The voice that jerked Liam out of his poised stance was deep and male and bass. It rumbled through the room like an avalanche and caused Liam to swing his head around. There, he saw the difference between someone who was merely odd and someone who was a god. For the man who stood before him was certainly a god.
He was easily seven feet tall, with shoulders broad and muscular enough to put the most exaggerated 1980s action star to shame. His skin was lurid green and yellow. Actually, on second impression it wasn't skin at all; it was a beaded, pebbly mass of scales. They flowed smoothly along his muscles, accentuating every line and straining slightly when Liam's eyes traveled from the shoulders to the belly. Despite being amazingly strong, the scaled man was definitely going pudgy – his belly loomed outwards. But it didn't ruin the masculine figure that he cut. Instead, it simply slipped him closer to the bear end of the twink-bear scale.
Where his body was exotic, his head was downright terrifying. It was a long, snouted crocodile's head with yellow eyes that flared and glowed and regarded Liam with bemusement.
And in that instant, Liam found his faith restored and fortified.
Being face to face with an ancient Egyptian god left him a touch uncertain as to the place of Jesus and the Holy Ghost and the Father but the Bible had never said there were no other gods. If one read closely, it said that no god would be put before Jehovah. So, yes, Liam was willing to admit that there were other deities walking around. But he also knew that if God - the God, the God he worshiped - stood before him...he knew that it would be different.
For one thing, he was sure God wouldn't appear before one of his faithful wearing nothing but a loincloth. A loincloth that was already starting to tent with obvious arousal.
“No, sir,” Star-Eye said, her voice cheeky. “In fact, there is room for one-nnhh!”
Her voice trailed off into a grunt as Liam resumed his thrust. His balls slapped her ass and he sighed as he focused on the tightness of her sex around his member. He grabbed her by one knee, spread her wider, and then started to thrust into her, getting into the rhythm. Then, looking back at the God, Liam tried to sound casual as he said: “Thank you for taking care of us, honorable Sobek.”
“Honorable?” Sobek – for that was who this God had to be – asked, his eyes glinting. He stepped forward and suddenly held a cigar in his hand. The wrapped, brown object hadn't existed between steps, and Liam had been looking at those hands. One moment, it had been there. Another moment – without a glow, without a flash of light, without a change in perspective – it was there. Sobek tucked it into his muzzle and lit it with a flash of flame that burst from one thumb.
“If you want honorable, kid, you should talk to another god.”
Liam shrugged, slowing in his thrusting as he closed his eyes. He tried to control his breath as he said: “Fair enough. Should I, ah, call you All Around Bastard Sobek, then?”
Can't let him think you're in awe, Liam thought. Got to negotiate from a position of strength. Fuck, she's tight.
Star-Eye mewed and thrust her hips back against him. “He prefers, ah, fuck, just Sobek!”
“Just Sobek? Bit on the nose, huh?” Liam asked, grinning, though really the grin was just a clench of his jaw to keep from shooting off his load right then and there.
Sobek laughed. It was, on reflection, a good laugh – deep and filled with a sense of self-amusement. He spread his arms wide and bowed his head. “All right kid. You've impressed me. I figured the first Christian I saw in seventeen centuries would shit himself and give up his Slave God on seeing me. Course, I never expected to find a Christian balls deep in one of my on-loan priests.”
“Ahhhh gods!” Star-Eye screamed. Her back arched, her breasts almost bumping against her chin as she curved herself into a perfect, inverted U, her claws digging into the bed. Her sex clenched onto Liam's cock with the tightness of a fist and despite all his attempts to remain calm and collected, Liam felt the burst of an orgasm rush through him. His balls tightened and he thrust deep into her. He felt seed burst inside of her, and he thrust once, twice more, trying to drill his cum into her.
The two of them panted and Liam ducked his head forward, letting himself soften inside of Star-Eye.
“I'm not your standard Christian,” Liam said, wiping his palm along his brow. He slid out of the priestess, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “Thank you, Star-Eye. Was that good for you?”
“Oh wow, your lover is a lucky woman,” she said, her eyes dazed.
Sobek puffed on his cigar, filling the air with thick, aromatic scents. He tapped on the edge, ashes dropping to the limestone floor. “I see you're not. Here.” He held out his other hand and Liam's crucifix dangled from one finger. Liam looked at the golden symbol and smiled. He took it from the god's hand and nodded to him.
“Thanks, Sobek,” he said, honestly.
“I wasn't sure if I'd give it back,” Sobek said. “But you've got spunk.”
“Damn straight,” Star-Eye purred – literally and figuratively – reaching down and spreading her pussy lips with her fingers. Sobek grinned and Liam paled. Those teeth looked sharp. Reaching down, the god flipped his loincloth aside and revealed that his cock wasn't internal, as Liam expected a reptile's would be. It was still clearly inhuman: red, ridged, coming to a narrow, tapering point. He sat down on the bed and picked Star-Eye up with both hands, his cigar stuck into his muzzle. He rested his chin on her shoulder and Star-Eye spread her thighs eagerly, looking…
Liam wasn't sure.
The look on her face seemed to be an even mixture – one part veneration, one part excitement, one part nerves. Then Sobek plunged into her, his immense cock spreading her lips and filling her to the brim. Liam's cum dripped around his shaft and slipped along his green scaled balls as Sobek started to casually fuck the priestess harder - and, from the way that she started to moan and howl in pleasure, better - than Liam ever could.
Sobek clamped a single scaled palm over Star-Eye's mouth, muffling her as he spoke calmly to Liam: “I need people like you.”
Liam watched the scene, not sure if he was turned on or deeply embarrassed or really scared.
“I hope you weren't set on that – I like girls,” Liam said, holding up his hands.
“Not like that,” Sobek said, laughing and tugging his cigar out of his mouth with one hand. He blew a stream of smoke out as Star-Eye's eyes rolled back into her head, her entire body almost going limp. Her breasts were bouncing in perfect, delicious circles with every thrust, her nipples hard enough to cut glass. “You, a stranger to this world, with no armor and no knowledge of anything managed to assist a messenger through a detachment of hoplites and get them here – with a demigod of Aries in tow.”
“She's alive?” Liam asked, blinking in shock. “I'd have thought-”
“Demigods are tough, kid,” Sobek said, his scaled balls slapping against the catgirl's belly. “And we have good healing mages. She's in jail getting the standard options that most prisoners get: slavery, or death. Not like Aries is going to pay for a ransom.”
Liam's eyes widened. He remembered Tethis, screaming as her shift was ripped asunder, remembered the brutal satisfaction at sliding his sword through a would be rapist's throat. Liv had tried to butcher him and Meg and Tethis, she had led her men in a relentless hunt to try and prolong a war that no one but Aries wanted. But he still couldn't stomach the idea of her being sold to someone who would abuse her.
“Can I have her?” he asked. Then, quickly, he added: “I mean, as a reward for completing my first mission for you?”
“Cheeky.” Sobek paused in both his fucking and his conversation. He nodded. “Fine.”
Liam breathed out a sigh of relief.
Then he realized he had just gotten a slave girl.
Crap.
“Now!” Sobek thrust again and grunted. His balls tightened and Liam saw cum swelling inside of Star-Eye's belly. He wondered how much a god could cum. Was there even a limit? Star-Eye's eyes closed and
***
“Liam!”
Meg almost tackled Liam to the ground, hugging him tightly. Liam laughed and squeezed her back – then blurted out: “I had sex with—”
“Oh good!” Meg cut him off, unwrapping her legs from his hips and hopping backwards, her wings flared wide. “I was worried you would make a liar of me. Did she cum as many times as I did?”
The inside of the room that Megara and Tethis were both roomed in definitely had more signs of Tethis' personality than Meg's. The stone tables that dominated the center of the room were covered with papyrus scrolls, and there were three copper bottles filled with ink, as well as a broad, flat knife that could be used to sharpen quills. Tethis stood from her table and ran over to eagerly hug Liam's side as well.
Sobek, standing at the door, coughed. He looked slightly offended that Liam had drawn more attention than him.
Liam, personally, was still trying to get used to the clothing that he was wearing. Rather than jeans and T-shirt, he was dressed in a white linen kilt that wrapped around his hips, leaving his back and shoulders bare. Since this finally left him feeling cool and comfortable in Purgatory's temperature, he wasn't complaining. Though his back did constantly seem to be itching.
“She came more with Sobek,” Liam said, jerking his thumb back to the god. “My iPod?”
“Yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking,” Meg said, pursing her lips, her nose scrunching up. “Your iPod is also fine. You broke its fall with your body. Good choice!”
“My—” Liam blinked.
“You don't think those cuts on your palms were what knocked you out for a day and a half?” Meg asked. She looked at Tethis, then at Sobek. “No one told him?”
Sobek frowned. “I think that Bastet's priestess might have been, ahem, distracted. What is this eye-pod?”
“Something that will change the world,” Meg said, her voice fervent. She turned and walked over to the pile of papyrus. Some digging produced Liam's fannypack. She held it out to him with a smile. Liam took it and noticed the bloodstains.
“Okay, what fall?” Liam asked.
Tethis looked embarrassed. Her ears flattened back against her head. “Welllllll, the targeting was close. But something about you caused it to drift. Fortunately, it drifted upwards, not down.”
“How far up?” Liam asked, feeling like he was currently drifting downwards. His stomach was in his throat.
“About thirty cubits,” Tethis said.
Liam took a few moments to remember how high a cubit was. He held his arm out, looking at his elbow, then furrowed his brow. “Well, damn.”
“You do owe me for the healing,” Sobek said. “It isn't cheap, and Bastet is the queen of finding the most painful places to extract favors from. There's also the simple fact that you've seriously pissed off Aries. You're not going to survive long in this world without a patron.”
“And you said you needed someone with spunk,” Liam said, wiggling his fingers. He tried to picture what a fall from that height would have done to him. Then he tried to put it out of his mind a moment later – the mental image was making his stomach roil. “But why?”
Sobek stepped past the group of them, coming to the window in the small office. The window – like all the windows in the building – was tall and narrow, and gave a commanding view of the city beyond. Liam stepped over to look past the god. The city of Faiyum Falls, now that Liam wasn't distracted by a gorgeous cat-girl, was as fascinating and as beautiful as he might have hoped. Jungle plants had been carefully placed to provide shaded areas for people walking the streets, while the buildings weren't simply white – the roofs were, and the sidewalks between them were, but the sides had been covered in gorgeous murals. They weren't as simplistic as the murals of ancient Egypt, and they were freshly painted and vibrant. He saw images of shirtless women and men tilling fields, images of crocodiles, images of what he thought might be the afterlife.
It made him think of Ancient Egypt, if they had birthed Michelangelo and Da Vinci and other Renaissance era thinkers who could come up with ideas like 'perspective' and 'realism' for their artwork.
“A storm is brewing out there, in Purgatory,” Sobek said. “This war between New Athens and Faiyum is only one of the thunder-booms. A warning, a timing count until the lightning hits.” His muzzle twisted into a very human frown. It was the kind of expression that Liam had seen before, from afar, on candid shots of presidents and prime ministers facing terror attacks and economic crisis. Seeing it on a god made him feel very odd. Like he was spying at someone changing clothes – peering in at something private.
Sobek turned so he was leaning against the windowsill, crossing his muscular arms across his chest. “Thor is mobilizing troops on the far side of Purgatory. Brigid of the Tuatha has closed down her library to all but those who offer tithes. Athena's upped her spying in my cities and the cities of Toth and Anubis.” He shook his head. “Other minor actions which, on their own, would be nothing more than the standard maneuvering. But all of them at the same time?” He tapped the back of his neck. “It is making my scales stand on their end.”
Megara stepped forward, her wings closing behind her back. “As a Messenger of Apollo, I have the authority to say that, well, Apollo has been growing concerned as well. But he isn't sure what to do about it, beyond ready his own resources.”
Sobek chuckled. “Interesting. Still, you can see why in such times, I'd need an agent like you, Liam.”
Liam frowned. “I'm afraid I don't,” he said. “I mean, agent? Like a spy? My primary skill is using a longsword and being from a world that – no offense – is about three thousand years more advanced than yours in terms of metallurgy and other associated, um, sciences. But I'm thinking that might have more to do with your resources than your, um, intelligence. I mean, I don't think you're dumb!” Liam held up his hands.
Sobek laughed.
“Don't worry,” he said. “We were banished in an era of iron – there isn't any in Purgatory. The closest we've come are crystal-wrights and their magics. But that's a story for another time.” He brought his hand chopping down into his palm, frowning intently as he looked into Liam's eyes. “Do you know what I am the god of, Liam Vanderbilt?”
Liam shook his head.
“I am the god of ameliorated evil,” Sobek said. “I get things done and I prevent evil from growing out of control. Every world needs a bit of evil – some people need killing. You understand that, don't you?” He grinned, toothily. “And so, I am very used to using the tools I am given. In this world, no god really trusts another – but you still have faith to your Christian God. You bear his symbol and you take his name and he, well, protects you. Does he not?” Sobek reached out, tapping the crucifix. “Not many people can live long enough for a healing after being dropped thirty cubits.”
Liam gulped and nodded.
“This means you are unique in the world. For your knowledge. Your sword. And your neutrality. Even if you are sent under my protections, other gods will know that you do not truly serve me.”
Liam frowned slightly. It did make a kind of sense to him.
“Now,” Sobek said, rubbing his hands together. “You would not go alone. You are a stranger and merely one man. And while you may seem to be neutral, gods are a troublesome and suspicious bunch. I'd suggest bringing a bodyguard, an aide de camp, maybe a body-slave or two.”
“Uh, I—” Liam trailed off. He could practically feel Meg's grin. Turning to face her, he saw that she had her hands on her hips and was spreading her wings ever so slightly, her chin lifted. She was standing like a proud, conquering warrior. Liam frowned at her. “Let me guess. You want to be my bodyguard.”
“Give me a sword and a few javelins,” Meg said, spreading her hands. “And you will never draw your magical sword again.”
Liam snorted. “It's not magic. It's just steel.”
“Any sufficiently advanced form of artistry is indistinguishable from magic,” Meg said, taking on the tone of a philosophical debate. Liam opened his mouth, then closed it.
“Great minds think alike,” he said under his breath.
“I can be your aide-de-camp!” Tethis said, nodding eagerly. “I can write in hieroglyphics, Latin, Greek, Norse runes, Ogham-” she stopped herself from listing every single language. Liam laughed.
“And we've got a, ah, body-slave in the form of Liv,” he said. “Why do I need a body slave?”
“No nobleman and half the gods won't respect an envoy if they do all the scut work with their own hands,” Sobek said. “Status and how you show your wealth off matter, Liam.”
Liam nodded again. He was starting to feel like a bobblehead.
“Very well,” he said, holding his hand out to Sobek. “I'll take the job.”
“And as payment, I will begin searching for a way to get you home,” Sobek said. “Megara said you came from Earth – that the Via Box that banished us here was the tool that sent you home. We've never found a way, but I promise that I will make every effort.”
Liam smiled, faintly. “Thanks.”
***
Meg thumped backwards into the bed, panting as she lay beside Liam. Liam himself was still trying to catch his breath as he slid his hands behind his neck, his eyes half closed as he let the pleasure tingle through his body.
“That,” Meg said, “Was nice. How did you know olive oil would—” she stopped. “You know?”
Liam grinned. “Secrets.”
Meg snorted, slapping his chest with one hand before rolling onto her side. She sprawled half on him, half off, her wings folding to make a secondary wrap around Liam. He loved the feel of her feathers almost as much as the rest of her body – smooth and warm and downy. His fingers started to comb through them – he had learned the trick of teasing dirt and grit from them and flick it away. He half-remembered birds doing that with their beaks (or maybe it had been gryphons in some fantasy novel he had read) and from the way Meg groaned – low and deep in her throat – it was something she appreciated.
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