The Switch

THE SWITCH 6

PART SIX

 

As
soon as the god vanished, Tori composed herself and her thoughts. Now was her chance to retrieve her
weapon. She knew she would have to have
it ready to use on him when the time came, if she had any chance to survive
this ritual he had planned.

 

She
moved to the food table and got her dagger and the small vile of hind's
blood. She opened the vile and drizzled
some of the blood over the blade and then recapped the vile and placed it back
in the bowl of fruit. Then she fanned
the blood on the knife to help it to dry so she could strap it to her thigh. She quickly threw on the robe, grateful that
she would be able to easily access her dagger from the opening in front. Once that was done she moved back to the bed
and sat down to wait. She let out a
sigh of relief that she was able to arm herself successfully.

 

A
few moments later, but what seemed more like an eternity, a priest entered the
chambers and summonsed Tori to follow him.
She rose and slowly followed behind the man; each step she took seemed
heavier and heavier. She fidgeted with
her hands as she felt her nerves screaming in desperation. What in Hades’ name had she gotten herself
in to? What if she wasn't able to take
down the war god? She could very well
die here, and for what? Some silly
ritual he needed to perform that was bound to fail since she wasn't even a
virgin! She only hoped her mind would
not leave her when her opportunity to strike came.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The priest walked Tori down
a long hallway. At the end, there was a
set of intricately carved, heavy wooden double doors. When he pushed them open, they creaked horribly. He indicated for her to enter and as soon as
she was inside the room, he shut the doors behind her in a loud thump, which caused
her to jump in surprise.


Two men, dressed in hooded,
black robes stood across the large room in front of an altar. They both turned around when they heard the
door shut and one of the hooded men spoke.

 

"Victoria! You're here. Good, then we can begin."
He motioned with his hand for her to join them by the altar. "Come, Victoria, your place is by my
side."

 

Expressionless, she slowly
walked across the large space that was between them and stopped just short of
the altar. She lowered her head, bowing
to the god.

 

"I am here to serve
you, my Lord," she said submissively.

 

"Rise, my faithful
servant," Ares said softly while extending out his hand to her. He had pushed back the hood on his robe and
his face could be seen now. "Come
stand beside me."

 

She took his hand and
immediately felt a shiver move through her body when his skin touched
hers. It briefly caused her to vision
him touching her everywhere, running his large hands all over her body. She quickly shook off the feeling and made
herself pay attention. She may only get
one chance and she didn't want to miss it.


 

Ares guided Tori up the
three small stairs that led to the altar and brought her to stand beside him in
front of it and the sacrifice table.
The sacrifice table was one large piece of unpolished white marble. She could tell it had been used before,
since there were unsightly brown bloodstains that had soaked into the
unprotected surface.

 

Then the heavy scent of
incense hit her nostrils and she coughed and nearly gagged at the rancid,
perfumed smell.

 

"Victoria? Are you feeling all right?" Ares said
without any real concern.

 

"I'll be fine, my
Lord. Really. The smell of the incense made my head spin a little. It will pass."

 

"Oh, is that it? I thought that maybe you were having second
thoughts about giving up your life for me."

 

She nodded “no” and smiled
meekly at him.


"Let's begin,
then. Reif," he called to the
other hooded figure.

 

Both men each took a step
away from Tori, leaving her standing at the altar alone now. Ares moved behind the altar, walked past the
sacrifice table to a throne that sat facing the table at the other end. The unusual chair looked to be fashioned out
of carved human bones. He took a seat
and pulled his hood back over his head and then placed his hands in his lap,
interlocking his fingers.

 

Reif, the high priest who
would be performing the sacrament, had walked over to a table that housed all
the tools he needed during the ritual.
He grabbed two cone shaped containers and two candles. As he moved away from the table, Tori caught
sight of the large sword that was to be used to kill the sacrifice. The blade seemed to sparkle in the dim light
and the beautiful jewels on the handle glowed.

 

The priest walked back to
Tori and set up the two candles on two tall holders and placed one on each side
of her. He lit them and then began a
chant dance in a tongue she did not recognize.
He started shaking the cone shaped objects in his hand and the contents
inside rattled softly. He chanted and
danced around Tori in a circle for probably fifteen long minutes. She spent most of this time watching the
priest, however, she would look over at the war god every so often and noticed
that he was motionless. He never moved
his hands, or shifted his feet. She
couldn't even tell if he was blinking since the hood now hid his face
completely.

 

Then Reif stopped chanting
and opened one of the two containers and poured some of the contents over
Tori. It was a fine silver powder and
some got in her eyes. She rubbed them with
her hands and it only made it worse.
She suddenly became very nervous because now her vision was
blurred. How could she defend herself
if she couldn't see?

 

Reif walked behind the
altar and emptied the remainder of the contents onto the sacrifice table,
mumbling the same words he used on Tori.
Then he moved to Ares. He opened
the other cone and again, baptized him with the contents in the same way. He moved back to Tori and guided her around
the altar to the table and asked her to get up and lay on her back, with her
head pointed towards the altar.


She complied, and laid on
her back with her hands down at her sides.
She could feel the dagger strapped to her leg right where her hand was
positioned. Reif had moved back to Ares
and was now kneeling in front of the god.
Ares placed both hands on each of the man's shoulders and they started
to chant together. The ceiling began
shooting rods of lightening down around the two men and the strange silver
power Reif had dumped on Ares began to glow.
Their chanting became louder and louder, until they were nearly
shouting.

 

Tori watched in
astonishment, never before witnessing such a display of power, when she
suddenly felt warm all over her body and a feeling of total peace washed over
her. She looked down at her body and
saw that the powder on her was also glowing, making her feel calm.

 

She was startled when Reif
finally rose from his kneeling position in front of the God of War and turned
around to face her. The man's eyes were
two red glowing lights set deep inside the darkness of the hood. He moved back to the table where his
supplies were and retrieved the sword.
Again, he stopped to chant some words while holding the sword above his
head and a powerful, bright red bolt of lightening shot out of nowhere and
touched the blade of the sword. It
caused the blade to stay aglow for about 30 seconds and then it faded and
glowed, faded and glowed, like it was mimicking a heartbeat.

 

Tori's mind raced. She knew if she didn't do something soon,
she wouldn't get the chance. But she
couldn't or wouldn’t move. Not one
inch. Her body was so completely
relaxed that it was even hard to keep breathing. The strange glowing powder that was on her seemed to render her
helpless.

 

The hooded priest with the
glowing red eyes moved closer to her.
Then he did another chant with the sword around the sacrifice
table.

 

No matter how hard she
tried, how badly her mind willed it, her body would not respond to her mental
commands. She was going to die, that
was all there was to it. She opened her
mouth to protest, but no sound came out.
Strangely, as she watched the priest raise the sword above her head, she
felt no fear. If this is how it must be
- then so be it, she thought.

 

As Reif was just about to
strike, another bolt of red lightening suddenly came down from above and
knocked the sword out of the priest's hands.
It landed on the other side of the table on the floor.


Ares stood abruptly in
surprise, and pushed back the hood. He
glared at his high-priest, his eyes conveying the question “what is going on?”
to him without having to voice the words.

 

"SHE IS NOT
PURE!" he clamored in disgust.

 

"WHAT?" Ares said in shock.

 

"She is not a virgin,
Lord. She has lied to you."

 

Ares looked at the woman on
the altar before him, and a wild anger flared up in his eyes.

 

"You betray me? The God of War? You little bitch! Now you
will pay," he said coldly to her as he drew his own sword.

 

When the lightening had
knocked the sword from Reif's hand, the peaceful, relaxed feeling suddenly left
Tori. Her sight cleared up and she was,
once again, in control of her own body.
So when the war god drew his weapon to strike her, she rolled off the
table and quickly grabbed the ritual sword from the floor.

 

She just barely blocked his
blow and started parrying with the god.
At first he was surprised at her experience, and then he recognized her
moves from their recent fight.

 

"You?" he said in
disbelief. "Who are you and why
are you here?" He stopped
attacking her, yet still held his weapon ready to kill her, if need be.

 

"I'm nobody. Just a mortal trying to get home." She advanced on him, trying to knock his
sword from his hand, but he easily evaded her by disappearing. He reappeared directly behind her and grabbed
her and winched the sword from her hand and tossed it to Reif. The priest hurried out of the room with it
under his robe in a protective manner.

 

Tori struggled in the
strong hold of the God of War in vain.
He had uncomfortably twisted both her arms behind her back so far that
it caused her to bend over forward to keep him from snapping them.

 

Ares looked down at her in
this vulnerable position and a wave of lust washed over him as he realized her
ass was aligned perfectly with his pelvis.

He "hummed"
quietly and pressed his hips against her, grinding them slightly.

 

"What are you
doing? Let me go!" she commanded,
knowing it was no longer necessary to play the innocent virgin.

 

"You dare speak to me
with such disrespect? You insolent slut. I will do whatever I choose. I can destroy you with just a thought,"
he threatened.

 

"No, please
don't!" she pleaded. Tori knew she
was in trouble and her body started shaking.

 

The vibration of her ass
against his pelvis made Ares horny. He
had wanted her before all of this, but kept his distance because he couldn't
ruin the sacrifice. But now, now that
he knew the truth about her, what was stopping him from taking her?

 

"Give me one good
reason why I shouldn't turn you into dust?" Tori let out a big sigh as she heard the amusement in the sound
of his voice. He thought he had her
now, but she still had one trick up her sleeve, or rather, strapped to her leg.

 

She thought quickly for
something to say in her defense.
"Because . . because . .
."

 

"Yes? I'm waiting," he said seductively. His eyes moving over the shape of her well
toned body and fixed on her tight ass so pleasantly pressed against his groin.

 

She could feel his eyes on
her skin, as he looked her over. She
whispered, "Because, you want me, as I do you."

 

A wicked smile found Ares’
face and he laughed. Oh yes, he had her
now. He knew she was attracted to
him. Really, who wasn't? He had felt her attraction to him the day he
fought her in the forest and then again here, at the temple. He never put the two together though; she
looked completely different in the forest.
He released her arms and allowed her to stand straight again, but used
his powers now to restrain her. It was
like her feet were nailed in place and her arms were made of lead and too heavy
to lift. He walked around her and
looked her in the face.

 

"Who are you?"


"My name is
Tori."

 

"Tori? As in Victoria?"

 

"Yes."

 

His eyes ran up and down
her body again. "You look like
Victoria, now, but you are not her. Explain yourself, and you better not lie to me either. Now, what is your real name?"

 

"I told you it's Tori,
yes, short for Victoria."

 

Ares looked to be losing
patience with her. He started to pace
and ran his hand through his thick hair, which Tori noticed he seemed to do
when he was frustrated.

 

"And so where is the other
Victoria?"

 

"She's with
Iolaus."

 

Ares mumbled under his
breath, "I knew I should have killed that little runt when I had the
chance."

 

When Ares had mentioned
killing Iolaus, Tori remembered that it was actually the god in disguise who
had Iolaus pinned to the tree at that time.
Thinking back to their fight, she wondered and asked, "Why didn't
you kill me?"

"Huh?" Her question broke Ares from deep thought.

"Back in the forest, when
we were fighting, why didn't you kill me then?"

 

He studied her for a moment
and then smiled. "I got laid that
morning. I must have still been in a
good mood," he said sarcastically.

 

Tori rolled her eyes and
smirked. She thought his answer was
funny, but she didn't want him to know he was entertaining her.

 

"No, really. Why?"

 

"Because you put up
one Tartarus of a fight. I allowed you
to live so I could watch you fight another day."


"Like today, for
instance?" she said snidely.

 

"Perhaps. Now, your turn to answer my question. Where did you learn to fight like
that?"

 

"I taught myself. It seemed to come naturally to me."

 

Ares scratched the beard on
his chin. "And then . . ."

 

She hesitated. She wasn't ready to let him know that she
was from the other side.

 

When she didn't answer,
Ares got upset.

 

"You know far too much
to have only taught yourself, woman.
Now, who did you train with?" he scowled.

 

She still didn't respond.

 

Ares circled around her a
couple of times before stopping behind her.
He bent lower and whispered into her ear, "You know, there are ways
of making a mortal talk."

 

Her body became covered
with goose-bumps, not from his threat, but because she could feel his hot
breath on her neck now. She could smell
that manly scent she recognized from the pillows on his bed. If you only knew what torture you're
putting me through already . . . she thought.

 

When threatening her still
didn't work, the god became even angrier.
"DAMMIT, WOMAN. ANSWER
ME!" he shouted.

 

Tori glared at him through
narrowed eyes. "Or you'll do
what? Kiss me? Go ahead," she retorted.

 

"Kiss you?" he
repeated.

 

"Ah . . .I mean . . .
kill me," she said. Her eyes were
wide as she realized she was speaking her true thoughts, and she was
embarrassed that he caught her bluffing.

 

Ares waved his arm and Tori
disappeared. When she was gone, he sat
down on the throne and ran his thumb and forefinger over the sides of his
beard.


"Kiss you,
huh?" He smiled arrogantly.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

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