BEFORE YOU READ THESE 8500 WORDS!

I urge you all to take a deep breath and please try to keep an open mind. Remember that all things have their purpose and this chapter is no different. For one it sets up a little bit for the possible sequel and for two…well "for two" I have a feeling you won't like very much.

All I can say is I'm sorry, and I know you might be a little mad at me, but hey that's how it's got to be. Trust that I know why it had to happen and where it's going and just…go with the flow.

Also I wrote a shit-load these passed two night, so damnit, cut me some slack.

As always, much love to ya, and PLEASE! Leave me some feedback, even if it's to tell me what a terrible, heartless, person I am. :D

Names pronounced - Jael (Jah-el) meaning: Hebrew for mountain goat, but referring to a hero in Myth

Meabh (May-ve(anyone else wonder how that works?)) meaning: Gaelic for Intoxicating

Adhene (Ad-he-knee) - A mostly mischievous fairy being. Also Cloan ny moyrn. (Isle of Man)

I had stopped at the tree line when I first heard the call.

"Miiiiiiiira." The voice was familiar and playful, sung rather than spoken, and it seemed to come from everywhere at once. I turned toward the dark forest, eyes still blurred from crying over my latest victim, and sighed. I couldn't think straight but I couldn't go back to sit at Cern's side like his obedient little dog either.

"Come here, sweet thing. Come away from that monster."

The words were soothing, more soothing than any voice I'd ever heard and I found myself moving toward the trees without thought of danger. Where else could I go? What options did I have?

What else did I have to lose?

I was finding that suddenly, despite everything, I didn't care anymore. The voice was right, Cern was a monster and I wanted nothing to do with the god or his cruelty now or ever. I glanced back, only once to see him still in his throne at the edges of the fire, his eyes stealing the light and casting it off on his children in shimmering, metallic, green streams. He seemed more inhuman now than ever I had seen before, and it quickened my pace.

The fire was large enough to cast shadows on the forest floor as I walked. They danced and swayed around me as if they were a living thing. Pulling me along, carrying me to the voice and its promise of comfort.

"Come here, Mira. Come quickly."

I broke into a run then, stumbling once on a gnarled root but catching myself quickly enough. The farther I ran, the darker it got, until only the moon, full and larger than I had ever seen before, lit my path. It wasn't until I had stopped to catch my breath that I realized I could no longer see or hear the gathering behind me. I drew a labored breath and wiped at my eyes, leaning against a tree.

"Why do you cry, sweet thing?" this voice was different, female, but still soothing and trustworthy as a mother's. Something shifted the leaves of a bush to my right and I watched, frozen as the woman stepped into my sight. I knew her instantly, even in the darkness, as the Fae who had brought Etain to Cernunnos.

"You gave that girl away." I said harshly, no longer fooled by the softness of her tone. "You brought her to him to die."

"Only at her wish, dearest. Only to salve the girl's yearning for death." The Fae's expression was sad, her strange orangish eyes glittering as if full of tears, the irises swollen within her eyes. "She was so tired, you see. She wanted to end it; she had been here so long. Outlived all that loved her."

I shook my head. "It was cruel." I argued, seeing the terror in Etain's eyes when I closed my own. Whether she had been trapped here or not, old or not, she was still dead.

"It was pity." Came a reply from behind me. I jumped and spun to face the other. Orange-eye's companion…or brother. They looked alike, had the same coloring, save his eyes. His copper gaze shimmered under the moonlight as he leaned up against the tree I had rested on. "She begged us to free her," he insisted gently, "Had we not given her to the god-king, she would have tried to end herself again."

I shook my head, but had no reply. I was too tired to argue anymore, exhausted really. My very bones ached and now that I was away from the fire, the bitter wind that swept around me made me shiver. Fae could not lie, I thought. I had read that somewhere. They could not lie but could bend the truth, but what they were saying seemed real enough. She had thanked me as she died. The thought made me tremble harder.

"Are you cold, sweet Mira?" Jael asked, his brow furrowing in concern. I don't know how I knew his name, or hers, but they seemed to just pop into my head, as if I'd known them all my life. As if they had replaced the memories of my family.

"Look what the God-king has given her to wear," his sister chimed in. "She must be." Then she smiled, tilting her head, "Would you like something, dearest? Something to warm you?"

"Drink this." Jael said softly and offered me a silver goblet encrusted with gems. I shook my head, not wanting to offend them.

"No, I'm fine thank you. I just need a moment."

"Nonsense." Meabh smiled tenderly. "Look at you, darling, the chill has made you white as death."

The wind bit against my skin and another shiver took me as if to punctuate her words. I drew my arms around myself, teeth chattering before I clamped them down and Jael chuckled softly.

"You mustn't be strong for us, Mira." He said and I found myself gazing quite intently into his strange copper eyes. "We know how hard this must have been on you, sweetling, we know you must be tired and hurt. Let us help you."

"Let us do what we can before the God-king rips you away again." Meabh insisted.

I didn't really know how to respond to this. My head was aching, my body felt like lead, and the lingering unsteadiness of the spiced smoke was still there. They didn't wait for my reply though, taking my silence for acceptance and moving toward me.

Meabh closed her arms around me, though I stiffened at the odd hardness of her skin, like she'd been carved from stone, like marble. She hushed me with a gentle murmur that became a song. I didn't understand the words, but the rhythm made me relax against her until I closed my eyes and rested my head against her shoulder. She was willowy and slight, but undeniably strong. I could feel it the way I knew Cern or Isaac were strong. In her arms, I felt safe and comforted. I felt as if Cern could not find me.

When I opened my eyes again I caught sight of Jael. He'd raised the goblet to his lips, though his eyes did not stray from mine as he drank. I didn't want to look away though. It was safe in those eyes, cold perhaps, the way metals always were, but still welcoming.

I watched him drink the contents of his goblet and set it down beside the tree, then he stepped forward. Meabh released me, though she continued her song. It seemed to fill the forest around me, winding in and out of the trees in a soft rhythmic pattern. I found myself leaning into Jael when he reached for me and letting him draw me against his firm chest. He smelled of night flowers and something distinctly male, and I took a breath of him, feeling every remaining ounce of tension leave when I exhaled.

"Poor thing," he murmured against my hair. "What the beast has done to you. How do you stand it?"

"I don't know," I replied softly, my voice hitching. "Everyone hurts me eventually. What point would there be in avoiding it?"

He pulled back to search my face with a frown. "No, Mira. You mustn't think this way. You must protect yourself from them."

I sighed wearily and gazed up at him, tracing my finger along the iridescent red marking along the side of his throat. "Can't you protect me?"

His lips curled into a charming, pleasant smile and he took my hand, kissing my fingertips. "If you like, sweet one."

When he leaned down to kiss my forehead, his breath was warm and sweet. "Whatever you like, whenever you like it." I closed my eyes and he placed two gentle kisses on my eyelids, then my cheek, then the corner of my mouth and I shuddered at the feeling, looking back at him. The Fae smiled and his fingers slid around to cradle the back of my head before he bent down to brush a kiss across my lips. I drew in another intoxicating breath of him and grabbed at his shirtfront, noting with pleasure how soft and light the material was beneath my hands. His eyes slid to his sister behind me and then he let me pull him closer and smiled again in that oddly comforting way. What would Cern think of this? Of my choosing one of his children over him? Would it make him angry? Hurt him?

I hoped for both.

When Jael kissed me again, it was gentle, gauging my reaction to him, but in my current state it wasn't enough. This was my choice, my decision and no one else's. There was no beast here to use his strength against me, and to shape my life any way he chose. I needed to feel control, over anything, even for only a short while. I pushed into the kiss, gripping his shirt tightly and closed my eyes. At my silent pleading, he shed the gentility and claimed my mouth. I giggled against him, then drew back just enough to see his wonderful, beautiful face. There was a taste about him that made my mouth water, sweet like wild berries and yet…indescribable.

"What is that?" I asked licking my lips and finding the strange flavor there as well. He smiled again and traced the line of my throat with the tip of his finger.

"Rosewine." He replied simply. "Would you like some?"

I closed my eyes again, swaying with the constant, thrumming rhythm of Meabh's song and nodded, suddenly breathless. "Please?"

Meabh handed over the goblet from the ground and to my surprise it was now filled with the deep pinkish liquid again.

"But you finished it." I frowned, looking between them. Vaguely I realized that Meabh was no longer singing, though the song still filled the forest.

"Here, the cups are never empty." Jael replied and handed me the goblet, tilting it up to my lips.

I had no choice but to drink, and once it had touched my tongue, I found that I wanted nothing but that anyway. The wine was sweet and rich, and as I swallowed, it filled me with warmth like whiskey. Without the unpleasant taste, the feeling was wonderful.

"You're right." I murmured after finishing the goblet, "I am warmer now."

Jael smiled and Meabh folded her hands on his shoulder, resting her chin there to watch me. Her orange eyes flashed with something…strange, but I had no time to wonder what that might be because the goblet was full again, and Jael was tipping it back up to my lips. Gods was it wonderful! The most amazing thing I had ever tasted and it seemed to grow better with each sip I took.

My head spun when I'd finished the second glass and I paused. There was something that Cern had said earlier, something about the wine. Something important. I tried to remember what it was but found myself drinking more and the thought slipped away.

"Slowly, darling," Meabh said with a tilted smile, "There is no need to rush. You have all the time in the world here. All the time you could ever need."

I nodded and drank down the remainder of the goblet, giggling when I looked down to find it full, as if it had always been that way. Then as I stared at it, the swirling rosy color, the wonderful smell, I found my thoughts wondering back to Cern. He had told me something, I knew it. I remembered the stern look on his face as he had. Was it a warning? A Threat? What had it been about?

"Go ahead, Mira. Drink your fill." Meabh encouraged, but I shook my head slowly.

"No, that was enough, thank you."

Jael took the goblet from me, resting a hand at the small of my back, and took a drink himself, then with a smile he leaned forward and kissed me. I could taste the wine on his tongue and when we came up for air I giggled again and stole back the goblet for another sip before leaning in to kiss him.

Meabh moved around us, to stand behind me, her hand coming around my arm to take the goblet so that I was free to move my hands to Jael's chest. I felt the firm tone of muscle, sliding them upwards and slipping the fingers of my right hand into his silky, golden hair. Between our passionate kisses, Meabh would give me more of the wine and I was happy enough to drink it, loving the way it was beginning to lift my body as if I weighed nothing.

"Can we do this forever?" I asked with a lazy smile, letting my head fall back to rest on Meabh's shoulder. Jael nodded, titling his head to regard me with an expression I couldn't translate, and stroked his fingers up the side of my ribs. The touch brought with it electric shocks of feeling and I shuddered in pleasure.

"For the rest of time, sweetling." And then came his sister.

"Forever and always, dearest."

And then the wind grew again and lightning split the sky, thunder crashing behind it loud enough to shake the very ground. I hardly would have cared if not for the next flash that illuminated the forest long enough for me to catch sight of the man standing only yards away.

Something growled, a beast so monstrous that Jael and Meabh cowered away from it, releasing me and dropping the goblet, though it didn't spill when it clattered to the ground. I noted this with a drunken giggle and swayed before catching myself against the tree beside me.

"What have you done?" the voice that came then was deep and furious. It cut through Meabh's ghostly song, killing the lilting music and leaving me with a distinct emptiness for having lost it.

"Nothing, great king." Meabh replied hastily, "We only wished to console the girl."

"She was so very heartbroken." Jael added, "We thought it would please you to see her smile again."

My eyes went to them; both had knelt on the forest floor, Meabh's head bowed respectfully while her twin gazed beseechingly at his God. When I turned to Cern, however, I felt only contempt. Hatred even. It felt good knowing that he had caught us and I wondered how deeply it stung. Assuming he cared at all.

"Come here, Mira." He growled, holding out his hand, but I scowled at it and stood my ground. Seeing this, his eyes narrowed, brightening the strange glow they emitted and turning his mask of rage into something truly frightening.

"Now!" he boomed and I shrieked as what felt like hands knotted themselves in my hair and wrapped around my wrists, dragging me toward the god-king. I dug my heels in the dirt but it was no use. When I'd reached him, the hands forced me to my knees in the dirt, holding me immobile so that the god could gaze down at me.

"I warned you." He seethed, every muscle on his golden body taught and trembling with anger. "I told you what would happen should you consume anything here. What were you thinking?"

"We gave her nothing she did not ask for, great king," Meabh said hurriedly.

"She begged." Jael finished with a sly smile when I turned to glare back at them. He winked at me before turning his eyes back on Cern. I'd said please, yes, but that hardly constituted begging!

The Fae cannot lie. They can only bend the truth.

I turned back and let my head hang forward, it was so heavy, but looked back up as Cern spoke again.

"This mortal is not for your games." He hissed. "She is mine to do with as I wish. Not you, Jael. You know the law."

"And we have not broken it." The Fae replied smoothly, seeming unaffected by the god's rage, though his sister was still bowed and cowering. "The girl left your protection, she wondered off the path. Then she begged for the wine and took it from me before I was able to stop her."

"It was only curiosity." Meabh added meekly, "We just wanted to see what made this one so special. What could have drawn you, king of gods, to want her so?" Her face lifted and her smile was wicked and evil, "We would not have hurt the girl. Poor, helpless thing."

"Enough." Cern snapped. "Do not twist the truth with me. You forget who taught you such things. Now you dare to steal what is mine?"

She glanced nervously at her brother, then smiled, though the expression was strained. "We have no intention of keeping her, of course, great king."

He laughed harshly, a frightening sound given the situation, and the Fae flinched. "Of course." He repeated. "You would have left her to the others in the dark to dispose off." She began to argue, but he cut her off. "Slumber has not made me stupid, Adhene. Perhaps you will understand this better in the cage."

Her eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to protest, but it was too late. The air charged with electricity and a shiver passed down my spine at the feel of it. Of Cern's power, heavy enough in the air I felt it pressing me down in the dirt. I could even taste ozone on my tongue.

The shadows that had seemed to come from the firelight moved impossibly, twisting like serpents across the ground and around the knelt Fae. Meabh tried the escape the shadows, but everywhere she turned the were waiting. I watched, morbidly fascinated as she swatted at the darkness, but rather than resting her fingers on solid ground, she went through it. At first it was just her hand, and she fought like a wild-woman to free it, but eventually the shadow caught her other hand and her leg, and then it was creeping up her body, coating her like tar and she was sinking down into the forest floor. She sucked in a breath to shriek, but the oily blackness crawled down her throat and pushed into her eyes. Meabh's scream was swallowed by the ground before she could make it, and suddenly she just wasn't there.

I saw Jael's fists tighten and pale in anger of his own and he let out an animalistic hiss, baring teeth I realized were sharp as razors. Not only that, but when I looked closely, I saw that there were two distinct rows of teeth in his mouth, like a sharks. Somehow though, it did not frighten me, but made me wonder how I had not noticed them before. Did he retract them like a vampire?

"I am no fool, Jael, whatever Meabh planned for Mira was at your behest." Cern said coldly, "Separation from your sister is punishment enough, but I will have the lives of every soul you have claimed for this treachery. Perhaps without their voices in your head, you may listen to logic instead." He glanced once at me with a tiny smile, "It is never smart to steal from your God, is it, Mira?"

The Fae gazed at him with widened, furious eyes, the iridescent markings along his skin growing a deep angry red. His jaw set tightly, he reached into the front of his shirt and drew on a thin gold chain until an intricate gold locket emerged. His finger stroked across the rounded knotting of gold bands and they slid apart, letting the locket fall open. Inside was the same bright light that I had seen of my soul when Cern stole it away but these lights flickered and throbbed, ever-moving within their cage.

"And what will you do with them, great king?" Jael asked stiffly watching as the lights danced merrily out of the locket one after another at dizzying speed and raced to the hand Cern had outstretched. I lost count around 30 and decided it was best not to think about it.

In response the god closed his hand around the gathered light and I watched as they blinked out as if they had never been at all. This made the Fae go still and he fought to keep from barring his shark-like teeth again. Then after a moment to steady himself, he looked at me and titled his head.

"And what of the Law?" he asked slowly, "What becomes of the girl?"

Something in the way he asked let me know that I'd better hope I wasn't kept here. Cern spared me a distasteful glance, then narrowed his eyes at his subject.

"She is mine and remains mine. As such, I give her freedom to leave this wood."

"And..um," I cleared my throat, "When exactly can I do that?"

His eyes, now slits of fury that made me cringe back, slid to me in warning. "When I have finished with you."

"Oh?" I squeaked, feeling a cold slice of fear shoot to my gut.

"Do not think that as my consort you are free to defy me, Mira. You will pay for this, just as he will."

"Wait." I said with a nervous laugh, "Define pay."

Jael laughed at that, but the sound faded as Cern continued to glare at me. The forest began to wave around us. It warped and changed out of the corner of my eyes and when next I looked down I found myself on a glossy black marble floor. There were flecks of gold in the marble that caught the flickering light of the torches along the dark stone walls around me and sent shimmering bits of light out into the gloom.

Beautiful though it was, and as curious as I was at how I had found myself in this place, I was more concerned with the god and the way he had not looked away from me. I snuck a peek up at him, only to feel a pang of startlingly strong fear at the sight of his expression, and returned my eyes to the floor. When I cleared my throat and moved to stand the invisible hands from before returned to slam me roughly back into place.

"You will remain on your knees." The god said in a voice like a frosted blade.

"Sure." I said, swallowing hard, "Not a problem."

As the silence stretched on, I grew restless and licked my lips nervously, trying to look at him through my hair. The god moved then, slowly across the room toward me, the sound of his boots on the marble like the drumming at an execution. As he moved closer, I drew into myself. The incredible feeling the wine and smoke had given me was not gone, and I felt my head still swimming though the serenity and fearlessness had now vanished. How could I face him when I was this intoxicated and high?

"Cern," I began questioningly, but he cut me off with a growl like an animal.

"Not another word girl, or I will remove your ability to speak completely."

Shutting up now. I thought with a gulp.

Then, without warning, the god grabbed the front of my dress and hauled me up to my feet by it. I made a short startled noise, but didn't dare object as he dangled me in the air, absinthe colored eyes swirling furiously.

"Why?" he asked, "Why at every turn must you defy me? Why can you not trust that I do everything in your best interest? At the very least, trust that if I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so."

"Are you going to hurt me now?" I asked before I could stop myself and Cern bared his teeth, then dropped me.

I hit the ground hard enough to force the air from my lungs, but wasn't down long enough to steady myself again. While I gasped frantically for air, Cern's hand tangled in my hair and he began striding purposefully toward something I couldn't see, dragging me along behind him.

"Wait!" I cried, forgetting his warning for fear, "Please, Cernunnos, I'm sorry! I know I fucked up, I did but-"

He jerked me up by my hair roughly and forced back my head, and then with a startling flash of pain, he slapped me with the back of his free hand. For a long moment I could only stare at him in utter shock as he held me firmly in place.

"I have warned you about your tongue, human. Should I rip it from your head to make my point?"

Quickly, I shook my head no, eyes still wide from shock. He'd really just slapped me. Hard! Over cursing! Suddenly this was all very real. What was he planning to do with me? Would he hurt me as he had before with the arrow?

Was he really that angry with me?

After a moment to make sure he was understood, the god began to drag me down the seemingly endless stone hall again. The farther we walked the dimmer the light around us became until finally he came to an abrupt stop at a dark wooden door. I recognized it with a start as the door from my dream, when Cern had tricked me into letting him into my head. I didn't have much time to admire it though because with a jerk, he thrust it open and tossed me inside. Again I found myself falling against unforgiving marble and wondered if I would be covered in bruises in the morning.

If you make it till morning.

Frantically I flipped over and scrambled backwards away from him on my hands and heels, catching myself on the long cloth of my dress and falling here and there. Cern watched this impassively, but followed my clumsy retreat at a slow, deliberate pace.

We were in a bedroom it seemed, but one from an era before my time. I ducked behind a large leather armchair near the stone fireplace and took the chance to look around quickly. The ceilings were high and vaulted, decorated with gold leafing that passed like veins down to the walls. These were made of dark stone and flecked with quartz that flashed when it caught the light. Where I was currently cowering seemed to be the small common area, with a dark fur rug, too big for me to recognize the animal, and two high-backed leather chairs sitting before a fire that roared to life when Cern neared it.

The focus of the room however, was on the great canopied bed against the back wall. It was carved from a rich cherry wood, the banisters looking like staffs with great snakes winding their way up them. Dark red silks and sheer golden materials draped down around the bed at different lengths. There was a large opening however at the foot of the bed and it was held open by the two snakes, each gripping the materials with its curved wooden fangs.

I snapped back to attention when the chair I'd been ducking behind was tossed to the side with a thunderous crash and cried out, scrambling away as the wood exploded far too close to me. I'd made it behind the second chair when Cern roared.

"Enough." He commanded and that chair went hurtling off to the side like its companion. "Do not be childish."

"Childish?" I exclaimed angrily, "You're treating me like…" but my words trailed off when he stepped forward and his hand closed around my throat, dragging me roughly toward him.

"Tell me, are you frightened?" he asked searching my eyes intently. I nodded and he sneered, "Good. You should be afraid. You should be terrified little human."

I only whimpered in response and he gave me a look of disgust before shoving me away.

"What was I thinking, keeping you alive? I should have left you to die in that forest and avoided this bedlam all together."

My eyes narrowed at that, and with the help of the inebriants, I stood strait to face him. "How dare you!" I cried and the god, shocked that I dared yell at him at all, turned to stare at me frigidly.

"Should have let me die, huh? Well I never asked you to help me in the first place! I never asked for any of this, any of this horrible…whatever I'm living right now if it isn't a nightmare. I didn't ask to watch my family get slaughtered or my friends, and I certainly didn't ask to be bound to the man who did it." I closed my fists, bubbling over with rage so quickly it was disorienting and my head was starting to spin again.

"I never wanted to be taken in as your little pet either, Cernunnos. And I damn sure never wanted to lose my soul! I don't care how 'good for me' it was."

"Careful, Mira," Cern said in a voice like the angry churning of the sea, "I have already lost my patience for you. I will not abide your insolence."

"Oh?" I laughed incredulously, "You won't abide it?" I repeated. "Are you kidding me? I am not your pet, Cern! I am not a toy or some thing you can bat around like a damn mouse!"

This time when he advanced I felt my stomach drop and the beginnings of nausea. His expression had fallen to something dark and when I turned to run I felt his fingers in my hair, I screamed. The sound echoed around the huge open room like it was taunting me, until it faded off into the high ceiling. He shoved me, face first, against the stone wall beside the fireplace, then held me there, wrenching my head back and to the side so that he could find my eyes when he spoke.

"But that is exactly what you are, Mira." He hissed, "A plaything, because you have no power to stop anyone who wishes to make you so."

I pushed at the wall in an attempt to get away, but he only shoved me back against the stone, ignoring my groan of pain.

"There is so much I could do to you, little human, so much I would have in the past for the smallest of slights against me. I give you clemency now, only to have you insult me again and again."

"Oh yeah?" I said raggedly, struggling against him, though he put hardly any effort into keeping me pinned. "Are you gunna punish me now?"

"I could burn you alive from the inside out, just by willing it so," he said and it made me tremble, "Or reach into your chest and pry open your ribcage to make stew of your entrails. You are so very weak, Mira, it is a wonder your kind manage to survive at all, but I suppose that is what every parasite is best at."

I cried out in indignation, but he released my hair to grab my arm and twist it up behind my back until I whimpered for the pain of it and settled down again.

"Now tell me," he said slowly, "What should I do with you? What would you do to an ungrateful creature, like yourself, in my place?"

"I'd start by releasing her arm." He bent it up farther and pain flashed up my arm, "Or!…Or I'd tell her what she can do to make it up to you."

"Would you so easily overlook betrayal?"

I paused again to think about that a moment until a realization hit me and I gave a pitiful sort of almost-laugh.

"Wait, did I… did I hurt your feelings?" I asked, incredulous, "Are you serious? Is this because I kissed Jael?"

His eyes narrowed a fraction, "Do not flatter yourself, Mira. Your promiscuity is not the issue."

"I think it is." I said, shaking my head as best I could from my position and ignoring the fact that he'd just calmly called me a whore. "As bad as you treat me Cern, you still want me. I bet it just infuriates you that I haven't thrown myself on you yet. Is that something you're used to?"

"This temple was built with the specific purpose of housing the men and women I was offered as tribute. In this room there has not been a single soul who did not 'throw themselves on me', as you put it."

"So this is a first for you?" I asked, "Not being wanted?"

"You dare to insult me now?" he asked very slowly, taken aback by my defiance. "Do you truly believe that if I desired you I would not take you?"

"Not if I don't want you to, you won't, or are you threatening to rape me as well as grind my bones for bread?"

He glanced up at the ceiling a moment, fists clenching as if he were trying not to strangle me, then he shook his head.

"I do not need to rape you Mira. Your body is mine when I ask for it." He paused, titling his head and my angry retort became a cry of pain as the flesh of my thigh split open where his arrow had pierced me before. "Unless you wish to retract our bargain?"

I gasped for breath when the wound began to deepen, tearing through my thigh to recreate itself.

"N-no!" I managed to say and squeezed my eyes closed.

"Look at me." He ordered harshly and I did, cringing away from the frightening gleam in his eyes. It slowly melted to something cold as he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the wall. The wound closed itself with one last flash of pain.

"I lied to you before," he said slowly, "when I promised to stay out of your mind. It can be so hard to understand you." Then he smiled, ever so slightly, though the expression was not kind, "For instance, I know where you were this evening. I know what you saw." He moved behind me, taking hold of my wrists, "I know that it frightened you, but I felt your excitement as well. Tell me, Mira, is it cruelty that wins you? Is that why you cling so tightly to your vampire?"

"I don't…Isaac seduced me! He pretended to be kind and-"

Cern chuckled against my hair, gathering my wrists into one hand and holding me close. He was so unbelievably warm that it had my head spinning again and I slumped against him, thankful that he was holding me up.

"And yet even after such treachery you still find yourself wanting him." Cern finished for me, "Silly, reckless thing. He has you wrapped around his finger."

"No." I shook my head, trying to focus on something other than the feel of him behind me. After this stupid drunkenness wore off I was swearing off alcohol. It seemed to make me…well…randy.

"There is no use lying, child, I know why you called to me. You are afraid that your feelings for him in the past have not fully disappeared." His hold became a touch lighter, "But you shouldn't fret, it is only natural for one who you loved so completely."

"I never..NO!" I cried, struggling out of his grip, though I knew he'd simply let me go. "I don't love Isaac, I didn't before, I just…" but his expression said he didn't believe me so I trailed off again. After it became obvious that he wasn't going to save me from the oppressive silence, I wiped away a stray tear and took a steadying breath.

"So? Let's get this over with." I said, to which he only tilted his head in curiosity. "Aren't you going to burn me alive or eat my…whatever?"

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes Cern." I said sarcastically. "I love being tortured. It's my favorite thing."

"Sometimes I wonder." He replied, almost to himself.

I growled in frustration and pulled at my hair, watching tiny splinters of wood fall from it and clatter to the floor. "Stop it, okay? I don't want to talk about my feelings for Isaac or you. I don't…I don't want to talk at all. So just hurry up and do whatever you want to me. Beat me or whatever; just get out your frustration so I can go home."

"Home to your vampire." He finished and I wanted to scream.

"No you son of a…Just no."

He chuckled, moving slowly around me. I watched, ready to flee if I needed to, not that I had much hope of getting away. I didn't even know where I was.

"There are other ways." He spoke softly as he circled me.

"To do what?" I asked, fists clenched at my sides.

"To relieve frustration."

To that I gave humorless laugh and rolled my eyes. "Oh, I'm sure."

"You scoff, but it is the truth."

"And what makes you think that after the night I've had I'd even consider it?"

Cern shrugged, stopping behind me. His fingers feathered up my arm, tracing the line of my collarbone as he spoke. "Because you need it." He said as if that were any kind of answer, but he continued before I could tell him as much. "Because if you carry on the way you have, it will kill you."

"What, not having sex with everyone I meet?"

"No, Mira, holding on to all your anger and grief as if it will protect you." His fingers brushed my throat, while his other hand slipped around my waist to pull me back against him. As always the odd warmth of his body enveloped me, turning my thoughts sluggish and making my body relax despite itself.

"You wear your anguish like a shield, little one, refusing to let it go even when the weight is unbearable. Aren't you exhausted?"

"Yes." The word just sort of slipped out, and I closed my eyes, leaning back against him. Letting him support me.

"Perhaps then, for just one night, you could let it go." He murmured, and his warm breath stirred my hair, sending tremors down my spine.

Gods, I was tired of difficult decisions. In fact, I was tired of making everything so difficult on myself. And he was right, the bastard, I did make myself miserable. Between my constant attempts at hating Isaac and everything he stood for, and my inability to accept what my life had become, I was exhausted. I was tired of fighting the things I could never change. On the other hand, I wasn't stupid.

I turned in his arms and he shifted to accommodate this new position, watching me closely. "So, you're telling me that sleeping with you is a magic cure-all for pain? What, does your penis shoot Xanax?"

The brief flash of confusion in his expression was enough to make me smile, but it faded as he spoke again.

"No. I am not the cure for your pain." He replied slowly, reaching up to brush the hair from my face, "But I am an attentive lover." I blushed at that and tried to pull away, but he held me firmly in place, holding my eyes.

"I offer only a distraction, Mira. A place to go to forget, if only for an hour or two." I turned away, but the god took my face, gently pulling me back. "And a promise."

"Being?" I asked softly, aware of the pressure at the backs of my eyes that warned of tears.

"In this room, you will never be a plaything. You will never be my pet nor the means to entertainment. You may be as strong or weak as you desire." He looked deep into me, urging me to understand what he offered, "In this room, you are the master if you so choose. You need never be helpless again."

Warm tears slipped down my cheeks as the room fell back into silence and I gazed up at him. Part of me was convinced this all had to be a lie. That he wanted something, namely my body, and only sought to twist that fact with pretty words, but I'd been watching him too. I'd seen the genuine emotion in his eyes. And he was right, I needed something, or I wouldn't make it much longer. If it wasn't this, at least I could say that I tried.

"I don't want to be the master of anything." I said, letting my eyes close and resting my forehead against his chest.

"What do you want?" he asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice. He held me out to find my eyes again, titling his head in that infuriatingly endearing way he always did.

"I have no idea." I breathed truthfully. My hand found the soft leather of his vest and I sighed, tracing the lines etched into the tanned flesh over his abdomen. "But if you have any suggestions…"

"A few." He smiled devilishly, hand slipping around the back of my neck and pulling me suddenly forward for a kiss.

I resisted at first, nearly pulling away from him, but I managed to steel myself. And after a moment or two, when the taste of apricots was on my tongue, I didn't have to fight at all. The first night we had met came flooding back in flashes and feelings. The way he'd kissed me then, the way his touch had seemed an electric extension of myself, I wanted that again.

As the god pulled me flush against his body, I found myself nipping at his lip. This caused him to growl deep in his chest and suddenly he shoved me backward. It wasn't hard, but it was enough that I yelped, reaching out to catch myself before I fell, but…I wasn't falling. In fact, though we'd been well across the room, I landed on the surprisingly soft mattress of his great bed. Cernunnos stood at the foot of it, with a smile that rivaled the devil's in wickedness. Then, as I propped myself up on my elbows, he moved forward, crawling onto the mattress and up my body like some sort of predator. I trembled at the thought, feeling the first nagging doubts as he sank down over me and kissed a slow trail along the column of my throat.

"Do you actually sleep in the bed, or is it just for…uh this?"

"I do not sleep." He said simply, continuing his trail between my breast and down my abdomen. My breath hitched and I knotted the silky comforter in my fist.

"Never?" I asked, breathily, "but I thought you-"

Cern paused, pushing himself up so that he could search my expression.

"You're nervous." He said, frowning ever so slightly.

With an anxious chuckle, I nodded. "It's ah…been a while."

"And this worries you?" he asked, noting the fist I still had knotted in the sheets.

"Well, yes actually." He was tracing the line of my pearlescent bodice, and bent down to place a kiss above it.

"You feel you will disappoint me." I couldn't look at him now for embarrassment, but I nodded.

"You're a GOD, Cernunnos. I have no doubt you can blown my mind, but I'm just-" He cut me off with a passionate kiss, pulling away only when I was too breathless to speak.

"Do you find excuses to worry in every situation?" he chuckled, then gently urged me back against the mattress, trailing his finger down the column of my throat and lihting up the places he'd kissed me like firecrackers, "This night is for your pleasure, Mira, do not even take mine into consideration."

"Isn't that a little…odd? I mean most guys wouldn't exactly-"

"Most guys," he said over me, "have not learned to appreciate the thrill that comes with giving pleasure." He arched a brow, "I take it you have only bedded selfish lovers in the past."

"There was just the one," I said evenly, "And, yeah, you could say he was selfish. You could also say he was a callous pig who…what are you doing?"

Cern had busied himself with exploring my body as I spoke, but now it seemed he was ready to move beyond the clothes. He touched his forefinger to the tip of my dress and drew it down, but as he did so, warmth radiated out of it. The pearlescent glass trembled a moment before splitting with the path of his finger and curling away from itself like the burning edges of paper.

"This boy," he said, as if this were the standard way to undress your lover, "Is he to blame for your aversion to sex?"

I watched as the dress curled apart, exposing a strip of pale flesh from my breasts, down below my navel, and tried to remember what he'd just asked me. Though it didn't seem to matter. He'd moved to kiss my chest, softly, watching me as he did so, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. Then again, a fraction lower, and then again. Each kiss was slow and deliberate, leaving in its wake a heat that pulsed down to my core.

"I ah…" he kissed my ribs, then just below my navel, "he..um…that's very distracting."

"Is it?" he asked innocently, kissing my hip and biting it just hard enough to make me hiss in a breath.

"Mm-hmm." I replied, biting down on my lower lip.

The skirt of my dress was not solid, it had been formed of dozens of ribbons of glass and so when the god brushed his fingers across the covering, it shriveled and burned away quicker than the bodice. I sucked in a breath, feeling exposed and more than a little nervous.

"Why am I the only one not wearing clothes?" I asked after letting him explore the flesh of my thigh with his fingers. Cern paused, glancing up at me a moment before he laughed, pushing himself up on the mattress. Then, like wisps of smoke, his leather vest curled and dissipated off his body.

It took me a long moment to snap out of my open stare, and once I had it was harder to keep myself focused. I'd never seen Cern in anything but full dress, and sure I'd seen a naked chest before, but never one so flawlessly crafted that wasn't on the glossy page of a magazine. I'd never had one right in front of me, with the permission to touch what I pleased.

"Better?" he asked, knowing the answer by the tiny smile that was infecting my lips. I nodded, reaching out to flatten my palm against his abdomen, just to know it was real. To prove to myself that this wasn't a dream, and he wouldn't vanish as his vest had. Excitement, stronger than before filled me, and I reached up to the back of his neck, pulling him down to kiss him with everything I could muster.

He chuckled against my mouth, running his hands along my body, leaving sparks of pleasant electricity behind him and then he was kissing another trail down my torso. Lower and lower, hooking my knee over his shoulder, flashing me a wicked smile, tipped by teeth sharper than they'd been before. His eyes flashed a moment before his head dipped down and mine fell back against the mattress.

"Oh…wow," was all I could manage as his tongue swept up between my thighs, and then I couldn't speak at all. I couldn't do anything.

But strangely, that was completely fine by me.

I know! I know! They had "THE SEX" but really guys? Go with it for now!

And for all you Isaac fans out there, who are currently melting into your seat with rage or at least mild irritation, come on now. Do you think if that boy really wants her, he'll just sit back or give up? Pfft, hell no.

NOT that I'm saying anything will happen, but if it did…it'd go H.A.M.

As for the scene itself, I had planned to write a full sex scene between the two, even had one done already, but it just didn't feel right. It wasn't about the sex, so I didn't want to focus on it, even though it was Mira's first walk into the naughty side in this story. However, when the time is right, I'll write you guys a nice, long, naughty lemon.

Deal? :D