The Wager- BBW Erotic Curvy Paranormal Romance (TOUCH OF THE GODS) (32 page)

Thankfully, there had to be a god smiling down on me, probably Hephaestus, because I was jolted awake by a loud crack and hiss that trembled the ground. Standing stiffly, I looked to the ground before me, as it split open, starting right at the tip of my toes, then extending to the edge of the corn stalks. Deceased zombie soldiers of various time periods crawled from the chasm, standing in formation, and waited in silence as the man who nearly destroyed all that I was, appeared in front of them. “Vanessa. Sweet, succulent, séxi sklávos.”

              “Ares.”

             
“You look awful. Should I let you sleep? Do you wish to be free of the torment my brother has put you in?”

             
“Quit the small talk and do what you're here for.”

             
His blood red eyes flashed with anger, before he snapped his finger, holding out his hand while a Spartan corpse brought over a leather spiked collar.

The red and black accessory brought back the memories of all the times he fucked me senseless, my body responding immediately to the idea of his fingers touching me. Mentally shaking my head, I curled my lip at him, hoping he'd see disgust rather than the heat that was coursing through my veins. I knew what I was feeling had all to do with his powers, and focusing on the numbness that was my empty stomach, I steeled myself against any other onslaughts that Ares threw at me.

Eye to eye, we stared each other down, and when he finally saw that I wasn't backing down, he sighed, twirling it on one finger.  “Very well, I,  Ares God of War, yada yada, blah blah. I am going to give you an offer, and it's up to you if you want it. If not, suffer the consequences.”

             
“I accept. Give me your best shot.”

             
“I know you still want me, still crave me. How could you not? I can give you what you desire.”

             
“And that is what?”

             
“Me. You will remain living in your world, while being my pleasure slut. I promise you'll never stop coming, where I'm concerned.”

             
As if driven by lust, my pussy clenched and the liquid I thought had dried out of my body, coated my panties. Instead, of feeling a sense of pleasure from it, I only felt dirty. He was sexy, standing before me in his battle gear. The Ancient Greek armor shining yet splattered with the blood of his victims and still, he carried an aura of strength, which I needed more than his cock inside me. I think that was what he knew I wanted and with an army surrounding him, the energy they released covered me like a sturdy blanket. Security was what Ares was offering me, something that was uncertain in many aspects of life or in my case, the afterlife, but I knew what becoming his would mean for my well being.

             
“Well, I'll say no now, and save you the trouble of a big speech. Sorry, I'm just so tired after your girlfriend left me without basic necessities. So, I must know, will you turn into a monster like her?”

             
Ares shook his head, chuckling, which I guess was a good thing and handed the collar back to the soldier.

I had to admit, the lack of a god tantrum was a great change of pace. A mild quake shook us, as the ground began opening up again, the ghouls hopping in until it was only the War God left and if I didn't know any better, I could swear I saw a bit of sadness in his eyes.

              “Hey, so you saw Aphrodite in her Titan form? You must've really pissed her off for her to slip up like that. Nah, I like to save my anger for the battle field. But, I do have to punish you for declining my gift, and here I hoped to cram myself back into that tight cunt of yours.”

             
“Yeah, sorry. Do what you have to and leave me in peace.”

             
“Peace? Wrong god, lady. Anyway, I know your fear and my son Phobos has given me the power to place it upon you for the remainder of your stay down here. I do hope you enjoy your new friends - later.”

             
Before I had a chance to question his motives, he was gone and a second later, the first hiss from somewhere in the grass captured my attention. No, not that - anything but that. But this was the Underworld, my personal hell and my dreaded horror came slithering its way out of the black stalks.  The red, fiery eyed serpent approached with its mouth opening in another hiss, which was then accompanied by several others that seemed to encircle me. Despite not having anything in my stomach, I felt queasy as seven snakes in total closed in around my feet, then slowly, one by one, they spiraled up my ankles, legs and finally over every part of my body. One even wrapped around my head, like a wreath, flicking its tongue over my face, which made my skin crawl.

Every muscle I owned tensed in fright, my phobia of the legless reptiles took hold of me and tears of fear flowed down my cheeks. As if they knew how I felt for them, the snakes constricted tightly, and this made me sob harder. There was no peace for me now, with the hunger, wet pants and disgusting monsters. I began questioning if I would ever be free, or did I sign myself up for eternal torture and would never see Hephaestus again?

              “Don't give up hope, Vanessa. You are stronger than you know and love is bigger than sadness.”

             
Glancing up, I had to squint through my tears to find that I was no longer alone. At first, I thought it was a replacement for Jerry, since the woman before me was merely a shade, her sincere smile and the pink Grecian gown she wore, along with the tingle that spread through my soul convinced me that she was a goddess.

Her beauty was physically evident, but there was something more, a genuine shine that made you glad to be alive, and though I wanted to feel skeptical about her appearance, I didn't. Her cat like eyes were the softest brown, gold specks shot through them and her wavy red locks fell down to the center of back. She reminded me so much of Willa, that I felt a stab of homesickness, and when I felt a gentle hand cup my cheek, I cried more into the translucent palm. Who was this woman, and what did she want with me?

              “My name is Psyche and don't worry, I'm just here to show you that you can beat this. I did, many, many years ago. It was hard, but so very worth it in the end.”

             
“You're the woman I've heard about. Who did you do this for?”

             
“You've met him, Vanessa. Eros is my husband.  His mother, Aphrodite tricked me with drinking the ambrosia, without telling me that I'd die and have the trials. I thought I'd fail, but then I remembered my time with him, and how he taught me to never give up on myself.”

             
“Do you regret anything since doing it? I mean, have you felt Eros should love you more considering what you had to go through?”

             
“Never. This trial is just as hard on them as it is on us. For Hephaestus? He's dealing with more than I believe my husband had. They can't come to us, they can't protect us. When I succeeded and came into the arms of the man I loved, he held me as if he’d lost me. Since then, we are closer than we were before I died to become a goddess.”

             
What she said made a lot of sense, and the longer her hand touched me, the stronger I felt. The weakness in my limbs, brought on by both hunger and lack of blood flow from the snakes, nearly disappeared. Even my constant tiredness seemed to fade away, leaving me renewed and closer to godhood than I ever felt before. We smiled at each other with a mutual understanding and I knew I made a new friend.

Our moment was interrupted when a baby cry sounded in the distance, which also reminded me that Psyche wasn't actually with me, but an illusion of sorts. She blushed, when the crying was silenced by a deeper voice, singing a gentle song that I recalled Hephaestus humming from time to time.

The goddess must have read my thoughts, because the side of her mouth twitched in a smirk. “So, you're not shocked when you join us, Aphrodite revealed that Eros is in fact, the biological son of Hephaestus. From what I hear, you had a suspicion of that.”

             
“I did. He looks so much like him, that I couldn't believe they were merely uncle and nephew. Is Heph okay? Eros?”

             
“They're both fine and very thrilled to have the truth out in the open now. The very fact that you’re concerned about them shows me you were meant to be with us. Even as a mortal Vanessa, you are a goddess, in your own right. I give you my blessing as does Eros, and all of us who root for you, when it comes to the last judgment. Have faith in love and all else will fall into place.”

             
“Thank you, Psyche. I needed to hear that now. You better get back though. Congratulations on the new baby.”

             
“You'll see her soon. May the Gods be with you.”

              Her body faded away, leaving me alone, but feeling stronger than ever and I was ready for this stupid situation to be over. If only I knew how many days I had left. I hated being in the dark, but I guess that was the whole point of having the trials take place in the fields.

One of the serpents had moved to my neck, where I still wore Hephaestus's necklace and struck out at it. Then, it looked up at me, hissing and brandishing sharp, venom dripping fangs. Frowning, I cringed, but didn't give into my urge to slap the offensive thing away. Of course, having a new sense of hope didn't mean I had to start liking snakes, it just meant that I could survive them and their scaly asses. The snake gave another nip at the hammer pendant and this made me hiss back in kind, making the snake pause, and stare up at me.“Keep it up slimy, and I'll make sure to make your miserable lives far worse once I'm immortal.”

              The red snake visibly trembled in fear and made his way back down to my left wrist. I beamed with victory. Standing in place, I thought about Hephaestus, Psyche, her husband and the new baby. All the great things that would be part of my new life in Olympus. To me, there was no more ‘if’, only ‘when’ and though, I would miss my family, they were okay with my choice. Knowing Ginny, if I quit and somehow managed to get back to the living, my mother would kick me back down to the Underworld, so that I could finally have the same love and happiness that she was blessed with everyday. Plus, I would see them and visit them when I could, so the connection wouldn't be totally lost. The young goddess was right, everything would fall into place.

*   *   *   *

              There was something very unfair about watching the snakes sleep, their long bodies hanging off mine. Not to mention, Hades had made an appearance and was eating enough food to feed a continent in front of me. My body had shed some pounds, my clothes loose and if this had been any other time, I'd have been thrilled.

The only aspect of the whole scenario that kept me from pouncing on the array of food was how it was taking place. Fruits, cheeses and various meats were piled high upon the black onyx round table, the lone thick center leg, made of human bones and balanced by a tripod of skeletal feet. Behind it rested a large heart chair, not heart shaped, but an actual gigantic heart that pounded in an erratic rhythm. As grotesque as it was, I found it strangely alluring as well and the woman, who sat upon it, was no exception.

She was young, maybe in her early twenties with black hair, ivory skin and ruby red lips. Her outfit was nothing other than a tightly bound, black corset and matching thigh high boots. While she ate grapes from a vine with her left hand, in the other, she held a diamond and onyx leash, connected to none other than the lord of the Underworld himself. He was nude, eating his own morsels from a dog bowl. I didn't need to ask, to know that the woman holding the chain was Persephone herself. Who would have thought, the sweet Goddess of Spring Time was also a dominatrix? 

The goddess took a delicate bite of her fruit, before stopping to glance up at me, her white eyes matching the bones of her table. “Would you like a bite, little soul? Oh wait, you can't.”

              Hades chuckled beside her, then yelped when Persephone struck him with an onyx riding crop. For some reason, I wasn't as repulsed by the action. Indeed, I imagined the fun Hephaestus and I could have with such a device. Her smile broadened as she watched me, and despite her goth like look, I responded in kind, as we shared a mutual bond.

A crack of lightening, followed by a violent boom of thunder lit the sky, the brightness causing me to momentarily shield my eyes. Once it was gone, I looked back to where the couple had dined and they had disappeared. Another rumble shook the sky, waking the snakes, which had them repositioning themselves over other parts of my body, then tucking their heads into any crevices they could find.

A sudden, overwhelming exhaustion took over. My hunger pains increased to the point that I almost doubled over and weakness gripped me like a stubborn cold. Trying to see the main serpent, I grumbled when I found he was practically under my armpit. Pussy! “You stupid, snake! If you've bitten me to make me feel so miserable, I swear I'll…”

             
“Now, now child. Do not upset yourself. You're already so tired.”

             
I froze in my tirade, not wanting to believe the voice that beckoned me. My heart thumped frantically, my brain telling me it was another trick, but as I lifted my eyes, I nearly fell to my knees at the sight before me. But how? “Mama?”