Chapter 3.5

A bit of extra onto chapter 3. Still trying to set up character depth and lay the groundwork for the plot and future events.

Bane was left staring after the crimson haired muse following his betrothed, and holding her drink no less. Moments passed and he was left with his thoughts and the pounding music, neither woman returned. He should have been annoyed or at least slightly miffed, but instead he was amused, thoughtful, pensive even. 

He walked back to the bar sipping at Katia’s drink, thinking, and watching the mortals dance. Such a beautiful, rhythmic flow of emotions were steaming off them, and as he watched, watched individuals, crowds, and the people as a whole, he began to slowly understand just what drew Devlyn to these people, this plane.

Time had no meaning to him but when a hand tapped his shoulder, it shook him out of his thoughts and he wondered just how long he had been standing there. It could have been hours, or minutes, he wasn't sure. This immediately put him on edge. He was normally better than this. He was a god, for crying out loud. And not just a minor deity. One of the most powerful in their pantheon. His power made Zeus look like a puppy in a pack. Then again, compared to him, Zeus was a pup.

“You know lad, you’re thinking entirely too hard about it,” said a lilting male voice from behind him. Bane whirled and had to look up to meet the man’s eyes, way up.

 “Oh am I?” he snapped, glaring up into eyes the color of amethysts. He was not in the mood for socializing tonight. He had finally found her, and he had had no choice but to watch her walk away from him yet again. Such a site didn't exactly put him in the mood for bonding.

“Aye, you are,” the man said, smiling. There was something strangely familiar about this man and he didn’t know why but he was slightly, horse lords help him, attracted to him. What the hell? This went beyond strange. If he had thought he had been on edge before, it was nothing compared to the screaming going on inside of him now.

“Who are you?” he demanded, getting more and more agitated with the man’s presence. He wanted answers and he wanted this man gone, and he didn't particularly care which came first.

“My name is Aren, you’ve already had a run in with my sister, Katia,” Aren lilted, laughter shining in his eerily violet eyes.

 “And where-”

“She’s about, in fact she’s right here. Och, damn!”  

For a moment Aren seemed to shimmer out of focus all shadows and glimmer, and then he was staring at the redhead that had reunited him with Devlyn. “Weird, isn’t it?” the woman said, a slight laugh hedging on her voice. He could easily see how Devlyn liked her company. She was quick to laugh, quick to smile, it seemed.

“To say the least, and how did you come by that spiffy little trick?” He was bored with this conversation, though. He wanted to get back to finding Devlyn, preferably somewhere behind closed doors, where he could talk to her without her creating a scene. There was a reason he preferred not to deal with young ones. They were so petulant.

“Not by choice, I assure you. Now then, you have information I want and I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement by which we will both benefit.” The abrupt change in her was astounding, one moment a siren oozing desire and now all business. Everything about her demeanor changed: tone, attitude, the way she moved her mouth even.

“Oh really? And what such arrangement would that be?”

“I can help you get Devlyn,” she said with a seducing smile across her luscious red lips, looking him directly in the eyes, though she looked at him through the corners of hers.

“Get Devlyn back you mean,” he corrected her automatically.

“No, I said what I meant,” she said with a nod of her head. She calculated every word coming from her mouth. She seldom said anything in situations such as these where the words were not precise and punctuated just so. This was her craft, her gift. And damn if she wasn't superb at it.

"Look," the muse said turning with a deliciously vicious smile to invade his personal space. "You want Devlyn; I have her ear. It's really just that simple," she purred, running her fingertips over the bit of exposed chest where his shirt was unbuttoned. Gods, how she wanted to rip it off of him, button by button, and exposed that beautiful rock-hard chest of his.

Bane sneered, and batted her hand away. "You can't think me so stupid as to believe that a word from you and her entire attitude changes about me. Come now, let’s not play this game. She may not be mine now, according to her, but I watched her grow. I know her."

Katia tossed her hair and laughed, "Oh hardly," she breathed moving even closer, and continuing to invade that personal bubble. Her breath on his neck was the last straw, and he grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the nearest table. Her small cry of surprise turned into a sultry laugh, as her hands sank into his hair and she gazed up at him through half-mast lashes. Oh, this man was fun and appealed to all of her senses. Devlyn didn't deserve such wild, untamed passion he radiated. The young thing wouldn't know what to do with him. Such a waste, a pity, really.

"Temper, temper,” she crooned, running nails over the nape of his neck, and sending waves of heat down his spine. She wanted to touch him, caress him, slice him open with her nails, then lick the paths she had traced. 

"Don't toy with me, Muse," he hissed, shaking her slightly and pushing her further back onto the table. He had no idea what was going on with her, but he was not amused by her actions. Devlyn was the only woman to truly cross his mind since she reached maturity. Yes, he had been with other women to satisfy the most primal and basic of lusts, but they had meant nothing to him, and he hadn't lain with another deity since his betrothal that night, as he had looked down at the babe that would become his bride. That was another part of the bargain. Neither of them could share lusts with a fellow deity once the pact had been set.

"Never forget who you are dealing with. I am a god and I will have proper respect from you. Devlynaria may put up with this kind of insolence from you, but I assure you, I will not.”

"I never once disrespected you, and I'm offended that you would accuse me of such," she snarled back at him. Rather than pout those lips and tease him, she grew angry. Her abrupt change in moods threw him for just a moment.

 "Now then, would you like to hear my proposition or are you just going to hold me in one of my favorite positions and growl?"

He growled again and laid a warning hand over her throat and squeezed ever so slightly. "What do you want? And, Muse, you better make this quick.” His patience with her had worn out completely. Something was awry here, some other power source at play, but he no longer cared. This was the woman his Devlyn had sought companionship with, and she better start proving to be worthy of such a title before he executed her completely. Eros may have created her at Devlyn's behest, but the Greek god owed him enough that no one would mind one less muse in the world that had already been plagued with an overpopulation of lust as it was.

Author's Note

How are you drawn to the characters and the story? Is it piquing your interest, or does it sound like just another paranormal romance? This was started before Twilight and the plethora of paranormal drivel lining bookshelves. I want to keep it from becoming drivel.