Damn, the man was quite gorgeous. And that was saying something coming from a goddess who’d had her pick of beautiful men and gods over the millennia.
But Caligo wasn’t her typical pretty boy. He was young, yes, but he was rougher around the edges than any other man she’d ever wanted.
His broken nose only added to his charm. Same for his mouth. His bottom lip was a straight slash, yet his upper curved into a bow. And his eyes… That gray should be cold, but she went hot all over when he slid his gaze her way.
Which it did again, making her heart pound—and not in fear.
“Babe, I’ve got this path memorized like the back of my hand. I know every rut, every turn, every tree along the way. We’re not gonna crash.”
Surprisingly, his words eased her fear. A bit. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because I haven’t yet.”
“There’s always a first time,” she muttered under her breath.
Obviously, he heard her because he laughed again, shook his head, and pressed a little harder on the gas pedal.
They drove in silence for a few minutes while she continued to study him. His hair was military short on the sides and longer on the top, where it hung down into bangs, the color a deep black but shot through with strands of pure silver. He couldn’t be more than twenty-five so she had to wonder why he was going gray already. Probably the high-stress life he led—
They bumped over something, the tires leaving the road for a few terrifying moments, and Tessa closed her eyes. But not before watching Caligo wrench the steering wheel to the right. She froze, certain they were about to head over a cliff.
Then relief allowed her to draw in a deep breath as she realized they’d turned onto a paved road.
Thank you, Great Mother Goddess.
“So where are we going?” She finally dared to open her eyes and look at her surroundings. The road didn’t look familiar, but she wasn’t overly familiar with this part of Berks County.
“To see Salvatorus, find out if he’s learned anything else. He must’ve had a reason for sending you to me specifically. I want to know what it is.”
“Other than the fact that you’re Cimmerian?”
“Yeah, other than that.”
“What else could it be?”
He slid a glance her way. “Haven’t gotten that far.”
He must have seen fear surge though her. “Relax, Goddess. I’ve done this a few times. I’m good at thinking on my feet.”
“Please, call me Tessa.”
“What’s with the name, anyway? I thought you said it was Thesan.”
She snorted. “Says the man named Darkness.”
Cal shrugged, though he’d always wondered if his dad had been trying too hard when he’d slapped that name on him. “I never got a choice, Your Highness. Cimmerian males are named by their fathers when they come of age, usually around thirteen or so.”
“What do they call you before then?”
Half-blood. Inferior. Unworthy. “‘Son of’ whatever your father’s name is.”
“And you were ‘Son of…’”
“Diritas.”
In his peripheral vision, he saw her mouth drop open. “Your dad’s name is Cruelty?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head. “Wow, you’re a happy people, aren’t you?”
“This coming from the goddess of a pantheon that demanded ritual sacrifice.”
Her cute little nose wrinkled. “We did not demand it. I personally preferred my offerings alive, twenty years old and very male, thank you very much. Besides, that was a long time ago. We’ve evolved since then.”
And that should have been a reminder that he was much lower on the cosmic scale than she was. He was mortal. Stronger, faster, longer lived, and with a few more features than regular humans, sure. But he would eventually die, and he could be killed if he was stupid enough to let that happen. And deities tended to change the rules midjob.
Still, there was something about this one… something he liked, even though he didn’t want to. “Liked ’em young, huh?”
Her lips turned up slightly at the corners. “I still do.”
Lust shot straight into his bloodstream like an adrenaline dump.
Damn, he really liked this little blonde goddess. “Then you’re outta luck with me, babe. I’m nearly a hundred.”
“Really?” She turned to study him again, the heat in her eyes making his lust boil. “Well, compared to me, babe, you’re still in diapers.”
Yeah, when you looked at it that way…
“So,” he steered back to safer waters, “what else can you tell me about Charun and his plans?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, not that much. A month ago, Mlukukh, another member of the FoGEs, called me to say she’d been having dark, violent nightmares that depressed her so much, she began to feel suicidal. She said she thought she knew what they were, that Charun was searching for her. She disappeared two weeks ago, and my dreams have gotten worse since then.”
“Wait, what the hell are the Fogies?”
“The Forgotten Goddesses of Etruria.”
His eyebrows lifted in amusement. “You got a clubhouse to go with the name or what?”
He glanced her way, and there was that smile again, the one that screwed with his brain. “Actually, we do, but we have a strict no-men-allowed policy. There are about ten of us who no longer serve our people in the way we once did. We’ve become… somewhat obsolete, yet we remain. Anyway, Mel went missing a week ago.”
“Can deities off themselves?”
She nodded. “Especially those of us who… no longer have much function. But it is forbidden, specifically because Charun can absorb our spirit when we arrive in Aitás and become more powerful from it.”
“And the deities are afraid of Charun.”
“Of course. Who wouldn’t be? If he consumes you, you cease to exist. Mel knew this and was rightly terrified. She couldn’t sleep for fear of dreaming. She grew tired and listless, moody and angry. Nothing she did was right. Nothing I did could soothe her. Then she disappeared.”
“How do you know she didn’t just go into hiding?”
Tessa shook her head. “Because there is nowhere on this earth where she could hide. And Invol, the plane of existence where we were born, is no longer open to us.”
Cal knew that, probably better than she did. He knew about the other planes of existence beyond this one, the underworlds and the otherworlds which some called heaven and hell.
“The only place I could not check was Aitás,” Tessa continued. “None of the goddesses are strong enough to resist Charun’s power. Not anymore.” She sighed. “And then my dreams began to worsen.”
Her face had turned almost green, and he reached for her hand without thinking. She flipped her palm up so she could lace her fingers with his, and her warmth struck him again.
He really needed to find out what was happening with that. Was he reverting? His father had always feared the possibility that Cal and his brother would regain their feelings and be less than full Cimmerian.
Cal hadn’t felt any pain at all while fighting the demon. And he couldn’t be upset that he felt Tessa’s warmth. He wanted to feel more. All over his body.
Okay, time to get his head together. “Tell me about the dreams.”
Her shiver shook her entire body. “They’re awful. Just… so awful. Dark and bloody. Horrible.”
Considering that this Etruscan goddess had lived through the Dark Ages, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust, these dreams must be excruciating.
Cal wanted to smash Charun into bits for daring to bring that fear to Tessa’s expression. Then he thought of something.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Your house.”
That must have been when Charun discovered her location.
“When did you sleep before then?”
Her gaze narrowed and she bit at her bottom lip. “I’m not sure. Two weeks, maybe.”<
br />
Shit, that wasn’t good. “So you’re basically running on fumes.”
And running out of time. How long could anyone, even a goddess, go without sleep?
“I’ll be fine. For a while.”
He glanced over at her again, noticing her frown. “Don’t bullshit me. How do you feel?”
“I’m tired, but I have to admit the short rest helped. And the sex.”
Her smile said maybe she wanted a repeat of what’d happened when she woke.
The sex had been the best of his life.
They fell silent as the road whipped by, the rolling green hills of southeastern Berks County giving way to fields and farms and then later to suburban sprawl.
After crossing the Schuylkill River on the Penn Street Bridge, they hit the city just before dawn, passing the Reading Area Community College campus before turning left into the heart of the city’s south side. The center-city streets were still fairly deserted this early in the morning, but after they crossed Fifth Street, the activity level increased.
A few souls loitered on the street corners, prostitutes looking for one more john or drug dealers hoping for one more sale. A few people hung in the doorways of all-night groceries.
After turning east on Spruce, Cal wound his way through a half street and two alleys before stopping in front of Salvatorus’s home.
From the outside, it looked like any other house on the block, a three-story redbrick building surrounded by more of the same. The house was well maintained but not too much so. It didn’t stick out in any way, and only someone familiar with Etruscan runes would realize what the decoration around the door frame was.
No one walked the streets here, but Cal hustled Tessa out of the car and up the walk to the front door. Already, he could see the weak morning rays of the sun. If he stayed out much longer, he’d burn. Not that he’d feel it, but he couldn’t afford to be injured right now and he’d packed his shielded hoodie in his bag, not thinking he’d need it.
Once on the covered porch, he released Tessa to ring the bell.
“Come on, you little goat-legged bastard,” he muttered. “Where the hell are you?”
He turned to make sure Tessa hadn’t gone far and found her standing at the edge of the porch, facing east with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.
The sun broke over the horizon as the door opened.
“Hey, Cal. Didn’t expect to see you yet.” Salvatorus stepped to the side of the door and waved a hand, dropping the protection wards so Cal could enter.
Cal turned back to Tessa. “Come on, babe. Inside. Now.”
She didn’t answer, her expression one of reverence. And she didn’t move.
“Fuck, Tessa. Now.”
She sighed and took a few steps backward, close enough for him to grab her arm and pull her into the house.
“Sorry.” Her lips turned up in a bittersweet smile. “It’s dawn.”
As if that said everything.
Cal took a deep breath, biting his tongue on his suddenly raging fear that this—their situation—was one giant clusterfuck about to happen.
“And the sun can’t touch my skin or I burn, Tessa. Don’t do that again.”
“Match made in heaven, if you ask me.” Salvatorus’s rough New York accent broke through the silence that fell as Tessa stared at Cal with her mouth hanging open. “Well, you’re both still in one piece. Come on in, and I’ll get some coffee going. Lady, welcome back.”
Tessa forced herself to look away from Cal and acknowledge Salvatorus’s sweeping bow. How the salbinelli pulled that off so gracefully with those legs was a mystery even to her.
“Hello, Salvatorus. Thank you for inviting us into your home.” And now that the formalities were over, she turned back to Cal. “What did you mean, the sun will burn you?”
As Salvatorus walked toward the back of the house, Cal started to pace the small entry hall. “Gods damn it, Tessa, when I tell you to move, you move.”
His fierce growl didn’t scare her. But what he’d said had. “Explain what you meant.”
Cal ran a hand through his hair. “This isn’t going to work. I knew this wouldn’t work.”
Oh, shit. He was having second thoughts, and that was all her fault. She’d assured him she would listen to his every command, and already she’d screwed up.
Fear sank low in her gut like a hot lead pellet, burning through her body. Damn it. She didn’t want to lose him already.
“I’m sorry. Caligo, please.” She reached for him, and her hand on his bare forearm stopped his restless movements. “It won’t happen again. Now, tell me what you meant about the sun.”
He lifted his head, and the anger she saw in his eyes wasn’t directed at her. “Exactly what I said. If the sun touches my skin, it blisters and burns. The Cimmerians are born in the mist and shadows between the planes. We’re comfortable in those shadows. We see more clearly in the dark than in the light. We blend into the dark.
“I have more resistance to the sun than most because my mother wasn’t Cimmerian. But I still can’t be exposed to the sun’s rays for more than a few minutes before my skin starts to burn.
“And you are a sun goddess.”
He stared at her, his expression hard, but his eyes… oh, they told a different story.
She squeezed his arm. “Then I’ll stay out of the sun. I’m sorry, Caligo. Please—”
He bent his head and kissed her. Hard. With his hands on her shoulders, he pushed her backward until she hit the wall and trapped her there with his body.
The heat of his body seeped into hers, his scent so enticing. She let him plunder her mouth without protest, opening wider to take more of him.
He took the hint and thrust his tongue into her mouth, forcing her tongue to duel with his. When his hands slid down to land on her hips so he could tilt her pelvis into his, she ground herself against his rock-hard erection.
His groan lit her up like a firecracker exploding in her belly, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, smoothing her hands over his butt. He had such a great butt, firm and strong. When he thrust against her, as he did now, she felt the muscles tighten and release, even through his pants.
From his butt, her hands moved up to his slim waist and muscular back. His fingers tightened on her hips, and she felt his muscles ripple with the motion. So much strength. So much warmth.
Her hands lifted higher, stopping to knead his broad shoulders before moving down his arms and latching onto his bulging biceps as if they were her last chance for survival.
He kissed her like he wanted to get inside her body and stay there for hours. Which she didn’t have a problem with. Not at all. Only…
“Hey,” Salvatorus called from the kitchen. “Get your tongue out of her throat and come get some coffee. We need to talk.”
Cal froze, said tongue retreating, but he kept his mouth on hers for several more seconds. When he finally pulled away, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Cal—”
“Don’t.” His gaze burned into hers. “Just don’t say anything right now. Sal’s right. We gotta talk. And if you open your mouth now, I’m gonna take you upstairs and lock a door behind us. And then I’m gonna make you use that mouth on my body.”
***
“So you think just the fact that Tessa’s with me will be enough to keep Charun from sending another demon after her?”
Sal nodded as he tapped a finger against his coffee mug. “Yeah. That’s why I sent her to you. The Cimmerian reputation should be enough to keep him at bay. At least for now. But you have to stay close.”
“But what about the others?” Tessa’s soft voice held sadness. “He’ll just go after Lusna or Alpan or Thalna or one of the others. We need to find a way to stop him.”
“Tessa honey, I told you,” Salvatorus said, “the only way I can think of to do that is to get the other Etruscan deities to accept that Charun is enough of a problem to pool their power and strengthen the wards holding him in Ai
tás.”
And that, Cal knew, was the problem. He turned to look at Tessa. “You don’t think you can talk enough of them into attempting it, do you?”
She shook her head, her expression grim. “There are a few who would. Selvans, Nortia, Tivr, and Lusna, for sure. Possibly Turan. Maybe Fufluns and Laran. But there are others who haven’t been seen in centuries. Nethuns, Usil, Veive, Lucifer. We have no idea where they are or how to find them. And even if we could, I don’t know that there would be enough to create the kind of power needed to strengthen the ward. It took Uni, Tinia, and Menrva to do it before they disappeared.”
Cal heard the bitterness in Tessa’s voice as she mentioned the three main deities of the Etruscans, the equivalent of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva in the Roman pantheon. He heard the despair, too, over the desertion of those deities centuries earlier.
“The other goddesses like me,” Tessa continued, “the members of the FoGEs, we no longer control that much power. Not even all together.”
That bothered her. He saw it in the slump of her shoulders. He wanted to put his arm around her and pull her against him.
Damn it, that was just one big hole waiting to suck him in. Emotions made you weak. He knew that. And he and Tessa had met less than half a day ago. Still…
“But if he consumes seven,” Tessa shook her head, “maybe eight of us, combined with his own powers, Charun would have enough to escape Aitás.”
Cal forced his gaze away from Tessa and turned back to the goat man. “And you don’t think you can get some of the others to listen to you?”
Salvatorus shook his head. “Not a chance, at least not enough of them to make a difference. They’re a damn stubborn bunch.”
Much like all the rest of the deities he’d ever met. Stubborn, selfish. Stupid.
His gaze slid to Tessa. Maybe not all.
Shit.
“So… what?” Cal threw his hands in the air, wondering what the hell Salvatorus wanted him to do. “How are you supposed to stop a god intent on breaking out of his prison?”
Good question.
Tessa watched the men fall silent as she sipped hot chocolate. She could’ve used the caffeine in the coffee but she’d craved chocolate. Luckily for her, Salvatorus knew his goddesses and stocked four kinds of hot cocoa mix as well as dark and milk chocolate syrup.
What a Goddess Wants Page 5