Conquering Death

By Jay Mendell

Thanatos is the personification of Death itself, and has walked the Earth longer than almost any other immortal on the planet. He has met many gods, and become familiar with a number of them, including the war god Ares and the love goddess Aphrodite. They've been willing to bring him into their relationship in the past, but Thanatos is unsure of how far that favor extends. He is their friend, and occasional lover, but could they really care for someone with his reputation?

Still, Thanatos has a job to do, and he knows the weight of his duty. Though he believes himself to be quite familiar with mortals, there are still some parts of them he doesn't understand. He does know one thing for certain -- no mortal wants to die. And some are willing to do nearly anything to avoid it.

When he is sent to apprehend King Sisyphus by Zeus, the mortal seems quite agreeable. At first. But now Thanatos has been captured, no one is dying, and some are claiming the world is better for it. Thanatos knows he can't allow this to continue, but he can't get free on his own. Will anyone be willing to rescue Death, the one thing they all fear?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Sep 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685502850

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Conquering Death

By Jay Mendell

Published by JMS Books LLC

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2022 Jay Mendell

ISBN 9781685502850

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review. This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

* * * *

Conquering Death

By Jay Mendell

Oh, Lord Death—!

Thanatos flinched instinctively, already looking for an escape. But before he could do anything, a pair of hands latched onto his arm, nails digging into his skin.

Aphrodite, Thanatos sighed, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. To what do I owe the pleasure?

The goddess peered up at him, giving him a sly grin.

Aphrodite only used that specific tone when she wanted to ask him for an uncomfortable favor. The last time he’d agreed to such a thing, he’d ended up having to distract poor Hephaestus while Aphrodite snuck one of her human lovers into their domain. Uncomfortable for a number of reasons; not the least of which being that Hephaestus had understood exactly what was going on, and had clearly only been humoring him.

Hephaestus was easy to talk to—quite affable and kind so long as you didn’t go out of your way to insult him, so it wasn’t such a hardship for Thanatos to engage him in conversation, but the whole scenario had still left a bad taste in his mouth.

I need you to do me a favor, my dear, she purred, and Thanatos exhaled slowly, closing his eyes as he tried to fight back a rueful grin. Exactly what he had expected, then.

What kind of favor? he said, defeated. He already knew that he would be agreeing, but it would be nice to know a bit more about what he was agreeing to.

"The kind of favor that can only be done by you, of course, Aphrodite said, fluttering her eyelashes coquettishly. Ares knows all the details. Could you go speak with him, pretty please?"

If you want me to kill someone, it better be for a good reason, he warned. If Ares was involved, it probably wouldn’t be anything too egregious, but the two of them also had a habit of working each other up—a minor insult to one of them could be transformed into a fatal insult by the time they were done raging about it.

Oh, come now, would I ask for something like that? Aphrodite said, pouting up at him.

Only several times a month, Thanatos said dryly.

To be fair, most of those demands weren’t made with any sort of seriousness, and Thanatos was well aware of that. Sometimes, Aphrodite just needed some way to complain about one of her lovers, or the mortals that she worked with as part of her godly domain, and jokingly asking Thanatos to kill them rather than working to solve the problem herself was an easy way to let off steam. At the very least, she did normally solve the problem herself.

That was in the past! Aphrodite dismissed, gesturing sharply. I’m a changed woman now!

Changed how? Thanatos asked, a tinge of amusement in his tone.

I changed my hair, she said, throwing the thick golden curls over her shoulder with a dainty gesture. Do you like it?

It looks beautiful, he said wryly, as if she could ever be anything else. And it did, truly—framing her dark skin like a halo, a warm color that seemed to almost glow in the low light of Mount Olympus in the evening. But then, everything looked gorgeous on Aphrodite, and if there were ever anything that didn’t, it would quickly be stricken from existence.

Still, Aphrodite took the compliment with grace, smiling at Thanatos with something a little deeper than the simpering expression she’d