by C. L. Roman
“But you don’t get it, do you? It can’t be more than that. You no longer belong to this world.”
He brought up one knee on the couch and moved closer to her. “Then I need to take advantage of everything I can before I go to the other world.”
Without realizing, Kai slid down on the couch putting her legs under Seth. “What happens after this?” she whispered.
“We’ll deal with that when the time comes. For now, let’s deal with this.”
He pressed his body on top of her and kissed her mouth. She reached her arms around his neck and raised her hips, bringing him closer. He felt hard against her. This made him even more desirable. Her legs locked around his midsection as he ground his cock against her pelvis.
“Kai, I need to be inside you and feel you around me.”
“Mmm.”
Seth stood and slid down his jeans as Kai shimmied out of hers. Within seconds he pushed his shaft deep within her. Each thrust went a little deeper. She moaned as he teased her vaginal walls. Each movement bringing her closer to the edge. His butt tightened, and he slowed his pace.
“You are too good. I don’t know how long I can keep from exploding.”
He pulled out, slipped his hand between them, and found her core. He massaged her nub bringing her close to orgasm. She arched her back and spread her legs. Each time he sensed she was close to the end, he changed the speed or pressure, delaying her pleasure. Low moans filled the silence of the office. He surprised her by stopping and burying his face between her hips. His tongue danced across her increasing her pleasure. As she reached her climax, her eyes opened wide, and he stopped again. Seth pushed his cock into her vagina, pumping his hips up and down. She convulsed under him as waves of passion washed over her. He ejaculated seconds later and lay on top of her as they caught their breath.
“I don’t care if that was wrong. Kai, you make a dead man very happy.”
She snickered. “Now that’s one I haven’t heard before.”
Cecily’s shrill voice rang from below. “I don’t care how you do it. Just make it happen.”
Seth and Kai scrambled to redress. They were almost successful. Kai buttoned her pants and Seth zipped his jeans as Cecily walked in the door. They blushed. It was obvious what she’d interrupted.
“Well, I’m glad someone’s getting good use out of my couch. I hope you didn’t leave a mess.” She winked at them.
“How’s it going down there?” Seth asked, fumbling with his shoes.
“I think Bill and Phil have come up with a believable weapon. Come, see for yourselves.”
They peered out the office overseeing the garage floor. The angels held up a black rod about the size of Kai’s arm. One end had been filed to a sharp point and ball-type handle was used for the other end. An ornamental, silver snake adorned the rod. Random patches of artificial wear made it appear well-used. Kai flashed a thumb up. Phil and Bill saluted her.
Kai, Seth, and Cecily walked downstairs.
“I knew these guys were good, but I don’t think I realized they were this good,” Cecily said.
Phil handed it to Kai. She held it surprised it was lighter than it looked. She ran her hand over the snake and smiled at the tiny red eyes, she didn’t notice before.
“That came from a tail light,” Phil said.
“And the snake came from the trim of a door panel,” Bill said.
Kai waved it through the air like a sword. “This is incredible. What is it?”
“That is the Rod of Cain.” Cecily beamed with pride.
Kai gave Cecily a confused, blank stare. “What the hell is that?”
“According to the legend that is the rod that Cain used to kill his brother, or at least it will be once Mateo creates the online history for this thing.”
“What made you come up with such a thing?” Seth asked.
“Thank Nate. He finally finished his crossword puzzle and the last clue was biblical brotherly feud fighter.”
“Will something like this interest Winston?” Seth faced the two women.
Cecily smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Oh honey, demons are all about flaunting the evil stories of the Bible. He’ll see it as a badge of honor.”
“What’s magical about it?” Kai asked.
“Nothing yet. Pat thinks he can combine his glamour with Phil’s and Bill’s. Between the three, they should be able to make it look authentic.”
A commotion from the front overhead door drew everyone’s attention. Mateo stepped in and blanched when he saw Pat’s tail, Phil and Bill’s wings, and heard Nate’s growl. “Um, I think I’ve got the wrong place.”
Kai and Seth rushed down the stairs. “Mateo, it’s okay. You’re in the right place. Come in and show us what you’ve got,” Kai said.
Mateo sidestepped over to Kai and Seth, never taking his eyes off the four creatures he first met.
“Is Seth here?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m here, bro.”
Mateo searched for the face to match. “That still freaks me out.”
Kai put her hand on his arm. “I’m sure it does. I still don’t understand why you can hear him. Who’s watching your kids?”
“My neighbor came over.” He opened his backpack and took out his computer and a camera. “If I understood the plan, you need to create a history, or legend about a magical artifact and then invent enough hype.”
“Exactly,” Seth said.
“I created templates for the web pages and social media posts I’ll need to develop. I just need the name, a picture of the object, and its history.”
Bill brought over the black rod and laid it on the table. He stayed as if expecting praise.
“That’s it?” Mateo asked. “It’s a black stick.”
Kai picked it up and sliced it through the air. “No, this my friend is the Rod of Cain and is the most powerful weapon Winston can get.”
“Cain as in the guy from the Bible who killed his bother?”
“That’s the one,” she replied.
“I don’t remember him using a rod. I thought he used a rock or something.”
“Legends and stories become less and less true as they age. That’s your job. Convince everyone this is the magical weapon, the only magical weapon, and everyone wants it, but isn’t completely convinced it exists.”
“Oh, is that all? Want me to prove aliens are real too?”
Kai snorted. “Maybe next time.”
Chapter Twelve
Pat and Nate directed the uninvolved drivers, giving Cecily and Kai freedom to help Mateo. Most of the drivers worked independently and rarely socialized so paid little attention to the odd work happening in the corner and the office.
As the morning progressed, Kai noticed Seth’s energy dragged and his shoulder distracted him more. After much coaxing, he laid on the couch and fell asleep.
Mateo’s work fascinated Kai. She had lived many years and watched the development of technology grow from smoke signals to the worldwide web. However, appreciation differed from utilization. Kai had a cell phone and knew how to text, email, and order Chinese takeout, but social media and web design were as foreign to her as sister loyalty.
Mateo spent most of the day hunched over his laptop, sunk low in Cecily’s office chair, hyped up on caffeine.
“Explain it again. What you’re doing?”
“First, I opened a backdoor to Wikipedia and created an entry that alludes to Cain’s Rod.” He snickered. “Couldn’t you come up with a better name? I keep thinking of Cain’s Rod.”
“Um, that’s what you’re supposed to think.”
“Not that kind of rod.” He lowered his eyes to his lap.
“Oh, good grief, you’ve got to be kidding me, dude.”
“I’m a guy. What do you expect?”
“Whatever.”
Mateo emptied his coffee cup and got more from Cecily’s coffee maker. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Shoot.”
“Why did you choo
se my cousin?”
“I didn’t choose him. Odin did.”
“Okay, I get that I guess. What I want to know is why him. What makes him someone Odin wants?” He held out his cup to her as an offering.
“No. I’m good.” She waited until he sat behind the desk.
“It’s hard to know what Odin wants. There are some similar characteristics among all of the people I’ve helped cross, sincerity, courage, and tenacity. I don’t know what battles he fights. It’s been years since the Gods have fought each other.”
“They would fight each other?”
“Oh yeah. Those were dark times for my people.”
“What stopped them?” Mateo rested his feet on Cecily’s desk and took a drink.
“I don’t know for sure, but my theory is they lost too many worshippers.”
Mateo fell forward and spit out his coffee from laughing. “You’re kidding?”
Kai laughed with him. “Who knows?” She nodded at his laptop. “Are you finished? I don’t want to keep you.”
“I’m almost finished. Just need to put on the final touches. I created a side story involving the snake. It’s supposed to be the embodiment of the snake from Eden.”
Kai’s eyes widened. “Nice. Now I have a question for you. Won’t your entry have a date stamp of today?”
“Not if I manipulate the javascript and reroute the html. Then I created a history in as many chat rooms as possible. That made it seem like this is something that people have talked about for a while. I created scholarly-article entries and of course, a book on Amazon. Then I added a few articles in the National Enquirer, just for validation.”
Kai cocked her head.
“Oh, come on. All conspiracy people know that rag is the gospel. If it shows up in there, it’s legitimate.”
“You’re speaking a foreign language.”
He spun his laptop around and pointed to the screen. “This web page is created using a language or a code. If you know the code and you know how to play with it, you can change it to do whatever you want.”
“Don’t these websites have safety precautions that prevent that?”
“Aww, but that’s where this device comes into play.” He pointed to a black box the size of a small index card.
Kai picked it up and Mateo snatched it back. She scoffed.
“Don’t touch my stuff. That box is priceless.” He downed the rest of his coffee.
“What does it do?”
“It scrambles communication between computers, so the BIOS becomes vulnerable.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Well, duh. If the BIOS is vulnerable, you can make a computer think anything you want.”
Cecily opened the door, smiled at Seth sleeping, and sat in the chair next to Kai. “I can’t believe Phil and Bill made this happen. As long as Pat’s mojo is strong enough to create the right glamour and Mr. Geek Squad—” she pointed to Mateo “—can do whatever the hell he’s trying to do, we’re going to pull this off.”
“Bingo,” Mateo shouted and bolted from his chair.
Seth stirred in his sleep. “Will you keep it down?”
He checked on his cousin over her shoulder. “Sorry. But we’re getting chatter on the dark web about a new player in the auction. All my friends are creating accounts and adding bits of gossip in every chat room they can. And we caught the attention of a big fish.”
“Oh yeah? Who?” Cecily asked.
“Someone by the name of Prince W just emailed our ancient Hebrew artifact dealer.”
“But we don’t have an artifact dealer,” Kai said.
He typed on the keyboard then faced the screen to them. On the screen was a picture of a man from the University of Alaska who claimed to be an expert on Cain’s Rod.
“Who is this guy?”
“It’s a picture of my second-grade teacher.”
“Does he know you’re using his picture?” Kai asked.
“He’s dead, but from what you’ve told me about Winston, I don’t think he’s the kind who thinks everything through before acting.”
Cecily giggled. “That’s for sure.”
“Okay, but do we know that Prince W is Winston?”
“Well, we don’t know for sure, but I added our bid to the auction and fifteen minutes later, I got the email. It’s a bet I’m willing to take.”
“So, what do we do now?” Kai asked.
“We wait until the auction is over. If we win, we’ll need to come up with a plan on how to do the exchange. That’s up to you guys. Computers are my area of expertise.”
“What if we don’t win the auction?” Kai bit her lip, not wanting to know the answer.
“That’s a risk we have to take.”
Cecily held her friend’s hand. “It’ll work, honey.”
“We could figure out where he is and steal the key back,” Kai said.
“Do you think he hasn’t cloaked himself? This is a big city and I wouldn’t even know where to look,” Cecily said.
“He’s probably still at Liberty’s.” Kai paced around the office.
“If he is, you for sure won’t get to him.” Cecily went to her friend and held her hands, forcing her to stop. “Kai, look at me.” Kai kept her eyes on the floor. Cecily used her hand to tilt up the Valkyrie’s face. “You and I have been in worse situations before. If this doesn’t work, we’ll get hot pants to Odin some other way. I promise.” She brought Kai in for a hug.
Nate knocked on the door as he pushed it open. He carried four white paper bags. The smell of grease, meat, and onions filled the office. Kai’s stomach grumbled.
“I had one of the guys bring some burgers from Scottie’s. I figured none of you had really eaten.”
Kai forgot all sense of polite behavior and ripped opened the bags then passed the food to Mateo and Cecily.
Seth sat up and asked, “Is that food? I’m starving.”
Cecily gave Nate a hug. He shrugged away and asked, “What’s that for? It’s just hamburgers and fries. I almost got a mix of fries and onion rings, but they didn’t have any rings ready.”
“Thanks, Nate,” Cecily said. “I really appreciate this.”
“Yes, thanks. I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” Kai said. “How’s everything going down there?”
“Not perfectly. Pat isn’t strong enough to make the glamour last over ten minutes. He’s still working on it and Phil and Bill are helping too.”
Loud stomping and arguing echoed from below. They looked out the window to the garage floor. Dahlia and her gargoyle bodyguards had returned.
“Damn it. She’s not supposed to be here until tomorrow morning,” Kai said.
“Then why is she here now?” Seth asked.
“Who the hell knows, but I don’t have time to deal with her right now.”
The gargoyles frightened several drivers who scattered to find busy work. Dahlia strutted to the center table, sat down, and called for her sister. “I know you’re here. We need to talk.”
Kai took the last bite of her burger and headed to the door.
“You’re not going alone this time. I’m coming with you.”
Tired of fighting with him she agreed.
“Hello, Kai,” Dahlia sneered.
Kai sat across from her sister with Seth on her left and her Bowie knife sitting on her lap. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to see if you had a plan.”
“We do.”
Dahlia smiled and sat forward. “I knew I could come to you for help. Tell me what you’ve planned.”
“I’m not telling you anything. You are the reason we are all in this mess right now.”
Dahlia pouted. “I know. It’s all my fault and I don’t know how you’ll ever forgive me.” She made a big show of lowering her head to the table and sobbing.
Kai wanted to believe her sister’s sincerity. It had been too long without any connection to family, to home. “Dahlia, do you really think anyone here believes you are sorr
y for what you did?”
It surprised Kai to see a red rim and smeared makeup when Dahlia lifted her head. “But I am. I wanted our family to return to what it once was. You have no idea how hard it is to follow in your footsteps. I’ve worked hard to prove my loyalty to Odin and Frigg. I deserve to serve, not you. And now I don’t know if either of us will get back.”
Despite the melodramatic performance, a small string of guilt pulled on Kai’s heart. The consequences of her choice never entered her mind. Selfishness was the only motivator. She wanted a longer life with Renato. It was unfair. And now the Gods had given her another man who made her feel the way Renato had. Was this a test?
She hugged Dahlia. Her sister cried more as they held each other. “I’ve missed you. I don’t expect you to understand, but maybe that’s why I did all of this. I’ve been so mad at you because you haven’t been around. I was so young when you left.”
A squelching noise erupted over the intercom. “Um is this thing on?” Mateo’s voice sounded harsh. He blew into the mic next. “Testing, testing. Kai? Seth? Can you hear me. I need you to come up here.”
Kai pulled away and smiled at the sister she never had a chance to know. “Stay here. When this is all done we’ll catch up.”
In the office above, Mateo screamed obscenities at his laptop and Cecily puffed on a vape.
“What’s going on?” Kai asked.
“The auction closed,” Mateo answered.
“Closed? What does that mean?” Seth stood next to his cousin.
“The auction just ended. I don’t know what that means.”
“But there’s still six hours before it ends. Can that happen?” Sweat trickled down Kai’s back as her stomach knotted. Bile rose in her throat.
“The person running the auction can do whatever they want. It’s their auction.” A ding rang from Mateo’s computer. “Wait a minute. Hold on.” He typed on the keyboard. “Please, please, please,” he muttered.
“Is that an email from him?” Seth asked his cousin.
For the first time since Mateo first heard Seth, he turned to face his cousin and spoke in the right direction. “It’s from him.” He read the email to himself mumbling the words together.
“What does it say?” Cecily asked.