Mortal Seductions

by Allyson James

  Demitri flushed. “You really are sex-crazed, aren’t you?”

  “Only when it involves you.” Val traced the broad backs of his fingers. “And a hot man like Leon. I like this. The three of us, I mean. I like you both, and I like you sharing me with him, and him with me.”

  “You, Valerie?”

  “What do you think, lover?”

  Demitri’s hand tightened on hers. “Don’t do that to me.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “Why not? Will you spank me like you made Leon do last night?”

  Demitri peered at her. Was it a good sign that he suddenly wasn’t sure which side of Val he was dealing with? “Is that what Valerie wants?”

  Val’s smile faded. “I’m not certain what I want. What if I can’t do this, Demitri?”

  “I’ll make sure you can do it.” He dabbed his lips with his napkin and set it on the table. “Let’s go back to the hotel here. I have an idea.”

  “What idea?”

  “I’ll have to show you.”

  The fact that Val contained her curiosity as they rose and left the restaurant confirmed that Demitri was dealing with Valerie. Valenarian would have tried to wheedle his plans out of him, argued if she didn’t like them.

  Valerie walked obediently at his side, and said nothing as they passed the Old Winter Palace Hotel and entered the one they’d stayed in two nights ago. They ascended to their floor in silence.

  “What are we doing here?” Val asked as they passed the sauna where they’d had interesting three-way play.

  Demitri unlocked his bedroom, towed her in, and shut the door. The beds were made and ready for them, his suits still hanging neatly in the open closet.

  Demitri slid his hands around Val’s waist and kissed her deeply. Val gasped, then sank into the kiss, her eyes closing.

  Demitri glided his tongue behind her teeth. He put his thumbs to the corners of her mouth, encouraging her to open to him. She groaned low in her throat.

  He eased back. “I want Valerie. Not Valenarian. Do you hear me?”

  “You don’t like Valerie.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I don’t care what you said in the restaurant. You loved what I was, not what I became.”

  Demitri cupped her shoulders. “You became calm and safe, no longer dangerous.”

  “And dull.” Val smiled. “You loved the spark in Valenarian, the woman who would do anything. You couldn’t control me, and you didn’t really want to. Valerie will do anything you say, and you don’t like that.”

  “You’re wrong. I want to help you.”

  “You don’t want me to die, but for Valenarian’s sake, not mine. When this is over, if we win, you’ll be happy when we go our separate ways.”

  He frowned. “I never said that.”

  “I think that’s why you want Leon with us, why you aren’t jealous of him and me. You can hand me off to him when we’re done, knowing he’ll make me happy. You won’t have to feel guilty.”

  His anger stirred. “You’re dreaming. I want you, Val.”

  “You’re trying to tame me, Demitri, but you like it rough, and so does Valenarian. That’s why you couldn’t tame her before—you didn’t want to.”

  “Damn it, Val, I still love you.”

  She held his face between her hands. “I’m not stupid, Demitri, or blind. When she comes out and I recede, there’s a sparkle in your eyes that’s not there now. You want her. She challenges you, and you love that.”

  He shook his head, his heart beating hard. “I want you to live. I want to be with you. I told you.”

  “You want her.”

  “No.”

  She dropped her hands and stepped back. “Then make love to me right now. That’s why you brought me up here, isn’t it? Make love to me in a way that won’t release her.”

  “That’s what I had in mind.”

  “I don’t think you can do it.”

  Demitri clenched his jaw. “You underestimate me. And you’re wrong.”

  Val unwound her scarf and dropped it onto the table next to her sunglasses. Her eyes were clear blue, her hair sleek and long. He held his breath as she began unbuttoning her blouse.

  Her breasts were beautiful, creamy and untouched by the sun. Her black lace bra pushed them into soft cleavage.

  Val let the blouse drop and unhooked the bra. As it fell, she ran her hands through her long hair and spilled it through her fingers.

  Demitri’s cock tightened as Val cupped her hands around her breasts. “As a priestess of Aphrodite, I was celibate,” she said. “But I still needed to release. We all did. The priestesses would gather when we had spare time, and we’d dance for each other. We’d do stripteases sometimes, pretend we were doing them for the men we wanted. And we touched ourselves. We couldn’t have each other, because we were celibate, but we were allowed to release ourselves. We taught each other many techniques.”

  Demitri felt his eyes change. The world suddenly became more clear, the scent of Val sharp in his nostrils.

  Val ran her fingers down her bare abdomen and unhooked and unzipped her pants. The flowing garment dropped easily to the ground, leaving her standing in nothing but lace panties.

  She slid her fingers inside the panties, her head dropping back as she touched her clit. Demitri’s gaze fixed on the black lace, watching her finger move back and forth beneath it.

  Don’t change. The tiger rose in him, and Demitri clenched his fists, willing himself to stay in human shape. Val withdrew her fingers. Her fingertips glittered with moisture. She put them into her mouth and sucked them clean.

  Demitri groaned. Val slipped her fingers back inside her panties, playing some more. This time when she withdrew, he caught her hand, wanting to taste her.

  “No, don’t touch me.” She moved from his grasp then ran her tongue up her glistening fingers. “This is Valerie, playing for you.”

  Demitri swallowed, and he let her go.

  She slid her hand back into her panties again, her nipples tightening as she played. Her tongue wound its way around her lips, making them red and moist as her hips moved with the joy of it. At last she began to jerk, her thighs squeezing together as though she wanted to pull her lover deep inside herself.

  Demitri shed his coat and shirt, unable to stay away from her. He tossed the clothes aside and wrapped his arms around her.

  She didn’t try to pull away this time. But she was Valerie, her eyes light blue and lovely. He kissed her, plunging his tongue into her mouth as she wriggled against him.

  Demitri’s hand went to his waistband, and he quickly got rid of the rest of his clothes. He lifted Val with his hands on her buttocks, and she wrapped her legs around him. Demitri backed her into the wall, leaned her against it, and slid his cock inside her.

  Val screamed. Demitri rocked her on him, the position not letting him thrust as well as he would have liked, but it didn’t matter. He was wound up and wild, the tiger in him wanting to let loose. He held it back and simply rode her. In her ecstasy, she squeezed his sheath hard, harder, until he came.

  Demitri felt his seed shoot deep into her, and they both shouted, laughing. Demitri’s legs weakened, and he collapsed to the floor, cushioning her fall onto him.

  They lay on the carpet, Val smiling and Demitri still laughing. Demitri rolled her over, and held her, kissing her face and throat.

  They wound down together. Val ran her fingers through his hair, and Demitri touched little kisses to her lips. Then silence, lassitude, lovely calm, drifting toward sleep.

  The calm was shattered by the chirp of Demitri’s cell phone. Stifling a curse, he dragged his pants to him and slid his phone out of its holder.

  “Hello,” he said, his voice bleary.

  “Shit.” Leon’s voice buzzed on the other end, echoing in the way of cell phones. “You’re having sex, aren’t you?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “I thought you were supposed to be flushing out thieves.”

  Demitri sat u
p, drawing a hand through his hair. Val propped herself up beside him, smiling sleepily. “We laid the groundwork. We’ll go back out this evening and see if we get any bites.”

  “I found a few things here I need to tell you about. Not on the phone.”

  Demitri’s curiosity stirred. “We’ll be back tonight.”

  Leon hesitated, then he drew a breath. “There’s something else I need to say to you.” Demitri waited, and Leon hesitated again.

  “Is someone there with you?” Demitri asked.

  “Hang on. Not anymore.” Leon drew another breath. “I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but thinking of you there, with Val . . .”

  “What?”

  Leon lowered his voice, as though putting his mouth closer to the phone. “I want to suck your fucking huge cock.”

  Demitri’s pulse sped, an agreeable excitement washing through him. “Really? Well, I want you to suck until my come rides down your throat.”

  “Fuck,” Leon said.

  Val draped her bare body over Demitri’s. “Mmm, are you talking dirty? Let me hear, lover.”

  Demitri looked down at her. Her eyes had gone dark, her smile wide and feral. “Damn it,” he whispered.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ll call you back,” Demitri said.

  He clicked off the phone. Val plucked it from his hand and threw it aside before she dragged him down to her and wrapped her legs around his waist.

  FELICIA looked up from her after-dinner coffee as Remy slid into the seat opposite her. The archaeology team usually went their separate ways for dinner but often fetched up at the same little restaurant for kofta and coffee.

  Remy looked so glum that Felicia’s heart twinged. He had the greenest eyes. So did his brother, but Leon had a hard face and a forbidding air that made you want to take three steps back. Remy she wanted to cuddle, running fingers through his tousled sand-colored hair.

  “Are you all right?” she asked him. She pushed the sugar at him, knowing he liked to dump a lot of it into his coffee.

  “I wish I knew.” Remy stirred to dissolve the sugar mounded in his cup. “I feel better with Leon helping me out, but I’m asking him to find a needle in a haystack. And I feel bad dragging his friends into it. He really didn’t need to involve them.”

  “What do you think of them?” Felicia said “them,” but she knew she really meant Valerie, a woman beautiful in a way Felicia would never be.

  Remy shrugged. “They’re rich. Demitri was nice to put up Leon in his hotel in Cairo. My mom would say he has real Southern hospitality.”

  “They’re interesting, aren’t they? I’ve never met anyone like them.”

  Remy wrapped strong fingers around his cup. “I guess. I didn’t really pay attention to them, but if they can help me keep my job, I’ll embrace them with open arms.”

  Felicia relaxed the slightest bit. Remy had his head in the ancient past—if someone wasn’t from the Nineteenth Dynasty, he barely saw them.

  “Any theories as to who is stealing the artifacts?” she asked.

  “Not really. I trust the members of my team, so it’s got to be someone from the outside. Someone got hold of a key somehow and is stealing to sell to unscrupulous tourists.”

  “At least the things aren’t important historically,” Felicia pointed out. “Just things every dig finds dozens of.”

  “That’s just it.” Remy frowned. “Why doesn’t the thief go after things that would bring him more money on the market? It’s like he knows what things we won’t miss too much.”

  “They took the necklace.”

  “True, but that’s still not much more valuable than anything else. It’s only faience. Still, it’s the principle of the thing, and if anyone finds out, it will be bad for me.”

  Felicia daringly reached over and touched his fingers. Remy’s hands were work-worn, cracked by sun and wind. His skin was tanned, his forearms dusted with gold hair. He was a solid man, born to work hard, with a brain that fortunately had been nurtured.

  “We’ll find out what happened,” she said, trying to sound reassuring.

  Remy sighed and lifted his coffee cup. “I hope you’re right.”

  Felicia’s hand slid away. Remy hadn’t even noticed her touch.

  She swallowed her hurt and frustration and drank her coffee. She couldn’t afford much, but she determined then and there to let Valerie help her pull Remy’s attention from 1250 BCE to the twenty-first-century woman who wanted him.

  VAL woke to find herself facedown on a bed beside Demitri. Her hair tangled around her, and she was hugging the pillow like it was a lifeline. Valenarian the demon had gone, and Valerie gazed at Demitri. He slept with his back to her, his delectable body bare.

  He slept hard. Demigods might be immortal—only gods could take their life—but they needed to eat and sleep like human beings. Demitri could push himself past the endurance of mortals, but he eventually had to replenish.

  Val slipped out of bed and stood up. The living room of the suite was bright as day, though the windows revealed dark night outside.

  Val padded out of the bedroom on bare feet. Aphrodite was stretched across the sofa in ancient Egyptian dress: a translucent sheath pinned at one shoulder, a heavy gold collar around her neck, and gold cuffs on her wrists. She let her black tresses spill around her, and she was nibbling on grapes.

  “Hello, Val, dear,” she said without looking up. “We need to talk.”

  12

  VALERIE faced her goddess after having lain with a man, having done the things she’d done with Demitri. As a priestess, she should feel shame, guilt, remorse, but Val felt none of these. Demitri was beautiful, she loved him, and she wasn’t ashamed of lying with him.

  “Talk about what?” she asked Aphrodite.

  “This and that.”

  “I’ll get dressed.” Val started to turn away, but Aphrodite pointed at the bedroom door, and it closed with a soft click.

  “No need, Val darling. I know what a woman’s body looks like, and yours is very pretty. If you’re cold, your scarf is there.”

  Val refrained from covering herself, knowing Aphrodite would take it as a sign of weakness. Right now, Val wanted to appear strong.

  “What do we need to talk about?” she repeated.

  “You, dear.” Aphrodite patted the sofa beside her. “Come. Sit. Have a grape.”

  Val perched herself on the sliver of sofa next to Aphrodite’s foot. Val didn’t reach for the fruit, not trusting where it came from. Eating food from Mount Olympus or some other sacred place could carry unknown consequences.

  “I obtained them at the market at the end of the road,” Aphrodite said, as though reading her thoughts.

  “You bought them?” Val couldn’t imagine Aphrodite marching into a market and actually purchasing something with mundane money.

  “I persuaded the merchant to let me have them. He will have peace and prosperity for a year for his generosity.”

  Val didn’t answer. She’d worked for Aphrodite for several thousand years and still feared her a bit. Goddesses did things for a variety of reasons, not all of them beneficial. They were short-tempered and easily offended, and their vengeance for the smallest transgression could be dire.

  “Do eat, Val. You’re too thin.”

  Val obediently took a grape and ate it, putting the seeds in a small bowl already filled with a collection of them. The grape was sweet and good.

  “I am looking forward to having you back in my fold, my dear. You are so pretty and obedient. A joy, really.”

  Val nearly choked on the grape. “You want me to go back to being your priestess?”

  “Of course I do. Why do you think I persuaded the gods to let me try to cure you?”

  Val coughed, her eyes streaming. “I thought, if I conquered Valenarian, Demitri and I could . . .”

  “You can spend time with him, of course, but no, you will come back to me. I thought you might misinterpret that, so I wan
ted to pop along and make sure you understood.”

  Val stared at her, stunned. She had somehow assumed that if they won, she would stay with Demitri. And Leon. Demitri was growing fond of Leon, it was obvious. The three of them together would be unconventional by human standards, but demigods could follow different conventions.

  “Then I will have to lose him again,” Val said softly. “No matter what happens.”

  “I believe you’ll find that when you drive the demon out of you, you won’t want to stay with him,” Aphrodite said, sounding complacent. “You’ll be my obedient servant, living for your work. That’s the way I see it, anyway.”

  Val looked at the floor so Aphrodite wouldn’t see her eyes flood with tears. She’d have to say good-bye to both of them. In fourteen days—thirteen now.

  Hurt twisted her heart. She thought of Demitri lying in bed in the next room, his handsome face relaxed in sleep. She loved him. She’d always loved him. And she was falling in love with Leon as well.

  “You expect me to let them go.”

  Aphrodite eyed her keenly. “Yes, I do. I want you to love me. I saved your life, after all, when all the other gods wanted to kill you.”

  “Why should you? You’re not even of my pantheon. I’m Egyptian.”

  “I know that. But where were Isis and Mut and Sekhmet when you needed them? The Egyptian goddesses left this plane long ago and care not what happens on it. The pharaohs who worshipped them have vanished, and people now care nothing for them. The old gods keep their distance. The Greek gods are much stronger and have always been more connected to this world. Do not school-children in the places called England and America still read of the Greeks and their gods?”

  “I have no idea,” Val said.

  “They do. Poets such as Homer and Virgil kept us alive. The Egyptians lost their stories until the archaeologists of the last hundred years dug them up again. And still not many people know them.”

  Val curled her fingers on the sofa, wishing Aphrodite would stop babbling about which pantheon was better. In Val’s opinion, all gods were cruel and capricious. Aphrodite was giving her a typical goddess-like choice: defeat Valenarian and say good-bye to Demitri and Leon forever, or let Valenarian win and watch the men she loved die lingering deaths.