I winced at the explosions that whooshed up above the wall, twelve of my twenty-one targets were dead already, as we set off at a jog toward the compound.

  It really was simpler this way, and before we closed half that quarter mile the four witches and three humans manning the M60s and rocket launchers were beheaded or impaled through the heart. I assigned two swords each to the leader of the squad and the overall leader to the mercenary company, a son and daughter of Ares.

  At the same time, the sixty monsters stuffed into the center of that building rushed out into the open compound.

  Boom! Then two more loud explosions went off, tearing up the ground and sending dirt and stone into the air right in front of the gate. Those traps I mentioned being possible, and I nodded at Maggie in approval, who winked back.

  Ares kids were much more dangerous, but they couldn’t deflect two blades at once. But they could deflect one and dodge the other, so I assigned a third blade to both. A flash of fire caught my eye, and I grimaced as I assigned my other four blades to the Fury bitch that screeched in anger at us.

  Shannon’s dark shadows didn’t so much smash the gate, as they did rip it apart and fling the metallic gate in several directions at once.

  More explosions lit up the compound, as jeeps, ammunition, and explosives started to go up.

  My swords were better at teamwork than I expected, as two of them attacked simultaneously, with the third sword a split second behind. The cute blonde slammed one hard and rolled under the other, but the third having her chosen trajectory and impetus nailed down adjusted its course and stabbed the woman through the head. The last of Aries’ warriors and his son died a second later.

  I immediately sent the freed six blades for the fury, so all ten were after that bitch. They all had orders to destroy her brain and heart thoroughly.

  A lance of fire shot at me, but I ignored it as my armor jinked me six inches to the side and the flames shot right passed me. I really liked this new way of fighting. I’d been really hobbling myself in the past, trying to control it all myself.

  I snorted, which drew a few looks from my mates, but I didn’t explain my thought process there. Now while we were in the middle of battle.

  The ten swords raced for the Fury, and I almost felt sorry for the bitch. They were approaching from ten different directions, above, below, and all four cardinal directions. There was nowhere for the bitch to go. The drain was horrendous, a full twenty percent of my power, as each sword strike stole two percent of my power to break through her protections, but it was worth it. Her head was bisected twice, cracking her skull into fragments, and the blades spun and twisted, tearing up her brain matter or what was left of it.

  Three other blades found her heart and lungs, and her whole body fell apart into ashes. It would be years before my father could send them after me again, and after that one-sided spanking I wasn’t all that sure he’d even bother trying.

  I still had about seventy percent of my power, it’d literally cost me seven percent of my power for the impacts to take down six helicopters, two demi-gods, four witches, and three humans. Three times that, just for the Fury. The cost of moving around was negligible, I felt the drain, but it was a slow drip.

  I reminded myself not to get cocky. I’d almost been overwhelmed and killed yesterday, and at the very least I’d had to run with my tail between my legs. I could still be overwhelmed, but fortunately I had my mates to depend on.

  While I’d done that and Maggie had been blowing up all their weapons, munitions, and vehicles, the other three had managed to subdue and conquer a third of the monsters.

  Elena’s approach was with water, and she concentrated on the fliers. Her five streams of water froze their wings, and then closed over their heads to cut off their air supply to weaken them. Often just the fall from their heights would be enough to knock them out, but if not they passed out from lack of air a few seconds later.

  Shannon somehow imparted momentum. Her darkness slithered toward them, surrounded them, and then somehow launched them out of the cloud of darkness at several hundred miles an hour into the closest metallic object or cement wall, knocking them out and breaking several bones which would no doubt heal quickly. I suspected that was extra effort, and the way she killed would be a lot different than the way she subdued.

  Bonnie was using some kind of non-violent mental magic, taking down one every two seconds or so. They just got a spaced look on their face and collapsed onto their asses.

  The monsters were hardly putting up with that lying down, but they were screwed. My armor was simply faster than them, and with three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision they couldn’t be snuck up on or attacked unawares. None of the monsters could lay a finger on the four of us that were armored, they just weren’t fast enough.

  Four, because Shannon had her own impressive defenses. The air nymphs that shot steel tipped feathers at her, just had those feathers swallowed by her shield of darkness, and then shot right back at them. One charging Taura seemed to charge right through Shannon, as if she wasn’t really there. Of course, that was an illusion, her shadow shield was obviously moving them from one side of her body to the other almost instantly, so it just appeared that way.

  My mates were so hot, beautiful and strong, and so powerful. It really turned me on watching them kick ass. Granted, I was protecting three of them zealously, so they could focus purely on offensive, but it was still impressive.

  They only needed to take out about twenty each, so it wasn’t even going to take a full minute at about two seconds a monster for Bonnie, and six to eight seconds for five monsters at a time for Shannon and Elena. By the time it was said and done, I’d dropped less than one percent in power, just from movements and no impacts. Honestly, with single souls handling the movements, I gained almost as much power back as I spent from my natural regeneration rate.

  Maggie asked, “What happened? Weren’t you going to help when yours were down?”

  My eyes widened, “Right, I forgot because I was enjoying the show. My mates are so sexy when they bring the pain.”

  Shannon laughed throatily, Bonnie giggled, and Elena rolled her eyes playfully and said, “Truth.”

  Maggie’s lips twitched.

  I asked, “What about those two helicopters?”

  Maggie said, “No fuel in them to ignite.”

  I nodded, and then headed over to the rocket launchers. Sure, I was a powerful demigod, born of one of the five most powerful gods in existence. But I was still a twenty-one-year-old guy, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jazzed up by the idea of firing one. Of course, they were all used, which I should’ve realized, Maggie had blown them all with the rest of the munitions. I pushed down the boyish disappointment I felt at not being able to fire an RPG.

  I sighed, “I guess the unfueled helicopters get to live.”

  Shannon chuckled, and sent her dark shadows at them. Much like the metallic fence, the helicopters were torn into tiny pieces when the shadows dissipated.

  “How do you do that?”

  She said, “I move things. They don’t have to be unattached, same way I usually kill, if I can get my shadows in someone then I can move their heart but leave their body where it is. I just moved the helicopter in hundreds of directions at once, small pieces of it, and it falls apart.”

  I shook my head.

  She grinned, “Remember what I told you, it’s a hybrid mix of teleportation and telekinesis. The teleporting part can move a part of something, essentially separating it from the whole, like cutting it out.”

  I said, “You’re terrifying.”

  She replied, “What happened to sexy?”

  I laughed, “That’s a big part of the sexy,” and I winked at her.

  Elena cackled, “Truth. It’s just as well our mate loves powerful strong women I suppose.”

  I nodded, “Of course it is, being turned on is better than being intimidated, isn’t it?”

  Shannon smirked and nodded.

  It was about that point when the monsters started to wake up, and my three ladies started to take charge of them. They conquered them, not me or Maggie, so they had to do the ordering and take the monsters in hand. Bonnie had twenty-three under her thrall, Shannon twenty, and Elena twenty-one, for a total of sixty-four monsters. Almost all of them were flyers of one kind or another.

  They were all ordered to wait there for transport, while Shannon took us all home including the car. Then she went straight back for the first twenty while Bonnie literally built a building, in just moments. It rose up out of the ground, a crude stone building, but it was still very cool.

  Bonnie asked, “Could you, Elena?” as she waved at the huge cistern on the roof. No doubt the shower pressure would be from gravity.

  Elena nodded and used her power to start filling the cistern.

  Maggie kissed me, and said, “I’ll be inside ordering food and those soaps, towels, and sweats so they can take human form if they want.”

  I nodded and patted her ass, which got her to shoot me a warm smile over her shoulder before disappearing into the house.

  Shannon got back with the first twenty.

  Bonnie said, “Almost six of them are compatible with you, but not all of us.”

  I shrugged, “I don’t judge Levi for it, but I have no desire to claim monster mates. My ladies are quite wild enough as it is. Plus, four of you is already beyond selfish of me, you all awe me.”

  Bonnie giggled and blushed, “I love you.”

  “Love you too. Why’d you even mention it, if they aren’t compatible with all of you?”

  Bonnie shrugged, “I wouldn’t mind if you had a private harem of monsters to fuck, that could protect our family. Incompatible doesn’t mean they’d dislike us, they might even come to love us, they just don’t munch carpet. Plus, it’d be totally hot.”

  “Nope, not interested, and it’s against the rules.”

  Shannon said, “A simple vote could make an exception, but if it’s all the same we’re already splitting your cock time quite far enough.”

  “Cock time? So my scintillating wit and company isn’t a factor?”

  Shannon giggled, and shook her head impudently, though I knew she was full of shit and just teasing me. Then she disappeared in shadows to get the next twenty.

  Elena snickered, “I wouldn’t go for that either. He can protect us quite well even when we’re split up by putting us in that armor. Plus, he has no time to keep them well-fucked, not with four of us and a job, and training. Though I wonder if training is moot at this point.”

  I shook my head, “At least three times a week, to maintain all our levels and come up with new scenarios to overcome. Training is good for all of us, and it helps us work better together. I think I have a handle on it already, to be honest. So maybe my six weeks of intensive training the wrong way wasn’t wasted after all. It really sharpened my ability to focus on separate points of view and keep track of everything, which is all I need to do now. Well, that and handing out orders, but handing out orders is easier than controlling, and without even needing to worry about defense that frees me even further to handle all ten swords.”

  Elena nodded, “Truth.”

  Shannon was barely here for a second, as she dropped off twenty and went back. A few seconds after that, she arrived with the last twenty-four, and my ladies ordered them into their new accommodations. There were a few dark looks, but none of them hesitated to obey.

  Shannon said, “I expect they’ll attack is in a couple of days. They’re going to need time to gather more resources.”

  I sighed, “Yes. We’ll try to find them first of course and frustrate their efforts. I’ll leave a watcher at the compound, but I doubt they’re dumb enough to use it as another monster and helicopter staging point. Chances are though, you’re right, it’ll be difficult to find them if not impossible, so the next move is theirs. The important thing is we’re well defended, and today’s battle while not too crazy was a good warmup for our teamwork.”

  Elena said, “At least we don’t need to deal with another Fury, that took a good chunk of your power.”

  I nodded, “I’ll be recovered to full in about four and half hours. Still, if my father is still in the game, he may compensate by sending forty Empusa instead of twenty.”

  Shannon smirked, “Cheery thought.”

  I shrugged, “We have an army of our own to help you and Elena handle the Empusa and monster replacement army. Maggie can take down the helicopters on her own, and Bonnie and I will focus on ending the sun god’s offensive resources. I expect the estate will be very crowded, despite how big it is.”

  Shannon said, “If they have witches, and they do, they might be warding the helicopters.”

  I nodded, “But Maggie is the most powerful witch I’ve ever met save demi-gods, and she’ll have the estate wards and the coven well to pull from. She’ll blow those fuckers up, of that I have no doubt.”

  Bonnie walked over to me and kissed me softly with a warm sweet moan, while her hands worked my pants open.

  I gave her a warm and lovingly awed look as she rubbed her breasts firmly down my body as she fell to her knees. A sharp hiss of pleasure left my lips as she winked at me and took my cock into her hot talented mouth. She never broke that intense eye contact either, and I couldn’t look away from her lovingly devoted and heated icy blue eyes.

  My Bonnie did that a lot, just decided it was time to suck me off. I wasn’t arguing. It was hot too. I mean the blowjob and Bonnie was hot as well, but what I meant by that was the way Shannon and Elena were watching her wantonly go to town on my cock, as her eyes worshipped me and she let out warm and deliciously contented moans at having my cock in her mouth.

  She always did it, but it was just as hot as the first time it’d happened, and when I blasted my seed into the back of her throat she trembled in her own orgasm as she rhythmically milked and swallowed to make it better for me even while lost in her own pleasure. She was incredible.

  Just another Monday in my crazy new world…

  Chapter Nine

  The book was coming along. It was a few hours later and close to dinnertime. Our offensive didn’t take all that long, since we’d found no leads on where the rest of our enemy were, so we’d all gotten back to work to put in an honest day’s effort toward our business and external jobs. Bonnie was training Shannon on the ins and outs of the Nine Muses Publications business, while Elena and I worked on our first joint novel. Maggie of course, was in her own office, not only doing that stuff for the monsters but taking care of paperwork and her businesses.

  I had a few souls scouting around the city as well as watching the compound, but nothing yet. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be that easy, we’d have to hope we were better prepared than the enemy thought we were when they came to attack. Between the monsters, and Levi’s family and Caroline and Bree on standby, I had to hope that’d be enough to not only repel our enemy but to end it permanently. The major key to that battle was preventing the escape of Apollo’s children, then we could open up a peace talks through our goddesses from a clear position of strength.

  Maggie poked her head, “Let’s wrap it up, dinner is almost done. We’re also ready for tonight, and Valerie seemed a lot surer that she wants in the center spot with you tonight, when I spoke to her a few minutes ago.”

  I nodded, “Yes, matriarch.”

  I often called her that, when she was in matriarch mode and even spoke firmly to the four of us about what was going to happen next. She flushed a little in desire and shot me a smile, those rare role reversals in our relationship always seemed to catch her off guard.

  I had to admit, I stirred down below at what Maggie had said. Valerie was an adorably innocent beauty whose shyness only added to that adorable impression. She had a tight curvy body in hourglass proportion save her proud rounded C cups which made her look a little top heavy. But I wasn’t about to complain about that. No man would. I also loved her wavy bright reddish-brown hair the color of cherry wood. Honestly, it was probably Clairol, but I’d never seen her hair any other color and it looked fantastic against her fair skin tone. Her shyly piercing green eyes were mesmerizing as well, set in that lovely and pixy beautiful face. I’d fantasized about warming my cock in her hot petite yet curvaceous body more than once the last six weeks.

  Not all the time of course, my mates very much held my attention, so only every time I saw her. That probably sounded bad, but what I meant by it is I didn’t fantasize about her in my spare moments. It was very out of sight out of mind, and when I was with my mates, I was one hundred percent with them. I was fairly sure it was mutual, despite her shyness we had a sexual tension almost as powerful as I did with her coyly flirting mate, Angela.

  We made sure everything was saved, and we closed the laptops before heading down to the meal. Much like breakfast, I got a lot of welcoming nods from the younger witches, but the thirtysomething newcomers were still obviously nervous about my presence. The other demigoddesses as well, but I was also a man, so it was a little worse with me. As I did in the past with the younger witches, I gave them space and didn’t confront them even with a glance. The fact they all sat on the other end of the table just made that easier.

  Maggie said, “Some of you may have noticed the new addition to the estate grounds. We are temporarily hosting sixty monsters, and our demigod allies will keep them under control. You all already know both Jack and Shannon have been targeted by the underworld and the sun-god, and it seems likely Ares is just along for the ride though Bonnie could be his target.

  “We expect the problem to be solved by the end of the week, if not sooner. Those monsters will be moving on at that time, those left alive at any rate. We have no reason to believe the coven will be harmed in any way, even should my mates and I fall you should all be safe enough.”

  Helen, one of the petite blonde sisters in the thirtysomething crowd said, “You can’t guarantee that.”