Tied In Knots (Immortals Book 7)

by LJ Vickery

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Bee-Dee got the scrying bowl down from the top shelf of her closet with trembling hands. She hadn’t used it in hundreds of years, but the reflexes were still there. Her powers, although unused, always thrummed within her. She trembled, understanding who she needed to see, and as she set the bowl down on the stool in front of her, she pictured his face. She just hoped he didn’t hate her too much. Bee-Dee’s voice rose to chant.

  The bowl filled and colors swirled, the cloudiness ebbed and flowed, then finally cleared. The one whom she sought appeared. Bee-Dee glimpsed lowered lashes and parted lips. He was sleeping. But not for long. She called out.

  Dark eyes popped open, angry and penetrating. The subject of her scrying exploded from sleep to fully awake within a split second. Was Bee-Dee afraid? Indeed, she was.

  His pupils snapped. Fury lit his viscera. “Someone is scrying me and I don’t like it,” he snarled. “If I’m to be contacted, it should be done through the proper channels. Every witch and warlock knows this,” he continued. “Or use your damned cell phone.”

  His eyes dilated as his powers tentacled out over the miles to capture her. Bee-Dee should have broken the connection as soon as she realized Dorian stretched out, but really? It was time to emerge from her self-imposed exile to help Charlie. Hundreds of years earlier, an acquaintance had told her that she couldn’t escape her destiny, and she was smart enough to see that Charlie’s visit was not to be ignored.

  “Dorian?” she spoke to her scrying bowl, causing the warlock’s brows to furrow. She would be brave and make the connection first.

  “You know it is,” he answered testily. “Who is this? And it better be good. I was up until six this morning.” He now sounded endearingly grumpy. The Dorian she remembered so well. She’d give him his answer.

  “Obedience,” she mumbled. “Obedience Trungle.”

  Damn. She could feel him rummaging around inside of her head to verify the truth.

  “By the horned god,” he whispered, clearly astounded. “You…you perished during the witch wars in Salem.” He couldn’t keep both doubt and hope from his voice. “We searched for you. Everywhere,” he accused, his voice rising.

  “I dropped from sight,” Obedience admitted, and now it sounded quite lame. She could only imagine how he had felt when she disappeared. “I was faced with some difficult decisions. Some very difficult decisions. So I suppressed my powers and went into seclusion.”

  “Three hundred years of seclusion?” Dorian raged, more furious than she’d ever seen him. “What were you thinking?”

  “The same thing I’m thinking now. That disappearing into obscurity is a very comfortable option.” She withered a little under his ire, but she understood her cousin well. “If I may be so bold, can we put discussions of my past defection on hold for a few moments? I have important questions for you, and perhaps some information you can use.” She could feel his anger fade slightly only to be replaced by curiosity. He’d let her speak. He always had a soft spot where she was concerned.

  “Ask,” he said, using what she remembered as his imperious voice.

  “This may sound strange, but is Wizarr with you?” She held her breath for the answer. Her scrying bowl panned down to the cat.

  “Sleeping right here.” Dorian sounded amused. “He’s been on loan to…someone for the past few decades, and now that we’re reunited, he will barely leave my side.”

  Obedience could just see the fat black cat curled up contentedly, giving her one evil eye, as if to say “leave us be.” He always was the jealous sort.

  “Tell him his sister Planchette is still attached to me. I’m sure now that I’ve removed my self-imposed restrictions, she’ll be in touch with him soon.”

  The cat gave a contented, double-eyed wink. He’d gotten the message.

  “This is why you need to contact me after three hundred years? Why is it now so important that Wizarr is here? As far as you know, he’s never left my side.” Dorian sat up and the sheet that had been covering him slipped to his waist. His smooth, broad chest filled the bowl. Obedience couldn’t help but lick her lips. Her cousin was a fine specimen of a warlock.

  “I’m not sure.” Now Bee-Dee was confused. The cat was with Dorian, not with the beings Charlie had mentioned, whose names she’d kept stored in her memory all these years. Was it possible there was another cat of that name? And if so, how difficult would it be finding the other-worldly group without Charlie knowing. “I apologize if I have assumed incorrectly. I have a young friend visiting. A woman and her daughter. The little girl is acquainted with a cat named Wizarr, and called Planchette by your cat’s name.”

  The scrying bowl hissed and bubbled. What the hell? Dorian was agitated, but why? He normally had better control over his emotions.

  “Dorian? What is it? Calm down, you’re roiling my surface.” The waters smoothed over, and this time she watched Dorian yank pants up over a very fine ass.

  “If you wanted privacy, you could have said so.” Color flared across her cheeks. It had been a while since she’d gotten a look at such a lovely behind, even in her line of business. He buckled his belt and turned.

  “Would this young girl be Maity and her mother Charlie?” His words were clipped and the bowl followed his energy and his progress out of the room, rapidly down the stairs of some lovely wood arts-and-crafts surroundings. Bee-Dee made a sound in the affirmative. It was the best she could do.

  He continued his long strides and eventually she found her voice.

  “So you are with them.” Did she have to explain to Dorian who she meant?

  “Yes. Although I’m not sure how you know ‘them’.” He walked quickly across a snowy expanse, making his way toward an enormous house. “Charlie and Maity belong here, and are in terrible danger.” He was moving fast, but apparently he chose not to spell his way to Marduk. She quickly got that explanation. “The boss here will be asleep with his wife and baby boy. We’ve all been up since early this morning. It’s better for me to use conventional means to find him, rather than disturb his little family.” He ran a hand back through his hair, clearly thinking hard as he traveled. “Dammit, Bee-Dee. We’ll have to make sure you weave a damned good protection spell around your place,” he grumbled.

  “Who or what am I protecting from?” A spell to keep out humans was one thing, a spell for different types of immortals had to be tweaked perfectly and took more skill, for which she might be rusty.

  “An evil rogue goddess. Trying to get her hooks into Charlie,” he snarled, heading across a huge foyer and into a kitchen. Bee-Dee jerked back in her seat as he approached several large males and a few females eating at a table.

  Obedience tried to catch her breath. A goddess. So that was it. It was an enclave of gods. Now, the puzzle pieces from long ago fell into place. She’d known Kulla wasn’t human, but had never figured out his true origins. Her anger sparked. Damn him. He was a god. He could have fixed everything, but he’d steadfastly refused.

  All these years, she’d thought of him and pined, wondering what had happened to him and picturing him long dead. Now, she understood he was immortal, and had powers that he’d refused to employ to help her. It had all been a lie. Everything he’d told her. If he had loved her, he could have fixed things so easily. Her heart locked down. Cold. She finally had her answer. He’d never loved her, and like a fool, she’d carried her love for him for hundreds of years. She wanted to scream. She was so pathetic.

  “Marduk.” Bee-Dee was pulled from her misery as Dorian approach a big dark-haired god. “Charlie and her daughter have been found.” Tension waved around in the bowl as her cousin relayed the news to the large male. “Contact Absu and let him know.” He turned his attention back to Bee-Dee. “Where exactly are you?”

  She took a moment to focus. Her eyes had been traveling around the group, looking for one god in particular. She’d gotten lucky, or maybe he had, considering her current mood. He wasn’t present.

 
“I’m in Los Gatos, California.” She gave her cousin the address, and listened as the group conferred. She gathered that the evil goddess would be able to detect their god energy if they all rushed to Charlie’s side, and they didn’t want an all-out war. The goddess commanded an unknown number of demons, and was not the type who would hesitate to use them, regardless of human casualties. No, they decided. Better that Dorian cast himself to Los Gatos.

  Someone named Waylon and group―who were blue?―had already made the swim to LA―did they really say swim?―and reconnoitered with some whose names were familiar and some not. Enlil, Candy, Absu, Ishkur, and Jake’s DEA team. A DEA team? Gods, blue guys and federal agents working together? Very interesting.

  The blue men would now head to the coast at Santa Cruz where, disguising their blueness, they would grab a taxi and could be in Los Gatos within the hour.

  This Waylon fellow and his men, along with Dorian, would stay at the camp. They couldn’t be detected by the evil one they called Beletseri, and would be a first line of protection should the bad goddess uncover Charlie’s location. The gods and goddesses would all convene at Charlie’s house in LA, exactly where their enemy would be expecting them to start their search. They’d form more complete plans once they all were in position.

  Obedience sighed. Her life would never be hers to command again. She could feel the change coming. Well, some things would still operate under her rules. “Marduk,” she directly addressed the head god through the bowl. “Tell me if Kulla is still amongst you.”

  Marduk looked momentarily flummoxed. “Uh, yes. He is,” he acknowledged, while tipping his head in curiosity. “You know him?”

  “Let’s just say that, before he decides to join anyone here on the West Coast, you need to tell him that Charlie is with Obedience.”

  “Obedience, huh?” He got a stupid grin on his face. Bee-Dee wasn’t dense. He’d heard her name before. Had Kulla bragged of his conquest?

  “And that’s all?” Marduk quirked a brow.

  “That’s it,” Bee-Dee told him resolutely, before turning the bowl’s water’s back toward Dorian. It was enough. “And just to let you know, cousin.” She snagged his attention. “You’ll be coming to a clothing-free zone.” At his puzzled look, she enlightened him. “I run a nudist camp.”

  Was that sniggering behind him?

  “By the great horned…ah shit,” Dorian muttered. Bee-Dee grinned at his discomfiture. Looks like she’d be seeing his mighty fine ass really soon, up close and personal.

  “Will you be coming right away?” Obedience overran his embarrassment with practical matters. She knew how Dorian spelled himself places. She picked a shiny red apple out of the basket on the table, and muttered a few words over it. It disappeared from her hand, landing moments later in front of Dorian in the sunny kitchen on the East Coast. “Here’s your way to me,” she allowed. “When can I expect you?”

  She watched as he picked up the fruit.

  “Immediately,” came the answer directly to her right.

  Dorian appeared in the chair next to hers with his eyebrows already up. Of course. He’d noticed that she sat there stark naked. Bee-Dee stood up and disconnected the scrying bowl’s power before unselfconsciously grinning and pointing at his clothes. “You’re turn, cuz.”

  “Must I?” He wrinkled his nose in distaste, his knuckles white where he gripped the chair arms.

  “My place. My rules.” Bless the deities she was so glad to see him. Bee-Dee softened her command with a smile, slid forward, and enfolded the seated warlock in an enormous, warm hug. “I’ve missed you,” she admitted.

  “If that’s the case, then why the hell have you been hiding all these years?” he scolded angrily, but returned her embrace. He seemed a bit anxious as to where he put his hands, but he was doing okay, even though his head pillowed dangerously near her breasts. Bee-Dee sighed. She probably didn’t deserve his hug. He had to be extremely angry at her for doing a century’s long disappearance. He had to have been worried.

  Dorian pulled back. “I’d always assumed I’d failed my youngest cousin, that I’d let you die in flames,” he suddenly revealed to her, his voice choking up.

  Bee-Dee pulled back, appalled. His stricken eyes gave veracity to his revelation.

  “Oh no,” she wailed. “That’s what you thought? That I was one of the unfortunates sent to the pyre? I thought you’d understand that I had fled that horrible carnage and hidden myself away.” Bee-Dee threw herself back at Dorian, hugging him tighter as tears filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Dorian. So very, very sorry.” Oh, what she’d put him through.

  His gruff voice gave an attempt at lightness. “It’s okay. Now that I’ve seen you, I feel much better. But I should have you publicly beaten for the worry and grief you caused.”

  Bee-Dee swiped at her tears, allowing him to tease, and deftly changed the subject. “A beating, huh?” She sniffed. “So now we get to the crux of Charlie, and why she ran.”

  Obedience stepped back and watched a myriad of questions dart across Dorian’s face. But instead of asking them, he stood up and slowly removed his clothing. Shirt. Pants. Oh yes. Pants. Always a very fine looking warlock indeed.

  “The crux of Charlie,” he repeated, sitting back down. “Damn, Bee-Dee. I can feel splinters entering my posterior already. How the hell do you put up with this?” Dorian’s ass perched uneasily on the wood.

  “You’ll get used to it.” Bee-Dee wouldn’t try to sell him on her lifestyle. One either liked it or not. “So you mentioned public beating…”

  “I was kidding,” he interrupted, scoffing. “You know the council doesn’t do that anymore.”

  “They don’t?” There was an interesting tidbit. She shrugged. “Anyway, what I need to tell you is that a punishment like that would turn Charlie into melted butter.”

  “Excuse me?” Dorian looked like he wasn’t hearing correctly.

  “Your girl, Charlie. It’s the reason she took off from Absu. She’s into BDSM, and he’s vanilla.” At his blank look, Bee-Dee shook her head. “Exactly where have you been all these centuries? BDSM. Bondage, discipline, dominance, submission,” she reeled off. “Charlie is a submissive, looking for the ultimate Dom. And isn’t that just perfect since she’s matched with an immortal who has some kind of proper-gentleman complex? What’s his problem anyway? Charlie’s all hot and bothered over him, loves every other damn thing about him, but has been faking orgasms by the cartload. She wants hard, fast, and rough, and he has not been on board.”

  Dorian’s face looked like baked clay by the time she’d finished. If he so much as twitched a muscle, she was sure he would crack.

  “Hard, fast, and rough.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be embarrassed, but I am. What happened to old-fashioned wooing?” he questioned.

  He might decry hot, rough sex, but clearly the thought of it had Dorian’s cock rising fast, because he grabbed the fruit basket and quickly pulled it into his lap.

  Obedience giggled. “Don’t worry. It affects me too, thinking about sex. But I’m lucky. My lust, at least, isn’t quite so apparent.”

  “See where this naked stuff gets us?” Dorian stammered. “You shouldn’t be talking to an elder of the council this way. Naked.”

  “You’re my cousin, for immortal’s sake. We played naked together as children.” She narrowed her eyes, seeing that his agitation went deeper than nudity. “Dorian, when was the last time you got laid?” she asked probingly.

  Color slid up his face.

  “Whoa. That’s the problem, isn’t it? You haven’t been giving Mr. Happy enough exercise.” She could see his embarrassment, so she cut Dorian some slack and returned to the point. “Okay. Enough teasing. Back to our girl. Charlie needs to feel dominated, and we have to find out why Absu isn’t on board. I’m, uh, familiar with gods, as you probably heard when I talked to Marduk, and to tell you the truth, I’m confused. Dominance shouldn’t be a problem. The damned deity I knew was generally all over the ma
cho, he-man-in-charge stuff.”

  “I can’t help you there.” Dorian shrugged. “I don’t know what’s up with Absu, but let me ask you this. Does Charlie know he’s a god?”

  “No. Absolutely not. And that is the first problem you and I are going to take care of.” She grabbed his hand. “Come on.” Dorian was forced to move the fruit basket, but luckily his penis had subsided from rampant interest to only mildly entertained. He gave a nervous swallow, but without argument, followed her out the door.

  ****

  When Bee-Dee had disappeared so abruptly, Charlie had been given time to think. Something she’d denied herself since leaving home. She swiftly came to the conclusion that her callous behavior at not meeting Teri at the airport was something she needed to remedy. Of course, it was wrong for her to disappear on her brother and Absu too, but she wasn’t quite ready to be found by them yet.

  Charlie scooped Maity from the sandbox. The quicker she could make amends to Teri, the better she’d feel. With the squirming, sandy girl in tow, Charlie walked to the main lodge and asked for a public phone. She could have used her cell, but it would be traced by her brother’s agency, and they’d tell Ken.

  She’d thumbed her useless device and found the number she was looking for before placing the call on the lobby phone. Swallowing her guilt, she tendered a sincere apology to Teri for not showing up at the airport.

  The woman was amazingly gracious, and fluffed off any suggestions Charlie made about paying her back for the unused airline ticket. Amazingly, Charlie thought as she walked back to the playground, Teri hadn’t seemed miffed at all. In fact, she’d seemed jolly and highly amused that Charlie had taken refuge in a nudist camp in Los Gatos. Before saying goodbye, Charlie had promised to look her up if and when she ever got back to Boston.

  Charlie and Maity were back in the sandbox, and in the process of making mud pies when Bee-Dee called her name.