d, you big
thug--and you're never going to be. I'll sleep with whomever I please,
and whenever I please, and wherever I please, and that's the way things
are going to be. After all, lard-head, it's my job, isn't it? Got any
questions?"

Her _job_?

Forrester began to wonder just what he had managed to walk into now. But
that was a detail. The important thing was that his Godhood had been
grossly, unbelievably insulted--and at a damned inconvenient time, too!

He stepped between Kathy and the intruder, his eyes flashing fire. "Do
you know who I am? Do you know that--"

"Of course he knows," Kathy put in abruptly. "And if you don't want to
get hurt, I'd advise you to stay out of this little quarrel."

Forrester turned and stared at her.

What the everlasting bloody hell was going _on_?

But there wasn't any time to think. The intruder put his face up near
Forrester's and glared at him. "Sure I know who you are, buster," he
said. "You're a wise guy. You're a Johnny-come-lately. And I know what I
ought to do with you, too--take you apart, limb by limb!"

That did it. Forrester, seeing several shades of red, decided that no
God could possibly object if this ugly blasphemer were blasted off the
face of the Earth. He raised a hand.

And Kathy grabbed it. "_Don't!_" she said in a frightened tone.

The intruder grinned wolfishly at him. "Pay no attention to Little Miss
Sacktime over there, Forrester. You go right ahead and try it! All I
need is an excuse to vaporize you. Just one tiny little excuse--and I'll
do the job so damn quick, your head won't even have time to start
swimming." He set himself. "Go on. Let's see your stuff, Forrester."

Forrester's arm came down, without his being aware of it. There was only
room in his mind for one thought.

The intruder had called him Forrester.

Where had he gotten the name?

And, for that matter, how had he seen the two of them in the darkness?

While the questions were still spinning in Forrester's mind, Kathy threw
herself forward between him and the stranger. "Ares!" she screamed. "You
stupid, jealous idiot! Get some sense into that battle-scarred brain of
yours! Are you completely crazy?"

"Now you listen to me--" the stranger began.

"Listen, nothing! If you want to pick a fight, do it with me--I can
fight back! But if you lay a hand on Forrester, we'll never find
another--"

The stranger reached out casually and clamped one huge paw over her
mouth. "Shut up,