Chapter 3

Lamp Posts and Peeves

Katerina hurried out of the bar. A quick scan of the area found Devlyn on the sidewalk on the other side of the street, staring out at the river. This wasn’t an area conducive to loitering, and they really didn’t need another scene tonight.

“Devlyn, what are you doing?” she asked as she caught up to the brunette.

Devlyn swung around and Katerina could tell she had actually been crying. “He’s not supposed to be here! He doesn’t care anything about me, so why won’t he just give up?”

Yeah, because Bane was being the stubborn one in this situation. It was terrifying to think these people controlled existence, when they couldn’t even control their own lives without hiding their heads in the sand. “Devlyn, you may have to face the fact that�"”

“Oh, don’t hand me some bullshit about how I need to go back. You of all people should understand my reluctance here. I cannot believe you’re such a traitor, that you would defect me like this.” The words were meant to cut, to renounce the honor of a once-great warrior, to question her faith and loyalty to her family.
            “Oi!”
            “Yeah, the truth’s a b***h, isn’t it?”
            “Aye, she is, isna she? Have you seen her lately? You must have not since you apparently still maintain you care nothing for that man.”
            Devlyn merely arched a perfectly defined brow. “That b*****d doesn’t mean a damn thing to me, Katia.”
            Katerina let out an unladylike snort and scoffed at Devlyn’s flat-out denial. “Oh really? Then the marvelous display of jealousy that you are now performing is only for my benefit? It’s not verra entertaining.”
            “Shut up, Katia.”
            Katerina gave a tilt of her head. “Katia. It’s Russian. As is his chosen human form.” She let a dark smirk overcome her face. “How very interesting.”
            “I lived in the Trans.”
            Katerina shook her head. “Not good enough, lass. You’re jealous and pissed. Just admit it. It’d make my life a lot less dramatic. Och, no, I take that back. This is better that soddin’ Passions, if I do say so.”
            “Go back and f**k, and leave me the Hell alone, you Muse. Go do what you’re good at.” Devlyn turned around and began walking down the boulevard.
            Katerina just stood there, mouth agape. How dare the mini brat say that! Oh, if she weren’t half her size, she’d send that girl flying! There was also the little fact that Devlyn simply outranked her in the divine hierarchy, full godship or no. Katerina had never once questioned it, despite the power she possessed. There was more to the divine than physical manifestation of power. Devlyn’s father was a master of Hell, and she was engaged to the God of War. Two people Katerina really didn’t want to piss off.

Mother Earth. Betrothed to the God of War. Och, that even sounded like it went together. Granted, together it sounded like they could wipe out all of humanity, but still. Katerina could see in just half an hour that obviously Devlyn had some underlying feelings toward him that had nothing to do with being resistant to having him to call her own. And after finally getting a good look at him herself, Katerina didn’t think that being married to him would be half bad. Something had happened before Devlyn came to Earth to pout. Granted, the girl could be spoiled and petty at times, but this went beyond that. There was a story here that an era of friendship had yet to uncover.
            But she was not getting in the way. Though she may be a muse, a being whose very nature tempted her to seek love for others, she knew better than to get too actively involved here. If she got involved and didn’t yield positive results, her life could be at stake. And though the warrior inside her wanted to protect and serve her companion, the demon in her had survival instincts that outweighed any other inclination.

            Devlyn continued walking, brooding in her own dubious, divided thoughts. It was easier when she didn’t have to face him. Easier because she didn’t have to look in his eyes and vehemently deny feelings that had seemed to spiral out the second he showed up in her club and forced her to look at him. Once he did that, it was all over for her.     

She had forgotten how handsome he was. A thousand years and her pulse still raced when he was anywhere in the vicinity. She’d forgotten about that too. Forgotten just how his eyes could smolder her every thought away to some distant realm. How he looked at her like she held the key to the universe in the palm of her hand. Gods, that look could still tighten her stomach and put a catch in her breath.

But it wasn’t love. It couldn’t be. Maybe she had loved the man she had met at sixteen, the one who showed her folds of their world she thought forbidden, showed her that the life of a god could be wild and adventurous. But he never told her who he was who was, who he really was. Nykosas. Her betrothed. The man she was forced to wed and breed with. He didn’t tell her that part. And that wasn’t love.

She had let her guard down with him. She had been too young and stupid to know better. She knew how it all looked to the other gods�"she just seemed spoiled and petulant. And, well, yes maybe she was. But she couldn’t trust him. And she wasn’t going to be bound like that, so permanently, to someone she didn’t trust.

She had actually been harboring the fantasy for the past couple hundred years�"who really knew exactly how long she’d been here considering how often she jumped time?�"that he had forgotten about her. Finally gave in, gave up. Found someone more acquiescent, a character trait she knew she lacked.

But he was back now and that changed everything. Squished that little fantasy like a bug under a boot heal.

He’d eyed Katerina, seemed to appreciate what he saw, and a monster so viscous had sprung up inside her. For a few moments she wanted to gouge his eyes for looking at the muse, and she so badly wanted to tear Katerina to pieces for it.

But she wasn’t jealous. She knew in those recesses of her mind she rarely explored that Bane had been with other women both before she ran away and after. It would be absurd to expect anything different from him. After all, his mother wasn’t the Goddess of Virtue. Why couldn’t he have dalliances as he chose? Just because she had been on Earth for centuries and had done no more than kiss a handful of humans, didn’t mean that everyone could ignore their libidos.

She closed her eyes and tried to fight away the memory of his lips on hers. A kiss like that, made from sin, set in the middle of the heavens, oh gods, it was no wonder she surrendered her heart to him, however briefly. No other kiss in history had been like that. He had plenty of experiences, as old as what he was. It stood to reason he could kiss like that.

Gods, she could only imagine if Katerina got a hold of him. Between the two of them they knew more about sex than all the human experts on Kama Sutra combined. Oh, her mind led her down those paths, picturing with perfect clarity scenes she didn’t know she possessed the ability to imagine.

She stopped and stared at the lamppost in front of her, the one that so rudely stepped out in front of her as she wandered the streets without paying attention.  “I don’t care!” she yelled at it. It just stood there. Silent. “Answer me!” Nothing. “I really don’t!” The lamppost’s continued silence only seemed to indicate her denial.
            “I’m not in denial. And I’m not jealous.” The lamp post only continued to wordlessly mock her.
            “You stupid, inanimate object! Don’t you presume to tell me how I feel, damn you!” She maneuvered a simple roundhouse kick that knocked over the pole with a loud crash that left it lying on the deserted cobblestone street.
            “Do you hear me? I’m not jealous! I’m peeved.”
            “Yes, and the lamppost is in de-street…,” said a musical male voice she really didn’t want to hear.
            “Go away, Aren,” Devlyn snapped, glaring death at Katerina’s twin.
            Aren laughed, “Ooh, I’m so scared. Please, all I have to do is wave a penis and you go running.”
            Okay, even for him that made damn near no sense. Or perfect sense. It wasn’t like she had a plethora of men in her life, especially none that she trusted. She didn’t want to think about it. “I repeat, go away,” she growled.
            He laughed, tossing his long copper hair and striking a pose that was made to make someone salivate. Why, why was she cursed with him? Oh, right, he and Katerina had managed to piss off a really good witch ages before, and the hag had cursed them into sharing a body.

 A hand snaked around her waist and she was pulled against a well-defined chest. “Come now, luv, you know I’m right,” he cooed at her neck. Though he considered her family, a man could not be held accountable for trying.
            “Hands off, Celt. That doesn’t work on me; if I didn’t screw you a five hundred years ago, I’m not about to now. Besides, temperamental redheads don’t do it for me,” she seethed.
            “Ah, but something else does…what was it? Ah yes, Russians,” Aren drawled, kneading her shoulders and neck with one hand, while the other remained firmly on her hip. Not the most comfortable position for a man standing six feet six inches.
            “Would the genie like to go back in the bottle?” Devlyn said sweetly, referring to the fact that Aren shared a body with his sister Katerina and the duo had to fight for usage. Because of her amount of power, Katerina typically won.  Aren quickly removed his hands from her person. She glared at him again, really hard, serious eye contact. “That’s what I thought. Quiver, oh ye male creature!”
            He quirked a brow.
            “Yeah,” she nodded. “I said it. I know it was ridiculous. Whatcha gonna do about it?” Her eyes lit afire. She wanted a fight, though she knew deep down that he was not the one she wanted a fight with. And a fight with that particular being would more likely than not only end with her in the position she was avoiding at all costs. But if she continued talking with Aren too much longer, she would eventually reach the point where a fight with anyone would do. And he would be available. And that never turned out pretty, for either of them. The only difference was that he was a male with a sexual prowess of an alpha lion of the pride and she was the innocent virgin that couldn’t walk away with a cocky grin, sauntering forth in search of the next tumble. She had only to look forward to a night of licking her wounds alone in her bedroom. “Aren, you just don’t understand. And I don’t feel like explaining anything to you.”
            He put a light hand on her shoulder, well aware of how she felt about his mere presence. But she needed comfort, despite the fact that he knew she didn’t want it, at least from him. “You don’t have to. You saw your god tonight, did you not? And it all came back, didn’t it?”
            “What are you babbling about now, Aren?” she evaded.
            “I see more than my sister does, Devlyn, you know that. And I know more. Being a part of her for so long, I can also sense so much of you. There was more to you leaving up there, wasn’t there, honey?” he asked sensitively. Aren might have been an extraordinarily exuberant character most of the time, but deep down, he knew human emotions. Being nothing more than a voice in someone’s head for so long, he knew more about the meaning of empathy than most people could possibly comprehend. And he knew enough about Devlyn after seeing her through someone else’s eyes and only being able to watch her to know when there was something of multiple layers going on beneath her exterior.
            “What pains you so?” he asked her.
            Truth time. Not the finest hour. “I wasn’t a child when I left there. I was a bit older than what I led Katerina to believe, slightly more experienced, though not much.  I was merely put down here as a child, and I had to learn through a child’s eyes everything, but I had my memory of my life up there. So many things are different, between the realms. I’ve met him before. I--" She stopped, on the verge of divulging too much.
            “What?” he pressed.
            “I can’t tell you, Aren. Katia’s my best friend and faithful companion. And she’d never understand if I told you and not her.”
            “But we’re one and the same. Telling me is telling her.”
            “Yes, but it’s not the same and you know it.”
            “Tell me nonetheless. Don’t worry about what Katerina thinks. This is not Katerina’s problem.”
            Devlyn sighed. He was right, of course. And it was so much easier to tell a man, a man who wouldn’t add his womanly opinion. This was a man who would simply let her tell her tale, offering a warm shoulder or an occasional tender word, but little more. He wouldn’t fill the silence or the regret with mere words like women loved to do. And she would just have to deal with Katerina's wrath later.
            “I first met Bane when I was a young teenager, bodily and maturely about thirteen. You know how time works there. One day there is like a year here. There was a grand dinner or something that I had actually been allowed to attend. I saw him and thought him the most beautiful creature in all existence, though I didn’t know who he was. After all, my mother kept me mostly in my temple or hers. Worldly, I was not. He talked to me at first, introduced himself as ‘Nick’, and when my conversation skills couldn’t keep his attention, he charmingly ceded away, and then ignored me for the rest of the event.
            “But I caught his attention a few years later, at sixteen. I was enamored. We went out to one of the gardens to steal away a few precious kisses. It could have so easily become more. Oh, who am I kidding? It did turn to more than just kissing, but I stopped him. And I realize now if it hadn’t, my fate would have been sealed and things would be far different now. But that’s beside the point. I held back, of course. I told him that I could not go any farther than the kissing. He asked me why, and truthfully, I answered him that I already had a betrothed, and I was indebted to such to keep my innocence firmly intact. He replied back to me that he liked that in a pursuit. He smiled so seductively at me, gave me one more heart-pounding kiss that royally set my blood blazing, and bid me goodnight.
            “A few years passed and I went to Medos to visit my best friend Jinx. And there he was again. So innocent, I didn’t question his presence, only delighted in the attention he gave me. A relationship of sorts formed, a teenage affair, if you will, at least for me. An infatuation with a beautiful man who took me to different realms, worlds I had never been privy to. It was amazing and passionate. I fancied myself in love. And my hatred for my betrothed grew, for denying me the right to be with this person who was becoming the center of my world.”

She stopped, took Aren’s hand out of need for tangible comfort. She could tell this story. She could tell it as emotionless as possible.

 “It was my day into womanhood, my twentieth birthday, when I made my fateful decision. There was a great feast in my honor. It was the day that I was to take my rightful place as a full deity, as well as the day that my betrothed was to be presented to me, a sort of handfasting.  After the ceremony and feast, the ritual would take place, and I would claim my place among the deity court. I had hated the fact that I was not allowed to choose my important life choices, and I resented my betrothed deeply. I already knew I was going to deny him.

“And then I met him, learned his real name to be Nykosas. And the handsome rake that stole my first kiss then turned to Bane. Because he became merely more than the bane of my existence, literally as it were.
            “I immediately informed my parents that he wouldn’t do. I wanted to choose my own mate. I didn’t like having my entire eternity planned out before me, without any of my consent. I had hoped that I could explain my wishes to my betrothed and persuade him to let me decide. But I knew that Bane would never let me do that. He was God of War, after all. And I was angry, because had I been given a choice, and had I not known who Bane was, I would have considered choosing him. And I was mad at myself about that, because that would mean that my parents were right, and they were wrong. Are wrong.
            “I want to be in control of my life. If I have to live forever, then I want to choose how I spend that forever. Is that too much to ask?“
            “Not at all, sweet.”
            You know Aren, there are times when I wonder how I would ever go on without you. Katerina’s voice echoed in Aren’s mind softly.

I know, good thing you won’t have to, isn’t it?
            “Oh no, what did she just say? Does she always have to put her two cents in?”
            “Of course. Have you ever known my sister to remain silent for any period of time, other than slumber?”

            Never really had her. He hadn’t considered that possibility. He knew Devlyn obviously had some disputes where he was concerned, but he hadn’t considered absolute abhorrence. They had a history, granted it held deception, but she had felt for him.
            No way. Not possible. He’d had her, though quite a long time ago, in his arms, so yielding and wanton. Glorious in all of her innocence. He found it delightfully charming and wonderfully reassuring that she had put a halt to their frivolous play because she was already promised. She just didn’t realize at that time that it was to him that she was betrothed. As a charming and frivolous young man, he had held her heart.
            It was the instant she realized it was him, Nykosas, and not entirely who he had led her to believe, that the hellcat had sprung up. He had lost her trust in those first few moments on her womanhood celebration. They had already met, already had a nicely seductive encounter. And she was bound to feel betrayed by him because he had neglected to tell her. She probably felt ten kinds of fool. Perhaps she felt he had done it as some sort of game.

 She wouldn’t be entirely wrong in that. He had wanted to unwrap his gift the night before Christmas, so to speak. But it had been more than that. He had known her reserve, her refusal to have a betrothed at all, and he had wanted to gain her affection when she had an open mind to him. With a guise he could show her who he was, beyond his title, and let her see another side to him, beyond what she knew.
            And she had been everything he could have hoped. The innocence in a world full of the wise and omniscient was refreshing. She was young and ripe and had yet to be tainted. Until him.

He closed his eyes as he remembered how she looked tonight, eyes on fire in their anger, face flushed with emotion, and her body just as lush and curvaceous as he had remembered. It had taken so much control, doubled with the anger she ignited in him, to keep his hands off of her. She riled him, in more ways than one. Unearthly beautiful, she captivated him, with her strong will and iron determination, qualities he admired in himself and others.

He wished there was some way to make her see reason, that their union was more than him adopting a harem or acquiring higher power through her. Their entire world was at stake, and she failed to realize it. He could feel it, and he doubted little that she did too. He could feel the strain on their world, and the dire need protect the both of them from her foolishness.

 

Bane had never realized that Devlyn had set out to find fault with whomever it was that she had been destined to be with. Her first distress had been that there was someone she already more than approved of and he was being denied to her. Her second was finding out who he actually was, and the reputation that he carried. He was young, devilishly charming, rakishly handsome, twice the man she could ever handle, and half the man that could ever handle her.
            She did not want a womanizer, and womanizing was one thing Bane had down pat. Everyone in their pantheon knew of Nykosas’ exploits: the women he had bedded, the havoc he and his brothers left in their hell-paths, and the brutality he could possess when it suited. Like hell would she ever set herself up for a life like that. Deep down she was terrified of the woman a man like that would create inside of her, who she would become after the erosion he twisted in her heart. She was perfectly content to stay here in the mortal realm, going from parties to balls to galas and back home again with the Muse and the Annoying One.
            Living several lifetimes with Aren had made her quite jaded and cynical to love, at least the everlasting kind. It was out there, somewhere. The realm it was in was an entirely different story. She wanted the kind that never left her soul, because that stayed untouched. She didn’t want to be a passing obsession. And like hell would she ever be content to be someone’s guarantee. She was too strong-willed for that. She could never be happy with someone like that.
            “Why, luv?” Aren asked her. “What about him is so wrong? I quite liked the young lad.”
            Devlyn snorted. “Young lad, my a*s. The man is twice as old as you and I put together, your sister included. He’s a cad. I’ve seen him, met him, nearly fallen prey to him myself. He comes to Earth, frequently, for the human exploits. Women are known to die of exhaustion, fatigue after being with him. Most turn to drugs because supposedly there is no greater high than to peak with him.”
            Aren smiled. “For someone so old, for someone who should be so wise, you are unbelievably innocent, little one.” And his smile was instead so playful that Devlyn groaned inwardly awaiting his next reply. “And perhaps you have not considered all of the possibilities of life with him as your mate.”
            “The point is coming, right?” she replied quite dryly.
            “Of course, m’dear. The two of you were betrothed together by gods. I believe that is the very definition of what the mortals call soul mates, two destined partners who are perfectly matched by the gods above to spend eternity together to make one.”
            “And what do humans know about gods and eternity?” she argued.
            “More than we know sometimes,” he smiled fondly. Some days, most days, she truly wished she could grant him his own separate body, own separate entity. “Your parents did not choose him for petty or basic reasons. These are beings that can see the future. Your mother governs some of the very things in which you are afraid of. Sense tells you that you should not fear this ritual.”
            “Sacrifice,” she corrected. Sacrifice just sounded more accurate to her.
            Aren rolled his eyes. “Irrelevant,” he breezed on. “And have you ever thought that being his match could just as easily make you the female equivalent of him? That perhaps once you’ve tasted immortal, or even mortal, love, your thirst would be unquenchable? Haven’t you ever stopped to wonder why your mother chose to add that stipulation when she grounded you to earth?”
            She refrained from letting out an indignant “Of course!” and stopped to truly consider his words. The first few centuries that she was here, she had been so caught up in the mere being here, cursing her parents for forcing her away, cursing Bane for being himself, cursing earth and its stupid laws of physics. Even her powers were significantly limited here. She wasn’t like Katerina, whose breed was specifically created to live on multiple realms, earth included. She had been made for the heavens, though there were other worlds she had been fond of as well.
            All deities were supposed to spend at least one lifetime on earth, if for no other reason than to be reminded of the struggles and limitations in a human life. Devlyn knew she had actually been here too long; she didn’t interact with emotional humans on a normal enough basis.
            Up there, Devlyn had kept her innocence out of respect. It was a courtesy, of sorts. And there had been lack of opportunity, she supposed. No one had really sparked her interests, until Bane. She had always figured that with her mother being the Guardian of Virtue, Reisha had expected Devlyn to keep hers firmly intact while on tour of earth. That, and the fact that she had been placed in the care of Fae and vampires as a human child, reason enough for her mother not to want her to potentially breed.
            She had also never stopped to consider what would happen if she were to be intimate here on earth. Would she burst into flames? Would she become human? Would her lover become some kind of deity, or immortal? Would she just go back home? So many things she had just taken as standard fact or rule and had not questioned it. Which was bizarre and against her very nature in itself.
            “No, not until now, really. I mean, doesn’t every mother want her daughter’s virtue to stay intact as long as possible?”

            “Perhaps, luv. Or perhaps you are like all immortals. If Bane’s intimacy with mortals results in insanity, wouldn’t it make sense for you to have the same effect on someone?” He was silent for several minutes while he let some of the weight of his words sink in on her.
            “Perhaps your mum knew the repercussions of your actions and she knew the regret you would feel, and she wanted to avoid that at all costs. So you have this stipulation.”
            “So why wouldn’t she just tell me?”
            He gave her a questioning brow. “Would you really have believed her? C’mon, Devlyn! You would have gone out and tupped every good-looking man who came your way. Or perhaps just one or two, to see what happened. You wouldn’t have believed her until you proved it for yourself. And you, m’dear, would’ve been crushed and guilt-ridden if you ever harmed an innocent.”
            “So you’re saying I can’t, you know, without driving some poor, innocent b*****d nuts?”
            “Not at all. You merely need one of your own kind, or not human.”
            “So you would be fair game?” she asked.
            “On some level, yes. Whether it be vampire, demigod, fae, or some other, they should be alright. I doubt lycanthropes would be safe, however. They are still very human, despite turning furry once a month. Even being a were-animal, they are still animal, in the animal kingdom. I wouldn’t advise you to try one. That, and they’re so unpredictable. And that’s not always a good thing,” he said with a sneer as he winced and rubbed his neck at that memory.
            “Really?” she asked, grinning slightly.
            “Trust me, not worth it.”
            “So I have to settle for a vamp or demigod or faery?”
            “Do you realize you used the word settle? Most would consider the mere humans as settling.”
            Devlyn’s jaw went rigid. “It’s the mere humans who have the hearts, Aren. Hearts, capable of love. I want love.”
            Aren smirked. “And you think nonhumans are not capable of such?”
            “Humans are more open to the idea. Humans spend their entire existence searching for it. Immortals, however, scorn it, mock the idea of devoting or even sharing their lives with someone else.”
            “You have to admit, it’s an awfully long time to spend with someone.”
            Devlyn turned on her heel from him. He could be such a guy sometimes! She didn’t want to hear all of the negative on the topic of love. She had more than enough negative thoughts in her own head. There were plenty of doubts filling her very fiber. Finding out that she just might actually be destined for the immortal godly man who was the bane and haunting figment of her being scared the hell out of her. She had gone so long without really ever giving too much thought to him that for him to suddenly be back in her life after so long was a shock to range her entire world.
            Bane was back. It both terrified and thrilled her beyond her expansive imagination. Would he force her to go home? She knew he could, easily. There were only two ways a god could go back to the heavens, other than by choice, and since it was no longer in her power to do so by choice, she didn’t think she could run from him by changing realms. But short of mortal death, which would ship her back to her parents, but wasn’t worth the mortal pain she’d feel in the process, another, more powerful god could force another god back to the heavens if they so chose.
            Would Bane make her go back? Would he claim her? She knew that if she ever went back to the heavens that she would be forced to consummate their binding, almost immediately on arrival. They would be wedlocked, a celebration would be thrown, and then off to it they would go. Once his, she didn’t know how much of her free will she would have, how many of her powers depended on him. She didn’t understand how marriage worked up there, if it was anything like it was on earth. The gods did not choose to marry often, too many feared what the joining of forces like that would create. Yet, she was destined to marry a very powerful one. She had grown up with the impacts of her parents’ own disastrous union. She didn’t want one for herself. 
            “Devlyn?” Aren questioned with a concerned look, considering that her facial expressions were changing by the thoughts in her head. “Are you alright with all of this? Do I need to be the gallant, heroic knight and fight him, sword and shield?”
            Devlyn smiled at the picture of the valiant Prince Aren, sword raised, dressed in his war plaid. “I’m not sure how I feel about all of this tonight. You have to admit, the fact that your sister was so strongly attracted to him is enough to give the heeby-jeebies. And no, I can fight my own battles for myself, but thanks for the offer. Men may be better at wielding the swords and axes, but we women have much subtler means of fighting that leave better scars that though they may be easier to hide, will never go away, no matter how powerful you are and how much wonderful glamour one may behold.” She smiled almost cruelly and Aren’s blood turned colder at the look in those eyes so typically innocent.
            “Don’t do anything you’ll regret, Dev. I already hate having to bale the lovely Katerina out of mischief, I don’t want to have to start being your keeper as well.” From the wince on Aren’s face, Devlyn could guess that Katia had something nasty to say back to him for that remark. “I beg your pardon, apparently I am the one who stumbles upon mischief and it is my arse that frequents trouble.”
            “If trouble were an alley, your a*s would be the cat in the garbage.”
            “And if virginity were truly a wonderful fruit to savor, yours would have rotted by now.”
            “A*****e.”
            “Virgin.”