Deliverance: Book Three Finale (Gods and Slaves Series 3) Read online

  Deliverance

  Gods and Slaves Series

  By

  NICHOLAS BELLA

  Deliverance : Gods and Slaves Series Copyright © 2019 by Nicholas Bella.

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For information contact: www.nicholasbella.com

  Edited by Heidi Ryan of Amour the Line Editing

  Book Cover design by Jay Aheer of Simply Designs

  Photographed models by Miky Merisi Photography

  First Edition: June 2019

  Books by Nicholas Bella:

  Series

  The New Haven Series

  The Odin Chronicles

  The Demon Gate Series

  Cobra: The Gay Vigilante Series

  The Gods and Slaves Series

  The Genesis Circle Series – W/Aimee Nicole Walker

  Books (Collaborations)

  Undisputed – W/Aimee Nichole Walker

  Theoden: A New Haven Series Prequel

  Dedicated to my family, friends, and fans who believed in me.

  I love you all.

  N.B.

  Warning: Scenes depicted in this series may be too graphic and dark in nature for sensitive readers. All characters featured in sexual situations in this novel are adults, 18 or older. Reader discretion is strongly advised due to the highly erotic, dark, and twisted content. Prepare yourself for one hell of a wild ride.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The four powerful gods sat around the table devouring the succulent food the servants had lain out at the most extravagant restaurant in Fago. The place was bright with electric, crystal chandeliers sparkling overhead. Its hardwood floors shined with the finest polish, so much so, one could see their own reflection. The seats themselves were cushioned to give the greatest amount of comfort and the décor was dedicated to the gods themselves with ivory carvings of their images throughout. A true homage. Green vines and leaves crawled up the walls, giving the place the feel of being outside as well as inside at the same time.

  Only the richest could afford to dine here, and that was what made it most worthy to serve the gods. Four servants stood in the background behind each god as they dined, waiting to serve them should a god need their assistance. The servants were not allowed to dine at the restaurant themselves, and one of their stomachs growled in protest of the hunger he felt, but he dared not say a word. He was beneath the gods and could not interrupt their meal to search for his own.

  Simeon eyed the servant whose stomach was audible and sighed. He knew the rules the restaurant had set up and it was the elitist standard that he’d grown to despise that made him call this meeting in the first place. He turned his attention back to his fellow gods to address his concerns.

  “Things must change,” Simeon said.

  Kijani swallowed the tender, seasoned chicken he’d been enjoying. “Is this about the Games again?” he asked with a groan. “We get it, you do not favor them. Perhaps, it’d be best if you just no longer attended.”

  “The Games are but a small part of the problem,” Simeon said. He took a sip of his wine, then looked at the glass in his hand. “Before we came here over two hundred years ago, a glass such as this could be found in most homes.” He gestured to the lights above. “Electricity was not something so hard to come by where only the wealthiest of people could afford it.”

  “Humans took it all for granted, they did,” Odessa said as she sipped from her own wine glass.

  “Perhaps,” Simeon said. “But we have done no better. The wealthiest still take things for granted as they look down on those they deem lesser than them. This must end.”

  Kijani snarled. “Oh, it is this discussion again.”

  “This time, he has me to agree with him,” Eloy said, then sat back, tapping his finger on the cloth-covered tabletop. “We have failed in our quest to make this world a better place. We have created a system where the rich still rule, they do not share, and they do not help those in need. They are selfish and greedy and we have rewarded them for it.” He shook his head and frowned. “This cannot continue.”

  “These humans behind us, their stomachs growl because they are hungry. They are not even allowed to eat the scraps we leave behind. They are paid next to nothing in one of the most luxurious restaurants in the world.” Simeon sighed. “This is not progress, this is regression.”

  “Shall we create another calamity and start over? This one could not care less,” Odessa said, then she finished off her meal by scooping the last of her buttered potatoes into her mouth.

  “That is not the answer. We have to set a new standard, one that will level what is unbalanced,” Eloy stated.

  “Things will always be unbalanced. There will always be poor, and there will always be rich, and those in between. Nothing has changed in that regard. We have eliminated wars, diseases, and yes, these servants hunger, but they will and can find food. They will not starve to death, because we have made it so that all can live full lives,” Kijani said, then threw a chicken bone onto his empty plate.

  “This is hubris you speak of. Yes, it is good that we have eliminated wars, famine, and disease. But food should be for all, why can they not dine with us?” Simeon asked.

  Kijani threw up his hands. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, you know why. No god shall allow any human to get close to them, yet you want us to dine with them?” He shook his head in disgust. “That has been your flaw from the beginning. Your weakness. It is a miracle that it has not been you who would send us back.”

  Eloy stiffened ever so slightly with the mention of their own rule, the one they had all agreed upon when they decided not to return to the heavens. The one he was so dangerously close to violating with Mateo.

  “You can fuck them, but won’t eat with them?” Simeon asked them.

  “I have never fucked one of these humans,” Kijani retorted with as much venom and contempt as he could muster.

  “Perhaps you should, it would surely help you unwind,” Eloy stated.

  “I will not lie with those who are beneath me, and you should not either. They are filth,” Kijani said.

  “This one thinks this conversation is unsettling. What does that one ask of us?” she asked Simeon.

  “Well, for starters…” He turned to the servant who was standing behind him. “You, come and take this food to that table and eat. I will not see it go to waste.”

  The servant froze, fear stilling his movements as his eyes darted from one god to the other. He then looked around the empty restaurant, cleared for the night to cater to the gods. He took one step forward, then a step back. “We… we.”

  “Are you trying to get these servants punished?” Kijani asked, cutting off the servant.

  Simeon turned to him. “Do you not see the problem here? We are gods, we are supposed to be benevolent, and yet he fears to even eat the food I have offered.” He placed his hand on his chest. “These human bodies have corrupted us.”

  “What are you asking of us, if only so we can be done with this discussion?” Kijani asked.

  “I’ve already said what I want us to do.”

  “Very well, let us send out a decree that all servants i
n all restaurants shall have the opportunity to eat the food for free while on duty. Is that benevolent enough for you?” Kijani asked with a flamboyant twirl of his hand.

  “It is a start.” Simeon turned to the servant again. “Please take this food and eat it. I do not wish to see it thrown in the trash.”

  “That was a command from your god,” Kijani added with a cock of an eyebrow.

  All four servants rushed toward the table then, afraid to anger the gods, and began to remove the food from their table. They placed the platters on the table Simeon had pointed to earlier and sat down.

  “Good, now enjoy,” Simeon added.

  The servants looked at each other before anyone took a single bite. Their nervous glances showcased the fear they felt.

  “Eat,” Eloy ordered.

  They each reached out with trembling fingers and grabbed something from the platters before them of the delicious smelling food and began to eat. Moans of delight and sounds of greedy swallows followed and Eloy smiled, then turned back to his fellow gods.

  “I would like all homes to have access to running water, heat, and electricity the way it used to be,” Eloy said.

  “As gods, we can declare anything and the humans must obey. They will obey,” Simeon said.

  “What if they rebel as they are want to do?” Odessa asked.

  “Yes, what if they rebel? That is what will be inevitable if life continues on as it is. Only, those who will suffer will be the humans. The poor will rise up against the rich, the oppressed against their oppressors,” Simeon said.

  “What is their rebellion to us? We are gods,” Kijani stated.

  “Gods who were supposed to show them a better way. It is you who fear the change,” Simeon pointed out.

  “You are mistaken,” Kijani said. “I just do not fear humans or their gripes.”

  “This one fears nothing,” Odessa snapped. “I care not. Make whatever changes you desire. This one only asks that the Games remain the same.”

  “The Games do not need to be to the death,” Eloy stated.

  “Now, do you want to get rid of the gladiators and Games all together? Is this to save that gladiator you spared?” Kijani asked.

  “We eliminated wars to save lives, yet we have reveled in the needless death of so many over the centuries. Simeon is right, we have become corrupted,” Eloy stated.

  “I will not return to the heavens,” Kijani snarled.

  “I have not even suggested such. We can live here on this earth until our time comes when we must return. But we can truly make this world better. Let us extend our blessings to the badlands,” Simeon suggested.

  Kijani scoffed. “To give blessings to those who have refused to worship us?”

  “Let us be merciful, that is how we can earn their devotion,” Simeon said.

  “I will agree to everything you want with one condition,” Kijani said, sparking the interests of the others.

  “Oh? And that would be?” Simeon asked, leaning forward.

  “That Eloy take me as his lover. His one and only lover,” Kijani said.

  “I will not,” Eloy said.

  “Then I will not agree to the changes you want to make.”

  Eloy rolled his eyes and looked at Odessa. “What say you?”

  “This one does not wish to be your one and only.”

  “Don’t stray, you know what I speak of,” Eloy said.

  Odessa sighed. She looked at Kijani, then back to Eloy. “This one cares not of the changes you want to make. Make them and be done with it. This one only wishes to stay in this world and to have pleasures with whom she desires.”

  “It is settled then, three to one,” Simeon said with a wide grin.

  “With one exception,” Odessa said as she held up one finger.

  “And that is?” Eloy asked.

  “Let this one enjoy one last Game the way it was intended. Then you may neuter it,” Odessa said.

  Eloy and Simeon gave each other concerned glances. Simeon shrugged, leaving the final decision to Eloy.

  Eloy sighed. “Very well. After this month’s Games, let them only be to submission or if the other gladiator is rendered unconscious. Let them be paid for their showmanship in the arena, so that one day, they may purchase their freedom.”

  “Why not just issue a declaration to set them free and never have the Games again?” Kijani asked, his tone sarcastic and cruel.

  “The people need their entertainment, as do we. There was never a need to have it go to the death, Kijani,” Simeon said.

  Kijani pushed himself back from the table. “This meal has soured.” He rose and walked away, leaving the other gods alone.

  Simeon turned to Odessa. “Thank you for agreeing with us.”

  She made an offhanded gesture. “This one happens to enjoy the cocks and tongues of these humans, male and female. This one will continue to indulge.”

  Simeon held up a hand. “I make no move to take your pleasure away, Odessa.”

  “See to it that the future Games do not become a bore because of your changes,” Odessa said as she rose. “This one departs.” With that, she left the restaurant.

  Simeon and Eloy sat back, smiling at each other. “That went better than I could have ever hoped,” Simeon said.

  “Kijani responded as I had expected,” Eloy said.

  Simeon laughed. “Perhaps you should fuck him to calm him down. I would do the honors, but it is not my cock, ass, and mouth that he desires.”

  “How do you know? Have you ever tried to seduce him?”

  Simeon laughed. “Once, many eons ago. He has only lusted for you. It is apparent that you like him as well. Why not take him as your lover?”

  “You know why I cannot.”

  “Ahh, but I thought he told you to leave him be.”

  Eloy nodded. “Something I cannot do.”

  Simeon arched one of his perfect dark eyebrows. “There is no future for the two of you, Eloy.”

  “There is if I take him from Rama. The human could not deny me.”

  “And risk Kijani’s jealous rage that you take in the human he fears you fancy?”

  “I will not lose him in the Games.”

  “The Games will no longer be to the death after this last one. Still, are you willing to risk our immortality for this human?”

  “Are you afraid to be mortal?” Eloy asked him.

  Simeon chuckled and shook his head. “I long for it. I long to return to the heavens where I belong. I have grown bored of this life.”

  “Maybe your feelings will change once we make things better.”

  Simeon nodded. “Perhaps, yet even still, I do not fear mortality. I only want to help these people as we had first intended. Besides, it is not me that you should worry about. Neither Odessa nor Kijani want to give up their immortality. And the real question is, do you?”

  Eloy touched his finger to his bottom lip as he pondered the question. Was he ready to be human, to live just one mortal life and when it was all over, to return to heaven to take his place as a celestial god once again? Was Mateo worth it? Yes.

  “I think I am all right with being mortal,” Eloy said.

  Simeon whistled. “You really care for this human, then?”

  Eloy nodded. “More than any other and that is saying something. You know what I felt for Loren.”

  “I do, but I do not think Loren made you feel what Mateo does.”

  Again, Eloy was silent as he contemplated his feelings. He had cared a great deal for Loren, which was true. The human had touched him in ways others hadn’t at that point, but Mateo was a force of nature. His passion was fierce, and he was fearless. To Eloy, Mateo was fire incarnate, the mate he had never thought he was looking for.

  “I will take your silence as confirmation.”

  Eloy looked at Simeon and smiled. “I will free Mateo.”

  “Perhaps you should do so before this final Game.”

  “I cannot. We have Odessa on our side, but if she sees that I
have taken Mateo for myself, it will alarm her. She will join Kijani and then we will be at a stalemate. We have to make the changes first, have them fully implemented with her support. Then, I can take him for myself,” Eloy said.

  Simeon nodded. “That is wise.”

  “And on that day, when I free him, I will tell him how much he means to me.”

  “The forbidden words never to be spoken to a human.”

  Eloy nodded. “That is why timing is everything.”

  “Well then, let us hope your human does not die in this upcoming Games.”

  “This will be a Game he will not attend.”

  Simeon smiled and picked up his wine glass, holding it up for a toast. Eloy grabbed his glass and tapped it against Simeon’s. “To the future.”

  “To the future,” Eloy said, then took a sip of his wine. Yes, to the future indeed.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Rama sat at his desk, holding the brown parchment with the official seal of the god, Kijani, in his shaking hand. Never before had the gods made a formal request of him, of his gladiators, outside of demanding the company of them for sexual pleasure. Never to seek to arrange a match between his gladiators, and never a request from Kijani himself. This was a request that Rama knew he must grant, but at what cost? To pit his greatest gladiator, Titus, against one that held so much promise, Mateo, would surely weaken his standing among other ludus owners.

  His other gladiators were powerful and well skilled, but none were on Titus’ level. And yet, Mateo was a favorite of the god, Eloy. To risk the life of either was a nightmare for Rama. But he knew he had no choice, because in his hand was a direct message from the god, Kijani, that it must be done. He didn’t know why Kijani wanted to see these two men fight to the death, but there was speculation. There were rumors that Kijani was a jealous god and that he desired Eloy’s affections and resented any who may have had them.