by Sumida, Amy
Odin must have sensed something had changed because he pulled back and stared hard at me. His hand came to my face, slid down my neck, and then, very slowly, it crested my breast. I waited passively, looking up at him expectantly but without concern. He sucked in his breath and squeezed me gently, rubbing my nipple with his palm.
I inhaled sharply. Pleasure. I felt pleasure and I wanted more. My emotions were gone, my heart cold and soulless, but this I could feel and I needed it to bring me back. His touch brought something to life, something tingly and warm. I wanted that warmth so badly. So I let his hand push the lace of my bra down and watched as his mouth covered me. The heat of his tongue swirling around me made me arch up and cry for more.
“Odin,” I held him too me. “More, quickly, give me more.”
He growled low in his throat and a tingle danced through the air, magic surrounding us and flinging our clothes away. I was so cold but he was on fire, his magic stroking me where his hands couldn’t reach. It was working, the numbness was falling back, and I writhed in need.
“Vervain,” he raised his face, his body straining with the effort to control himself. “Tell me to stop. Say it now and I will, but it must be now!”
“Don’t stop, raven,” I pulled his face to mine and kissed him with all the passion I’d been denying. His close-cropped beard stroked my face softly but his lips were rough on mine. “Fill me up and make me feel again.”
“I love you,” his kisses outlined my face. “I will always love you.”
“Then show me,” I cried desperately. “Show me now!”
He entered me swiftly, inhaling sharply as his heat battled my chill, but he didn’t stop. He slammed into me till our hips met and he could go no further. His passionate cry surrounded me as he filled me and I clung to him, rubbing myself against him, seeking heat and pleasure with mindless abandon.
His lips descended to mine again as he started to pump furiously in and out of me, driving his hips against mine like a punishment for all the years he’d been denied. I wrapped my legs around him, my hands sliding over his huge, muscled body, trying to touch every part of him, needing his love, hoping it would bring back some spark of emotion in my own heart.
Nothing. My heart remained empty even as he filled my body, his magic stroking every inch of my skin, feeling like lips and tongues, strong fingers and silky hair. He loved every inch of me all at once, stroked desire over my entire body, but couldn’t touch my heart. I should have cried or screamed but even that was gone, all that remained was sensation. So I lifted my hips to meet his and chased the sweet rush of delight.
Odin sat back, pulling me up with him, so I straddled his lap. The motion pushed him even deeper and I welcomed him with a hoarse cry. His magic lifted me and plunged me back down onto him, over and over, while invisible tongues licked at my skin. My eyes closed of their own volition, my head fell back, and my hands reached into his hair to steady myself. I needed to feel the center of the storm, to know there was still solid ground somewhere.
Then I let go.
Tongues licked up my spine, hands kneaded my flesh, and as I approached my that sweet, screaming moment, a magical mouth covered my most sensitive flesh and sucked it wetly, sending me shooting into orgasm. My legs clenched around him and I screamed as he roared and reared up into me, shaking until he was spent and then laying us both down carefully.
“Vervain, I love you. Thank you for this.” Odin’s arm was across me but his heat was leaving me quickly and the cold was rapidly conquering me again.
“I have to go now,” I sat up and he blinked up at me.
“Please don’t regret what just happened,” he reached for me but I backed away, gathering my clothes and slipping into them efficiently.
“I don’t,” my voice was empty, as numb as my body.
Come to me, Anubis whispered in my head. I’ll make it stop. I’ll make you warm again. I’m the only one who can help you. You know that now, don't you?
“Yes,” I whispered and turned away from Odin’s stricken face.
“Vervain,” he scooted off the bed and jumped into his pants but I was already out the door.
Hurry, Anubis urged me on and I flew down the stairs and through the great hall. I was in the tracing room in no time. This spell will bring you to me: Seśep-à em-bah Neb-ta-Djeser.
I repeated the words tonelessly just as Odin stumbled into the tracing room.
“Hetep-k nà per ba-ă,” I repeated the end of the tracing chant while Odin screamed and the room faded away.
Chapter Twelve
Anubis stood before me, in a room made entirely of black onyx. He smiled and opened his arms, practically glowing against all that black. I went to him, my mind clouded and my body numb, like a zombie to its master. With his touch my skin flared to life, fire blazing through my limbs.
I sucked in a deep breath as he drove the ice away and thawed my heart. My soul immediately flowed in and filled the hollow place inside me, making me real again. My Nahual roared as she raced back into me, her cry echoing through me, and I shook with happiness at being reunited with her. It was like surfacing from a wintry ocean and finding yourself on a sunny beach. I felt reborn.
I started to tremble as I looked up at Anubis, reality finally sinking in as the cold faded completely. His eyes swirled with colors and then his lips covered mine. I wanted to pull back but I couldn’t, his fire filled me, controlling me with a magic stronger than any I’d ever felt. My arms lifted as if pulled by strings and my hands slid around his thick shoulders.
When his tongue touched mine, my body tensed, wanting to pull away, knowing I’d made a horrible mistake but unable to block my passionate response. Images of making love to Odin filled my head and I silently screamed, filled with remorse for hurting him and betraying Trevor. I wanted to die, to just let the flames of Anubis consume me and end my pain.
“No,” he pulled away and his lips twisted. “Your suffering has only just begun.”
I felt cool metal slide around my neck and looked down to see a thick gold collar in the shape of a jackal’s head. It’s pointed ears went back along my throat, to connect at my nape. An ominous click echoed in the chamber and Anubis laughed at the horror he must have seen on my face. My stomach clenched and I wanted to throw up but even that, he controlled.
He stepped back, pulling on a gold chain attached to the collar, and I stumbled forward. Two gold cuffs appeared in his hands, and his face settled into the haughty lines of a conqueror. He fastened them about each of my wrists, then another two went on my ankles. They were thick and heavy, each with a loop that gave them the unsettling appearance of expensive shackles.
“There,” he nodded, “now you’re completely mine. Follow me, Miw-sher, my kitten.”
Terror filled my defrosted heart as my body followed his dictates without asking me for permission. We exited the room and passed through a long chamber. Stone walls adorned with beautiful frescoes, pillars crowned with lotus blossoms, a raised dais with a throne, and a table with a golden scale, all blurred through my vision. I took it in but couldn’t process it, couldn’t grasp where I really was. I was too busy trying to regain control of my body.
Anubis kept walking, not even glancing back at me until we were through the room and in a corridor. Doors dotted the walls here and there but other than that, it was just a long, empty stone passage, leading to a very final looking doorway. It was the only door actually open and it seemed to be waiting for us, for me. Stepping through it was like walking into the jaws of, well… Jaws.
The room we entered was lavish and immense. Thick Persian rugs carpeted the floor, gilded walls glowed softly in the light of numerous candles, and a Pharaoh sized bed dominated one wall, with four lotus-topped pillars serving for posters. White gauze stamped with gold jackals hung from the pillars, partially concealing the aggressive expanse of mattress. I eyed it warily as he led me past, to a door in the back wall, and gave me a little push into a bathroom.
“G
et cleaned up,” he looked over my rumpled dress and then tore it away easily. I gasped but was unable to cover myself, my arms limp and useless at my sides. “I can smell him all over you.” He threw the chain down and slammed the door in my face.
I stared at the pool of metal at my feet and felt like I’d fallen through the looking glass. This couldn’t be happening. I was in some twisted version of reality. I would never have betrayed Trevor in the world where things made proper sense. I would never have willingly gone to Anubis. My body started to shake again and I would have crumpled to the floor but his magic kept me standing.
“Wash yourself now,” Anubis’ voice came through the door. “Or I will come in there and do it for you.”
I inhaled a shaking, tear-filled breath and looked around. There was a large cream colored tub with a gold, lotus-shaped showerhead and sheer curtains, along one wall. I went over and turned on the water, easing out of my underwear and into the spray as if in a trance. What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I break free?
I scrubbed thoroughly, crying a little when the proof of Odin’s lovemaking washed away and cringing when the sound of my tears was emphasized by the clinking of the metal chains against the porcelain tub.
When I emerged from the steam, I found a gauzy, white, strapless dress waiting on the counter. I dried off vigorously before I slid it on and looked up at my pale reflection in the mirror. The dress came with a belt, thick gold plates coming to a point between my breasts. It emphasized both my waist and my cleavage, stunning really, but as it was, it only added to the surreal quality of the situation.
The door opened and Anubis walked in, calmly picked up the trailing chain, and led me out. We stopped in the center of the room and I had time to notice the other furnishings, a dining set in dark wood, a wide stone cabinet, and a long mirror. Then he was circling me, a soft smile on his lips, his hands stroking me as he went. My heart was a jackhammer in my chest.
“It suits you. Now,” he moved to the edge of the bed, pulling me with him, then undid his pants and sat down. I tried not to look at the length of hard flesh rising up between his legs but it demanded attention… as did he. “Kneel,” I felt my legs give out and I fell to my knees in front of him, catching myself with my palms on his thighs. “This is your first lesson in pleasing me, Miw-sher.” His hand came out and slipped around my head, pulling my face down till I was inches away from him. I clenched my jaw and shut my eyes. “Open your mouth and taste me.”
“No,” I grit out and his other hand came up so that he was completely encircling my face.
“Spread those beautiful lips and worship me,” he whispered, his voice sneaking into my head and urging me down.
“No, damn you,” my body actually let me pull back a fraction of an inch.
He made a surprised little sound and lifted my face to his. “Look at me.”
My eyes flew open and his started to swirl with beautiful colors. I felt suddenly at ease, everything gone but the need to pleasure the god before me. I spread my hands over his thighs and felt them tighten. A little thrill filled me at his response and I automatically sought more.
Bending my head, I ran my face against his length, delighting in the heated silk of him against my cheek. His hands clenched in my hair and his breath started to come faster. I shifted my hands down, trailing my nails, and brought them up under the heavy sacs between his legs. They shifted in my grip and I heard him groan as I flicked my tongue over them.
I kneaded them lightly with one hand as the other went up to hold him steady, ready for my descending mouth. I sucked him in and he cried out fiercely, shaking beneath and inside me. I gloried in it, licked him in further and pulled back, scraping lightly with my teeth.
“Miw-sher,” he groaned. “You have magic in your lips. Don’t stop your sorcery.”
I swirled my tongue over him, rubbing him with my hand and squeezing him below as I continued. The rich taste of him filled my mouth as his scent filled my nose and I moaned, eliciting a similar sound from him. My breath came faster, matching his excitement and the speed of my hands, until he cried out, shaking violently and gripping my shoulders as he came into me. I drank him down, giving him one last lick before sitting back to stare up at him.
He’d fallen back onto the bed but he slowly sat up and looked at me with a slack mouth and wide eyes, his long, black hair falling into his face. In a second, the look was gone, blinked away by cold determination, and I found the spell lifted, my sanity returned and with it, a depth of shame I thought I’d never recover from. My face flushed and I looked away from his spent sex, denying myself the urge to cry. Or throw up.
“Go ahead,” he whispered. “Your tears would please me almost as much as your mouth just did.”
I shot to my feet, wanting to tear into him, to cut that cocky grin off his face, but he pulled me back down into his lap and my limbs went limp. As I fumed in impotent rage, he laughed and fondled me from breast to core. I moaned and shook in a new battle to deny his mastery of my body.
“I’m not just the God of Death,” he licked the hollow of my throat and I shivered. “I’m the God of Mummification. I know every inch of the human body, all the places to bring pain,” he nipped at my skin, “or pleasure,” he began to rub me and in seconds I was wet. “They are the same, you know,” he lifted his head to look at me, “the painful places and the pleasurable ones. I can give you either or both, and I will.”
He laid me back on the bed and pushed up my dress. With a swift twist he tore my panties off and tossed them aside. I felt a couple of angry welts rise up on my hips from his rough treatment but I knew the sting was nothing compared to what he was about to do. I looked down as he spread my legs wide, the white of my dress framing my nudity like fine art. My whole body trembled as he ran his hands over me, pulling my dress down to reveal my breasts before returning to my center. His finger glided across my sensitive skin and he smiled, smug and sensuous.
I closed my eyes but it seemed to make it worse, so I quickly opened them just as he bent his head to lap at me like a dog. He flicked his hot tongue over me and then twirled it around that most pleasurable spot. Watching him was hypnotizing, the swirl of his tongue, the sensuality of his mouth, the dark possession of his eyes on me. My hands went to his hair, sliding through its silken weight and pausing at the cold touch of the gold beads. I was fast approaching oblivion, when he stopped and lifted his head.
“No,” I gasped. “Please.”
He flung my skirts down casually and stood to lift up his pants. His eyes skimmed over me and again I saw them fill with passion for a moment before it was controlled. He took my hand and roughly yanked me to my feet.
“You will remain unsatisfied until it pleases me to see your release.”
I shook from unfulfilled desire, shame, and a good dose of anger. I was going to kill him slowly when I got out of this mess.
“You son of a bitch,” I slapped him, glorying in the control of my body the anger had granted me, before he once again took over.
He stared at me in shock, the side of his face turning red with my handprint.
“You’re stronger than I thought, little Miw-sher,” he lifted his hand and touched the mark on his cheek, “All the more fun to break.”
He turned and headed out of the room, a firm hand on the chain, to pull me along as I pulled up my dress to cover myself.
We went back into the room with the frescoes and down a hallway to the right. I followed woodenly, feeling like my heart was shattered. My wolf and lioness were curled up inside me, mourning and afraid. I didn't sense my jaguar at all, she seemed to have sunk back into me. I reached for my lioness and wolf but they shrank back and I couldn’t blame them. I was disgusted with myself too. In one single day, I’d betrayed Trevor twice and just the very fact that I was more concerned with that than my apparent captivity, shows exactly how much the betrayal cut me.
Anubis knew me well. He’d taken the time after all, to find out what made me tick. I t
hought over all of our conversations, all his questions, and I knew then what he’d been doing… research. He’d been figuring out the best way to hurt me. Add feeling like an idiot to my list of tragedies on the most horrible day of my life.
The room we entered was an intimate dining room. Black shiny dining set, red walls, and basalt Egyptian statues decorated the obsidian floored room. The elegant décor wasn’t what made me stop short though, it was the guests.
Sitting at the table with smug faces were Demeter and Ares, side by side. My mouth dropped, my skin running hot and cold as my humiliation skyrocketed. Anubis gave a little yank on the chain and it was all I could do to lift my chin and glide into the room with as much dignity as possible. Anubis shot me an almost impressed look as he sat at the head of the table.
The chairs on either side of him were taken, not by Demeter or Ares thankfully, but by a stunning Egyptian woman with white hair to the right, next to me, and a thin Egyptian man on Anubis' left. I distractedly wondered where Anubis was going to have me sit, there were three open chairs at the other end of the table.
Another yank on the chain caught my attention. I looked down at Anubis with a raised brow, enjoying my momentary height.
“Sit,” his face was cold and regal.
“Sit where?” I yanked the chain away from him.
He looked startled a moment before he shot to his feet, grabbed the chain back, and pushed me down by the shoulder. “I said sit.”
“I’m not the bitch in the room,” I growled as I sat cross-legged, back stiff and hands calmly in my lap. The stone floor was cold but I’d be damned if I showed it. They could treat me like a dog but I knew who I was and I wouldn’t let them make me feel like anything other than Rouva, Tima, and Godhunter.
Demeter gasped but the elegant woman next to me actually stifled a laugh. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and saw her secret smile. She was absolutely stunning, her hair shone with the luster of pearls, setting off her dark skin and eyes brilliantly. She was delicately thin, with the barest hint of breasts, exactly the type of body I used to envy, and her every movement was full of sublime grace. I was enthralled, so enthralled that I didn’t notice Demeter standing over me until it was too late.
