Then she let the spell go, and we cuddled and talked for a while, before finishing the day out writing and painting.

  Chapter Seven

  Dinner was delicious, a brazed and then baked with rice and tomato sauce, both diced and crushed mixed together, with a number of spices. She’d also made a sweet potato casserole with cinnamon and fresh cream.

  “Anything you need or want, sexy? A lack I can fill?”

  She beamed, “No, sir. Now that you know just how much I always want to seduce you, pleasure you, I feel… free. Unburdened, and you make me feel admired, safe, and normal in those needs. It was the last part of me that I was holding back. How about you, anything?”

  I shook my head, “No, and if something situational comes up I won’t hesitate to ask.”

  She winked, “Me too. So any ideas about the enemy to mankind?”

  I shrugged, “I hope to have a better idea tomorrow, hopefully I dream tonight.”

  She nodded, “I was thinking of one thing, maybe?”

  I grinned, “Let’s hear it then, sexy.”

  She blushed, “Well, I was thinking I could turn my room into an office. A large desk instead of a bed, comfortable leather chair, your painting, and my books. I could keep my clothes in there too.”

  I smiled, “Are you saying what I think you are? Would you like to stay in my… our room?”

  She bit her lip, then nodded, “It’s kind of fast, it’s only been three days, but we won’t sleep much anyway, and you have the king-sized bed. I can watch over you while you sleep and dream.”

  I said softly, “I’d like that very much, June. You can even move your clothes over and make it official.”

  She blushed, “Okay. I’ll have a lot more clothes soon, though. I’ll have to keep some of them in the other room’s closet and dresser.”

  “You will?”

  She nodded, “Of course, the honey blonde dresses like a complete slut, ass and tits practically hanging out. The brunette sweetly conservative, the redhead in leather, and then there’s all of my normal clothes. I mean, dress up around the house roleplay, even the backyard, but I was thinking dating too. The blonde is definitely shameless enough to be pounded in a dirty bathroom stall, sir,” she blushed furiously after saying that last, but I could also tell she was both more than a little turned on and scandalized by the idea of it. Shamelessly sating me in semi-public.

  I stared, “Definitely going to kill me.”

  She shrugged, “Standard novelist mentality. They all need backgrounds too, even different likes and dislikes. I’m working on it.”

  I laughed and gave up. I suddenly also felt a lot less in control of things. She got a taste of seducing me, and now she knew I was putty in her hands. What I mean is how effective it was on me, it gave her the confidence to dive in knowing just how much I would fall under her sensual thrall. She’d probably been afraid I’d think she was a freak.

  Later that night however, she was still my midnight-haired beauty when I took her to bed, and we just short of made love deep into the night. The affection and possessiveness I felt half mirrored with her breathless affection and submission, as we worked our bodies together with glorious poignancy and a whole lot of pleasure. I again lost count of the number of times we both came, hers far more than mine of course, and we’d needed to take a shower and spell the bed clean and dry before seeking sleep.

  The world burned.

  Wrecked and burning buildings in downtown Chicago, asphalt bubbling like pools of lava. People running, screaming, as waves of shimmering heat cooked and set them on fire. Then incinerated them. The sounds of screams, scent of death and cooked flesh, and the heat all around me.

  That time I didn’t flinch away, as much as I wanted to, and took a closer look around.

  The monster things were running around as well, killing, destroying everything in sight that wouldn’t burn.

  I looked up into the sky, and there it was. The cause of all this. A huge golden and burning sun the size of a large mansion, hovering over the city at about a thousand feel. Waves of heat and rays of light bursting from it in shuddering waves.

  Well… fuck. That sun was me.

  I stared in shocked disbelief for several long moments, my mind finding it difficult to process.

  I flinched away, and woke up with a gasp of horror, covered in sweat with my heart pounding. I guess there’d been no more to see, nothing useful anyway, because that flinch would’ve changed to a new vision otherwise. Like it’d changed to show me June and Brenna arriving in my life the first time.

  I considered the worst, that maybe it was me. If humanity turned on us, I would defend myself, after all. But… that wasn’t self-defense, what I’d seen in the vision was a mass slaughter of epic proportions. That… I would never do.

  So I could only conclude unless something changed, I’d eventually become like that war god. Leashed to a god even more powerful, and his puppet in his or her aims to do… what? I had no idea, cull humanity? Destroy it utterly? I had no idea, and I couldn’t think of a justification where either option made sense, or that I’d ever do it of my free will.

  Not even to save family, myself, or someone I loved, would I become so monstrous.

  Had I really only been born within the second tier of powerful gods to be a mind-controlled and helpless weapon of mass destruction? I refused to believe that, and I refused to believe this was the plan and purpose of our return. No, whoever was doing this was as ignorant as I was, and he or she had a hard life growing up. Abuse, brainwashed over how humans were killing the Earth and decided to cull them, or… something else that put them on the far crazy ends of extremism.

  A seriously fucked up mind, that suddenly had vast power on his or her twenty-first birthday.

  It wasn’t in self-defense at all, not even in a crazy way. After all, he or she had started the violence in New York yesterday, exposing the rebirth of the gods. The witches working with and consulting law enforcement had explained exactly who they had captured, and I could only assume they were also able to identify he wasn’t crazy, just under an unbreakable compulsion. But that second part hadn’t made the news, and it was probably considered case-related secret information, while their race and identity hadn’t been.

  Perhaps only Chicago burned, but in the dream it’d felt like the world was being destroyed, humanity hunted and dwindling fast. But perhaps other gods were involved as well, others powerful enough to destroy cities, and under compulsion as well.

  I was also regretting flinching out of the dream vision. I should’ve looked around more, perhaps my leash holder could’ve been identified. At the same time, I hadn’t gotten the impression any other gods were nearby or in the city at all. Did that mean June was killed?

  June stroked my back, “What happened.”

  I told her all about it, and how impotent I felt. How I wondered if that was how the whole pantheon existed in the first place, all the gods under the thrall of one or another in a pecking order from hell.

  No wonder they’d been a bunch of bitter assholes.

  It was a terrifying idea, and at the moment I was freaking out a bit. There had to be a way to stop it, but maybe I just wanted there to be. Yes, that lesser god had been a danger to me, but only because I’d wanted to subdue and not kill. If I’d been willing to just take him out, he wouldn’t have stood a chance if I’d unleashed the full power of the sun on his ass. Which is what it would be like for me, if I faced one of the five or one of the other gods born of titans.

  She asked, “You’re not thinking of doing anything stupid, are you?”

  I frowned, “No. Killing myself, martyring myself for humanity, wouldn’t save the world anyway. Another powerful god would just wind up doing the job instead, and I’m the only one that sees it coming save the one behind it. If there’s a way to change it then I have to find it. I just need you to promise if I am mind-controlled, you will flee, and take Brenna with you.”

  She pondered that, “What if we looked for the new Hestia? Or maybe Aphrodite?”

  “To what end?”

  She tilted her head, “They should be able to shield you from compulsion, with one of their own. Order you to ignore all other compulsions, or something. We need a top tier ally.”

  I blinked, “That’s not a bad idea, but we’d have to trust them, and we have no idea where to even start looking. Maybe I can try to dream of them? They might be too powerful or able to block it. Still, it’s something to keep in mind, I also need to explore that vision more, go to other cities and see who’s all involved if I can.

  “The only good news is I think it’s only one of them. We’ve only been here a few days and were born ignorant, not nearly enough time to form a cabal to end the world and launch a plan. But that begs the question why the others on that level didn’t stop it from happening.”

  She blinked, “I don’t know. As to the promise you want, I will leave if you’re ordered to kill me, but I won’t leave you trapped and alone in your mind, with no allies.”

  I sighed, “Sexy, if you let me kill you, then I’ll never forgive you.”

  She giggled, “Noted, I will be alert.”

  I kissed her softly, lingeringly. So sexy and sweet, still innocent, and maybe she’d always be. She was shameless when it came to sex, and the roleplay, but maybe shameless was the wrong word. Maybe she just had zero hang ups. The opposite of corrupt and debauched. She had a natural joy and innocence in sex, if that made sense, fueled by her power and nature.

  I considered trying to sleep again, but then shuddered at the idea. Tomorrow night, I’d look at more of the vision, not just more of Chicago, but other cities as well. That vision encompassed the world, after all. I could also try and find the gods above me, but I wasn’t sure if that was possible or not. I had a learning curve, and if I didn’t try to master my power to see the future, then I’d never know.

  Hopefully the fact there hadn’t been another vision, also meant there wouldn’t be a second attack like that war god anytime soon. I got the idea it’d been a test run of some kind, I doubted it would happen again before our culprit was ready to make a serious move.

  The whole idea was stressful, the concept of being so powerful yet also a helpless slave, controlled as a weapon of mass destruction. So I buried my head in the sand so to speak for the rest of the night, and chatted the rest of the night away with June. She was a hell of a distraction, and there were still depths to plumb.

  The scent of bacon, eggs, orange juice, and freshly baking biscuits reached my nose as I entered the kitchen that morning after my shower. June was at the stove finishing things up, and I came up behind her and hugged her from behind. She melted back into me and tilted her head up and back so I could claim a kiss, and then wiggled a little teasing my middle with her ass.

  I kissed the side of her neck, and patted her ass, “I’d have helped,” I said as I walked to the cabinets and started to set the table.

  She smiled, “I don’t mind, I wanted to, and you were in the shower. So, are you getting Brenna today?”

  “Do you want me to?”

  She nodded, “I do. I want to meet her, and to see what the three of us might get up together. We’ll still have our intimate moments, and so will you two, but it will change the dynamic in the house, I think. This might be the last breakfast I ever cook, for instance.”

  I chuckled, “You may be right, she’ll want to take care of us, all the small things. You’re okay with that?”

  She shrugged, “I can still do it when I want, it’s not like she’ll refuse me. So yes? Lastly, I want to see you with her, and I think I want to explore that part of my sexuality. I mean, I never got the college experimentation experience, with women, I mean.”

  I cleared my throat, “Right, I know she’ll enjoy that, babe. We should fill her in on our little problem too, she might have an idea we haven’t considered.”

  She giggled, “The end of the world? That little problem?” she asked with amused incredulity.

  I grinned, “Yes, that’s the one. Really, it’s a laugh at it or go rock in the corner and cry kind of thing, isn’t it?”

  I mean, not just being enslaved, but being forced to be a mass murderer while your conscience cries out in its cage. It sounded like hell.

  She nodded slowly, “I can see that.”

  I finished setting the table, as she got the eggs out of the pan and took the biscuits out of the oven. She’d timed it all perfectly, and everything was piping hot as she put it on the table while I poured the orange juice and sat down.

  “What’s your plan for the day?”

  She smirked, “Writing, though I think I’ll do it in the backyard. It’s going to be a beautiful sunny day. You?”

  I’d finished the third series, and it’d still be at least two or three days before I could drop them off. There was no point in painting more, even eighteen paintings, three series of six in such a short period of time, would strain Allison’s credulity. I also didn’t want to be greedy, so maybe it was time to get my leisure on.

  “I’ll join you in the backyard, I think. I won’t bother you, but I might do a little landscaping. I’m also going to look through the rest of the witchcraft e-book, memorize all the spells. Maybe there’s a way to guard my mind with witchcraft, even against a more powerful god’s compulsion. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to know it all. I’ll drop by Candle Dreams before lunch, let her know we’re ready for her, Brenna will no doubt be here by dinner.”

  Landscaping was an art too, and the yard really needed some work. I’d only moved in a few days ago and restoring the outside appearance to well-tended and cared for seemed like a good place to start. Nothing inside was broken, just old and worn. I’d be able to do some of it with witchcraft too, which would help.

  She smiled, “That sounds good. I’ll just warn you that I won’t be good company.”

  “Sexy eye candy though,” I countered with a grin.

  She blushed, “Always for you.”

  I winked, “I get it, I imagine I’d be terrible company when I’m painting.”

  She replied warmly, “I doubt that. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about my idea, and it might not even be viable.”

  “The find an ally one?”

  She nodded, “Well, there are nine muses. There also haven’t been nearly enough reports of us in the news, sightings of golden power being used. I mean, for hundreds of gods, most of them minor like me. Those two things make me wonder if we weren’t all rebirthed on that night. Perhaps we’re being reborn in waves.”

  I nodded slowly, “You think more muses would’ve found their way to me by now?”

  She tilted her head, “Yes. I mean, eventually there’ll be nine of us won’t there, all competing for your attention and cock time.”

  I snickered, “Not to mention frolicking together.”

  She blushed, then nodded in agreement.

  I asked, “That doesn’t bother you? I mean, nine seems a little much, I’d wind up neglecting simply because there wasn’t enough time in the day.”

  She bit her lip, “I feel no jealousy. I feel excited at the idea of sharing you with Brenna, and I imagine that will carry over for my sister muses. Our magic will help, keep us bound and close, and I imagine a three-day rotation would work. You could sate and spend quality time with three of us a day without impacting your time significantly. On the two skip days I’d have five sister muses, our witch, and who knows who else to spend time with. So no, I think it’ll work just fine, if we approach it right.

  “And of course, we’d all have time together at meals, all ten of us plus, every day.”

  “That sure of us already?” I asked curiously.

  She bit her lip, “Yes, sir. We’re not in love yet, but I was made to love you, sir. I think I was made for you, as well. Not that we won’t have to work at it, but I don’t think that will be a labor either of us will ever find onerous.”

  “You are amazing, June.”

  She grinned, “See. I told you, I stopped fighting our connection and what it meant on the night I went willingly and joyfully to your bed. Yesterday afternoon I stopped hiding any parts of me I was afraid to show you. I feel, gloriously content orbiting you, being owned by you, and being able to seduce you.”

  I laughed, “Also awe me. I feel the same about you, I hadn’t gotten as far as you in thought though.”

  She shrugged, “Natural concerns. I’ll have competition for your attention, but you won’t for ours. Anyway, the point I was making before we got off topic, was I suspect my sisters are probably born, but not yet twenty-one years of age. It kind of works as a plan, not just for the world to adjust to our rebirth a small step at a time, but also so we’re not overwhelmed. So we have time to welcome one of us at a time and get them past the bumps, before another joins us.

  “Calliope was said to be the leader and speaker amongst her sister muses, so maybe that’s why I was the first to be reborn and the first to come to your side.”

  I blew out a breath.

  “Right, so by extension it’s entirely possible there’s only one tier one level god on the planet right now, each one of them leading a wave of lesser gods, and we have no idea when that second wave will happen. Unfortunately, one that’s insane and wants to end the world, without any of their equals to step in. It even explains the vision, why one of the others on top wasn’t stopping the destruction and culling, or fighting whoever is behind it. That means we’re screwed.

  “The good intentions of a rebirth in waves might spell the world’s doom, because no one considered the idea one of us could be broken, abused, and driven insane before we came into our powers. They do say the road to hell is paved in good intentions, and gods or not whoever made the decisions screwed up.”

  She bit her lip, “Yeah, I think I get the laugh at it or rock in the corner and cry thing, now.”

  “On the good side, you’re an amazing cook,” I quipped.