They walked together in companionable silence for a while, Nikola keeping them on the path. Helen didn't ask; she didn't have to, she knew he would tell her anything she needed to know immediately, and the rest would come out later. One day when the incident, whatever it was, wasn't quite so raw and he was mellowed out after a good day and some excellent wine, he would tell her.

Nikola broke the silence. "So what do we do now?"

Helen hesitated. She really wasn't sure; dealing with gods face to face was mostly outside of her experience. "I don't know. We certainly aren't blending in very well. Any ideas?"

"Yeah. I want my pants back. And real shoes, and the devamper."

"I can't argue with that, I'm feeling a certain longing for my 'barbarian' clothing and my gun myself."

"But then what? After his encounter with you, good old Di isn't going to be in the mood to help us out and take us back to Earth."

"Perhaps Hephaestos could help us."

"Let's see, that's Vulcan, right?" At Helen's nod, Nikola continued, "He was kind of an outsider, made pretty much everything for all the gods, invented blacksmithing."

"So after we reclaim our things, we could look for his forge, or possibly his temple. All the myths portray him as being helpful and surprisingly nice for one of the gods."

Nikola smiled at her. "We have a plan."

They skirted around Dionysus's temple. By the time they reached the plaza, the sky was beginning to lighten, but the front of every temple was lit with lamps and torches anyway, so there was no problem locating the huge temple of Zeus.

It was early enough—or late enough—that the interior was very quiet. Apparently the party was over. When they reached that area they found it mostly empty, with a few gods and goddesses strewn around on couches asleep. They moved past quietly and headed for the corridors where the changing room was located.

The halls all looked much alike and it took them some time to find the right room. Everything was as they left it, except the things Athena had taken from them were tossed on top of their more neatly laid out clothing. They changed quickly.

Then they headed back through Zeus's temple to reach the front facing the plaza. But they didn't quite make it out.

Dionysus appeared at the entrance in front of them.

"So there you are! Nikus, your slave attacked me, and I demand she be punished accordingly."

Nikola sighed. Was this guy dense, or what? "Di, listen carefully. Helen is not my slave, she is my wife. She did not attack you. She defended herself after you kidnapped her and . . . well, we won't go into details, let's just say you made some unwanted advances that she refused. Now move, we're leaving."

The god's normally happy face was scowling. "I am a god, she is a mere mortal! She has no right to refuse me, she should be grateful for my attention. Come here, woman, or suffer the consequences."

Nikola moved in front of Helen. She could certainly defend herself against Di, but she obviously hadn't made enough of an impression last time. "My turn," he said, and Helen let him. Nikola vamped and snarled, displaying his long sharp teeth and claws.

Dionysus looked stunned, but not afraid. He pointed a finger at Nikola and said, "You! You are not what you claim at all. Zeus must be told of this." He disappeared.

Helen and Nikola didn't hesitate. They took off running down the long stairs to the plaza. They veered right; they'd seen the temples to the left, and knew Hephaestos's wasn't among them, if he even had one. Both scanned the sky for smoke, trying to spot the location of his forge.

But they had no real chance of escaping, not with the gods' ability to simply transport themselves to wherever they chose to be. They were hardly half way across the broad expanse when Zeus appeared in front of them, grabbed them both, and took them back to his temple. He dumped them on the floor and seated himself in a huge throne. Hera sat next to him, and Dionysus stood to the side.

"Well," Hera commented, "Now I have two things to punish you for, Nikus. Rudeness, and lying about your heritage." She seemed pleased about it, which scared Nikola just a little.

Nikola and Helen stood up and he said angrily, "I never made any claims about my heritage; King Zeus decided for himself that we were related."

Helen didn't want to make the gods any angrier than they were. Her main aim was still to get back to Earth, and her diplomacy skills were far greater than Nikola's. She said calmly, "We admit we don't belong here. We are not gods or goddesses, we are just people. We were brought here without our consent and only want to go back to where we do belong."

Zeus held up his hand to stop her from continuing with her plea to be returned to their own world. "That is all irrelevant. While Nikus can toss tiny thunderbolts, it is now obvious from his concealed deformities where his greater heritage lies. The only question is whether Queen Hera would prefer a separate punishment for him, or whether I should just send them both to his true great grandfather."

Deformities? Helen had a sudden hope. "Do you mean Hephaestos?" He among all the gods was the only one reported with any imperfections- he had either been born lame, or lamed by Hera.

The gods ignored her. Dionysus said, "And Helen should be punished as well, for her attack on me when I was only trying to do something nice for her."

Zeus leaned back, an amused look on his face. "Do you think you can punish her, god of wine?"

"I erred last time, in taking her to the glade. I will take her to my room where there is no hope for escape, and my satyrs will assist me if she resists. Her punishment will be sweet for me."

Zeus turned to his wife. "And my queen, what would you have me do with Nikus that would repay the insults he has given?"

"He detested the last punishment you gave him so let us repeat it. Restrain him with your powers and let me do the same to him, only this time with his wife to witness his humiliation. And then let him witness hers, which will be an even greater lesson to teach him his humble station."

Zeus laughed. "Fitting. And we will watch the second half in comfort in our scrying pool."

Nikola hissed, "You cold bastards. You kidnapped us and now plan to torture us because we're not your puppets? No wonder no one worships any of you anymore, you're just a bunch of monsters."

"Nikola!" Helen blurted out. There went any chance of talking their way out of it, although it was now obvious that chance had been extremely small to start with.

"It doesn't matter, Helen, they're going to do whatever they want with us anyway," the vampire responded.

Zeus produced two gold cords, a long one and a short one. He tossed the long one at Nikola and it wound around him tightly, pinioning his arms and lashing his legs together. The smaller cord flew out at Helen, just binding her arms against her sides.

Nikola tried to cut the cord around him with his claws, but they didn't even make a scratch. He was able to bend his head and try his fangs, but that had no effect either. Zeus just

smiled and said, "Hephaestos does excellent work, neither of you can escape his golden cords; no one could, not even a god. Of course, since he made them for me, no one else can control them either which means you are both caught fast. Now, let us proceed."

Helen protested one last time. "This isn't right, it isn't fair."

"Fair?" Hera echoed. "Fair is what we say it is. On Mount Olympus, justice is the pronouncement of the king and queen, so you are about to receive justice, both of you. And how can anyone say that justice isn't fair? Di, bring Nikus to me."

Nikola just looked despondent, his head down and shoulders slumped, as Dionysus picked him up by the collar of his suit jacket and took him to Hera. Being spanked publicly had been bad, but being helpless to stop Hera's punishment in front of Helen was worse. She would have no respect at all for him after seeing what was about to happen.

Helen was just angry at the way they were treating her husband. She was doing her best not to think beyond the moment, to what would happen to her later, and how Nikola would react. Of the two of them, he was stronger physically but more fragile psychologically.

Helen spoke as reassuringly as she could. "I love you, Nikola. No matter what happens to either of us."

He looked up at her as Dionysus pulled down his pants, the rope obligingly slithering out of the way while staying tightly wound. The god draped him across Hera's lap and she moved his suit coat and shirttail out of the way.

The queen of the gods spent a few moments looking at the bare flesh in front of her, smiling a little. She poked Nikola a couple of times with her finger, then snapped her fingers and a short black bristled rod appeared in her hand. She ran it gently over his buttocks. "Ah, little Nikus, I love you too, and so does my little rod. Feel it?" Hera said.

Nikola jerked. It stung, even at such a light touch. It was like a line of extremely sharp burrs with little hooks at the end of each scraping his skin. He felt his blood begin to ooze wherever she touched him. The she slapped him with it, and he gasped and bucked. She put her other hand on his back to hold him still, and began beating him, hitting hard to dig in and then raking.

The vampire made no sound as he was whipped and flensed. His blood splattered everyone there and soaked Hera's gown. She only stopped when she was exhausted, long after he'd passed out and hung completely limp. The queen of the gods shoved his still body contemptuously off her lap.

Helen could do nothing. Her tears slowly dried on her face. She knew Nikola would survive, would be well again and soon, although very hungry. To see him deliberately given such pain made her angry and terribly distraught. But the gold cord held her fast.

For a moment everyone just stared at the bloody mess on the floor. Then Dionysus said cheerily, "Well done, my queen. My turn now."

He reached for Helen, but Zeus reminded him, "Take them both. With the blood of the gods in him—I'm sure he must have some left—Nikus will waken soon, and he is to watch if you will remember."

The god of wine dutifully grabbed Nikola by the collar again and half carried half dragged him over to Helen. She stood still and waited for him; wherever he was going, she would be with Nikola at least. Di put his hand on her shoulder and then they were somewhere else.

It was a white room- floors, walls, and ceiling. There was little furniture, mostly just a big bed, a couple of chairs and a small table, some hooks on the wall for clothes. Di released Helen and lifted Nikola's limp body up to loop the accommodating cord over one of the hooks and hang him up like a grotesque tapestry. Nikola still seemed unconscious, but at least his suit coat and shirt tail covered the important parts while his pants and underwear puddled around his ankles.

Looking around, Helen realized why Dionysus had brought her to this place. There was no door, no windows, no way in or out except by transporting. Not a problem for a god, but an unsolvable one for anyone else. She was trapped, and there were two satyrs in the room, lounging bored in a corner. They straightened up when the god turned toward them.

"Now my lovely Helen," said Dionysus, "Time to get you ready, so when Nikus awakens his eyes will be filled with us, together."