The Love of War

DISCLAIMER: I don't own these copyrighted characters. I write for the joy of smutty minded readers everywhere and for my own personal fantasies. These characters are owned by Renaissance Pictures.


WARNING: This is the alternate universe where Nebula is a warlord dominatrix and a little high strung. I think it's because her g-string is 2 sizes too small. And Eris, who is Discord in the other universe, is a Goddess of Love, so she doesn't wear black leather bustier. Bummer.

The Love of War, Part Four


Jessie woke up feeling for the usual warm weight that should be next to her. This morning, however, there was no furry body next to her. The window was in the wrong place too. She looked around at the unfamiliar bedroom and then grimaced as she remembered where she was.

There would be no 'good morning' slurp from Alexi. No tail thumping on the bed next to her. No big black dog dancing around, wanting to go outside. No surly roommate to complain of her early morning habits. No, she was in the temple of Cupid, God of War and her life was a lot more complicated than it had been yesterday morning.

Gods, had it been only yesterday? It seemed so much longer than that. Of course, a lot had happened yesterday, including waking up over two millennia in the past and in an alternate universe for reasons unknown. And then, there was the fun filled afternoon of killing three would-be rapists and then cleaning up afterward. Jessie also had the feeling that something else momentous had happened yesterday, but she wasn't sure what it was. Something else had changed her life completely, she just didn't know what. The feeling that her life was about to take another hairpin curve on two tires was nagging her. Gods, hadn't enough happened already?

At least she'd had a good dream last night. A very good dream. Her subconscious had supplied exactly what she needed to relax after yesterday's activities. Funny how her dreams were usually better then her memories of lovemaking sessions with her ex. Jessie stretched luxuriously under the blankets. The tension that she had gone to bed with was relieved, at least for the moment.

She threw back her blankets and looked around. No chamber pot, thank the Stars. Where was the privy, though? She slipped back into the tunic that Demetrius had given her, and opened her bedroom door. A quick peek down the hall showed her what she was looking for and she relieved her bladder with a glad sigh. Demetrius was already up because he had thoughtfully left her some soft leaves to use in lieu of toilet paper. What a guy!

She went back to the room, washed her hands in the basin, and ate her now slightly stale Danish. Damn, some coffee would be good now. Ah, well. Sacrifices must be made. She winced and looked around at where she was.

"I didn't mean that literally." She told the cosmos at large.

She stretched and looked around. She needed to shake off last night. There wasn't enough room to do a proper kata. She could do a modified one, but that didn't feel as good to her. Maybe she could use the main hall, if nobody was there. She grabbed her stuff , tucked it under her arm, and headed to the altar room.

Demetrius was no where in sight. Jessie started her stretches and realized that the long tunic was not the best outfit to work out in. She could take it off, though. The Greece of this time didn't have many nudity taboos, so she just pulled the tunic over her head and started the kata, sans clothing.

Demetrius stood in the doorway and watched his lovely guest move through the intricate motions that almost looked like a dance. Almost. A lifetime of war allowed him to see the lethal potential in the floating movements. The raven on her back seemed to fold and spread her wings with the movements of the woman who held her as the both of them flew around the room. The statue of his god seemed to watch Jessie do her lethal dance before him.

Jessie brought the kata to its end with a movement like the wind coming to a sudden stop. She turned and saw the old priest standing in the door.

"Good morning," she smiled. "I hope that you don't mind me using the room." She pretended to herself that she wasn't naked. She could do it. She could just talk like she was standing there fully clothed. Pretend that you do it all the time. Pretend you are in a lockeroom shower.

"Not at all." He returned. "I didn't recognize exactly what you were doing, but it was impressive."

"Not really," she smiled again, but this time with depreciation. "My teacher is so far above me in skill that I look like a bumbling amateur next to him."

She didn't know how Sensei was going to take her absence. Jimmy Tanaka was used to seeing her at least once a day for the last two years. He was one of the major reasons for her weight loss. Between him and the gym, the pounds had burned away. He had looked at the self conscious, overweight woman she had been two years ago and hadn't laughed or talked down to her. In fact, once she had gotten started, he had been pleased on how she had pushed herself to become stronger and more flexible. He had also been impressed on how she didn't seem to mind learning from some one much younger than herself when training with his more experienced students. The only thing that had worried him was her impatience with herself. She had wanted things from her body that it hadn't been ready for. He'd had to caution her about injury many times, finally pointing out that the amount of time for recovery for her would be longer because of her age. She wasn't sixteen, she'd been twenty-eight when she started and her body was very used to the fact that she hadn't asked a great deal of it for a long time. She had persevered and now she was limber, toned and smooth in her movement.

She was now a killer, too. She didn't know how he was going to react to that either. Hopefully, the former Marine Recon veteran would be philosophical about it. She couldn't have avoided it (maybe), and he would probably be the first to point out to her that he would rather have her there, feeling bad about it, then her being the one dead and unable to make him snicker doodles anymore. She'd addicted the dojo to her baking, she remembered with a smile. Then she sobered, was she ever going to see her kitchen again?

Demetrius watched the play of emotions on Jessie's face. The fight from yesterday was still hitting her.

"Are you alright, Jessie?" He asked softly.

"I will be, I think."

He nodded in understanding. "You always remember your first. The feeling of sickness will fade with time, but never completely go away. It does get easier, though."

"That's what I'm afraid of." She said wryly, pulling her tunic back on.

The Goddess of Marriage and the God of Love were sitting in front of a scrying mirror again. They had seen their son's reaction to the blood offering and the reaction when he had tasted the blood. His expression of ecstasy and hunger had been encouraging for their plans.

Then, there had been Jessie's dream. They had gotten permission to make an adjustment to her night visions and they had made her warlord captor look like their son. They wanted Jessie to start seeing the God of War in that light as soon as possible, and it had worked out better than they had thought. Cupid had been unable to resist joining her. They had watched the play of Jessie's dream and their son's change from observing to active participation with glee tinged with worry. Glee that Cupid was interested, worry that if the mortal made it easy for him, she wouldn't hold his interest for long. If Cupid ignored her after getting what he wanted for being an easy conquest, it wouldn't do any good. Jessie had a temper and an unforgiving nature and they needed her to love their son.

"I can see now why the twins wouldn't have worked." Ares commented after seeing the mortal's dream. Demos and Phobos would have seduced, and Jessie wanted to be conquered. Aphrodite had been right, of all their sons, Cupid was the one for the job.

"We have a problem." Aphrodite observed. She had watched the mortal put herself through her morning exercises. Jessie had shook off her evening fantasies with sweat of a different kind.

"More than one." He agreed. The stress was going to give him wrinkles, he just knew it. "I thought women of that time wanted to be independent."

"It certainly seemed that way," The Goddess of Marriage mused. "How do we get them together? She definitely wants to be dominated, but if she's too easy, then....."

"He'll fuck her a few times, and then lose interest." Ares said grimly. They both knew their son.

Then, a thought occurred to him. Aphrodite looked over at her former lover and saw him wearing a grin every bit as wicked as the one Cupid usually wore. 'Alls fair in love and war' ran through her mind looking at Ares. Cupid had gotten his bent for tactics and strategy honestly. Ares was wearing the 'look'; a wicked alternative had just bubbled into his mind. Ares liked to play the airhead, but there was a excellent mind behind those flirtatious eyes.

"What? What are you thinking?" She demanded.

"What we need to do is support her feminine pride. If we can get her to make him work for it, than we can keep getting them together often enough for Cupid to grow fond of her."

"And how do we do that?" His sister demanded. "She'll take one look at him in his leathers and want to fall to her knees."

"I know. Sexual submissive plus gorgeous alpha male in black leather equals sex. But, if we plant the notion that he expects her to just roll onto her back, and he is his usual, cocky self, she'll harden her defenses."

"I don't know..."

"Dite, even the Cupid in her dream had to work for it, remember? She was dragged back to him, bound and gagged. So, we remind her that she shouldn't make it easy." His grin nearly split his face.

"How do we do that? We are not allowed to directly interfere." The Queen of Olympus said sourly.

"You're right, sis. We can't."

Eris, Goddess of Love and Beauty smoothed a lock of her raven black hair back into place. Her pink gown floated around her curvy body. Her make-up was perfect, her perfume was sprayed in all the right places. Yesiree, she was all set for the orgy.

She paused for one last turned around in front of her mirror. She was late, but it wasn't like they were going to start without her. There was a flash behind her.

"Hi, mom." Strife, the God of Joy, stood behind her. His lean body was shown off by his tight, cream colored leather and his tousled black curls were in their usual disarray.

"Hi, baby!" Eris bounced over to her son and engulfed him in a hug. She squealed a little bit when his hug lifted her off the floor. "How was Corinth?"

"It was fun. Weddings and births can make my job incredibly easy, or really hard." He smiled down at his mother. "Mom, Unc and Aunt Aphrodite want you to stop by the scrying room before you leave." Ares knew that it was harder for his twin to say no to her son, so he had asked him to pass on the summons.

"Pooh. I am already late." She pouted.

"So, you’ll be a little more late. It's your temple, Mom. They aren't going to start without you." His mother was adorable when she pouted. His mother was adorable, period.

Eris flipped her hair over her shoulder with an expert toss. "Oh, alright. But it had better not take long." She flashed out in a shower of rose petals and pink sparks.


"You've got to be joking."

"Eris-"

"I thought that you had another match in mind for Cupid? My son and your son?"

"We can still pair them up, we just have to do it later."

"Ares-"

"It's necessary 'Ris." His tone was flat. She cocked her head inquiringly. Ares took a deep breath and explained the Fates' prophecy. He also told her of what he and Aphrodite saw in the scrying mirror.

"Oh, okay. What do you want me to do?" She sighed. Whenever her twin talked in that tone of voice, it meant he was serious. Aphrodite was wearing her usual composed expression.

"We don't want her to just fall into bed with Cupid. The Fates' were firm about there having to be a bond between them and if she just falls at his feet...." Aphrodite let her voice trail off.

"He'll bed her once, and that will be the end of it." Ares grimaced.

"Well, I can enhance her self image and confidence. I'll have to be careful, though. I don't want to make her too egotistical." Plans were already flashing through her mind.

"Maybe prick her feminine pride a bit?" Ares suggested.

"Well, if your son does the 'I'm a god-so worship me in bed' thing, I'm sure I can prick her pride more than a 'bit'." She grinned. Cupid was famous for his conquests, in bed and out. Making him work for a mortal sounded like fun.

"That's what I'm hoping for, honey," Ares smiled. "Easy conquests have never appealed to my eldest."

"And, Strife?" She wanted her baby happy and he had been mooning after the God of War since he was a teenager. "His feelings aren't going to go away."

Ares sighed. She was right, and no matter how many lovers the two of them had, they always ended up eyeing each other eventually. Strife had been crushed when Cupid had married Psyche. There had been a lot of 'I told you it wouldn't work out' when they had divorced by the God of Joy.

"It will take a bit more planning, but we could try for a three-bond. Or, we could wait until this thing with Jessie is over, and try to match them then."

"Let's try for the three-bond. I don't want to see Erin moping again because Cupid is chasing a woman." Grandmotherhood was in her grasp, and she didn't want to lose the opportunity. "Is she going to end up immortal?"

"It looks that way." Aphrodite said. Ares gave her a surprised look. She hadn't mentioned that little tid bit to him. It put a whole new complexion on things. It was now more important that there be some affection between the mortal and their son. If Jessie was immortal, then she could hold a grudge for a long time.

"Well, let me go officiate at my orgy, and then I'll get to work." Eris beamed and then disappeared.

"She looked interested," the Queen of Olympus observed, brushing rose petals off her sleeve.

"Enthusiastic, too." The God of Love agreed. Wrinkles were coming, he just knew it.

"Should we be nervous?"

"Oh, yeah."

Demetrius drew Jessie into the armory. The Temple didn't outfit a lot of women, so she would have to make do with what they had.

"No chainmail." Her voice was firm.

"Jessie-"

"I'm not used to carrying it. My assets are speed and flexibility, if I'm carrying that much weight, I'll lose speed."

"Very well." He agreed with a sigh. "Chainmail would expand over your shape, though. Hmmmnn. Let me think of what we have." He frowned and did a mental inventory of what they had on hand. Then his expression brightened. "I think that I have just the thing."

He moved to a chest and pulled out a mass of riveted leather. She could just make out breast cups in the bundle. He laid it on the table in front of her, arranging it the way it should look on her. The breast cups were attached to a torso piece of segmented leather. It moved like fish scales. Shoulder pieces extended down to her elbows, and there were bracers for her forearms. There was a segmented miniskirt to protect her lower abdomen. Where the breast cups met there was an oval bearing winged heart with a sword and bow and arrows. Jessie ran her fore finger around it and looked up at Demetrius with an inquiring eyebrow.

"It's the sign of Cupid." He answered her silent question.

"Should I be wearing that if I'm not one of his worshippers?" She asked with a concerned look. Offending the gods was not on her agenda.

"I don't think He'll mind." Demetrius managed to keep a straight face with difficulty. Oh no, Cupid wouldn't mind at all. He had briefly thought about telling Jessie of Cupid's interest in her, but had decided against it. Sure, Jessie was a sweet girl, but Cupid was his god. The God of War's consorts were never unwilling, at least not by the time Cupid got them into bed.

"I'll need trousers and boots as well." The God of War's future bedmate remarked. She wasn't Xena to going around in all weather flashing her legs. Not to mention, it would make for an odd tan.

"Why the heart?" She asked, tracing the design again.

"For his father, Ares, God of Love." Demetrius' gravelly voice bore a little amusement.

"I wouldn't expect that to be on his symbol."

"Neither did anyone else, from what I gathered."

"Who wore this before me? It can't have been too long ago, the leather is in very good condition."

"An Amazon." He told her.

"An Amazon- worshipping a God?" Jessie asked, amazed. It didn't surprise her that there were Amazons here. They were probably the happy homemakers of the other universe.

"I know, they usually worship Hestia, the Virgin Huntress," There was no mistaking the amusement in the gravel crusher voice now. "I think she gave her service to Cupid as a part of her teenage rebellion against her mother."

Jessie smiled too. Part of it was because in her world, Hestia was the Goddess of hearth and home. The other part was that it sounded just like what a teenage badass woman warrior would do to piss off her mother.

"Why did she leave it here?" Jessie asked.

"She was pregnant." Demetrius shrugged. He'd had a suspicion about who the father was, but hadn't asked at the time. It had been before Cupid met Psyche, when bedding mortal women didn't bother his god. Althea had been thrilled when the temple seer had told her that she was carrying a girl. She'd had different armor made to protect her swelling tummy and had gone home to her tribe to bear the little one among her mother and aunts. She'd rode off, smiling and murmuring how good the blood she was bringing home was.

Jessie was looking at the torso piece with an assessing eye. The cups looked big enough to cover her breasts but she was wondering about the length. She held it against her front. Yep, she was going to have to add some more at the bottom to the front and back.

"Demetrius-"

"I'll get our repair equipment." The priest nodded. He had seen it too. "I think that we have enough leather scale on hand to fix the problem." He left the room.

Jessie tried on the bracers. They and the shoulder pieces were adjustable, so they wouldn't have to be fixed or replaced. And, evidently the previous owner had wide hips for her height, because the segmented miniskirt fit pretty well. Although, it was just as well that Jessie was going to wear trousers, on her the miniskirt was very mini. Jessie turned over the breastplate and looked at the construction. The flexible leather scale would be easy to add on to, she saw with relief. Easy, but probably time consuming.

Hmmmph. If this were a writer's creation, the armor would fit perfectly. Just her luck.

Demetrius came back with a set of needles and a pot of leather glue. He went over to a chest in the corner and pulled out the bag of the individual, boiled leather scales and Jessie got to work.

Eris luxuriated in her bath. She'd had a very good afternoon. Some of her new priests had excellent stamina, and her older ones had experience. The combination had made for an excellent day.

The scented bubbles of her bath were doing there soothing popping sounds as she leaned back in her tub and pondered whether or not to just tell her son about the mortal that Cupid would have to father a child with. Strife was not unreasonable. Once she told him of the Fates' prophecy, she was pretty sure that he would be okay with sharing Cupid. It wasn't like the two of them were made for monogamy, having a third in the relationship would probably be a good thing. Not to mention that having a woman around the House of War that wasn't psychotic would be good for Cupid's Bliss.

She smiled as she thought of her little great nephew. The adventurous little winged terror was always into everything when he visited. Ares just loved all of his children and grandkids and it had been awhile since there was a little one around the temple. With Cupid being one of the busier gods and not wanting to leave his son with just anyone, Ares got to baby-sit Bliss pretty often. Aphrodite loved her grandson, but didn't love what he could do to an unsuspecting room in a handful of minutes. The fourth time she'd had to redecorate, she had lost her temper. Eris and Ares on the other hand, never minded a mess. Sure, that incident in the bathing room had been a little, hmm, much, but they had wanted to try something different in that room anyway. Eris was careful to keep her potions out of the little hands of the God of Mischief, though. No telling what a bored Bliss could do with those. Having Jessie around to take care of him while his father was busy would be great. A good maternal influence would be wonderful for the little guy. A little more stability might settle him down a bit. Not much, he was the God of Mischief, but a little would be good.

Eris summoned her scrying mirror to get her own look at the mortal. If this woman was going to join her family, it was best to get a look at her herself. The large circle of glass appeared with its border of twining peach blossoms and roses. Eris scooped up a large soap bubble and blew it toward the mirror. As the shimmering globe of soap touched the glass, a tall woman with chestnut hair appeared. She was sitting at a table with some armor in front of her. The Goddess of Beauty settled back in her tub and observed.

The mortal had her tongue caught between her teeth, and what appeared to be a sewing project in her lap. How adorable!