What a Goddess Wants

by Stephanie Julian

  Absently, she rubbed at a raw spot on her wrist from the ropes and saw his gaze arrow in on it. “Not really. I was never all powerful, but I very much enjoyed what I did.”

  And then that bubble-headed, Barbie-doll bitch Aurora took my job and—

  Okay, deep breath. No need to hash all that out again. It’d been centuries. She should be over it. Really.

  “When the Roman pantheon usurped our roles, some of us became… obsolete.” She truly hated that word. “There’s only one sun, after all, and, well…” She forced a smile. “Anyway, I retained my midwifery duties, but over the years, some of us have become mostly… forgotten.” And that really sucked. “Some of us still serve the magical races of the Etruscans, the Enu and the Fata. But mostly,” she shrugged, hating the hollow feeling her chest, “we merely exist.”

  Was that pity she saw in his eyes? Damn him, that’s not what she wanted. Her back straightened, but he spoke before she could say anything else.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you need me.”

  No, it didn’t, and she could only hope that when she told him, he didn’t kick her out on her butt.

  “Charun has—”

  He held up one hand. “God of the Underworld, right?”

  She nodded. “We call it Aitás, but yes. He’s one of the gods who has retained his position through the millennia, and he’s not very happy about it. He’s been stuck in Aitás, trapped there, really, and he’s decided he wants to be released from his service.”

  “And what does that have to do with you? And me?”

  “He plans to consume deities and absorb their powers, which will make him more powerful.” She shuddered just thinking about it. “I believe he’s trying to break free of Aitás and is tracking Etruscan goddesses through their dreams. I believe he’s already taken one and has decided I’m next.”

  His expression remained unchanged. “I can see why you might have a problem with this, but why should I care?”

  “If Charun is released from Aitás, the dead will follow him out, and then everyone on earth will have a problem.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “So? I’m not the police, Lady. I’m not a god. I don’t have an infinite lifespan, and I don’t like to do dirty work for deities. They tend to fuck you over. I’m just a guy—”

  “No, I know that’s not true. I know what you are, Caligo of the Cimmerians.”

  Well, shit.

  Amazing how that one word—Cimmerian—was guaranteed to throw Cal’s life in the toilet.

  At one time, it would have been murmured with respect and fear. Men wanted to be Cimmerian, and women just wanted them.

  Then fucking Robert E. Howard had screwed Cal’s people six ways to Sunday with his books about the Cimmerians. Hollywood had compounded the problem by casting Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film version, Conan the Barbarian, making the true remaining Cimmerians cringe at the horrifying spectacle.

  Yeah, Cal was Cimmerian, one of the legendary warriors born in the mist and shadow of the land between the planes of existence. They were a race an evolutionary step above mortal humans, though fewer than five hundred remained of a once-thriving civilization now reduced to little more than a tribe.

  And this pretty little goddess with the willing body and intelligent blue eyes had given him a taste of a heat he shouldn’t be able to feel.

  That made her dangerous.

  He really should kick her out, whether Salvatorus had sent her or not. That little horned bastard had a lot to answer for.

  Thesan continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer, though she hadn’t asked a question.

  And since she wasn’t going to win this battle, he gave her a blank stare. That might have told her more than he’d wanted because she smiled as if he’d blurted out, “Yes, I’m a Cimmerian, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

  No matter how good the sex was, it didn’t entitle her to his life story.

  “So,” she said, “do I have your attention now?”

  Yeah, she did. Especially when she kept rubbing her wrists.

  He shrugged in response to her question. And changed the subject. “I’ve got some salve for your wrists.”

  He walked to the small kitchen area and removed a tin from the tiny refrigerator. He let his hand linger in the interior for a few seconds, but he didn’t feel the cold at all.

  Good, that was good. It meant something about her made him feel heat. Not some deficiency in him.

  Walking back, he flipped the tin to her.

  “You can take that with you when you leave. It’s not my turn to be a hero today, babe, and definitely not for a spoiled little goddess. And you can’t buy my services with a little sex.”

  But maybe for a little more…

  No. He had to stand strong here.

  “I can pay. However much you—”

  “I don’t want your money, either.”

  She drew in a sharp breath as if he’d hit her, and his heart gave a wrench. Damn it, he was not going to cave on this. Not even when he saw dainty little tears pool at the corners of her eyes.

  Cimmerians were warriors, and these days they were forced to be mercenaries to live. They didn’t cave to feminine wiles. They were strong and brave… and, oh, for fuck’s sake, this wasn’t fair. For some stupid-ass reason, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her he’d never let anything hurt her.

  But he knew better than to get involved with the deities. Everyone did. They screwed you over royally. And he didn’t mean in bed. Although that fuck definitely had been fit for the gods.

  Blinking back the tears, she turned and headed for the door.

  “Then I guess I’ll just say thanks for the sex.” She turned the knob and stepped outside. “It was good.”

  Closing the door, she disappeared.

  ***

  Tessa had wondered if the tears would work. Not that they weren’t real. She really was screwed well and good now. Especially since Caligo didn’t seem to be following her.

  Stepping off the rickety wooden porch, she headed in the direction of her car, her thoughts reeling.

  Now what? Did she return to her little house and wait for Charun to catch her in her sleep when she could no longer keep her eyes open? Return to Salvatorus’s home in the city and risk Charun discovering possibly the only Etruscan safe house in the States?

  Was there anywhere she could go that Charun would not find her?

  Sighing, she headed for her little blue convertible Mini Cooper, parked just beyond the bend in the road. When she arrived, she’d had to park the car and walk because of the deeply rutted path. But that meant she now had to walk back with the soreness between her legs a constant reminder of her failure.

  Damn Caligo.

  Salvatorus had warned her that the Cimmerian might be hard to convince. Sal had mentioned something about Cal having been screwed over by another goddess recently.

  It had never really occurred to Tessa that Cal would refuse to help her because she was a deity. She had enough gold to pay him anything he wanted. And she would have gladly given him her body again. The sex had been… amazing.

  But really, what had she expected from a mercenary?

  Sure, he’d taken the payment but hadn’t rendered a service. Okay, that wasn’t technically true. That wonderful orgasm could be considered a service, but still…

  All she had to show for her day were sore wrists and ankles, a headache, and the remaining tingle of sex in her body.

  Now what?

  She stopped and took a deep breath, inhaling clean, country air. At least it was no longer raining. All around her, the forest soothed. She felt the hum of living energy in the beat of her heart, felt the earth’s power beneath her feet. Just because she was—had been—a sun goddess, that didn’t mean she wasn’t in tune with the earth.

  And this was an old forest, unusual for this part of southeastern Pennsylvania, where the Europeans had harvested most of the trees several centuries earlier.

  No
wonder Caligo chose to live here. It was secluded. Peaceful.

  But where did she go now?

  She couldn’t risk contacting any of the other deities she’d been friendly with in times past for fear of leading Charun to them. Besides, Usil, the Sun God, had disappeared many centuries ago, and Nethuns, the Sea God, probably wouldn’t talk to her anyway because of that whole Kev affair.

  Sue her, she had a thing for young men. Neth had known that from the start and—

  She sighed. That wasn’t going to save her ass. Or the world’s.

  Lifting her hand, she rubbed at her burning eyes. That nap at Caligo’s had only made her more tired.

  She didn’t know how much longer she could go without a full night’s sleep. She wouldn’t be able to keep herself awake through sheer force of will much longer. And when she dreamed, Charun would find her.

  Dreams existed in a state other than reality, one that Charun, who lived in the plane of existence where dreams originated, could access with little effort.

  When she fell asleep and her unconscious brain took over, her dreams would stand out like a beacon for the God of Aitás, especially since he was specifically looking for her. Once he’d located her, he’d send his minions to bring her to him for a little dinner party where she would be the main course.

  Opening the door to her car, she slid into the driver’s seat and dropped her head on the steering wheel.

  Think, Tessa, think. Just because you’re blonde and haven’t used more than a tenth of your natural skills for almost two millennia doesn’t mean you can’t come up with a—

  A hand slid around her arm and she screamed.

  ***

  Cal was congratulating himself for getting rid of Tessa with a minimum of hysterics when her scream rang clear into the house. Adrenaline dropped into his system and he raced for the door, wrenching it open before he even realized he’d moved.

  Then the sound cut off as abruptly as it’d started, and he tore off down the rutted dirt path that led to his house.

  Fuck, this was his fault. He shouldn’t have let her go.

  Before he got to the blind bend about a quarter mile from the house, he slid into the trees, heading in the direction he’d heard her scream. Through the breaks between trunks, he caught glimpses of a small blue car.

  He slowed to a stop behind a huge old oak, then peered around the side. What he saw inside the car made him freeze.

  A blue-skinned demon with long black hair held Tessa’s pure strawberry-gold waves in one hand and a knife at her throat with the other. Tessa’s hands gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles white with strain. Her face was just as pale, and those same damn tears he’d cursed her for earlier ran down her cheeks.

  Shit. Shit, shit, and double shit.

  If he rushed the car, the demon, probably one of Charun’s minions that Tessa had mentioned, would have enough time to hurt her, even though Tessa had said Charun wanted to consume her. That meant the demented god probably wanted her alive and the demon couldn’t kill her.

  But it could injure her. And that would seriously piss him off, which was fucking stupid logic, considering he’d just kicked her out.

  Pushing those thoughts out of his head, he dropped to the ground and crawled through the underbrush toward the car. Since Cal was really good at what he did, the demon never made any indication that it heard or saw him.

  Cal would have been awfully fucking offended if it had. Still, he wasn’t inside the car yet.

  Ignoring the scratching of fallen branches against his bare chest and stomach, he reached the back end of the car then carefully dragged himself around to the passenger’s side. Luckily, Tessa had parked close to the side of the road so he didn’t have to crawl into the open.

  Getting to the door only took seconds but it felt like forever because he could hear snatches of conversation from the open car window. The demon wanted Tessa to drive, but she was arguing that she couldn’t drive with a knife at her throat.

  Her voice sounded slow and sure, but it held a tremor of fear that infuriated him. He wanted to reach inside the car and pound the demon into oblivion for putting that tone in Tessa’s voice. But that wasn’t the best course of action. So he waited.

  And, after a few more seconds, he got the opening he needed.

  The demon must have moved the knife because the car started. Before Tessa could drive away, Cal reached up, opened the door, and grabbed the demon’s arm.

  In that split second of surprise, he managed to drag the demon out of the car and onto the ground before it started to fight. Dirty. And like a girl. It pulled his hair and grabbed his ears. It used long black fingernails to scratch at his face and brought its feet up to gouge its toenails into his legs.

  Cal fought back, punching the demon in the head and kneeing it in the side. Ignoring the blood running down his face and legs, he heard Tessa gasp but couldn’t take the time to see if she was okay. The demon was stronger than it had any right to be for its size, but Cal knew that wasn’t unusual for lower-plane creatures.

  To subdue it, he tried to roll and trap it under his body, but the demon rolled the other way and punched its fist toward his face. Cal dodged at the last second, but the demon brought its knee up and caught him in the balls. Good thing Cal didn’t feel pain because that one might have really hurt. He’d have to check later to make sure the kick hadn’t done any lasting damage.

  Right now, he was losing his grip on the thing. Its skin grew slippery with sweat. At least he hoped it was sweat. The damn thing could be poisoning him and he wouldn’t know until it was too late. Still, he couldn’t let it get away.

  With a burst of strength, Cal wrapped his hands around the demon’s thin, wattled throat and tried to cut off its air supply. It just smiled, showing off four rows of razor-sharp teeth, and rolled him like he was a kid.

  Cal found himself on his back, staring up at the demon.

  Shit, this was bad news. He’d underestimated the thing’s strength.

  But Cal still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He began to throw deadly hard punches, aiming for the thing’s head. Only a few of them connected because the demon was fast and limber. And each time it moved, its teeth got closer. Cal lifted his arm, hoping the demon would bite that before taking a chunk out of his face.

  The demon opened its mouth and hissed—

  And suddenly it wasn’t there.

  Tessa stood over him with a tree limb shaking in her trembling hands, panting, eyes wide. Then they both turned to look at the demon, which Tessa had managed to smack a good ten feet away. On all fours, it shook its body like a dog after a bath. Then it stood, a wiry mass of naked flesh with no sex organs to indicate male or female. It hissed again, showing off those pointed teeth, and smiled before loping into the forest away from the house.

  Cal pushed himself off the ground, watching the tree limb bob and weave in Tessa’s hands.

  “Tessa.”

  Actually, Tessa’s whole body trembled, making that limb extremely dangerous to Cal. Eyes wide, she stared in the direction the demon had run. Her breath rasped hard and rough out of her body, and her knuckles had turned white.

  “Tessa, it’s okay. It’s gone. Put that down before you hurt me with it.”

  There, that got her attention. Her gaze swung around to his, and he was almost startled to see real fear in her eyes. Apparently deities were afraid of some things, which meant the demon was probably not something he wanted to run into again.

  “Are you okay?” Tessa asked as she stepped closer, dropping the limb at the last moment before it batted him in the side. “It didn’t bite you, did it?”

  He shook his head. “I’m fine. What about you? You okay?”

  She took a deep breath and then another. With a visible effort, she forced her body to stop trembling. Then she nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. It didn’t hurt me.”

  “You wanna tell me what the fuck that was?”

  She shivered, her entire body getting in on the action. �
�Tukhulkha demon. Charun’s bringing out the big guns.”

  And that scared the shit out of her. He saw it in her wide eyes and the paleness of her skin.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back to the house. Then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

  She blinked. “We?”

  He sighed. “Yeah, we.” Although he was probably going to regret this. “I don’t like to be attacked on my own ground. Pisses me off.”

  Her eyes widened even more. “So you’ll help me?”

  Putting his hand on her arm, he let the warmth he shouldn’t be able to feel seep into his skin. Obviously, something about this woman, this goddess, brought out a part of him he’d thought lost.

  “Yeah, I will. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 4

  “I tell you to do something, you do it. No questions asked.”

  Tessa kept her eyes trained on Cal as he drove his Jeep Wrangler down a dirt road in the woods. Actually, “road” was too kind to describe what was little more than a deer trail. The Wrangler barely fit between the trees, and branches whipped by at terrorizing speed. Her fingers cramped from holding the roll bar so tightly.

  She was watching him because she couldn’t bear to look out the front window. She didn’t want to see the tree they were surely going to hit if he didn’t slow down.

  So she focused on her savior. She was so grateful to him for saving her life back there that she was willing to put up with anything he told her. But if he didn’t slow down, she might just have to curl up in a ball on the floor and cry like a baby.

  “Tess, hey. You listening to me?”

  “Yes. Yes, I am.” She had to yell over the whistle of the wind. “I do whatever you tell me to.”

  Cal must have heard something in her voice he didn’t like because he turned, for a brief and terrifying second, to look at her.

  Great Goddess Uni, please don’t let us die.

  “You look a little green around the gills, babe. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Please, just keep your eyes on the… path.”

  He laughed, his expression transforming with the accompanying smile, and her breath caught.