Upon the Midnight Clear

"I can't believe you cheated!"



"I can't believe you didn't know it. Man, what kind of god are you? I never knew stupidity had a divine representative. Guess I was wrong, huh?"



"You're such an asshole."



Aidan frowned as Leta took him into a white marble room where two men were playing a game of chess. Everything in the room was sterile white, except for the two men dressed in black and the odd chess pieces who had been dancing and fighting around the board on their arrival-chess pieces that were living, breathing creatures who now watched the arguing gods with great interest.



At a quick glance, the two gods appeared to be twins except that the one cheating had short brown hair with black streaks laced through it. He also had what appeared to be black tattoos running down his face at sharp lightning-bolt-style angles from his tear ducts to his chin. The man across from him had black hair with tribal tattoos covering his arms from wrists to shoulders. They were both dressed in jeans and sleeveless T-shirts. An odd style for two gods.



Then again, what did he know of such creatures?



"Deimos?" Leta called as she led Aidan toward the players.



The one with the facial tats looked up. "Leta, my lovely. What brings you here?" he asked in a jovial tone-as if he hadn't been in the middle of a verbal smackdown with his brother three seconds ago.



The other man stood up as if to leave.



"Sit down, Phobos," Deimos snapped. "We're not through."



"Yeah, we are. I don't play with cheaters and I don't care if you are three seconds older than me, you don't tell me what to do. I'm not your bitch, boy."



Deimos grimaced. "Then stop acting like one. Whoever heard of Fear being a crybaby?"



Phobos crossed his arms over his chest. "The same people who made Dread a cheater."



Deimos scoffed at him. "Oh, go cry to mama, you nancy-boy." Then Deimos looked at Aidan. "You play chess?"



"Extremely not well."



He indicated the chair across from him. "Take a seat while we talk."



"Don't," Phobos warned. "It's like playing against a two-year-old who can blast your soul right out of your body. Last time Demon played a human who beat him, he sliced him open from asshole to appetite."



Aidan arched a brow at the vivid description. "Interesting turn of phrase."



"Consider it a warning."



Leta leaned against Aidan and smiled. "Pay Phobos no attention. His job is stir fear in others. He's good at it, too."



Aidan shrugged her warning away. "Not really. I have no fear of anything."



Phobos grinned as if he enjoyed the thought of a challenge. "I assure you, I can rectify that."



"I'd rather you didn't," Leta said quickly before she waved the god away. "Now go scare an old woman or two."



Phobos saluted her with two fingers before he vanished into a circle of flames.



She turned to Deimos who was in the process of directing the chess pieces back into their starting places. "You got a minute, Demon?"



Deimos laughed. "An eternity of them. Why?"



"I need to know how to stop Dolor."



That got him to finally look up at her with a quizzical expression. "Dolor? When did he wake up?"



"A couple of days ago. Now he's after Aidan here to kill him."



Deimos tsked. "Poor you. It really sucks to be human."



Leta narrowed her gaze at him. "Demon..."



He was unfazed by her chiding tone. "Don't nag me, little cousin. I don't want to hear it."



"You're a Dolophonos, a god of justice. Are you really going to sit there while an innocent man is put to death because someone has PMS?"



Deimos gave her a droll stare. "I'm an executioner, Leta, hence my Demon nickname. They send me in to take the heads off people and gods who've stepped over the line, usually only because someone has PMS. You want justice, Themis's office is down the hall on the left." He flashed an evil grin at her. "You want death and dismemberment, I'm your man... or rather god."



She let out a long-suffering sigh. "So you're not going to answer my question?"



"I don't have the answer for you. Just because I've been drinking buddies with Dolor in the past doesn't mean I know how to stop him, especially since no one has ever sent me in to kill him. I only know he prefers double-shot lime-flavored tequilas with bourbon chasers. Sick, I know, but far be it from me to mock his tastebuds. I'm just glad they're not mine."



Aidan stepped forward with a question of his own. "What about you? Could you stop him?"



Deimos gave him a smug look. "No one stands before me for very long. Dread always trumps pain. Besides, I fight dirty. Chess isn't the only thing I cheat at." He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head before he returned his gaze to Leta. "If you really want the inside weakness on Dolor, I'd suggest you try his sister, Lyssa."



Aidan could tell by the look on Leta's face that she'd rather not. "Who's Lyssa?"



"Personification of Insanity," they answered simultaneously.



Leta gave Deimos a chiding stare before she elaborated. "She often works as a demon in conjunction with other gods, to incite madness in their victims so that the Erinyes or Furies can do their work. Because of that, she's a little hard to handle and the madness she used to give to others has nicely taken root inside her own mind."



It figured. "Ooo, perfect. I do believe that in the last twenty-four hours she and I have become really good friends."



Deimos laughed. "I can tell you haven't met her."



"Maybe not personally, but I've definitely been skating around her block a lot today."



"Around the block's okay. Just don't stop and knock on her door."



"Why?"



Deimos gave him a sinister smirk. "She's special. We used to unleash her on ancient battlefields just to see soldiers chop their best friends into pieces before falling on their own swords."



Leta screwed her face up at his brutal imagery. "You're so sick, Demon."



He shrugged nonchalantly. "Trust me, they deserved it or I wouldn't have been so mean. Besides, my mother is a Fury and my father War. What more would you expect of me?"



"Compassion," she said softly. "The Erinyes aren't always cruel."



"True, but not for the wicked. Our job is to punish and that, my cousin, I'm more than capable of doing. Grisly though you may think it." He indicated the door with a jerk of his chin. "See Lyssa. If Pain has a weakness, she alone would know it."



"But will she share?"



He shrugged. "You know her as well as I do. Depends on her mood and degree of clarity when you speak to her."



Aidan frowned. "Degree of what?"



Instead of answering, Leta took his arm before she flashed them into an Escheresque garden. It was so complicatedly intricate, with twisting staircases that defied logic, misaligned arches, and backward-growing shrubs, that Aidan couldn't even grasp it. He literally felt as if he'd just stepped into Escher's Other World engraving. It made him dizzy to try and make sense of the nonsense around him.



No wonder Lyssa was nuts. Trying to walk through her garden would drive anyone crazy.



Leta led him up a small set of stairs that twisted into a dragon's scales before dissolving into a river of blood that lapped against the small rock they both stood on.



"What is this place?" he asked.



"Lyssa's home. Like Deimos warned, she's not exactly right in the head and hers is a very unique view of reality. The garden reflects her quirky nature."



Quirky? Yeah, she'd blown right past quirky to dive headfirst into all-out strange. He was beginning to understand that as the rail under his hand licked his palm. Curling his lip in disgust, he jerked his hand away to find eyes watching him instead of the tongue he'd felt an instant before.



Yeah... if this was true insanity, he suddenly felt normal.



"Lyssa, Lyssa," Leta called. "Light and fair, 'tis Leta come to you with words to share."



Well, this was a new side to Leta. That being said, she did have a beautiful voice when she sang out the words. "What are you doing?"



Her smile dazzled him. "Lyssa likes rhymes. She will only speak in them."



"You've got to be kidding me?"



Before she could answer, a swirling blue ball appeared in front of them. The ball moved in a jagged path until it touched the top of the stairs behind him. There it grew until it formed a young, beautiful woman. Her long, curly blond hair shone as if it were made of pure spun gold and she stood with the regal demeanor of a queen. More than that, each feature of her face was so carefully sculpted that she didn't appear real.



Until one looked at her eyes. They were jet black and cold. Soulless. There was no white, or color of any kind. And when she turned them on him, he could feel the chill of madness all the way to his soul.



When she spoke, Lyssa's voice was as light and delicate as the goddess herself. "Leta,Leta, born of dreams,



"Through the centuries you have screamed.



"Now you come to my fair land,



"Only to ask for my helping hand



."



Aidan leaned forward to whisper in Leta's ear. "Nice stanza."



She elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Can you help me, dear cousin?"



A whimsical smile curved Lyssa's red lips.



"Help is all they ever say,



"Even though it seldom stays.



"It'll leave you too you'll see



"And then alone you will bleed



."



Infuriated with her cryptic words, Aidan stepped around Leta. "Look, we don't have time for this. We need-" His words stopped instantly as his lips were sealed shut.



Lyssa shook her head in reproach. "Men will ever speak their way,



"Regardless of those who hold sway.



" 'Tis time you pause to listen instead of hear,



"Only that will save what you hold dear."



Leta placed a tender hand on his arm, before she looked back at Lyssa. "Are you telling me that we can defeat Dolor?"



"Pain is here,



"Sharp and clear.



"Even so, it must fade,



"And a new way should be made."



He saw the relief on Leta's face even though he was having a hard time following the nonsense. And not being able to open his mouth was seriously starting to piss him off.



"How do I defeat him?" Leta asked.



Lyssa lifted her hand so that a bird that was flying backward could rest on her extended finger. Picasso would have been proud of the bizarre image the two of them made. "True pain is born,



"When the heart is worn,



"On the sleeve



"For all to see."



By the aggravated look on her face, he could tell Leta wasn't any more satisfied with that answer than he was. "But how does it end?"



"An ending is a beginning in disguise.



"But it is seen only by those who are wise.



"For pain to be returned to its place,



"You must confront it to its face.



Leta shook her head. "I don't understand, Lyssa."



She gave Leta the same look a kindergarten teacher would give an aggravating child. "In time there is clarity to be found.



"But not now on this most hallowed ground.



"You have the answers you have sought.



"Now it is time for battles to be fought."



And with those words, the bird let out the croak of a frog, then dissolved into dust. Lyssa raised her arms skyward before she sank into the ground.



Yeah...



Aidan sucked his breath in sharply as he was finally able to open his mouth again. He gave Leta a deadly stare. "Interesting woman. Must get tiring though trying to always rhyme everything you want to say."



"Not after as much experience as she's had."



He didn't want to argue that point. He was just glad Lyssa was gone. "Did you learn anything from this?"



"Yes. I learned that we can defeat him before he kills you. That's at least a start."



She was definitely an optimist. He on the other hand... "Call me crazy, then again compared to Lyssa, Sybil was normal, but all I got out of this meeting was a headache. Actual directions on how to kill him would have been nice."



"True, but in this case, I think we got the best we could hope for."



"Then why did we waste our time?"



She patted him indulgently on his cheek. "Who said we wasted time?"



"I do, for the record."



"And for the record, you're wrong. Trust me."



Yeah, sure. He wasn't about to make that mistake. "No offense, but the last person I trusted tried to barbecue me-personally and professionally."



Instead of angering her, his words turned her expression soft and gentle. "I'm not a jerk, Aidan. I wouldn't have come to you if I wanted you hurt."



It made sense when she said it, but he couldn't shake the bitterness inside him that didn't want to get burned again. He was so tired of people playing him, using him to get what they wanted, then casting him aside the minute he displeased them.



He wasn't disposable waste. He was a human being with feelings just like everyone else.



Afraid of what Leta might do to him and afraid of his past, he reached out to touch her cheek. Her skin was so soft, her lips inviting. There had been a time in his life when he wouldn't have hesitated to make a move on a woman like this. A time when he'd have had her laughing and naked in his bed.



Now that part of himself was dead. He would never again be so carefree and full of life. His soul had been kicked to the ground where it was still mired by memories and pain so profound that he wondered if he would ever be able to resuscitate any part of the man he'd once been.



Did he even want to?



There was something to be said for being numb. There was no liability. No harm to himself or anyone else. It was a nice place to live once you got past the loneliness.



But as he stared into those eyes so blue and sincere, all the isolation of his life hit him square in the chest.



If I have gone insane would it be so bad to kiss her?



Would it?



And before he could second-guess himself, he dipped his head to taste the sweetest lips he'd ever known.



Leta buried her hands in Aidan's soft hair as her breath mingled with his. For a mortal man, he knew how to kiss. She could feel the steel of his body pressing against hers, feel the heat of his embrace all the way to her immortal soul.



She shouldn't be doing this. Yet she couldn't make herself stop. It'd been way too long since she last touched any man. Since she'd allowed any passion to touch her life. She was supposed to be devoid of emotions, but here she stood, feeling his presence with every part of herself.



Was she siphoning from him? That was the most logical explanation for these emotions and yet that didn't seem right. Her feelings were too vivid. They felt like hers. This wasn't his anger. It wasn't his lust. It was a longing that she, herself, had and it came from deep inside her battered heart. A need to be close to him.



Afraid of losing her feelings, she wrapped her arms around him and transported them back to his cabin. She deepened her kiss as her heartbeat quickened and her blood fired. This was what she needed most.



Aidan.



She pulled back to stare up at him. "I want to be with you, Aidan," she whispered as her hands paused at the hem of his shirt.



Honestly, she expected him to push her away again. She certainly wouldn't blame him if he did after everything he'd been through. No one would blame him for it.



But he didn't. His green eyes blazing with heat, he jerked his shirt off over his head, and pulled her back into his arms to continue their kiss.



Closing her eyes, she savored the taste of him, the feel of his hands skimming over her body as she held him against her. His muscles bunched and tightened under her palms, reminding her of a time long ago when she'd been afraid of touching a man like this. But that had been eons ago and she'd changed so much since then.



For centuries, she'd fought Dolor alone, trying to save as many humans from him as she could. She'd felt it was her duty even though she was numb to everything but pain.



After a while that absence of feeling had worn on her and weakened her resolve. She'd learned to siphon emotions from humans in their dreams. For a time, she'd started relying on those emotions and had been afraid of turning Skoti-one of the dread dream gods who preyed on humans so that they would have feelings. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, except when they took too much and drove the human hosts insane and shattered their lives. It was something she couldn't allow herself to do to an innocent person. The moment she'd truly seen herself slipping into the Skoti mindset, she'd locked Dolor and herself away.



Now she wasn't afraid of her emotions or of Aidan's. She wanted them. Needing to feel more, she flashed them into the bedroom and onto the bed.



Aidan pulled away from her lips as he realized where he was. "Nifty trick."



"I can do one better."



Their clothes vanished.



Aidan laughed deep in his throat. "Yeah, that could definitely come in handy."



She rolled him over, onto his back. He looked up at her, drinking in the sight of her bare body against his. Her breasts were the most beautiful he'd ever seen, and he'd seen some of the best in the world. His mouth watering, he pulled her closer so that he could draw her puckered nipple into his mouth.



Leta shivered at the sensation of his hot tongue teasing her. She cupped his head to her as her mind reeled with forgotten sensations. It'd been too long since she'd been intimate with someone. Too long since any man had touched her...



He growled deep in his throat before he pulled back and rubbed his whiskered cheek against her sensitive breast. She sucked her breath in sharply as chills erupted all over her.



She was drunk with her lust as she skimmed his body with her gaze. Every part of him was sculpted with muscles. There was so much strength to him, inside and out. And all she wanted to do was to touch that strength and hold him close.



More than that, she wanted to taste him.



Aidan watched her as she kissed her way down his body. Her long black hair teased against his skin, giving him chills and setting him on fire. It'd been so long since he'd last had a woman that he was actually afraid of coming before he even really touched her.



That was all his bruised ego needed. He'd rather die than embarrass himself like some jacked-up high school kid seeing his first naked woman.



Closing his eyes, he tried to think of anything else besides those dainty lips that brushed against his flesh. Of her tongue flicking over his body. His heart hammering, he wanted this moment to last.



And when he felt her nibble the tip of his cock, it was all he could do not to scream out in pleasure. He opened his eyes to watch as she took him even deeper into her mouth. It was the most incredible sight he'd ever beheld. Her tongue teased and tormented him to the highest level.



Leta smiled at the salty taste of Aidan and at the joy she could feel coming from inside him. It was unbelievable. And most special of all was the feeling she had from him that he was afraid of disappointing her. The fact that he even cared made her heart light.



His kindness reminded her of a time when she'd been like him. When her feelings had been her own and when she'd owned her life. When she'd been free to make her own decisions. She missed that so much...



Most of all, she'd missed feeling connected to someone else. Being a vital part of them-aching when they were on a trip, knowing that someone was out there missing her and counting the heartbeats until they were back together again. There was nothing else like living and breathing for the smile of someone she loved.



Aidan drew a ragged breath as he cupped her head in his hands. He wanted this to be plain, animal sex. No commitment, no promises. Nothing but the two of them scratching a biological itch.



And yet, as he watched her pleasing him, that disgusting, tender part of himself that he hated stirred. It was the part that wanted a woman who didn't cheat on him. One he could trust not to hurt or betray him. One person who would stand by his side no matter what was thrown his way.



Other people had it. Why couldn't he?



Because you don't deserve it...



He didn't want to believe that. Surely to God, given all he'd been through in his life, he was worthy of someone's loyalty. Someone's love.



"Did you ever cheat on your husband, Leta?" He cringed as the words left his lips.



Mentioning her husband would probably be a sex-kill for her.



But even so, he needed to know if she'd been trustworthy or like Heather, a liar who sold herself to the highest bidder.



Her eyes were pain-filled as she pulled away from him. "No. Never. I loved him completely, and so long as he lived, I didn't even look at other men. There was never anyone else in my world except him."



"Was he a god?"



She shook her head as she made slow circles with her hand over his abs. "He'd been a warrior. A kind man whose dreams I'd once visited. For a soldier, he'd been amazingly artistic and his dreams had been vivid with colors and sounds." She swallowed as if it were almost too much for her to think about. "And when I saw him tremble from holding our daughter for the very first time... every part of me loved him more."



Aidan's stomach tightened. That was what he wanted. Someone to love him like that. "Did he ever cheat on you?"



Her gaze fired. "I would have killed him."



Aidan cupped her cheek in his hand as he stared into those luminescent eyes. "Do you think he ever knew what a lucky bastard he was?"



"I wouldn't call him lucky. Because of me, and for trying to protect my back, he was gutted on the floor like a pig."



Aidan felt sorry for her loss, but it didn't change the fact that he'd kill to have what she'd shared with her husband. "I don't know. I think to have one day of what you described would be worth being gutted."



Leta was amazed as she felt tears for him sting her eyes. "You didn't deserve what happened to you, Aidan."



"Deserving's got nothing to do with anything. You didn't deserve to lose your family. And they definitely didn't deserve to die because Zeus was an idiot."



A single tear fell down her cheek where it was stopped by his finger. Inside, she felt something she hadn't felt in centuries. An emotional bond with someone else. He understood her tragedy. Most of all, he felt for it.



Wanting to take him away from his sadness, to give him even a moment's worth of peace, she crawled up his body so that she could kiss him deeply.



Aidan's head swam at the fierce passion of her kiss. He couldn't remember anyone ever kissing him like this. It was demanding and hot, and it fired every nerve ending in his body. All he wanted was to touch her. To feel her.



To be inside her.



She clutched his body close before she dipped her head to tease his throat. Aidan growled as her tongue danced across his flesh. All thoughts fled his mind. She was the only thing he could focus on, the only thing he could feel. Her touch branded itself into his flesh as he let her take him away from a past he didn't want to dwell on.



Leta rolled him over, onto his back. She was molten inside and all she wanted was to feel him deep inside her body. Unable to wait, she straddled his hips and impaled herself on him.



He threw his head back as if he'd just been electrocuted. "Oh, God, Leta," he breathed. "Don't... stop."



She hesitated at his words. "You want me to stop?"



"No," he all but roared. "You stop now and I swear I'll die."



She laughed at his desperate words before she resumed her strokes.



Aidan couldn't breathe as she thrust against him. He honestly wanted to die in this one perfect moment. Nothing had ever felt better than the woman on top of him. She was like an angel sent to save him from his isolation.



And he never wanted to let her go. He wanted this time to freeze and stay right where it was as he gripped her soft thighs with his hands. He lifted his hips, driving himself even deeper inside her. This was where he wanted to stay. He wanted to pretend there was no world outside this cabin, no one waiting there to rip him to pieces. No one out to do him harm.



There was only Leta and the pleasure she gave him. This, this was heaven.



And when she came, he bit his lip so hard, he tasted blood. An instant later, he joined her release.



Her breathing ragged, she collapsed on top of him. Her sweet breath tickled his chest as he watched shadows moving on the ceiling. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this relaxed. That he'd been so at peace.



Yeah, he was definitely insane. This entire day, including her presence, had to be some kind of hallucination. He must have fallen and struck his head. Hard.



But honestly, if this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up from it.



Leta pushed herself up on her elbows to stare down at him as he watched her through half-hooded eyes. She cocked her head in curiosity. "What are you thinking?"



He smiled at her very human question as he wound his hand in her silken hair. "I'm thinking about how wonderful you feel in my arms."



Her smile made his heart soar and his groin jerk. "I've only been with you and my husband. I'd forgotten how incredible this could be." Her eyes turned stormy. "Unlike you, I don't like being alone."



His grief and pain gathered in his throat to choke him, and he confided in her something he hadn't confided in anyone-not even himself. "Neither do I. Alone sucks."



She closed her eyes before she covered his hand with hers and turned her face into his palm to kiss it.



That single act shattered him. "If you betray me, Leta... Kill me. Be kind and don't let me live in the shadow of your cruelty. I can't take another blow like that. I'm not that strong."



A tic started in her jaw as she released his hand and gave him a hard stare. "I didn't come this far to betray you, Aidan. I came here to fight for you, not against you."



His vision blurred and he despised the tears he felt welling. He hadn't cried in so long...



He wanted his anger back. Anger didn't hurt. It didn't make him feel worthless or powerless.



Not so with these confusing feelings that he couldn't even sift through enough to identify. They left him vulnerable and weakness was something he'd learned to despise early in his bitter life.



I will be the last one standing. It was the one motto he'd always lived his life by. It was what had gotten him through countless attacks from other actors. Countless brutal reviews that had assaulted everything from his wardrobe, to his looks, to his past, to his abilities as an actor. Reporters and studio execs who'd laughed at him and his ambitions.



He wouldn't let them win.



He would be the last one standing.



Leta frowned as she felt his turmoil inside her own body. He was standing on a precipice. Scared. Furious. Strong and at the same time weak.



"Together we will see this through, Aidan. I promise."



He blinked as if her words had jogged something loose in his memory. "Alabaster."



She scowled at the unexpected response. "Alabaster?" What on earth? "There's no alabaster here."



"No," he said quickly. "It was a movie I was in a couple of years ago. One of the ones I won an Oscar for." A slow smile spread across his face. "It was a movie about a man's wife who was being targeted by an unstoppable serial killer."



That was not a pleasant thought after the sex they'd just had. "Okay..."



He looked at her. "Don't you see? That's what Dolor is-he's a sociopathic serial killer. And in the movie we didn't wait for the killer to come up on us unawares. We took the matter into our own hands. We chose the battleground and we chose the time and place to fight. The killer didn't come to us.We went to him."



It was a brave move. "I've never drawn Dolor into a fight before."



He nodded. "Exactly. It'll surprise him."



Leta froze as she remembered something Lyssa had said to them. "For pain to be returned to its place,



"You must confront it to its face." Maybe this was what Lyssa had meant. "You're brilliant!"



"Not me. Allister Davis is the one who wrote it. I'm just taking a page from his script. You said Dolor needed to come to this realm, but what if instead we fought him in yours?"



"What do you mean?"



"In the mortal realm, he's immortal, right?"



She nodded. "He's immortal in dreams too."



"Yeah, but like you said earlier, in dreams, we can create weapons to fight him with, right? We'd have an ax if we needed it or better yet the fabled Hollywood gun that never needs reloading."



"True. But he's stronger in dreams than he is here. He's had a lot more experience manipulating that realm than you have. If you kill him without knowing his weakness, he will regenerate. If he kills you there, you're dead."



He brushed her hair back from her face before he smiled, then kissed her. "I didn't say it was a perfect plan, but it's the best shot we have. Besides, I have a really good idea..."



"And that is?"



He answered her with another scorching kiss. "Just hang on, dream lady. We're about to take the home team advantage."