{ After receiving a few comments from readers stating that they didn't like Xena being carried away by Ares to Mt. Olympus to give him an heir (in the story "Meg"), I decided a follow-up story was in order.}

Ares' Heir

Previously (at the end of "Meg"):

Ares scooped Xena up in his arms and in less than a heartbeat they were in the Great Hall of War on Mt. Olympus. Ares put her down and Xena walked seductively to the foot of his bed, letting her robe fall to the floor as she did. She then crawled on her hands and knees to the head of the bed, rolled over onto her back, arms over her head, her legs spread. And with a shameless look of hunger on her face, she waited for the most stimulating and erotic experience of her life.

Ares began to remove his black leather shirt, his eyes never leaving the delicious body lying on his bed; his eyes couldn't get enough of it. After his pants were off he stood there proudly, allowing Xena to observe him in all his masculine grandeur.

"You will be gentle, won't you?" Xena asked. "At least the first time?"

Ares was a little surprised at her question, but then decided she was just playing with him. He knew of Xena's passion and her sexual appetite, and if anything, gentleness was the last thing she wanted. He crawled to the waiting Xena on his hands and knees from the foot of the bed as she has done so only moments ago.

"I don't do gentle," he whispered into her ear. His mouth hungrily found hers as his manhood found its target and attempted its journey into paradise. But Xena shifted just enough that the organ missed its mark.

"Playing hard to get?" he panted, then reapplied the pressure, but she moved again.

"I'm serious," she replied. "I remember my first time. It was with a mortal, and he didn't know what he was doing and it hurt like hell. I want to enjoy this first time, and to remember it as you promised – the most exciting experience of my life."

Now Ares was thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about my virginity."

Ares rolled off of her. "Your virginity? You're trying to tell me that after, what -- thirty, thirty-five years you're still a virgin?"

Xena smiled. "I'm not as old as that. We've only been alive for eight or nine months – Gabrielle and me. We were cloned from strands of hair from the original Xena and Gabrielle that Alti got from somewhere."

"Alti? That name sounds almost familiar."

"She was an evil shamaness way back when we were in Greece. She and I were allies for awhile. But after we had a falling out she has dedicated her life, her many lives, to killing me. She even tried to steal Eve's soul while she was in my womb."

"So she cloned you and the blond just so she could kill you again?"

"No. She fed evil images of Xena from that TV show into me before I was awake trying to turn me into an Evil Xena. Which actually worked, some, until Annie and Mattie, and Gabrielle, found a way to reverse it."

Xena let her finger tips trail over Ares' chest as they traveled down over his belly and even farther, trying to re-ignite his manliness, her hunger for him growing again. As she took him into her hand, he began to grow again, but instead of taking her, Ares got up off the bed and away from her.

"This isn't what I wanted," he said more to himself than to Xena. "I wanted ferocity and enthusiasm and real fireworks, not gentleness."

"You can still have it," Xena cooed. "Just not the first time."

Ares looked down at the waiting Xena, and despite the hunger and desire that brought him to his full maleness, something wasn't quite right. "I suppose I could numb you – there," he mumbled. "But it wouldn't be the same."

Suddenly he got angry. "Dammit! I want the REAL Xena, not some – CLONE!"

"But I AM the real Xena. I was made from Xena's hair. And my memories are Xena's. And this body sure is Xena's. And it's YOUR body – if you'd only take it!" Now Xena's passion was turning into anger. "You can't be tender even ONE time? And what about a little foreplay? Does everything with you have to be 'slam, bam, thank you ma'am?' "

Xena's fiery anger began to interest Ares again. "Now THAT's the Xena I remember!" he said with a grin. "Hot, and angry, and take no prisoners. 'Kill 'em all!' Isn't that what you used to say?"

"I don't want to kill anybody. I just want you to make love to me, not treat me like some cheap tavern wench, at least once. Or have you forgotten about the son you want me to give you?"

Ares was conflicted. He wanted the body being offered to him more than any body he had ever wanted. Even more than the Gabrielle-look-alike that was Hope (what fire SHE had!). And as good as it was when Xena's body was inhabited by Callisto, it wasn't the same. Xena, the original Xena, was his first and only real love. And as much as he wanted the son promised to him, this cloning-thing wasn't something he was comfortable with. What if something was wrong with this Xena? What if Alti, this so called shamaness, created a defective Xena? What if this Xena produced a monster and not the son he wanted? Ares had nothing but contempt for these mystics who thought they were as gods and would play with magic as if they knew what they were doing.

Ares waved his hand and Xena fell back down on the bed, asleep. Still naked, Ares went to his throne to sit and to think. He hated thinking! It was so much easier just to scheme to create chaos. Decisions like this weren't what he was cut out for. Maybe a second opinion was needed. The trouble was, there was only one other god he trusted – Aphrodite, as ditzy as she was. But he knew when she found out he had put the thought into Xena's mind that she wanted to give him a son, she would be really pissed off at him. And she DID thwart his attempt to get Xena to come with him willingly.

Finally, Ares made the decision – he would take Xena back home, put her into bed with that blond, and remove the memory of the past couple of hours from her. He'd gone this long without an heir, a little longer wouldn't hurt. And if he got desperate, there were literally millions of women he could choose from.

Ares put his clothes back on then picked up the naked Xena and in a heartbeat they were in her bedroom. As he deposited her down onto the bed, he looked at the naked, sleeping Gabrielle. For a moment he considered her as the mother of his son. But she had been cloned too, and still was the problem of HER purity.

With a shrug, Ares teleported out and returned to the mountains of Afghanistan to see what kinds of pandemonium he could create.

It was noon before anyone woke up, and they were all mystified why they slept so long. As they all vied to get into the one bathroom, Xena looked around for her bathrobe, never knowing it was at the foot of Ares' bed on Mt. Olympus.

The End

.