I snorted, “So, how do I control it? I can tell you have it, but I can’t tell anything else like you’re reading in me, and I have no idea how to tone it down.”

  She said, “It’s simple to explain but hard to master. Like telling someone to ski is simply sliding down the mountain and turning when something gets in the way.”

  I laughed, she did seem like a handful, and she had a ton of energy pouring off of her.

  She advised, “Think of mom. Her presence, and kind of sink your senses into the blessing. It’ll be hard to get the first time, but with practice you’ll train your subconscious, and you’ll be able to do it even amidst a conversation or while driving, or around other distractions. Once you’re in there, you just feel. The blessing does the work for you, and you can get a sense of others near you, at least the parts of them that coincide with mom’s mantel. A desire to bear children, for passion and pleasure, or for love, that kind of thing. Including compatibility.

  “At rest the blessing attracts women to you, but when sunk into it you can kind of pull it inside of you which will mute it. The blessing actually reaches out and reads and informs others all the time, so by pulling it in yourself you’ll prevent it from reaching out and informing the women around you just how hot and awesome you are.”

  I chuckled, “Got it, I think. That’s it?”

  She nodded, “Simple right?”

  I said, “In theory. I’ll give it a shot when I have a little peace and quiet. So, you have other abilities, I mean as a demigoddess?”

  She replied, “Yes. It’s usually rude to ask, but since we just became partners, I’ll let it go. Just don’t ask anyone else, some demigods are extremely sensitive about it. I got a small measure of my mother’s power over beauty. I can’t sculpt bodies like she does, but I can clear a skin condition or any kind of growth. I also don’t have to worry about bad hair days. Hair, makeup, even keeping my clothes pristine and wrinkle free is what I can do.

  “Not good in a fight, except I can usually get my tough allies to line up next to me, know what I mean? It’s far more useful in day to day life, maintain contacts and friendships, and making new ones.”

  “Partners?”

  She winked, “She told you last night, didn’t she?”

  Oh right, my mind had gone to a more intimate translation of that word.

  “Yes.”

  She grinned, “Another reason you don’t have to worry about cash. I know pride and self-reliance, but I’ve got your back until you find your feet, and I’ve got plenty. Consider staying alive and watching my back to be your job right now.”

  “If I can ask, I know you said you don’t…”

  She giggled, “Prostitute myself?”

  “Yes, that.”

  She laughed, “You really are cute, my goodness. Okay, it goes back to my power. There’s a lot of actresses and actors that would pay insane amounts of money for clear skin. I can give them that. I can also heal skin, since ugly skin is in beauty’s realm. So people with skin cancer and other bad skin conditions will pay a lot to make that happen.

  “I’ve also done a few stints as a makeup professional, but I don’t really do that anymore. Not worth it. I also don’t have to worry about grooming myself, and that’s marketable as well. Most women would kill for the convenience of not having to shave, pluck, and moisturize every day, never mind waxing, face lifts, tummy tucks, and other minor cosmetic changes. I do that for a lot of our female allies as well.”

  “So, these people are in the know, or do you put your power in a cream, or…”

  She replied, “A little of both. I can imbue it into a cream that will clear anyone’s skin, albeit at a slower rate, and it can be marketed as the new beauty secret for actors by word of mouth. It’s easier to do it directly, and there are some humans in the know, including a part of the FBI and high levels of government. As a rule, most humans are clueless about the true world, and the occasional fights that break out are covered up.”

  I grunted.

  “I think I’m out of questions, but that’s from ignorance. At least, beside the training to find my demigod powers?”

  She smirked, “One of my oldest friends, a daughter of Hestia owes me a big favor. She’s a martial arts master and can train you to fight even while trying to discover and encourage your power to come out. We’ll head over there tomorrow. She’s a bit of a bitch, but that makes her a hell of an ally.”

  “You think I’m a fighter type?”

  She laughed, “Aren’t you? Both a lover and a fighter as mom’s champion, and yummy and cute.”

  I could tell she was partly serious, but she was also teasing me. She was also a handful, obviously so, but breathtakingly gorgeous and sexy as hell too. My mind had been behaving for the most part, but I suspected that was mostly due to the incredible pain I was in at that moment. Having your flesh cut to ribbons by claws hurt like a bitch.

  She bit her lip, “I have the knowledge and the contacts, once we get you up to speed, you’ll be the one protecting us both. I know who your father is, but I can’t say, which is where that insight is coming from. So yes, I expect you’ll be quite a fighter once you’re trained. All of us have some natural ability that way but it varies greatly in what way, based on the godly parent. Obviously, Aphrodite is a lover, not a fighter, but she’s also not helpless.”

  “Got it. The pain is pretty bad, are Empusa demons poisonous?”

  She nodded, “They are, a human would probably be dead by now, we’re hardier. You’ll recover quickly, after we clean it out and I heal your skin over.”

  She pulled into my driveway, and I suppressed a grimace as I limped into the house…

  Chapter Four

  “Bathroom, pants off. Do you have any first aid stuff?”

  I followed her into the bathroom somewhat amused. I was also quite entranced by her perfect bubbled ass. Just as juicy and firm as her lovely D cups, I’d bet. I was also feeling a bit like a shallow asshole, but at the same time I felt a connection to her, through our blessings in a way that wasn’t easy to quantify. It felt like maybe the goddess had sent her to me as more than just business partners, was my romantic life under her control too?

  Given what Ginny looked like, and her forceful and vivacious personality, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. At the same time, I was definitely attracted to the upbeat take-charge whirlwind, but she might just drive me crazy at the same time. I also had no idea of the score that way, or how things went.

  So in short, I felt a little shallow at just how much I was affected by her hot body, and just how much I wanted to tear off her clothes and claim her, but at the same time it was tempered by the knowledge my new improved body and the blessings were partially responsible. Usually I wasn’t that shallow, and I didn’t go for the main event without knowing a woman much better, much less after knowing her for fifteen minutes, while bleeding from a demonic claw wound no less.

  Despite the pain of the wound and poison, her tight supple bubbled ass and her lovely bountiful breasts, as well as the soft angelic beauty of her face had me kind of mesmerized. Needless to say, my cock was totally on board already.

  That all said. It wasn’t overwhelming, I had control over myself completely and totally. I wasn’t going to hit on her, I just really wanted to.

  The pants came off, and I smiled a bit ruefully and straddled the edge of the tub with my wounded leg inside of it at her direction. The rueful smile was she’d noticed my obvious reaction, and my underwear did little to hide my eight inches of solid steel cock.

  She didn’t seem to mind, in fact she grinned, “I see mom gave you the full package upgrade.”

  I laughed, and then goggled as she pulled her shirt off and folded it up and put it on the counter, then did the same thing with her yoga pants, leaving her in nothing but a sexy as hell red silk and lace lingerie set.

  She winked, “Those clothes are expensive.”

  I nodded in understanding, and just enjoyed the view. Her lovely dark and flowing midnight hair was a sinfully delightful contrast to the red lingerie and her lightly tanned skin. Her rounded breasts were pushed together and up, and it looked like they might just pop out if she took too deep a breath. Her nipples were obvious and tightened beneath the silk, and I couldn’t fail to notice her panties looked a slightly different shade of red in the center. Was she wet for me?

  If I hadn’t already been hard, I’d have been then.

  She stepped into the tub with a washcloth, soap, and a bottle of peroxide from the medicine cabinet, and then gracefully went down on her knees.

  “Full package?”

  She grinned, “Mom loves that size, and I agree with her. It’s large enough to fully stretch out and fill completely, without crossing that painful discomfort line to true pain. In short, the perfect size. She doesn’t do that for all her champions, so she must really like you.

  She winked, “I’ll have to thank her,” then she looked further down, “So this looks bad, but I’ve seen worse. This might hurt.”

  I took a deep breath and braced myself, but she twisted her body slightly and turned on the hot water.

  “You’re very beautiful, Ginny.”

  She smiled brightly, “Thanks, you look good yourself.”

  She moved forward and bit her lip, before she picked up the washcloth and got it wet under the hot water before soaping it up.

  “What does it mean exactly, partners.”

  She smiled teasingly, and there was a playful challenge in her blue eyes. Then she winced in sympathy as she scrubbed vigorously at my leg. It felt like a thousand stinging insects, which only got worse as she rinsed it off, then rinsed it off again with the peroxide.

  “I know it hurts, Levi. Does it burn of the poison anymore?”

  I frowned, and then shook my head, “No.”

  She softly caressed my leg, and it tingled as she went over the wound. It still hurt like a bitch, but the skin looked perfect and healed over.

  “It’s not really healed, it’ll take a day or two for the soreness to go away as your tissue recovers, but it’s the best I can do. Do you want it to mean something besides business?” she asked in that teasingly direct way of hers, with challenge and perhaps more than a little heat in her eyes. As if that wasn’t enough, she shimmied forward to get closer, as her hands slid up my legs to rest on my upper thighs.

  “It’s a bit confusing,” I said honestly, not rising to the bait, “I barely know you. Yet… I don’t think I’ve ever wanted another woman as badly, not counting the one we both serve. Is that just the blessings talking and our natural chemistry?”

  She grinned, “That’s rather forward, Mr. Cox,” she said in a sultry voice.

  I nodded, “Yes. In this case you seem to be both the advisor on my new reality I’ve been promised, and the issue I need advice about. Which I suppose is making me sound like a woman asking for a relationship status conversation, but in all seriousness I’m usually not so… overwhelmed by someone I just met.”

  She laughed in a way that set me at ease, dropping the teasing aspect, “You are adorable. In a manly way, of course. She would not command it of us, but to answer your question, yes. It is the blessings which also makes it more than that. Our blessing is telling us we’re compatible, and our chemistry added on top is arousing us both. I’m as wet as you are hard, if you haven’t noticed. I believe she hopes for us to come to an intimate understanding. A gift for us both and a way to bind us closer together in our purpose under her authority and grace. My mother’s gifts always have more than one purpose, the gods are excellent multitaskers.

  “We’ll have to wait and see, but I like what I see so far, and I’ve never known my mother to be wrong about the potential for love, compatibility, or pleasure between two people.”

  I nodded, “How does it work, I mean… I don’t share.”

  She frowned and sat back on her feet. Then got up and stomped out of the tub and started to pull her clothes on.

  I asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

  She raised an eyebrow, “Besides implying my mother pimps me out, or I’m sleeping around because we serve a goddess of love and pleasure. No, nothing wrong at all,” then she spun around and walked out, leaving me feeling stupid, a little guilty, and more than a little pissed off.

  I said coldly, “No more than your mother suggested that for me last night.”

  She froze halfway through the living room to the kitchen, and then turned with a look of shock on her face at what I said.

  I said, “I wasn’t and won’t judge you for anything you choose to do. I just don’t know how my new world works that way. For all I know everyone’s happy fucking everyone. I can’t assume the culture is the same. I don’t share, but I also don’t cheat.

  “However, last night our goddess suggested the blessing would enable me to protect myself from most female monsters by basically seducing them before they kill me, fucking them into submission and turning them to my side. Making them my protector and sex slave, instead of working for my enemies.

  “So how the FUCK does that work? How can I expect any less or more from you, than you can expect from me, if we pursue this, whatever this is, between us? I sure as hell didn’t mean any offense, but you’re my advisor, so fucking advise me and lose the attitude!”

  The hot rage fled as the last words left my lips. It was everything going on that had driven me to it. All of it. Finding out there were gods, demigods, demons and creatures, finding out the old world was a lie. Becoming the champion of a goddess, the fact I was being hunted just for being born. The way I just wanted to throw Ginny to the ground and fuck her until she screamed in pleasure and said she was mine. It was all… wrong. Not me at all, and I suppose it’d just all come pouring out, and I felt foolish and like a dick, because I’d taken my frustration and confusion out on a very beautiful and vivacious woman, who was here to help me.

  “Fuck, I’m so sorry, Ginny. I think this all just finally got to me. I feel like I’m going to lose my damned mind. But that’s where the question came from, I was looking at what I knew for me from your point of view. I suppose I assumed you would have similar duties.”

  She bit her lip, and her face softened, “I’ve slept with four men my entire life. I told you earlier, in the hopes you’d figure it out. I’m beauty, not pleasure. My power informs that. Some of her daughters are pleasure sluts, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. But she never would’ve sent one of those to partner with you, they don’t have it in them to be faithful long term, no more than my mother does. So no, to answer your question, if we fall for each other at some point, I will be yours, and only yours.

  “Your part is more difficult to answer in a way you’d understand viscerally, the old world would call it a double standard, and in some ways I suppose it is. Some would say we’re behind the times, modern times, but most believe, including me, that men and women are very different. It’s less a double standard than two very different needs. Men want to protect, possess, and cherish. Women want to be all that, but what we really want is the security that those things lead to. To know we won’t be betrayed, or that our man will fail to take care of us or provide. It’s deep instincts, and our world is more in touch with that.”

  I nodded, “Following so far.”

  She shrugged, “Do those three things, and I’ll be content. As long as you aren’t running around and having empty sex, I’m good with it. To save our lives, and to add another protector and more support to the household. That’s a different story, and not a sign of weakness in a man that would make me doubt that you’ll stick around in the long term, like a cheater or a man who puts it in every woman stupid enough to let them. I don’t mean just monsters either, I won’t mind sharing you with another demigoddess in the least.”

  I frowned, “Really?”

  She shrugged, “Binding another ally to our direct family would just make us stronger and safer, and more useful to mom at the same time. The way I need you to be faithful to me is in love, protectiveness, and possessiveness, and never letting go. In always being there for me. Adding another woman to our bed wouldn’t violate that, and it’ll even enhance it. Another person to share the burden, help support the family, and even enhance our love lives. I assume you’ll all let us play with you together, and that could be a lot of fun too.”

  My brain froze.

  She giggled, “I see I’ve shocked you, but not in a scandalized way. In the too good to be true way, but in time you’ll understand, I think. Once you get over the ridiculously narrow modern relationship dynamic that’s been brainwashed into you by human society. As long as it’s done in consent, there is no betrayal. I’m also sorry, since I overreacted as well. I should’ve asked where you got the ridiculous idea from that I would be… unfaithful for any reason. I should’ve also known that this new world would be stressing you out. Should we choose that path of course, but what I told you is fairly standard in our world, for those men that can attract and hold multiple mates.”

  I closed the distance between us, and she stood her ground as I invaded her personal space and looked down into her blue eyes, which were suddenly sparkling, and she looked breathless.

  “What’s next?” I asked, as I reached up and caressed her face, “I don’t really understand this need, but I know you’re perfect for me. I also know you’ll drive me crazy, but I don’t think I’d forgive myself if I didn’t explore it. Promises would be insane, but you should know this is about far more than chemistry. You awe me, Ginny.”

  She smiled almost shyly, and asked me breathily, “Then what are you waiting for?”

  I kissed her as I took her in my arms and pulled her firmly against me. She was all soft feminine curves, and her sexy body felt fantastic and fit perfectly against mine. Her lips were softer than I’d imagined, and her mouth tasted delicious. Her pouty lips submissively conformed to mine as she kissed me back with a passion and released a sweet breathy sigh into my mouth.