Xentrya
Disclaimer: Gods know I don't own anything ...
"What do you want?" she hissed through clenched teeth, spitting her venom the moment she felt his presence somewhere at her left.
He simply materialized- in the same point she had guessed he would be- rolling her eyes at the whole light show thing.
" Would it have killed you if you had showed up without the special effects? Your recklessness could have easily blown my cover!" she added, a hint of reproach in her voice.
He just gave her his most irresistible smile and, wetting his lips he laid on the grass beside her, narrowing his eyes in the same direction she was staring, seconds before.
" Come on, Xe! They're so drunk that they couldn't tell apart an elephant from an alley cat, not even if the poor animal would be standing a few yards away from them….So…is this your favorite way of spending your nights, lately?"
She just arched an eyebrow at his subtle insinuation, without seeming visibly affected by the pungent irony in his tone….Since she had left his ways and his bed, their conversations always seemed to revolve around the same issue: their dead – but not buried- relationship….
Truth being told, he had every reason on the planet to mock her: she simply hated everything that had to do with Rome, let alone Caesar and his accursed troops, and somehow, she always ended up facing them….It wasn't like she had a choice though….Someone had to perform some godly miracle to prevent that maniac from attacking the Greek borders , and since the ever so powerful Olympians appeared to be considerably more busy with attending their famous orgies and festivals than with protecting their homelands, she decided to play the hero again, and save the day….or better said the night, given the fact that it was barely past midnight….. A full moon night that wasn't precisely offering the perfect opportunity to spy on the so called lethal army that was about to attack in the morning, but still, night-time …
" It kinda was until you showed up to ruin it for me! Now shut up, already, I need to think!"
"About…..?"
She just made a face at him. Like the subject wasn't obvious enough.
" I'm sitting behind a bush in the middle of the night, near a Roman camp! What could I be thinking about, in your humble opinion?" she bit, irked by the exasperating idiocy of his question.
He just flashed a crooked smirk, overly pleased that he had hit a nerve. As for that dark passion sparkling in her eyes, that could beat any drug any day, at least for him….
" I don't know….you do have a twisted mind, Princess…."
"Don't call me that! I do have a name! And if you're here to get on my nerves, you can as well leave. Fates know that the last thing I need right now is someone to rub me the wrong way!"
" It's said that I'm quite skilful when it comes to women….I could make an effort and find a right way to rub you, if you like…." he underlined, moaning in pain the very following second, when her fist collided with the top of his head.
" Just shut the Tartarus up!"
"Ouch, Xena! That was so unnecessary! You do have some pretty serious anger management issues, don't you?" he inquired, slowly massaging his head with the tip of his fingers. " Not everything is to be resolved through violence…Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and…."
"Ares, I swear it on the head of Zeus, if you don't keep your mouth shut…"
"Ok , ok…..Come on. I didn't come here to fight. I'm here to make you an offer." he finally revealed, turning on his side and resting his head on his hand, thus focusing his full, undivided attention on her. He barely managed to veil his smile when he noticed that incipient frown forming on her forehead.
He could read her like an open book…..Currently, she was still gazing at the guards, carefully counting the tents- doing some maths in the attempt to find out the total number of soldiers gathered there- but she could feel his eyes literally digging a hole through her skull…..She didn't like it, and the feeling was written all over her pretty face.
"I'm not interested in anything you have to offer" she simply replied, without looking at him, apparently still preoccupied with the task she had to accomplish.
" Just hear me out….It could save you a lot of trouble, you know…."
When she finally glanced his way, he could unmistakably see the complete disinterest playing on the surface of her eyes. It was time he changed that….
When he realized that he wasn't going to get any type of reply from her, he just continued, while his brain was already feverishly working at accurately anticipating her possible reaction.
"I'm willing to send my Spartans against the Romans. …." he casually mentioned, as if he were talking about the weather forecast and not about sending a part of his own people to certain death- scanning her face for a sign that their conversation was heading in the right direction. There was none….
"As if that wouldn't be in Greece's best interest….As if it were me the one to whom you'd be doing a favor…." she spit in disgust at his utter nonchalance.
" Greece is Zeus' concern….That's why he is the King of the Gods and of the Greek nation…."
"And you're living in Ch'in , right? " she snapped, tugging roughly at the edges of his leather vest, anger spreading fast through her aura like a shot of morphine through some old, dying man's system.. She immediately let go, doing her best to swallow back that furious growl that had stuck into her throat, as soon as she read that distinct feeling of complete satisfaction glistening in his eyes….
" You demented, self centered Bastard!" she concluded through clenched teeth, turning back on her belly, determined to ignore him for the rest of the night, or for as long as he still wanted to hang out in the area.
" That's not nice…" he answered, not at all bothered by the rich selection of epithets she had decided to use in her description of him…" Come on, think about it Xe….my men could give you all the time you need to come up with a decent plan to crush Caesar once and for all….."
"Do you actually think that I would accept to lead your army again in this lifetime? "
"Who said anything about you leading my army?" he firmly contradicted, grinning widely at her. "Oh no….I was talking about something much more amusing than that…."
She just gave him a long, disconcerted look.
"What in Tartarus are you talking about?"
" Have you ever played Truth or Dare?" he asked, silently wondering if she would actually go with it.
" As a child….."
"How about Bluff?"
"No….what are you getting at?"
" Let me explain it to you. The rules are quite simple….It's a game of cards….Whenever you lose, you have to either answer with the truth or accept a challenge. You can't refuse a challenge or avoid a question….."
" A game of cards?"
"Yes. These are the cards…" .he said, making a full pack appear before her. " We will split it into half, so that we have an equal amount of cards in our hands. I won't be seeing your cards, and you won't be seeing mine. What you have to do is to get rid of all your cards in order to win. First you need to get rid of all the twos then I will continue with all the threes, you will go on with the fours and so on….until there are no more cards. The catch is that we will both need to be extremely careful, cause the other one is likely to be bluffing the moment he doesn't have the right cards …."
"We have to call the bluff…."
"Exactly…."
" If you accuse me of bluffing and you are wrong….you lose…."
"And what does this have to do with the fight again? " she inquired impatiently, her arctic moons suddenly sparkling with vivid interest.
" We will play until sunrise. If you manage to obtain a higher number of victories, you win. I will order my soldiers to attack…."
"It will take days until they reach this area…"
"Don't you worry about that….I'm a God , remember?"
"I tend to forget it from time to time….Zeus know it's hard not to…." she muttered to herself, making him chuckled softly at just how personal she was taking it all.
" Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm hard to keep up with…"
" And if I lose….? " she asked, aware that his sudden helping hand wasn't likely to come without a price…
"Than….you get to do one single day whatever I want….Are you willing to take that risk?"
She was silent for awhile, gazing musingly ahead at Caesar's half numbed troops, wondering if there was really anything she could do by herself to prevent them from advancing the following day...She bit her lips in spite when she realized that there was nothing…..
"Fine…." she simply stated, trying to shut down each and every alarm that went instantly off in her brain the moment she made that reckless decision.
A victorious smile was already playing on the War God's sexy lips, and she just couldn't help smiling back at him the moment she noticed that silly, childish joy lightening up his features.
"Great. Let the games begin…! " he uttered in a grim, sullen voice that instead of entertaining her, only managed to bring back some rather wretched memories from her past experiences with a certain Roman Emperor. "Do you want to shuffle them?"
That particular joviality of his voice- in complete contrast with the way in which his previous line had sounded - made her shake those dark thoughts away though….
"Sure….At least this way, I can make sure that you don't cheat from the very first round…"
"It's funny you should even imply such nonsense, given that you've always been the con artist of the relationship"
"You do have a very twisted sense of humor, sometimes" she vehemently protested while picking up the deck, and casually starting to shuffle the cards.
"Isn't there anyone here who can appreciate my specialness?!" he complained in a very Gabrielle like tone that made Xena burst into laughter the following second.
"Maybe the soldiers…" she lowly answered when she finally regained her voice, wiping a few tears in the corners of her eyes.
" Ok…..Before we start…no lying Xena….."
"No lying…." she mechanically repeated, visibly more absorbed by organizing her cards then by the importance of what she had just uttered.
"Hey….." he said, touching her leg to capture her attention. When their gazes finally met, and when he was sure that she was finally focusing on what he had to say, he added:
" Swear it. Swear it on the head of Zeus that you will only tell the truth…."
"I do…. Your turn…."
"I swear it on Styx….."
"Good. Three aces. " she started, placing three cards face down in front of them, without wasting any more time with small talk.
He just cast her a wondering gaze before he placed another one on top of hers, grinning like a Cheshire cat at the fact that, without her knowing it- or so he thought- he had the hugest advantage a card player could ever dream of having: he was able sense her emotions through their bond…Her aura was all the clue he needed in order to tell if she was lying or not….
"One ace"
She just grinned back, aware that he was most likely relying on his godly powers to call her bluff….What he didn't knew, was that in Ch'in Lao Ma had thought her pretty well how to control her every emotion, and more than that, how to accurately send the wrong signals using her energetic field in the sole purpose of confusing her enemies….Alti had certainly fallen for it….Ares was- beyond any shadow of a doubt- about to reach the same bitter conclusion: he was no match for her.
" Two twos…." she continued, arching an eyebrow at his visible uncertainty. "Something wrong?" she innocently inquired, trying to eliminate even the last trace of irony from her tone.
"No. Everything's perfect….." he replied, narrowing his eyes at the cards that he was now holding. Under the disturbingly pale light of the moon, for obvious reasons, he was about to mistake a two for a three…"Same here. " he added , placing two cards on top of the pile. To his amazement, at least apparently, Xena had no problem in distinguishing their faintly glowing drawings…
In the attempt of making herself a bit more comfortable, she shifted her position slightly, tucking her legs under her…. Attentively following her every move, Ares just had to ask himself what was the reason for which she was so relaxed….And more than that, why in Hades' name was he unable to read her aura?
" One three…" she softly voiced, as if she didn't have a care in the world, briefly exchanging glances with her ever so suspicious opponent.
" You're bluffing…" he finally said, sounding extremely sure of what he was saying.
"Am I?" she seductively inquired- making his heart stop for a moment- but, surprise, surprise! When he turned her cards face up, there it was! A five instead of a three….
He just had to laugh at her technique.
"Keep trying, you'll get there." he mischievously encouraged, winking at her.
"What now? "
"Now, my dear Xena, you suddenly become ….six cards richer…..Pick them up, they're all yours. You will have to get rid of those too, at a certain point."
Without sketching the slightest emotion, as if nothing of great importance had happened, the Warrior Princess took the cards and mixed them up with the ones she was already holding, silently cursing the gesture that had given her away….whatever that was…
"So…what shall it be? Truth or dare?" the question escaped his gorgeous lips like the fine lyrics of a love song.
"Truth….." she quickly retorted, stubbornly avoiding his gaze. She could tell without even looking at him that his eyes were gleaming with amusement.
" Truth, truth, truth…." he echoed, thinking of a challenging enough question to ask her.
" What do you miss the most about our relationship?"
The words slashed the air like a sword. Xena could almost hear them wooshing by her ears before they finally dissipated into the nothingness. The effect they had on her, remained though clearly engraved on her now hardened visage.
"Who says I do miss something from our relationship?"
He just flashed her a disappointed gaze.
"No lying, Xe…." he coyly pointed out, cocking his head to one side while searching for her eyes. "Look at me…..no lying….." he said again, still waiting for an answer.
"Are you sure you want to know ?"
"I wouldn't have asked otherwise…."
" Sleeping in your arms…." she finally revealed, in such an icy voice that Ares couldn't help feeling that she hated him with every fiber of her being for having dared force her say it out loud.
" Ouch….." he simply stated, gulping nosily all the other comments that were struggling to come out.
"Three fours…"
The cards landed on the grass inaudibly, face down, just like they were supposed to, just inches away from her knees.
" One four….."
" And…here's one five for ya' "
" One five huh? Too bad I have all four of them….So….truth or dare?" she bluntly asked, without even bothering to turn the cards.
"Damn…..you've nailed me…. " he had to admit it, obviously enjoying the whole situation though, to Xena's unspeakable surprise. " Hmmm…..I guess I'll go with the truth for now….."
" That night I spent with Hercules….did it hurt…much ?"
Needless to say, the question hit him like a tone of bricks; it sure wiped that over confident smile off his face, like nothing else could have….
" So you like playing tough, huh?" he remarked, ineffectively trying to laugh the pain away . Nonetheless, an awkward moment of silence later, he gave her the answer she was waiting for…..
Despite having hoped to get even for the boldness of his question, the Warrior Princess quickly discovered that the God's line only managed to leave a bitter taste behind….
" Like a blade to the heart….Torture…." he continued on a strangled voice that she almost failed to recognize. "It was torture…."
" Four aces….." she uttered in a weak voice, cutting any other line he still had the intention of adding.
" Giving them all up so soon? " he jokingly inquired, trying to feign that his entire being hadn't been shaken to the very core by her previous interrogation…
" I still have one or two up my sleeve. " she retorted on the same cheerful tone. The sadness in his eyes was eating at her soul though….She didn't like the feeling….
" Two sixes…."
" Two sixes it is…." she continued, her mind already gliding back towards those not very bright moments of their relationship….He had nearly killed her that night when she went looking for him, aware that she had made a mistake, eager to explain herself to him….
When their gaze met again, she instantly realized that they must have been thinking about the same thing….A shiver ran down her spine at the realization….
" Two sevens…"
"Two sevens…." she echoed, roughly pushing all thoughts aside, adamant about winning the round.
"One eight…." he announced, as another card fell down before her.
" Two eights…." she said, while actually trying to get rid of a three and a five."
"You never learn do you? " he said, turning her cards face up, smiling wickedly the moment he saw the cards.
"How can you tell?" she inquired with childish curiosity, a genuine reaction that made him burst into laughter.
"I guess mortals are not really good liars after all…" he replied, snapping his fingers to ignite a fire the second he noticed that she had wrapped her arms around her….She was cold.
"What are you doing? The guards might see it….." she protested, casting an alarmed look in the direction of the camp just to gasp in surprise at the realization that they were no longer there…
"Come on, Xe. You didn't really think we would be playing cards just yards away from the enemy camp, did you?"
She just rolled her eyes again at his ever so annoying way of doing things, still in shock at the fact that she hadn't even felt their voyage through the aether….
" Dare…" she broke the ice, denying him the satisfaction to ask, this time.
" Dare, huh? " he asked in disbelief, a bit taken aback himself by the fact that she had been so caught up in their little game that she had actually failed to see the blinding lights of the vortex…..How was that even possible? " You wouldn't be able to refuse me, Xena, no matter the challenge…." he made it clear for her before having announced his command.
She just flashed him a naughty grin in return, one that finally made a real smile appear on his face.
"Kiss me …." he calmly ordered, fascinated by the absolutely surreal beauty of her face, which, under the dazzling effect of the light orange flames of the fire dancing between them, had become an absolute master piece of nature…..
He had expected at least one attempt of protest from her behalf…at least one little speech hinting at his frighteningly lacking morals, something having to do with the blatant easiness with which he always used to take advantage of her each and every weakness….
Despite all his well founded theories though, she slowly got up, and, without uttering one single word, with firm but barely perceived steps- as if she had been some mysterious apparition and not a real flesh and blood being- she moved past the fire, her gaze locked on his, and, before he knew it, her hand was resting on his knee and her dark, silky tresses were soon caressing his face as she bent down to kiss him….He shivered at the contact, closing his eyes when he felt the warmth of her palm resting on his cheek.
…A barely felt brush of his lips later, it was over….hardly a kiss on might say….but an incentive enough touch to leave him literally breathless, as if the world itself had ended just to begin again the minute he felt her so close to him …He exhaled softly against her mouth once it was over, and, as moments elapsed, he finally became aware of that ever so rare sensation that his stomach was fluttering -as if he were falling and didn't know when or where he would land-….Trying to somehow regain his composure, he gently raised a hand to brush a few fallen strands from her perfectly sculpted visage. …It was her turn to shiver and he could distinctly feel her do so, the very moment his hand glided down her cheek and further down along the side of her neck….
As she got up again and headed back to her place, he instinctively covered his mouth with the tip of his fingers….His lips were burning as if they had been touched by fire….
From the other side of the flames, the Warrior Princess tried to ignore the goose bumps that had covered even the last inch of her skin, as well as that strangling regret that she couldn't afford their contact to last longer….
" Was that it?" he questioned, he himself a bit disappointed by the teenage innocence of their kiss.
" Well…your challenge wasn't really specific" she chuckled, bemused by his uncommonly sincere comment.
In response , he threw a tiny pebble into the playful flames, casting his cards a brief glance, while rapidly considering his options.
Soon, the game was on again….
" Three nines…." he began.
" One nine…."
" Aaaand….two tens for the beautiful lady …." he continued, in a smooth, alluring voice, while with eagle like eyes he followed her every gesture, secretly mesmerized by the sheer elegance behind each and every one of them.
"Two tens " she repeated, throwing down her cards, scrutinizing his face for a sec, eager to find any trace of deceit playing in his soft, amber eyes.
" Two kings " he answered, sincerity vibrating in his voice.
"One queen….." she announced, praying to all gods that he wouldn't call her bluff.
" Here's another one " he said, playing pretend not to have sensed that considerably lower note on which she had chosen to present her offer.
"And another one " she added, placing her card down.
"You're bluffing " he suddenly accused, in a quite excited voice.
"No I'm not" she contradicted, turning the card herself….
She was right…..She had been telling the truth.
"Damn I was so close! " he exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm getting rusty, aren't I?"
" Don't be so dramatic! You're just a couple of millennia older than me! " she laughed, making sure to throw him that newly formed pile of cards…"Truth or dare…?" she kindly asked, doing her best not to rub his nose in the defeat….
He just smirked back at her comment, taking in a deep breath of air as he noticed that she was still holding a couple of cards in her hand….With a bit of luck, he still had a fair chance to win the round.
" Truth!" he uttered on a disturbingly enthusiastic tone given the pain brought by their first confessions.
After a few seconds of reflection, Xena finally voiced her question, unsure if she even wanted to know the answer to it….
" You've been around for quite some time now…..How many women have you been in love with so far?"
His answer was of a nerve racking ambiguity…..
" I'd say….two…..and in spite of all the nasty rumors, neither of them was my mother" he mockingly specified, making her to literally want to slap herself for not having asked him to include names to that list.
" Taking about unspecified details…." he remarked when reading that huge question mark on her face.
" Three knights…." she impatiently started, to Ares' delight, determined to find out the name of those women and solve the enigma.
" One knight…"
" Three eights…."
"One eight …."
" One ace " she challenged.
At that ridiculous statement, Ares had to flash a devilish again….That repeated blink of her eyes, at such short interval had been her tomb stone… He could see right through her….
" Save it, Princess. Truth or dare? " he demanded to know, already thinking about a compromising enough question to match her own.
When she asked for a challenge instead, his whole body tensed at the amazing opportunity that had presented so out of the blue….
Everything appeared to be happening in slow motion for Xena afterwards, as if the God's every move was a completely distinct one, broken gestures that weren't really connected to one another, but, that at the same time, were strangely enough, perfectly linked….An impossible situation one might say, and still, as the distance between them gradually diminished, the very fabric of reality itself seemed to have altered in the Warrior Princess's eyes.
The colors appeared suddenly much more vibrant than before, of an indescribable intensity, despite the dim obscurity of the night, as for that rustic smell of burnt wood that had somehow managed to mix with his unique, trademark cinnamon fragrance, now that was the secret ingredient that made all her senses run wild as he approached her.
Time might have stopped flowing for a little while though, at least when his soft but firm hand went just below her chin, tilting it up a bit as he bent towards her….
"That kiss….let me show you how it's done…." he whispered seductively against her lips, sweetly allowing his fingers to caress her silky, elegantly cascading tresses for an insignificantly short moment, before they finally entwined in them, pulling her roughly closer to him.
Needless to say that by then, Xena's throat had closed. She tried to swallow and found the way blocked. She tried to breathe, but she failed miserably ….Miserably indeed…And while her heart kept drumming unevenly and embarrassingly loud, all that she found herself able to do, was to slightly part her lips the moment his thumb went from the vicinity of her chin to their wet, velvety surface, massaging them for a split second before his own soft and gentle lips decided to replace it, making her feel weak under the effect of that deliriously powerful cocktail of euphoria, lust and surprise traveling with the speed of light through her veins…
….As soon as his tongue joined the action, moving inside her mouth to meet her own
in a passionate tango, Xena could feel her head spinning with growing arousal.
She couldn't quite tell how long the kiss lasted, but she did know that it wasn't as long as she would have liked it to….When he finally released her mouth, he pulled away just enough to look into her still hypnotized eyes and smile, delicately brushing her face with the back of his hand before adding a sensual " See? It's not so hard once you get the hang of it…"
There was a short pause before the rest of his line brought her back to reality…
"I guess this makes me the winner of the first round. I have to say, I do enjoy playing with ya', Princess. " he said, the most sexy smile imaginable painted on his face. "….Only five more hours till sunrise for you to kick my ass….." he jokingly warned her.
She arched an eyebrow at the realization that he was right…..He had managed to get rid of all his cards…..Five hours left….
Chapter 2 coming up soon ...