Chapter 51
Lukas and I stayed behind, and made ourselves comfortable near the sleeping man, sitting in one chair together, kissing and fondling more than a little.
'Show me your horns,' I said, 'how did you manage to remove them so quickly and so neatly? It did hurt, though, didn't it?'
The remembrance was still there, I could see him relive the pain, but he said dryly: 'I was so angry, I felt violated, my body touched without my consent.
In my anger I realised that an act of ultimate defiance was needed, and I knew I could do it. Remember seeing the inside, with the tile-like structures that made up the dead part of the horn?' I nodded, and he continued: 'I separated those tiles one by one, until I got the hang and managed to do row upon row of them, and then the horns came off easily in my hand.
I still want the caps back on, Paul saved them.
It hurt like hell, same as the first time, without Paul's support I would have fainted dead away. You two are so good to me.'
He bent his head so I could find his stumps between the curls, and they indeed looked fine. I scratched the bases some, and he shivered in enjoyment. 'Please go on, spoil me,' he said huskily, 'my feelings have been rocked today, I want to forget the negative feelings my dad gave me, they're just not part of me.'
And of course I scratched his horns, and he settled against me, just enjoying my touch, no heat rising in him.
I felt him touch my mind and I invited him in, and then we shared our love and our feelings truly, but not passionately, for the first time ever. I think we had been really close for half an hour or so, when the shape in the easy chair began to move.
We both looked at him, and he reminded me of Paul when he was at his worst, Hermes was not feverish, but he was clearly in pain.
Lukas got up, our moment together had passed, and he asked: 'Will you be all right if I leave for a moment, to get painkillers? He seems to be in a lot of pain. I feel sorry for him.'
I agreed, and he left at a run. The angelic face before me, so well-known to me from those embarrassing dreams, now distorted in waves of pain. I felt really sorry for him, this was the first time ever he had been totally helpless and in pain, and it debilitated him totally.
No-one should fall this deeply, it was humiliating. Even remembering what he had threatened Lukas with, I couldn't help moving in to comfort him, though my common sense told me he had deserved this, my feelings told me to give what solace I might by offering a soothing touch, some heart-felt compassion.
When Lukas returned, he found me sitting with his father, holding his hand, stroking his short hair. The beautiful face was still showing his pain, but holding on to someone did seem to help just a little.
Together, we helped him up and Lukas fed him the powder, washing it down with water. Awake now, and fighting the pain and thereby making it much worse, Hermes was truly a fallen angel, beautiful, well-shaped and totally helpless.
I could understand why George would find this very attractive. Not being used to the little pains and illnesses of mortality, Hermes' weakness overruled him totally, and he could not pull himself together.
He clung to me tightly, totally bewildered, holding Lukas' gaze as convulsively as he held my hand. Lukas pulled a chair closer, and tried to reason with him: 'Try not to let it overcome you, father, it's just pain, it will pass.'
Hermes looked at Lukas in total incomprehension, again, nearly in a panic for not understanding him.
Lukas looked at me and said: 'I think he used magic to speak your language, I'm sorry to be rude, but I'll have to speak Greek with him.'
I replied jokingly: 'No problem, but remember, I will understand what you say, so be flattering about me.'
With a sweet smile to me, he touched his father's face and said in that beautiful language: 'Father, don't fight the pain, it will get worse. Try to let it go, it'll pass.'
His father tried to stop fighting the pain, his cramped body tried to relax a little, but his hand clamped mine as tightly as before.
He whispered something, in Greek of course, and Lukas' answer sounded straight in my mind: 'You have no worshippers here, so when you called the hound of Hell upon me and my friends, your power ran out and your body used your life-force to complete the magic. It nearly killed you.'
In Hermes' face, physical pain was now replaced by shame, and I truly thought something like mental pain as well.
He whispered something else. Lukas got that look again, as if he was going to snarl at the helpless man at his feet, and his Greek didn't sound beautiful when he said: 'Are you truly? Or are you just afraid for your life? You promised to make me a captive in your home, worse than a slave.'
I truly didn't like seeing my dear friend this way, it was so unlike him.
But I also remembered his extreme fear, week after week of it, and the threats Hermes had offered him, and I supposed the tension needed to be released as well.
The man in my arms cringed visibly, and whispered again. Lukas sounded more weary than aggressive now, I guess his nature could not keep up his anger for very long.
In a friendlier tone he said: 'What could I have done, father, let you die at my feet when I had the power to save you? I feel what others feel, I must be true to myself.'
Another whisper, and an answer: 'That is the price I pay for my Gift, it takes all I have to offer, and more.
It also demands a price in love. Locked in a room alone and in iron manacles, my first healing would have killed me as certainly as you would have died today.'
Hermes sounded stronger when he spoke again, the painkiller was probably kicking in, or maybe it was the intensity of the feeling that he expressed.
Lukas was truly affected now, and I admired the strength with which he addressed his father: 'I really want to believe you mean that, so I will accept your apology. You are my father and I suppose in a way I still love you. I just don't want to feel this anger anymore, and this distrust towards you.'
And with that, I truly believe he consciously rid himself of his negativity then and there, changing his whole attitude towards his father, becoming the son he would have been if his father had been like mine, supporting, loving, interested in his well-being.
I suppose my face reflected my surprise, for Lukas looked at me beatifically and said in English: 'It is your unconditional love, and Paul's, that makes it possible for me to forgive my father.'
Following his gaze, and looking at me with admiration, despite the pain, Hermes spoke again, still in Greek of course.
And Lukas answered: 'Yes, father, I have never loved anyone like this beautiful girl and her husband. They could have loved each other exclusively, but they have found a place in their hearts for me, and still do not attempt to claim me.
The people of this world have strange customs, but I have learned to fit in and I want to stay here, with Melissa and Paul.'
Hermes looked at me again, almost longingly, and said something in Greek which sounded like an apology, only a lot longer, and Lukas translated: 'He says thank you for making his son happy, and he apologises for trying to take me away from you.'
To be honest, I did feel the attraction of the helpless, beautiful man in my lap. His scent, so much like Lukas, his beauty, and his evident repentance towards his son made me want to caress him, explore his real body.
Ashamed of my attraction to the man who had caused Lukas so much grief, I replied, shortly: 'Thank you.'
Now the painkillers worked and he was no longer in such a pitiable state, my need to comfort a creature in need faded, and I felt smudgy again, feeling my own attraction to him, and his sleek body against my body and his elegant hand in mine, remembering those dreams, reliving the exquisite sex I had with the arrogant father of a most beloved friend.
Suppressing the urge to push him away, I carefully started to remove myself from under him, releasing his hand, trying to hide my ambiguous feelings.
But my rejection clearly hurt Hermes, he wilted, still in pain, needing the support I had given him, and I couldn't let Lukas comfort him, it would be too much to ask.
So I sat down again and held his hand once more, supporting his trembling shape whilst feeling both revulsed and attracted. Hermes asked Lukas something, and Lukas translated: ' Father wonders why you seem not to like him, most women find him very attractive.'
'After sleeping with him in several of those dreams he sent me, I feel a bit smudgy touching his body so closely,' I admitted frankly, and I heard Lukas translate that literally in Greek.
Now Hermes looked at me in shock, and rattled of a string of flowing sentences, an eloquent denial apparently.
He sat up straight, but couldn't hold the pose, falling back against me with a moan of pain, just as Lukas translated: 'He denies ever having sent anyone any dreams, he knew your names and some of our involvements from spying on us from the basement, but he really never sent you any dreams of you and him making love.'
Now Hermes smiled quite charmingly as he said something more, and Lukas added cheekily: 'Though he'd like to.'
With that smile Hermes resembled his son even more, a guileless need for love in his eyes, a playfulness I hadn't seen in him before.
I started to think he might not be as bad as I thought after all, and in a way this guy was my father-in-law as much as that dry noble that had neglected to give Paul some love.
So I ignored the smudgy feeling and just stroked him gently as I had Jonathan, trying to ignore his masculine scent and the firmness of his perfect body.
Nearly asleep again, Hermes said one more thing to Lukas, a question from the tone of his language.
Lukas replied: 'That was George, on whose property we are now. He is an adept mage with great skills, he provided me with the power needed to save your life, and he provided you with any power you have in your reserves right now.
He doesn't think you sent him smudgy dreams, he just likes you.'
That last sentence was spoken with decided humour, could it be that Lukas was kidding his father? And did Hermes look decidedly interested?
Lukas answered another question: 'He will be back with you, yes, he is with his guests right now, but someone will be watching over you all the time, and it will often be George.' This seemed to please Hermes a lot, and he closed his eyes, exhausted. We helped him to lie down again, and within minutes he was in a deep sleep.
As soon as I had carefully removed myself from the chair on which his father was sleeping, I was with Lukas, wrapping him in my arms, and when he rested his head in my bosom, I knew this had been very hard on him.
We sat in total silence, listening to the evening sounds, and after a while his head came up again and he returned my embrace, kissing me with passion, fondling my breasts.
I scratched his horn-bases gently, and now he looked directly at me, eyes on fire. We couldn't leave his father unattended, but don't think that was a problem for Lukas, he knew I was in for some loving or I wouldn't have turned him on further.
He took me to a large tree close to his father's chair, and I still don't know how he did it, maybe it was his son-of-a-god heritage, but he lifted me easily against it, got my skirts up and my underwear out of the way, and really soon he plunged into me, my legs around his hips.
He was rough this time, and I loved every second of it, his mouth crushing mine, his weight against me, and his boundless energy thrusting in me, lifting me up a little bit every time he pushed himself in, giving me a thrill every time he touched me inside.
But when I looked up at him, his face was all determination, his eyes still on fire, I worried a little, this was not my peaceful, loving goat-man.
This man burned inside, still, though he had seemed so forgiving. He caught me looking at him, slowed down a moment to laugh apologetically and kiss me tenderly, fire gone from his eyes, but not his loins.
Then he speeded up again, and my worries disappeared in an all-consuming bliss, release shuddering through me a second later. He grinned and speeded up even more, how did he do it?
My body reacted with even more passion, it was warmed up nicely now, and every thrust hit a nerve inside me.
I could feel him close to his climax, his look became absent, his movement determined, and I helped myself along with my fingers, to release the tension built up inside me by now. We came at exactly the same time, and our groans of release mingled in the balmy summer evening.
Lukas didn't crash immediately, we would have fallen if he did, but as soon as my feet were back on the ground, he did fall into my arms, his mouth nuzzling my neck, his musky scent and the warmth of his body filling my senses.
I stroked his curls, held his chest against mine, and felt him breathing only slightly heavier than normal.
'Do you feel free now, Lukas?' I asked him, and he replied, voice still husky: 'I do, beloved, I do. When he is back through that portal, and the seal back on, I'll feel safer, but having the opportunity to finally speak to my father has been invaluable.
I want to talk to him even more, with Paul or yourself present always, but I have been able to say my say already.
Everything else we manage to discuss is a bonus. So you think we will be relieved soon? I feel like dancing again.'
And sure enough, within a quarter of an hour George came by with Tristan to take the next watch. Tristan, always the practical one, asked bluntly: 'We'll be partying some more, but what about tonight? Where will we keep him, and does he need to be chained?'
Lukas said mildly: 'He is still in a lot of pain when he is awake, and totally bewildered because he has never known any discomfort.
I think he has extensive nerve-damage, he may be days recovering, in constant severe pain.
My guess is, he will not be up to any mischief, but I'm prepared to miss out on some sleep to spare him a dungeon or shackles.
We can take him home with us, we have those elven watch-dogs.'
But here, George stepped in and said: 'I'd like to keep him here, close to the node but shielded from it. I intend to win his confidence so we will not have an enemy at our back.
With the node I think I can defend myself against him even if he does restore to his full reserve.'
Lukas nodded in agreement, and boldly stated: 'He likes you already George, he inquired who you were and if you would come back.
Paul told me sharing power does that to people, and it seems even a god is not exempt from that rule.'
George unconsciously licked his lips and said: 'Let him come to me, and I'll be waiting eagerly. I know he's your dad, Lukas, but he could be your older brother.'
Looking very cheeky, Lukas remarked: 'A lot older brother, George, he's at least a few centuries old.'
Instead of shocked, George looked hungry: 'Image the tricks he's picked up in all those years.'
Now, Tristan shook his head, and observed: 'Let us get him through the reaction-shock first, and only then sell his services to the highest bidder.'
This got a laugh from all of us, and as the men prepared to seat themselves, we went back towards the party.
After a few yards, Lukas turned around, and I looked back too. George had seated himself on the chair where Hermes was sleeping, and the still figure came alive for a moment and snuggled against him, then slept on with an arm on George's leg. Lukas and I looked at each other and Lukas said: 'What can I say, I couldn't resist him either,' and we both laughed out loud.
