Justin and Gabrielle in the Shadow of the Gods, Chapter Three
By Xie

Ares, the God of War, was dreaming.

It wasn’t a dream of battle, or his former days of glory. It wasn’t a dream of vengeance, or of blood.

Instead, he was standing in an unfamiliar room. The ceiling was high, and its centerpiece was a huge bed, raised up like an altar. It was lit from below, casting an eerie radiance on Ares’ naked body, and the slender, pale body of the blond boy on his hands and knees in front of him. The boy’s face was like porcelain, his lashes golden, his eyes deep oceanic blue.

Ares felt his steel-hard cock slide into the velvet tunnel of the boy’s throat. He gripped the silken hair in his fists, the corded muscles in his powerful arms straining, and fucked his face ruthlessly – and in time with the thrusts of the man kneeling on the bed behind the boy. A man with dark hair and sardonic eyes, who was gripping the boy’s hips so hard his knuckles were white. Who was thrusting into him, his face flickering with ecstasy.

The man’s eyes, though, were locked on Ares’ eyes. They didn’t close or waver, not even once. Not many men, Ares thought to himself as he felt the boy’s lips sliding up and down on his hard cock, could hold the unbroken gaze of the God of War, especially while he was also fucking what was apparently, based on the expression of bliss on his face, the tightest, sweetest ass in Pittsburgh. The man’s hips thrust slowly, deeply, into the boy, who pushed himself back onto the man’s cock every time Ares thrust forward into his mouth. The man looked at Ares, and his lips formed something halfway between a smile and a sneer.

Ares wanted to look down at the boy’s mouth, to see those full lips sliding up and down on him, but he literally couldn’t. Those hazel orbs held him a prisoner as surely as that mouth did. They bore into him, cool and hot at the same time, taunting him with his possession of the boy shuddering between them, pale skin shimmering in a haze of sweat.

Ares fought to keep his eyes open as his orgasm built, and he knew from the smirk on the man’s face that he saw Ares’ struggle. The god felt anger boil up in him with the heat inside his balls, felt his jaw tighten, the muscles in his thighs lock, his abdomen clench, as that wet throat closed around him and he overflowed inside the boy, coming and coming.

Those eyes never left him, not even when the man’s hips slammed one last time into the boy’s ass, and the two of them climaxed together, the boy’s head pulling away from Ares cock while he desperately moaned out the man’s name.

Ares fell more deeply into slumber, his uneasy dream fading away. The last thing he remembered seeing in his dream was the light in the man’s eyes as the boy moaned his name.

“Brian…."

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Brian and Justin stirred against each other in the big bed in the loft. Brian woke up, hearing his name echoing in his ears. His cock was hard and pulsing against Justin’s thigh, and before he even woke up fully, he was turning the boy in his arms, spreading his thighs with his knees, reaching for a condom and the lube.

Justin shivered under him, and turned his head, his eyes opening, scrambling to his knees under Brian. “Fuck me,” he hissed. “Fuck me, Brian.”

Brian entered him slowly, but without any preparation. He slid in easily, feeling the tightness and heat that was Justin welcoming him. He tried to hold back a little, to make it good for Justin, but the teen pushed back against him forcefully, then sat up, falling back against Brian, sinking onto his lap.

Brian threw his head back and groaned, as Justin raised and lowered himself on Brian’s cock. Brian was clutching Justin’s hips, but he moved one hand toward the boy’s cock, only to have it pushed away.

Justin was biting his lower lip and breathing rapidly, his eyes half closed, his blond hair brushing Brian’s face and throat as he wantonly fucked himself on the older man. Brian gave up trying not to come, and let himself dissolve, disintegrate into Justin. He pulled his hips down hard into him, and Justin gave a hoarse cry and started coming, shooting all over the bed and the headboard, saying Brian’s name over and over while he came.

They fell to the bed, still shuddering, neither one sure what had happened. After a long time, just before he fell asleep, Brian carefully pulled out of Justin, discarded the condom, and tugged him into his arms.

They slept without dreams.

___________________________


Gabrielle stretched luxuriously against Xena’s warmth, reveling in the feel of high count Egyptian cotton linens against her bare skin.

Xena mumbled and stuck her head under the pillow. Gabrielle pulled it away. Xena rolled over and pulled the blankets over her head.

Gabrielle laughed and got up. She was in the tub, fragrant bubbles piled high around her, singing softly to herself, when Xena stumbled in to pee. The brunette architect glared at the happy naked blonde while she peed, then unceremoniously climbed into the tub, splashing water all over the bathroom floor.

Gabrielle grinned and let Xena settle back against her, feeling the hot water and soapy bubbles making their skin slippery and soft. She hummed in her throat while she let her hands move soap suds over Xena’s thighs and breasts, the older woman’s long, dark hair floating on the surface of the water.

Xena sighed. As much as she hated excessive cheerfulness in the morning, she had to admit she was developing a taste for morning baths.

She wriggled her ass a little more firmly into Gabrielle’s crotch, and leaned her head back. “What are you doing today?”

Gabrielle let the water spill off her arms as she lifted them up, and draped them over Xena’s shoulders. Her finger tips brushed Xena’s nipples, peeking out just above the surface of the foamy water. “Justin’s taking me to that martial arts studio that might be hiring a woman fighting instructor.”

Xena snorted, and Gabrielle gave a sharp tug to her hair. “Hey! I’m an Amazon, remember? Do you think I can’t teach soft modern women how to protect themselves?”

“Well,” Xena said, pulling Gabrielle’s hands to her breasts and arching into them, “If you can teach Justin, I guess soft modern women are no challenge.”

Gabrielle took a sharp bite out of Xena’s neck.

“Hey! That hurt!” Xena turned around, slopping even more water out of the tub, and knelt between Gabrielle’s legs. “What did you do that for?’

“That was mean. Justin’s gotten a lot stronger. After all he went through, he’s entitled to some understanding.”

“Fuck, between you and Brian, I’m surprised that boy’s feet ever even touch the ground.” The tall woman stayed kneeling between Gabrielle’s legs, and she smiled at the younger woman. “I prefer the kind of blonde who can take care of herself.”

Gabrielle smiled at her sunnily. “That’s good. Because that’s the kind of blonde you’ve got.” And she let her legs kick out, sliding under Xena’s and sending the taller woman sprawling across her in the tub. Gabrielle grabbed the sides of Xena’s face and kissed her, hard.

Xena flipped over in the water, pulling Gabrielle on top of her as she turned. Their lips never broke apart, not even when Xena’s hand stroked through the softness between Gabrielle’s legs.

Gabrielle strained against Xena’s hand, and smiled up at her. She really, she thought, liked baths. A lot.
__________________________

Alti looked coolly at Ares across the table. The heavy drapes were drawn over the tall windows, giving the room the darkness of night even in the middle of the day. A candle guttered on the table.

“What will you do with the boy?” She didn’t really care what happened to him, but human disappearances could get messy. And this was the same boy who’d caused so much trouble with Callisto, damn that double-crossing psychotic bitch.

Ares smiled. “I have plans for him.” His meaning was unmistakable.

Alti shook her head. “I always thought you liked your blondes female.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “And your brunettes and redheads, too.”

The god shrugged. “In my experience, too much focus on the specific equipment can detract from the impact of the total package.”

Alti gave a hoarse laugh. “That boy is trouble. I sense it. Stay away from him.”

The godlike figure of Ares stood up, towering over Alti. She saw the glow of his powers around him, and mercilessly forced herself to see only the present. The glow dissipated instantly. Without speaking, he turned and left the room.

As he went down the stairs, he amused himself by thinking about the things he’d do to Alti when he had his powers back. Although in his experience, even gods could get into trouble tangling with shamanesses, with their mystical mumbo-jumbo. So instead, he decided to amuse himself with imagining the games he’d play with Justin and Gabrielle when he had them.

And have them he would. Soon.

Ares entered the ground floor of the warehouse building. It had been seemingly converted to a martial arts studio, with a judicious use of Alti’s shamanic magic and as little actual carpentry as they could get away with. Ares stood at the tall windows, watching the street, arms folded across his chest, waiting for the two blonds to appear.

______________________

Alti gazed into the darkness beyond the candle. Her mind roamed the pathways of karma, seeking the thread that bound her destiny to Xena’s. It was that thread she intended to cut with the sword of Gabrielle’s life. In doing so, she might destroy this incarnation of Xena’s life. She might destroy her own. She would certainly restore the God of War to his godly powers, turning him loose to wreak his willful vengeance on these times.

But when she came back, she’d be at her full powers, nearly godlike herself – in some ways, beyond the gods, because her power was born of knowledge, which was harder to strip away than magic. And Xena would no longer be destined to destroy her in each life, the two of them no longer circling forever around each other in a fated, uneasy orbit.

Free, Alti thought. Free. And if that freedom was bought with blood, all the better.

________________________

Justin and Gabrielle turned down the street towards the address Erik had given him at Babylon. They could see it at the end of the block, a wall of windows in a remodeled brick industrial building, looking somewhat out of place in the mostly abandoned neighborhood.

Most of the buildings were empty, windows boarded, fire escapes rusted and hanging. It must, Justin thought, be slated for urban renewal, like the area where Brian’s loft was.

Gabrielle felt a little uneasy, and looked around. There wasn’t anyone on the street, except for a young kid in a gray hooded shirt, his dirty hair straggling out from under the hood. She instinctively kept her eye on him as a possible threat. He was slight and young, but he walked with the confidence of a criminal in his own element. All her senses were alert.

Just then, a group of three boys materialized from an alley near the boy in the gray shirt. They surrounded him, and he backed up, clearly getting ready to run if he could, and fight back if he couldn’t. Gabrielle instinctively reached for her staff, which was back at Xena’s loft, and sprinted across the street. She shifted her weight to her left leg, and brought her right leg up and kicked one of the boys away, then twirled around and repeated the move on a second. The third boy hesitated, then ran back down the alley.

Gabrielle turned to the boy in the gray shirt, but he, too, was running down the alley. Suspicious, she was about to chase him, when she heard Justin calling her name from across the street. She spun around just in time to see him being pulled into a white vehicle, much larger than Brian or Xena’s cars, and without any windows. A dark haired man, his face a battleground of scars and gouges, walking with a limp and carrying one arm awkwardly at his side, was climbing into the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Gabrielle raced back, but she was too late. The vehicle pulled away, tires making a terrible noise, and burning tracks into the road. She stood there, alone, bewildered.

Who had taken Justin? And why? She turned and started running back towards Xena’s loft, wishing she’d taken Xena’s advice and learned to use one of those cell phones she was always clutching to her ear. At a time like this, Gabrielle thought as she ran through the street, that could come in handy.

_______________________

Ares stood in the street in front of the studio, watching Gabrielle disappear into the distance. He’d raced outside the minute the altercation had started, but at first it had seemed obvious Gabrielle, like the do-gooder irritating blonde she’d always been, was breaking up an attempted mugging.

Then the white van had screeched up, and two men had grabbed Justin and thrown him in the back, and then taken off at top speed. Not even Ares had time to stop them, not without his powers.

Who had taken Justin? Who had interfered with his plan?

Whoever it was, Ares vowed, would pay. Once he had his godly powers back, they’d pay. And pay again.

__________________________

“What the fuck do you mean, disappeared?”

Xena winced as Brian’s voice cracked against her eardrum through the phone. She held it cautiously away while she answered.

“Gabrielle said a van pulled up, two men grabbed him, and he vanished.”

Silence.

“Brian?” Xena felt a headache starting at the base of her skull. Brian was fucking high maintenance.

Then Brian spoke. “Son of a bitch. It’s his father.” The man sounded grim, but also somehow broken.

Xena cursed. “We need to call his lawyer. Call Melanie.”

“Fuck Melanie. I’m calling someone else.” And he disconnected the call.

Back at his loft, Brian punched a few numbers into his phone, and waited impatiently for an answer. He heard a smooth professional voice greet him, and he cut her off. “Bunny Happenshatz. Tell her it’s Brian Kinney and it’s an emergency.”

The voice sounded prim. “If you can tell me what this is about, I can have Ms. Happenshatz’s assistant contact you about an appointment…”

Brian’s voice was like a razor made of ice. “It’s about a teenaged boy who was kidnapped. I think she’ll take the call.”

A few minutes later, Bunny came on the line. “Brian? I thought Justin was safe with you, what’s going on? Don’t tell me you’ve found another teenager?”

God, as if one wasn’t enough trouble. “Justin was declared an emancipated minor this week, and his father fought it, wanted him put in one of those gay conversion centers in Arizona. I think he just snatched him off the street.”

Bunny sighed. “Come in. I’ll see what we can do. But this time, Brian? Larry King. No excuses like you had with the Stockwell thing.”

Brian agreed, and hung up the phone, wishing he’d ripped Craig’s throat out when he’d had the chance. He left the loft, running down the stairs, trying not to think of Justin, held prisoner by a bunch of fanatical right wing Christians, electrodes attached to his beautiful dick.

Come to think of it, he thought as he started the Corvette, ripping out Craig’s throat was too good for him. He was going to cut off his dick and stuff it down his throat.

After they found Justin. He refused to say “if,” or even think it.

Continued here...