by Brey Willows
“Or gassy.” Kera ducked the fortune cookie Meg threw at her. “So, we set gassy hot creepy woman aside for now. As I see it, the other two problems are inextricably linked. People are questioning because they have someone they can ask directly now, and they’re not getting answers they like. But at this moment, while the asshats they pray to are out there actually helping people, things are better, right?”
“What are you thinking?” Tis leaned against her, looking tired. Kera wrapped an arm around her protectively.
“I say, put them under new management.” Kera looked around, and she could see Selene knew where she was going. She nodded, and Kera continued. “When you run a business, you don’t make it successful by putting the front line staff in charge of everything. You don’t give them a few baseline rules and then let them loose.”
Tis sat up and stared at Kera. “You manage them.”
“Exactly.”
Selene jumped up and ran to Meg’s coat closet, where she pulled out a flipchart Meg used for game nights. At the top of the page she put a question mark, then drew vertical lines from the question mark down.
Kera got up and pointed at the question mark. “You need to have someone up here who understands business. Someone who understands management and can make decisions. Someone who can help managers delegate and someone to help with decisions.”
Dani shook her head. “You want to make someone the boss of the gods? Zed’s been trying since we moved to Afterlife. Have you ever tried to tell a god what to do?”
Kera crossed her arms. “I’ve sure as hell told them where to go.”
Meg snorted and coughed on her drink.
Tis traced the lines on the chart with her fingertips. “In the past it wouldn’t have worked. But the uprisings have rattled them. They always turned to Zed when things became difficult, but now that Zed’s temple has burned as easily as theirs have, I think they’ll respect and fear him less.”
“He’s a front-liner anyway. His people probably want him to do shit for them too, right?” Kera pointed at the question mark. “The gods wanted out of the closet, now they have to face up to what the world really is. Do you have someone other than the creepy as fuck old women who are having dinner with their creepy as fuck comrade tonight, who doesn’t have folks dropping to their knees for them?”
“There are a few of us who don’t have believers. The three of us,” Tis motioned to herself and her sisters, “don’t have followers. Nor does Dani, or Selene’s mother.”
Kera raised her eyebrow. “Who is your mom, anyway?”
Meg speared a wonton and stuffed it in her mouth. “The moon,” she said around a mouthful of food.
“She’s not the moon, but rather the personification of it. But yes, basically.” Selene shrugged slightly.
“Of course. Silly me.” The bizarreness of the situation rushed in on Kera once again. She turned her attention to Tis when she felt her next to her.
Tis took Kera’s hand. “It’s you.”
“What is? Wait…what?”
Tis pointed at the question mark. “You know who we are. You know what we are. You understand some of the complications we face, and you know what people need and want from their gods.”
“And you think I possess the subtlety and grace to tell gods what to do, do you? I’m still not sure how I feel about religion, and I’m not sure your colleagues would appreciate me telling them they’re piss-poor at their jobs.” Kera kissed Tis’s hand. “I think you might regard me too highly, love.”
“Oh, believe me, I see how rude and blunt you are. I know you’re crude, childish, self-indulgent, and extremely stubborn.” She smiled as Kera pretended to be wounded. “But don’t you see? Subtle and kid gloves won’t work anymore. They need direction, guidelines. I’ve tried to draw those up, and I’ve got a baseline. But I don’t manage people the way you do. Whether you like it or not, we’re not going anywhere. So why don’t we change the system that’s tearing itself apart anyway? Even if we have to use someone like you to do it. Granted, they wouldn’t listen to just you, especially with your mortality issue, so I’d have to work beside you to make sure you didn’t screw up because of gaps in your knowledge or because you insulted someone one too many times and they removed your organs. I still think it’s the best plan we’ve got. We manage them. Get them trained and working in the here and now. I don’t know anyone better at getting people to do what she wants them to.”
“I feel strangely insulted and complimented at the same time.” Kera stared at the flipchart, seeing the sense of it. She’d always wanted to make a difference in the world, and she’d worked her ass off to do it as well as she could. If she had the gods working for her, how much more could she do? “I like it.”
Chapter Thirty-one
“And so, with the mega merger of Afterlife, Inc. and GRADE, with CEO Kera Espinosa in charge and vice president and white fury Tisera Graves acting as production manager, we usher in a new era of gods and man working in harmony to create a better world. What will this new way of life bring? Only time will tell.”
Tis turned off the TV and lay on her side to face Kera. “It’s really something, isn’t it? I’m not sure how I feel about being referred to as the ‘white fury’ though.”
Kera pressed her body against Tis’s and nibbled at her neck, making Tis murmur appreciatively. “Uh-huh. We make a good team. And you are a white fury. Deal with it.”
“Harsh.” She gasped at the sensation of Kera’s teeth nibbling along her collarbone. “We never did talk about the political thing Selene wanted to discuss.” Tis closed her eyes and shivered as Kera ran her tongue over Tis’s nipple.
“We’ll be talking our fool heads off for years to come. Right now…” Kera pushed Tis onto her back and straddled her. “I want you to moan the way you did the first time we had sex.”
Tis put her hand in the middle of Kera’s chest and pushed her backward. “Then I suggest you stop talking and use your mouth more effectively.”
Kera grinned and moved down between Tis’s thighs. As her warm tongue slid over Tis’s already aching clit, Tis moaned and lifted her hips. Kera applied pressure in just the right way, soft at first, then harder, until Tis was thrashing under her and she sucked hard, making Tis explode. As soon as she did, Kera thrust two fingers inside her and fucked her until she came a second, and third, time.
Kera crawled back up beside her, looking distinctly pleased with herself. Tis laughed, satisfied in a way she’d never felt in all her years on the planet. Her soul was quiet, her body sated, and most of all, her heart was full.
She stroked Kera’s inner thigh, liking the way she pressed against her touch. “I thought I’d lost you.” She looked down at Kera, not bothering to hide the tears in her eyes. “I’ve never felt pain like that. Like I’d lost a part of myself. I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if anything had happened to you.”
Kera wiped her tears away gently. “I was an ass, and if anything had happened to me, it wouldn’t have been your fault. As it was, you saved me. From myself, and from a life without this.” She pressed her hand over Tis’s heart. “I thought I had everything. But when it came down to it, without you, it wouldn’t have been enough.” She stretched and smiled wickedly. “Now I’ve got the girl, the money, and I’m in charge of every god on the planet. I’d say I’m at the top of my game. Women like a woman with power. You’d better keep an eye out, you know.”
Tis laughed and pinched her nipple, getting her attention. “Just don’t get cocky.” She spread Kera open and slipped her finger inside her. She made love to her slowly, building her need. “If there are other women, I’ll choose them, and I’ll make sure they leave when I tell them to.”
Kera’s eyes opened and she raised her eyebrow.
“You don’t live for thousands of years and not enjoy all life has to offer. Somehow, I’d forgotten that.” Tis pushed deeper, loving the way Kera’s eyes fluttered shut and she thrust against Tis’s hand. She watched every shift of h
er expression, the way every muscle tensed and released. When she came, Tis nearly came again just from the pleasure of watching her arch and cry out.
She moved back to Kera’s side and spooned her. She brushed her hair away from her ear and whispered, “I love you. Thank you for believing in me.”
Kera pulled Tis’s arm tighter around her. “Thank you for choosing me. And for that amazing orgasm.”
Tis laughed and listened as Kera fell into an exhausted sleep. They’d been insanely busy; from the moment they’d broached the merger and begun discussing it with the gods, things had been nonstop. Plus, Kera had her other operations that were still going ahead. Only now, she had the help of that region’s gods. They’d have to wait and see how it worked out, but it looked promising. Ajan had retired and taken his daughter on an around-the-world cruise, paid for by Kera. He wanted his child to see the beauty of the world, since she’d already seen so much of its ugly side. Most of the children in the lab had been returned to their respective homes. A few, though, hadn’t even been reported missing by their foster parents, and Kera had seen to it those kids went into one of the care centers run by GRADE. Greg, one of those kids, had asked if he could keep in touch with Kera, and she’d promised to pick him up for Christmas. Tis knew she meant it, and could tell she had a special soft spot for the boy. The lab itself had been pulled apart by the FBI, since they had jurisdiction because of the abductions crossing state lines. Though plenty of illegal things had been retrieved, there was no longer anyone to arrest for it. They’d complained bitterly about the mess Tis had made, and she’d tried to make amends by sending a cleanup squad from Afterlife.
Petra had taken over Ajan’s position, and Tis found she really enjoyed spending time with her. Offerings were being left at Petra’s ancient temple, though, and it was possible they’d have to make a decision at some point as to whether she could continue in her role with the company, or if she’d need to go be a front line goddess again.
All in all, it was a start, and one Tis thought might actually work. Plus, it meant she got to spend her days as well as her nights with the extraordinary, rash, cocky woman she’d fallen desperately in love with, and as far as she was concerned, that made it all so much the better.
She pulled Kera closer, knowing that whatever the future might bring, she had what she’d searched for her entire life, and she’d treasure every second.
Epilogue
Dis drew lazy circles in the stardust and then blew on it. It puffed into the air and formed a woman’s body before dispersing back into the ether.
“She’s not going to like it,” the person lounging on the sofa behind her said.
Dis turned away from the window and unbuttoned her top as she made her way over to her lover. “I don’t care if she likes it. I don’t care anything about them. I’m having fun, and I’m going to make the most of it while I can.”
Her lover sucked Dis’s nipple into his mouth and bit on it, making Dis jerk and moan. He let go and said, “I’ve heard angering a fury can be bad for your lifespan.”
Dis pushed her other breast at his mouth and sighed appreciatively at the warmth of his tongue. “I’m the only one of them that can’t truly die. I’m not afraid of her. But I do want to see what those wings feel like before I rip them apart.”
She closed her eyes and orgasmed as she thought of the beautiful darkness she’d soon unleash on them all.
About the Author
Brey Willows is a longtime editor and writer. Her passion is literature and the classics, and she has published a large handful of short stories and several articles and reviews. When she’s not running a social enterprise working with marginalized communities on writing projects, she’s editing other people’s writing or doing her own. She lives in the middle of England with her partner and fellow author and spends entirely too much time exploring castles and ancient ruins while bemoaning the rain.
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