Overly Familiar Pt. 02 Ch. 02

Ishara seemed to relax, clearly understanding her orders now. "And you will...call on me? At some point?"

"Yes. But don't think about that. When I call on you, I'll call on you. Just focus on enjoying your freedom, okay?" As they spoke, Matt walked through the mansion, glancing into the rooms with Ishara following meekly behind him. The mansion was surprisingly empty, but the rooms suggested plenty of people stayed here at some point or another. He didn't think it was a coincidence that the only person they saw after teleporting here was clearly invested in basement, if not running the whole operation. They'd get the information for everyone else later. In the meantime...

"Jackpot." Matt stated, finally finding a room that looked feminine. It was just as needlessly extravagant as everything else. It was one of the reasons he didn't mind technically stealing from them. They were profiting off of her torment in the first place. Losing a few articles of clothing was the least they could do.

Making his way to the huge walk-in closet, he motioned for Ishara to pick something. "What works for you?"

As Ishara looked through the variety of outfits, she would occasionally glance back at Matt almost as if gauging his approval. "His wife is a lot taller than me..."

"That won't be an issue." Matt replied, casually. "Mara taught me a little trick that helps with clothes that don't quite fit."

"She sounds like she's..." Ishara looked off into the distance. "...having fun..."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "You can hear that too, huh?" Mara had clearly caught her prey some time ago and as Ishara had said, judging from the screams of agony, Mara was definitely enjoying herself. "We can move away if-"

"No. I am not just a lust goddess. I also punished oathbreakers. Hearing his screams comforts me. I don't need to see it to know your horseman does good work." Ishara said darkly, as she stopped browsing and admired a sleek, red dress.

"I'm sure she'll take that as a...compliment." Matt said, slightly distracted by Ishara's nudity when she dropped the jacket to put on the dress. He didn't bother suggesting undergarments. Goddesses tended to find them pointless.

"You needn't look away." Ishara said matter-of-factly as she saw that Matt had in fact, turned away. "You saw what they all did to me when you were in my head. Surely watching me dress is nothing compared to that."

"Actually, I don't keep the memories." Matt answered. "Having a bunch of deities' multiple human lifetimes of trauma in my head apparently didn't sit well with me." His familiars had been unanimous about that fact after the first few. He still felt that it should be a burden he had to carry but they agreed that they hadn't liked what it was doing to him.

"Well that's...nice. Any chance you can do that for me? I think I'd be very happy not remembering any of it." Ishara muttered as she slipped on the dress. Despite clearly being too long for her, with one soft tug from Matt, it suddenly fit her perfectly.

"I'm truly sorry you went through all of that. If I could take those memories away entirely I would, but the thing about trauma is it kinda...burns into your mind. If I try to take it away, it leaves this hole and-...Trust me, this is definitely the better of two evils."

"I'll take your word on that, Master." Ishara replied. She closed her eyes and Matt could tell exactly what she was listening to. "Are you going to kill him?"

"Matt. Please." He corrected. "And I always leave that up to you guys. I don't really feel anyone else has a right to make that decision."

"Matt. Okay. If I get to choose, then I want him to die in so much excruciating, agonizing pain that Hell is a reprieve. And even that would be too good for him."

"Got it." Matt nodded. While he couldn't verbally send thoughts to his familiars, they literally existed to obey his will. So, all he had to do was want Mara's prey to die painfully as she could manage, and it was a done deal. But turning his attention to Ishara, he could see she had a far-off look and he didn't think it was because she was listening to Mara's "work".

Closing the gap between them, Matt wrapped his arms around the goddess, doing his best not to react to the immediate arousal that touching her at all granted him. Leaning into the embrace, Ishara turned her head to face him, immediately pressing her lips to his.

The surge of lust was even more powerful with direct skin contact. But even so, Matt was able to keep his cool and gently break the kiss. "Ishara. That wasn't why I hugged you."

"I know." Ishara turned around and hugged him back before going in for another kiss. "I also know what I'm doing to you. It's okay. I want to. And I haven't been able to say that in a long time..."

"Yeah...that's the thing..." Matt began, gently caressing Ishara's cheek but also using the motion to avoid another kiss.

"You don't want to." She murmured, ending her part of the embrace. "You see me as a victim."

"It's...not that easy." Matt said, kissing the top of her head. "There's two main reasons. One, and there's just no way for me to say this without sounding egotistical, but...the last thing I need is the afterglow of increased lust I would give off afterwards. Even if it's temporary. I just really don't need to be any sexier than I am."

Ishara raised a skeptical eyebrow but did appear amused. "You're right. There is no way to say that without sounding egotistical. But if your other horsemen are like your horseman of War, I think I can understand the issue."

"You have no idea..." Matt rolled his eyes.

"Okay then, what's the second reason?"

Matt let out a small chuckle. "The same reason the answer would be 'No' if you asked the common follow up question of 'If you can be free and be wherever you want to be, then...',"

"Then can I stay with you?" Ishara asked with a solemn smile.

"I'll make a deal with you." Matt began, resting his forehead to hers. "Go out. Find out what you like. Find yourself. Find things in this world that are outside of me. Spend some time exploring. And if you still want me, I'll bang your brains out and we can negotiate further terms."

Ishara's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Terms. Right. Exactly...how many muses have you freed?"

"Um...twenty...ish...so far. Give or take...?" Matt replied with a shrug. "It's not like I count them..."

"And you have to make that deal with all of us?" Ishara asked dryly.

"Well...not all of you. I mean...the guy deities aren't an issue. Of course, there's only been about two or three of them so far but..."

"And you aren't just turning me specifically away until you need me because you have twenty-ish other options?" Ishara looked away, avoiding eye contact.

"I swear that isn't the case." Matt guided Ishara's chin with his finger to get her gaze back on him.

"You promise?"

"Yes." Matt agreed sincerely. "I promise."

"You know..." Ishara began, "Making such an intimate connection just to send us away from you is rather cruel."

Matt sighed, reaching to caress Ishara's cheek again. "Yes. I'm aware. The love goddesses among you have made that very clear. Aphrodite, especially..."

"Aphrodite was a muse? And you rejected her?" Ishara asked with a very clear sense of sarcastic disbelief.

"I had to..." Matt groaned painfully.

Ishara couldn't help but to laugh slightly at the reaction. "Because if you give in to one of us, you'd feel obligated to give in to all of us?" Matt's expression to that question gave her all the information she needed to know. "If the outside world is anything like I remember, I hope for your sake you have a very big house like this one. If not, it's going to get very crowded..."

Matt frowned at the implication. "There are good people. There will always be good people. There will always be good things. I don't believe people like..." He motioned to the tortured screaming in the distance. "...that represent humanity and their potential."

"Doesn't the fact that you're here disprove that? You're literally the herald to the end of existence." Ishara pointed out, a hint of smugness in her tone.

"And I still haven't given up on them." Matt shot back, just as confidently.

Ishara smiled and kissed Matt on the cheek. "Maybe it's a good thing you don't keep the memories after all. Okay, Matt. You want me to explore. Find myself. Where should I start?"

Matt grinned widely back at the goddess. He loved answering that question. "Why don't you tell me about yourself and what you like? We can figure it out from there. I assume you like scorpions?"

Ishara looked back at the large, black scorpion tattoo on the back of her shoulder that he was referencing. "Yes. I have an affinity for them." She said as the tattoo gained a life of its own, becoming an actual scorpion that crawled up her shoulder and down her arm until it rested on her fingertips.

"Punishing oathbreakers, huh?" Matt asked flashing the scorpion a bemused smile as he was suddenly reminded that Ishara wasn't just a lust goddess.

"Exactly." She agreed, watching as the scorpion moved between her fingers. "I don't like it when people break their promises. You should remember that."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Was that a threat?"

Ishara let out a chuckle. "As if I could threaten you. Actually, I take that back. From what I can tell, if I were to threaten to cry it might be rather effective."

"We're all friends here. You don't have to cut me so deep." Matt replied with a grin, which got a coy smile back. "Okay, so scorpions. What else?"

"Well...I used to really like fucking. I lived for it. I was made for it. And I'm very good at it. It might take some time for me to truly get back into it again. Unless someone were to ease me back into it. Calm my trepidation..." She said, her smirk widening as the scorpion regained its place as a tattoo, this time on the back of her hand.

"Duly noted. What else?" Matt said sharply. Though his smirk didn't quite match the rejection of his words.

"And you speak of me cutting deep." Ishara shot back but then she closed her eyes and did as Matt asked. She tried to remember her previous life. What excited her. What used to. What she missed of her life when she thought it was over. The flashes of happiness that kept her going before she was broken. Matt just listened. And when the bad memories took over, he just patiently waited and made it clear he was there for her.

It didn't escape Ishara's notice that Matt forgot the worst, gruesome parts of her life but allowed himself to keep the good bits. It seemed to fit him. It was some time that the two talked before Ishara noticed the silence.

"Oh, Mara's probably off...um...severing the bloodline as she puts it." Matt said, "Basically taking any leads she got with her...alone time...and tracking down the easy ones. It won't take long. It's how we knew to look around here, actually."

"I take it you're the reason his wife went missing then?"

Matt's face soured a bit at the question. "Yes. Sorry I didn't come for you sooner. It's...apparently not 'good for me' when I do this too often back to back."

"Matt. I was kept in one basement or another for more human generations than I can be bothered to count. I'm sure how ever long you left me...waiting...it was nothing compared to that."

"Yeah, that's what they said..." Matt sighed.

"I can think of a way you could make it up to me." Ishara purred, playfully tugging at one of the straps of her dress.

Matt gave her a look. "Persistent one, aren't you?"

Ishara smiled back at him. "I wasn't kidding earlier. Sex is my thing. And I have so many bad memories about it now. So...so many bad memories. I just...want a good one."

"I thought we had a deal." Matt sighed, clearly tempted by the offer.

"You made the deal. You can break it. But you won't, will you?"

"No. I have my reasons. And as I said, I swear to you that they have nothing to do with-"

"You don't want to save me from enslavement just to enslave me again to you, so you want me to distance myself until you need me." Ishara interrupted, getting a clear vibe for Matt's personality by this point. "Just to make it clear, I in no way see this as the same thing. You are clearly a kind and just Master."

Matt sighed again. "I know. I know. Just...humor me, okay? Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Ishara became thoughtful and then looked away, a rosy tint coloring her tanned skin. "I'd...like you to...make it official and...mark me..."

Matt fought back the urge to roll his eyes almost entirely because of the earnest way she'd asked and not wanting it to seem like he was mocking her. "You know that works both ways. You might be avoided because of that. If you ever feel like you're in danger and you need me, I'll be there. I don't have to...brand you."

Ishara nodded but as she looked back at Matt it was clear her mind had been made up. "I'd rather be feared because I'm yours than to have to call for help after the fact. I never want to feel that helpless again. I don't care how short it is for. Please?"

"Okay..." Matt conceded, "Where do you want it?"

Ishara moved her hair to the side and offered her neck, seductively glancing up at Matt through her eyelashes.

Matt had to fight multiple urges both because of Ishara's clear submission to him as well as the intimacy of the act he now had to do. Pretty much all of the muses who Matt had freed had also wanted his mark on them. Even those who were bold enough to bind and rape a deity would balk at doing so when said deity was literally marked as belonging to the "herald to the end of existence". The only reason he protested this was the symbol itself. That said, there were actually multiple ways to mark someone but like most magic, intent was very important.

As Matt leaned down, he softly kissed the offered spot on her neck and focused his will on that spot. His will being that Ishara belonged to him now and anyone who threatened that contract would answer to him. She was officially under his protection.

"Oh Master..." Ishara moaned loudly, gripping Matt close, her neck beginning to burn, and clearly not in a painful way. She let out a gasp as she felt his soul kissing against her own.

"It's Matt." He corrected. So far no one had remembered to call him by name while being marked, but if there's one thing he learned from his familiars it was to nip that in the bud immediately before they got used to saying it and be consistent about it.

"Sorry..." Ishara whimpered as the intense sensation slowly began to dull and Matt removed his lips. In the spot where he had kissed her was now a black skull with two scythes coming out of it, one from each side. Each blade of the scythes were long and intricately detailed. With the skull in the middle, the mark clearly formed an 'M'. Matt personally hated this symbol. As a representation of himself, it was everything that he did his best to deny. But no matter how often he tried, including now, the symbol always remained the same.

Despite his own reservations about it, Ishara smiled fondly as she gently touched it. "Thank you..." She then glanced down as she felt the clear indication down below that Matt had enjoyed her reaction to being marked.

"Don't say it." Matt growled back.

Ishara didn't verbally reply, merely looking down at the bulge and then back up to Matt with a smirk, her silent offer clear.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just a boner. I'll live." Matt replied with yet another roll of his eyes.

"Boner..." Ishara tested the word, caressing it with her accent, which Matt had discovered was Syrian, before looking him in the crotch one more time as if saying goodbye, or possibly, until next time. "Well...should you ever change your mind, you know that I'll be exploring this...Rio de Janeiro you spoke so highly of..."

"I think you'll like it there." Matt said kindly. "Don't be afraid to keep in touch if you need anything."

"I will." Ishara said, almost shyly. "I will await your call, Matt. Freer of muses. Righter of wrongs. Punisher of evil. First of his-"

"Matt." Matt interrupted, covering Ishara's mouth. "Just Matt. That was a joke. No one calls me all of that."

"Oh." Ishara replied with a slightly confused nod. "So, I don't need to ask you what a...Khaleesi... is then?"

"Google it." Matt said with a chuckle. During their conversation, he made clear to explain how the internet worked to her and how she could use it to contact him if it wasn't urgent.

"I'll do that..." Without warning, Ishara suddenly wrapped her arms around Matt's neck and pulled him down into another kiss. She knew Matt wouldn't allow the show of affection for too long so she got as much put of it as she could, parting his lips and finding his tongue before he began to pull back to break it. Ishara didn't fight it, letting the kiss end as she smiled up at Matt. "Thank you for saving me. I promise I'll serve you well in whatever you call me to do. And I shall do what I can to...find my happiness, in the meantime. Goodbye, Matt."

"Take care, Ishara." Matt stated, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead as she vanished into nothingness, on her way to her own adventure. He wasn't overly worried about her. Deities always have their own equilibrium with humanity. They instinctively know how to blend in when needed. He hadn't heard any news reports of deities all over the world, so he knew the others he'd freed had been laying low as well. He hoped they were all doing okay. None had called him for help, so he had to assume everything was fine. The mark would let him know if any of them were in any real danger.

Matt found himself distracted from his thoughts as he heard the fire from a demonic teleportation and turned to see Mara reappearing.

"So, where'd you send this one off to?" Mara asked.

"She's in R-" Matt began before glaring across to his demon when he finally made her out. "What's the Number Two torture rule?"

"Only do it when I have permission?" Mara responded coyly.

"No. That's One."

Mara looked down at herself and then blushed, not that you could make it out from all of the red already on her. "Oooooh, is Two the one about making sure I'm not covered in covered in blood and entrails when I talk to you?"

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "That's the one."

Mara then struck a cheerleader-esque pose as all of the human bits were suddenly blown off of her, leaving her pristine short of a few rips in her clothing and leaving a rather disgusting splatter with the reverse silhouette of her pose on the opposite wall. "Tada! Howzat?"

Matt looked over to her and then to the silhouette and just chuckled to himself at the twisted absurdity that had become his life. What was that saying? When you lie down with the Devil...