Chapter 37
thirty-seven
-Set-
I think we stay like this for hours. Just me and her, merged together as one. Even when her body betrays her in moments of greed, pulling me deeper, her tight cunt gripping me like it’ll never let me go.
I don’t want to go. I just stay there, buried in her, slowly moving, dragging out ecstasy after ecstasy. Our eyes locked together. Our lips murmuring, “Mine.”
“This is how we’ll spend eternity,” I promise, the words reverberating against her breasts.
“I may be broken, but you make me whole. You make a man out of a god. And a god out of the monster. I know I’m not perfect.
Maybe I never know the right steps, or the right words to make you see it.
But I am yours. Everything I am is yours, in this world and the next. ”
I don’t want her to say anything back, just think of what I said, let my words sink in. So I seal her lips with mine, the ultimate promise of forever, as I thrust a few more times inside of her before I find my release.
And it’s never felt this good... this quiet.
But I’m not ready to let her go, so I pull her in on top of me, her body so incredibly fragile as she wraps me in her arms. I never needed this in my entire life—to cuddle, to be embraced. I found it laughable. Now, I call it home.
“Never do that to me again,” I hear her mutter, one of her palms gently slapping my chest, and confusion drapes me.
“You seem to enjoy it. But I figured you preferred the wild side of me,” I smile, my fingers threading through her hair.
“I’m talking about leaving me, Set. These past few days…” She pauses, searching for the right words. “It wasn’t easy without you. Not hearing from you. Not knowing where you are... or if you were safe.”
“I needed time to sort things through. I was angry. More at myself, for letting you find out like that. None of this was part of the plan.”
“Welcome to the club. Nothing that happened in my life lately was part of any kind of plan.”
“It was part of the greater plan,” I smile, kissing the top of her head since her lips are too far away for me to reach them. “But I also needed to help one of my brothers. He’s had some issues lately with someone trespassing on his territory, so we had to take care of that.”
“How many brothers—or whatever they are—do you have anyway?”
“My father was pretty busy back in the day. I’m not even convinced I know all of them, but let’s just say every god–or worse–every nightmare, every creature described in myths, tales, or different beliefs is real.
Not real in the way humanity sees them. But they are based on true entities like I am.
Whiro is the God of Darkness, and the embodiment of all evil in Māori mythology. ”
“Well, it suits him.”
“Yeah. You wouldn’t believe the things he’s done in the past..
. the things he’s still doing now—just under the radar.
Then there’s Ares, the God of War from Greek mythology.
The Romans used to call him Mars, but they were worshiping the same person.
It’s just a difference of locations and timelines.
Then there’s Phro—Aphrodite—or Venus, as the Romans called her.
She doesn’t need an introduction. They called her the Goddess of Love, but her main weapon is seduction.
She could make any man do whatever she wanted and fall at her feet.
Of all the gods, she gets along best with Ares, but they were never romantically involved as you people like to believe. ”
“You people?” she asks, like I’m labeling her.
“My bad. But the stories they came up with about us are ridiculous. The human mind gets weird when it faces things it can’t understand. They’d rather invent stories and turn us into horrid creatures, just to scare themselves into believing in the monsters they made up.”
“Maybe we’re just not as decisive as you are. We’re confused because our time here is limited, and we only get so many mistakes. You, on the other hand, can always start from scratch.”
“Yeah, I can feel the whole starting from scratch thing. This is something completely new to me. Not something I expected. Or even saw coming. Not even something I knew I wanted. But right now... it’s everything. And I’m not letting it go. Ever.”
Her body shifts on top of mine, raising a little higher to kiss me, and I swear it's the sweetest taste in the world. “Tell me more. I want to know more about you, what you lived through,” she says, curious and hungry for answers, maybe even ancient secrets. She needs to understand who I am. Why I’m like this? To know everything about me.
And I’m gonna satisfy that thirst. Not all the way back to the dawn of time—but to when humanity showed up.
“Humans were meant as an experiment. A way to entertain two entities whose existence exceeds space and time. But shortly after, humans weren’t enough.
So, one of the entities created us. His children.
His weapons. His protectors. We learned over the centuries, evolving through different timelines.
But eternity gets boring, so the evil inside of us started to prevail.
We invented games or tricks to play with humans.
We were like children with their toys. And soon it wasn’t enough.
Torching a village or taking the shape of a creature to scare anyone who wandered into the woods or the desert at night was also becoming boring.
So we raised the stakes. We started the wars—even fought in them—just to feel something other than the numbness swallowing us.
That kept us satisfied for a while. The thirst for power, respect, even worship was enough to keep us going for a few centuries.
Not sure who even started it, but no war scared mortals like a monster could.
So we created their deepest fears. Watching them run, watching them hide.
.. it was endlessly entertaining. Until we nearly brought on the apocalypse.
That’s when our father intervened. Erased everything we once knew, stripped our powers and made us guardians instead of destroyers. ”
“But what do your brothers and sisters guard?”
“Each of us is responsible for a part of the world, or a city, and we rotate every so often so mortals don’t get suspicious about us never aging. These days, it’s easier with all that plastic surgery. You can look twenty for forty years and nobody bats an eye.”
“That’s true,” she chuckles. “For how long have you been in Vegas?”
“I’ve been here nearly ten years now, but I spent the first five ruling from the shadows, so that barely counts. Honestly? I like it best here. I used to rule over a part of Russia, and let’s just say I don’t appreciate the cold.”
She giggles, giving me another kiss, then looking at me, breathlessly, waiting for me to go on.
“Okay, okay, where was I? Oh, right, my siblings. Ares rules over Seattle, maintaining the balance there while Phro and Whiro are exceptions. They’re not exactly balance-keepers, more like chaos specialists.
Not even my father has the power to do something about them.
Whiro is a loose cannon, while Phro likes to play with men’s minds—and usually ends up messing the whole system.
So there’s no way Father can trust her with control over anything.
Then there’s Surt, you know him from Norse mythology—the first and last of the fire giants.
He’s the second being in existence to be born.
Well, that’s almost accurate—he’s our father’s first son, and yeah, he’s pretty massive, but not technically a fire giant.
I think people called him that because he used to spit fire from time to time. ”
“Well, he sounds like a lot of fun.”
“He’s only funny when he drinks. But back then, they had Viking ale, so he used to drink a lot.
Eventually, he ended up spitting fire at his drinking buddies cause they kept accusing him of destroying Asgard.
Also not true. Asgard never existed—or if it did, it was just another version of Mount Olympus, or Kunlun, or whatever name humans gave it over time. Now it’s just hell or heaven.”
“You said something about two entities, someone besides your father. Is he...?”
“God, yes, you know him as God or by different names throughout different cultures. He’s supposed to be your good guy.
Funny how more crimes have been committed over the centuries in his name than in ours—the crusades, the inquisition, terrorist attacks.
Or how the men of the church like shiny coins more than the devil himself.
Not going down that rabbit hole, because I feel you’d probably argue with me, and I’m not looking for a fight.
Bottom line? Yeah, your God is real. And so are his angels.
They just don’t mingle with mortals as often as you think.
But we, devils... we’re always here, living among you, making sure you don’t completely self-destruct.
Because, trust me, that’s where things are headed if we let you go unsupervised.
You don’t need us to start the apocalypse anymore.
You’re doing a great job all on your own with the fight for power, drugs, poverty, nukes, corrupt politicians.
.. and I could go on for fucking ever. Things used to be difficult back in the day, but now they’re damn near impossible.
We’re devils, and even we can barely keep things on track.
You don’t want to know what would happen if we were gone.
That’s not something you’d have to worry about, though.
You’ll always be safe with me, no matter what it takes. ”
I feel her breathing going deeper. I’m not much of a talker. Never put someone to sleep with my voice. Not sure where I lost her along the way. But somehow, I’m glad I did. She’s probably better off not knowing the last part.
Good night, my broken angel.