Deep Water (36 page)

“Your other form is of the Giant Pacific
octopus. It’s a creature of temperate waters, which have needed a gentle and
protective god for quite some time. Your mortal training as a marine biologist
will stand you in excellent stead in your new role. And now, for your symbol of
authority.” Poseidon reached out into empty air, and a nimbus of light appeared
around his hand. There was a faint crackle, and he pulled back a trident in
glimmering copper with sleek tines and a shaft carved with Art Deco lines.

The god held it up, mouth twisting in
thought. “Interesting. No sea god has ever borne a copper trident before.” He
handed it to Griffin, who hefted it experimentally. “It’s a metal with a wide
range of uses and forms. It’s also a superb conductor of electricity. You’re
going to be a lightning rod for trouble, I suspect.”

“Some things never change,” Griffin said
with a grin. The trident felt good in his hand, like it was made for him.
Come to think of it, I suppose it was.
“So what do I do with it now?”

“Put it away,” Amphitrite suggested. “I’m
starving, and I want to go into Olympic Beach for lunch. There’s this marvelous
new sushi place that I’ve been dying to try.”

“An excellent idea, beloved.” Poseidon
showed Griffin how to put the trident away, then dusted his hands together.
“Why don’t you get cleaned up and dressed, and we’ll take our lady out for a
proper feast?”

****

The sushi and specialty rolls at Osaka
were just as delicious as Amphitrite had promised, and the
mochi
with green tea ice cream centers made for an exotic and tasty dessert. Now
Poseidon strolled along the main boulevard with his mates, pleasantly full and giving
everything around him a look of mellow approval.

As they passed a shop that sold artisanal
jewelry and crafts, a display necklace on a black velvet stand caught his eye.
It was a stunning example of wire wrapping, with different gauges of sterling
silver wire curled in ornate scrolls around a polished chunk of malachite.

He remembered the boat trip on the Fourth
of July, and an idea formed. “Could we stop in here for a moment?” he asked.

Amphitrite’s eyebrows went up as she
noticed the shop front. “I never knew you were a patron of arts and crafts,
beloved.”

“I want to ask the proprietor a question.
Griffin?”

The former mortal shrugged easily. “Lead
on.”

Inside, the shop walls were lined with
strategically placed shelves and cases displaying various examples of artisanal
crafts. At the back was a counter staffed by a brown-haired woman with glasses
and an amiable expression. She looked up from a tangle of wire and small
peridot
chunks at their approach.

“Hi, welcome to Special Things,” she said
with a smile. “Can I help you?”

Poseidon smiled back. “I noticed the
silver and malachite necklace in the window. I was wondering if the designer
takes custom
requests?
”

The woman beamed at him. “That would be
me, and yes I do. What did you have in mind?”

He reached into his trouser pocket,
summoning the firework crystals and pulling them out. They glimmered softly on
his palm, still full of the light from which they’d been created. “I would like
to have these set in a necklace for my wife. Could you do something like that?”

Amphitrite gasped softly, peering more
closely at the stones. “Darling, really?”

“Yes.” He gave her a quick but promising
kiss. “The moment I saw them, I knew they were meant for you.”

The designer leaned over the counter, lips
pursing into an admiring O as she examined the stones. “Wow, those are lovely.
I’ve never seen stones like that—what are they?”

“A special type of sea glass,” Poseidon said.
“I don’t want them faceted or cut in any way. Can you wrap them with gold or
silver?”

Before the designer could answer
Amphitrite said, “No,
wait.
Could you use antique
brass instead?”

Poseidon peered at his wife. “Are you
sure? Gold would look splendid.”

“Yes, but antique brass is a very light,
delicate brown,” Amphitrite explained. “It would look stunning against the blue
of the stones.”

“She’s right,” the designer said. “Wait a
minute.”

She ducked under the desk, rustling around
for a moment before coming up with a well-used sketch pad. “I have a new design
I wanted to try with antique brass,” she said, flipping through the pad until
she came to a page that featured a necklace made from small linked beads
flanked with metal
roundrels
. The central pendant was
a stone wrapped with delicate, intricate swirls of wire and encrusted with tiny
gemstones that twinkled against the brass. “I was going for a piratical feel,
kind of like treasure that’s been brought up from a sunken ship. Instead of a
central pendant, I could use all three stones as a central feature. Would that
be something you’d like?”

Amphitrite gave the woman a delighted smile.
“Oh, very much so.”

“Excellent. Then we have a deal,” Poseidon
said as Griffin winked at him.

The designer gave her name as Janell, and
said that she could have the necklace ready in three weeks. She quoted a price
that Poseidon decided was in keeping with a tourist town—high enough to make
money off the summer people, but far too low for anything that would be worn by
his queen. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of local currency,
counting off a thousand dollars and laying them on the counter with the stones.

Janell blanched as she picked up the money
and counted it. “This is too much,” she protested. “I mean,
way
too much. Like three times.”

“Consider it a tribute to your artistry,”
Poseidon said. “I may have some other commissions for you in the coming months,
as well.” Which was true enough. As well as wanting to see Griffin wearing a
pendant in the style of his trident, he supposed he should start sweetening his
horde of sisters-in-law. “If you have time, of course.”

A dazed Janell just nodded, still staring
at the money. Griffin grabbed a nearby receipt pad and jotted down his contact
details on the back, then prompted the designer to write up a receipt for the
necklace.

Afterwards, the three of them strolled out
of the store into the hot sunshine. “You, my beloved, are a sneaky old bull,”
Amphitrite said, sliding her arm around his waist and giving him a squeeze.

“Why, yes,” Poseidon agreed, smiling at
the shimmering blue water he could see at the end of the boulevard. “Yes, I
am.” He brushed the back of his hand against Griffin’s, feeling the connection among
the three of them steady and strong. “Shall we go home, loves?”

“Yeah,” Griffin agreed, and Amphitrite
gave him another squeeze. “Let’s go home.”

****

Late afternoon found the three of them
naked and in bed, languidly kissing and touching. When Poseidon nudged
Amphitrite’s thighs apart and slid between them she was more than ready,
sighing happily as she worked to take all of him in. He started a slow,
deliberate stroke, making minute adjustments each time until he found the angle
that made her gasp in pleasure.

Griffin stretched out beside her, kissing
and nibbling her neck while he played with Poseidon’s flexing ass. “Christ, I
love watching you two,” he said, brown eyes glowing with desire.

“I know,” she gasped, abruptly breathless
after a deep thrust. Griffin’s cock pressed against her hip, and she slid her
hand down between their bodies, just managing to wrap her fingers around him
and stroke the tip. “I want you next.”

Poseidon chuckled, pausing in mid-stroke
to kiss her chin. “Not if I wear you out first, beloved.”

She grinned up at her husband, flexing her
inner muscles and wringing a moan out of him. “That’s the lovely thing about
being female,” she said. “I’m multi-orgasmic. You’re going to have to make an
effort to wear me out.”

“Oh, really?” Poseidon gave Griffin one of
those amused male looks. “I do believe we’ve been challenged.”

“Challenge accepted,” Griffin said,
gleeful.

To Amphitrite’s delight they proceeded to
do wonderfully wicked things to every erogenous zone on her body that they
could find, and a few new ones that she didn’t even know she had. She had two
orgasms before Poseidon finally came with a lovely groan. He switched places
with Griffin, who was currently teasing her with a slow, shallow stroke while
Poseidon used his mouth to map every inch of her torso.

“Wait, I’ve got an idea.” Griffin pulled
out and shifted until he was sitting back on his heels. Sliding his hands under
her thighs, he pulled her up into his lap until her head and shoulders were the
only parts still resting on the mattress. He slid back inside her, hands
splayed over her hipbones as he started the same shallow thrust. In this
position, however, it rubbed directly against that lovely spot behind her pubic
bone. “How’s that, love?”

Pleasure burned through her, sharp and
pure. “Don’t stop.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Mm, perfect.” Poseidon turned, getting on
his knees and kissing his way down her stomach. The soft prickle of his beard
added an additional layer of teasing sensation. She felt him kiss the curls on
her pubic mound, and then his tongue lapped at the junction where Griffin
entered her, finding her clit and going to work on it with ravenous eagerness.
She wasn’t sure what turned her on more, that her formerly stolid husband was
eating her out with such abandon or that he was tasting both Griffin and her
while he did it.

She turned and saw Poseidon’s hard cock
pointing straight downwards from his groin. She reached out and stroked it,
urging him closer until she could lick the dark purple, bulbous tip. She tasted
salt and the musk that was uniquely him.

He took the hint and shifted until he was
straddling her head. Using her hand to rub the shaft of his cock, she ran the
flat of her tongue around the ridge before pointing it and teasing the even
more sensitive triangle of flesh just under the flared tip. More salt welled
onto her tongue, and she felt him moan against her clit. Feeling wicked, she
sucked the head into her mouth, applying the suction she knew he loved and
stroking him with one hand while the other slipped upwards and played with his
heavy balls.

Between Griffin’s cock and Poseidon’s
tongue she got close to coming one more time, moaning around the thick flesh in
her mouth. She could sense Poseidon and Griffin were also close to climax, and
wanted to join them in it.
Together, my
loves. Come with me.

“
Ammie
!” Griffin
shouted hoarsely, clenching her hips as he emptied himself inside her with a
final juddering thrust. She took Poseidon as deep as she could, swallowing
around him. The God of the Sea bellowed at that and gushed into her mouth. Her
mates’ combined pleasure crashed over her and triggered her own orgasm, washing
her away into a world of mindless bliss.

When she was able to think again she found
Griffin sprawled on her left side while a sated Poseidon lay with his head
cushioned on her thigh, stroking the sensitive flesh just under her breast.
“Have I mentioned recently how much I love the both of you?” he murmured.

“Mm, I think I heard something about
that,” Griffin mumbled into her hair as his own hand splayed across her belly.
“Love you both, too.”

Amphitrite smiled, putting a hand over
each of theirs. “My loves,” she said, eyes closing in contentment.

Chapter Sixteen

Thetis floated in the pool, staring up at
the night sky. The underwater lights made her feel like she was in one of the
sacred springs on Olympus, and the warm, chlorinated water soothed her skin and
helped her to think.

This last encounter with Poseidon and his
merry band of idiots had been a costly one, but informative nonetheless. Her
brother-in-law’s touching concern for his creatures, not to mention the
land-based vermin, was an effective trigger that could keep him occupied if properly
used.

Or so she’d thought. Killing Poseidon’s
beloved human should have driven him into an unthinking rage, during which she had
planned on striking at him. With her venom controlling the God of the Sea,
nothing could stand against her.

She frowned. Her plan would have worked
perfectly if it hadn’t been for her damned sister’s interference, not to
mention Gaia’s infuriating decision to bring back the dead vermin as yet
another new god.
Playing favorites again,
Grandmother? I’ll make you choke on it.

She kicked her feet in irritation. At
least the mansion had been perfect for her needs. Large and richly appointed,
it commanded a private beachfront and was isolated from its neighbors. Its
owner was wealthy and worked from home, so his absence from the outside world
wouldn’t be noted for some time. He was also reasonably handsome and quite well
endowed for vermin, so after a careful dosing she’d kept him for entertainment.
The other inhabitants of the mansion, however, had been surplus to her needs.

She smiled at the memory. Her minions had
fed well that night.

A gentle splash at the edge of the pool
caught her attention. “Yes?”

The owner stood there, naked as per orders
and head respectfully bowed. What came out of his mouth, however, was not
human. “You promised me a strong body, Thetis.”

She flicked her fingers in the water. “You
didn’t like my
kētos
?”

“It was defeated too easily.”

“It took two gods to do so. I wouldn’t
call that easily defeated. But I’ll add some more refinements to the next
version.”

He grunted. “Armor on the belly would be a
good idea. And sharper claws.”

Another flick of her fingers. “Consider it
done.”

Yes, the mansion was luxurious and its
owner attractive and biddable. More important, however, was the discovery that
her new slave was one of those mortals who was involved in modern technology.
After she ravaged his body she did the same to his mind, finding to her delight
that there was a reason for the tiny, distracting whispers that plagued her. A
reason that she could turn to her own use.

Nanotechnology.
How clever of the vermin.

The ilkothelloi and her other changed
creatures had all been done on instinct, more luck than control involved in
their creation. The
kētos
was the first true use of her new knowledge. Even defeated, it had provided her
with a great deal of information. The new creatures already growing in their watery
nursery would be far more refined.

And with the assistance of the being
currently inhabiting her slave, there wouldn’t be a creature on the planet that
could withstand her. Not even her grandmother.

Cheered now, she said, “I suggest you go
select which body you want to use next. I’m in the mood to play.”

The owner sneered at that, but put a hand
on his breast and nodded. When he looked up again, all she saw in his gaze was the
vermin’s hopeless terror.

It was delicious. “Come here,” she
ordered.

Whimpering, her slave slid into the pool.

The
End