The lion rose to Remy’s height, his eyes wide. “What the hell are you doing down here, Leon? Having a party?”
Leon let Demitri and Remy help him to his feet, then he enfolded Remy in a hug.
“You’ll have a party when you see what’s down here.”
“No.” Demitri stopped him. “We have to get out.”
“It’ll only take a minute. Remy, it’s amazing, like all the stuff from King Tut’s tomb. Gold shit all over the place.”
Remy’s eyes widened, the mania of the archaeologist taking over now that he knew Leon was safe. “This is an intact tomb? All these wall paintings and the original burial objects?”
“It was hidden behind a false wall,” Leon said. “It’s back here. I’ll show you.”
Demitri put a strong hand on Leon’s shoulder. “No. We leave. Now.”
“Just one second, Demitri. This is the kind of stuff Remy lives for.”
Demitri shook his head. “I drew on the fires below the bedrock to burn my way in. I awakened them, and they’re not ready to sleep again. We have to get out.”
The ground started rocking. Demitri heard shouts up the long corridor, and Felicia’s worried voice. “Remy?”
At the same time a large piece of the plastered ceiling fell to shatter around their feet.
21
LEON swore. He grabbed his bag, and Remy’s arm as Remy started in the opposite direction of the way out.
“Wait,” Remy protested. “Just let me look.”
“Remy, damn it, if Demitri says this tomb is coming down, it’s coming down.”
“Let me at least take something . . .”
Demitri snarled and leapt at Remy. Remy paled as the tiger ran into him, shoving him toward the way out. Leon seized his brother’s arm again and pulled him up the corridor. Demitri bounded past them, leading the way.
Felicia was in the antechamber, beaming her flashlight over the rubble that blocked the opening between them and her. The rocks were shaking and shifting. Demitri leapt over the blockage, then changed to his human form and pulled Leon over. Remy started to climb after Leon, but the rubble shuddered and buckled, and Remy slid back into the passage.
Felicia screamed and grabbed Remy’s hands. Leon and Demitri joined in. Remy slithered over the rocks, and the four of them fell together to the antechamber floor.
The shaking increased. Demitri pushed Leon ahead of him and up the stairs. Remy grabbed Felicia’s hand, but just then the rubble in the opposite doors from the antechamber collapsed. The chamber quickly filled with limestone shards, piling on top of one another like an avalanche of stone. Felicia went down as the rocks poured over her.
Remy let out a terrible yell and grabbed her flailing arms. Demitri and Leon scrambled back down the stairs, Demitri’s paws digging at the rapidly falling rock.
At last Felicia’s body emerged, her eyes tightly closed. She coughed, trying to breathe. Remy reached down and hauled her up over his shoulder, then he sprinted up the stairs. Leon followed and Demitri came last. As they ran, the stairs buckled and fell behind them.
Remy burst out into the twilit desert first, followed by Leon. As Demitri leapt free, the ceiling above the stairs came down. Slowly the hole behind them collapsed on itself. The earthquake went on, dust rising into the sky. Those outside had retreated behind the Jeeps, some of the men on their knees, praying loudly.
Then everything stopped. Leon dropped to the ground, naked and dirty. Demitri flowed to his human form and fell next to him, dragging in deep breaths of clean night air.
Remy held Felicia in his arms, rocking her like she was a child.
“Oh, Remy,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry. Your tomb.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Remy buried his face in her hair. “I almost lost you.” He held her close, then he kissed her.
Leon gave a hoarse laugh. “Look at that.” He scrubbed his hands through his dirty hair, still laughing. “Val’s matchmaking finally worked.”
He wanted to reach for Demitri, to fold the big man in his arms, to never let him go, but he had just enough reason to know it was a bad idea in front of Habib and the others. He restrained himself with effort.
“Where is Val?” Leon asked, glancing around. “She okay?”
“At the dig house,” Demitri said, voice weak and rasping. “She’s safe.”
Leon let out his breath. “Good.” He clasped Demitri’s shoulder with his callused and dirty hand. “Thanks, Demitri. Again.”
“I’ll always come for you,” Demitri said in a low voice. “Never doubt that.”
Remy and Felicia were looking tenderly into each other’s eyes. Leon let himself smooth his hand across Demitri’s thigh, and Demitri rewarded him with a sinful look in his dark eyes. The celebration later would be worth waiting for.
VAL found her way to the small house at the end of a country road where Leon Dupree had spent his childhood. She stopped to take in the fading boards and trim, the porch lined with green plants, the carefully tended patch of lawn. Chairs were grouped on the porch so people could gather in the cool evening to watch the sun set.
Behind the screen door was a solid wood front door with a knocker. A button on the door frame had a carefully printed card stuck above it. “Doorbell out of order. Please knock.”
Val plied the knocker. After a few moments, she heard footsteps inside, then a blind rattled in the front window and someone peered out.
The eyes disappeared, but the door didn’t open. Val knocked again. She heard footsteps on the gravel path behind her and turned to see a woman in jeans and a sweatshirt come around the side of the house.
“There’s no use you standing up there. That door’s been busted forever. Come around back.”
Val turned and walked down the porch stairs. The woman, whose eyes were so like Leon’s, gaped at her.
“What the hell are you supposed to be?” the woman asked, giving her a suspicious glare. “The Queen of Sheba?”
“No, Sheba was Persian. I’m Egyptian. I’m a friend of Leon’s.”
Under the woman’s stare, the shell of strength Val had been maintaining cracked and fell away. Tears poured down her cheeks, smearing her eyeliner, and she dropped to the porch stairs, burying her head in her hands.
“Oh, honey.” The step sagged as Leon’s mother sat next to her. A strong arm slid around her shoulders. “What’s my son been up to? You come on inside and tell me all about it.”
HABIB had to drive back to the dig house and return with clothes for Leon and Demitri, theirs now in shreds. Remy dressed again in the clothes he’d shed outside the tomb, but he never moved far from Felicia. They stood close together, and their arms were around each other whenever possible.
When Habib returned, Leon looked hopefully past him. “Did you bring Val?”
“Your friend Valerie? She wasn’t at the house.”
Demitri rose from the ground like a wary animal. “I left her at the dig house—she was setting off to take word to Remy that we’d come out here.”
Habib shrugged. “She’s not there now. I didn’t see her, but I didn’t look for her.”
Leon’s heart beat faster. “Why’d you leave her behind?” he demanded of Demitri.
“She insisted. Which was fine with me, because I knew she’d be safer there. Damn it.”
Leon pulled on the pants and shirt Habib had brought and strode to the Jeeps. Demitri pushed past him, also now dressed. Before Habib or Remy could protest, Demitri slid himself behind the wheel of one of the Jeeps and started it up. Leon jumped into the passenger seat, and they roared off back to the dig house.
Val wasn’t there. Leon raced through the house, questioning the students and workers who’d come in from the dig, but none had seen her except the housekeeper, who’d spotted her walking toward the crossroads. The housekeeper had assumed Val was returning to her hotel.
Leon and Demitri raced back to the hotel they’d stayed in near the Colossi, but she hadn’t returned there.
“Are you looking for your lady?” A taxi driver lounged against his car at the hotel’s entrance. “I took her to the ferry a couple of hours ago.”
“Then you can take us there, too,” Leon said. He scrambled into the taxi, and Demitri followed without a word.
“She’s a beautiful woman,” the taxi driver said as he sped toward the river. “I wouldn’t let her get away, either.”
The ticket seller at the ferry remembered Val. She’d definitely gone across. Demitri and Leon boarded the ferry, and when they disembarked, they questioned people on the other side. Yes, Val had come this way. One man had seen her take another taxi, one his uncle drove, in fact. He called his uncle on his cell phone and confirmed, after a maddeningly long conversation, that Val had been dropped off at their Luxor hotel.
Demitri and Leon hurried there and raced up to their private floor, but found the rooms empty.
“Her clothes are still here,” Demitri said, looking through the closets. “And her suitcases. She’s left everything behind. Except . . .”
“Except what?”
Demitri was looking into a empty square case. “She had Egyptian jewelry in here. Hers, from the time she first walked the earth. She’s taken that.”
“What for? To sell it?”
“I don’t think so.”
Demitri led the way out of the room again. He questioned Karim, who promised to discover whether Val took another taxi away from the hotel and, if so, where she’d gone.
Leon waited tensely with Demitri in the lobby. Demitri couldn’t stop pacing, and Leon’s knuckles whitened as he closed his fists.
Karim at last confirmed, with a worried look on his face, that Val had left the hotel, but not in a vehicle. She’d walked toward Luxor Temple.
“Bloody hell.” Demitri swung away without thanks and dashed out the door. Leon followed.
“What has she done?” Leon demanded when he caught up with Demitri. “You know. Tell me, damn it.”
“She’s gone to call the gods. I don’t know what she intended to do, but she’s decided to take matters into her own hands.”
“Shit.” That couldn’t be good. “Will they kill her?”
“Yes.” The one word was grim, final.
“Damn it.”
Demitri pushed through tourists streaming through Luxor Temple, heading to the chamber in the back where they’d performed the ritual to call Aphrodite. In the small sanctuary where the stump of statue stood in faded glory, Demitri found a small bundle of clothes that had been pushed behind a slab of wall painting.
He held them out to Leon. “Val’s.”
Leon touched the silk shirt that Val had worn, his shifter still smelling her scent on it. He picked up the shirt and rubbed it against his face.
Demitri’s eyes were moist. “I love her more than anything in my life.”
“I know. I’m in love with her, too.”
Demitri raised his face to the darkening sky. “They took her.” His voice filled with rage. “They took her from me. I let them do it once, but I’ll not let them do it again.”
His voice rang out, and the stones around them began to crumble. Chips of granite flaked from the walls, and people wandering the temple looked around fearfully.
Into that dramatic noise, Leon’s cell phone chirped. Leon studied the readout incredulously. He flipped open the phone and put it to his ear.
“Mom?”
“Leon, what you been doing out there?” His mother’s strident tones filled his ear. “I have your girlfriend, Val, here, sobbing in my kitchen. Answer me right, Leon. Did you get her pregnant?”
DEMITRI quickly and easily made all the arrangements to fly them back to New Orleans, even though most of the ticket offices were already closed for the day. He had friends in Luxor, he had money, and people fell all over themselves to please him.
They packed quickly in the hotel suite after Leon called Remy and told him they were leaving.
“She’s in Fontaine?” Remy asked in surprise. “How the hell did she get there?”
“Don’t ask me. We have to go to her. I’m sorry to run out on you.”
“Hey, you have your own life. And you did find out what was happening to my artifacts. Thanks, Leon. If there’s anything I can do . . .”
“You just keep digging up your bones and pottery. I’ll be in touch.”
Leon clicked off the phone and moodily stared out the hotel window. Luxor Temple had lit up for the night, the glow filtering into the room.
Demitri put his hands on Leon’s shoulders, touched his forehead to Leon’s neck. “I thought I’d lost you today.”
“I was pretty sure you’d lost me, too.”
He turned around to find Demitri an inch away from him, Demitri’s hands still on his shoulders.
Leon wanted to melt into the man’s touch. “I don’t really get how I feel about you. It’s not what I ever thought I’d feel for a guy. But when you knocked me over in that passage, I was so damn happy to see you. And not just because you’d come to get me out.”
“I was happy to see you alive,” Demitri said, his voice low.
“I knew right then I wanted to be with you. Always be with you, I mean. But I’m thinking that can’t happen, can it?”
“Why not?”
“You’re a rich, business-owning demigod. I’m a Cajun boy with no job and no money. I’m mortal, you’re not.”
“There might be ways around that.”
“I’m not looking for a sugar daddy. I need my own life. I just want you in it. I’m not saying this very well.”
Demitri’s eyes were dark, pupils wide with longing. “So stop talking.”
Leon found his mouth filled with Demitri’s tongue. Leon snaked his arm around Demitri’s back, his fingers sinking into Demitri’s soft suit coat. Demitri licked Leon’s mouth, his lips encouraging Leon to melt to him. Leon wasn’t about to surrender, but he liked the comfort of the large, hard body in his arms.
Their plane left in three hours. Leon started to slide the coat from Demitri’s shoulders. Demitri shrugged it off then skimmed Leon’s shirt over his head.
Leon unbuckled Demitri’s belt and unfastened his pants, sliding his hand inside to grip Demitri’s penis. Demitri did the same to Leon, palm firm against Leon’s cock.
They stroked each other and kissed. Leon’s body started to tingle, excitement streaking through his desperate worry about Val. Being with Demitri didn’t alleviate Leon’s fears, but it gave him the strength to face them.
“Fuck me,” he whispered to Demitri.
“We don’t have time. Not to teach you.”
“Suck me, then.”
Demitri nodded. He pushed Leon’s jeans down over his hips, still kissing him, hands stroking Leon’s hard cock.
“Leon?”
The startled gurgle in Remy’s voice sliced through the haze of Leon’s arousal. He jerked from Demitri to see Remy standing in the open door to the bedroom.
Demitri stepped away from Leon in silence. He zipped and fastened his pants without a word, his movements casual. As though getting caught stroking off another man didn’t bother him in the slightest.
Leon’s hands shook as he buttoned his jeans. Remy was frozen in place, his green eyes fixed in shock. Demitri slid sideways past the stunned Remy and out. He closed the bedroom door behind him, leaving the brothers alone.
“Leon?” Remy repeated.
Leon took a deep breath. “What are you doing here? I just talked to you at the dig. Didn’t I?”
For a moment Remy looked like he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there or why he’d come. “I was heading here when you called me. I was going to offer you a ride to the airport, buy you something to eat on the way. I didn’t think . . .” He trailed off. “What the hell did I just see?”
“Something I can’t explain.”
“I thought you were after Val. You’ve always chased ladies. I mean, really chased them. I guess it was all an act.” The words were a question.<
br />
“It isn’t an act. I’m not gay.”
“You were kissing Demitri. And more.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Leon scrubbed his hand through his hair and turned away. Outside, Luxor Temple flared with light, an exotic backdrop to this bizarre situation.
Leon tried again. “It’s not like I’ve always done this. Just with Demitri.”
“What about Val? She’s in love with him, isn’t she?”
“Yes. And he is with her.”
Remy scowled. “So what are you? Diversion?”
“Remy, will you shut up and let me explain?”
“I don’t want to hear you explain.” Remy folded his arms, his face red. “You’re six years older than me. I never really knew you at all. You were off to the army when I was still in junior high. Hell, how did you make it through the army if you liked men?”
“Because this has never happened before,” Leon said, exasperated. “I’m trying to tell you. I fell in love with Val, and I fell in love with Demitri.” He stopped, his face heating. “We’re having a threesome.”
“Oh, holy shit.”
“It happened, Remy, I didn’t plan it. Now Val’s in danger, and I need to get to her.”
“So you’re going back to Fontaine with your boyfriend—to find both of y’all’s girlfriend? Have you lost your mind? You’ll get run out of town. What’s going to happen to Mom?”
“It’s not going to matter if we don’t help Val. She could die, and Demitri could die. And so can I.”
Remy’s angry look turned to bewilderment. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You’re a shifter, Remy, you know there’s magic out there. You saw what Demitri did to get me out of the tomb. He’s powerful, but there are beings out there even more powerful than he is, and right now they’re after Val. She’s the woman I love. I’ll do anything I have to do to save her.”
“Magic,” Remy repeated. His forehead wrinkled, and he glanced at the closed door.
Mortal Seductions Page 25