Aftermath

The Four Heavenly Knights stood before me. Alma Elma, Tamamo, Erubetie, and Granberia. This was not a friendly occasion. I had invaded their home to teach them a lesson. It was time that they stopped attacking humans. They told me they would only stop if I showed them my power. I had to defeat them. Something about this seemed familiar. Had I done this once before?

I put those thoughts aside as Alma Elma stepped forward to be my first opponent. I expected her to use pleasure attacks on me, but instead, she struck a martial arts pose. Using her mastery of the air element, she struck with blinding speed and incredible power due to the sheer velocity of her blows. She never even touched me. I had Sylph, and Sylph was in an angry mood. Normally the least serious of the spirits(perhaps it was just the nature of the air element?), she was determined to demonstrate her superiority. Alma Elma, as impressive as she was at fighting, was moving in slow motion compared to me. I placed her in a hold that forced her to submit. Had this been the way it had gone before? I couldn't remember.

My next opponent was Tamamo. With her mastery of the earth element, she would be the strongest opponent in terms of sheer power. Gnome, despite her silence, was seething. Whatever power Tamamo had, Gnome would give me even more. Tamamo wrapped me in her tails. I broke out, briefly messing up those tales, sending hair flying everywhere. Angered, Tamamo, tried her Moon Cannon technique. It hit me directly, but didn't even scratch me. She fell over, exhausted.

Erubetie came forward, determined to kill me. She hated me and everything I stood for. She went straight to her best attack, a wave of slime that would hit me with such force that I'd be knocked prone and probably knocked out, if not killed. The wave hurt, but I was not knocked down. I retaliated with a wave of my own, made of my power. The queen slime staggered, at least a third of her scattered all around the great hall. Had I been able to do that before? My memory was so fuzzy. Why did it seem like I'd done this before, but differently?

"Erubetie," I warned. "If that was the best you had, you should surrender. Because what I did to you wasn't even a tenth of my power."

"Granberia shall finish you, then," Erubetie replied. "You are far too dangerous to be permitted to live. No human must possess that kind of power."

Granberia stepped forward, her great sword drawn. As much as I loved her, I had no time for this. I needed to get to Alice. Why? I couldn't remember. I just knew that I loved her and this was important. With a single blast I leveled Granberia, knocking her cold. I would have to apologize to her later and make it up to her by battling her blade versus blade when the stakes were lower.

This had been a contest to demonstrate my power and it had been amply demonstrated. The Four Heavenly Knights had been defeated in five minutes. A voice rang out from the throne room.

"Great hero Luka, congratulations on defeating my Heavenly Knights," Alice's voice said, amplified by magic. "Come and fulfill your quest."

What was my quest? I couldn't remember. Was I supposed to defeat her as I did the Knights, or something else? I guess I'd have to go to her to find out.

"Luka! Wait!" Tamamo shouted behind me. I ignored her as I dashed down the hall.

Entering the throne room, Alice was awaiting me. "Greetings, hero!" the Monster Lord said. "You have fought many battles to get to this point. Now, fulfill your destiny, and strike me down!"

This was wrong. I wouldn't do it. I wanted to object, but I couldn't. For some reason my mouth opened and nothing came out.

"Why don't you attack?!" Alice yelled. "I am your enemy! Why else did you come here? Did you journey all this way to become a meal?"

I tried to tell her that I loved her. I knew I mouthed the words, but no sound came. She urged me to speak up if I had something to say. But my voice was gone. I could only stand there helplessly. With a sneer of contempt, she struck at me with her dark magics. I put up no resistance and went down immediately. Alice approached me slowly, looking down at me. There was no love in those eyes. Only the stern, hard look of a monarch dealing with a threat to her rule.

"Since you came here as a hero," she said. "It falls upon me as the Monster Lord to consume you. I don't know why you came here and went to the trouble of defeating my Knights only to give up so easily when you faced me. Were you paralyzed by fear?"

Finally I found my voice. "Alice," I said weakly. I remembered that I had come here to prove my strength to her, to show that I was worthy of marrying her. Why had I forgotten that? I had failed. "Alice, I love you."

"You love me?" the Monster Lord asked, amused. "What makes you think I'd be interested in such foolishness?"

"We traveled together," I said. "Don't you remember?"

"I haven't left this castle in years," the Monster Lord said. "You are obviously a crazy person. At least you smell delicious."

A huge, cavernous mouth opened just below her belly. Tentacles reached out for me, pulling me in. I tried to scream but no sound came out. Alice laughed as she began consuming me.

I awoke with a start, sweating and breathing hard. Alice was up like a shot, sleeping light as usual.

"Luka! What's wrong? Another nightmare? Do I even want to know what this one was about?"

I tried to pull myself together. My attempt at doing so was curtailed by Alice's tail wrapping around me. I didn't even have to summon Gnome or use my power to break out, so powerful was my fear and adrenaline. I fell out of bed onto the stone floor.

"I guess that answers that question," Alice said, looking down at me, her face peering over the huge bed. "Are you going to be okay, honey? Is there anything I can do?"

"I think…." I stammered. "I think I need to go to my room for the rest of the night."

"Your room?" Alice asked. "This is your room. Oh, I get it. The room you stayed in those months you were afflicted. I understand. Go ahead. It's almost time for me to get up anyway. Try to get some decent rest. Take the day off of work if you need to. Monster Lord's orders!"

I nodded and picked myself up from the floor. I heard Alice weakly tell me that she loved me as I exited. I barely heard her. It had been only a month since I'd returned to our marital bedroom. Alice and I had tried to talk out our differences when I'd returned from facing Ilias and Alipheese, but not much had really been resolved. Our love was strong enough that we'd agreed to work things out. If you've followed my adventures up to this point, you know that I forgive easily. And I had forgiven Alice, I really had. But something had still changed between us in a fundamental way. You don't just move on from your wife trying to kill you. We had a lot to work out before things went back to normal.

Nevertheless, I was confident that things would indeed return to normal. It's not as if Alice was the only person in this castle who had tried to kill me. Some of my best friends had started out trying to kill me. Others had merely wanted to enslave me. I not only forgave them all, I'd developed deep friendships with them. Time would heal the emotional wounds Alice had inflicted upon me. For the time being, however, I would need to sleep somewhere else. Alice was naturally predatory even when on her best behavior. It would take me some time to be able to handle that again.

Despite the fact that it was a couple of hours before dawn, I passed a few monsters walking down the halls. A couple nodded respecffully, acknowledging my status as the Monster Lord's husband. More familiar ones whistled at me in appreciation. Oops. I was wearing nothing but my underwear. I smiled despite the monsters' ogling, remembering how great my body had become from living in this world. On my own world, I had been embarrassed to take my shirt off around people. I wasn't overweight, but I had been flabby. Now I was chiseled.

Just before I reached my room, I encountered Granberia. Granberia, like Alice, needed less sleep than humans did. Monsters varied a great deal in their sleep habits. Tamamo slept about ten to twelve hours a day, always retiring before Alice and me, and always rising sometime after I began my work day. Alma Elma also valued her beauty sleep, not only sleeping long, but also napping. She liked to go to bed late, however, usually after midnight, and woke up at the crack of noon. Granberia, instead of ogling, looked concerned.

"Heading to your own room?" she asked. "I hope things aren't too bad between you and Alipheese."

"No," I assured her. "Just nightmares. It's not easy waking up next to the subject of your nightmare."

"I admit I've had the same nightmares," Granberia replied. "In some, she consumes you. I dreamed that I'd lost my best friend forever, and I was forced to watch. In others, I commit treason, and kill her."

"Are you going to tell her about what you were about to do?" I asked.

"Ah, you saw," she said. "There was no need for Alipheese and I to speak of it. I know that she was aware of what I was doing. She has chosen to not make an issue of it. Perhaps she wanted me to stop her. You realize that she didn't really want to eat you, don't you? She was praying that either you or I would prevent it."

" I know why she did it," I said. "She was still wrong, though."

Granberia grunted her agreement. "Would you like me to be with you as you sleep? Sleeping alone can be difficult when you've had nightmares. I can comfort you."

"No," I demurred. "This is hard enough for Alice without me running into the arms of another woman. I thrive when I'm alone. Maybe that's what I need for awhile. Maybe I just came back too quickly. I probably should have gone home for awhile."

"Why didn't you?"

"I guess I was scared that if I did, I'd never get back. I have no way of getting through that portal. Someone has to come and get me. I guess I feared that Alice would order you all to leave me in my world, thinking it was what was best for me."

"This is your world now," Granberia said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "And this castle is your home. Go, seek solitude in your room. If you need me, just think of me and I will be there."

"Think of you?"

"Ah, I haven't told you," Granberia said with a grin. "We've been telling you for years that you should learn how to communicate as we do. I've grown close enough to you that I can hear impressions of your thoughts when you are broadcasting them. If you call for me in your mind, I will hear."

I wondered if Alice could do that. I had to assume that she could. Or maybe she couldn't? Despite the fact that I loved her more than any other, I had always gotten the impression that Granberia was more in love with me than Alice was. Sometimes I felt guilty that I hadn't chosen Granberia. Maybe that's why Alice had always been so tolerant, even supportive, of my relationship with the Knight.

I hugged Granberia goodbye and finally made it to my room. I'd always dreamed of owning a mansion, but this castle was bigger than any mansion I could possibly imagine on my home world. Sometimes it made me long for my two bedroom apartment. Maybe I should talk to Promestein, I thought. Promestein would come and get me. She didn't consider Alice to be her boss. I was. It was ironic that on this one thing, I could rely on Promestein more than the people who cared most about me.

I got into bed with a sigh of relief. I really did like being alone as much as I liked being with the people I loved. I rarely had nightmares when sleeping alone. I quickly drifted off to sleep.

I awoke late. I guessed that it was a couple of hours before noon. Usually I was up an hour after dawn and in the office with Nanabi, my work spouse, so to speak, by what would be considered 9 AM if we were on my world. Nanabi wouldn't be expecting me anyway. I had yet to return to work. I resolved to begin going back to the office starting tomorrow. I missed my routine.

The door to my room cracked open. "Darling?" a familiar voice said.

"Come in, Alice," I said. "I'm glad to see you. Aren't you busy, though?"

"I don't have much going on today," Alice said, entering the room. "Honestly, I rarely have anything truly important to do. You've done such a great job reducing the amount of trouble in the world that I have it easier than any Monster Lord in history."

I noticed that she was in her human form. It was very rare that she took that form while in the castle. Was she in that form because she thought it would make me more comfortable?

"I'm glad I could help," I said. "Hopefully that was my last 'adventure'. I'm really getting to hate adventure."

"Yeah, almost dying gets old, doesn't it?" she said with a thin smile. "Luka, can we talk?"

"Of course. I didn't leave your room because I'm upset with you. I just have… issues."

"I know," she replied. "And I've been the cause of at least half of them. I've been doing a lot of thinking the last month, and I finally realized that I owe you an apology."

That was new. Alice rarely apologized for anything. I gestured for her to go on.

"It seems like whenever something really important is happening," she began. "I get things wrong. As in, really, horribly wrong. Trying to force you to kill me, trying to kill you…."

"Yes," I agreed. "I really think we should remove all killing from our relationship. It's very unhealthy."

Alice laughed ruefully. "I promise never to ask you to kill me, or try to kill you, ever again. It was a terrible thing to do. I thought I was motivating you. I was obsessed with revenge against those alleged goddesses. I should have respected your wishes. I've wronged you in so many ways since I've known you. It amazes me that you still love me. I'm just glad that your forgiving nature seems to apply double to me."

"In the end, dealing with them was the right thing," I said. "Promestein was manipulating me into facing them just as you were. She was just… more proactive about it."

"Yes," Alice agreed, anger creeping into her voice. "She set the whole situation up, trying to provoke a confrontation between you and those two."

"Ilias and Alipheese provoked the confrontation, not Promestein. They went to her, she didn't go to them. Promestein simply came up with a method of giving them what they wanted that would lead to their eventual defeat."

"I don't know how I can make this up to you," Alice said. "But I can do two things that might help. First, if you do want to go back to your world for awhile, I won't just leave you there. I'll come by every week or so, your time, to visit and find out if you're ready to come back. If you do decide that you'd rather stay here, don't feel like you have to share a room with me until you're ready. Furthermore, I'm reinstating your hall pass."

"For birthdays?" I asked.

"No, as in anytime. At least for awhile. Especially the Knights. They've been much better friends to you than I have. They also deserve to be rewarded for all they did for you while you were bedridden. I also understand that you probably won't want to have sex with me for awhile."

"I'd like to have sex with you right now, actually," I said. "Alice, I could never stop desiring you. Just… try to be less…"

"Predatory?" she asked. "It's who I am. Lamias are one of the most predatory monster races in the world. Maybe that's been part of the problem. Luka…. Are you afraid of me?"

I thought about that question. In truth, I was afraid. But not just of her.

"I admit I am, a little," I answered. "Not just of you, but of the Knights as well. I love you all, but there's always been an element of fear as well. Two of the Knights tried to kill me, Granberia attacked me repeatedly and hurt me badly during our journey together, and Tamamo…"

"Tamamo did nothing to you, but her counterpart in Ariana's world did."

"Yeah," I said. "Then there's Cindy."

"Just remember that you're more powerful than any of us now. You don't need to be afraid anymore. So…. About that sex that you wanted…. Maybe I should do it in this form. You've never told me whether you think my human form is beautiful or not."

"Your human form is stunning," I said. "I fell in love with your true form, but you make a pretty lovely human as well."

"Thank you," she said, beaming. "I try really hard to make myself look good in this form. Since I hadn't seen many humans and no human women, I wasn't sure what would look good."

"You probably should have removed the marking from your face," I said helpfully. "Humans don't mind what looks like tattoos on a woman's body, but a face tattoo…."

"Yeah, I guess I never thought to worry about that," she chuckled. "I just needed to not be blue and have legs instead of a tail. I'm used to this. It would take effort to try to perfect it further."

"Believe me, it's amazing," I assured her.

"If it makes you feel safer for awhile, I'll stay in this form as long as you want me to when I'm around you."

"You don't have to do that, but I appreciate the thought. I know you don't like spending much time in that form."

"For you, it's a small sacrifice," she said, wrapping her arms around me and joining me in my bed. "So since I shouldn't be predatory, why don't you take control this time? Do whatever you want. Whatever will make you happy."

I began kissing her and lightly touching her breasts. She always wore so little that getting to her breasts was as simple as moving a little cloth out of the way. Despite the fact that I was using no magic on her, she was into it. I suspected it was more emotional than physical for her. We'd made love the night I'd returned. As promised, the makeup sex had been out of this world. But we hadn't done anything since then. I'd flinched when she'd tried to approach me for feeding and had backed off. She hadn't asked me to let her feed since. She had to be ravenous. I decided to keep the foreplay short, knowing that her reaction to my touch was not just emotional hunger, but physical hunger as well.

I removed my underwear and got on top of her. I could count on my fingers the number of times I'd done the missionary position with her. She usually liked to be on top. She was almost always the aggressor, which wasn't unusual for monsters, but for lamias it was almost essential. It took a lot of trust for a lamia to let a man take control.

I found that she was not as lubricated in this form as in her monster form. Normally, she required absolutely no foreplay in her true form. Her vagina was always ready for immediate penetration, practically salivating in hunger like her mouth would when she was hungry, probably because her vagina literally got hungry as well. As long as my penis was inside an opening of hers, my semen was carried to her stomach.That made all of her openings ready for me at all times.

I carefully pushed my penis into her, marveling at the new sensations. I had never entered her in her human form. It was nowhere near as immediately intense as her lamia vagina. Her human form was not just a disguise. It was as real as her true form. It was powerful magic, yet she could change with but a thought, even in my world, where she had only a tiny sliver of her magic to work with. Her anatomy in this form was so perfect that a doctor on my world would never be able to tell that she wasn't human. I wondered what her blood type was in this form.

Those thoughts became blurry as I picked up the pace at her urging, pumping in and out of her rapidly. She was indeed hungry and wanted my semen badly, even moreso now that I was in her. She began moving with me, adding in occasional weak squeezes with her vagina muscles. Nowhere near as powerful as in her monster form, but still amazing.

When I came inside her, she gasped in pleasure, more in satisfaction at her hunger being somewhat sated than anything else. Despite her desire to be less predatory, she grabbed me tightly and began moving faster, trying to get more out of me. I obliged, never slowing the pace, my lack of refractory period due to her inborn magic only making it more pleasurable to speed up after having an orgasm. In less than a minute, she received a second load for her second stomach.

More satisfied now, Alice loosened her hold on me and slowed down. "It's a little more work in this form," she breathed. "But I could get used to this. Wrapping my legs around you is almost as much fun as using my tail. In some ways it feels even more intimate."

She forced her small tongue into my mouth, kissing me passionately, something else that she rarely did. She was normally not a great kisser, being way too aggressive, almost choking me, with her extremely long tongue in her true form. In addition, she wasn't really all that interested in kissing to begin with. But in her human form, her kissing was a revelation. It almost felt like I was with another woman entirely. I reminded myself that I was probably the luckiest man on two worlds.

That thought, too, went away as I released inside her a third time, thanks to her having her own orgasm. She grinded against me, her nails digging into my back, her human teeth(thank goodness) embedded into my shoulder. I was most definitely not into pain, but for some reason the combination of her nails, teeth, and her body pressed tightly against mine made the third orgasm the best of the morning.

I rolled off of her, panting. Her breathing was heavy as well. She rolled over and looked at me, satisfaction and happiness on her face.

"Okay, we're definitely doing that more often," Alice said. "You could make me start to like my human form."

"I think I like it as well," I admitted. "Not more than your true form, but as a change of pace…"

"I agree," she giggled, kissing me again. "Could I bother you for one last favor?"

She reached down for my still erect penis. I knew immediately what she wanted. It had been a week. Alice was always ravenous under the best of circumstances, and I had a lot more to give. I nodded my assent. She slipped under the covers, already beginning to stroke me with her hand. I felt her tongue join her hand on the underside of my dick as she stroked. I simply laid back and enjoyed it. Even though I was just her prey now, it somehow seemed all right since she was in her human form. It may not have been as efficient as her monster form, but she still got fed. It just took a little longer. I wasn't complaining, and neither was she, as every ten minutes she would receive another savory load. Her endurance was endless, her hand continuing to pump, her tongue never leaving the underside of my penis except to swallow. There were advantages to having the most powerful monster in the world as my wife. She could literally have done this all day. As always, I ran out of endurance long before she did. When she was satisfied that she had drained me sufficiently, she emerged from under the covers to hold me as I fell back asleep.

"Luka… Oh Brave Luka."

"What is it, Ilias?"

"Is that how you speak to your goddess, hero? Did you not remember that we had a date?"

Oh yes, I had remembered that Eden had been wanting to set up occasional dates for me with Ilias to work on getting along better. Eden was confident that if only Ilias spent time with me, that whatever magic she thought I must have to make people into better versions of themselves would start to work on the goddess.

"Normal people text," I retorted.

"There is no texting on this world yet," Ilias replied. "Besides, this is better than texting, and you already know that I'm not ordinary. Why shouldn't I use what power I still have?"

Indeed, there was no texting, or cell phone service. That was a much more complicated proposition than electrification or even internet. We'd only just gotten land lines into most of the homes of the world, at least in the big cities.

"Figure of speech," I said. "So when do you want to go out?"

"Right now, of course!" Ilias said brightly. "I've come to pick you up. I've always wanted to try this wonderful restaurant on your world."

Without further ado or even a comfortable transition, I found myself seated at a table across from Ilias in what appeared to be a fine restaurant. As usual, the goddess was stunning, despite the fact that on my world she didn't have her divine glow to enhance her beauty.

"For someone who says she doesn't like how my world makes her feel, you sure come here a lot," I noted.

"I don't like being almost mortal," Ilias conceded. "But your world offers such a wide variety of delights that it's hard to resist. Have you ever been to Vegas? Alipheese took me there after our defeat. She wasn't kidding when she said it was awesome! So much to do!"

"I went once as a kid," I replied. "My grandparents were going. Obviously I couldn't take advantage of most of what Vegas had to offer, but it was still pretty fun. I've been meaning to go back as an adult, but I've never gotten around to it."

"Oh, we totally have to go some time!" Ilias squealed. "It'll be so much more fun with actual money to spend!"

"How did you do so much in Vegas without…. Never mind, I'm sure I don't want to know."

"What kind of woman do you take me for?" Ilias said, pouting. "This face gets me into anywhere I want. The only thing I couldn't do was gamble, but plenty of handsome men wanted me to blow on their dice for some reason. Once I figured out how the game they were playing worked, I made sure they won every time I blew on their dice. That got me even more gifts and favors."

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time," I said. "Maybe we will go sometime. I guess I can't get there any faster than to have you whisk me there. How does that work, anyway? Alice can't teleport me around this world."

"I can't teleport directly from one place to another either," Ilias replied. "At least not here. But I can teleport from my world to here pretty easily now, to any location or time I desire. You took most of my magic away, but the things I was best at when I was the supreme being of my world, I'm still quite good at. Manipulating time and space is one of those things. I can't do it as easily since you took your power away. You know, that power of yours makes everything easier."

"How so?"

"For starters, it's true god magic," she explained. "I call myself a god, but I have to cast spells just like mortals. I can't just will something to happen and then it happens. Your power allowed me to do that. I got a little full of myself because for the first time I truly felt like a goddess and not just a glorified light elemental playing as a goddess. You know, you didn't have to get half eaten by Alice. All you had to do was will her to be sealed."

"I can do that?" I asked.

Ilias banged her head on the table three times. "Yes! Of course you can do that! That sword you manifest is just your power being formed into what you want it to be! You could just skip the whole sword thing and go straight to sealing! It's so simple! How did you not figure that out?!"

"I guess it just never occurred to me," I admitted. "For the most part, I can only use my power to do things that I've done before by other means, or at least attempt things I've seen before, like teleporting. I never thought of sealing someone with a thought."

Ilias picked up a plate and began to chew on it. She actually broke a piece off.

"How does a moron like you get that kind of power!?" she yelled. "You say I'm a threat, but what happens when you accidentally blow up the world?!"

"I don't use it," I said. "That's how I don't blow up the world. It's not like it comes out uncontrollably very often, and when it does it's unfocused. Erubetie can do far more damage with a special ability of hers that turns her into a virtual nuclear bomb. If I did think it was a real threat to life, I'd just come back here where my power doesn't do much."

"Such a waste," Ilias sighed.

"Excuse me, ma'am, are you ready to order?"

The waiter, a handsome young man in a very snazzy outfit, waited expectantly. Ilias smiled at the man, clearly pleased with what she was seeing.

"Why yes," Ilias said sweetly. "I'd like the filet mignon, and so would my date here."

"An excellent choice," he said politely, then took down the rest of our order before leaving.

"Filet mignon?" I asked. "You have expensive tastes. I'm not sure that's what I would have ordered."

"Are you being cheap with the most sought after date in two universes?" Ilias asked with mock indignity. "It's supposed to be the finest cut of beef one can buy. I'd like to try it. Given all the trouble you've caused me, I'd say you owe me."

"Trouble I've caused you?" I asked, my indignation not faked at all. "Twice you've tried to mess up my life, three times if you count sending me to do your job saving the world while you pretended to be out of it."

"I wasn't pretending at first," Ilias said. "besides, that wasn't actually my job. The holy and dark energies of the world were out of balance. I had no means of restoring them. Only you could do that, with your power. Of course, going back and not taking Alipheese out of the world like you did the first time created a better result. You're welcome."

Geez, I can't even win arguments with my worst enemy, I thought. I chose to turn the conversation in a different direction.

"So why do you remember everything that happened in that other timeline and Eden doesn't?" I asked. "She cast the spell. Shouldn't she be the one who remembers both timelines?"

"She cast the spell the way I instructed her to cast it," Ilias explained. "The spell allowed only me to remember the deleted timeline. And you, of course, since it wouldn't have been very useful to just send you back with no memory. You would have done the same things all over again."

"And you did all that so that I would recreate you and Alipheese out of the same material, so that you could interact? I thought you hated her."

"I did," Ilias admitted. "But I also loved her. No one goes further back than we do. I longed to be able to interact with her. I was lonely for millions of years. It was all a big misunderstanding. We each dealt with our loneliness by creating other beings out of our own essence, then by influencing evolution when using our own material proved less than satisfying. But she had to create abominations that preyed on humans. Why wouldn't I be pissed about that?"

"I'm sure Alipheese would have a different point of view," I noted.

"Probably, but you'll never find out because Alipheese doesn't want to spend time with you. It's not that she hates you. It's just that she's accepted her defeat and has better things to do than bother you. It's because she doesn't hate you that she doesn't need to get to know you."

"So I'm assuming that means you do hate me," I observed.

"Oh, you can't even imagine!" Ilias said coldly. "I want nothing more than to laugh as you choke on your filet mignon. And yet…. Just as with Alipheese, I also love you. We've been through a lot together, and yet we've never truly interacted like this before. Eden says that if I'm going to be weaker than you I might as well learn to like you. I guess she's right. You could destroy me at any time, but you won't. So I guess we might as well learn to get along."

Our salads arrived. Ilias joyfully experimented with numerous dressings. I preferred my veggies plain. I chuckled at her table manners. Ilias and Alice had more in common than they thought. Not being used to eating as humans did, Ilias tended to just shove as much food in her mouth as she could, although I was betting she didn't have Alice's appetite. Ilias didn't need to eat. Alice, being mortal, required food for sustenance, which was all the excuse she needed to be a glutton. When Ilias had finished her salad, I tried to steer the conversation to a less contentious place.

"So tell me about yourself," I said. "What do you like to do in your free time? What are your interests and hobbies?"

"I like to be worshipped. I like to destroy that which offends me. I like to order my underlings around, at least when I had underlings. Now they mostly listen to Eden, although most will still do what I tell them out of habit."

"I'm sure there's more to you than the tyrannical god figure."

"I've spent an inordinate amount of time on your world," she said. "It's a fascinating place. So much to do here. The possibilities are nearly endless. I wish my humans were more like the ones here. Here they have such drive, such initiative. They destroyed all of their natural predators thousands of years ago! And they didn't even need my help! If I'd had my full power here I would have taken over as soon as I found this place! Because for all their drive, they are lacking spiritually. Sure, they have their various faiths, some of which are pretty cool, but most of them don't REALLY believe. They need someone to believe in. But here I'm just a random, beautiful, unnaturally strong lady who can do magic tricks. And these people are so jaded that nothing I do really amazes them. I heard Eden showed her wings in a restaurant and people didn't fall to their knees and worship her?"

"She showed a lot more than that," I said with a grin. "She got plenty of appreciation for it, too. Just not the kind you're thinking of. People just assume makeup, or special effects. Alice has been out in crowded streets in her true form. It draws stares, but that's about it. I imagine things would change quickly if monsters and angels came here in large numbers and started making their presence known."

"It's inevitable," Ilias said. "It's not that hard for us to come here. It's much harder for the people of this world to come to ours. Eventually there will be a lot more cross pollination between our worlds. Monsters will flock here for the delicious, strong men, and once they have sex with those men while on this world…. Well, you know."

"So what did you do before you found this world?"

"Mainly I liked to watch people," she replied. "You know how it is, you experienced it briefly. When you take in all that magical energy, your awareness expands. I knew every person on the planet. Their names, their hopes, their dreams. Despite that, I could never predict what they would do. Humans and monsters alike, they constantly thwart themselves with bad decisions. I guess I'm not one to talk."

"So you knew everyone, and you watched everyone, and yet somehow you didn't become connected to them? You didn't grow to love them?"

"You can't love everyone as individuals," Ilias chided me. "That's not possible, even for me. Not to mention, most people are sinful. They have dark desires, secrets they would never tell a soul, and yet I knew them. But there were some…. Some people were so pure of heart that I couldn't help but to love them. Most of them came to bad ends. Preyed on or seduced by monsters in most cases. Bad humans seemed to take a special joy in corrupting or harming the good humans. Some I even convinced to become heroes. They weren't very effective heroes, of course. People without your power can't afford to be so nice and accommodating."

"Was I one of those that you thought was good?" I asked hopefully.

"I put a mind block on you," she said. "I could reach you in dreams, but it didn't allow me to see inside you the way I could other people. That was by design. I had placed all my hopes in you. I didn't want to have second thoughts. In hindsight, it was the right call. You're a pervert, you know that?"

"That one I have to blame on monsters," I said ruefully. "you weren't totally wrong that they can be corrupting."

"CAN be corrupting?" she countered, laughing derisively. "Eden would have to fuck you for a thousand years straight to get all those wicked fetishes out of your mind!"

"Your angels have their fetishes as well," I noted. "No monster has ever stuck an arrow in my butthole."

"Yeah, Cupid can be a bit of a freak," Ilias said proudly. "I cheered that one. Eden had to go and spoil the fun."

"Very funny. I didn't expect angels to be so much like monsters. As soon as they swarmed onto the surface, most of them wanted to rape me. They raped men all over the world during that war you started."

I realized that we were getting back to being contentious again. This was starting to sound more like a Cold War summit meeting than a date.

"All you had to do was kill the Monster Lord," Ilias countered. "Then I would have given mankind another chance."

"You know damn well I would never-"

This time Ilias sought to steer us away from conflict. "Oh, I know," she said with a wave of her hand. "I'm glad things turned out the way they did. Well, mostly. For the first time, I'm not angry at the world. Now I'm only angry at you."

"I'd like to think I earned that anger by doing the right things," I responded coldly.

"Maybe so," Ilias sighed. "I have an eternity to contemplate what it all means, you defeating me twice and all. I really have grown to respect you. You're a worthy opponent. Oh, look at me, talking like your dragon warrior love!"

I chuckled at that, breaking the tension somewhat. Ilias really did have more in common with monsters than she would ever admit. Conversation was less frequent and lighter after that. Our food arrived and it was superb. I had never had filet mignon before. It had always been too expensive for my tastes, even though I had the money to afford it. I was glad Ilias had forced me to indulge. She further amused me by not even bothering with the fork, just picking the piece of meat up and tearing into it. Patrons stared at the impossibly lovely woman eating in such a manner, her face covered in juices.

When she was finished, I helped her wipe her face clean. She smiled appreciatively. Small gestures like that always seemed to produce a far greater return than the effort required to perform them.

"So, ready for a movie?" she asked.

"Time moves much more slowly on this world," I said."We've already been gone for hours on your world. Alice is probably getting very concerned."

"Oh, don't worry about any of that!" Ilias admonished. "No time has passed on that world. When I bring you out of your dreams like that, you disappear from your bed for only a split second. It'll be as if you never left. We can stay out for days if you want."

"Then I guess a movie would be delightful," I said, rising and taking the goddess by the hand. Another gesture that seemed to get her warming up to me far more than anything substantial that I could say.

Ilias had a thing for horror, so we ended up watching Happy Death Day. I guessed that we must have traveled back in time again. When I'd first met Ilias, back when she was posing as Irene, normal human woman, we had been in the same theater watching Ready or Not, which had come out a year after Happy Death Day. It was fascinating that despite her depletion of power, she could just go to any time she wanted in my world. That had many interesting possibilities. My desire to get her to hate me less notwithstanding, having her as a friend could be incredibly useful! The things I could learn about my world's history!

The movie was great, Ilias cackling like mad but also clutching me during the scary moments, just like Alice did. It was adorable. I found myself liking her better as the night went on. I could never forget how many people she'd hurt and killed, but Ilias was never truly going away. She was immortal and eternal in a way that not even the Ancestors or Eden were. The most important thing was the future. A future in which Ilias was a benevolent presence, not a harmful one. It had worked with Eden and Tamamo. I had to believe it would work for the goddess as well. She sure could be difficult, though….

We stood outside the movie theater. Night had fallen in the city. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Oh, we're in Atlanta, the year 2017," Ilias said. "A suburb of Atlanta, anyway. Did you have fun today?"

"It was actually pretty great, yes," I replied.

"Does that mean you want to do this again?" she asked hopefully.

"I would. I think Eden will be thrilled to hear that it went pretty well."

"And your wife?" Ilias asked meaningfully.

"My wife…. Is… pragmatic. She knows how important this is. She wants a better world. I doubt you two will ever like each other, but if you can put up with me being married to the Monster Lord, I'm sure she'll put up with you taking me out now and then. As a diplomatic gesture."

"Oh, of course!" Ilias said. "Diplomacy. Surrreee…. So how about a longer date next time, since time isn't an issue? Amusement park, perhaps? What's your favorite?"

"Epcot," I replied. "But it was so much cooler in the 1980s and 1990s."

"Was it now? Maybe you should show me. I like amusement parks. Especially Disney."

"Great! So when do you want to go?"

"I'll pick you up," she said. "It'll be a surprise."

I wasn't sure about surprises from Ilias, but it did sound good.