“No! Stupid baby!” Raven shouted as he whirled around, turning the blade on his intervening Brother. “I hate her! I wish she was DEAD!”
That drew the attention of his parents and everyone else in the room. Alena began quickly making her way to the Golden Throne with Ares close behind her. Raven had been acting out all day long and she was ready to let his Father deal with the situation just as soon as they got back to the Fortress.
Before they could reach their destination, Zeus looked down at his Grandson. “Show Trinity the respect she’s due, boy. That baby is your future Queen. One day, you will have to do whatever she tells you.”
Raven might be young and impetuous, but even he was aware that Ares was next for the Throne with Raven after him. He was going to be passed over for a weak female and denied the Golden Throne of Olympus? “We’ll see.”
Alena made it to the scene first. “That’s enough, Raven. I think it’s time we left.” With a cross look of exasperation on her pretty face and her arms outstretched, she reached to pick him up.
“NO!” Raven wheeled around heatedly to point the blade at his mother, but the movement was so swift Alena didn’t have time to react. The tip of the ice-blade sliced her cheek just below the right eye. Raven, lost in his anger, didn’t notice the new dueling scar on his mother’s cheek. “Stupid bitch. I’m better.” Slowly, Raven stood fully erect puffed out his budding chest and proclaimed, “I’m the best!”
Zeus glanced at all three family members simultaneously; Alena held a hand to her bleeding cheek and looked as though she were about to cry, Ares stood there smoldering in anger and embarrassment, Raven, blade still formed at the end of his hand, planted his feet at shoulder’s width in firm defiance of all of them. “I see the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, has it, Ares?”
Tossing a small but well-directed fireball in the direction of Raven and Zeus, Ares hit the ice-blade attached to Raven’s fist, melting it before he hauled Raven off his feet and settled the angry boy on his hip. “I see we’re just as welcome as always, Father, we’ll be going now.” He turned to Alena, holding her hand to her bleeding cheek. “Are you all right?”
“It’s just a scratch.” Alena wanted to say that Raven hadn’t meant to do it, and perhaps he hadn’t, but she found herself saying that phrase so often; he’s just a boy, he didn’t mean it, he didn’t mean any harm that she was starting to have her doubts.
“Trinity will always be better than you, you little mongrel,” Zeus called as Ares began to walk away, holding his tongue and his temper in check. No doubt, he was trying to set an adult example for Raven: how unlike Ares. “Tell him, I speak the truth.”
With his Son on his hip and his Wife sheltered by his arm, Ares turned to Zeus with a cold grin. “You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you in the ass, Father.”
II
“Maybe a pet would help.”
“A what?”
“A pet, you know, something living that Raven could learn to care for and be responsible for.” It was a tactic often employed by the Special Education Teachers at the academy where she’d once taught and it seemed to work for a great deal of children who, like Raven, were generally classified as ‘Excitable’ when she left the academy but were now labeled ‘ADHD’.
The idea had merit, but Ares wasn’t sure as they lay in bed with her curled up in his arms. “What kind of pet?” Rarely did Ares ever have any animal running around the Fortress. Beasts were meant to be outside; that’s why they were born there.
“I don’t know…a dog?” She thought that would make the Old Wolf in him happy.
“Dog? Like Cerberus?” Ares asked, deep in thought.
“No, like Cujo,” Alena returned and giggled as she rolled her eyes in the dark.
“Coo—who?”
“Nothing, never mind.” She waved her hand in the air and then laid it on his chest to entwine her fingertips in the thick mat of muscle and hair. “Let’s just say Cujo makes Cerberus almost look like a toy poodle. Almost.”
Well, then, that was a dog Ares would like to meet one day. “How’s your cheek?”
“It’s fine,” she sighed, “almost all healed already.” That was true, but Raven’s little temper tantrum had left her with a scar that would never go away.
Ares picked up her free hand and brought it to his lips. “Did I tell you how proud I am of you today?”
“Me? Why?”
“How elegantly you handled the whole thing. I know it was killing you to hold Trinity, to watch them gush over her and have to be in the same room with Aphrodite and my illustrious Brother.”
Apollo she could do without. Every time she looked around he was staring at her with hungry eyes. “Trinity’s your…relative,” Alena said carefully, “how can I help but love her?”
Ares snorted and then laughed. “You are one of a kind, Magdalena MacLeod.” He kissed the top of her head. “A pet, huh? A dog?” Alena would probably like to have a pet around the Fortress as well. She loved her plants and they were thriving in nearly every nook and corner of his home. Any place that received sunlight you could find a plant. Two hundred years ago the only thing that thrived in this place was Ares; now he was surrounded by living growing things; flowers, herbs, even vegetables grew in his Throne Room—the sunniest room in the Fortress.
“It would teach him a respect for life, that there are things bigger than himself and to care for them.”
“This is a human teaching tool?” The logic was sound enough if Raven were a human boy, but Ares had wicked visions of finding a dead dog in his bed the very first time the dog misbehaved. If that happened, Alena would go straight up the nearest wall. “You think if he feeds something he’ll become attached to it? Why not give him one of your plants?”
She’d thought of that and Raven did understand the concept of growing plants. He understood how to care for them so that they would produce food for him, but the process was a little long for Raven’s attention span. When his tomato plant didn’t immediately give him a tomato upon sprouting, he’d lost interest in it. She warned him that the plant would shrivel up and die and it would never give him the tomato he wanted if he didn’t tend to it. The little seedling withered and died within a week. His master would not so easily ignore a dog.
“A dog,” Ares mused again, “fur everywhere, barking, poop in the house.”
“Raven will have to walk it, there’s plenty of room out there to walk a dog and Raven loves the snow.” Unlike a plant, a dog would return whatever affection Raven gave it. With no one with which to play or just be a boy with, a dog was a good substitute.
“All right, all right, whatever you want.” He kissed the top of her head again and let his hand slide over her shoulder to her waiting breast. “Do I get a reward for being so compliant?”
It was Alena’s turn to giggle and then laugh. “Of course, My Lord, anything for you.”
Ares leaned in for the kiss just as Raven started to call for his mother. “I’m gonna kill that boy,” he threatened. “Every time, every single time we start to make love…”
“I know,” Alena soothed and then cuddled closer to Ares, not wanting to leave the warmth and safety of his arms. “Maybe if we just ignore him he’ll settle down.”
Raven’s crying got a little louder when his mother didn’t run to him. “Mommy! Mommy! I neeeed uuuuu!”
“Go on, go, I’ll keep the bed warm for you.” Ares rolled away and onto his back with a heavy sigh as she crawled out of bed.
“What is it, Raven? It’s late,” Alena whispered and tried to smile as she walked into his room.
“JUICE!”
“You can get that for yourself, I know you can,” she insisted, but produced a plastic cup of apple juice in her hands for him. “Here, drink.” When he was smaller she might have gone through the trouble of going down to the kitchen or even bringing him with her but now that Raven was discovering his powers and she hers, Alena was slowly giving in to them, finding them so much easier
than doing things the Mortal Way. “Give mommy a kiss, I’m going back to bed now.” She brought the blanket around his waist.
“ORANGE juice,” Raven huffed as he brought the cup to his lips and then shoved it rudely at her, spilling it all over her emerald nightgown.
“You have apple juice, take it or leave it.” Alena stood up.
Raven looked down at the half-empty cup, looked up at his mother, then hucked it at her, hitting her squarely in the forehead. “I want orange juice.”
Wiping the back of her hand down her face to it clear it of the sticky cold juice, she drew in a breath and tried to hold back her anger. “Now you don’t have any juice. Go to sleep and in the morning, if you’re a good boy, we’ll go down to the Mortal World and get you a puppy.”
The anger rising in Raven suddenly subsided as his ears pricked up. He’d heard about the Mortal World; his mother told him endless stories of it, and he gazed out upon it from the top of Olympus daily. He’d never been there. “Juice? Please, Mommy. Sorry.”
“No juice,” Alena said again. “Go to sleep.”
He wanted the juice, the orange juice, but he didn’t want to lose his chance at going down to the Mortal World or to get a puppy. He’d seen them on TV in what his mother called ‘dog food ads’ and they looked pretty cool. “Hug? Story?” He held his arms out to her with an apologetic smile.
It worked and melted her heart; Alena went and gave Raven a hug and a kiss. “A very short story, all right? Your Father’s waiting for me.”
Raven grunted, unappreciative of the time his Father spent alone with his mother in the night and the howling he often heard coming from Ares’ throat. “Ok.” Raven hugged her back and then settled into his bed while Alena told him the story of Thor and Loki. Ten minutes into the tale he was fast asleep, and she went back to bed only to find Ares snoring.
After the day she’d had, Alena wasn’t about to be satisfied with that. Pulling back the covers, she discovered while his mind might be sleeping his cock was still standing at the ready. Peeling the apple juice soaked nightgown over her head, Alena crept into the bed to straddle the sleeping God of War and take him inside. Below her Ares let out a long slow grunt and opened his eyes.
“I’ve been waiting almost a year for you to wake me this way,” he said in a sultry tone as he looked up at her with eyes just as hungry as Apollo’s, and so much more inviting.
Riding high in the saddle and taking in every throbbing inch of him, “Wait’s over, big boy, give mama what she really wants.” Normally she would stretch down over him now, her lips searching for his but unable to reach until he sat up and gave in. Not tonight. Tonight she swung a toned alabaster leg over him, turned around on that stiff pole filling her body and soul, and proceeded to ride him in a reverse cowgirl.
Since their night on the island, much to Ares’ enjoyment Alena had become so much bolder, unafraid to discover new positions and other delightful things on her own. It seemed he’d restored her confidence and now when Raven was finally quiet her lust knew no bounds. He laid there in the firelight watching her firm ass pump up and down on him as it jutted nearly into his face, showing him his own staff sinking deeper and deeper into her. What a wonderful sight.
Despite Raven’s further protestations, Alena rode her Husband long into the night.
Chapter Eighteen
A World Beyond
I
Pleasantly exhausted but tension-free the next morning, Alena made ready for the three to go to the Mortal World for Raven’s very first visit. There was an unexpected and most welcomed stop along their way to a pet shop: the island.
Ares explained he thought it might be best if Raven spent a day or two there before venturing off to the world of skyscrapers and beeping cars. Sort of a way to get his feet wet and become accustomed to things that were, so far, foreign to him before putting him into a crowd of Mortals, where he might become scared and freeze half of them to death.
Alena put Raven down on the sandy shore, but he just stood there looking lost and confused. “Take off your shoes,” she encouraged. Like her, Raven ran around the Fortress barefoot and the only time he wore shoes was when he went out into the cold deep snow of Olympus.
“Why?” Raven looked at the sand, which was so unlike the snow to which he was accustomed. Even through the fur-lined boots it felt different than the hard packed snow, and he wasn’t sure he wanted his feet to touch it.
“Do what your mother says, boy,” Ares instructed as he took in a deep lungful of the warm salty air and threw back his head with joy. It was always so good to be under the tropical sun than on the cold mountain of Olympus.
Alena made her boots disappear and then let the coat slide off her body to stand under the warm sun with her Husband at her side. Raven looked at them and then down at his feet again. Wiggling his fingers in the direction of his toes, his boots faded away and he was standing in the soft sand, letting it slide between his toes as he began to laugh. “Tickles. Hot.” He started shifting from one foot to the other.
“Like this,” Alena said patiently and wiggled her feet deep into the sand, “it’s cooler if you go a little deeper.”
Raven followed his mother’s instructions and found her to be correct, the sand a few inches down was cooler and the warmer sand above lent a relaxing feeling to his feet. The sun here was different than on Olympus—it was too hot, nearly unbearable. Raven threw his coat to the shore but that wasn’t enough, soon his shirt went with it as he stared at the wide blue ocean with deep curiosity. “What is it?”
“Poseidon’s Realm,” Ares answered, “it’s the ocean, my boy.”
At the Family Dinners the Olympians asked Poseidon how his oceans were doing and Raven had seen them on the TV, but never had he imagined it would be so big and wide. Looking back over his shoulder at his parents standing a few yards away he remarked, “It’s huge.” Up until now, Raven didn’t understand that anything could be so big. He saw the sea from high on Olympus and watched it stretch out like puddles through rocks as it met the horizon, but from down here it seemed vast and unending.
“Yes, and that’s not all of it,” Ares warned. “Be respectful of the ocean; it is powerful, don’t underestimate it.” Ares turned his Wife. “I’m going to go take a look inside the cave, see how it’s fared. We’ll spend a night or two here and then we’ll head to Athens for…a dog.”
A night or two or five hundred here was always good with her, so Alena felt no need to complain. “Ok. Come back soon.”
“Always.” He kissed her cheek and turned back toward Raven. “Mind your mother, boy, I’ll be back.”
As soon as his Father disappeared, Raven ran up to her with a flurry of questions:
What’s that? What does it do? What is it? What is it? WHAT IS IT?
In the far reaches of his little mind, Raven knew the answers to most of his questions, but the information was coming at him so fast it confused him. Alena put out her hand to her son. “Come on, let’s take walk on the waterline.” The shells lining the shore instantly fascinated him. He picked them up, turned them over in his hands, named the colors and the shapes he saw and then Alena told him what creature had once called it home. When he picked up shiny rocks, she told him what they were made and, if they were flat, showed him how to skip them across the surface of the water. Raven had great dexterity and therefore had no problem picking up the flicking of the wrist necessary to produce the desired results, and was soon competing with her for how many times they could make a stone skip before it sank. Along with his strength and dexterity, Raven had a strong sense of competition.
Walking barefoot along the shore they picked up crabs, hermit crabs and periwinkles. “If you go out deeper, there’s fish,” Alena remarked.
Raven looked at the ocean and remembered how much he hated to take a bath, but the clear blue water looked warm and if he could find a fish in it that might be worth getting wet.
“The world is full of interesting things and creatures. Peop
le, they are some of the most interesting of all. In a few days you’ll meet some of them.” She dropped to one knee to look Raven in the eye. “You must be respectful of them; they’re not like you. They’re fragile and they become easily scared.”
Raven saw people on the TV in his parents’ bedroom; they filled Fenway Park in the summertime with their presence and their cheers. He saw them die on the History Channel and in the shows that his mother watched. He saw them kill each other on what she called The Evening News. Although they looked like him, to Raven they seemed weak and insignificant. Even he at this young age was more powerful than most of them could ever dream of being, and he knew it.
The sun overhead beat down with a vengeance and Raven tried to use his power to cool himself. It worked for a few moments but then, like his Father, Raven soon learned he was not yet a match for the sun. He pulled at the collar of his shirt.
“Want to go for a swim?”
“In there?” He pointed at the ocean that had to be respected but in which there might be fish.
“Yes, in the ocean. Take off your clothes and I’ll take you into the water; you don’t have to be afraid, we’ll stay where you can stand. It’s like a big bath tub so long as you stay near shore,” she advised. “When the sun goes down, I’ll take you across the island and show you the animals and the plants.”
There was more? Raven liked that idea. There wasn’t much of anything on Olympus but the snow and staring down at this world that seemed to offer so many curious things to see and do. But first, a dip in Uncle Poseidon’s oceans. Raven stood at the shoreline and without a lick of shame stripped off his clothes until he was buck naked at the water’s edge. The hot sun above beat down on parts of him never before touched by its golden rays and it felt good. He turned and ran into the water.
Stunned by how obvious it was that Raven was taking after Ares in every conceivable manner, it took her a moment to catch up with what was happening. All she could think was that one day Raven would make some lucky woman very happy. “Wait! Raven!” Alena called as she came out of her daze to hitch up the hem of her chemise and run after him, but she was too late. Raven hit the water; his feet, unaccustomed to running through it, tripped over themselves and he went down face first into an oncoming wave. He floated there face down for a moment before she grabbed him and turned him over. “Okay?”
OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3 Page 86