Chapter 8: The Deceiver
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Friendly reminder to read the content warnings for this story, there will be some sexual content, and violence/murder in this story, and specifically this chapter. This particular chapter will also have a toxic relationship with blatant misogyny by our main villain. Please be aware of those themes existing in this story moving forward. Hope you enjoy!

Ares adjusted the shirt cuffs on his suit for the hundredth time, as if they'd moved from the last time he’d done it. Ares hated the constricting and scratchy fabric, he preferred his armor, which was moulded to form to his skin with fine leathers, and broken in through millennia of combat. He didn't like this mortal form either, but this message needed to be passed onto his high-priests in person.

He turned his gaze out the floor to ceiling windows to take in the view of Manhattan below. The mortals truly were busy with things other than multiplying like rabbits Ares mused, as he took in the massive monoliths. It was impressive that they'd achieved those feats without any magical means, but what Ares was excited for was what their hollowed out mountains contained. 

The massive missiles were truly an awe-inspiring sight, if the videos of their tests were anything to behold. Ares still found it hard to believe it was possible that these nuclear weapons existed and that the foolish humans had not annihilated each other with them yet, but in the grand scheme of things they were still very new. Less than a century had passed since their creation and Ares was confident he could rope the mortals into using them on each other on a large scale. It was the only feasible way they could think of to restore the population back to its balance. 

The door burst open and a small flurry of six men in suits filed into the room, each bowing towards him and saying “praise be to Ares” as they entered, before they took their seats. Ares didn't react, as was the custom he had arranged when he recruited them. He needed the filthy mortals to remember who was in control and keep them subservient. Unchecked aggression was his humiliating downfall in the Trojan War. He was determined not to make the same mistake again.

“I’ve convened the board to warn you that the forces of darkness are aware of our operations and Satan himself will be trying to stop you.” Ares paused for effect as the mortals looked at each other in stunned silence. “He leads an army of the damned and will stop at nothing but the complete annihilation of your species. You should assume at this point that he has entrenched himself with the Russians or the Chinese, potentially both. If we don't succeed in our population control measures before he gets his way, there will be no population left to control. Steel yourselves and remember that the lesser humans must die so that you may survive.”

None of what Ares said was strictly true, but he had learned well from his father to reorient the narrative to portray himself in a positive light, in order to coax his followers into submission. He had grasped quickly that playing up the nationalistic, white supremacy and christian references had worked particularly well with this group. 

“The Devil will be watching for you, so meet with your subordinates and tell them to move all communications to secure channels. Are the servers we spoke about online?” Ares said to the man who sat at his right. 

“Yes, the Sovereignty system is active and ready to be accessed.” the man said curtly. Ares narrowed his eyes, before the man continued “My apologies. It's ready, Lord Ares.”

“Cautiousness is key, don't let them find out what we are planning” Ares said, turning his attention to his Arch-Priest. “Mister Jeffreys, be sure that these new orders are followed to the letter in my stead, and do not fail me in our current missions. See to it that they are executed without a hitch. Do any of you have any questions for me at this time?”

“My lord” the CEO began “if we could have more information on the prophecy you spoke of, we may be able to make plans to ensure the Russians and Chinese don't move against us. As it stands we only know that it assures our victory.”

Ares had no intention of telling the mortals about the specifics of the prophecy, he and Zeus had worked hard to ensure that no one could tell Hades and Persephone about it; and mortals couldn't be trusted. If they haven't learned of it already Ares thought with contempt.

“You know exactly how much you need to know. Rest assured, if something comes up, I’ll apprise you of it.” Ares was trying to project an air of confidence, and inspire more than a little fear.

“Understood, Lord Ares.”

“Then this meeting is adjourned. Go and tell your subordinates, then ensure preparations are set for our next operation.” Ares said curtly before pulling himself out of the mortal realm and back into his home on Olympus. 

Once the board room was without the god, the remaining men let a collective sigh of relief. “He sure is intense,” one of the younger executives said in the quiet. 

“You would do well to watch your words, Mr. Tucker. Our god knows and hears all.” Mr. Jeffreys said cutting any further conversation short. “Tell me again about the preparations for the Vilongo Deal.” 

The men quickly got down to executing his will and making preparations to inform their subordinates. They wouldn't have seen the small pool of shadows under the conference table, even if they had known what to look for. The shadows were the covert forms of the Shadow Stalkers, a team of young Chthonic beings who reported directly to Hades himself. They would have no troubles following the men to their subordinates and spying on them, slipping into shadow to remain undetected. They were confident that Ares had been just as foolish as they had hoped, leading the Shadow Stalkers right to his leaders, so that they could find out everything they needed to know about his operations.

**

Ares’ home had the same grand halls that were the staple of every building on Olympus, but his home was unique in the carved murals that covered nearly every surface. Every single room showed combat scenes in all their brutal glory, most depicting Ares in some form as the victor. They were embellished with some tasteful heroism on his part, but they were mostly accurate as far as locations and armies were concerned. 

He tore off the suit, glad to be free from the constricting fabrics and walked the halls towards his bedroom. One of his servants would clean that mess, and he had hundreds of the damned things in his armoires.

As he pushed open the door to his bedroom he found Aphrodite in her usual place, sprawled on the bed with several attendants lying around her. They knew better than to remain once he had returned, and they scurried off to their quarters. 

“That was quick,” she said with a sigh as she lazily sat up.

“I needed a break,” Ares said stubbornly as he approached. “I’ll go meet with the other groups once I've rested.”

‘A break’ almost certainly included sex, and Aphrodite pulled him down into bed, albeit reluctantly. It wasn't that she disliked Ares in bed, or even that she didn't want sex, but Ares had proven to be a greedy and selfish lover during their relationship, and she was rarely sated when they were done. She was legendarily hard to please but Ares rarely made the earnest effort, which Aphrodite considered a shame, being that occasionally good sex was his only redeeming quality.

True to form, their ‘love-making’ was over nearly as quickly as it had begun, and Aphrodite was correct in her assessment of still needing more. She pushed her need down and refocused to another goal she had; getting Ares to talk about his plans. “Have you thought more about what you told me earlier? That Zeus had misinterpreted the prophecy?”

“I’m sure of it. Just like the fall of the titans was foreseen, so is the end of his reign. I’m the rightful heir to the throne, it would only make sense that I would succeed him.”

“You will probably need his lightning bolt if you want to overthrow him like he overthrew the Titans. He won't fall unless you use it against him.”

“I know, woman,” Ares said frustrated as he stood and made his way to his closet. “It took father and his brothers to overthrow the Titans, and they each had a legendary weapon. Alone he will be easier to defeat, but not unless I take his lightning bolt.”

“Perhaps you could steal the helm of Hades. The wearer is granted the gift of invisibility and you could steal the lightning bolt while your father slept.” Aphrodite suggested as she watched Ares select clothes to wear for when he went back to the mortal realms. She understood it wasn't possible to simply steal the spear, but she needed to get Ares talking.

“The lightning bolt is a spear of raw magical energy. It can't even be held by anyone but it’s owner. I need to think of a way to get him to give it to me of his own free will. Otherwise once he realizes it's been taken he could just summon it back.” Ares angrily selected a grey suit and began to dress. 

As he put on the clothes, he adjusted his form to appear like an asian mortal. He found that changing his appearance to be similar to the mortals he was influencing was an effective way at gaining their trust. The humans that he had gone about selecting for his cults of priests were from separate geographic regions and the specific people he found most eager to fight for him still had infantile perceptions about their race being superior to the others on earth. It was a novel idea for a god to select multiple cults of followers that were unaware of each other, but he needed to play all sides if he intended to have a conflict at the scale necessary to achieve his goals.

“At this stage, you’d probably have better luck stealing Poseidon's trident then Hades’ helm anyway” Aphrodite mused as she seductively put her arms around the now shorter Ares. 

“No, that's futile, and I don't want his trident. I would like to have Hades’ helm, eventually but even that isn't my goal. No, I just need to be cunning and use my wits to outsmart father. I need that lightning bolt.”

If Aphrodite thought the idea of Ares having wits was funny, she kept it to herself, as she mused out loud. “Hmmm, what circumstances would need to be in place for that to happen? Perhaps, we could orchestrate a coup, but have you fighting by his side. We create a scenario where he has to give you the spear in order to help him, but once you have it you could betray him?”

“That's what I thought of at first, but what situation could I put him in where he couldn't just use the lightning bolt himself?”

“Does the prophecy give you any clue?” Aphrodite hinted. She hadn't been able to get the prophecy from him, but she knew that it involved ‘a righteous hero’ who had to use their power to restore the balance. Zeus and Ares had both assumed that it meant themselves, but Aphrodite wasn't so naive.

Ares turned and looked at Aphrodite as he continued dressing “Don't worry your pretty little head about that.” His voice was cold and calculating, like a predator before it kills its dinner. “Your role in this war is to lay here looking pretty, and be a good fuck when I need it. You're not my partner.” Venom laced his words as he spoke, and then he turned back to his closet.

Anger flashed across Aphrodite’s face, but it was unseen by Ares. Just a little longer, and this will be over. There was a time where Aphrodite would have screamed, or broken things or just generally made someone rue the day that they had scorned her, but despite her gut reaction she breathed, and said simply “Yes, Ares. Of course,” while looking at the floor. She was ashamed at how far she’d fallen, to let Ares treat her this way, but she had no one else to go to now that she’d alienated most of her friends and family. Secretly she held out hope for the only other two gods that she knew had heard the prophecy, the king and queen of the underworld. Persephone and her had a history though, and she was unlikely to win her favor without something in return. 

As Aphrodite was preparing something else to say, an acolyte of Ares burst into the room “My lord! Persephone has selected an Arch-priestess!” Remembering the strict code of conduct that Ares held, the acolyte dropped to his knees with his eyes down. “Apologies for my interruption, I meant no offense. This intelligence is time sensitive, we don't know when they will move from their current location, and we need your permission to act fast, my lord.”

An ear shattering whistle sounded from Ares as he called his attendants to his chambers. Only a moment later his top generals entered the room, and Ares approached the acolyte. “What is her name boy, and where is she now?”

“Our spies reported her name is Samantha Marie Persa, my lord. She is at her listed home address in New York City.” The acolyte bore into the polished marble with his eyes, and silently prayed for mercy.

“Is the goddess there with her? Is there anything else I should know?” Ares said calmly, now standing inches from his subordinate.

“No, my lord, she is alone with another mortal!” the acolyte choked out before realizing he had answered the question wrong. Ares would need to know that the goddess was in fact at her home in order to plan. He sucked in his breath to correct himself, but Ares thought that the acolyte had disclosed everything, and summoned his short sword to lop off the acolytes head with a swift chop. Few weapons could be possessed that could so easily kill an immortal, but the lesser acolyte was no match for either of Ares’ signature weapons. Without realizing it, Ares had interrupted the acolyte before he could apprise him of Seph’s location.

“Have our operatives in New York execute her immediately, and leave no trace it was us. Plant evidence that the cult of Zeus did it, if at all possible, but no word of this gets back to Persephone or Zeus. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Lord Ares,” the two generals said before turning to leave.

“Curses” Ares spat, looking down at the carnage at his feet. “He splattered blood all over my trousers, and now I’ll have to change again.” 

Aphrodite had turned away when she saw Ares approaching the young acolyte. She’d known all too well that he wouldn't let that interruption slide. She knew the same fate would befall that new arch-priestess as well, but she likely wouldn't be able to warn them before it happened. Shame, she was a cutie.

Thanks for reading! I'd love feedback if you have any!

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