Temple Dog: Inanna’s Hope

All characters involved in sexual activities are over 18.

I’m hoping to make this a series. Let me know if you want more.

Please vote and tell me what you think of it.

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My name is Leo. Actually, it’s Leonidas Hadi. This is the story of how I became a Temple Dog. No, it’s not derogatory, it’s an ancient title. It means I am as loyal to my goddess as a war hound.

This isn’t a quick story, and I have to begin a while before I was born, so bear with me.

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Part 1

1991-Archaeological Ruins of the City of Uruk

The young man was in the desert camouflage uniform of the U.S. Army, his name tag reading Zacharius. His attention shifted between focusing on their surroundings, the ruins being investigated, and one of the prettier students assisting the archaeologist surveying the ruins.

The surroundings were spectacular. The stark beauty of the desert, with the rich blue of the sky, hazed by dust down nearer the horizon, could easily take one’s breath away. Likewise, the ancient ruins they were at were a lasting testament to a city that was incredibly large for being around five thousand years old. Some of the structures could almost still be imagined to still be in use, except for the lack of ceilings.

Corporal Zacharius could happily explore these ruins for the rest of his life. It was impossible to look around and not imagine what daily life would be like all those centuries ago. From what he’d heard the archaeologists say, the workers, at least in the beginning of the city’s history, were paid in beer. That didn’t seem like a horrible arrangement to the young soldier, although he did wonder if the heat was as oppressive then as it was now.

He could easily imagine being a soldier in those faraway times. Training in the use of the spear and bronze sickle sword, armored only by a thin shield. Marching forth to do battle against the armies of opposing cities. The usual vivid daydreams were happening more and more often now. He could hear the cries of the officers berating young soldiers for sloppy spear work, or other drills. Hear the clatter of spears against targets, wooden training swords clashing against shields.

He sighed, coming back from the daydream to again scan the surrounding desert, making sure no elements of the Republican Guard had snuck up on them in the wide open desert. Nope. No tanks. No soldiers. No roving bands of looters come to find relics to sell on the black market. The offensive had ended a few months ago, so there was hardly any enemy military left anymore. Just lots of sand, ruins, and the dig team.

After six weeks, he knew all of them by name, and despite Dr Anderson’s initial dislike of being forced to work with “warmongering destruction happy myrmidons”, most everyone else actually came to like the squad that had been assigned for security, though if the truth were told, the corporal didn’t mind being called a myrmidon. They had been some badasses, according to the Iliad.

Unlike what had happened at ruins of the city of Ur, these soldiers actually seemed to respect the ruins, and would not debase or vandalize them with graffiti. Eventually, one of the students snapped at Dr. Anderson for his disrespect and demanded an apology, to which the old scholar blushed and actually DID apologize. Just because he was the dig’s lead didn’t mean he had to be a miserable son of a bitch.

The one who snapped was Akilah Hadi, the same student the corporal had been stealing gazes at for some weeks now. Born to Iraqi immigrants in Illinois, she grew up in Chicago, where her father had worked at the Oriental Institute of the university there as an archaeological processor, and her mother was a nurse. She had dark skin, like cinnamon, luxurious black hair, and a tight body the young corporal couldn’t get out of his mind. Her family was…not Muslim, so they had immigrated to the U.S. to avoid the stigma from their neighbors once it became known publicly, according to what she had said in response during a conversation with the corporal her second week at the site.

She was 21 years old, stood 5’7, her weight around 130lbs. Her piercing jade green eyes seemed to look into a man’s soul. She was a 32B bust size, and had a delicious muscular bubble butt wrapped lovingly in her Khaki pants. Her arms showed a muscle tone that suggested weight training. The corporal often wondered if her legs were as toned under her pants. There was a tattoo of a dove on the left side of her neck. It looked like the doves the corporal had seen on some of the inscriptions around the ruins.

She seemed to stare furtively at Corporal Zacharius as much as he stared at her. There had been some light flirting between them, but Sergeant Jackson usually shut it down before it went longer than a couple of minutes. If the corporal wanted to continue his tutoring in the subject matter of Sumerian and Babylonian history and cuneiform, the sergeant had made it clear the relationship had better remain professional.

It frustrated Akilah. She was very interested in the corporal. While he WAS handsome, at 6′ and 175 lbs, with his closely cropped brown hair, dark tan from the desert sun, and his dreamy hazel eyes, it was another quality that held her interest. His mind. At 19 years old, he seemed sharp as a razor.

She was frustrated by the sergeant, but not deterred. And definitely not stopped from her holy duties to her Mistress. What nobody else in the camp knew, not even the corporal, was that his nightly study sessions in Sumerian culture and cuneiform also included some energetic and incredibly loud lessons in anatomy and biology. Namely HER anatomy.

The corporal seemed to soak in information like a sponge, he had picked up an amazing amount of knowledge about Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian history while standing as security for the dig site. She thought he might have an eidetic memory, but on the occasions she was able to ask, he would blush and say that it was just really good, not photographic.

He was embarrassed to admit that he had sharpened his memory by reading and rereading role playing books until he could recall almost everything in them. It got to the point that he only had to read a book or hear a fact once, and he remembered almost all of it. If he wrote it down, it was there for good.

Corporal Jeffrey Zacharius, Jeff to his friends, Woody to his squad, loved all information. He lived to learn, and read whatever he could get his hands on, except for women’s mush books, as he jokingly referred to his mother’s preferred reading. He’d joined the Army for the GI bill to help with college, and had been taking courses on his own time before being sent across the world to Iraq.

His squad name was Woody because whenever he got into combat, for some reason, he sprouted an erection. They had laughed about it, but they had also admitted it was a bit intimidating for the guy you were fighting to be so happy about it that he was sporting wood.

The lovely young Ms. Hadi had offered to teach him about her own area of study. Every night he didn’t have duty, he visited her tent to continue learning. He loved his study sessions with the gorgeous woman, and wished he could study her body in addition to the tablets and artifacts she had been using to teach him.

Unbeknownst to Jeff, he had studied her body. In great detail. As was the almost nightly occurrence, as he soaked in the information she offered, he unwittingly also soaked in the pheromones she was releasing. As his arousal was piqued, he started to generate energy that modern science hadn’t thought to even question the existence of. As it was generated, it was pooled into the local web of sexual energy, adding to it and mixing with it.

Akilah took some of this energy, siphoned it, and molded it. She released it, creating a barrier that would not allow any soundwaves to propagate beyond the edge of her tent, and would make any person intent on entering the tent walk past, forgetting what they were there for. Then, she focused a bit more into Jeff, making an alteration to his brain that would not let any memories from this point until she was done form in his brain. They formed, but when she ended the effect, they would not be stored in his brain. They went to her Mistress.

For what purpose, she did not ask. She served the Mistress. Her commands were to be followed, not questioned.

She didn’t make him forget, she just didn’t allow the memory to take hold. She had done this most nights for the past five weeks. She was truly enjoying her study sessions with the young soldier, but wished she could allow him the memories, too.

She wished she didn’t have to keep their trysts secret, but her Mistress ordered it, so it was done. She knew why it was done, but she also knew the Mistress had not told her everything.

It was a shame. She was realizing she loved Jeff. Truly. Deeply. In addition to being smart, a great conversationalist, and in wonderful shape, he was an attentive lover who derived more pleasure from her orgasms than his own. It didn’t hurt that he was impressively girthy, too.

She smiled as she started the tryst in the usual way. She increased the rate of pheromone production, which smelled heavily of cinnamon, feeling his libido awakening and noticing the bulge forming in his uniform pants.

“Jeff, is it me, or is it getting even hotter in here?” She asked, unbuttoning the top 3 buttons of her blouse.

“No ma’am, it is definitely not just you,” he replied, removing his blouse to reveal his t-shirt tightly fitted over his broad, muscular chest, and making his way to the cooler at the side of the tent. He withdrew 2 bottles of water that had been chilling in ice for an hour, passing one to Akilah.

She leaned forward over the paper covered table to grab the water, making sure her blouse opened, letting him have a glimpse of her cleavage and the jade green bra beneath the blouse. She took the cold bottle of water, and stood back up while pretending not to notice as the corporal attempted to not be obvious about staring at her breasts. She began to press the bottle into her neck, and rolled it around to the other side, before placing it at the top of her chest just below the open collar of her blouse.

The coldness of the bottle made her already hardening nipples into glass cutters, poking prominently through the light blouse, making it plainly obvious she had removed her bra before the night’s lesson. Turned on as he was, with every night being his first night with her, she adored his blush at the flagrant display of her stiffened nipples, the reaction the same every time.

As cruel as it was to keep him from having these memories, the beauty of his repeated first discovery of her was a memory she would always cherish. It wasn’t always the same, but it was always wonderful, beautiful.

Caught staring at her nipples, hardon raging inside his pants, he blushed and shrugged, muttering “hey, sorry, they ARE kinda right there!”

She smiled seductively at him, as she reached up and finished unbuttoning her blouse, and let it fall to the table, as Jeff leaned in to meet her upraised face and the two kissed the first kiss, mouths opening and tongues lashing in passion.

Jeff’s hands reached up and he took her breasts in his hands, kneading and squeezing them before rolling her nipples between his fingers. She gasped, as he always had a magic touch that turned her nipples into beacons that radiated orgasmic bliss straight through her body, felt all the way down to her loins. He was the only man who had ever made her come just by playing with her nipples, and he did the same tonight.

After her tremors passed, she pushed him back, and made him lift his arms so she could tear the shirt from his chest, drinking in his perfect pecs, his toned abs, his delicious nipples. She leaned in and bit his left nipple while his hands roamed her back, exploring. One hand came up to hold the back of her head, the other down to squeeze her toned ass through her khakis, as his engorged manhood ground against her own groin through their pants, both gasping in pheremonally enhanced arousal.

After a few minutes that felt more like hours of their kissing and nipple play, Jeff pulled back and unbuttoned her khakis, pulling them down to expose the jade green satin panties she always wore for their encounters (it was breathable cotton or bust while working). He gazed in wonder at her body, able to see her almost naked body for yet another first time.

“You’re perfect!” He gasped, as he always did, kissing her neck, trailing a line of alternating nibbles and kisses to her breasts, pulling a nipple into his mouth while rolling the breast in his hand, the other hand trailing back to between her cheeks, fingers wrapping between her legs to cup her mound from behind, the satin soaked through with her arousal.

After devouring her tits for several minutes, and rubbing her to orgasm twice through her panties, he picked her up and sat her on the table, placing his head between her thighs. Admiring the contrast between her dark skin and the jade of the panties, he pulled the soaked gusset aside with one hand, and pulled her lips apart with the other. He admired her perfect folds, drinking in the sight and smell of her. She smelled of musk and cinnamon.

Her smell, laden with even more pheromones, drove wild with passion. He thrust his tongue into her, attempting to drink as much of her cinnamon nectar as he could get, lapping and pushing against the sides of her tunnel. His hand released her folds, and his fingers crept up to rub deep circles around and over her hood, massaging the clit inside.

Akilah’s breathing grew faster and faster, as she reached down and grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled him into her dripping cunt. He pulled his tongue from her opening and pulled her hood back to reveal her engorged little button. Her clit was short but fat, and he quickly strummed it with his tongue before sucking it into his mouth and gently applying pressure with his teeth while his tongue continued it’s dance against it.

As he pushed 2 fingers into her, and started to gently tap and rub her g spot, she wailed in release and more of her lust laced dew flowed into his waiting mouth. He held on to her, and kept licking and fingering through two more screaming climaxes before pushing him back, and grinning lustily as she saw his face covered in her cum. She pulled him up to her, into a tongue twisting kiss, tasting herself on him.

Her hands drifted slowly down his chest, stopping to palm his pecs, run her fingers over his hand, around to his well defined back, and down to his belt buckle. With a sense of urgency, she got it loose, unbuttoned his pants, and pulled them and his underwear down, freeing his turgid cock. He was on the higher end of average in length, but in thickness, he was much higher than average.

She rubbed the head with her fingers, smearing his sweet precum over the upper half of him, and rubbing him against her face, enjoying his musk. She could feel his arousal enhanced rapid heart beat through his shaft, the head pulsing against her cheek as she wound her hand up and down in circular motions. It had Jeff thrusting upward through her hand.

She looked up at him as she lovingly placed sloppy tongue kisses from his head down to the base, and then gave his ball the same treatment. Once his entire shaft was slick with her treatment, she took his head into her mouth, swirling her tongue about and tickling the bottom of his head ever so gently. She did this until she heard his first moan, then she took him as far back into her mouth as she could, bobbing her head up and down the shaft, her hand jacking what wasn’t in her mouth.

Knowing she had already conceived his heir, she could finish him in her mouth, which she pursues with relish. She loved his cock with her mouth and hands, working it in her mouth all the way back to her throat, just before her gag reflex kicked in, then back almost all the way out to play with the head.

Jeff lasted through almost 10 minutes of this treatment, his hands stroking her face and feeling down to her ass as she worked him, until he grunted out “Akilah, I’m going to cum!”

“MmmmHmmm!” She mumbled around his shaft, her eyes bright and smiling up at him, once he started to burst, she pulled him out and left his head on her tongue, so that he could see his sperm shooting into her mouth.The sight always turned him on, and seemed to make him shoot one or two extra spurts. She savored his flavor before swallowing his load with a shudder of pleasure.

He pulled her back up into a kiss, not caring about his own taste in her mouth, and his rod was still rock hard, as she knew he would be. That wasn’t from the pheromones or her abilities. It seemed Jeff never lost his hardness from a blowjob. That was just part of who he was as a lover, and she enjoyed that with a giddiness that few who truly knew her would expect.

“Akilah, you are incredible!” He told her, again mauling her breasts before picking her up by the waist and depositing her onto the blankets and pillows she had on the ground. Her cot was too small for this.

Kissing her while stroking her jawline and her gorgeous raven hair, as he pressed his cock towards her opening. She reached down and took hold of him and guided him to her moistened lips. He took himself by the base and rubbed his head up and down her slit, arousal having her lips opened and ready for his entrance.

This was a game he played often. He would rub his head around her entrance, slap it against her clit, just start to enter and then pull out. All of it heightened her own arousal, had her hips bucking up, trying to make him enter her. Every time she did, he pulled back, and would play with her nipples, bite at the juncture of her shoulder and neck, then push back and renew his assault. The anticipation became so great, when he next pushed his head into her clit, she moaned an orgasm and buried her head into his chest.

As she rode the climax, he pushed in, one long, slow thrust until he was fully sheathed in her perfect tunnel. He would push in, circle his hips and stretch her and touch parts of her that normally weren’t touched. He started to thrust fast, then slowed down, then would push slow and deep. Change to fast, shallow strokes. All of it drove her crazy, and edged both of them. It wasn’t about release, it was about the joy of experiencing each other. The peaks and valleys.

Their hands explored every inch of each other while they were joined, the effects of the pheromones heightened sensations until their entire bodies were erogenous zones. A stroke of his fingers on her arms caused her to gasp. A featherlight touch to his chest made his cock jump inside her.

She pushed him off of her, then got on her hands and knees, spreading her knees and beckoning him to take her with the lurid display of her exposed glistening cunt and darkened ass. He pushed in and quickly sank to his base inside of her, then started to quickly hammer her from behind.

Cries of “fuck! Oh! Oh! Uh huh! Fuck me! Fuck me! Please pound me!” Urged him to greater depths and speeds, as they both dripped with sweat and fluids, gasping for air.

Akilah felt the spasms coming, and welcomed the waves of ecstasy as she again climaxed on his engorged cock. Her nectar flowed out and around his member, making it even more slick, as he increased his pace to her frenzied encouragement.

“Yes! Yes! Fuck me! Cum inside me! Please, please, give me your cum! Please, baby! Aaaaiiiii!” She climaxed one final time just as he thrust as deep into her as he could and yelled as he came, spilling seed and climaxing like never before.

Spent and exhausted, they collapsed onto the blankets and just held each other, nuzzling and cuddling and kissing as long as they could.

“Akilah. That was amazing. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you, nor how long. I’ve dreamed of this moment for weeks. Thank you.” Jeff said earnestly.

“We have to get dressed. Your sergeant will be less than pleased if he catches you with one of your civilian charges. Come on, soldier boy!” She kissed him one last time.

“Will we be able to do this again? I’d really like to be able to keep seeing you.” He said, enamored with the vision of beauty he had just spent himself in.

She had tears in her eyes as she looked at him. She had never felt so torn following her Lady’s commands. She knew what was coming, what was in store for this brave soldier, and she dearly wished it could be different. She wished they could escape somewhere, and be a normal family, but that could never happen.

“Jeff, I wish it could be so, but you won’t even remember this in a moment,” she said with anguish in her voice.

Jeff barely had enough time to get out a “what?” before the effect she had put into place earlier took the memories of the encounter and sent them to her Mistress. He stood there blankly while she took time to master her warring emotions.

Once she had composed herself, she brought him fully back to consciousness. He blinked several times, before coming back to full awareness.

“Ok, thanks again for the lessons, Ms Hadi! I think I’m really starting to pick this up! I think when my enlistment is up, I’ll look into studying Assyriology. This whole dig has been fascinating. Have a great night!” Jeff waved, then headed out into the camp. With no memory of what had happened for the last hour. He only remembered going over cuneiform translations.

Akilah waited for him to leave, then collapsed on her cot, and silently cried before finally succumbing to sleep.

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The dig team had made a new find that afternoon. In the temple of Inanna, a hidden door had been found. Once the door had been excavated, a stairwell descending into darkness had been discovered. Flanked by statues of large mastiff looking dogs the either side, it was intimidating, yet it beckoned to be explored.So, lantern in hand, one of the team descended the stairs which led into a huge room at least 100 feet to a side, with decorated columns and bas reliefs all over inside what was supposed to be a solid stone construction.

Statues stood watch, in remarkable untouched condition considering their age. Mastiffs and Greyhounds sat upright or stood on all four legs vigilantly. Iconography of the cult of Inanna was prominently displayed in the bas reliefs. The young archaeologist took pictures until the call that dusk was approaching came from Staff Sergeant Bugman, and it was time to head back to camp.

The team was excited and urged the staff sergeant that was in charge of security to let them explore despite the descending sun, but he was adamant that they wait until the following morning. He wanted no chances taken with the safety of the civilian team, and if someone should be injured, it would be easier to get them to medical help in the daylight. Plus, the nights here could be unnerving. Sometimes it sounded like voices whispered in the darkness of the ruins.

Despite the setback, the archaeological team was abuzz with excitement that night. Wine flowed with dinner, a special vintage said to be made following a recipe from a tablet deciphered just two years ago. Speculations and hypotheses were exchanged. Spirits were high. Laughter was audible for some distance. Plans were made for tomorrow’s exploration of the new find. One of the doctors even sang an ancient drinking song that had been found inscribed on a beer cup found in a midden.

Then the squad radio had come to life with an overlay of static that made it difficult to hear. The seriousness of the voice, however, was clearly audible.

“Base to Echo 12, base to Echo 12, respond!”

Staff sergeant Bugman, or Bug Man to the squad, due to his extreme district of anything resembling an insect, picked up the mic and responded.

“Base, this is echo 12, go ahead” he said, laconically.

“Echo 12, there is the mother of all sandstorms headed right for you. You have NO time to return to base or get to town, repeat NO TIME. You need to find a place to ride it out. You have less than 5 minutes to find shelter! Bunker down somewhere and we’ll send a relief squad in the morning in case you need any help.” The radio told us.

Bug Man paled briefly before settling his features back to calmness. Sandstorms were no laughing matter. They could be deadlier than hurricanes if the wind speeds were high enough.

“Base, Roger that. Sandstorm incoming. Will look for shelter. Will bunker down until relief comes in the morning.” He stated calmly, but the only answer was static.

All conversation had ceased. Bug Man looked around. The previous excitement of the team was replaced with nervous anxiety. Members of the squad within earshot of the radio were already grabbing gear.

“For those of you who may not have heard,” the staff sergeant said in a command voice, “we have a sandstorm approaching. We have less than 5 minutes. Grab only essential survival gear and prepare to head out. We have to find some form of shelter. Our tents are no good for this. And even though I know what you’re gonna say already, do you have any ideas, Dr Anderson?”

Dr Anderson, the leader of the dig, smiled in response.

“Yes, staff sergeant. And my recommendation is exactly what you think. Go into the temple. It has weathered countless sandstorms over thousands of years, so it should be safe enough.” The skinny, bald archaeologist replied as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

Nodding, Bug Man had everybody gathered with survival gear and weapons, and had them proceed to the temple as debris picked up by the storm was starting to zip through the area. Less than 5 minutes was an overestimate, as the storm had gathered speed and hit them in under 4.

About halfway to the temple, the metal sign denoting this was an official dig site was carried by the storm at high velocity and embedded itself into Sergeant Jackson’s head, right between the eyes, like an enormous axe blade. He dropped like a stone, dead immediately. That shocked everyone. Sandstorms don’t have velocities like that, usually no higher than 15 mph, but these winds seemed like those of a hurricane. The wind was picking up even higher.

More debris started buzzing through the air. A collapsed folding chair came out of the sand and nearly took the corporal’s head off.

“Move! Move! Move!” Bug Man shouted to be heard, doing his best to hurry everyone along, just as, like magic, the sign came out of Sergeant Jackson’s head, barely missing the medic checking for vitals and came spinning like a saw blade and took his right leg off just below the knee. Jeff stopped running when he heard Bug Man scream, turned, and ran to get him when he saw his condition. Akilah had also returned when she heard the scream.

Knowing the first priority was to get out of this damned storm, they each took an arm and lifted him up and dragged him, cursing like a sailor, to the doorway. They were just behind the squad medic, Johannes, carrying Jackson’s blood leaking body.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Bug Man yelled. It was the only way to be heard over the storm, which now sounded like the voices of thousands of damned souls.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? THIS ISN’T A SANDSTORM, IT’S A GODDAMN FUCKING SAND HURRICANE!” He continued, face pale from the blood continuing to spurt from his leg. It had been less than two minutes since he had been struck by the sign, but his talking had dropped tremendously in volume right after the last outburst.

As they neared the stairway, Jeff could hear sudden screaming, followed an instant later by mass gunfire from the squad. There was also a keening wail that shook Jeff and Akilah to their souls. He experienced a cold shudder down his spine, and failed to notice the look of righteous fury that appeared on Akilah’s features.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?” Jeff yelled to be heard over the sand, instantly alert to any threats that might approach from the rear, and worried about what the squad was experiencing below at the bottom of the stairwell.

The sounds of gunfire intensified, then slowly died down, as the screaming continued for more long seconds, terror evident in the voices, before they, too, faded.

Jeff had no clue what the situation was down below, but they had no choice. Let Bug Man bleed out in the storm, or go see what the fuck was going on inside. Inside was out of the storm. He quickly removed Bug Man’s belt and combat knife, and used them to place a tourniquet on the staff sergeant’s leg.

That was the best he could do. He needed the medic. Hell, he needed a fucking hospital. But right now, Johannes down below was the only thing they had to help. If he was alive. Those screams sounded so severe that might not be the case.

Inside it was. He needed to know what was going on, and if there was any way he could help. He fished out his flashlight and attached it to his webbing facing forward, and motioning Akilah to stay and help Bug Man, started down the ancient stairway.

As his light shone into the room on the bottom of the stairs, his stomach lurched. There were corpses everywhere. Dried and desiccated, he would have assumed they were mummified ancient remains, if they hadn’t been wearing camo and battle rattle. Brass casings surrounded almost all of the squad’s corpses.

Just beyond them were the bodies of the archaeology team, in the same condition, faces contorted into horrified screams, locked that way for all eternity.

“What the fuck?!” Jeff whispered to himself, as he scanned the light around for any sort of a target. Some part of his mind realized that “what the fuck?” was becoming his new theme, even as he scanned the shadows. The light wasn’t strong enough to pierce the darkness, but he could FEEL something nearby.

He heard a choking rasp behind him, and whirled to see Johannes, feet held a foot off the ground as…something black and impossible to clearly make out even by the flashlight’s illumination held him by the throat. Light glinted off Johannes’s combat knife as he buried it in the chest of the thing to no effect, just before it opened a horrendously distended jaw and fit the man’s entire head into it’s maw.

Jeff dumped his whole magazine into the thing. Center mass, like he was taught his entire time in the Army, but to no effect. After his mag clicked empty, he could swear he heard a slurping sound, before the creature spat out the head and dropped dessicated, mummified remains at its feet, before it looked at him. He could feel the mocking derision from the creature, before it stepped back and melted into the shadows.

An enemy. Combat loomed. As a new burst of adrenaline flooded his system, his member flooded with blood, and a feeling of euphoria settled into him. He was ready. He was eager for combat. He lusted for it. He switched mags, for all the good it would do him.

Something killed his squad. It killed their civilians. He was gonna kill it back, if it was the last thing he did.

—————–

Meanwhile, Akilah had removed Bug Man’s medkit. She hit him with a dose of painkiller and tightened the tourniquet. He had stopped bleeding, but had also stopped cursing, and was starting to go into shock. She laid him down and turned him onto his side. Without immediate medical attention, this was all she could do for the staff sergeant.

She retrieved his 9mm from it’s holster, thought for a moment, then replaced it. If this was what she thought it was, the pistol would be useless. Damn. She hated close quarters.

Sighing, she drew two black bladed karambits, and muttering a prayer in ancient Sumerian, carved a protective sigil that should protect the downed soldier from the notice of the demons she worried lurked below, then descended into the darkness to find the corporal. The Mistress was going to owe her big time.

—————-

Jeff stalked the darkness. He seriously disliked his flashlight giving his position away, but his NVGs were in his ruck, and he didn’t think he had the time to dig them out, so he made do with what was available right now.

He heard sounds in the darkness. Mocking giggles. Whispers that seemed to come from damned souls, taunting him in a language he could barely understand. It was meant to terrify him. It made him angry.

He wanted to hate fuck the skull of whatever did this. He would get payback. Whatever did that to his squad deserved a righteous justice he was more than willing to serve. If he could figure out how to kill something that ate 20 rounds of 5.56 like it was a slight breeze.

He was nearing the far wall of the room when he saw the bas relief on the wall start to glow a faint golden shimmer. Several of the cuneiform words started to glow with increasing intensity, as did the carved figure beneath them. It seemed the carved figure was expanding in size. The inscription seemed to be a spell of protection, according to his lessons from Akilah.

Several rapid heartbeats later, this was confirmed, as the figure was now the height of the entire inscription. It stretched, as though it were a living being, then…stepped out of the relief.

It was tall. At least 8 feet. It had the head, torso and arms of a man, with the sides of it’s head shaved and the hair on top pulled into a topknot between the obsidian bull’s horns that sprouted from it’s skull. It’s skin was the olive shade of the locals, and it had a goatee that grew down into a braid that hung 5 inches below it’s chin.

It had the lower legs and tail of a bull, and wore a leather harness vaguely reminiscent of his own combat harness, festooned with knives and pouches. A broad leather belt held more pouches and anchored a kilt of leather strips hanging to just above the creature’s knees. And it wielded an obsidian bladed axe, the head of which appeared to be the size of a compact car’s door. And it looked PISSED.

It turned its squinted, beady eyes toward Jeff, as a look of rage contorted it’s face. It raised it’s axe above its head as it snarled a single word.

“Rabisu!”” And the axe was thrown straight at Jeff. He felt time come to an adrenaline fueled standstill. As the axe flew towards him, three braziers along each wall of the room started to ignite, granting some light while shadows still remained in the center of the room.

Everything snapped back to normal, and Jeff dropped into a prone position and loosed a 3 round burst into the center of mass of the thing that just tried to kill him. Just as he did, the axe passed over him, and he heard a THUNK behind him.

He turned over and looked behind him to see…it was humanoid…ish. About 7 feet tall, and almost impossible to discern, even with the light from the braziers. It seemed to actively drink in the light. It’s head had a mouth and nose, but above that was bare tissue thin flesh pulled tight against an elongated skull. The mouth hung open, large enough to fully encompass a human skull, though it had no teeth. The “nose” was that of a pig. This was the thing that killed Johannes, and most likely everyone else, too.

It’s head and upper body were perfectly bisected by the huge axe that was still embedded in the corpse. It slowly fell forward onto it’s knees, then onto its side.

Jeff heard the thumping hoofbeats of the creature he had shot come up behind him. The creature looked at him like a drill sergeant inspecting the shittiest new recruit on day one of boot camp. It held it’s hand out to him, fist closed, like it had something for him.

Jeff opened his hand beneath the creature’s, and it dropped 3 deformed 5.56mm bullets into his palm, then backhanded Jeff with what felt like a sledgehammer, as he started yelling like a drill instructor, but in a language Jeff could not understand, his horns tipping forward like a marine DI’s hat to touch Jeff’s own forehead.

Jeff had been to boot camp, obviously. He knew a dressing down, regardless of language or species. He was getting reamed out for shooting a monster he thought was trying to kill him. By the monster he’d shot. 3 entry wounds right in his center of mass were healing as Jeff watched, the flesh knitting back together like some time lapsed video of a healing wound. The words sounded familiar. Like the voices he’d daydreamed about before the assignment went all to shit.

Fuck that. Jeff didn’t know this fucker from Adam, and monster or not, the fucker didn’t exactly declare himself an ally. He was about to start yelling back when the thought occurred to him that the thing had actually just saved his life. Thebrage at the bull man turned into a feeling of chagrin.

“Ah, fuck. You’re right and wrong at the same time. Yeah, I fired without knowing who you were, but it’s not like you yelled out that you were friendly before you launched that fucking huge axe at my face! Can we just call it a wash and start over?” Jeff asked the creature, who understood him about as well as he understood it.

The sentiment, though, seemed to get across. The big guy shrugged, turned around, and picked up his axe from the deliquesced goop that was all that remained. The horny fucker reached into a pouch tied to his belt and pulled out a giant fistful of White crystals, and scattered them on the goop, which then evaporated completely.

He held out his hand to Jeff, who again extended his open palm. The beast released some into his hand, then opened his own hand and licked up some of the crystals. He pantomimed for Jeff to do the same.

“Well, here’s hoping this guy didn’t just give me a super version of demon coke,” Jeff sighed to himself as he extended his tongue and licked the crystalline flakes.

Salt. It was the same sea salt the locals used for cooking. What the fuck? The bull man pushed the pouch to Jeff, who took it, and dropped the salt in the bag long enough that he could tie it to his belt. Thinking better of it, just in case, he retrieved another handful.

As Jeff was finishing this task, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A shadow amongst shadows coming from around a pillar opposite the braziers, and behind his new bull horned friend, just as something drew the creature’s attention from the other end of the room.

It was another of the shadow demon things, trying to flank the distracted bull man. It was less than 5 feet away. Without conscious thought, Jeff threw his handful of salt at the monster’s face as his right hand drew the giant knife from the bull man’s belt mounted scabbard. If the bull man’s axe downed these things, maybe his knife would, as well.

The salt struck the demon, causing it to unleash an unearthly wailing scream so loud it made Jeff’s eyes vibrate. As skin started to dissolve, the pitch rose so high that Jeff simply stopped hearing it, only feeling his pulse and a constant pressure in his ears.

He brought the obsidian bladed knife, large enough that it was more of a short sword, up and across the creature’s throat as fast as he could, severing it’s head, and raised his foot to stomp it flat as hard as he could as soon as the oblong skull hit the ground. With a crunch, it was a pile of quickly dissolving goo, as the body also immediately started to lose cohesion, adding to the growing puddle.

The bull man meanwhile had brought his axe to bear and charged in the direction that had been behind Jeff at another of the creatures that was silently stalking toward them. He shouldered aside a blow from one of its gangly arms, and brought the axe up into it’s chest before yanking it out, and bringing the back side up and right into it’s chin, splitting the head like a melon from the force of the blow. He snorted and stamped at the ground, looking for additional targets, before again dousing the thing in salt.

He saw none, but could hear the sounds of fighting coming from the stairway the human must have used to get here. The bull man knew his duty. He turned back to the human who had shot him. He had killed one of the Rabisu! On his own with no training, and no power, no less. No wonder the lady wanted him saved if possible. With training, this young soldier could become quite formidable.

The bull man approached the human, and when Jeff attempted to give the knife back, indicated he should keep it. He pulled the leather sheath from his belt, and gave it to Jeff. Once Jeff had it sheathed and tied to his own belt, the bull man looked it over to ensure it was in a proper position to be drawn quickly.

Grabbing the corporal by the shoulders, the bull man bodily turned him around to face what appeared to be another doorway, but it was only a doorway carved into stone, about a foot deep, not an actual doorway. He pointed at the doorway and gave the corporal a light push.

Jeff stopped. What was going on? Was he supposed to take cover? It wasn’t exactly a position he could do that in, being only a foot deep, so he resisted, not knowing what exactly was going on.

“Dude. What gives? I can’t take cover in there! It’s too shallow!” Jeff hissed to the bull man.

At that moment, another demon came from the flickering shadows provided by the braziers and charged the distracted bull man. He turned at the last second and caught the thing by an arm, lifted it high, and using the arm as a handle, swung the thing into the ground, head first, with all of the strength he could muster.

The bull man just had time to see it’s head burst open in a spray of vile black goo before he saw another creature step out of the shadows near the corporal, and dash in to pick the soldier up by the neck.

“FUCK!” Jeff exclaimed, surprised by the suddenness of the assault. The thing was squeezing his neck, cutting off his air. He could hear his pulse beating in his eardrums like a bass drum being struck inside his head. His vision started tunneling as he reached for the obsidian knife, but the thing batted it out of his hands and it clattered to the stones underneath.

He pummeled at the wrists, to no effect. The world was starting to go dark, and he felt himself lifted off the ground, saw the things maw start to open as it prepared to jam his head in. Fuck that. He’d seen the results. No. He had to do something.

The bull man had been attacked by two more creature’s, so he couldn’t get help from him.

A thought occurred. That’s it. It might work, or it might kill him, but he was dead anyway if he didn’t try it. He dropped his hands down his combat harness. Too close for the baseball, he grabbed the thin canister, pulled the pin and counted to 2, then tossed it into the distended maw, and brought his knee up right into its jaw and slammed it shut right as the flashbang went off.

Normally, the things made the loudest, most sudden bang and bright burst of light designed to stun and disorient. Normally.

In this case, with the thing’s mouth being closed, the normally nonlethal blast had no escape from the confines of the mouth it was in. The concussion caused shockwaves that pummeled the creature’s head from the inside for milliseconds until the pressure built up so much that the head in question simply ceased to be in a spray of goo and bone splinters.

Jeff was peppered with splintered bone, some gashing his face, chest and arms. The sound was still deafening, causing the bull man and the remaining creature he was fighting to actually stop and look their way, to see the already decoalescing body of the demon to drop away, as Jeff was hurtled back into the wall, his mind a fog of confusion. He was dazed, and having trouble tracking properly.

He didn’t see the next creature step out and Infront of him. It seemed to stare at him despite having no eyes. Jeff could almost hear something, like a yell, but he couldn’t FOCUS. His head felt like it was filled with custard that got between his thoughts and kept anything from connecting. He needed a nap. He realized he must have a concussion, a small voice in his head yelled (bubbled?) through the custard, but that didn’t seem to MEAN anything.

This beast, too, grabbed Jeff by the throat, and lifted him bodily. The bull man was too busy himself with demons to be able to help. Jeff looked in confusion as his head was brought up to the demon’s mouth, and it started to engulf his head. Then everything went dark.

—————————-

Akilah dodged and weaved, avoiding the demon’s attempts to grab her as she moved like the wind, her hands flashing out to swipe the karambits against the wrists, arms, and torso of the beast in front of her, goo splashing and sizzling upon contact with the obsidian blades, foul acrid smoke rising from the wounds she inflicted as the fiend opened it’s maw to release a terrible howl.

She was siphoning energy from the local Lifestream at a prodigious rate to increase her agility and reaction time. The Rabisu before her seemed to move in slow motion as she twirled and spun and sliced it numerous times. Her last move left her crouched in front of the beast, as it raised its hands to strike her down. She waited until the last moment and ducked back, the dashed forward to use it’s arms as a springboard to launch herself upwards, one karambit biting into the beasts stomach and being dragged with her until it sliced cleanly through ribs, leaving the torso ripped open from bottom to top. At the top of her jump, she flipped and brought the other karambit across the beast’s neck, sinking in two inches deep and slashing from right ear to left ear, through the spine. The beast stood motionless for a moment, before toppling over and decoalescing before it hit the ground.

The smell of the asphalt the creatures used for blood hung heavy in the air. Several of the creatures must have been slain so far. Had Jeff managed to kill any of the creatures with no training or power? She hoped so, as it would confirm he was definitely the one she had been sent to find.

She ran towards the far end of the room, seeing the bull man fighting three of the creatures, the remains of three others dissolving at his hooves.

Wait, hooves? Bull man? It was…a Kusarikku? A real live Kusarikku, not just an engraving of one! They were the guardians of ancient temples and important homes. And with that axe, this must be Gud-Alim, guardian of Inanna’s temple doorways. Maybe they did have a chance for Jeff to survive this.

Then, beyond the Kusarikku, she saw him. The Ribasu had Jeff in it’s arms, the man covered in scratches and bruises and looking almost unconscious, with a bit of blood coming from an ear. It was lifting him up, getting ready to drain his soul and leave him an empty, dried out husk! NO! Akilah couldn’t let that happen!

Reaching inside, she focused on her mastery of the Lifestream, channeled some into an invisible fist the size of her head, and sent the force flying towards the beast, striking it in the side of the head as it was about to take Jeff into its mouth.

Startled, the beast dropped the soldier, and turned to face her as she reached the Kusarikku and it’s trio of opponents. Using her enhanced agility and reactions, she ran UP the forward leg of the bull man while he was midstroke with his axe. She jumped, landed on his knee, pushed off and just over his swinging axeblade, barely touching his shoulder to spring up to his horns and launch herself bodily over him just as his axe bisected straight through one demon and three quarters of the way through the next.

The reaction speed enhancement was draining through the local energy reserves fast, but it was still needed at the moment. She flew through the air and landed between the Rabisu and Jeff and started spinning like a desert whirlwind. Her karambits flashed out. She sliced the insides of both calves, inside the knees, inside the thighs. Further up, inside both wrists, the elbows, under the armpits. Up to the neck, two quick rips from opposing directions, before burying both blades in the chest and ripping from side to side the shred whatever she could.

The beast burst apart in a spray of asphalt and foul shadow, as she was forced to bring her reaction speeds back to normal or risk tapping the local energy well completely. As she stopped and started gasping for air, the bull man dispatched it’s final foe, almost casually knocking it’s head off with a backhand swipe of the enormous axe.

Looking around and seeing no demons in the immediate area, he paused and approached the two humans. He bowed to Akilah, sinking to one knee and lowering his head so his horns nearly touched the ground.

“Little sister,” he said, in ancient Sumerian, “that was possibly the most exceptional footwork I have ever seen, and I humbly pray that I may be blessed to again see it’s like in the future! Would the Dove of Inanna stand guard with this humble servant while the recruit has his audience with the Mistress? I fear there will shortly be more of The Lurkers, as they sense food with power.”

“Their master will likely be coming soon, as well,” she responded with a nod. “I will happily stand alongside a hero of old as we deal death to the enemies of our Mistress. Now, where is the entrance to the audience chamber? We must get Jeff in there quickly!”

Rather than point, the bull man, Gud-Alim, picked up Jeff’s discarded blade and resheathed it before picking up the insensate soldier and walking to the stone doorway he had earlier indicated. He heaved the soldier back, then launched him bodily at the solid stone of the doorway.

Jeff struck the doorway, then stopped, as the stone deformed outward slowly like a viscous liquid, and pulled the soldier in. Within seconds, there was no sign of the corporal.

The beautiful priestess and the imposing Kusarikku stood side by side, as the hissing and moaning of more demons approached them, intent on devouring the two, and her lover after that. She didn’t intend to let that happen. The local Lifestream was weak, however, drained by her own use, so she knew this fight would be a slog.

———————————

Jeff awoke on a piled of the softest pillows he had ever felt on what appeared to be a rooftop. There was a brazier lit providing some light amongst the backdrop of the night sky. Another pile of pillows sat a short distance away, just beyond the reach of the brazier’s light. The roof he stood on was made of very tightly packed and woven reeds. The air was pleasantly cool after the oppressive heat of the…

The fight! He sat up quickly, feeling lightheaded. Where were Akilah and the bull man? The last thing he could clearly recall was flying backwards after his flash bang had exploded that demon’s skull like an M80 firecracker in a mailbox. He remembered being sprayed with bone splinters, but his face had no scratches or bruises that he could feel.

Movement on the other pile of pillows drew his attention. A feminine figure stood and walked to stand at the foot of his bed of pillows, a hand cocked upon her hip as she looked down at the newly conscious soldier.

The sight of her took his breath away. He would say she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but something otherworldly told him this was no normal woman. She was something…more.

She must have stood as tall as he was at 6 feet. Her skin was the color of a desert sunset. She had high cheekbones set in a teardrop shaped face. Her hair seemed like individual strands of a black hole, drinking in the light, intricately braided into two long tails falling behind her to her waist. Her eyes. Her eyes were the pitch black of interstellar space, her pupils appeared to be galaxies, a different one for each eye. Between her eyes and her hairline, two horns, eight inches in length curled up and back over her head.

A golden choker with an 8 pointed star pendant hung in the hollow of her throat. She had two angelic white wings visible behind her, folded so the tips showed below her arms. She wore not a stitch of clothing. Her breasts were either a large B or small C cup, her muscles were toned and defined, while still looking elegantly feminine. Her hips flared beautifully to a firm, muscular ass, like a gymnast’s. And below her knees, her feet were those of an eagle. The smell of cinnamon flowed from her in erotic waves of lust inducing scent.

Jeff was stunned at the unearthly, alien beauty. He was immediately hard, which they both noticed around the same that time he noticed he wore as much clothing as she did. He flushed with a combination of arousal and embarrassment.

A delighted chuckle escaped her perfect full lips, the color of a perfectly ripe cherry, her face twisted in a dazzling smile.

“I was going to say that you had awakened, but now I see that you have truly awakened,” she said, her voice sounding like several women speaking in perfect unison.

“There is nothing to fear, young Jeffrey Zacharias. I mean you nothing but a long life and happiness. Others, however, have different plans for you. I hope to thwart those plans.

“As you have not expired upon hearing my voice, you have passed the second test of the evening. The first was surviving long enough to get here. The second was to see if your…soul, as it were, could withstand direct communication with a divine being.” She finished, her eyes boring into him as if weighing his soul’s worth.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but where, exactly, is HERE?” He asked, as much respect as he could put into his voice.

“An interesting question. And one I cannot answer at this moment. Your military has a saying. Need to know? Yes, that’s it.

“We haven’t much time at all. While time flows slower here than where you were, it still flows, and we must proceed quickly. I have scanned your mind and your memories while you slept, and have found you worthy of your third test. In order to receive my blessing, you must lie with me.

“There is someone coming after you. They wish to take your life and soul for their own ends. Your only hope of survival is to receive my blessing. Even then, your demise is almost a certainty.

“So, you have a choice, young corporal Zacharias. You can go back without my blessing, and die with complete certainty, and your soul will be consumed by that which hunts you, denying you any sort of an afterlife that one might hope for. Or…” she trailed off.

“Or? Ma’am, I’ll be honest here. My squad is dead. If Bug Man hasn’t made it, I’m all that’s left. The things that did it are still there. Respectfully, ma’am, tell me what my “OR” is, so I can get back to evening out the score for that,” he said

The heavenly woman smiled at him, equal parts lust, compassion, and sadness.

“Or, my young lover, you swear loyalty to me, second only to your oath to your nation. And you lie with me to receive my blessing. It carries power with it that offers a small sliver of hope for your survival.

“The third test is for you to plant your seed in me, and to make me climax and to take part of myself into your soul. You will become one of my seven holy hounds. My Temple Dog. An agent of my will on Earth.”

Jeff thought about this. No chance to live vs. a slim chance to live. Hmm.

“And who would I be representing?”

“I am Inanna. Divinity of sex, war, and divine justice.” She said proudly with her head held high.

“Well, ma’am…Inanna. Sorry, I have no idea how to address you, but I accept. On the condition that if I feel anything is amoral or wrong, I won’t do it.” He stated firmly.

“Accepted. While my Temple Dogs are renowned for loyalty, any dog can be pushed too far and bite it’s mistress’s hand.” She said with a smile.

“Now, lie back, young Jeffrey. While we don’t have the time I would wish for, we don’t have to make this a quickie, and I have not been seriously ravished in almost two thousand years!” She said with a sultry gleam in her divine eyes.

Even with the urgency to get back to the fight he had left behind, the overwhelming cinnamon scented pheromones she exuded drove him to a state of lust and arousal he had never experienced in his young life.

He gasped when she took his erect cock in her perfectly formed hand. As she stroked, he could swear he gained at least two inches in length, and a decent amount in girth. She smiled wickedly.

“It wasn’t a bad size, I just thought it could be a bit…more? Something I can enjoy to its…fullest. I hope you don’t mind?” She asked, just before her tongue came out and managed to wrap entirely around his shaft just below the head.

Jeff fell back against the pillows, and almost against his will, his eyes closed. When they did, it felt as if there were several tongues wrapped around his shaft and licking his head and his balls. The chorus of voices that emanated from her all moaned or hummed as the feeling quickly pushed him to the edge. Before he could come, another tongue wrapped around his base, tight enough to prevent his eruption, yet smooth and amazingly sensual.

One by one, the tongues unwrapped, except for the one at his base, a small voice in the back of his mind wanted to know how she was doing this, but the arousal and need pushed that voice to the side and ignored it. Suddenly, he felt a mouth come over his turgid rod, and then another, and another, like he was being taken into multiple mouths, one inside the other, until her face pushed into his trimmed pubic patch, and the tongues again began to circle and milk and squeeze him. He felt multiple throats take him in, as hands came up his torso and played with his nipples.

He opened his eyes, and saw what appeared to be trailing images of her, each strikingly similar but also noticeably different. The faces were the same, but the skin tones and hair colors were different, and most didn’t have horns.

He knew he should be disturbed, but this felt so good, and concerns were shunted to stand alongside the questions that had also been ignored. He existed only to receive this divine blowjob for the moment.

As his lust increased, he grabbed the goddess by her horns, and used those as handles to push her down his iron hard cock. She released a series of delighted, yet cock muffled groans, then her own moans increased, the chorus of hums and throaty moans vibrating through him, arousing his very soul.

This started to become clearer, more defined. The sounds not louder, but more easily defined and separable. The smells of cinnamon, his own musk, and her arousal became easily detectable, as did a smell that was similar, but separate, that he realized was the goddess’s own scent.

He stopped pushing and pulling her head, and used the horns to hold her still, while he started to piston his manhood into her face and throat, her eyes looking up at him, becoming half hooded with her own arousal at tis treatment, and Jeff, overcome by lust, facefucked a goddess for all he was worth, sliding his newer, bigger cock into her multiple mouths and throats as he started to growl like a beast. Her moans around him became more frenzied and wanton, her arousal causing her divine juices to flow out of her, easily detected by his increased sensitivity to scents.

He knew the tongue around his base had prevented several climaxes already, but he still found himself driving towards a climax that he didn’t think would be stopped, so he pulled her head up and withdrew himself from the most glorious mouth he had ever been in. The willpower it took to do this was gargantuan, but there was something else Jeff wanted to try with this perfectly formed divine sex idol.

Still having her horns in his hands, he used them as leverage to pull her to the side and onto her back as he rolled on top of her.

Her hair splayed out like an inky black halo, with her white wings extended so she wasn’t lying on them. He hungrily kissed her, feeling her multiple tongues clashing with his in a war of sensuality and passion, meeting his growls with her own sensual moans, as his hands roamed down to caress her heavenly breasts.

As he pinched and tweaked her nipples, a cinnamon colored and scented milk was released, causing her to gasp into his mouth. She pulled his head away from hers and down to her breasts, guiding his seeking mouth to her nipples, and sighing in bliss when he started to suckle her milk from them.

As he did, she saw his muscles gain in density, definition and bulk. He slowly started to exude the cinnamon scented pheromones from his own body, now. Her milk would start other changes in his physiology as time progressed. If he had enough time.

Muscle memories were being formed, his subconscious being slightly altered to add training in a variety of ancient combat skills, from swordplay to archery and several extinct martial arts forms. Skill with spear and shield, staff, and every weapon used by her past Temple Dogs.

As much as her milk changed his body, it was also, to put it in terms modern humanity could process, a software update for his brain.

Having drank as much of the rich cinnamon milk as he could, he let go of her breasts and trailed his tongue down her stomach. She had no body hair below her eyelashes. She wasn’t shaved, she just didn’t grow hair. He dragged his tongue down further, nibbling at her flesh occasionally, as his hands ventured to her thighs, ran down her legs to the point skin changed from smooth to to the pebbled flesh of her eagle’s talons, then back up and around to her muscular cheeks, cupping and squeezing them.

Buttocks released, his hands came back and to her junction, her divine juices coated the insides of her thighs and dripped like honey. He pulled them up to her folds, noting there were multiple sets of labia as he pulled them apart and released, like the afterimages of her body, each set belonging to another of the images, then he stroked to the sides of her mons.

He trailed his mouth, lips and tongue dragging around her entrance, kissing the insides of her thighs as he inserted a finger into her folds. Her heavenly cunt grabbed and massaged his finger, pulling it deeper, milking it like a tiny cock, as she gasped and moaned, penetrated for the first time in two millennia by something other than her own digits or toys.

For a goddess of sexual love, she had been on the mother of all dry streaks. Her head tossed back and forth, afterimages of the other heads trailing, all with looks of godly ecstasy and wanton lust, as all of the eyes were looking at his as he looked to her face while lowering his tongue to caress her labia.

The goddess writhed and moaned, gasping for air as multiple pussies were fingered as one, and multiple sets of labia were caressed. When Jeff moved his other hand to massage her clit, which was short and fat, the cries became that of several goddesses all at once.

As he inserted another finger into her center, he dragged his tongue downward and over her celestial rosebud, causing a series of throaty moans and grunts, as she pushed herself against his mouth, humping her ass into his face.

“Oooh, naughty naughty little Temple Dog. You dare to go after a goddess’s ass?” She breathed, looking at him, before smiling.

“I knew I liked you. Daring and bravery and the willingness to take chances are all requirements of my Dogs,” she moaned, “but I need you back up here. For now”

With that, she pulled his head back up to her wet multi lipped cunt, where he took her clit into his mouth with no hesitation. He strummed his tongue back and forth across it, then moved it in circles all around it, applying pressure to it from whatever side he was on. It was odd to do this to someone who was there more than once.

It was how he thought it would be to have sex on acid, but less face meltie and terrifying.

Her gasps were getting louder and heavier. When he turned his fingers upward and found the slightly rough patch on the upper side of her tunnel, he stroked and tapped it, while increasing his pace on her clit. Less than thirty seconds after he started, she clamped her thighs around his head, bucking her hips and driving her clit into his mouth, and let loose a scream to the skies that was deafening even with his ears closed off between her thighs.

He lapped at her cum, the flavor only describable as pure erotic ambrosia, addicting and sweet and completely beyond human words to describe. He couldn’t stop. He continued to rub her clit and thrust his fingers in, driving her to another, risking permanent hearing loss when she screamed her passion out again, allowing him to harvest more of the honey of the gods from her. This must be what man’s from heaven was.

She pushed him away, and he heard in his skull “enough, lover. Too much and you could die, either from my screams or from the liquid lust you are drinking from me.”

He stopped, stunned. “Did…did you just speak in my mind? Telepathy?”

“Yes. In the throes of passion, a human mind can become open enough for me to establish a link. We are connected. Wherever your soul is, I will know. Wherever mine is, you will know the nearest point to find me” she said, again speaking to his mind.

“Now, put your glorious new cock to use! There is a goddess of sex in front of you that needs a proper fucking! Our pact will not be sealed until you fill me with your seed!” She thought, and the needs of wanton unchecked lust filled his brain, even as the cinnamon scent wafted to him, as his own wafted to her.

She allowed herself to be affected by his pheromones, enhancing her own arousal and pleasure, as he lined his throbbing turgid pole up with her opening, and pushed in down to the hilt, impaling her. Her head rocked back, cries of “YES! YES! GIVE ME WHAT IS MINE!” projected both verbally and directly into his brain.

He sat motionless embedded in her depths for almost a full minute, feeling her walls pulse and undulate in a manner he had never felt before, raising and lowering in frequency as each of the goddess’s pussies clenched and milked in the afterimage effect at a different speed and frequency. It was like fucking and being fucked by 12 different goddesses at the same instant. The ultimate in group sex.

He pulled almost all the way out, leaving only his helmet in her, before plunging in again, in a long, slow movement. As he started to thrust, gaining speed and power with each thrust, he leaned forward and again kissed the goddess. The feeling of intimacy was its own drug, as her passion flowed into him through their battling tongues.

Jeff continued to pump into the goddess, his hands playing with her nipples or wrapping around her back to feel her wings, which apparently felt really good, as she locked her legs around him, causing her hallux talons, the rear forward facing talon on each foot, to inadvertently dig into his lower back.

They sliced about two inches, feeling like someone had run two icicles across his back. The feeling was incredible, and he didn’t realize she had sliced him until he felt the blood run down his buttocks. Just as they started to sting, he felt the wounds close up.

Something else had activated from her milk. He could now heal wounds at a much increased rate. Good to know.

But now, Jeff had something different he wanted to try. He pulled out of her, an act that took incredible willpower, and grabbed her by her legs and flipped her over onto her stomach. He lifted her ass up into the air, spread her legs, and plunged into her.

As he sank in, he reached up and grabbed her at the base of her wings, and used them as an anchor point to pull against her and fucked her as deep and as hard as he could. Her head shot up, her wings extended, and she wailed into the night sky, her pussy tightening around his pulsing rod as he stood taller and drove into her at a downward angle, pushing his cock repeatedly against her G spot.

Her wail turned into a keening cry to the heavens, a high piercing scream reminiscent of an eagle’s cry, while Jeff again started growling as he pumped down into her, her honey dripping out and down the thighs of both of them.

He kept his pounding hammering pace for another ten minutes, before the feeling rose in his balls, tightening and pulsing his engorged cock even thicker before he came with his own howl to the heavens, flooding her channel with everything he had. It felt like he came forever, as pulse after pulse of his cum burst forth and coated her insides, his thrusts mixing their juices until it frothed out and dripped down them.

Their moans, grunts and howls combined and became their own divine choir, singing out the celestial praises of sex and climax.

Words had been needless, anything more than what was spoken would have lessened what had just happened between the mortal and the divine.

But as he came down, questions began to flood into Jeff’s mind. He hoped there was time for some answers.

“Ma’am?” He asked between pants trying to regain his breath, “what was that? Why are there afterimages of you? And why did the afterimages feel just as real as the…YOU you?”

She gave a delighted laugh, answering in my mind as she took me back into her mouths to clean our combines froth off of me with glee,

“You may call me Mistress, or continue with Ma’am. That term is new to me, and I like how you say it. I have been known by many names throughout human civilization, and even before. Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Minerva, Venus, Freyja, and more. Each of those goddesses are me, and I am each of them. We are all one, and yet our own individual. You might think of it as divine multiple personalities, or aspects of me. It is a way for ancient deities to retain their identities while changing as humanity changes.

“Depending on what temple you are in, should we meet, you will see that aspect of me as the main…image, or being, if you will, but we are all of the same mind, and the same core being. Thus, we are all present wherever one of us is.

“So, to answer your last question, each of them felt real because we are all real, and you just fucked us all at the same time, and we are all VERY satisfied with your performance. Should you survive the coming battle, you will make a most excellent Temple Dog.”

“What is a Temple Dog? You don’t say it with derision, so I’m pretty sure you’re not being insulting,” Jeff was curious.

“Oh, it’s not derisive or an insult at all, my young soldier. Each of my temples used to have seven guardians, agents to do my bidding in the human world. They were called Temple Dogs because they were as loyal to me as a warhound to it’s master.

“The Sumerians, as you call them, were great dog lovers. They treated them even more like family than modern humanity does. And the love went both ways. This is the same between myself and my guardians. Have no doubt, I love all of my guardians, heart and soul.

“My Temple Dogs are the harbingers of my Divine Justice, punishing those who have wronged myself or my faithful, and serve as the core cadre of my forces when it is time for war. They help spread the joys of sex when not in battle, a very sacred duty that I hope to be able to explain to you later. They have some small access to my own power, which you will gain as time passes. And they are my personal guard when I am able to manifest in the human world.

“Sadly, the tradition fell out of favor over the millennia, and by the time of the arrival of the Roman’s Venus, I had adherents and followers, but no Temple Dogs to do things that have been much neglected.”

Finishing their cleaning of me, the goddesses released me from their mouths, smacking their lips and smiling at me, before their gazes took on a more serious set.

“I am sorry, my young soldier, but that is all the time we have. It is now vital that you return to the human world. Gud-Alim, the Kusarikku bull man you fought alongside, and young Akilah require your aid, as you are the only one who can possibly stop he who approaches. I wish you victory in battle, and leave you with this final gift.”

With that, Jeff noticed he was back in his uniform, the punctures from the bone shards mended, the uniform cleaned. His M16 had been cleaned, oiled, and reloaded.

She withdrew the obsidian knife from its sheath, and first used it to slice a small wound across the back of her hand, allowing some of her bronze colored blood to run onto the blade, where it soaked into the obsidian and became bronze flecks. Then, she scooped some of their mixed and frothed fluids from her thigh, and wiped those along the handle, where again it was absorbed.

“This weapon is now truly divine. It will help you in the battle ahead, and in many battles to come. It will serve you and your descendants as long as you remain loyal to me. Now, I must return you. Good luck, my young lover.”

And with that, she returned the blade to its sheath at Jeff’s belt, and she pointed him to a set of stairs that appeared leading down from the roof they were on. With one last look at the divine beauty to burn her into his mind, he descended.

Halfway down the stairs, it finally hit him. He hadn’t been speaking English with the goddess. He’d been speaking Sumerian. When did he learn enough to speak it and understand it?

————————-

Akilah hoped Jeff would return soon. He’d been gone 10 minutes, and she had lost track of how many of the demons she and Gud-Alim had killed.

The local Lifestream was running dangerously low on the energy she had stocked up in it over the last few weeks. Her arms were getting heavy and difficult to lift, even with the negligible weight of her karambits. Her breath came heavy and hard. She didn’t know how much longer she could fight, but she knew she would not quit until she was dead.

Gud-Alim was also showing signs of fatigue. It had been centuries since he had been called for battle, and even his strong arms were starting to flag. He had to have felled at least twenty more of the demons since Jeff had been taken into the stone doorway, even goring one of the fiends with his horns.

But unlike her, if Gud-Alim fell in battle, he would simply revert back to his inscription, and would only need time to heal. He had already saved her life multiple times, as she had watched his back to keep him from suffering an injury that would take him from the battle.

Gud-Alim was enamored of this Dove. She was beautiful and fierce, she did not shy from battle. She personified what a priestess of Inanna should represent, and he loved her already. He would gladly sacrifice himself to save her, but doing so now would only leave her to stand alone in this fight.

He threw his axe at one of the Rabisu approaching her, it’s head embedding itself in the fiend’s chest, bisecting it’s fouled heart. Before it could start to dissolve, He was upon it, grabbing it’s right arm in both hands, planting his hoof against its chest, and pulled the arm free of the creature with a sickening rip, turning and using it as a club to smash the skull of a second beast. The arm dissolved fully just after, so he turned and retrieved his axe from the gooey puddle left behind from the initial victim.

As he retrieved it, he saw Akilah leap over him to rake her karambits across the face of a third Rabisu approaching him from behind. The knives flashed as she started to slash and flay the demonic flesh from the face and torso of the unfortunate creature, before it managed to fling and arm up and send her sprawling against one of the many dog statues, knocked senseless as her head struck the body.

She was too far away. Two more of the demons had advanced on her prone form while he finished the one she had sliced, crushing it’s head with a backhand swipe as he turned to follow her arcing flight through the air.

NO! she could not die! She was a Dove. She was sacred, to be protected. But three more Rabisu had appeared, there seeming to be no end to their numbers, and had latched onto his arms and head and legs from behind, tripping him and preventing him from saving the little Dove. She was going to die!

The Rabisu approached Akilah’s prone form with a slow deliberate menace. Their mocking whispers could be heard to start again, as one started to giggle. It picked her up, and brought her head towards it’s distending mouth, savoring the anticipation of devouring her soul.

A howl erupted from the stone doorway. It was unbelievably loud, and sounded like one of the God’s own mastiffs, carrying with it a menace for the unholy creatures.

Every demon in the temple froze momentarily in a primal fear at that howl. Gud-Alim gave a barrel chested laugh of triumph. The pup had become a hound, from the sounds of it. And he sounded very angry.

The obsidian knife came out of the shadows of the stone doorway, and sank hilt deep into the head of the Rabisu waiting to devour Akilah. The creature dropped like a stone, releasing the priestess to gasp on the floor.

Rapid footsteps could be heard, as the young corporal came running out of that doorway at full speed, barreling down on the other Rabisu standing over Akilah. He launched himself into the air, his musculature now resembling a warrior of old who had spent countless hours exercising with hand and weapon.

As he sailed on the downward arc of his jump towards the Rabisu, he grabbed it by the head and dragged it down to smash the skull against the floor, bits of asphalt and bone flying out like the contents of a shattered melon. It was dead as surely as if he had cut its head from it’s shoulders.

The Rabisu ensnaring Gud-Alim raised their heads in alarm at the howl and sudden death of two of their number. They whined piteously and let go of the Kusarikku to flee.

Jeff retrieved his knife from the skull of the first Rabisu, which had not even had time to start decoalescing before the second died. He sheathed the knife and turned towards Akilah after nodding to the Kusarikku in acknowledgement.

He picked the beautiful priestess up off the ground and set her gently on her feet. The remaining Rabisu retreated for the moment, giving them all a chance to catch their breaths.

“Can you stand?” He asked softly, in the old language of the People.

“Yes. I just need…need a moment to get my bearings,” she replied, eyes wide at his increased musculature and the fierce look in his eyes.

She could feel power in him. The ability to use the Lifestreams’s energy like her own, but also something…more. He must have passed his trials in his audience with the Mistress. She had never encountered anything like it. It was awe inspiring, but she didn’t know if it would be enough.

“Gud-Alim,” Jeff said to the Kusarikku as he approached, and offered him his hand in greeting, “it’s good to be able to talk, finally. I’m sorry for putting 3 in your chest earlier. I didn’t know you weren’t an enemy.”

“It is fine, Little Hound. I, too, apologize for yelling at you like a fresh faced youngling recruit. And you already made up for attacking me when you threw your weapon in the Rabisu’s maw before you left for your audience with the Lady,” Gud-Alim chortled good naturedly, as he made a gesture with his hands mimicking the demon’s head exploding and making an explosion sound with his mouth.

“I honestly did not think a modern human weapon could harm one of the shadow demons. I was remarkably entertained to see I was so wrong!” He continued chuckling.

Akilah tried to pay attention to the banter, but the smell of the cinnamon scented pheromones Jeff was exuding was making it difficult to think about anything except jumping on his cock and having him take her right now. She was staring at his new muscles, and noticing the bulge in his pants was larger than it had been before. Goddess, she needed to fuck right now!

“Jeff! You need to concentrate on not producing your pheromones! You have to concentrate on it right now, because you are soaking my panties and I don’t think we have time for us to fuck right now!” She said desperately, knowing that her face and chest were flushing with arousal, and her nipples were quite obviously poking through her bra and shirt.

Jeff walked over to Akilah, leaned down, and kissed her passionately. She resisted for all of a second before succumbing and attacked his tongue with her own, whimpering with how turned on she was, even with being exhausted from battle.

His hand slid down to the front of her pants, and then dove inside, stroking her wet cunt and strumming her clit through her completely soaked panties. As he did, she could feel some of the energy he possessed flow to the Lifestream, and to her, revitalizing her, and it, and returning strength to her limbs before she came in a shuddering climax on his fingers, the pheromones enhancing the pleasure to make it an incredibly strong orgasm.

As she shuddered in pleasure, unable to form coherent words, he focused internally on shutting down the pheromones. He didn’t need to be turning on every woman within a city block just from walking by. Not at the moment, at least.

Once he felt the production stop, he used a small amount of power to generate a small breeze toward the exit and cleared the pheromones from the immediate area.

As turned on as she had been from his pheromones, she had taken less than a minute to orgasm from his finger work, moaning into his mouth. Their goddess was powered by sex, and as her followers, they tended to be refreshed by a quick bout, instead of winded.

Once her tremors subsided, his hand withdrew, and he ended the kiss.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Hadi, I’ve been dying to do that for weeks, and now, it seemed the thing to do, since I can hear the Rabisu returning. I’d say we have about a minute before we’re back to fighting,” he explained.

“I think I can forgive you just this once, corporal,” she smiled at him, while dying on the inside for having to continue her lie, “and thank you for strengthening the local Lifestream. Now I won’t be totally useless for this fight,” she returned.

“What about me, Little Hound? Do I get a smooch and a handjob before we fight again?” Gud-Alim asked with a chuckle.

“I think you’d be too much for me to handle, big guy,” Jeff joked back, “take a rain cheque?”

“What is a rain cheque?” The Kusarikku looked confused.

Akilah sighed mirthfully. She liked that these two could be so flippant in the face of possible death. That was what servants of a sexy war goddess SHOULD be like. She hoped they found more followers soon.

“I’ll take you up on that, Gud-Alim, when we’re not about to be attacked by hordes of soul sucking demons. I definitely owe you a sexy reward for all the times you saved my tight little ass today!” She promised him with a wink and a blown kiss.

The bull man actually blushed, and the front of his leather strap kilt started to rise. And rise. She gulped. She hadn’t thought about how big the cock of an 8 foot tall bull man would be, and she hoped she would be able to handle it after her promise.

As the keening wails got close enough for her to hear, she wondered how Jeff had heard them so much sooner.

“Jeff, did…did you and the Mistress…” she tried to ask without seeming jealous. Not that he had possibly fucked someone else. They followed a goddess of sex and war, after all. Free love was kind of their thing.

No, SHE wanted to fuck the goddess, but she had never so much as seen a shadow of her. Only meetings in her dreams. But then, Temple Dogs were chosen specifically BECAUSE their minds and souls could handle the otherwise mind breaking presence of the divine.

“She, or should I say THEY, fucked ME. I think that’s part of the ritual for becoming a Temple Dog. And now, I feel a bit like a superhero.” Jeff answered her unfinished question with a grin.

“Yes,” Gud-Alim confirmed, “and now you will be overcharged with energy for a time. This always happens with new Dogs. Usually, though, we have a rather harsh training regimen to channel that energy until it balances to normal levels. I think, for this instance, at least, that I am glad you have it for the coming fight!”

Their conversation was interrupted by the howls and smells of at least thirty more demons incoming.

When the wave of demons came into the room, Jeff pointed at them and grinned like a madman. He was hard and looked forward to the coming battle. Vengeance for his squad mates was at hand.

Jeff quickly untied the pouch of salt from his belt and handed it to Akilah.

“Can you lob this right over the heads of the thickest clump?” He asked her.

“Yes, easily,” she responded, testing the heft of the bag.

Holding the bag by the straps, she spun like an Olympic hammer thrower, and released the bag on a perfect arc above the heads of the incoming mic of demons.

Jeff had unslung his rifle, and tracking like a skeet shooter, let loose a 3 round burst at the bag as it passed over the demons. All three hit at high velocity, rupturing the bag and spraying a fine dust cloud of sea salt over the charging throng, bringing many to a screaming halt as they flailed to get the burning symbol of purity off as their flesh sizzled painfully.

The thickest part of the dust cloud literally dissolved the heads of seven of the fiends, and another seven of those around them started to roll in pain on the ground, high pitched mewls of pain escaping their malformed heads, as their thrashing covered them in still more salt, slowly and agonizingly dissolving them completely.

As that single attack took out nearly half their numbers, the whole throng ground to a stop, the remaining Rabisu looking hesitant to approach any further. Fear rolled off the mob as a palpable wave. They hesitated, not sure of their superior numbers anymore.

Gud-Alim charged the demons while they hesitated, shoulder leading the way as his axe was readied to start hewing demons like cordwood. Akilah channeled power into an invisible fist the size of the Kusarikku and brought in smashing down on two demons standing close together, smashing them flat.

Jeff himself was also charging the pack. He sent his knife flying into the skull of one, embedding right to the hilt in it’s disgusting pig snout. Bullets useless against the demons, his rifle made for a club as he swung it against the skull of another demon, smashing it in, and breaking the stock of the rifle. Jeff dropped the useless hunk of metal and plastic as he sought his next target.

The bull man hit the throng of demons at the same time, knocking one demon into the air to be crushed between a pair of invisible giant hands formed by Akilah’s powers, before sweeping the head off another with his axe. The corporal grabbed a demon by the head, and absorbing a punch to his abdomen that would have floored him just an hour ago, wrenched the head all the way around and then tore it off in a spray of asphalt and ichor.

Jeff turned and batted away the incoming flailing grab of another demon, spinning it around and grabbing it from behind, he lifted it, then flipped it over his head and pile drived it’s head into the floor, the hollow thump of it’s head exploding giving pause to the nearest demons.

Jeff grabbed his knife from the decoalesced remnants of his first target, and turned around to see he had 4 of the demons closing in on him. He held his knife, wishing it was something a bit longer with more bite, maybe a poleaxe or even a spear.

To his astonishment, the demonic bodies nearby dissolved even faster, energy flowing into the knife, and the wooden knife handle stretched to a length of 6 feet, and the blade lengthened to a broad leaf shaped spear head. He only took a moment to gape at it, ducking the swing of one of the Rabisu, before he came back to his senses and gutted the demon, running it completely through, bringing the spear back out, and running it again into the heart of the creature.

He twirled the spear like a quarterstaff, driving the other demons back, before he leapt into an acrobatic spin straight out of a martial arts handbook, his form perfect, and started twirling the spear point about him, slashing and stabbing as he spun. The blade sank through the neck of one demon, speared the skull of another, was brought back, and then on his next spin, brought down to cleave the head of the last demon. All in the span of 5 seconds.

Gud-Alim was amazed. He had killed another demon by decapitation and one with a backstroke to the skull, as Akilah had grabbed another with an invisible giant fist and squeezed it until it popped like an overripe grape.

He gaped at the spear in Jeff’s hand, and the group of dead demons at his feet. The knife hadn’t been capable of that when Jeff had taken possession of it.

Akilah grabbed the Last two beasts with her power, and slammed them into each other with such velocity they exploded in a spray of asphalt, soaking Jeff and Gud-Alim in their ichor.

The group sat panting, the entire encounter taking less than a minute. Jeff and Gud-Alim had large bruises that were healing even as Akilah watched. They had done it. They had done it! They were still alive!

She was elated! She had helped him survive! She would be allowed to be with him, now, as her Mistress had promised. Akilah was rushing forward to embrace Jeff when their celebration was halted before it could start.

Slow, thunderous clapping. A figure shrouded in shadow descended the stairs, stepping over what was quite probably a dead staff sergeant Bugman, to halt 10 paces away from Jeff.

The shadows parted to reveal a wizened old man, just at 5 feet in height, and maybe 100 lbs if he had rocks in his pockets. His head was bald, skin covered in liver spots and hanging loose on his skeleton. A wispy white beard came down to his belt line. He was shirtless, his skin covered in tattooed glyphs and sigils. He was thin as a rail, yet exuded terror and power. His eyes were a familiar blackness of deep space, but his pupils were glowing red orbs of spite.

He stopped clapping as he came to a halt. He stood silently looking Jeff up and down, like someone sizing up what cut of beef they wanted from a steakhouse

“Yesss! You will do nicely! Strong, quite strong for a puppy! Powerful soul, good looks, the total package!” He cackled out in a high pitched wheezing voice, “well, then, come along! I haven’t got all day, I’ll be taking your body and soul, now!”

“I am sorry, Little Hound,” Gud-Alim said in a miserable voice, “I cannot help you with this one. I am forbidden by divine law from striking any of the Gods, either of the Anunnaki or the Chthonic. Even those who started life as blasphemous and disrespecting mortals.”

“Yes, yes,” the old man rambled, “See, even the pitiful bull man cannot help you. Give yourself to me now and spare us both a moment of stress.”

“We have a saying, among my people,” Jeff responded, casually, “it’s quite inelegant, yet infinitely useful. Fuck. You.”

With that, Jeff heaved the spear with all his might at the little stick figure of an old man. It sailed true, right for his heart.

Then, the old man simply raised his hand, and the spear halted in mid flight. A flick of his wrist sent it clattering to the floor at the Kusarikku’s hooves.

“Care to try again?” The old man asked, seemingly bored.

Akilah kept back out of view as she silently crept for a better position to try to save Jeff. She watched as Jeff focused his power, and the spear sailed from Gud-Alim’s feet back to his hand.

She waited, knowing her abilities would have no effect on this monster. Her Mistress had told her, so she was waiting to do the one thing she had that she could do for Jeff.

Jeff willed the spear to change again. He needed a blade. The spear warped again, the shaft shrinking as the blade grew in size until he held an obsidian bladed falcata, the perfect weapon for hewing this old duck’s arms and head from his body.

He focused and drew from the dwindling Lifestream, and increased his speed and strength, before charging the ancient decrepit old man.

With another casual wrist flick, the old man picked him up with an unseen force, and brought Jeff slamming into a stone column, once, twice, three times. It must have been agonizing, even for his new body. The column had been struck so hard, it had cracked.

Jeff grimaced with pain, grunting with each of the impacts. He would kill this motherfucker, or die trying.

As Jeff stood and caught his breath, and his ribs started knitting back together, he looked again at the old man. Something…happened.

Jeff could see, in the flash of a heartbeat, all of the crimes this being had committed. Rapes. Murder on a massive scale. Human sacrifice. Torture. Tyranny. Over the span of thousands of years.

This wasn’t just some old man. This was a supernatural force of pure hatred older than Jeff could really comprehend.

And his new Mistress demanded it be brought to justice for its crimes.

Jeff was consumed by anger. He again gathered his strength, and charged the wizened old figure. He brought his blade around, and slashed his with the razor sharp obsidian. Once. Twice. Three times. The old man’s flesh was sliced open and black asphalt mixed with bronze colored blood sprayed out. The old man grimaced momentarily, before his features calmed again.

“Payback’s a bitch, motherfucker!” Jeff spat out.

The old man smiled and cackled wickedly with an evil gleam in his eyes, as his skin bulged beneath the 3 slices, and three tentacles made of liquid asphalt and shadow burst forth and rocketed straight for Jeff’s mouth and nostrils.

With a startled “FUCK!”, Jeff dodged backwards and brought the blade up, severing the ends of the probing tentacles, before launching himself again at the elder being before him. Now he was REALLY pissed.

The tentacles reformed, the severed ends dissolving and flowing back to the old man, and lashed again at the young soldier, who dodged and spun between then and brought the sword around and down, severing them again, as well as the old man’s left hand just at the wrist.

He followed through with several thrusts, puncturing the old man’s torso four more times, and followed up with a kick straight up between the old man’s legs with enough force to pulp his testicles.

The old man staggered back, eyes squinted shut at the pain. Oddly, the one wound that seemed to cause him pain was the kick to his nuts.

Jeff noticed, and was about to start slashing at the old man’s groin when he was flung back by an invisible force at the old man’s outflung hand.

“ENOUGH! I WILL NOT BE DISRESPECTED FURTHER BY A MORTAL PUPPY! NOW, GIVE ME THE BODY THAT BELONGS TO ME!” He screeched.

This time, there were more tentacles than Jeff could easily count, as they thrashed and whipped at the air with the speed of striking vipers.

Without warning, they shot toward Jeff with blinding speed in three groups. Jeff slashed part of the lowest group, but enough remained that they were able to grab and wind about his legs, as the second group did the same to his torso, forcing and holding his arms down to his sides, as both sets of tentacles lifted him bodily into the air.

The last group coalesced into 3 thick tentacles, and slowly, agonizingly moved to penetrate his nostrils, and forcibly parts his lips and violated his mouth. Down his throat, inexorably, and an energy poured forth and bathed his body in cold despair from inside, as his breath was cut off.

“It will be over momentarily, puppy. I’ll take that body, and your soul, and you won’t have to worry about ever making a choice again. I’ll get a new skin suit, and you’ll learn to enjoy the torment of an eternity of having your soul violated in ways your young innocent mind hasn’t even begun to fear,” the god wheezed, “maybe I’ll let you see as I use you to violate every hole of that whore goddess you serve before I dissolve her and take her power as my own!”

Panic set into Jeff’s mind. He struggled against the black tentacles, writhing in mid air as the world started to darken and he could feel the presence of the evil being start to invade his mind and catalogue his very being. He was terrified and angry beyond belief, and if he could just DO some…

Everything was interrupted by the report of a pistol. Followed quickly by thirteen more shots, as Bug Man emptied the magazine of his 9mm pistol into the old man’s back from his overlooked place on the floor.

“Let go of my corporal, you old fuck!” He screamed as he dumped rounds into the old man, doing a combat reload and starting to blow another mag into him when he was struck by an invisible fist and knocked flying, once again unconscious.

The wounds were closing even before the bullets completed their journey cleanly through the withered body, but his attention was drawn to the staff sergeant, even as the tentacles kept up their assault on Jeff’s body and soul.

Akilah knew what she had to do. Her heart was filled with anguish, and her eyes with tears. She couldn’t save the man she loved. She had done everything she could, fought against forces inconceivable by most modern humans, and in the end, it came to this. She couldn’t save his life, but she could save his soul.

She focused on the Lifestream in her mind, and with a whisper of “I’m so sorry! I love you so much,” she redirected that power, and crushed Jeff’s heart in his chest. Death was instantaneous. As was the escape of Jeff’s soul from his now expired vessel, made evident as his head lolled lifelessly on his shoulders.

The old man’s eyes widened in surprise. His face twisted into a mask of anger as he realized what had been done. What had been denied to him.

“WHAT? NO! HE WAS TO BE MINE. THE MASTER PROMISED! HARLOT! WHORE! CUNT! I’LL VIOLATE YOU THE SAME AS WE’LL DO TO YOUR BITCH GODDESS!” He screamed in almost mindless rage.

The tentacle that was launched her way was intercepted by Gud-Alim stepping into its path. He wrapped Akilah in his arms and kept his back to the old man as the tentacles struck repeatedly, leaving bloody gashes down the bull man’s back.

He carried her past the blindly attacking old man to the unconscious staff sergeant, hooves moving slower with each step. As he was struck repeatedly, he was whispering a final message to her.

“I’m sorry, Little Dove. My heart overflows with sadness for you, and I also agonize over the death of Little Hound. I will soon be sent back to my house of bricks. Take this. I wish I could have done more,” he finished, setting her on the ground beside Bug Man’s unconscious form, and placed the knife, which had returned to its normal form upon Jeff’s death, in her hand. A bronze chain with a golden pendant was wrapped around the hilt.

“You will know what to do with these when the time comes, Little Dove. I hope to see you again” he finished.

He stood to form a barrier between them and the fury of the old god’s wrath, pain written clearly on his features as the tentacles stabbed and tore at him in a frenzied, murderous rampage.

“I’LL KILL YOU ALL! I’LL RAPE YOUR SOULS! YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS CUNT, I’M GOING TO KILL EVERYONE YOU EVER LOVED AND WEAR THEIR BODIES LIKE SKIN SUITS WHILE I RAPE YOU WITH THEM!” The frenzied ancient husk of a man screamed, spittle flying with every syllable.

Then he stopped, and a malicious grin appeared on his face. He withdrew his tentacles from Gud-Alim, who fell to the ground, then fell onto his face, revealing horrendous injuries to his back, his spine and ribs exposed to their air, as he slowly dissolved into thousands of motes of golden energy and flowed back into the room, and into his inscription.

The old man leered at her. Then his tentacles shot back into Jeff’s body, pulsing, as the old man himself seemed to slowly deflate.

“You may have killed him, and kept his soul from me, but I can still wear his flesh, little whore. You might want to start running, because I am going to rape you almost to death with his body, before I take yours. Then I’ll use YOU to kill everyone you’ve ever cared about. Oh, this will be fun!” He cackled, as he continued to deflate.