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Swear allegiance to the flag Chapter Nine Nicholas didn’t have classes today but Annie did and at just around 8 am she took off for the university in his hot rod saying she’d be home before three and in plenty of time for him to go to work this evening. Relaxed and freshly studded, Nick lounged around in the bed. Mom & Dad were gone, Cole had class until two and then she was off to work. He had the entire house to himself for a few blissful hours. No crying babies. No annoying Sister. No over-protective Husband or suspicious Father. No mentally rickety Mother. No sweet loving wife. That last was ok, if that was the trade-off he had to make for a just a little bit of peace then he’d suffer through for a little while without Annie. Car load by car load the basement was emptying out. Fred was coming over this weekend with his truck and they’d load up the bed and few pieces of furniture they were taking with them. Colleen was getting new furniture for down here and Mom & Dad promised them a trip to the local Furniture Barn for the rest of the basic pieces they would be needing. Annie was getting very excited about having her own home and doubly so now that it was ready for them to move in. All the painting and refurbishing that goes along with making a new house YOUR house had been completed and the only things missing were Nick and Annie. Flipping through the channels while stretched out naked in bed the weatherman informed him that there would be more flurries today and they could accumulate up to about an inch of new snow. “Christ, isn’t it ever gonna stop snowing? I’m getting sick of this shit.” He mumbled and flipped the channel. “Where’s spring?” He asked no one. “Behind winter where it always is.” “Fuck me!” Nick shouted as he sat straight up. “Umpa, what are you doing?” “Watching you be a lazy jackass, get up.” Ares told him. “Get dressed and come with me.” “What the hell for?” “Get dressed and come with me.” Ares repeated his demand with a slightly more pungent tone. “Don’t make me say it again, Nicholas.” Nick rolled his dark eyes and ran a large hand over his mid-night locks. “What’s going on? I haven’t even had breakfast.” “No, you were too busy having Annie.” Ares returned. “Nice technique by the way.” “Umpa! You’re just an old pervert! Don’t watch me and my wife!” Nick threatened as he jumped into a pair of blue jeans. “You don’t have any right to spy on us like that.” “I wasn’t spying, I was waiting for you to finish.” Ares corrected and nodded at Nichols’ crotch. “Very well hung,” he complimented with a wide happy grin. “Not like your old man more like this old man.” He pointed to himself. “Your Mother got something right. Let’s go.” “You really do just jump right over the line, don’cha Umpa?” The happy grin on Ares’ handsome face grew even wider and his onyx eyes gleamed with devilish delight. “Line? What line? I didn’t see any line?” “Oh for pete’s sake! Where?” Nicholas grumbled once more. “I’m not goin’ anywhere until you tell me where we’re goin’.” Now the red sweater he’d worn yesterday slipped over his head and then down his very tight torso to cover those hard-won pecs and six-pack abs. “Where’s your Sister?” “School.” “Where’s your wife?” “School.” “Where’s your Mother?” “Are ya deaf…old man? DUH…they’re at school.” Nicholas taunted and shoved his feet into a pair of size 15 boots. “Mom’ll be home first, ‘round one or so, it’s her early day in and out.” “Good anticipatory skills, every Warrior needs those.” Ares complimented as Nicholas grabbed his leather jacket. “Let’s go.” So much for the little relaxing day at home watching TV. “Where, why and when are we coming back?” “Away, because I said so and soon.” “You better not be yankin’ my chain, Umpa.” Nicholas threatened and took a step forward to show that he would back it up. “Your Mother let’s you talk to her like that? You’re a brat. Let’s go.” After they left the basement and they reappeared in a place that was unfamiliar. Nick looked around to find himself in some type of palace though the place looked ancient—not in quite as bad of a shape as one of his Father’s ‘artifacts’—but still old and largely unused. The smell coming in from the air was familiar. “This is your Island.” “No, it’s Zeus’ Island. This is his palace.” Ares said in a stern voice. “Your Great-Grandfather has requested an audience with you.” That took him aback. “What does he want, Umpa?” Mom did say she wanted both him and Colleen to get to know Zeus better since they were related and all but Nicholas expected the old man would drop by the house, say, some time when his Mother was home. “Don’t be stupid, I already told you.” Ares stopped walking and turned around to look at his Grandson. “You’re a mess, fix your hair.” He ordered. “Don’t be an insolent brat, be respectful to him.” “Look who’s talking.” Nick chided and ran his hands through his long wavy black hair. “Better?” “Much.” Ares began walking once more. “The Throne Room is this way.” Nicholas suddenly felt nervous as they walked through the open-air entryway to the old palace, past the twenty-foot tall columns which held the place up and gave it its Old World Charm. Everywhere he looked something gleamed back at him, whether it was an object of gold, silver, platinum or fine gems. No matter where his eyes fell he took in fine works of art, paintings hanging on the marble walls. Some of them Nick recognized from the art books his Mother kept around the house although those books claimed these paintings had been ‘lost to time’ it was clear they were only hiding away from Time. At his feet, in-laid in the white marble floor was a very colorful mosaic depicting Zeus, the God of Gods, at odds with his own Father, Chronos and the elders ultimate banishment to the legendary Pits by the younger. Statutes of relatives who were long dead and that he would never know stared back at Nicholas as he followed Ares through the palace with his head hung low. Everything was covered in a deep layer of dust but somehow that didn’t make them shine any less or take away from their beauty. This place made him feel weird, like all his life he’d been pretending to be someone he wasn’t and this place reminded him of who he was supposed to be. He could have grown up here, he and Colleen. They could have spent their days baking in the Grecian sun, tanning their long taut bodies and playing in the deep blue waters. They could have spent their nights drinking, dancing and eating by the warm light of roaring fires. They should have been…..they WERE….royalty but Mom never let them indulge in that aspect. Nope, not once. That wasn’t to say that he and Cole didn’t know about their heritage and their blood lines but Mom never wanted it to be a big part of their lives. She wanted them to be ‘normal’…like that was ever gonna happen! No matter what she did or didn’t do, or what she said or didn’t say, the three of them would always be different from all the others around them. Dad, Immortal or not, would never be like them either. Maybe that was why she did it, so that Dad didn’t feel left out? Maybe. She did love him one hell of a lot maybe even enough to suppress her true-self for the rest of her life. Wasn’t that fucked up? Sure it was. Nick didn’t know the whole story by far but that black guy, Kanan, Nick was pretty sure that guy never wanted Mom to be who she was and that she’d spent a long time doing then the same thing she was doing now; pretending to be someone other than who she was. The difference was, then she’d been forced to turn away from herself and now she chose to. He was starting to wish he’d never let his Mother off the hook regarding all the secrets she’d kept. Rounding a corner they entered a very large and extremely grand and opulent room. One with rich colorful tapestries hanging on every wall and a long line of lion hides which stretched from the entrance straight up the marble steps to the throne where Zeus was sitting. Ares walked Nick up to the food of the throne and waited a few moments. “I said don’t be insolent.” At that Ares kicked Nick’s feet out from under him while pushing him to his knees. “As you requested.” Ares said to Zeus with a slight bow. “My Grandson, Nicholas Ares Jackson.” There was no hiding the disgust in Ares’ voice as the last part of Nick’s name rolled out of his mouth. “And you said no one names their child Ares anymore.” Zeus huffed with a wave of his hand. “My Daughter loves me.” Ares returned. “Pity her.” Zeus replied. “Get up Nicholas, let me get a good look at you.” Nick stood up and gave Ares a dirty look. “Come up here, my eyes aren’t what they used to be you know.” “Don’t let him fool you,” Ares warned, “he bites so be careful.” “What were saying about insolence and respect, Umpa?” Zeus laughed a hearty chuckle. “I see he knows you well. Come here and let me look at you.” Zeus repeated still laughing. Nicholas walked up the seven steps to the solid gold throne upon which is Great-Grandfather was seated. Zeus looked the youngest of them up and down and smiled. “Very good. You’re strong, Nicholas like your Mother should have been.” Zeus looked past Nick to Ares for a moment. “Where’s the girl? Why did you not bring her before me?” “Colleen is in school,” Ares informed his Father. “School?” Zeus was surprised. “School?” He said again. “Do you go to school, Nicholas?” When he visited the Jackson household as Harold Ramis Zeus surmised that Callestah had some connection to a local learning facility but he didn’t think her children were attending. They had not need for such a thing. “Yes,” Nick answered unsure of what to say, Zeus didn’t look happy at this news. “Why? What are you learning?” “I’m..ah…I’m just starting at the university this semester, my wife and I are going together. I’m going to study anatomy. Mom teaches art at the university.” “Your Mother is a teacher?” Zeus loved the Mortals but this was over the top. Although he once forbid her very existence, now that she was here Callestah had obligations to fulfill and she should not be wasting precious time and her life helping those who were not like her. Nicholas couldn’t decide if it was a statement or a question. “Yes, a good one, they all like her a lot. Her students and the faculty.” “Art? Why art? Why doesn’t she teach philosophy at this university? What about Greek history?” Zeus wanted to know. Feeling caught in a bright spotlight Nick stammered and shuffled his feet on the floor. “She, ah, she…. Mom’s the head of the Art and Cultural department, she, um, she started teaching an advanced class in Greek and Celtic histories this semester along with the art classes she teaches.” “She did?” With a swell of pride and something near relief, Zeus sat back on his plush throne. “Well, the students must be getting a grand education. Callestah is well versed in all of that. Why do you go to school?” “So I can learn things?” Nick asked feeling it a trick question. “Why do you not know them already? Like your Mother all the knowledge you’ll ever need is already locked away in your head, why do you not use it?” Ares knew Nicholas didn’t understand. “An Olympian’s knowledge, his memory, is genetic.” He explained. “No,” Nicholas mumbled. “I watched Mom struggle for every good grade she got while she was going to college. Cole and I…” he stopped to think for a second. Sometimes it was like he knew things but he and Cole never thought that much of it. “Explain.” Zeus said to Ares in a short voice. “Callestah went to college…to school and earned degrees in Art and Music.” Ares informed him. “She studied very hard and played by all the Mortal’s rules to get this shitty piece of paper she never needed.” He cleared his throat and rolled his eyes. “Now she teaches them when she could have the world at her feet even in their world she was an artist of some renown not that long ago.” “Isn’t that what a Goddess is supposed to do? Help those around her?” Nick asked without looking at either of them. “Why do you follow her this way?” Zeus asked Nicholas who was hard-pressed for an answer so he gave the only one he had. “Is this what you believe a God does? Helps those less fortunate than Himself?” “Isn’t it?” “No, Mortals must learn and do on their own just as we did for centuries before the Great Leap.” Zeus said cautiously. “The what?” Nick asked. “A bit of Olympian history that she has left out?” Zeus asked and without prodding simply continued to tell Nicholas that he was not bred of some alien blood but that the Olympians, like the Other Families, had been long before the Mortals. Life was good. Then the Great Leap came and everything didn’t stop, it actually moved backward and the humans were born along with various other unsavory yet endearing creatures like the duckbilled platypus. “Callestah has always been ashamed of what she is but she has no right to pass that shame to you and your Sister. What if I could show you all that you truly are? Unlock all the knowledge in your mind and the powers waiting at your fingertips. Would that be worth something to you?” Zeus asked. Mom never talked about them, about her Family. No, almost never. If she were tipsy she might say something about Eros or always Ares, how much she loved him. She hardly ever said anything of real meaning about the Olympians and Nick was half Olympian. His blood was their Ichor and it called to him. “Yeah, I guess it would.” Nick said thoughtfully. “What’s it gonna cost me? What do you want?” Zeus smiled an old man’s toothy grin and played with the chest length silver beard on his chin. “You know this family well.” The God of Gods proceeded to tell his Great Grandson that the remaining Olympians already agreed to leave Earth now that their presence had been discovered. They would rather abandon the only home planet they’d ever known than risk the scrutinous curiosity and ultimately the fear the Mortals would come at them with. No longer would they be thought of as Gods but as Mutants worse yet some type of archaic throw-backs and has-beens. The Mortals would not understand them and their ways. They would not see them as the Living History and solid link to their own past that the Olympians—and the Others—were to them. Instead they would drive all of the Immortals and other Magickal Beings away from this world to a safe haven. Duncan MacLeod’s people, the fae and pixies, agreed it best to leave. The Norse were ready to return to Asgard with Thor and the Celts had yet to weigh in on the matter. Soon they would all present their proposal to General O’Neill and Zeus, like the others, was certain he would have no problems opening the Stargate for them and letting them wander off to wherever they chose to go. “Callestah will come with us.” Zeus told him. “You will help us see to this.” “And me? Annie? What about Cole? Lilly? We all have to go too?” Nicholas asked still trying to understand what Zeus was telling him. “Where are you going to go? Can you come back and visit?” “Curious isn’t he?” Zeus asked Ares. “Why?” Nick asked softly. “Why does she have to go with you? Why can’t she stay here with us? Cause we can stay, can’t we? Yeah.” He mumbled. “We don’t have to go. We’re not Pure Bloods like she is.” “We want all of you to come with us, especially you and your Mother. Sit down Nicholas.” Zeus invited and pointed toward a heavy marble table the sides of which were carved with nuts, fruits, bay leaves and the Gods in various stages of life. On the table suddenly appeared a very hearty meal. “Callestah is ill she needs help.” “Our help.” Ares clarified guiding Nicholas to the table where they sat and he poured three chalices of nectar. Zeus, a bit slow and a bit time-worn, made his way to the table and took his place at the head. “I made a deal with your Father but I do not believe he intends to honor it. The Old Man here thinks it’s a bad idea to begin with.” He took a cursory glance at Zeus. “He could be right.” Ares looked at back at Nicholas as his hand landed on the young man’ s shoulder. “You know she’s a Full Blood, she belongs with us, with her own kind and so one way or another she will come with us when we depart this world.” “Or what?” Rudely he shook Ares’ hand from his body. “No way in Hell Dad would ever say you could take her away. No way. What deal did Dad make with you? What did he have to promise you so you’d let him bring Brigid home? I know that wasn’t easy, Umpa, you didn’t tell Mom about her before because you were hoping for something else….something better….than what happened. What? You wanted to dangled Brigid in front of Dad like some carrot hoping he’d give up Mom to have his daughter? You’re sick!” “There’s nothing wrong with her.” Nick asserted but even he knew that wasn’t true. Lately she’d lost weight, she was pale and while Dad was gone he found her outside barefoot in the snow. She was standing in her garden with clipper in her hands looking for vegetables to cut from the vine. He had to remind her it was still winter and the vegetables hadn’t been planted yet. “Look it’s only been three days. I’m sure whatever it is Dad will do it you just gotta give him some time. Mom’s been a wreck but I’m sure you know that, Umpa.” Actually Ares didn’t though he did suspect. “She hasn’t come to see me.” That was a bit of surprising news, Nicholas felt surely the first place Mom would have fun after being told the news about Brigid was to Umpa. “What do you want Dad to do anyway?” “So that you understand there is much to tell.” Ares began. He started his tale with Daniel’s promise to go to the Underworld and retrieve a missing part of Callestah and he did not leave out the fact that time was of the essence. All were convinced Eros would do anything he had to in order to get his hands on her now that Aphrodite was no longer there to protect her. Not only that but, Kanan was there, he too would like to get his hands on that adolescent little girl once more and relieve his own Glory Days. Psyche, perhaps she’d like a stab at her as well and let’s not forget Hades himself who would strike at her just to hurt Ares. Of course, in order for Nicholas to understand the depths of the significance of the men who were waiting to pounce on this pre-teen version of his Mother secrets had to be revealed. Secrets long-held and by now most-cherished and a part of her she never wanted anyone to look at. In Eros’ case that meant telling of a brutal foul deed done on the beach below his Tower and several thereafter. It meant telling of Psyche and the curse she laid upon a little girl. Of Rituals and Bondings and events which took place mere days and even minutes before Nicholas and Colleen were born. In the case of Naganti Kanan it meant telling of years of sexual servitude and of children born, died and buried. Cole and he had only begun to suspect that their Mother might have had other children before them, they certainly didn’t think those children were dead or that someone could be so cruel as to kill them as they drew their first breaths. Not only that but that bastard came back—that seemed a pattern, they all came back to try again, didn’t they? Even if they had to return from the dead to do it they came back for her. Last but certainly never least, there was good old Uncle David to consider. Nicholas of told of events transpiring after what he saw on a long ago web site. Things which happened all the way across the country in Connecticut and in place called the Norwich State Hospital. Not only Uncle David—the guy that Nick thought he was so rough and tough he could handle it if David Jackson were his Father and now he hoped that nothing was further from the truth—but at the old abandoned hospital, when David was done with her and Dad distraught believing her dead, Aphrodite and Hades came to take part of her away but not all of her. All those things that Calla never wanted him—or Cole-- to know were suddenly out in the open for everyone to gawk at. Now he understood his Mother so much better than before and he knew why she wanted to keep it all secret. Secrets were deadly things, the pain of them turned to poison in her long ago. On so many levels she was ashamed of herself and the last thing she wanted was her children to feel that way about her. She didn’t want the things she’d gone through in life to touch or taint them, she probably didn’t want that for Dad either. If he hadn’t taken her away from Naganti Kanan—twice-- Mom would be dead by now. Mom. This was the woman who raised him, the one who shared her body with he and his Sister for seven and a half months, who struggled, alone, to bring them into the world because Daniel was dead or she had been lead to believe by her dirty rotten filthy bastard Brother! She was the sweet little red haired woman who made chocolate chip cookies from scratch and had them waiting for him, with a smile, when he got home from school. The same woman who took him to the park, pushed him on the swings and bandaged his wounds with a kiss when he fell off the jungle gym. Mom, the woman who made sure he got to school on time and who took al of that extra time when he had trouble learning to read. (She could have just shown him how to use this Genetic Memory thing, that would have been a big help!) Still, she was the one who soothed him through adolescence when he would sit up in his room crying because the other kids made fun of him for being so big and he felt like a galoot. Everyone has an Awkward Stage in their lives but Nicholas’ was particularly graceless. Being so large the phrase ‘All arms and legs’ really took on a new meaning for him. She was the one who told him that he was handsome, brave and strong. That it was all right to cry and the other children were wrong for picking on him but that he wasn’t retaliate. She was always so gentle, she was so goddamn small! How could anyone do those things to her? It was like a lion picking on a mouse. This was his Mother they were talking about. The one who didn’t bitch at him when he ran off and got married behind her back. The one who didn’t yell at Colleen and call her slut when she got pregnant at the ripe old age of 18. The one who loved his Father more than anything or anyone on this Earth. What right did anyone have to do those things to her? How in God’s name did she survive? What did she have to just to get through it all? Pills? Pot? A little smack? That was Hartley, another gem. But the pills and the pot, yeah, he could see that. And I turned my back on her yesterday! The rug swiftly yanked from below his Life, Nicholas threw up on the white marble floor of Zeus’ Island Palace. “Oh God, Mom.” Ares handed over a large gold chalice full of Nectar. “Here this will settle your stomach.” Nicholas batted it out of his Grandfather’s hand. “You took her to him! Kanan! You left her with him! How could you do that? My Gods! How could you just turn your back on her, walk away and leave her with him? She was just a little girl, you’re her Father, you’re supposed to protect her not hand her over to the wolf!” Zeus sat back and waited for an answer to the age old question but Ares didn’t offer one. Instead he poured another chalice of Nectar and held it out to Nicholas. “Daniel promised to go into the Underworld to get Callestah and bring her back but so far he has done nothing to this end and she is waiting.” “So what? You want me to go get her?” Nick took down a long swallow of the lightly sweet slightly thick liquid. “What are you gonna do with her?” “This is where we disagree.” Zeus said and held his cup out for more liquid. “I say the girl should be brought here along with Callestah and I will integrate them make them one again.” “Thor has agreed to help me.” Ares began as he leaned forward and looked straight into his Grandson’s eyes. “I plan to have a clone of her made and the younger put into it. I will have Zeus remove Callestah from Calla and combine her with the younger.” Nick’s stomach turned, he already knew the answer but he had to ask because he had to hear it. “What are ya gonna do with her, Umpa?” “Take her away with me and make her my Queen.” Nicholas fought back the bile and rising Nectar to hold his Grandfather’s stare. “So what? You wanna know which I like best; you fucking my Mother or just another form of her? Either way she’s your Daughter, Umpa. Either way, it’s disgusting.” He spat. Yes, it was disgusting, Nicholas hated the idea that even he wanted her but he was not going to stand here and agree to help his Grandfather. “You did it to her once, do you have to keep doing it to her? Why do you insist that she owes you something?” Nicholas no longer felt sick he felt angry and stood up. “She loves Dad. She loves you…” “That is why this has to end.” Ares rose quickly and met his Grandson’s challenge. “She can’t go on like this forever it will drive her mad but before that happens Daniel and I are going to kill each other that is, if the Gods are merciful. If they’re not then only one of us will remain and the other will be cast away from for all Eternity never to be forgiven for taking the other away. This is the only solution.” He asserted without flinching. “You? You think you should mush them all together and make her go off with him?” Nick asked Zeus without taking his eyes from Ares. “You’ll kill her, she needs my Father. You know what she’s like when he goes away.” Nicholas reminded Ares. “I can’t believe Dad would ever go along with this jerk-off scam of yours. This is the price to unlock the knowledge and the powers in my head? A little girl’s innocence and my Mother’s sanity?” He asked as he looked from one to the other. “Forget it. I won’t help you. Either of you. No way. She’s strong, if she’s sick then she’ll find a way to get through it, with us, her family helping her. Why don’t you guys just take off, we don’t need you anyway.” “Nicholas!” Zeus shouted. “Fuck you! Both of you! You don’t give a shit about her only what she can do for you what she can give you. I won’t help you!” Nick returned and disappeared from Zeus’ Palace. End Chapter Nine Of This story and all stories in the Barters N Garters Library are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories
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Thy Brother's Wife
Parts 1 & 2 Combined
by
Moon Mistress
a/k/a
Lisa Beth Darling
Whatever flag they offer
Never hint at what you really feel
Teach the children quietly
For some day sons and daughters
Will rise up and fight while we sit still
Silent Running
Mike & The Mechanics
Thy Brother's Wife
Continue to
Chapter Ten