Deianera’s Palace,

Titania, The Realm

Deianera was standing near the window in her sitting room staring out over her garden. She turned and looked at her mother who was sitting on a comfortable settee and said, “So you see, I must have this mortal for my own! Will you help me?”

When Hekate had arrived at her daughter’s palace a short time ago, she’d told Deianera her good news. Which was that all of her powers had been restored to her. She said that even though she had not been given a reason, Zeus told her that Heaven himself was the one responsible. She told her that the high Gods themselves, led by Zeus, were in a meeting in the Council Hall at that moment being informed of this great news as well. Deianera had been so happy for her mother and then she had told her about her hopes and dreams regarding the mortal.

“Mother?” Deianera asked. “Please say you will.”

Hekate hesitated for a second and then said, “It is very risky, daughter. Have you considered the consequences of what you are planning, if you were to get caught?”

Deianera didn’t say anything but looked down as Hekate continued. “You would most likely be returned to the underworld and your penalty would probably be even stiffer than your last. And as for myself, if they discover that I helped you, I too will most likely be punished as well.”

Deianera looked up and said, “But if we’re careful and plan it right, no one will find out.” She walked over slowly to Hekate and then joined her on the settee.

“Even if I can’t have him for all time I must at least be able to seduce him, for I long to have his lips on mine, his hands caress my body, his sensual voice whisper erotic nothings into my ear whilst he possesses me!”

“And what is your plan, my child?” Hekate asked the younger Goddess. “Do you even have one?”

Deianera admitted she didn’t have much of one at this point. But after a pause she said, “Basically, it would involve me going to present day earth and finding a host to amalgamate with. Once that is done, being that I have magical powers, I am sure it would not take long to seduce the mortal.”

“From everything I’ve heard,“Hekate stated, “the mortal is very much in love with this Alexandria Grey woman. Also he professes to be a one woman man, that he is monogamous as well, and you would have to use a powerful spell to seduce him. As for making him fall in love with you, there would have to be some serious strong magic evoked for that and as you know many times due to unknown reasons, even magic fails to work on emotions as strong as love,” she finished.

“If he cannot love me then I will accept that,” Deianera replied. “But yes I will have to use a spell to seduce him. I am sure there will be the perfect one in your Great Book of Magic.”

Hekate sat there lost in thought and then said, “You would have to be very careful considering all the angles, if you do not want to be found out.”

She stood up then and Deianera said, “So does this mean you are willing to help me?”

Hekate said, “I must think on it more Deianera, what you are asking me to do carries severe consequences if it is discovered.”

She turned and walked across the room and stopped by the door. Turning around she said, “I am curious, have you chosen a mortal host yet?”

Deianera said, “No, I need to study the blocks at Kronos’ estate first.”

“He will ask you why you want to do this,” Hekate said.

“Oh I am not going to tell the God of Time that I intend to even do it,” Deianera assured the older Goddess. “My plan is to wait until he leaves his estate, and then I will view them.”

“What about Rhea his wife and his servants?” Hekate asked, a frown appearing on her forehead.

“I will use a spell, do not worry, I will be careful,” Deianera replied.

“It is forbidden for a deity to use magic directly against another deity,” Hekate said, “To do so you would be sent to the underworld as well, daughter, do you realize this?”

“Yes mother,” Deianera said. “But even so, Rhea nor the servants are deities. They are immortals but technically they are not deities.”

“I guess you have a point,” Hekate admitted. “But still, this is SO dangerous daughter. Perhaps you need to think this out. I don’t want to see you have to go back to the Underworld again, nor do I want to go back, especially not now, when my powers have just been restored to me.”

“I have thought it out for hundreds of years from the time I first saw the mortal. He is all I want, all I dream about,” she replied.

Hekate was silent for a moment and then said, “Even so, I would like to talk more about this plan of yours in the morning. Come to my estate and we will have some tea and cakes and we can discuss it. Please promise me that you will not do anything rash until then,” Hekate finished.

Deianera looked at her mother, and said, “I will be there tomorrow morning, but I cannot promise you anything. If the opportunity comes I will have to seize it.”

Hekate stared at her daughter with a worried look on her face, but biting her lip she just sighed and then turned and left the room.

Deianera thought to herself, you do not understand mother, I must have the mortal at all costs. Dangerous or not, nothing will dissuade me from my goal.

She knew that since all of the Gods were at the present council meeting and she was sure Kronos would be attending, she felt the opportunity to act was now upon her.

Hurrying outdoors, she quickly ran toward the Sea of Tranquility. At its shore, she immediately thought herself to Kronos’ estate as she had much work to do.

Friday, July 20th

Cape Neddick, Maine

Alexis awoke abruptly and turned her head seeing Bon’s beautiful face as he slept. She reached out with her fingers and lightly caressed his jaw feeling his prickly whiskers from the shadow he’d grown overnight.

Carefully and quietly she left the bed so as to not disturb him and walked into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, she adjusted the temperature and then stepped inside.

After wetting down her body she was just reaching for her body wash when suddenly the shower door opened and Bon stepped in.

She turned startled and then seeing him smiled, and said, “What are you doing in here?”

“Taking a shower, of course,” he replied pulling her wet body into his arms. His mouth came down on hers as his tongue entered her mouth and soon things got really heated as his hands roamed all over body as they began to make love.

The Council Hall

Titania, The Realm

After Zeus’ and Kronos’ brief quiet conversation, in which both of them were at a loss to explain the new prophecies, Zeus said, addressing the now buzzing assembly, “Heaven our High God has ordered me to close down the Adonis Mission. Initially, he ordered me to close the mission by midnight tonight, but shortly before this meeting, he contacted me and told me that he will delay its closure, if Kronos is able to determine exactly the meaning behind the two prophecies, for only then could the mission have a chance to be saved. Kronos, Gaia and I would be able to judge if the warnings contained in the prophecy could then be changed to a more favorable outcome,” he finished.

Kronos thought about his mother. As the ruler of Titania itself, it was too bad she could not have attended this meeting as it was an important one. But unfortunately she had important business elsewhere. However he would be calling on her as soon as she returned.

He turned to Zeus and said, “Has my father given a deadline as to when my investigation will end?”

“Yes,” replied Zeus. “He has said, that if you have not been able to discover the meaning behind the two prophecies in three of earth’s days, then at midnight on the third day, the Mission will be aborted.”

There was silence once again, in the room as every deity there absorbed this news.

Kronos then assured his son that he would not only do everything in his power to divulge the meanings behind the prophecies but exactly who they were referring to.

The council meeting then dispersed, but Kronos, Zeus and Eos all remained behind.

After the last deity left, Zeus left the podium and took a chair and placed it at the head of the table between Eos and Kronos and sat down.

“Do you think the prophecy could be referring to Hekate?” Kronos asked Zeus. “Or perhaps Deianera?”

Zeus was quiet for a moment, then said, “It very well could be, as Hekate has full power now, and Deianera has just been granted her own.”

Kronos said, “Why did Heaven, my father, give Hekate her powers back, my son?”

“He did not tell me that,” Zeus replied. “All he would say is that it was necessary to do so at this time.” He paused and then said, “I want you to watch the both of them very carefully,” he looked at both Eos and Kronos. “We cannot assume that they are innocent, in all of this. It is true they very well could be, but I want them watched all the same.”

“That is not a problem, my son,” Kronos said. “I am planning on visiting my mother in the morning. All she must do is notify some of the trees and the wildlife to watch these two goddesses, and report back if they find any suspicious activity going on between the both of them.”

“Good,” said Zeus.

Eos spoke then and said, “And I shall speak to Nyx, Goddess of the Night as she will be able to keep an eye on them after dark if either of them should attempt to travel to earth’s current time.”

The three of them stood then and left the Council Hall, heading back to their own estates.

******

Deianera in a split second, found herself standing on the opposite bank of the Sea. She was facing a huge endless curtain of mist, as far as the eye could see. Invoking a spell her mother had taught her, eons ago, she immediately disappeared. Without hesitating she stepped through the veil, to the other side. She could see a beautiful estate with manicured lawns and flowers and trees.

The spell would render the deity invisible for only a short period of time, so Deianera knew she had to work quickly. She also knew that occasionally very powerful Gods could ascertain when magic was being used and she did not want Kronos to return and catch her in his study.

Walking quickly to the estate, she walked up to the door and passed through it, finding herself in a hallway. No one was around and she went to the first door and stuck her head in and found she was staring into a library. The other door led to a sitting room.

Walking further down the hall, the hallway turned and she found more doorways. The first one was a set of double doors and she stuck her head through them and looked inside. She could see numerous blocks of moving images on three of the walls, and knew she had found the timekeeper’s study.

Passing through the door, she walked over to one wall of blocks and passing slowly by each one suddenly stopped at one particular block, as she saw Bon her heart throb. He was sleeping she realized. That same woman she had seen before was getting out of the bed. She was naked, and she walked to another room and disappeared. She had an exquisite body, the Goddess thought, but just then the screen changed. It suddenly showed another couple who were also in bed. Deianera looked all around the edge of the block wondering if there were some controls she could press which would give her a closer view.

She said, passing her hand over the base of the block, “Imparte.” Suddenly she saw a panel of round black buttons become visible to her eye. Labeled over each were words, such as, back, forward, freeze, close, volume and exit.

Pressing the close button, suddenly the viewer was in front of the sleeping couples faces. She saw a dark haired man, who she recognized as being the one called, Rye Sanders, one of the members of Bon’s musical group. She looked at the woman lying next to him who was starting to awaken. She was very beautiful with honey blond hair and creamy honey toned skin.

The woman opened her eyes and Deianera saw that they were a beautiful sapphire blue shade.

She pressed the volume button and then watched as the woman sat up and then bent over and kissed the man on his lips.

Olivia awoke and then raised herself up and seeing Rye still sleeping, bent over him kissing his mouth. His arm suddenly went around her as he answered her kiss.

After a moment the kiss ended and Olivia said “Good morning my love.”

“Morning, baby,” Rye said. He yawned and said, “What time is it?”

Olivia quickly kissed him again and then turned and got out of the bed as she said, “It’s 9:15 hon and we need to get up. Don’t forget we promised my sister and Bon we would go with them to see about getting some toys and other things for his kids rooms.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Rye said. “I just am so frickin’ tired.” He yawned again as Olivia walked into the bathroom to shower and then got out of the bed and padded naked to the armoire where he removed a clean pair of jeans and a shirt and pair of socks. He set the pile of clothing on a small chair by the armoire and entered the bathroom to shave, thinking by the time he was finished, Olivia should be done with her shower and he could take his.

******

So, Deianera thought. This woman was Alexandria’s sister. She remembered hearing that Alexandria had a fraternal twin named Olivia, having studied the Adonis Mission while in Erebus, but she had no idea the sister was this beautiful. The woman reminded her of herself as her body was superb and toned, though her hair was a shade darker than Deianera’s own tawny blond hair which was streaked with pale sunlit blond streaks. The mortal woman even appeared to be the same height as Deianera was.

Deianera stood in silence thinking for a moment, then with a small smile she waved her hand over the panel and said, “Adumbrate,” and the controls were now hidden.

As she turned to go, she heard a slight noise and looked toward the door, just as Kronos entered. Panicked she froze where she was, but he passed by her heading for his large table. He sat down and began looking through some papers and Deianera as quietly as possible, inched backward across the floor, keeping her eyes glued to him. Just as she had almost reached the door he suddenly looked up and stared her way. She stopped again and suddenly heard a voice at her elbow which caused her to jump up in alarm, but then praised Heaven for her not making a noise.

“My dearest, would you like a cup of tea?” an attractive slim brown haired woman asked him.

“That will be lovely, my sweet,” he said, as the woman then left.

Deianera turned and went through the doorway making her way to the front of the house and out the door.

She quickly thought herself home but a second later she was still standing on Kronos’ lawn. She concentrated harder, but still she remained where she was. Feeling even more panic, she ran quickly across the expanse of lawn and shot through the veil of mist just as her body became visible again.

Deianera sank to her knees, trembling as she realized what a very close call that had been. Why hadn’t the teleportation worked, she wondered? Once she had composed herself she thought herself back to her palace and this time she found success.

Summer, 1000 A.D.

Newfoundland, Canada

The next morning Bjorn put in an appearance for the morning meal and Captain Eriksson as well as the other men were vastly relieved that the injury to Bjorn’s leg seemed to be improved. And when Leif himself questioned Tasha she told him that the wound was healing nicely. She was unused to lying but in this case had no choice. It was Bjorn’s preference that they keep up the charade of him still being injured for he feared there would be too many questions raised about Tasha’s extraordinary ability.

After the meal, Bjorn realized that he did not see the woman, Alexis and walking away from the table he headed toward Tasha who was eating her meal next to Genna at their same little makeshift table.

“Tasha,” Bjorn said, “I would speak with you privately.”

Tasha, who was just finishing her meal, drank the rest of her juice and then stood and walked away with him toward the edge of the woods.

They stopped and Bjorn said, “Where is the stranger Alexis?”

This was the moment Tasha had been dreading. She said, taking a deep breath, “She has left, Bjorn. Returned to her own time.”

Bjorn stared at her a moment, and then said, “You have seen this happen?”

“Yes my love, I have,” she answered.

Bjorn asked for the details then and when Tasha said that she saw her enter a beam of light and disappear, Bjorn was silent for a moment.

He thought of the lovely woman with her startling sea green eyes and bold manner and said, “How can that be possible?”

“Maybe it was a part of the God’s plan my love,” Tasha answered, not wanting to lie to him. “But it appears her story was true and she was not crazy after all.”

Bjorn thought about his brief feelings of lust for Alexis and thought it was probably for the best that she was gone. He suddenly pulled Tasha close to him and kissed her and said, “How I love you my beauty.” He caressed her cheek and then smiling she said, “And I love ye too my Bjorn,” as they kissed again hungrily.

As the camp began their preparations to return to the Valerian and sail back to Greenland, Thalia realized that very soon, Kronos would come to fetch her back to her host and she felt a great sadness. As Bjorn held her he noticed her face and said, “Tasha sweet, what is it? You look grieved.”

Tasha not being able to tell him, just said, softly, a tear escaping her eye, “Just hold me Bjorn. Hold me tight!”

As he pulled her in tighter her head buried in his shoulder, she said, “Tell me you will never stop loving me.”

In his soft husky voice, he told her that he would always love her, until the day he died and beyond.

She pulled back her head and they kissed again passionately.

Not long afterward as they both went to help the others pack everything up in the camp, Kronos appeared, stopping time.

Thalia, abruptly performing the reverse amalgamation from Tasha, a moment later walked slowly away with Kronos then. She passed by Bjorn as he stood there, having been in a conversation with Rye, the both of them now still as statues.

“I will return, Bjorn,” she said softly, though he was unable to hear her. She was crying at that point and reaching up, she gently caressed his lips with her fingers, although she could not feel him.

Then taking one more loving look at the man she would give up her life for, she turned abruptly as she and Kronos headed for the forest.

Friday, July 20th

Cape Neddick, Maine

After the both of them were showered Alexis stood in the bedroom pulling on a pair of blue jean shorts, as Bon already dressed sat in a small chair watching. Pulling on a sleeveless summer top which dipped low over her bosom, she turned and said, “You look nice babe. I like that shirt. But are you gonna wear that ugly skull and crossbones necklace again?”

“Ugly?” Bon asked his face looking rather petulant. “I paid a lot of money for this lady, I’ll have you know,” he said, a small smile hovering around his mouth.

“Which just goes to show you, that money and good taste don’t necessarily go hand in hand! It’s creepy Bon and I hate it!” she said looking at his face which was now scowling from her last comment.

She turned and started to brush her hair and he got up and came up behind her, and quickly spun her around. “Have you ever looked closely at it? It has diamonds, your favorite rock, and it’s cool!” Bon said, defending his piece of favorite jewelry.

“I don’t care if it has the Hope diamond!” Alexis said, laughing shortly. “And tell me what’s so cool about celebrating death?”

His eyebrows went up as he said, “What? Celebrating death?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I mean it’s a skull and crossbones Bon. A skull is the head piece of someone who once lived and the bones are his...well his bones,” she said talking to him patiently, “and who is now”....

“Shut up,” Bon said rather disgustedly, and as she opened her mouth to continue her lecture, he pulled her against him as he bent his head, his mouth covering her own. His tongue thrust inside her warm orifice and mingled with her own tongue as their kiss increased in urgency and intensity.

A moment later she broke and said softly, staring into his beautiful lust filled eyes, “Okay, you win. You can wear your little piece of expensive but ugly jewelry, just don’t stop kissing me... God how I want you!”

He crushed her mouth with his own again, and then their mouths locked together, he backed her up to the bed, where they both sat as he began to undress her. Then as she helped him remove his own clothes, he laid her down and proceeded to give her what she wanted, making sweet, hot, passionate love to her...

Later after they’d all had breakfast together, Alexis and Olivia returned home and Olivia then said she was going to run out for a bit. She needed to open a bank account in Cape Neddick and take care of some other business.

Alexis was sitting outside on the terrace in a lounge chair with Hedwig stretched out on her belly, just enjoying the day. It was sunny and the temps quite warm.

An hour from now Bon and Rye would be picking them up, as they were taking a trip to Augustus to go shopping for things for Bon’s children so that when they visited next week everything would be in place.

As Alexis thought about Bon’s children she wondered what they would think of her. Would they hate her? Or would they like her,she wondered. She wasn’t too worried about the two younger ones, James and Peter, but as for Sherry this was where most of her concern was. Sherry was a normal teen Bon had told her and he felt sure she would like her. However Alexis wasn’t so sure.

She imagined what it would be like to have Bon’s child. A little boy like James or a little daughter even. As she sat there fantasizing, that moment in time was frozen, as Kronos and Thalia appeared. In a matter of seconds Thalia had amalgamated back inside her host and Kronos disappeared.

Alexis glanced at her watch seeing she had a half hour still. She put Hedwig down on the terrace and stood up and as she was about to turn and go back inside the house she saw Tonks trotting out of the garden. She had something in her mouth which was disc shaped.

Alexis quickly walked toward the cat and said, “Tonks, what you got girl?” Tonks laid it at her feet as Alexis’ eyes grew wide. It was her birth control packet, she’d lost the other night she realized.

“Good girl!” she said to her cat and bent and patted her head. She looked at the packet. Although it was a bit chewed up and was evident that the dog obviously had gotten a hold of it, the remaining pills still were inside, but she thought, since she’d already replaced them, she would just toss this one out.

Turning she hurried back into the house then.

[Thalia a bit confused thought, she lost her pills? She quickly opened herself to all of Alexis’ memories and suddenly found the memory of when Alexis had knocked them off the banister. She saw Alexis searching but was unable to find them so she went to the pharmacy and had gotten the pills replaced! This meant that Alexis was now taking the real pills, Thalia realized. She was protected again, and therefore could not get pregnant. Thalia needed to contact Kronos tonight and tell him of her discovery, so he could once again substitute these new pills with fakes.]

Hekate's Estate

Titania, The Realm

The next morning after Deianera’s secret trip to Kronos’ estate, she headed over to her mother’s palace. She was taking the normal way as she wanted to walk through the forest that led to Hekate’s area.

The trees were Gaia’s sentinels and reported to her only. They were living things, different then ordinary trees on earth, as each were imbued with intelligence and abilities. Many of them were spread around and about the entire realm along with other’s of Gaia’s flora such as shrubs and even flowers. As she entered the forest she saw how lovely it was with the moss growing over everything and ferns and various trees of all shapes and sizes with logs covering the ground here and there. There was a path taking her through the woods and as she walked along, it almost seemed as if she could hear the trees whispering to one another.

Deianera wondered if they were watching her and listening, trying to find out any information which they would then report back to Gaia.

A moment later she saw several birds, all blackbirds keeping pace with her as she walked, flying from tree to tree. The feeling of being spied upon increased as Deianera walked on.

After awhile the trees thinned and suddenly she found herself in the open. Across a grassy expanse of lawn was a road that led visitors to a large palatial palace and quickly Deianera ran across the lawn heading towards the small road, reaching the front entrance a moment later.

Entering the arched door of the structure, she went straight to her mother’s spell room and entered to find her mother sitting, leafing through her Book of Magic.

“Greetings mother!” Deianera said walking over to Hekate’s large table.

“Daughter! What brings you here so early?” Hekate asked, closing her book.

“I have news,” Deianera replied. “I have chosen my host,” she said, not meeting the older woman’s eyes. “I visited Kronos’ estate last night and I found out the information I needed. I know now which mortal woman I will amalgamate with.”

She then looked up into her Mother’s eyes to see the woman looking at her with dismay. “You went to Kronos’ last night after I asked you not to do anything rash, why daughter did you do this?”

“I told you mother if the opportunity came I would have to seize it. I knew since you told me that the higher Gods were all in a council meeting that the opportunity was at that moment,” Deianera finished.

Hekate was silent for a moment. How could she stop her daughter from going ahead with this plan, she wondered? Then she realized that she couldn’t. She knew she had no choice but to help her, for her daughter’s powers were new and she was not that experienced at magic yet. If she let her do this alone, this would increase the chance of her failing. Hekate said, “And who is the woman you’ve chosen to be your host?”

Deianera smiled and said, “She is perfect. Beautiful, desirable and intelligent.” She paused and then said, “Her name is Olivia Justine Grey. The fraternal twin sister of Alexandria Isabella Grey, the current host for the Adonis Mission. I will amalgamate with Olivia and then I will seduce Bon,” she finished as Hekate, stared at her, stunned into silence, at her daughter’s shocking announcement.