “You look scrumptious.”
I laughed, feeling instantly better. “Oh yeah, the sweat suit goddess. How can you resist me?”
His smile widened and his eyes sparkled. “How indeed?”
“I need to get some things today.”
He nodded. “It seems we’ve been doing a lot of that lately.”
I frowned.
He turned to Simone. “Do you have something Athena can wear to go shopping?”
I opened my mouth in horror, visualizing myself walking down the mall in a sheer jumpsuit with cutouts in all the strategic areas…just in case the world hadn’t gotten a good enough glimpse of my nakedness through the sheer fabric.
Simone’s eyes sparked with something that looked like playfulness and she nodded. “I have a couple of dowdy things she might like.”
I was too relieved to be offended. If Simone thought the clothing was dowdy, at least hopefully all my important parts would be covered.
I gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
Gratitude was a big mistake.
I tugged the plunging neckline of the blouse up, trying to at least cover my nipples and dragged at the hem of the micro-miniskirt in an attempt to keep my butt cheeks from peeking out at the world.
At least the fabric wasn’t totally see-through. Not totally. Rather than clean air sheer, it was more like smoggy air. Slightly opaque but not really.
Damian screwed up his lips, trying hard not to laugh at my predicament. “I like it. You look…”
I glared at him. “Naked?”
He barked out a laugh before he could stop himself. “Naked is good.”
“Not at the mall, Damian. I can’t go out into public wearing this. You’ll have to go in without me. I’ll just tell you my sizes.”
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and nodded. “Let’s get going. My senses are telling me Medusa will be paying us a visit today. I don’t want Peter and Simone here alone if that happens.”
We drove to the closest shopping mall and I sent Damian in with a sheet of paper bearing sizes, colors and brief instructions about style.
No hooker clothes, nothing lighter than air or just as sheer and nothing that needed to be pried off my body with tools.
Simple really.
Jeans and tshirts.
He was inside only a few minutes before the sky started to darken.
“Oh shit! This is getting sooooo old! Don’t you know another trick!” I screamed toward the sky.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, I leaned forward to watch the sky through the windshield, watching the clouds move in from a distance. I prayed it was just a natural occurrence. A normal summer storm.
As the clouds thickened and started to roil overhead I lost that hope completely. I
dialed Damian’s cell but he didn’t answer. I tried his house. Peter didn’t pick up either.
“Damn!” Looking down at my vastly underdressed self, I was filled with the horrified realization that I’d have to go looking for him.
I sighed, pushed the door open and stepped out into a building wind. Just what my little outfit needed.
Wind.
I tried to hold the little flippy skirt down over my butt as I bent forward into the wind and pushed toward the mall, dodging flying debris as I went.
I dodged to one side to avoid a flying plastic bottle, only to get hit in the face with an airborne plastic bag.
I peeled the bag off my face and gasped.
Megan Megara stood before me, arms akimbo, Olympus-style gown fluttering around her slim ankles and her beautiful red-gold hair flying around her face like a silken halo.
“Hello, Athena.”
I reached into my purse and clutched my only weapon, allowing the purse to drop away from my hand. “What do you want, Medusa?”
She smiled. “I want my sister. You know that, Athena.”
Nodding, I decided a little misdirection was in order. Hopefully Peter and Simone could hold her off until we got there. “Damian’s keeping her in his basement.”
She smiled again. “Is he? How convenient for him!”
I took a step backward. Her beautiful face had morphed for the merest beat of time and I’d caught a glimpse of the real Medusa under the pretty shell. At a loss for how to deal with her reaction, I decided I’d just keep her talking as long as I could.
“I heard her down there. She’s not happy of course but he’s treating her well, Medusa. He’s feeding her good food and keeping her safe.”
The beautiful woman before me threw back her head and laughed, the throaty sound of it morphing into a roll of thunder across the sky.
Lightning flashed and the parking lot beside me exploded, sending large chunks of black asphalt flying toward me. I threw myself behind the nearest car.
Okay, so much for keeping her talking.
“He killed Euryale. So you will die.”
Hooboy. Wait until she found out about Stheno. I fingered an arrow into my tiny Cupid’s bow and concentrated on pulling power into my hands, growing it.
The car I was hiding behind suddenly flew into the sky and blew over my head, landing on another car several rows away with a resounding screech of metal and shattering of glass.
I stood up to face the angry monster with my loaded bow. “I don’t want to kill you, Medusa. Leave now and I won’t have to.”
She laughed again and thunder rolled across my senses, making them vibrate with tension. In the blink of an eye she was a gorgon and I was looking into her eyes. I cried out and turned my head, my finger releasing the arrow as my legs buckled and I dropped toward the ground.
“Medusa!”
It was Damian’s voice, booming above the thunder and wind.
I fought against the claiming of my body by Medusa’s horrible magic. Before my eyes I watched my feet start turning to stone. And then my calves…and my knees…
“Damian!” The cry tore from my throat before I could stop it. I hadn’t wanted to distract him from the lethal battle I heard him fighting nearby. But fear enveloped me as the inexorable creep of stone moved up my torso, toward my heart and lungs.
I sobbed and waited for the inevitable. My lungs struggled to breathe and then stopped. My heart beat frantically in my chest, trying to outrun the horror that was coming its way and then just stopped, encased in stone.
I gulped, my eyes widening just before I succumbed to death.
A shadow passed over my eyes and something warm and wet touched my lips.
I felt it trickle slowly down my throat.
The sky above was light. Filled with the music of the gods. I reached for the light, craving its soft warmth as respite from the cold, hard stone that claimed my Earthbound body.
I smiled as the light touched my finger, reached farther to grasp more of it and then cried out as the light flew away, retreating from me as if swept away by something much stronger.
Damian’s face filled my vision, replacing the light. I blinked and moved my lips, tasting flowers and love in the thick substance coating them.
“Athena.” He pulled me off the parking lot and into his arms. I lay limply against him as he carried me to his car. “We need to get back to the house. Peter can’t hold her off on his own.”
I lay against the car seat, half dazed as he flew from the parking lot and up the mountain, where I could already see the sky darkening in the vicinity of his magicked house.
Energy slowly seeped back into my muscles until I was able to sit up. “What did you give me?”
He glanced my way and smiled. Grabbing my hand off my lap, he pulled it to his lips. “Gorgon blood. It’s the only thing that can reverse the magic once you start turning to stone.” A shadow passed over his face and he shook his head. “Another second and I’d have been too late.” Then he squeezed my hand and smiled. “You pierced her wing with your arrow. It’s the only reason she ran instead of staying to fight.”
I shuddered, remembering all too clearly how it had felt to slowly harden and die. “What will you do?”
He took the final turn to the house on two wheels, the tires shrieking as they fought to hold on to the rain-slicked asphalt. “Together, Peter and I should be able to restrain her.”
I frowned. “Should be able to restrain her? Haven’t you done this before?”
“She’s stronger now. She fed off Euryale when I killed her.”
I grimaced. “Eew!”
He jerked the wheel hard and threw on the brakes. The little car spun in the gravel before the house and slid to a stop in a shower of small white stones. Damian threw the car door open and ran around to grab my hand as I climbed out.
He pulled me into the house, calling out to Peter as he ran.
We went all the way through the house and through the open patio door in the kitchen. The backyard was a war zone.
Broken trees and bits of metal and glass littered the area.
A small pool of blood was puddled in front of the door.
Damian stepped over it, let go of my hand and ran across the patio, leaping the rock wall before I could even get outside.
I picked my way carefully across the glass, cursing the stupid, spike-heeled shoes I’d borrowed from Simone and stepped carefully onto the rock wall. Peter was locked in combat with Medusa on the roiling, rock-strewn beach.
His sword was covered in blood and he’d managed to get his chain around one of her thick wrists but her wings thrummed hard against the air and he was in danger of being pulled off his feet and carried out over the ocean.
Damian ran headlong toward the pair, his sword and chain appearing in his hands as he flew at an impossible speed across the sand.
Something bright and fluttery descended on Medusa from above and the gorgon shrieked as several of her nasty snakes were ripped from her head.
Simone was barely recognizable in her full succubus form. She was vibrantly purple, with a long tail that whipped with the intensity of her mood and butterfly-shaped wings that allowed her to flit briskly around over the thrashing gorgon, making her very hard to nail down.
Her wings looked delicate beside Medusa’s but I knew from personal experience not to underestimate the succubus.
I felt helpless and stupid standing there while they fought the monster. I still had my bow. I remembered seeing it in the backseat of the car as we drove up the mountain. Damian must have flung it into the car before we left.
I turned and made my way as quickly as I could back into the house.
As I entered I was surprised to a stop by the shrieking and pounding coming from the basement.
Snuggles.
I glanced toward the basement door and saw that it was unlocked and partially ajar. Peter must have been going to get her when Medusa struck.
Realizing that the H
arpy could be an excellent ally for the three demons fighting Medusa outside, I hesitated only a second.
Kicking off Simone’s stupid, spike-heeled shoes I ran to the stairs and down, into a dank cave of a room that smelled of mold and rotted food and what could only be Harpy poop.
Ish!
The thought crossed my mind that I might have to reassess the level of care Damian had been providing his “pet”. Looking around, however, I realized the room was basically clean. But the cage where Snuggles was kept was strewn with food and much worse things.
It appeared the Harpy had been having herself a little temper tantrum.
The room was large, unfinished and held very little aside from the Harpy’s enormous cage.
One wall was open, with a small door and a large picture window that looked out on the ocean beyond.
What I saw out there made my heart nearly stop. Damian was on his knees in the sand, his sword arm still up but now coated red with blood.
Peter still fought on but he staggered and nearly fell every time he moved.
Simone had disappeared.
I turned back to the Harpy. Her violet eyes glowed as I approached. She wrapped her clawed hands around the bars of her cage and hissed at me, showing me several rows of gore-covered, razor-sharp teeth.
I almost passed out from the stench. “Oh my gods, girl. Get a giant mint!”
Covering my nose with an arm, I slammed a palm against the bars, hoping to scare her back so I could get the door open before she was on me.
She just stood there, her deadly claws mere inches from the padlock. She was well within skin-ripping distance when I grabbed the lock and yanked on it, hoping by some miracle it would be unlocked.
I was shaking so hard my teeth were clacking together.
The Harpy seemed well aware of my fear.
I’m sure she could smell it. If she didn’t already recognize it in the sound of my knees knocking together.
First things first.
I needed the key.
I looked around the basement for an obvious place Damian would keep a key. There were no handy hooks on the wall with keys dangling from them. No tables with keys lying helpfully on their surface. No blinking signs announcing their location.
