by LJ Vickery
She gave a bitter laugh. “I’ve tried to commit suicide. Twice,” she said starkly. “Do you see any scars?”
He didn’t. Her wrists were clear and smooth, as was the way with gods.
“Within minutes, the bleeding stopped and my skin healed.” Her hand came up to rub a spot between her eyes. “Not that I believed it would really work. Every cut or scrape I had when I was a child disappeared within minutes. My mother always said I was a fast healer. But once I got old enough, I was aware that nobody mended as quickly as I did.” She held her arms up and looked at her wrists. “But I had to try.”
Jake’s heart turned over again. She seemed so weary, talking about it.
“So come on. Tell me the worst.” She waved Jake to the couch. “Convince me I’m not a freak. No. Scratch that.” Her eyes took on a hungry light. “Tell me about my children first.”
Jake lowered to the sofa and balanced lightly on the edge. He wanted to be ready for any sudden move she might make. He didn’t know what powers, if any, she possessed or if she’d inadvertently unleash some upon him.
“As long as you promise me you’ll stay calm, I’ll tell you.”
She agreed readily with a nod of her head.
“Okay. They’ve lived in Maine for most of their lives,” Jake informed her. “Adopted by the Abelards, who live just outside of Bangor. They were kept together, if that was one of your worries.”
Anna sighed, responding, “I made that a stipulation. If they had special…problems, I didn’t want them to face it without their siblings.”
Jake wasn’t about to go into the problems her three offspring had encountered growing up. Those were stories to be shared if he could effect a reunion.
“Their adoptive mother died when they were still in school, but Gregory Abelard remains an amazing father to this day. They all live together now in Massachusetts.” A little good news might go a long way. “Tess is married, and just had her first child. A boy. Holly and Huxley are married too. Holly’s pregnant and due in May.”
Joy lit Anna’s face for a brief moment, then fell away an instant later. “But my kids and their children could face the same dilemma I did.” She clenched her fists in her lap. “If they’re immortal”―she could barely get the word out from between clenched teeth―”they’ll have to find a way to leave their marriages.” She brightened a bit. “But they won’t have to leave their children. If my curse passes on, chances are their offspring will be immortal as well, and they’ll be made to understand.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Anna,” Jake soothed. “Things are actually better than you think. Strange…but better,” Jake assured. Now that she wasn’t about to go off the deep end, he would try to explain. Anna already understood she wasn’t aging, so what was a little god-talk to add to the mix?
“Let me go back to your parentage,” Jake started.
Anna interrupted again. “I knew my mother, Maddy, but she never talked about my father,” she supplied, still chewing that nail in a way that Jake found cute.
There was no way to make this sound reasonable and sane, so Jake decided to jump right in. “Your father’s name is Shulmanu. He was married when he had an affair with your mother, and didn’t know he left her pregnant.”
“I figured it was something like that.” Anna tipped her head and her blonde curls did a small dance. “Funny name, Shulmanu,” she pondered. “Mom never spoke poorly of him, nor would she hear it from me. She told me it was her decision to raise me on her own.”
“That’s true. Shulmanu loves his daughters and would never have abandoned you.”
“Daughters?” Anna’s eyebrows shot up. Jake nodded his head.
“You have two half-sisters―Ereshkigal and Ishtar Dinatu.”
That revelation made her look even more confused.
“Those are very odd names.” Her face quirked up on one side, and Jake stifled a laugh. The expression was Huxley all the way. “Are they from another country?”
“You might say that.” Jake sighed. “Listen. I’m going to tell you the rest, but please, promise me you won’t ask questions or try to make sense of it until I’m through. Okay?”
Anna looked skeptical, but agreed. “Fine.” She settled back in her seat and folded her legs up underneath her in an appearance of calm, even though he knew she was anything but. He’d hit her with an awful lot already. She’d found out she had a grandson, and two sisters she’d never known about. After hearing the rest, she might never be calm again.
“Shulmanu,” Jake focused all his attention on Ms. Kensilton’s face, “is a god, and was once the king of the Underworld.” He could see words of disbelief forming on her lips, and gave her a warning look. She rolled her eyes―very Holly―and swallowed the comment on her tongue. Taking it as a temporary reprieve, Jake figured he might as well get her pedigree business over with.
“Your sister, Ereshkigal, is the current queen of the Underworld, and your other sister, Ish-Din, is the goddess of the dawn.” When she didn’t flinch, Jake continued, “They were both born several thousand years ago. You were a definite afterthought.” Which was a complete understatement. Anna had been born in 1938.
“From what I understand, your father liked to cat around a bit, though never before with a human. But something about your mother caught his eye.” This was where things could get completely messy. “Turns out, you mother Madeline already had a smidgen of god’s blood in her.”
Without no conscious thought, Jake sent out a hand and stroked Anna’s knee for comfort. It must have been a long time since she’d been touched, because the simple warmth from his hand had her relaxing back into the cushions. “That blood must have called to Shulmanu. He didn’t know it, of course, but the mystery has since been unraveled. So, here’s the rest of the story.” He steeled himself to let everything fly.
“There is a group of gods who were sent to Earth, sentenced to become indentured servants in the colony of Merrymount, back in the 1600s.”
Well, she hadn’t stopped him yet.
“They had the ear of Thomas Morton, the leader of the settlement, and were given a lot of freedom. That freedom included bedding some agreeable women, who became pregnant and started some mixed bloodlines.”
Anna fidgeted at that, and clearly couldn’t help herself. He let her interrupt.
“That must have been tough in that day and age. It was bad enough for my mother, pregnant and alone in the 1930s. I take it these gods didn’t stick around to make things right?”
“They didn’t, but none―except one―knew they had progeny on the way, and they actually had no choice but to disappear,” Jake enlightened her. “Their mission had been to protect Thomas Morton, which they failed to do. Their failure relegated them to invisibility.”
He could see the question on her face.
“In other words, they were cursed to walk the Earth without bodies.” There was that worried nail again. Jake wondered how she had any left.
“Sucked for them,” she snuck in.
“Yeah. It did,” Jake agreed. “But they made do with the powers available to them. They built an enormous home in a place called the Blue Hills, which remains to this day, cloaked to the public. They roamed the vast halls invisible to the human eye before something amazing happened.”
Anna was into the story now. He could see it
“That something was your daughter, Tess.”
She inched forward unaware, and Jake’s hand slid further up her thigh. He found he liked it.
Jake cleared his throat and purposely moved his hand back to safe territory. “It turns out that you, your mother, Tess, Holly, Huxley, and everyone in your maternal line who came before you, all descended from the god Enlil, who’d had sex with a native woman, Sarah Littlesky. This gave you all a smidgeon of god blood, and it was for that reason Shulmanu noticed your mother in the first place.”
Anna’s breathing had become a little rough, a little agitated, and he squeezed her knee again, only to feel i
ts incredible softness. They both looked down to where his big hand gripped her leg. Something stirred within him, and he snatched his hand away as if on fire. Anna scooted back on the sofa. Jake pretended nothing had happened.
“That special something in you, which also resides in Tess, made the thunder god, Marduk, visible after nearly four hundred years as a nonentity. Nobody was more surprised than he when he stood on the beach one morning and became solid. Tess was Marduk’s Chosen, which is what they call their fated mate. The two married, she became completely and irrevocably immortal, a goddess in her own right, and now they have a little godling named Girin.”
Anna’s lips parted. Excitement shone in her face. “And Holly and Hux?” she asked.
Jake nodded. “The same kind of thing. Holly met and mated the god Dagon, and Huxley…well his story is a little different and I’m sure he’ll love to tell you. He’s a god, too, and has a wonderful wife, Dani-Lee, who is an honest to God surgeon, and acts as a doctor to them all.”
Anna sat back and closed her eyes. Slow tears leaked from their corners. “All this time…all this worry, and everything has turned out fine for them.” Clearly, it was all too much for her to take in.
“I’ve spent my life running, wondering, and now the weight and guilt I’ve carried for years has suddenly been removed.” She looked at Jake with eyes fully streaming. “Do you understand?” she asked. “I don’t care if my own life is shit. My children are happy, healthy. Immortal,” she thrilled. “It’s more than I could ever have asked for. Tell me the rest,” she demanded, impatient now.
Jake complied. “What we hadn’t figured―what nobody even considered―was the possibility that you were immortal. It must have something to do with receiving god DNA from both your mother and your father’s sides. But even without knowing what you’ve gone through, Shulmanu, in particular, feels very guilty, and both your sisters are dying to meet you and make up for anything you may have suffered.” Jake looked at the lovely face before him and laughed. “Of course, they’re expecting to meet a seventy-year-old human.” Her demeanor was now devoid of the awful tension that had probably haunted her for her entire adult life. He kept talking to keep her in the moment.
“You have the same color hair as your sister, Ish-Din. It glows the way hers does, as if taking its golden hues from the sun. And your eyes?” Her tear-drenched pools raised to his. “Pure Ereshkigal and Tess. Such an unusual gray. It was how I couldn’t mistake you for anyone else.”
He continued to stare, and when her tongue poked out to lick at her bottom lip, he nearly groaned. What the fuck? Head back in the game, Marsthall. “So, now that I’ve messed with your reality, do you have any questions?”
She laughed, and the carefree sound bounced around inside him, settling in his gut. God, she was meant to laugh. It was such a happy sound. How horrible that there’d been all too little of it in her life.
“About a million.” She sat up straighter, thankfully missing Jake’s inappropriate attraction. “Tell me more about where my children live. You said there’s a group of gods. How many? What are their names?” Jake was sure she wouldn’t remember most of what he was going to tell her, but there’d be plenty of time for her to assimilate everything once he got her back to Massachusetts.
“You asked for it.” He grinned. “Marduk, like I told you, is the god of thunder. He’s married to your daughter, Tess, and he’s the leader of the group. Dagon, Holly’s husband, commands the sea, and I’ve already filled you in on Huxley and Dani-Lee.”
There was no way Jake was going to mention that Hux was next in line for ascension to the king. That would come out in due time. “The other mated gods are Enten, the god of winter, with his wife Glory, who brought her mother Kate with her to live at the compound; Enlil, the wind god and your ancestor, is married to a friend of mine, Candy; and Anshar, the whole sky god, is married to the goddess Lenore.”
“As we speak, the god of sweet and salt water, Absu, is trying to win the lady’s hand to whom he’s fated. And Kulla, the divine architect, will be working on his relationship shortly, with the help of one supercharged warlock. At least, everyone hopes so. The unmated and still invisible gods are Lahar, god of cattle; Emesh, god of summer; Dumuzi, god of swamp land; and Shamash, who kicks ass on computers, is the god of justice and salvation.” Jake took a deep breath. “Getting this so far?”
Anna acknowledged solemnly, and he swore she was filing it all away. “Yes. Go on.”
“Ishkur takes care of a fleet of motorcycles, and can do weird things with fire.” Was he another rain god? Jake couldn’t remember. “And finally, there’s Ninurta, who seems to have a whole toolkit of powers like healing, making fog, X-ray vision, and earth moving. He’s a pretty amazing guy.
“And there are others in the compound as well,” Jake revealed. “They have two huge cottages outside the main house that are now being filled up. The goddess Lenore has a mother and grandmother, who are both witches. Their names are Addie May and Angie. Kate lives with them in one of the cottages. Add to that tally, Greg Abelard, who comes and goes, traveling a lot, and I think we have it. Oh. Except maybe a dog and one very damned strange cat.” He smiled in her direction. “How’d you do? Totally confused?”
“Nope.” She shook her head assuredly, flooring him.
“What? There’s no way you can remember all that.” Jake laughed. “I can barely remember them all, and I’ve met them.”
Anna shrugged. “It must be part of my weird immortal heritage.” She stared down at her hands as if seeing them for the first time. “Among a few other things, I have a completely infallible memory.”
Jake wanted nothing more than to sit and question her on the past and her powers, but that wasn’t his job. Marduk would be responsible for unraveling the why’s and wherefores of Anna Kensilton. Which was probably for the best.
Chapter Eighteen
Charlie lay still in the dark. Absu’s even breathing let her know that he was deep into slumber. She sighed. Another wonderful day, another disappointing night. Before he’d succumbed to sleep, the sex had been as bland as ever. Their lack of chemistry in bed made Charlie’s decision easier. First thing in the morning, Absu would be flying back home to cook for some big important banquet. Candy, Enlil, and Ishkur would be rotating in and out during her time off, which left her brother to watch over her at work. It wouldn’t be too tough to ditch him. She was as ready as she’d ever be to set off.
When they’d returned from the zoo, Charlie had hit the bank right before it closed. She’d withdrawn every penny of her meager savings. There was no way she was going to live off of somebody else. She’d pay her own way until a new job panned out. Any new job, she reminded herself. She’d have to live frugally, but she was used to doing that. She turned in the dark to look at Absu’s face.
She was going to miss him. He was nearly everything she could have dreamed up for the perfect mate. Caring, loving, protective, not to mention handsome and built like a Greek god. Second thoughts intruded. Maybe the problem wasn’t him. Could it be her fault they were sexually incompatible? She hadn’t given Absu much to go on. Maybe if she’d become the aggressor and showed him what she liked, things would have gone better. Charlie sighed. That would have been very tough. It went against her natural inclinations. She still held out a vestige of hope that Absu would figure things out on his own. And if not? Eventually, she’d find the courage to tell him the truth from afar. She owed him that much.
Dammit. Long distance was the coward’s way out. She had to give things one more shot before she skipped town. Charlie turned to her side, facing Absu, and insinuated her hand quietly under the covers. Her heart beat nervously. Dare she take a bit of control? It felt wrong, but good. She perused him carefully from beneath lowered lashes. He lay on his back, one arm thrown carelessly across his face. She took a deep breath and gently placed her hand on this thigh.
Absu stirred, but didn’t wake. Charlie strove to keep her movements slow and deliberate.
She calmed herself. If he roused, she could always pretend to have touched him unconsciously in her sleep. She could be a good actress when the occasion demanded.
She closed her eyes, and located his soft cock laying in its nest of dark curls. Charlie inched her hand gradually over him. His sex stirred under her palm, but his breathing remained steady. So far so good. Millimeter by millimeter, she curled her fingers around that oh-so-fascinating part of his anatomy. He swelled, but didn’t harden. As far as she could tell, he was still heavily into slumber.
Charlie allowed her fingers to tighten and loosen, then tighten again, before they relaxed. Now, his penis was responding. In the past, she’d only touched a partner when they’d condoned it. Charlie was in new and very scary territory. She was doing this all on her own, and her actions felt naughty. Wicked. She was equal parts terrified and turned on.
She gave a small tug and Absu groaned. Charlie stilled. Okay. A little bit too much, too fast. The trick was to keep him asleep until he was hot and ready, give him no time to think; no time to retreat into his careful self. Then she’d straddle him before he could fully awake. Charlie wanted his cock inside her, and she wanted to ride him hard and fast. If it worked, maybe her plans for tomorrow would change.
She slid her fingers over the smooth, hard tip of his cock, feeling the small bit of moisture that had released. She used her fingers to swirl it around. Charlie raised her fingers to her mouth, poised to taste him; a pleasure she’d been afforded only once. She’d made a few tentative moves in the direction of his cock, to surround his loveliness with her lips, but he’d always caught her up and brought her back to where she “belonged.” Now, she gave in to temptation. She caught his essence on her fingers, transferred it to her tongue, and nearly panted with need. A moan formed deep in her gut. He tasted so damned good.