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Lyra waves a small black device in front of the lift doors and they open. Once we're both inside, she resumes talking. I still don't really understand what pheromones are, so hopefully she can explain them in terms I can understand.

"Persephone's pheromones, and I assume those of other Angels too, seem to make men weak. It's like she's trying to draw you in. But I'm not sure if she even realizes she's doing it. Pheromones tend to be released subconsciously."

"If I have that awful smell then isn't it counterproductive?"

Just as I finish my sentence, the lift arrives at its destination. She briefly turns her head to look at me with a smile before we exit the lift, into the pink painted corridors from before. Still confused, I just stare at her blankly.

"You don't smell that bad actually. Though I couldn't begin to describe the smell to you. I think the best way to describe the smell is that it might be her way of scent marking. Like she's trying to claim ownership of you."

To think I once thought the Angels were humans – perhaps super-humans, but humans nonetheless. The more I learn about them the less human they seem. What are they though? Are they actually Angels? Many deities have such a blatant disregard for human life, so are they all really goddesses?

Strangely, I think the answer to both of those questions is a yes. In both the Kible and the Boran at least, it's the deity who has killed the most people, not the demons. Woah's Flood alone killed more people all demons combined. Then again, Eris doesn't ever claim to love humanity or care about individual humans whilst she kills them. So maybe that makes her more of a demon rather than a deity?

"I'm not sure what to say. Uh, are you that doctor Persephone told me about?"

Lyra starts to smile again. Is everyone on this spaceship friendly I wonder. As she begins speaking, we commence down the corridor.

"I'm a medical doctor yes. I helped her raise Althea. Parenting skills didn't come naturally to Persephone, and she was treating her more like a pet than a daughter at first.

"She was very insistent that she look after Althea, even if it meant acknowledging a human was more knowledgeable than her in some respects. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea where her real parents are, or what Persephone did with them. Althea just turned up as young child one day and Persephone demanded that I help look after her."

"Do you know what would happen, if you know, Persephone and a human were to, you know..."

I trail off. Why am I asking a question like that? Lyra must think I'm crazy to just suddenly dive in to the topic of sex.

She turns to look at me and chuckles. She must think I'm so strange now. If Persephone is as rough as Nyx, my curiosity might well kill me. So I had better not allow Persephone to bring me anywhere near her vagina.

"As I've been here many years, I've learned a lot about Persephone, but I'm no biologist, so I couldn't say. Although she appears human, she isn't really. For start, well I won't bore you with the details. As a pilot I imagine you'll only know basic first aid and not the intricacies of bodily functions?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Good. In summary: Well her blood is a bit different. I'm not sure how though. If I ever have a chance to I'd like to investigate it. Perhaps Persephone will manage to salvage another freighter full of medical supplies one day and I'll have my chance to do some blood analysis."

A couple of minutes walking from the lift, we turn and arrive at a corridor with many doors lining it. Although none of the doors have windows built into them, I can guess this is the sleeping area. Hopefully my room here is nicer than the one on Nyx's ship. That room felt so ominous.

As we continue along the corridor, I hear a beeping sound. It's Lyra's smart watch. She brings her wrist up to her face, allowing me to get a closer look at it. Its holographic interface looks fairly advanced, and shows a projection of the word "Persephone", implying she wants to contact Lyra.

I'm sure that I've seen that kind of smart watch before on Mars. How is human technology even synchronized with Persephone's technology? As an alien, Persephone's technology should be incompatible with human technology. Where do they produce all of this advanced technology anyway? Do Angels own factories full of human slaves?

Lyra accepts the call and we hear disgruntled sounding Persephone. She was fine just a few minutes ago so why is she so angry now? I hope I'm not going to be on the receiving and of any of her rage.

"There's been a change of plan," Persephone says with obvious annoyance, "I want Hercules back up here."

"What's wrong Persephone?" Lyra responds, a degree of concern evident in her voice.

"When Hercules is in my bedroom I'll explain."

"Okay, we'll be right up."

Persephone abruptly ends the call. When she does, Lyra and I walk briskly towards the lift area. On our way back, we don't talk at all, owing partly to my unease at Persephone's sudden change in mood.

Wondering what I could have done wrong, my heart begins to beat faster. Am I going to be punished? It's only when we finally arrive at the lift that Lyra notices this. She looks at me with worried expression as she waves her black device in front of the lift doors. This can't be good.

"I can guarantee you it's not you she's angry at," she says, correctly guessing what is on my mind, "Not after how she almost paralysed you with her pheromones before. That's a sign of her strong feelings for you, even if she may not realize she's doing it."

"She called me a toy earlier," I say as I follow her into the lift, "How can you be so sure she's romantically interested in me?"

"I never said she was romantically interested in you. I only said she wanted you. Perhaps lust is a more apt word."

"Okay, fine. Do you have any idea what may have upset her?" I ask.

"Not a clue, but we're about to find out."

When we exit the lift, we're greeted by the awe inspiring sight of Persephone again. Like when I previously entered the lift lobby, she's sitting crossed legged in front of the doorway. Either side of her legs are her arms. Her legs and groin are visible to us and, from what I can tell, she's changed her clothes.

It looks as if she is now wearing a two piece bikini. Her shorts, at least, are plain and black in colour. Are we going swimming?

"There you are," Persephone says in a somewhat grumpy voice, "What took you so long?"

As we exit the lobby, I begin to tremble, and my eyes immediately commence traversing her grand body, as if I've been conditioned to admire her beauty. They move up from her shins, along her stomach, plump but still managing to be reasonably flat, and finish at her breasts. Her breasts, encased in a bright pink bikini top, one of those ones with a fairly wide strap around her nape, look even more immense without her translucent tank suit.

To think I thought my girlfriend's chest was impressive. Her breasts are the size of houses; two storey houses even. With a body like hers, if she was a human, I'm sure she'd have no trouble at all qualifying for Miss Mars, or even Miss Universe.

I want to look up further, but my neck won't allow me. Persephone seems to have sat much closer to the doorway this time. Not that it matters of course, because Persephone wouldn't show me her face anyway.

Then, the gravity of the situation sinks in. What if it's really me that she's mad at? Am I actually going to die today?

"I don't know what I did," I call, as I fall to my knees, "But please can you find it in you to forgive me. I think you're the nicest Angel, so I want us to get along."

"Lyra, go and instruct my servants to prepare my dinner," Persephone commands, apparently not acknowledging me, "I won't be cooking today after all. I want twenty humans from amongst the dissenters for me and a thigh for Althea."

"As you wish, Persephone," Lyra responds with a bow.

She swiftly exits the bedroom. At that moment, Persephone turns her attention to me. Her hand comes in and her forefinger pushes against my chin, forcing my eyes to look back up, into her deep cleavage.

"Hercules, get up," Persephone says, her annoyance apparently subsiding.

I do as instructed. I then take a step backwards. She responds by moving her hand behind me, thus blocking the doorway to the lift. With her hand this close, I definitely do not want to anger her anymore than she already is, so I best stay still and silent.

She pushes her hand against me, causing me to fall into her palm. Almost immediately, she moves her hand up from the floor and I'm whizzed through the air. At the same time as moving her arm, she gets up.

As I'm moved up, I notice her veil is gone, but everything above her neck is invisible. The material of her new headgear appears to be bending the light around her head so I actually see what's behind her. And I thought things could not get any stranger.

"C-can you tell me what's wrong?" I stutter.

"Nyx annoyed me," is all she says as she rests me against her chest, just above the great canyon that is her cleavage.

How can the Angels be so effective at fighting humans if there is all this tension between them? If Persephone holds such radically views to the other Angels, why doesn't she just leave? I'm sure she could easily forge a new life on one of the many rocky planets in dotted throughout the galaxy.

I know she said she's not as good friends with Nyx as she used to be, but I didn't think they'd have such an obvious falling out. Should I ask her for more details? I don't want to annoy her anymore than she already is, though I can't help but feel that she asked me to see her precisely because she wants someone to talk to.

"How come?" I prompt, my heart rate rising further from its brief lull.

"She's getting impatient again. She wants me to go ahead with my part of our plan straight away. I was getting really frustrated, but then I remembered I have you, my new plaything, to cheer me up. So I should be fine."

Persephone begins to walk through her bedroom and, looking between her fingers, I can tell that I'm being taken into one of the adjoining rooms. The new room is tiled, dimly lit and contains many dark colours. Except, that is, for the biggest swimming pool I think I've ever seen. It seems I was right.

The pool is ovular in shape, and is fairly deep. Even though it looks as if it's only deep enough for Persephone to sit down in, given the sheer size of her, there's no doubting bigger than any swimming pool I've seen on Mars, or anywhere really. The bright underwater lights are a stark contrast to the dim lights of the walls.

"What can I do?"

"You can start by reminding me of how I'm the nicest Angel."

"Well that's easy. You haven't threatened to kill me yet..."

"Say I'm the nicest Angel though."

Oh crap! Persephone is succeeding in giving me an erection again. Come on, control yourself Sidney. I have to fight her pheromones!

"Alright, you're the nicest Angel."

"Thank you Hercules, I try. Do you have anything nice to say to my two big girls? Your little boy appears to want to get to know them a little better."

"Er, um, well, I can explain..."

"Tell my two girls they are the best set of twins in the entire universe, better than any human twins you've met, and they will be happy acquaint themselves with you, whenever you'd like them to."

"Wait..."

"Just say it. You'll upset them if you don't."

"Your twins are the best twins in the entire universe, better than those of any human, and you've raised both of them really well."

"Ooh, Hercules, they love it."

Underneath me, I feel her breasts becoming hard. Nice to know she's no longer upset at least. Seems she's easy enough to please.

Through the gap in her fingers, I see her descending into the water. As she sits down, I'm peeled off of her chest. She whizzes me through the air and deposits me poolside.

Across from me, Persephone leans over the side of the pool, her arms crossed. I look up at where her face would me and she leans in closer to me. I then look back down to see what her arms are doing.

Fortunately, they are staying close to her body. And it seems the pool is deeper than I first thought; the water comes up to her stomach. Maybe I should tell her I haven't been in the water for years?

"Get undressed," she instructs, "I need you in the pool with me."

"But I don't have any swimwear."

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. We have lots we still need to talk about."

I gaze up at the light-distorting material surrounding her head in dismay. That's not what I meant, and I'm sure she knows it. I really don't want to be completely naked around her. I already feel so inferior around her finely sculpted body.

I remove my t-shirt first. I toss it to the side. When the tapestry of muscles on my torso is revealed to her, she lets out a small squeal.

"She's definitely not getting you back," I hear her mumble to herself.

Who is 'she'? I hope she means Nyx and not Maxine. I'll help her defeat Eris and then I'll be on my way back to Mars, right?

Not wanting to make a fuss over her potentially worrying statement, I continue removing my clothes in silence. As soon as I finish removing my underwear, her hand swoops over to steal me from the floor. Her thumb, forefinger and middle finger wrap around me.

"I'll sort you out some new clothes soon. You wouldn't believe some of the crazy clothes the other Angels and I salvaged from cruise liners," she says as she sits down in a corner at a shallow end of the pool.

When she's made herself comfortable, I'm dropped into the water between her legs. Not expecting her to be so brazen, I sink into the water – briefly unable to swim. As I try to swim back up to the surface, I feel something soft move about under me. Before I realize what's going on, my entire body is above the water again.

I look around and realize her belly has become a kind of peninsula, with me on it. She's leaning against the edge of the pool at an almost one-hundred-and-eighty degrees angle. From my position beside her deep belly button, I get a nice flat surface to rest on and a good view of most of her body.

As I lay against her skin, my body begins to shiver vigorously. I cling onto her belly tightly, like a baby would its mother. One of her hands then reaches across to cover my body, acting like a blanket.

"Awh," she coos, "Humans are so fragile."

"So cold," I cry, "Please be more careful in future."

I stretch my neck up to try and look in the direction of her breasts. Being bathed in her pheromones doesn't seem like such a bad prospect right now. Even if my muscles become weak again, at least it'll be warm between her breasts. Plus, the sound of her heartbeat has a certain charm to it.

"Do you still fear death?" she asks dryly.

"Less than I used to."

Her free hand reaches up to grope one of her breasts. It slides along it a couple of times before squeezing it. The hand blanketing me then moves up to join it.

"But you still fear it a little, so that's good. I know that's Nyx's bargaining chip. But you know I prefer to reward rather than punish. Let's talk mission now. I know we didn't manage to discuss it properly earlier, but that's because I was in a rush. I made you come up to visit before me because I just had to take a closer look at you."

Persephone removes her hands from her breasts, and rests her elbows on the sides of the pool. Her demeanour is now much more casual than it was before. Guessing we are finally descending into a more serious conversation, I sit up straight.

So that I don't slip down her stomach and into the water, I anchor my feet inside her belly button. Her belly button, deep as it is, is able to comfortably fit both of my legs up to my knee. As I reposition myself, I hear her giggle. Guess she's really sensitive to my movements.

"Okay, what do I have to do?" I ask, wanting to return our conversation to its serious state.

"You know this Wayne guy, don't you?" she groans.

"Yes."

I watch intently as her left hand curls up into a fist. She crashes it against the water. She causes a large splash, big enough so that some of the water droplets land on me. I flinch, instinctively moving my hands in an attempt to shield myself from some of the water. Then, Above me, I hear her grunt loudly.

Her rapidly rising rage makes me uneasy, and I hastily retract my legs from her belly button. I hold them close to my chest and brace myself for the worst. Apparently sensing my apprehension, her other hand reaches out to me.

She forces her forefinger between my chest and legs. Knowing resistance would be useless, I make no attempt to resist her. When most of her forefinger is between my chest and legs, she uses her thumb to caress my face.

"Sorry for scaring your Hercules. I don't want you, of all humans, to be scared of me. it's just the nerve of the guy..."

"What happened?"

"He came to Nyx, all high and mighty, asserting that us Angels were created by humans. He said we are collection of body parts fused together or something like that."

What on Mars? I guessed Wayne was important, but this is just too crazy. How could he even know how the Angels were created? This makes him sound deluded.

"What do you mean?"

"Doesn't matter. The point is, he claims to know how we can defeat Eris."

"Seriously?"

"But he says he will only tell Nyx how best to defeat her if we do something for him. Nyx has been keeping alive despite how annoying he is because he's important apparently."

Chapter End Notes:

The dreaded cliffhanger strikes again. Apologies. You'll just have to keep reading! :)

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