The Temple grew quiet, and the energy shifted. Something was about to happen.

I looked at Erebus, and he sighed. "It's time."

I heard a portal open in the main area and then the clip of heels in the silence of the Temple. Nyx had arrived. I scrambled off the bed. If she had made her appearance, Lazarus wouldn't be far behind.

"Olivia!" Erebus called after me in a hushed tone, rushing to catch up to me as I ran to Nyx's altar. He grabbed me and pulled me to a stop. "Don't let her see you so upset. It will only fuel her cruelty."

I panted, panicked, and tried to pull away from him.

"Stop," he ordered, using the compulsion against me.

I stilled, looking up at him, compliant.

"Be as calm as you can manage."

I blew out a breath and settled into a more relaxed pose. He held out his arm, and I wrapped around it. We walked into the main area just as Lazarus arrived, escorted by Azza in front and Nicco behind. Nicco shoved him along, even though it was obvious Lazarus wasn't protesting.

His arms were tied in front of him, the rope not only encircling his wrists but winding its way up his forearms. His head hung, resigned to whatever fate Nyx had in store. They had dressed him in a pair of leather pants, but he was barefoot and otherwise unadorned.

"Laz!" I cried as I ran for him. His head shot up, and he searched for my voice as Azza blocked me from getting to him. When I pushed at his bulk, trying to shove him out of the way, it was nothing for him to restrain me.

Nicco laughed as he grabbed Laz.

"Olivia! Why are you here?" Laz demanded, trying to see around Azza. Nicco held him fast.

"Azza," Nyx said, clipped her way over to us slowly, "let her pass. She earned the right to a few moments."

Azza nodded and stepped aside. I rushed in and grabbed Laz's face to kiss him deeply. I was thrilled when he returned the kiss. I rested my forehead on his when he broke the kiss.

"Why are you here?" he asked again in a whisper. "I don't want you to see this, darlin'."

"I can't abandon you, Laz. I love you. I will get you out. I don't know how, but I will."

"I love you, too, Death." The way he said my title told me he knew that Nyx would have to die for that to happen.

"You have seen your precious Lazarus," Nyx declared. "Azza, remove her."

I fought against Azza's grip for just one more moment of contact with Lazarus, dragging my fingers across the ropes on his arms and slipping from his fingers.

As Azza shoved me into Erebus' embrace, I felt a lick of his power, meant to be a moment of comfort, but bringing up feelings of dread. When it slipped from me, and I clamped down on the wail that threatened to escape. Hot anger flashed through me when I caught Nyx's smirk, and I used it to steel myself. If Lazarus could endure, I could, too.

Nicco shoved Laz toward the stone altar, where he stumbled and collapsed to his knees. I had healed him of his injuries, but he was still weak. I whirled to Erebus. "We need to find a bed with a view!"

He steered me toward the ideal spot, waving for the current occupants to leave.

"Hey, we were here first!" protested one of the men of the small group lounging on the bed.

"And we are here last," Erebus declared, voice rumbling in his chest. "Move."

The man set his jaw and refused.

The light in the bed's silk-lined chamber dimmed, and the shadows seemed to come alive. "If you do not leave, I will allow the shadows to take you."

I saw eyes in the inky darkness rolling into the space. When it reached the head of the bed, black, misty hands reached for the occupants. The women screamed and scrambled toward the foot. The man, though he was afraid, still refused. "The Mother will protect me," the man declared.

The hands snatched him from the bed and dragged him away into the true shadow of the corner before he had the chance to scream. Erebus waved at the area, making the shadows retreat with the brightening of the light. He gestured to the bed and gave me a slight bow. "I believe this bed will suffice?"

I shoved away the apprehension of the shadows as I crawled onto it, hiking up my skirt as I did before I settled to sit near the foot. I reached a hand for Erebus. "Help me?"

He closed his eyes in resignation for a moment. Knowing his sister was watching from over his shoulder, he said, "Yes, anything to feel you die around my cock." He ignored my hand but joined me on the bed, finding a place in the pillows at the head. "Olivia," he said, putting power into the compulsion, "come here."

I dutifully did as he said. He tucked me in against him, my head on his chest and hand on his crotch so that I could get, and keep, him hard until it was time.

I wanted to close my eyes as Azza and Nicco grabbed Laz and forced him into the altar. He struggled in vain; Azza had superhuman strength, but even Nicco, a mortal, overwhelmed him. As soon as Lazarus' back hit the altar, black vine-like ropes reached up and around him to bind him to the stone. When there was no longer any need for the two of them to restrain him, Azza made his way back to Nyx, who had taken up residence in a throne of matching stone at Lazarus' head.

Nicco, grinning, stood impatiently by his feet, waiting for a signal from Nyx. She nodded her head, and his grin widened before melding into a wicked sneer. Using the magic of the ropes, he wove a binding around Laz's ankles, much like what he wore on his wrists. There was no way the binding would come undone easily.

Nicco reached up in the shadow above his head and pulled down a gleaming hook at the end of a black chain. He inserted it through the ropework he just created, then gestured to a servant standing off to one side. She brought him the end of a rope that disappeared into the shadow above.

Nicco hauled on the rope, and I heard the ominous sound of chains rattling. The motion took up the slack, and as he pulled, the hoist lifted Laz, feet first. The ropes of the table released him as he became airborne so that he hung from his ankles.

Lazarus began to struggle, but a small motion from Azza ended his protests with a moan. My heart dropped when I realized that Azza was using his powers to fill Lazarus with pleasure to subdue him.

"Azza! No!" I whispered. I knew he heard me by the brush of power he sent me.

Nicco brought up another hook from the altar and attached it to Laz's wrists before lifting his feet more, stretching him out. Caught between the two points of attachment, Lazarus hung upside down over the altar.

Nyx left her chair and, with Azza's guiding hand, stepped onto the stone so that her face and Lazarus' chest were the same level. She turned to look at me, eyes hooded, for a moment before refocusing on him. Faster than I could follow, she brought a small knife from somewhere and slashed across his chest three times. He moaned in pleasure as the blood flowed, trickling toward his shoulders.

"Laz!" I screamed into the silence of the Temple and started to crawl toward the foot of the bed.

"Olivia! Stay!" Erebus ordered, the compulsion stronger than ever. I screamed my frustration but remained on the bed.

She was an expert with the blade, slashing at just the proper depth wherever she cut to entice the blood to flow but not critically injure him. However, once his torso was a mess of cuts and the blood dripped from him onto the stone, I knew that blood loss was the biggest issue.

"Erebus! Fuck me! Please?" I whispered over my shoulder. He nodded and came to press into me as I waited on all fours for him. I was dismayed that he hadn't remained hard but knew Azza intervened when he swelled in his leathers. He opened his fly, pushed my dress over my hips, and thrust into me.

All eyes in the silent Temple turned to us. Nyx watched as she licked her blade, and Nicco rubbed himself through his pants. Azza watched with a stoic face, but I caught his rough swallow. None of it mattered. I watched Laz's face and saw when he opened his eyes to turn his head, straining to see me.

"Olivia..." he called, voice weak and breathy.

From behind me, Erebus whispered. "Come, Olivia. Come and die."

The orgasm ripped through me, and I screamed, "Lazarus!" I gave him everything and, when I came to, Nicco was wiping away the drying blood to show the room I healed him.

Great applause erupted from Nyx's followers, and more than a few began their own sex acts, mimicking our performance. Nyx stood on the stone, allowing Nicco to clear the altar of the slick blood. When he was complete, I felt Azza's power in me, filling me so that I would be ready at a moment's notice. I whimpered, hating the need for it.

She turned to Lazarus with an evil smile and began to carve sigils into his skin. When one was complete, it would flash red, and power would visibly flow to her from it. Lazarus was being weakened more from the stealing of his essence than from the cuttings themselves.

The air became electric, and the shadows grew as the power settled into her. Erebus had to adjust our private area twice to keep the eyes and hands from returning. Other places were not so lucky; eyes and hands tempted her followers into the shadows, where their screams began to fill the temple.

"Yes!" I heard Nicco shout. He whirled to Nyx and fell to his knees. "You are glorious, Mother!"

She smiled at him as she would a precious child. "Yes, Nicco, I am." As she held his gaze, she buried the small knife in Lazarus' thigh. Lazarus bucked against his bonds, his pleasure made complete by Azza.

I was in shock; I could only stare, wide-eyed, at the scene before me. Only after she snatched the knife from him, and the blood spurted, did I come to myself. I didn't have to beg Erebus, I only had to put my ass in the air for him. Whether it was him or Azza that took me over, I didn't care. I only cared that Lazarus lived.

When I gasped back to life, I saw Nicco on the altar, lying in Lazarus' blood, as Nyx rode him. Azza was behind her, kissing her while running a hand down to her wetness. She shuddered, melting into Azza moments before Nicco shouted his orgasm.

I watched as they came down, closing my eyes at the tender way Azza lifted her from Nicco and carried her away. Servants came to clean Nicco and remove Lazarus, who hung limply between the shoulders of two burly men as they dragged him from the Temple. His body was whole, but I could only guess about his spirit and mind.

I whirled to Erebus and buried myself in his arms, shaking with the effort it took to keep from screaming my sorrow. I wanted to run to my love and take him away, but now that he was mortal, I'd surely kill him.

"Shh. I will take you back to the suite," he said, voice quiet and tender. He picked me up and opened a portal. We stepped into the silence of the room, the portal closing on the screams of worship behind us. He allowed my feet to touch the floor so that I was standing, wrapped in his arms.

I couldn't contain myself any longer; I screamed my frustration into the night and beat my fists on Erebus' chest. He allowed me to pummel him until I was too wracked with sobs to continue. He scooped me up again and took me to bed, holding me against him as I cried myself to sleep.