Skin of a Goddess (Goddess Ascension Book 1)

by Victoria C. Johnson

  “She said she doesn’t always like to socialize,” I point out.

  “Sure, but I’m sure she always likes to be around a working toilet. Most of us have enough memories of before that, and don’t need a modern replay,” Julian says.

  “I have a working toilet in the cave, but thanks for that thought,” I say absently.

  “Let’s just leave that one alone for now. You’ll come to your senses soon enough. What do you think about the meeting earlier?”

  “What meeting?” I ask.

  “Hunter, snap the fuck out of it! The meeting about the girl who was found this morning. You know, the dead one! What do you think about that?” Julian says angrily.

  “No reason to snap,” I grumble. “I didn’t know her personally or anything, but it’s always unfortunate to hear that someone’s been murdered and tortured.”

  Julian asks, “Are you worried?”

  “About what?” I ask in confusion.

  “I don’t know, about the murderer? Someone like that isn’t just going to up and stop at one. Hell, it probably wasn’t their first kill. Are you worried that others here will be hurt?” he asks.

  “I guess I hadn’t thought of it that much. Dragons don’t usually have to worry about being attacked or anything. Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit dangerous. I’m sure the supernatural enforcers will find the killer soon enough. I doubt he’ll strike the same place twice anyway. That would just be stupid.”

  “Hey, excuse me,” a little guy breaks in, motioning to reach across me to the pretzels in a bowl on the bar.

  “Oh, no problem.” I move back from the bar a bit, still seated.

  “Hey, I’m Vincent,” the man says, easily six foot or so to my seven.

  “I’m Julian, a merman, and this is Hunter, a dragon,” Julian says, nodding at me when he says my name. “What about you? Not a shifter, right?”

  “You’re very right. As much as I’d love to be a shifter, I’m actually a human. I’m here as a representative of my vampire companion. He’s the coven leader and was unable to come to the convention,” Vincent explains.

  I look him over but don’t see any bite marks. “Coven leader?”

  “It’s kind of like the leader of a group of vampires. It’s a monarchy,” Vincent explains, then notices me eyeing him and says, “The bites heal.”

  “That’s nice, must be easier to hide them from the humans. I mean, other humans. Do you like it here so far?” I stumble on.

  He grins a little. “Oh, yeah. Vampires tend to keep to themselves, so I’ve only seen a few shifters before, and definitely no mermen. It’s really nice to be included like this. I feel like I’m part of the supernatural family already.”

  I just look at him in confusion for a moment. He’s as much a part of the “supernatural family” as he’s ever going to be. It’s not like I can pass on the dragon gene to him and invite him for a flight.

  Julian shrugs. “Not surprising. We don’t leave the kingdom often. We like to be as close to water as possible.”

  “Hey, Vincent,” a werewolf greets quietly.

  “Hey, Brandon,” Vincent says with an easy smile. “I think that’s a tigress. Brandon, come wingman me, will ya?”

  The tall, lanky werewolf gives a shrug of his shoulders as a bit of brown hair falls into his eyes. “If I don’t have to do anything, sure.”

  Vincent laughs a little. “By the end of the convention, you’ll totally be out of your shell, huh, guys? Anyway, I’ll see you later. Was good talking to you!”

  The two of them trail off.

  “Friendly,” I comment.

  “Very,” Julian says with a scowl. “I just don’t know what kind of vibe we’re giving off that seems to make people think it’s okay to talk to us. Or that we’re, God forbid, friendly or something. Whatever it is, it better end soon.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Mr. Antisocial,” I say.

  He frowns at me. “As far as I’m concerned, you used to be too. Ugh, there’s the stink of human and wolf in the air now.”

  “Don’t be a snob. The human doesn’t have any friends here. It was pretty brave of him to say anything to us,” I say.

  “Brave or really fucking stupid,” Julian counters before glaring around the room.

  “What are you doing now?” I ask.

  “Making sure I look as unfriendly as possible. How the wimpy human thinks he can last a night with a tigress is beyond me,” Julian says before making eye contact with a werewolf and snarling.

  I groan. “Don’t start any fights that you can’t finish.”

  “Hunter!” comes a shout from across the room.

  My head snaps in the direction to see Peitho smiling and beckoning me over. “I’ll be back in a bit,” I say, putting my drink on the counter and getting up.

  “Right,” Julian says sarcastically, “more like six months from now.”

  I ignore him as I walk toward my lovely, lovely lady. She’s surrounded by her friends and other shifters or people she’s met. It looks like she’s on a team with Apate, Ana, and Eve.

  “What’s going on?” I try to seem casual.

  “We just lost.” She pouts meaningfully at me.

  I just look at her, waiting for more to be said. Then I realize that’s all she’s going to say, and quickly jump in with, “I’m so sorry about that. I’m sure you tried your best.”

  “You think I tried my best and lost anyway?” Peitho asks, looking shocked and offended. “Never mind, let’s go dance, sugar plum.”

  “Dance?” I question.

  “Over there by the bar is a dance floor. You know, with dancing? It’s a disco, as far as I can tell. We’ll totally fit in. Here, why don’t you put on one of my glow sticks? No! Not the orange one. How about the green one? Now we’re all ready to boogie!” she says, putting the glow stick that had been a necklace on her around my wrist.

  “I don’t really dance,” I say as I let her drag me ever closer to my version of hell.

  She slows down enough to throw me a glare. “I just don’t understand when guys complain about not being able to dance. Girls are the ones who have to do all the work. You just stand there and sway a little as we shake our asses on your dicks and such. You can sway to the music, right?”

  If swaying means she’s going to rub that deliciously plump ass on my dick, then hell yeah, I can sway. “I’m pretty sure I can do that.”

  “Then we’re golden. Ha, literally!” She laughs at her own joke as we reach the edge of the dance floor.

  Peitho looks at the packed group of people rubbing on each other. Some of the shifters include licking and some light nipping in their dance. The nymphs and sirens simply dance like they’re fucking. There’s barely any room for us to make our way in, even with hardcore techno music blaring and her body twitching as if it just has to move.

  “Come on, I’ll make a path,” I suggest and tug her behind me. I start bulldozing my way through the crowd. As with most people when faced with my large frame, the crowd moves out of the way. Soon we’re in the middle of the dance floor, lights blaring all around us from the disco ball, smells from substances anything but legal invading my nose, and my senses well and truly rattled.

  “Shifters totally know how to party,” Peitho says, pulling my head down so she can scream in my ear. “They have a DJ and everything!”

  I can’t help but glance left and right at all the bodies writhing around me and wish that I were anywhere else but here. Then Peitho starts to dance. She faces me and aligns her hips with mine, then starts grinding and shimmying against my body. I suddenly wish to never leave this beautiful, amazing place.

  It’s all I can do to remember to sway slightly to the tempo. It’s true, she’s doing all of the work in our dancing pair. I can’t help but just stare at her. Under this dim, colored light, she glows. There’s something gritty and raw about the whole experience. We’re here with dozens of other people, grinding on one another in a modern form of dancing. I’m sure other culture
s would see this as a fucked-up orgy kind of thing, but damn, it feels so good.

  “Isn’t this fun?” she asks, close to my ear.

  I nod at her. “Yeah, lots of fun.”

  Peitho turns around so her ass is rubbing against my cock in a gyration to the tempo, just like she said it would be. It takes all of my concentration to control things down south. I mean, I don’t want to scare her off from my overeagerness. She may act like a modern woman, but I’m sure her age means there’s some old-fashioned sensibilities buried deep in there.

  She pulls my head down and turns hers to the side so she can say, “We could have even more fun.” Her tongue darts into my ear as she bites my earlobe. “Ever heard of the horizontal tango?”

  It takes me a moment to realize what is happening. Then I do the dumbest thing imaginable. I try to act like a gentleman. “I, um, don’t really think it’s a good idea to do that right now. We’re just getting to know each other and getting used to the arrangement. How about we wait a while?”

  Peitho stops dancing and turns to look at me. Then she reaches purposefully forward and feels me through my pants. “Not hard. Huh, you over it, then?”

  “What?” I gasp, backing away from her hand.

  “Gay?” she asks, pulling back.

  “How can you say that after what we’ve already done?” I ask in horrified confusion.

  Peitho just shrugs at me. “I’d just like to know what to expect here.”

  “I’m not gay, or bi, and I’m really, really interested! I just think we should wait. You’ve just agreed today that we’re handfasted. Besides, I thought you didn’t want to do that anyway?” I ramble.

  Peitho just shrugs at me. “A girl can change her mind, you know. You seem like you’d be enough fun. Might as well have a little until the end of the convention and we part our ways. Plus, it will make Nemesis totally get off my case.”

  I try not to see red at the fact that she’s willing to sleep with me to get her roommate off her case. It’s beside the point that all she sees in me is “enough fun.” I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into this time. I just really don’t. Besides that, I don’t know why I care and don’t just go along with it. It’s not as if an opportunity like this falls into my lap every day. Or decade. Hell, every century!

  “Not happening tonight. If you play your cards right, it might happen in the near future,” I finally tell her.

  She looks at me, opened mouth. “You know, Hunter, I think that’s the first time someone has rejected me in at least five centuries. Maybe more. Damn if I’m putting up with this shit.”

  With those parting words, her perfect ass taunts me as she twitches it away, leaving me openmouthed in the middle of the dance floor. I can sure believe that it’s been at least five centuries since someone has rejected her. It’s hard to believe anyone ever has. At least anyone sane. Which brings the problem of me rejecting her to the surface. I’m obviously not in my right mind.

  I find Julian sitting at the bar a while later. “We have a problem.”

  He turns to me with a bored look, then does a double take. “What’s wrong with you? You’re all pale and look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or are having a heart attack.”

  “I’ve done the stupidest thing in the history of stupid things,” I moan.

  “Is this the part where I tell you it’s not that bad and everything’s going to be okay?” he asks awkwardly.

  I ignore him easily and say, “I’ve rejected her. I rejected my own lovely Goldie goddess. I mean, how dumb am I? She offered herself to me, and I thought I’d do the gentlemanly thing and suggest we wait. Then she asked me if I’m gay. Me! Her betrothed! Her mate!”

  “Well, only for six months. What do you mean you rejected her? She propositioned you on the dance floor and you said what? Maybe later, honey? Or, after I get the keys to your chastity belt? What the fuck did you think she’d do? She may be older than you, but that isn’t a woman out looking for a gentleman, especially from her rent-a-husband. It’s probably the only perk she sees in you right now,” Julian says.

  I glare at him. “You’re so not helping.”

  “I didn’t realize you wanted a pep talk from that. I mean, what am I supposed to say? Good job? You had the chance to fuck her out of your system once and for all and you blew it, not literally?” he asks.

  “God, just shut up,” I moan into my hands.

  “Well, what did she say? Was she pissed?” Julian asks.

  I peek at him from between my fingers. “She didn’t really say anything.”

  “You’re so not getting away with that one. I know for sure she wouldn’t leave it at ‘Okay, dear, maybe we can try again next year.’ You might as well tell me now.”

  “She said that it might be the first time someone has said no to her in five centuries,” I say.

  “And?” he asks promptly.

  “That she isn’t going to put up with this shit,” I finish with a scowl.

  Julian looks at me for a while. “It may not seem as bad as it looks. Did she say it meanly? If she did then it might mean she’s seeing this as a challenge. This will mean she might take you up on it and try to win the prize. Meaning a ride on your crotch rocket.”

  “She said it in a normal type of voice, as if she was commenting on the weather,” I say. “That’s good, right? It means she isn’t that mad.”

  Julian gives me a look that makes my stomach drop to my knees. “Sure, it could mean that. Or it could mean that she doesn’t care enough to get pissed. Or that she’s so pissed she can’t even yell at you. This could be bad, like giving up on you and finding someone else who finds her more worthy kind of bad.”

  “Neither of those sound too good,” I agree. “But we’re kind of stuck in this because of Nemesis.”

  “Didn’t she say that her roommate can’t make you two literally mate?” Julian points out.

  “Yeah, the details on that are kind of sketchy. Peitho said that, but it didn’t seem like she really believed we stood a chance against Nemesis,” I say.

  “Well, that’s something. You might get her out of this after all if Nemesis is as good as her name.”

  “What has my life become? I don’t know what happened to me. I’m not a gentleman. What on earth possessed me to do that?” I ask, wishing I could tear something apart.

  “This is really just a learning experience, Hunter. We can take from this situation that you should be yourself when it comes to girls. You tried to be someone else, and it didn’t work. Next time, be the grumpy, rude dragon everyone knows and at least expects,” Julian says sarcastically.

  I want to punch him but remind myself he’s my closest friend.

  “Think if I catch up to her she’ll give me a second chance?” I ask desperately, looking around the room for a glimpse of her painfully golden skin.

  Julian points behind me and says, “Somehow, I really doubt that.”

  I turn around to see what he’s motioning at, and feel my heart stop cold. There’s Peitho sitting on Enyo’s shoulders, Lyssa laughing manically as she tosses her knives to juggle. Peitho is up to five knives going around in a circle when I see Lyssa toss another one to the mix. I have to close my eyes and turn away when I see Nemesis and a bow, for goddess only knows what.

  “You’re right, better not to bother her right now. She seems a bit busy.” I gulp.

  “At least she isn’t with another guy. Or girl,” Julian says with a smile.

  “That may almost have been better. I think by now everyone at the convention has heard stories of Enyo and Lyssa. Well, and how crazy they are. I can only imagine how susceptible Peitho is to their wild ways,” I say sadly.

  Julian just says, “Yeah, they’re crazy bitches known to beat the shit out of themselves and others. Still, no worries. She’s immortal. I’m sure no matter what they do, she won’t actually be able to be killed. Despite what you’ve heard!”

  “Once again, you’re really not making me feel any better.” I sigh.


  “Not in my job description. Oh, they’ve put a lime on her head for target practice! Don’t worry, Hunter, from what I hear, Apate may be the worst shot in the group, but that’s still better than most. At least she’s stopped throwing the sharp and pointies about,” Julian says with a sick kind of fondness.

  “Why a lime instead of an apple?” I ask reasonably, in an attempt to keep my baser instincts in check.

  Julian explains logically, “It’s a party with a bar. There’s probably more access to limes than apples.”

  There’s a gasp from around the room and a swoosh of an arrow being loosened and striking a target. “No worries, totally got the lime. Granted, at the bottom part of it.”

  “That’s it. I just can’t take this anymore,” I say.

  “What? Need another beer?” Julian focuses on me with some surprise. “It’s a party; they’re just having fun. They’re warriors, after all. Even if Peitho is mostly just free love.”

  “Yes, yes, I know she’s just as dangerous as the others, knows how to fight, and has been in wars. That doesn’t change the fact that my mate is putting herself in danger,” I point out.

  Julian considers my words for a moment before saying, “I wouldn’t say she’s as dangerous as all of the other goddesses she plays with. She’s still way more hardcore than all of the other girls you know. Hell, she has impenetrable skin. I don’t know what you’re worried about.”

  “Just because I rationally don’t have to worry about her being hurt doesn’t mean I’ll actually stop worrying.”

  Chapter 7

  “What’s got your itty bitty panties in a twist?” Ana asks me with a frown over lunch.

  “Yeah, you totally missed breakfast and the morning activity. Despite my jealousy, I covered for you and told them that you had cramps. You know how guys are. When they hear anything having to do with a period, they totally drop it. Nemesis didn’t seem to care either, so you’re good,” Apate says.