She giggled, which turned into an honest laugh, her dark blue eyes dancing and warming my soul.

  It was all we could do to fend of the darkness, until I found a way to fight it, before I was turned into a puppet of destruction. Laugh, I mean.

  The morning in the yard was well spent, despite the pall of the future hanging over us. I did a lot of relaxing as I studied the all in one multi-grimoire e-book. Most of it was white magic, but there was some gray magic as well, spells of destruction.

  I also learned witchcraft magic was based in the natural world, including modifying and changing flora and fauna, but that they were no match for the fae in that arena. However, the fae had no power at all in the natural world as far as weather or elemental spells. A narrower focus on life, while witches were far more diverse.

  Nothing on blocking a compulsion however, at least not against someone that was more powerful, and my god power would prevent anyone of my power or lower from compelling me, so the one spell I found was a moot point. It wouldn’t help a witch against any god, but it would be effective when they dealt with vampires.

  Besides committing the spells to memory, I also spent some time admiring how incredible June looked in a red bikini on a lounger under the bright sun, with her laptop keyboard clacking non-stop. She literally never stopped typing, her inspiration power feeding her every word and line. It was… as impressive as she was sexy, which was saying a lot.

  The rest of the time I was killing weeds, shaping overgrown bushes with spells, and improving the health of the lawn. Also planning out a garden, decorations, and a new tree or two toward the back of the property. I also planned to build a gazebo large enough for a jacuzzi, maybe put in an inground pool. I’d head to Lowes to pick up what I needed to make it truly beautiful and impressive, but I also took a satisfaction on how clean and crisp it looked now, at least.

  A part of me thought I was insane for just living life like it wasn’t all about to end soon, but what else could I do? I couldn’t just sit in a corner and give up, I had to act as if I’d solve the mystery and avoid becoming a puppet.

  Which ultimately, is why I took a small nap in the sunshine, next to my goddess. I decided not to wait for tonight, and I supposed the hours had distanced the horror enough for me to face it again.

  The world burned.

  I endured it, both tried to soak it in and ignored the implications of it. Pretended it was all some surreal game, that would never actually take place. Because I was going to stop it.

  There wasn’t much at all to find in Chicago, no other gods, or even supernaturals by that time in the future. They had either fled, or they’d died already before this point.

  I took the time to try and relax and feel, which is what told me when. Three weeks. The world as I knew it would end in three weeks, but there was no telling how long before that I’d been in thrall to our enemy.

  I discovered I could freeze things, pause the vision, and I took advantage of that to get a closer look at the monstrous creatures. They were hideous in appearance, scaled like a lizard, standing on two legs or running on four with equal facility, and they had the head and jaws of a canine. Their claws were like that of a great cat, with large paws for hands. They looked viciously intelligent, their eyes humanlike in depth of thought, but at the same time lost in a rage against life and in a dark need to kill.

  Then I figured out how to let the vision guide me, and I took in city after city in the midst of destruction. New York was being torn apart by tornados, Atlanta was burning, Seattle was being torn apart by shifters and witches gone mad, and quite a few cities were already finished off. Slightly similar to Chicago, except for the huge mushroom clouds in the center of the city.

  Apparently there hadn’t been enough powerful gods for our crazy tier one god to recruit, so they’d resorted to compelling humans with access to nukes. Resorted to compelling whole witch covens and shifter packs. Just to speed things up.

  I had more knowledge of the end, but nothing really helpful. I had no idea what the creatures were, but they looked like killing machine chimeras of mixed animal and human. Abominations. I still didn’t know who was behind it.

  But I did know what the other gods involved looked like, no doubt they’d be under compulsion as well. They were all at my power level or below, so none of the ones destroying anything was the true enemy.

  I had no idea how to stop it, however. The compulsions would fall if I managed to kill the one behind it before launching the worldwide destruction, but the sooner I ended it the better. I mean, it would take weeks to set it all up. Even then, who knows about that new race, there might be no stopping those monstrous hunters of humanity from being unleashed, if I didn’t end the problem before they were created.

  I tried to shift the vision to something else last. Focusing on each of the most powerful gods one at a time, but it didn’t work. Either there was one I didn’t know about from my research, or they were too powerful for my seer power to penetrate their privacy.

  Much like June couldn’t use farseeing on me, despite the fact I wasn’t doing anything consciously to stop it working.

  I saw two avenues to pursue. I could far-see one of the gods I’d seen as part of it, and then wait for the architect of this insanity to reveal themselves. Maybe if I struck with surprise, I could kill them with the power of the sun before they could compel or destroy me. Much like that lesser god could’ve killed me with a single punch had he been able to land it.

  Not much could survive the sun.

  It was a gamble though, what if I was compelled before then? What if while I was watching and waiting, it was me that was attacked first? It was a hell of a gamble. It would also be impossible to keep an eye on them twenty-four hours a day.

  The other avenue was even riskier in another way, but far surer of partial success. I doubted the authorities would believe me if I told them, and even if they did, they were unlikely to cooperate. If anything, it would likely guarantee the humans would start to hunt us.

  Still, I knew one person who had seen the enemy god. The war god in New York. I could use a witch spell I’d learned that morning to search his memories, and at the very least see what the person looked like, and if I was lucky based on their powers figure out which god we were dealing with.

  Because sitting in my backyard when there were avenues to explore… was burying my head in the sand. It was just too damned overwhelming, and honestly more than a little surreal. The end of the world, it sounded like a bad joke.

  It wasn’t much, but I decided to do both, though the first one would be hit or miss, checking every half hour or so with a quick farseeing flicker down the god list. Hopefully if one of them was compelled, they’d be taken with whoever was behind it, or I’d likely miss it happen even if it did happen before the one behind it found and compelled me.

  Lastly, I verified June’s theory on us being born in waves. I focused on various gods and actually found a few. But I did not find any of the eight other muses, so they really hadn’t made it to twenty-one yet. Their powers still quiescent. The only thing there we couldn’t be sure of was how long it will be until the next wave, and how many waves of births there’d be in the end.

  At first, I thought at least eight, but maybe four. I mean, June and I ended up in the first batch, so maybe there’d be two more muses every so often. Unless it had nothing to do with me, I was sure it didn’t revolve around me, but one tier-one god at a time put me back on eight or nine.

  Lots of clarification, we’d verified our theories, but we had very few answers.

  Chapter Eight

  June looked thoughtful, after I’d told her everything I’d seen, thought, and decided.

  “I want to come with you, when you go see that god and plumb his mind.”

  I nodded, “Sure. I plan to use the stealth power. Hopefully we can walk in, delve his memories, and then walk out with no one the wiser.”

  June tilted her head, “The witches that contracted to the police for enchantments and support probably have wherever he is warded to the gills. Still, it might work. I’m also starting to think our culprit isn’t Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades.”

  I frowned, “Why?”

  June said, “Because you said the one that’s behind it isn’t part of the attack. Zeus could destroy cities with air and storm, Poseidon with tidal waves, and Hades is strong enough to swallow a city into the Earth and bury them all alive. I can’t imagine anyone that pissed off at humanity and wanting to end the world, not taking part in the slaughter. Much less depending on lesser supernatural beings such as witches and shifters.”

  She paused a moment to let that sink in, and now that she’d said it, it was an obvious point in hindsight.

  “Which means our culprit probably doesn’t have a martial or destructive power. They have no active power of destruction. Which means it’s probably Hera, Hestia, Aphrodite, or Demeter. Family, hearth, love, or agriculture and harvest. The primordial gods would have powerful offensive powers as well, I think, and would’ve participated in the destruction.”

  That was hard to imagine because of their positive mantels as goddesses, but I supposed it was possible. Hell hath no fury and all that, and if they were abused and broken, or had been radicalized in some way, the powers and mantel hitting them could’ve caused them to go even crazier.

  “Sexy.”

  She giggled, “You find my intuitive intelligence sexy?”

  “I find all of you sexy, but yes.”

  She smirked, her eyes warm, “I’ll go make lunch, while you fetch the witch? Then after lunch we’ll go to New York?”

  She wasn’t trying to dictate, just reciting my earlier decisions. I think she just wanted to be sure I wouldn’t go off without her and leave her behind.

  I nodded, “That’s the plan.”

  She got up and leaned down to kiss me, then headed into the house with a bounce in her step and a lovely sway of her ass. She grinned hugely over her shoulder, when she caught me staring at her legs and gorgeous heart-shaped ass in that red bikini bottom. Her cute blush and giggle warmed me as she went inside and shut the door. It was heady, just how potent of an effect my mere attention and simple compliments had on her.

  I no longer feared taking that for granted either, because all it did was evoke a possessive affection in me, and a strong desire to give her everything she wanted and needed. I suspected our bond through our powers would even prevent me from accidentally neglecting her over time, because like her cry for help that first night that I felt over it, I didn’t think she’d be able to disguise feeling dissatisfaction or resentment, and I’d be moved to fix it.

  Which would be a huge help when there were nine of them, plus my witch.

  It was all happening ridiculously fast, but the powers and amazing personal life had a huge bill on the outside. Nothing in life was free, and being an incredibly powerful second tier god had frightful downsides.

  I got up and headed in, showered off the sweat from the landscaping and sun, and changed into a pair of jeans and a pullover collared shirt. The sandals, shorts, and no shirt I’d been wearing in the backyard wasn’t going to cut it in public.

  Then I teleported into the back of the store. I pushed down the sudden annoyance I felt, at hearing talking in front, then rolled my eyes at myself. I’d been looking forward to taking my wild witch again, but she had company so that wasn’t going to happen until she joined us at the house.

  I paused at the door. She was talking to two other hot and sexy barely legal redheads. They looked a lot like their grandmother at around eighteen, with petitely curvaceous bodies at five foot four, with similar light blue eyes as well. They looked like a trio of hot redheaded sisters. Twins really, and her granddaughters were that after verifying with a second glance. Hot redheaded twins…

  I told my cock to shut up.

  One of the twins squeaked and jumped with surprise when she saw me coming out of the back of the store.

  Brenna grinned as she turned, and quickly got up and pasted herself against me, “Hi. These are my youngest granddaughters, Kelsey and Meara. They wanted to meet you.”

  Both of them were looking me over frankly, and liking what they saw. Not an offer though, just admiring the package so to speak, they were young and excited, not promiscuously offering me a three-generation threesome. Still, of course my mind went there, hot redheaded twins and Brenna, all in barely legal hot bodies?

  What man’s mind wouldn’t go there?

  Kelsey said, “I’m Kelsey, it’s nice to meet you.”

  Meara said with a grin, “Very nice.”

  I grinned, “The pleasure is mine, ladies,” I looked down at Brenna, “We’re ready for you, whenever you can get coverage here.”

  She smirked, “That’s also why they’re here, I hoped you’d come today. I should be over in a couple of hours, just need to go home and pack some clothes and tie things up.”

  She turned to the twins, “Be right back.”

  Then she nudged me toward the door, and we went into the back, her closing the door.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  She dropped to her knees and fished me out, then moaned contentedly as she sucked me into her hot eager mouth. She popped off and started to stroke me as she talked.

  “I need it. I missed you yesterday, and I wore down my batteries.”

  She started to suck me off with a shock and awe campaign of techniques, with her lips, tongue, and throat, as well as one of her hands jerking my base. Her other hand was up her skirt, and it was working her hot sex vigorously in the same rhythm as her stroking hand and bobbing head.

  I was in shock for a just a second, with her granddaughters just on the other side of the thin inner door to the stockroom, but then I was in awe of her and just enjoyed it. The fact her hot twin granddaughters were in the other room, just an added thrill to what a hot slut my wild witch was for me.

  She got breathier and breathier, as she sucked, swirled the tip, milked me with suction and a stroking twisting hand, all while she fingerbanged herself. She look lost in the pleasure, and her wanton moans of excitement and lust for my pleasure were all driving me crazy.

  I had to fuck her. Her mouth was so much pleasure, overwhelming in ways, but I had to feel her cumming on my cock, and the far more intense pleasure of her tight flesh clenching around me. I also couldn’t be idle, I was far too turned on myself.

  I grabbed her by the hair, pulled her off, and bent her over a shipping table ignoring her cry of loss and shock, then flipped up her skirt, ripped her panties down, and pounded my cock inside of her. Her pussy convulsed wildly for me as I took it so demandingly in a few short and powerful thrusts.

  I didn’t stop either, her loud cries of stunned pleasure filling the room as I just continued to pound into her the full length of my cock. Truly plowing into her with all I had, the table banging into the wall with each thrust, a counterpoint to her sharp gasping cries and my own grunts and moans.

  The pleasure of her grasping heated and satiny tight flesh was overwhelming, as we both rocketed toward a powerful release.

  She recovered from it enough to talk in panting gasps.

  “Yes, Mark. Plow my slutty pussy, you own it. You own all of me, use it, fill it up with your cum. I’m going to cum so hard for your fat cock, plunging in me.”

  I growled demandingly, “You’d better, I want to feel you come undone around me, my wild witch.”

  She cried out in a powerful gasp, the moment I claimed her and called her my wild witch. That pushed her over hard, and she started to convulse madly around me, her hot nubile flesh milking me so potently as I fucked her through it.

  I was right on the edge, but I managed to hold it back a few more moments, long enough to extend her pleasure and for her to start to come down.

  That’s when I pulled out, pulled her by the hair, pushed her back on her knees, and shoved it in her mouth just in time for my release.

  She started to jerk my base hard, and suck with a wanton moan and wide adoring eyes looking up into mine, both filled with a transcendent joyful pleasure as she drained me dry and drank my seed like it was mother’s milk.

  The potent blissful ecstasy and euphoria were overwhelming, as I looked down into her light blue eyes.

  She popped off after getting it all, then said, “Thank you, angel face. Just what I needed.”

  “That makes two of us, not too rough?”

  She smirked, “Not for a naughty slut like me, it’s what I like. Not true pain, outside of a punishing spanking, but rough manhandling and being used for your pleasure. Especially by a god who cares so much about my own pleasure before he takes his.”

  Like my honey blonde, I couldn’t help but think. Not that she was real, but hell if June didn’t make her seem real.

  I shook my head, “You’re a wonder, Brenna. We have things to talk about when you arrive, once you settle in and get to know June. Hopefully I’ll know more by then too, and you can help us plan. We’ve run into a problem.”

  She nodded, “I am at your disposal, in any way you wish, always.”

  Damn, she was really going to spoil me.

  She stood and pulled her underwear up, then dropped and smoothed out her skirt. She grinned at me cheekily as she packed me away too.

  “Should I come now, I can pack later?”

  I shook my head, “No, June and I have to go to New York, two hours works just about perfectly. I’ll leave the door unlocked, just in case you beat us there.”

  She shook her head, “Iron is cheap, and all I need for an unlock spell. A nail will do.”

  “Good point, so just let yourself in then. I’ll get keys made soon, it’s on the list for Lowes when I’m ready to finish up the landscaping. You can pick either of the two front rooms.”

  I realized in that moment I was going to need a bigger mansion eventually. Once I had nine nymphs, and who knew how many others to count on, for more than just warming my cock. I probably only needed one witch advisor, but life tended to change plans so I wouldn’t rule anything out.