Make Love Not War

He didn’t deserve to be in the same room—didn’t deserve to breathe the same air—as her. Tantalus knew that. Fucking knew it down to the marrow of his bones, the god blood in his veins, but it didn’t stop him following her to hell when she came for him. Or from taking anything she was willing to give—her attention, a kiss, a fuck, her heart—even when he would never be worthy of it. He would take her as Angel or Dark. He would take her as anything... any form until the end of the world and beyond. Because there was no one and *nothing* else that mattered more to him.

He watched over her through the entirety of her life and that fact alone should have made sure he never felt this way. Of course it didn’t though, because he was a pathetic sack of shit. No one looked at him the way she did. It was his own fault but the facts didn’t change. She should never have been more than a job. But she didn’t think he was a monster. So, he enjoyed her company despite himself. And sought her light. By the time she was a teen, that platonic love was twisting into something else and a good man would have run the other way.

If he were a good man, he would have kept his distance, locked down those thoughts and feelings that seemed to grow out of that innocent love because he wasn’t innocent. And there was nothing he could do to change that about himself. If it made him sick, then so be it. If it made him depraved...

Once he realized he craved her company, he should have buried himself in Calypso and lost himself there. To hell with what he wanted, he should have done what she needed. And that was to be as far away from his darkness as possible. He should have accepted how fucked it all was. He might have been able to do it if Asteria hadn’t removed her memories. When she looked at him like a stranger... a stranger she still desired... Well, he wasn’t strong enough for that.

And the whole thing was a fucked mess before it even began.

Tantalus heard of Cue’s death. Heard the way he’d been found and who had done it. But the news was hollow. It was water slipping through his fingers. He just couldn’t grab the emotion required to give a damn. Even though that had been his oldest and only friend, that death still did nothing to him. Hearing of Calypso’s death mattered even less. He’d signed his only chance at happiness over to Asteria because of her. Because he tried to be decent for once in his life.

Asteria would have found another way to get him to sign. Tantalus wasn’t naive enough to think otherwise. The fate didn’t take no for an answer on anything. But it didn’t mean the sentiment about Cally rang any less true. Her death meant nothing to him. Maybe even less than nothing.

But thinking Angel had died with the Titans? It wrecked him. Fucked him up badly. He had not been able to breathe. Or sleep. Or eat. For the months that he thought the worst, Tantalus considered ways of ending his miserable existence every waking hour. What right did he have to live? What was the point of it all if she was gone—if the only light he’d ever let into the dark, was snuffed out? He could endure the thought of her happy elsewhere with someone better than him. The thought of that someone being Hades made his stomach roll, but he could bear it because at least she would be alive. And that light would be shining somewhere.

The alternative unmade him. The carefully crafted god he forced himself to be turned to ash in an instant. Gods, watching her now as she tried to impose her will on him felt like a sin. No one as awful as him should be this close to heaven and live. Her bare chest cresting the water’s edge, the curve of her thighs, the shape of her hips still visible under the ripples of bathwater.

“Not happening, sneaky god, nice try,” Dark’s breathless voice was somewhere between misery and humor as she forced her back to stay planted against the tub. The sound jolted Tali from his thoughts. He wanted her to lean forward, to take him in her mouth and pump. Dark would love to do it and didn’t need tempting to get her there. But in this game of wills, she was determined not to make it easy.

“Well, a god can dream can’t he,” Tali laughed, the sound deep and velvety. She reversed the temptation, pushing a thought of him on his knees between her legs. He groaned, gripping the rounded lip of the tub. “So pretty.”

“Did you mean pretty? Or petty?”

“I meant pretty, love” he hissed, eyes dilating, “The sight of you on my tongue is… there aren’t words.”

“What can I say? I learned from the best,” she smirked, enjoying the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. The way his dick kicked up and down with need. For a moment, Tali let himself play but all too soon, his thoughts descended again.

The things he’d done to her—the things he would do *for* her... He hadn’t been a good man and he was a shit god too. The kind of selfish, heartless prick who burned every single olive branch offered to him. Who destroyed every ounce of trust ever given to him.

What he’d done to her... there was no coming back from that. Part of him knew or had started to know at the involution dinner, that he would never get a happy ending. He hadn’t had a happy start so why would he get a happy finish? The knowledge didn’t stop him from thinking of her, craving every kiss or brush of her fingers on his skin. Didn’t stop him from sitting in that tub and sharing her bath when he didn’t have the right to trace her supple skin. Or watch the light glitter across her skin, turning it a perfect shade of cinnamon. But look he did. And want.

He needed her. Could never undo that tie from his heart. But her words—*I don’t blame you. Don’t see the point of it*—

Tantalus felt the press of her power over him, effectively putting his thoughts on pause. He enjoyed the warmth for a moment, then severed her hold. Dark had improved because every attempt was harder to deflect. She grumbled something defiant and angry.

“Again,” he panted. She had almost succeeded in pulling him under her current. That was the point of the exercise, after all. To ensure he would never be able to hurt her again. No matter what.

Dark set her jaw, noticing the strain on his brow where a bit of perspiration beaded. For a moment Tantalus sank further into the water. Dark had finally managed to make resisting temptation difficult for him, though she was her own mess of desire and sweat, despite the clean water between them. He seemed pleased, if not flustered.

Tantalus had walked her through the steps of forcing herself over someone else. Her initial idea had been correct but the execution was flawed. And the amount of power she’d been using wasn’t nearly enough for active temptation. Perhaps it was because Tantalus was literally the god of temptation but Dark found herself surprisingly spent after pushing thread after thread of power into her intention.

However long the training had lasted, two things were clear... One: passive temptation required pushing power *into* someone while active required pushing power *over* someone. That’s the best way she could describe it. She was using her power like a blanket that covered all a person’s natural inclinations in favor of what she chose. And two: she was going to thoroughly wreck the god when she finally got her hands on him. And trust, it was going to be soon.

Every command had been purely sexual and her body might as well have been a rubber band about to snap. Restless energy coiled in every inch of her, low and deep. And judging from Tali’s shaky breaths, he was much the same.

The bubbles had disappeared long ago though the water still remained hot. Dark had no problem seeing straight through the surface to his hardened flesh, dark with need and bobbing every time she risked a glance. She wouldn’t be able to think straight until she seated herself right there. And she wouldn’t be able to seat herself until one of them surrendered and lost the game. As much as she told herself she could accept defeat, her pride won out every time so far.

Trying again, she pressed her power against his skin but this time, he did the same. She sucked in a sharp breath, tingles ripping through her. Gods, it was too much—the pleasure so sharp it was pain. The well of need so deep she could drown. Tantalus’ jaw twisted and clenched as her emotions changed, strengthening the gravity between them.

It felt like someone dragged a tongue over every inch of her. She couldn’t hold herself together as her body begged for more. For something real.

“I can’t. I... I’m done.” she gasped, admitting defeat. Exhaustion and temptation pulled the edges of her vision gray. Almost immediately the familiar presence of his power coated her skin then took hold. She leaned into the submission, finding his control as intoxicating as her own over him. He coaxed her pulse higher.

“Come here.” Even as he said the words, he was already meeting her halfway. Mouth warm and hungry, Tantalus met her moan with his own as Dark wrapped her legs around him. A breathless, hungry sound escaped their locked lips and there was no way to know who it belonged to. Maybe both. Water splashed over the edge, sloshing angrily around their movements, and neither cared.

Working his tongue between her lips, he mapped her mouth with his, explored every soft, wet inch while he backed her up against the curved wall of the tub. Closer. He needed to be closer. Swirling his tongue around hers, he pretended he was a better man. One who deserved to be here between her legs. And even if he wasn’t, he couldn’t stop now. Could never turn her down.

Tantalus sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, dragging the tip of his tongue along it before he released. Her chest pressed harder to him, nipples slick and beaded with water. Up and down. Up and down, the rhythm of her chest against his own. For a moment, he felt wild, gripping the tub lip behind her to center his tension. She wasn’t human anymore but still, the need to be careful of hurting her weighed heavy on him.

“Your mouth,” she begged, whimpering it against his jaw as she worked her fingers in his hair. Kissing along her jaw and up to her ear, he admitted, “I would kill for these.” At the same moment, his fingers found her nipple, rubbing and squeezing it with just enough pressure to make her legs weak. He would kill for them.

“And these,” he palmed her breast, kneading and smoothing his hands over it, cupping it firmly until he brought his mouth down to meet it. The growl was clearly hers as she leaned her head back to give him more room to work.

Releasing the tub, his fingers slicked down her sides, over her ribs. Lower they went as he sucked and grated against her breast with his teeth, scoring her skin with his sharp canines. His fingers ghosted over her abs, along her hips, to grip her thighs, widening them.

Dark gasped, clenching his hair in her hand so hard she was sure it would hurt. But she didn’t care. If she didn’t hold onto something she would get too lost... probably never find her way back from this edge. She felt primal and wild, tightened up inside to the point of bursting and she wanted to burst. Wanted to splinter and crumble around him. On him.

So fast she couldn’t track the movement, Tali had shifted a hand to her core, running a thumb over her opening, dipping in briefly, before continuing up to her clit. He pressed gently at first, rolling it around with the pressure of his thumb as her mouth fell open, fangs long and glinting in the light. Desire threatened to drown him, snuff him out. And it would be a glorious way to go.

Pressing his longest finger to her entrance, he increased the pressure on her clit with his thumb until she rocked her body against him. Head thrown back and resting against the lip of the tub, mouth open and making soft gasping sounds that made his dick weep, gripping his shoulders hard enough to hurt... Dark had him captivated. Completely enthralled as she rose her hips above the water and rolled, falling back down below the surface.

He knew she needed him. It was the strange, warm sensation spreading through him—completely foreign and sweet—that told him what she was unconsciously doing. And if he weren’t so far gone, he might have praised her ability to push her emotions onto him. But that would have to be a conversation for more rational times. He pressed his finger inside, rubbing along her wall to find the place that always made her shatter.

She hissed, stretching her thighs wider and he felt the rush of her arousal mixing with his.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for this,” he wiggled his finger slowly for emphasis, his voice composed of nothing but gravel and fire. Dark leaned forward and ran her tongue along the column of his throat as if she couldn’t help herself. Drunk on him. On the way they were together. Her nails dug into the skin of his shoulders. With another rub of his thumb, he pulled free from her heat and lifted her hips from the water.

Before Dark could protest, she felt the first pass of his tongue. Thighs resting on his shoulders, head on the lip of the tub, Dark had no choice but to take it. The tip of his tongue skirted her clit, playfully then he flattened and rolled it. She might have seen stars, might have made a desperate sound she’d never heard before. Tali’s appreciative rumble sent vibrations through her as she tried to remember how to breathe. How to not come… apart...

“Gods yes, fuck yes,” she sounded like she was begging though she wasn’t entirely sure what she was begging for. More? Less? Clutching her hips hard like a lifeline, Tali worked her over with his mouth. Expertly taking her to the edge only to stop before she could come.

“Please,” she begged, still unsure of what she was asking for. Tali smiled against her slick flesh, “No, little love, not yet.”

A lifetime of begging and moaning later, he lowered her hips, holding them firm as he stepped from the tub. “If you don’t want me to fuck you, say something now before I go too far.”

Dark almost laughed. There was no such thing as too far with him as far as she was concerned. She would go to the edge and beyond with him. Dark tugged his hair until she could devour his mouth again as they walked. If Dark had been a rubber band, she was snapped open now. The handful of steps from the bathroom to the bed were too many and she found herself writhing atop him.

She devoured his mouth in those steps, licked along the seam, bit his lip and pulled until a bit of blood beaded. She lapped it up, starved for the liquid heat and so much more. Then she went to his throat, messily tasting anything she could. Scratching hungrily with her canines until he made a needy sound. Had she ever felt this wild—this close to her true self? Had Angel? She wanted to consume him, to eat and drink and fuck and devour until there was nothing left of him. She wanted to use him and be used.

The second her back hit the bed, she growled and reached for him, his eyes a consuming dark as he snatched her wrists and pressed them into the bed. Gathering two of her hands into one of his own, Tali used his free hand to push one thigh open so he could settle there.

“You make a mess of me,” he groaned, resting his forehead on her chest, “I don’t think I’ll last...”

Breathless, already scratching at his heavy hand in desperate anticipation, Dark managed to say, “Then you’ll have to make it up to me, Tantalus. But I swear if you don’t, do something, I’m going to make you.” Her voice tapered off into a whimper.

“Bold words when it’s much more likely I could make you do whatever I want.” To prove his point, Dark felt his power skirting over her skin but instead of trying to push it away, she welcomed it. He barked a curse, his dick slicking against her once, twice, as he felt the flush of her emotions mixing with his own. Laughing, Dark snapped her thighs closed around him and rolled them over.

Tugging her hands away from his grip, she planted them on his chest, “I have my own tricks, love.” Leaning down to his ear, she gently kissed the space behind his earlobe then bit. He cried out, holding her firm as the warm metallic taste filled her mouth. After a mouthful. Then another, she retracted and Tali shivered beneath her. 

”And I don’t think I ever told you how much I *love* it when you tempt me.”