A huge THANK YOU to Xentrya for being my Beta Reader :)
The thick, dark forest was gradually turning more and more silent as a certain raven-haired warrioress hesitantly walked along a barely noticeable path with no exact purpose or aim. Her inquisitive blue moons were curiously scrutinizing the area. It was as if all living things had refused to occupy this area, as if something mysterious... powerful... lurking in the gloomy shadows, had scared every form of life away from existence.
Xena was anything but afraid despite the fact that she could distinctly feel something in the air, some overwhelming presence which was becoming more and more intense with her every step. It was a bit strange that instead of looking for some warm, safe place for the night she was roaming the woods like some lunatic, but truth was that she couldn't resist the need to forge ahead... She didn't really know where she was heading or why but she felt as if she had no other choice but to obey those invisible hands that where pushing her forward.
In fact she didn't even try to defy them, she succumbed to their supernatural presence completely. Her tired legs were carrying her on without her even being aware of it.
After awhile, the scenery unfolding in front of her suddenly changed. A drastic change that was impossible not to notice... The Warrior Princess basically found herself standing face to face with a huge, impressive building... To be more precise, it wasn't just a building... After a more careful examination, Xena recognized in it a temple.
Utter curiosity in her eyes; she studied the architecture of the strange building rising before her. The decorations consisted mainly of carved marble envisaging brave warriors and legendary heroes, of skulls and swords and the massive black doors were covered in a rather intricate design of silver-like tree branches. Otherwise, the walls were dark and bare with no redundant ornamentation, definitely lacking color. It almost seemed as if someone had intentionally wanted the place to be repellent, ominous and generally practical rather than a delight to the eyes.
Above the door there was visible the symbol of the patron God of the temple. Xena looked up, her eyes widening as she recognized the unmistakable symbol of war... of the God of War... .
She gulped at the awareness. The mere combination of these words, echoing in her head, made her shiver with indescribable excitement, and a very pleasurable tingle ran down her spine. If just hours before she had been mindlessly walking throughout the forest, now she somehow knew that this place was the destination of her previous wandering. It was an unprecedented feeling that this was the right place for her to be in, the place where she belonged to...
After a few minutes of simply standing there and staring in mute amazement, a bit taken aback by all those irrational sensations that she couldn't get herself to understand, Xena came to conclusion that she wanted more... Everything that she felt was pretty intense already, but she knew that the main course was inside and she desperately wanted to taste it... She was being attracted to it like a moth to a flame. As a result, she hesitantly started to go up the wide, stony stairs.
Once she had reached the top, she pushed the doors open, and, despite the fact that she was aware that the temple was the shrine of probably one of the most dangerous Greek Gods, she somehow felt safe there.
Most likely, anyone who would decide to take their chances and enter such temple, would expect its interior to look strikingly similar to the external design, maybe something close to a vault or dungeon where the worst of the worst scums were giving their last filthy breath... On the contrary however, Xena was greeted by an uncommonly elegant and exotic décor. Colors were kept in dark tones, yes, the same as the outside, mainly black and dark-red but everything was linked in a surprisingly stylish manner.
The walls were no longer unsheathed, they were decorated with paintings of great war events from the past and here and there crimson, silky, long veils were adorning the hall. The room was dimly lit by a couple of torches placed on both sides, giving the place an almost mystical ambience.
The temple had clearly a military character but for the Warrior Princess, it also held a rich mixture of sensuality and charm... Or maybe it was just the impact of this quite arousing presence she had felt for some time now that made her perceive a shrine devoted to war as being sensual...?
She leisurely approached a huge throne at the other end of the room which looked pretty much like a skeleton in a dun cloth- a sculpture wearing such devilish grin as if it was some envoy of Hades himself who had just came to earth in order to take some innocent victims with him down to Tartarus.
The empty seat, which could be viewed as rather scary to any mere, timid peasant, appeared unusually inviting to Xena especially that she felt a bit tired after that long hike. She decided to take a sit for just a moment while she gathered some strength and decided what to do next.
With a silent exclamation, she jumped from the throne even quicker than she had sat there... Instead of feeling the smooth, velvety surface of the pillow she had been expecting, Xena sat on... someone... She turned around to see an obscenely handsome, dark-haired man wearing an incredibly sexy black outfit which was thoroughly emphasizing his perfectly muscular body, a man who was now chuckling lightly at her reaction.
Ares was in the middle of his routine duties when, right out of nowhere, he felt an unexpected presence in one of his temples. Normally he wouldn't even react to that, in the best case scenario, he would check on the temple later, when he would have some spare time, to see what offerings and gifts his worshipers had brought him this time.
Yet, this time things were different. The person who had invaded his temple was no one else but his absolutely stunning Chosen….His favorite warrior.
Of course, it's not that the Gods always react when their Chosens are in their temples, for it was rather common for a Chosen to be praying and delivering gifts and tributes to their patron God. The privileged one was a bit more special from the others, but still he or she was considered a mere mortal that should know their place.
However, the case of Warrior Princess was a bit out of the ordinary… A completely different story, really... Ever since she had decided to become some goody-goody her visits in his temple had been as rare as his own companionable visits to Zeus'. And considering that he was kinda' addicted to her, although he would never admit it aloud- he could barely stand admitting the thought to himself- he couldn't miss the opportunity to enjoy her presence.
Besides, he was unnaturally curious about what she was actually doing there. Ares knew Xena that much to know that it was as rare as a two legged Centaur for her to come to him for help no matter how messy situation she would find herself in and a sudden change of heart was also out of the question. He didn't have the slightest clue about what she was up to now and that intrigued him a lot.
Consequently, he decided to transport himself at his temple, and he did it right when she was about to take a sit on his throne….A very pleasant coincidence.
"Hello Xena..." he casually greeted her, fighting with himself to suppress a rather silly smile that was threatening to form on his lips at the sight of her. His dark-chocolate eyes, filled with absolute rapture-wandering up and down her luscious body- gave him away though. Even if a bunch of beautiful, horny, half-naked priestesses would dart into the room ready to please their Lord in every possible way, he most probably wouldn't have wasted his time on looking at them - not for one single moment, as he wanted to spend every second on admiring Xena's goddess-like features not wanting to miss the slightest flicker of hers.
To say that he found her fascinating would have been the underestimation of the year, especially now that Xena's baby blues were shining even more after the effort of her earlier night walk and her ebony hair, now in utter disarray was giving her an even sexier and wilder look. And as if it wasn't enough, the Chosen of War was currently wearing only her black, leather dress... so tight... so temptingly short... A lack of armor gave the God of course a much better view, and those feminine curves were breathtaking.
"... I thought you said coming to my temples made you sick…Now…not that I dislike your presence here, but I must admit, I'm quite intrigued…. What brings you here ?" he immediately said, getting straight to the point, very impatient to hear an answer.
Apart from the wide opened eyes, he didn't get any other response, so the God stood up and slowly approached his Princess. She was behaving quite strangely but on the other hand, with Xena one never knew what to expect, so he decided to play it safe: she did deserve that reputation of a sneaky vixen, after all, and she had proved it on various occasions.
What annoyed him the most was that he couldn't get rid of that weird feeling that something was not right, something in her eyes was telling him that.
"Did the irritating blonde die or something and she is so devastated that she came to me out of all people for consolation and support?... Neah, that would be too good." he bitterly thought to himself, trying to decipher whether it was all an act or something had really happened to her.
At the same time, the Warrior Princess was looking into his eyes as if she were under some spell that was impossible to break by herself. Ever so slowly, she involuntarily brought her face closer to his, one last brief glance at his now parted lips and she clung to him in a subtle at first and then a very passionate kiss. She gently put her palms on his wide, hard chest making his pulse quickening in a trice- a trick that was working in both directions... Xena could feel her blood literally boiling as if she had been put on fire.
"My my... I'm glad to see you too my dear." Ares said with a playful, boyish grin stretching on his visage immediately after they broke. "It looks like an animal magnetism has finally found its way on the surface and brought you right to me. Isn't that wonderful?"
Again he didn't get a reply, instead she just delicately bit his lower lip. The War God couldn't hold himself back any longer, for a moment he abandoned all his previous ideas about being careful, and beastly encircled her with his strong arms, so fiercely that one might have believed that he almost forgot she was still mortal and that her body- no matter how great a warrior she was- was in fact quite fragile.
Leaving all thoughts aside, he kissed her with such full force that when they parted she was definitely out of air. If he wouldn't have known her better he could almost say there was bliss visible in her eyes.
However when Ares noticed that she had no intention of pushing away from him, he got really suspicious. All this was completely out of her character and that only led him to think that his cunning Princess was up to something. Yet, at least for the following moments, he decided to play her game for a little while longer- it was too pleasurable to quit it straight away. Before he would smash her plan to pieces he wanted to at least get something from it for himself.
His left hand remained thus glued on her waist while the second wandered under her skirt. His lickerish lips now moved to her neck and lower...
Much to his surprise, she moved her hands on the back of his neck and pressed against him even more while letting out a few uncontrollable, stimulating moans and gasps.
"What in Zeus' name is she doing? Does she want to divert my attention from something or what? I'm not running any big, important wars currently, no army to waste…., what does she want...? Or maybe she's just that desperate to feel a real man..." Ares chuckled to himself.
Despite the fact that he was really enjoying himself, the God of War was not quite pleased with the idea of her being forced by some freaking circumstances to sleep with him, he would like her to want it as well... Consequently, he decided to stop it before he would lose whatever was left of his self-control for good... He took a deep breath to regain his composure.
"Look Sweetheart... don't get me wrong…I do appreciate what you're doing here, really, I do, but did you actually think I was going to give in your plan, whatever that is, just like that? I'm not some naive moron, you know….? And don't tell me you were just checking on your acting skills in the role of a horny bimbo..."
"What plan...?" she finally articulated, giving him an uncertain, questioning look.
"You tell me!" he exclaimed, visibly more irritated by her apparently low opinion of his level of intelligence. "And stop playing dumb, it doesn't suit you."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about..." she said slowly and quietly as if not wanting to enrage him even more "... but what I have been doing here was not because of some... plan, as you called it."
"Oh really? So maybe you would be that kind as to explain to me what it was then?" he retorted, cynicism and irritation distinct in his voice.
She opened her mouth as to say something but closed it back in the end not knowing how to explain what her motives were.
"Oh come on Xe, stop playing innocent and hurt! It's so not gonna' work, at least not with me. You would never come to me without a good enough reason, so you can as well drop this whole performance and start speaking. It's not like I'm gonna' let you go without spilling the beans anyway..." a note of threat reverberating on the last part.
He crossed his arms on the chest, observing her attentively while waiting for her response. She looked down, though, not able to stand his drilling gaze any longer.
Not pleased about her reaction at all, the God grabbed her tightly by the chin forcing her to look at him:
"I promise I'll give you all the chances to admire my new marble floor later; now answer me!" he uttered in a grave tone. The moment he saw her eyes nonetheless, he loosened his grip without actually letting go.
"Are those tears in her eyes...? No, that can't be... She wouldn't cry because of my quick-temperedness... The torch light must be playing tricks on me…..Or maybe…."
A certain thought suddenly hit him... Ares took a better look at her... Assuming it wasn't some sick show of hers she looked quite... lost... maybe even a little disorientated...
"Did someone die or something?" he carefully asked.
"No..." she simply stated, but that wasn't very convincing and now when the God's anger diminished a little he could read in her eyes that she wasn't scheming anything against him, but something was clearly bothering her...
"Listen, if you have some problem just tell me instead of playing some harlot. I don't recall having implied that you could only get my help by having sex with me. We might have shared the bed in the past and in that obtuse mind of yours you might have viewed our relationship as some sort of service in exchange of my support in wars, but Xena…we both know it was more than that… Besides you're not a whore so don't start acting like one. I have enough whores around here, I sure don't need more…."Ares spitted out, hurt by her total distrust in him.
There was a brief moment of silence before Xena decided to answer. When she did though, her voice was hesitant and weak.
"In the past...? You mean... we have met before?"