When Marduk started to speak, the king held up his hand for silence and lowered his head to look at the floor. The gods threw worried glances around over his bent frame.
“Beletseri was the one,” the king finally murmured.
“The one what?” questioned Dani, kneeling down beside him and placing her hand on his knee. “Tell us.”
A few of the gods who’d been around for a very long time apparently figured it out with just those few words, because their faces grew cold. The rest waited for the royal to explain.
“Three thousand four hundred and twenty-three years ago.” He cleared his throat. “Ereshkigal and I were blessed with a son.” A few gods nodded, but it was news to most of them.
“We named him Girin, which in English translates to pure.” He clarified for all the nonancient language speakers. “He was the culmination of our love…of which Eresh and I had an abundance.” He paused but no one interrupted. “Our baby was cruelly taken from us at just three months old. We found him in his crib, where we’d placed him for a nap. He was dead. We didn’t know if it was a crib death, or if he had been murdered. We never found out until now. What we did know is that it wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t left him.” Nergal wiped a hand over his face, clearly remembering as if it happened yesterday.
“Ereshkigal and I normally would have been with Girin. He was rarely ever out of our sights, but enough time had passed that my queen and I decided to renew our physical acquaintance. So we placed him in another room, and while our baby breathed his last, we selfishly found our own pleasures.” The guilty look on his face tore at Dani’s heart. “If we hadn’t left him…if we had only…”
She leaned forward and threw her arms around the distraught king. “Stop. Let it go. The guilt doesn’t lay with you. This horrible deed is squarely on Beletseri’s shoulders. Think,” she added. “It wouldn’t have mattered if you’d waited to make love until the next day or the next month. She would have done it the first time he’d walked alone to a tutor’s cave.” She could only guess at what Underworld children did for schooling. “Or if he’d been playing seek the demon with a friend.” That sounded about right. “Beletseri would have found a way to do her foul deed no matter what.”
“But he never had a chance to walk, or play, or know how much we loved him—” Nergal’s voice broke, but Dani-Lee wanted none of it.
“So now you know it was a vicious act of hate that you could have done nothing to stop.” She brought his head up with a finger and looked deep into his stunning green eyes. “Now you and Ereshkigal can mend fences. You can make love again, and perhaps have another son.”
Nergal’s posture stiffened. Dani didn’t know whether she’d gone over the line, but as he sat silently, Lenore began to sing. Tension leaked from the king’s body and from the room in general. This wasn’t the first time Dani had seen Lenore’s talent at work. The goddess-witch used her paternally given legacy of the Lorelei—and the male Lauernley—to sing calmness into people’s minds.
After minutes of the song filling the room, Nergal leaned up and gently grasped Dani’s shoulders.
“I love Ereshkigal with all my heart, but I haven’t made love to my wife in thousands of years out of guilt over putting my own pleasure above the life of my son.” He looked disgusted with himself. “Eresh was ready to move on with our lives a long time ago, but I, in my foolishness, still couldn’t bring myself to take her to my bed. I couldn’t bear the possibility that we might conceive another child who might also be taken so cruelly.”
Dani knew there was no such thing as a birth control that worked for gods. Apparently immortal sperm would not be defeated.
Nergal raised his eyes. “You,” he indicated with a sweep of his hand to the gods, “kept her sane and sated because I refused. I once believed she took you all to her bed.” A few eyebrows raised at that declaration. “But I only recently found out that you’d only engaged by talking her through some healthy sexual fantasies. I’d just begun rethinking my abstinence with Eresh when she was taken.”
He got a number of nods.
“When we get my queen back, I promise you, it will be to a full husband, not the shell of a god I’ve been. And if we are blessed enough to have another son, he will learn how to be a worthy prince at the knee of the one who is next in line for the throne.” The king’s eyes pinned to Huxley.
The unanointed prince’s knees nearly buckled. This was a fucking revelation to him. Huxley hadn’t had much time to think of what being a prince would mean, let alone that he might one day ascend Nergal’s throne. He would have a long talk with the king to see how the hell that could possibly go down.
While Huxley fretted, the king picked himself up and stood erect. At just a smidgen under seven feet he made Dani—standing next to him—look tiny by comparison. “Before I forget, my queen imparted two more very important pieces of information.” He looked clearer and more determined than Huxley had seen him in weeks. Perhaps due to Lenore’s song. “First, Beletseri can use the ore not only to disguise her group’s location, she can use it on her body to cloak herself from our detection.”
Holly looked puzzled at that. “Well then, can’t you do the same with the idol you wear around your neck?”
“Apparently, she wears a girdle of it, which gives it more power.”
“I’ve got the answer to this.” Dagon had been silent, but Huxley remembered the god had just spent a good deal of time in Hell. “Who can detect the ore better than anyone on Earth? Who did your father in law use to mine it?” he asked Nergal.
“The glowies.” Holly clapped her hands. She’d served her time in Hell too. She turned to the king. “Can you talk to Lavarette and get some volunteers to keep watch over the compound in case she tries to come around?”
Marduk added his request. “And they may be able to help locate the queen,” he determined. “If Beletseri—or Nedu if he uses this belt—becomes apparent to the glowies outside of our borders, we may be able to follow the pair back to their hideout.”
“Uh, excuse me?” Candy spoke up. Hux suspected her mind had been blown in several directions at once. “What the fuck is a glowie?”
Nergal started to explain, but must have thought better of it. “I’ll let you see for yourself.”
Lavarette? Nergal called, letting everyone in on the head channel communication. Can you get a lock on me in the compound and come here straight away?
You call and… The glowie poofed in. “I obey,” she answered the king in person as she instantly appeared at the back of the room.
Everyone but Candy greeted the slightly blue, iridescent individual. Huxley grinned. The agent was too busy staring with her mouth open. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
Intelligent dark eyes assessed Candy before the glowie introduced herself.
“I’m Lavarette, from the Lonely Collective,” she explained, holding out a three fingered hand for a shake. “Or as our friend Dagon fondly nicknamed us, the glowies.”
Candy tentatively took the odd appendage. “We provide the king with his security forces, amongst other things.”
“I’m Candy.” Agent Lane finally found her tongue. Huxley recognized from experience that the hand she took would be surprisingly warm and comforting.
“I’m, uh, human, and I have no clue what I’m doing here.” Words stumbled across her tongue, hostage to her confusion.
“Well if you are here, which you obviously are, you most likely have a role in things,” Lavarette came back with surety. She released her grip and turned to bow to Nergal. “How may I serve you, my liege?”
Heads were put together, words were exchanged. It took very little time for Lavarette to be filled in, and not much longer for her to have the first shift of glowies in place, patrolling the grounds.
Huxley was chomping at the bit to get moving, but once that piece of business had been settled, Nergal remembered to fill the group in on Eresh’s other revelation.
“The queen has ascert
ained that they are not moving her from building to building.” This got the king some sharp looks. “They are moving the ore from floor to floor or room to room, but at the same address. This bodes well for a search.” He looked to Marduk for confirmation.
“It certainly does,” the thunder god agreed. “But I’ve had a change of heart with using Dani so quickly as bait.”
Thank the gods, Huxley thought.
“Before we let Dani loose to see if she can be picked up, and now that we have some talented glowies at our deposal, why don’t the three of you,” he indicated Dani, Hux, and Candy, “comb the streets around Kenmore Square. See if she can detect any vacant spaces where Beletseri might be hiding.”
“Splendid idea.” Nergal snapped his fingers. Hux was happier with the new plan that would keep Dani out of danger if the rescue took effect without her infiltrating the enemy’s lair.
Marduk took over. “Now, everyone should get some rest. I expect the three of you plus a glowie on the streets first thing in the morning.”
“Why wait?” Huxley looked to Dani and Candy. “We’re up, aren’t we? I, for one, won’t be able to go back to sleep.”
The women agreed, and it was decided that the smallest female glowie, Minrella, would accompany them on their search. Lavarette called her, explained their need, and had a great time outfitting her. To disguise her iridescent form, they came up with a pair of knee-high boots that swallowed her feet, some leggings that actually fit, and an oversized sweatshirt with a hood that would easily drape over her face. Jackie O sunglasses perched on her head, and as soon as the sun came up, they would go down to her nose and finish her disguise. If anyone got a good look at Minrella, they’d still freak out, but hopefully they could throw out the name of a disease that accounted for her odd looks. In today’s politically correct world, only the rudest of individuals would dare to persist.
Huxley fired up the old car, and the border guards gave a clean bill of health to the surrounding woods—no cloaked gods to be had—and he drove down the fire road. The group would spend as many hours as necessary scouring the streets of Boston, hoping that Minrella would get a good reading on a vacant building somewhere.
They arrived at a nearly deserted—four in the morning—Kenmore Square, and began circling the Citgo sign in all directions. After two hours, their initial enthusiasm dampened a bit.
Who knew the sign could be seen not only from the Fenway, but from as widespread an area as Roxbury to Somerville and Brighton into Boston proper. A massive amount of real estate was involved, covering more than seventy square miles.
Hux looked up at the tenth building they’d seen that stood either vacant or under construction. “Shit,” he said out loud for everyone thinking the same thing. “We could be at this ‘til Christmas.”
Chapter Fourteen
A very dour Thanksgiving passed, but nothing Dani wasn’t used to. Most of her early holidays had been spent with her taciturn father. All of her recent ones had been spent working.
It had been a tense month, since the quartet began to scour what seemed to be every inch of Boston, with Huxley still battling Dani-Lee to keep her from offering herself up to the bad guys. He would lose the battle, and Dani knew it, because Nergal applied pressure as well. There had been no sign of the missing queen.
Every two nights, Nergal spoke to Ereshkigal, assuring her of their continued search and letting her know, as best he could in thirty seconds, how much he loved her and how things would change when she got home. Dani, privy to his conversations along with everyone else, felt their hearts breaking over and over. The queen continued to put on a good face, but Dani—and everyone else—could tell she was getting weaker every day.
The gods and goddesses confined to the compound found themselves going stir crazy. They were used to being active, out and about, and somewhat omnipotent, but Beletseri had put a damper on any of them leaving their confines for fear of their energy being detected, and her blindsiding them with a hidden attack. The evil bitch could have deadly plans for any one of them.
The witches and humans had become responsible for bringing in all food and needed supplies, but even they were thwarted by reports from the glowies that the ore energy lurked nearby, or from Lahar who spotted Matthew on surveillance along with what seemed to be a small but growing number of human underlings on the outskirts of their compound.
Luckily, they didn’t appear to be monitored around the clock, but time was not on the T-Taj residents’ side. The longer they sat around impotent, the more employees Matthew could conjure. They had the potential to be boxed in completely before long. Their hands were tied. They couldn’t do damage to any of Beletseri’s minions for fear of retribution she would aim toward the queen.
Candy had been in touch with Miranda Worthington every few days, stringing her along. Being the agent’s roommate, Dani heard most of Candy’s phone calls. She’d told Worthington she combed the streets of Boston. The bitch didn’t know she looked with Huxley not for him. Candy had also been able to keep her boss back in LA happy, telling him she was on a K&R for a friend. He was, however, getting a little antsy to have Candy back in the fold, so when Dani decided she’d finally reached her limit with the driving around nonsense, Candy was obviously all ears.
“I’ve had a call.” Dani-Lee approached Candy as she stepped into the elevator, headed to the basement garage. The agent spent her off-time rebuilding antique motorcycle engines in the well-equipped shop below. Candy had glued herself to Huxley who, besides being a damned good mechanic, easily bridged the invisible barrier between the agent and Ishkur. The gearhead-god remained invisible to Candy, but was a veritable fountain of motorcycle information and lore.
“A call from who?” Candy held the door to the elevator open with one grease-stained sleeve. She had changed back into mechanic’s garb when they’d gotten back from their last fruitless trip to Boston.
“My boss at the hospital,” Dani imparted. “Remember, I let him know a month ago I could be on call? Well, with the holidays, he’s short staffed and wondered if I could fill in.”
“What did you tell him?” Candy looked expectant, as well she should. Dani was about to make sure the boredom of the last month would change.
“I know I should have talked to Marduk first, but I said, yes.” Dani held her breath, sheepish and waiting for the agent’s response.
“Yes.” Candy did a fist pump, which was pretty much what the doctor expected. “Now we can get this bitch hunt moving.” She grabbed Dani’s arm and led her into the lift. “We need to talk to Huxley.”
Dani went along for the ride to the basement without protest, but the last thing she wanted to do was talk to Huxley. He’d avoided confronting her since the morning she’d given him that hug, except for those moments they’d come head to head on her baiting the bad guys. He’d simply nodded tersely to her every day as she sat in the back seat of the car with Minrella. While Dani stayed quiet, he’d laughed and joked naturally with Candy up front.
She’d often noticed the glowie taking her hand in a comforting way, and wondered if her emotions were so transparent. If so, then Huxley could not mistake the way she felt. The situation sucked, but Candy kept telling her to be patient.
Her other comfort—besides Minrella—was the amulet that Dani carried in her pocket wherever she went. It seemed to give off a soothing warmth, and even if it was her imagination, she’d decided not to go anywhere without it.
“Hey, Hux,” Candy called, as soon as the elevator doors opened. She dragged Dani across the spotless expanse of gray concrete that made up the garage floor to a work area that looked like a hardware store explosion had taken place. It was obvious to Dani-Lee that several bikes lay in pieces, although she couldn’t tell one from another. She hung back behind Candy.
Huxley wiped his hands on a rag and turned around. He tried, unsuccessfully, to hide his shock that Dani was there. This was the first time she’d made a trip to the garage, and clearly, he didn’t like it.
Dani got it. This was his space, and he hadn’t had time to get his guard up. Had that been Candy’s plan?
“Candy. Dani.” His mouth flattened into a line and gave away no emotion.
Dani knew he was not only pissed but on edge and ready to fight the decision he had to know they’d come to. Candy refused to play his game today, jumping right in.
“Dani’s got some news.” She nudged Dani-Lee ahead of her to where Hux stood.
“Uh, yeah.” Dani tucked back an unruly strand of hair. “I got a call from the hospital this morning, and they want me back at work.” Dani put it right out there and waited.
“What did you say to them?” Huxley’s dark brown eyes turned cold.
“I said I’d be in for the morning shift tomorrow.” Dani held her breath.
“For fuck sake, Dani,” Huxley yelled. “Didn’t you think you should talk it over with everyone first?”
Dani expected this. “No. I didn’t.” She set her mouth, mutinously. “We’re getting nowhere searching the streets of Boston, Hux, and you know it. Nergal has been more and more despondent after his talks with the queen, and she sounds ill. You’ve also heard that the king thinks Beletseri is nearly through with her interrogation.” Dani narrowed her eyes. “That means Ereshkigal will soon be expendable. We need to hurry this along. My involvement is the only way.”
Hux took a wrench from his back pocket and threw it on the table. He looked irate but close to giving in. He ran a hand through his thick blond hair. “Jeez, Dani. This all just sucks.”
Discomfort played over Huxley’s face. Clearly he was pissed off, but the majority of his emotion seemed to be worry. Worry that she was putting herself in danger.
Candy leaned in close and whispered in Dani’s ear. “This is good. Better than the bullshit cold shoulder he’s been giving you. Maybe this will move along the goddamned constipation that’s clogged up this op.”
Royally Screwed Page 14