Rites & Desires

by Amanda Cherry

  At the mention of the item, Loki’s eyes lit up. "You found it?" he asked, advancing on her position in a way that nearly anyone else would have found menacing.

  "Mm-hmmm. I did."

  "Do you have it with you right now?" he asked, the hunger and excitement clear in his voice.

  Ruby shook her head. "It’s locked up safe and tight at the moment," she answered. Ruby took a step closer to Loki and pressed her hands against his chest. "You want to touch it, don’t you?"

  Loki growled under his breath. "I wouldn’t mind," he allowed.

  Ruby nodded, grinning wickedly. "I think that can probably be arranged," she said. "Once the ritual is completed and I have my full power back, I don’t see why I couldn’t let you come by for a cuddle with the Eye. After all, I owe it to you that I even have the thing."

  "You’d do well to remember that," he said.

  "I promise. Now, to the magic that tried and failed to murder your former avatar and, by extension, yours truly this afternoon," she said, getting back to her point in asking him here in the first place. "Any ideas?"

  Loki shrugged and shook his head. He turned again to look out the window. "You know my style has been copied across cultures," he replied, tracing some sort of pattern on the glass of the window with the tip of his gloved finger. "Have you looked into Nazis? I hear they’re making a comeback."

  Ruby crossed to join him at the window. "I haven’t looked into a damned thing," she replied, "nor do I intend to. I was curious because it felt like you might have been behind it even if you weren’t personally responsible for making the place blow up. And if you had been the source of the explosion, then I was going to apologize for foiling your plan and offer to help you try again."

  Loki was clearly taken aback a bit by that comment. He turned abruptly to face her. "You? Apologize to me?"

  "For this, sure. If that had been the case."

  Loki was visibly astounded. He was shaking his head as he turned to walk back into the center of the room. "You’ve been spending way too much time with a good guy, Ruby," he insisted. "I’ve never so much as heard of you apologizing for anything ever before in your life, certainly not for foiling one of my plans. I seem to recall you cackling with sadistic glee the last time you screwed me over."

  "To my own ends, you’re right. I certainly have no qualms about fouling up someone’s plans in furtherance of my own agenda. None at all. But this ... today--" She shook her head and sighed. "If saving the life of that pompous miscreant formerly in your employ had put a monkey wrench in some plan you had, then the least I could do was to offer my contrition and try to make amends. You don’t fail often, Loki," she declared, as much to stroke his ego as to make her point. "Which was yet another reason I wasn’t sure it was you--at least not directly. And I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently caused you problems."

  "Well," he said, turning to face her. "It wasn’t me. And the only problems you’ve caused are for your superhero boyfriend, who’s going to go down in history as the man who saved America’s most despicable president."

  "He’s aware," she chuckled. "And he’s not real happy about it. The only consolation I can come up with is that the Vice President might actually be worse. He’s just as evil, but with a working knowledge of how governing works. I’d be more afraid with him in the chair than with Prather, to be honest. But if you’d been the one trying to have the bloviating tick murdered this afternoon, no matter how incompetent a minion you might have sent, I wanted to say I would be perfectly willing to do what I could to facilitate you getting another shot."

  "You need to watch yourself, dear," he said. "Good guy boyfriend is making you lose your edge. The next thing you know, you’ll start braking for animals and making anonymous donations."

  "Oh, how dare you" she accused, clearly mocking. "I would never do such a thing. And you know it."

  "I don’t know," he said back, "You’re being awfully thoughtful and generous. It’s not at all like you."

  "Well maybe it’s just the near-death experience," she posited.

  Loki took a deep breath. "You’re sure you’re okay?" he asked.

  Ruby frowned. "And you’re showing an unusual degree of care and concern," she countered. That was the second time in the space of one conversation when he’d inquired as to her well-being. It was more than a bit out of character.

  "I am fond of a scant few mortals," he declared flatly. "And among that paltry number there is only one who has been grated my favor, and only one who is in on the verge of unlocking the secrets of one of the most powerful magical items ever forged. So pardon me for giving a damn whether you live or die."

  "Well, you’re awfully sweet about it," she admitted. "And I have to say, it’s nice knowing someone cares whether I live or die."

  "You mean not counting the superhero boyfriend," he sassed.

  Ruby rolled her eyes. "He’s a good guy, remember?" she replied. "He even saved Prather. He cares if everybody lives or dies. It’s not the same."

  "Oh, but it is, isn’t it? Let me guess," he said, taking a few steps closer. "He gave you that bracelet."

  Ruby nodded. It was an easy guess. The bracelet was lovely, but it wasn’t her usual taste. Loki had known her long enough to be able to make a guess like that. "It’s a techie thing," she explained, holding out the bangle for him to inspect at will. "It’s got a button on it I can push to summon Stardust at any time to any place."

  "And you think he goes around giving those out to all the fair citizens?"

  "No," she allowed, "I’m sure he doesn’t. But I’m still glad you give a damn I wasn’t blown to pieces today."

  Loki spared her his most charming half-smile. "Just don’t tell anyone," he insisted. "If word got out it could ruin my reputation."

  "Or mine," she countered. "I’d just get called a liar because nobody would believe me."

  "That’s a thousand years of carefully curated public image," he declared.

  Ruby dipped a curtsy in feigned reverence. "You surely have cultivated a brand. Nazis, huh?" she asked him then, once again getting back to her original point.

  "You talked about my brand yourself," he replied. "You should know as well as I do how me and mine have been co-opted and borrowed and oddly translated by certain political factions over the years."

  "True," she agreed. "But Nazis, Loki, really?"

  "It was just a suggestion," he offered.

  "Well, I suppose I don’t really care," Ruby said. "As long as it wasn’t you then I don’t give a damn who it was trying to kill Prather this afternoon. The man’s got more enemies than I have millions, and I have neither the time nor the energy to figure out which one of them tried to forcibly scatter him across the White House lawn."

  "Even though you were nearly scattered right alongside?" he asked.

  Ruby quirked her lip into a grimace. "Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas. Hang around with asses, and you may need to cover your own."

  Loki shook his head as he closed the distance between them. "You always have had a way with words," he mused.

  "It’s one of my many gifts."

  "Right up there behind humility."

  "I never claimed to be humble, nor selfless nor generous. But I’m a good ally," she contended, stepping closer to Loki and making a point to look him in the eye. "And for as long as we’re on the same side, I won’t screw you over. You--tricky bastard that you are--might not be so trustworthy. But I trust you. I trust we are on the same side--the side that cares about keeping the Blights from being discovered in Cobalt City, and the side that cares about unlocking the magic of the Eye of Africa, and the side that could not care less about Lyle Prather and whoever it is that’s trying to kill him."

  "Agreed," Loki declared. "And I must say, I’m not used to being trusted. I find the concept ... rather exhilarating."

  Ruby grinned. "If you were going to screw me over on this one, it would have happened already," she informed him flatly. "The worst you’re liable
to do at this point is to try and steal the Eye of Africa after I’ve finished with it. And at that point, I’ll have my powers back, so what do I care if you take the totem? I’ll be finished with it!"

  "You mean," Loki said back, an air of intrigue creeping into the edges of his voice. "That you’d be willing to just ... give it to me?"

  "After I have my powers back?" she clarified. "After I’m finished with it?" Ruby stepped forward and took the god by his hands. "I’m trying to get my powers back, Loki, not take over a dimension. That’s more your kind of thing than mine. Me, I just want my life back. So once I have that--once I have all the power I’m currently missing, and I’m sure it’s all really mine and not still some extension of the fetish through me--then I will be more than happy to pass it along."

  "I’m glad we got over being enemies," Loki said, drawing her hands to his face and kissing her knuckles lightly. "We’re so much better together."

  "Cut from the same ginger cloth," Ruby commented. "The wickedness in me recognizes the wickedness in you. I respect an unapologetic agenda. And you respect unabashed ambition. Neither one of us would be any better off if the other fails, and the both of us have figured that out. Worthy adversaries though we may have been, it’s far less fun trying to put down someone you admire and respect than it is to be smacking down all of the other worthless beings who deserve it more."

  "Yes, it’s true. We can do far more damage--or good, depending on your point of view--together than if we work at crossed purposes."

  "Exactly," Ruby concurred. "You point me to a magical item and lend me out some help to get my hands on it, I use the thing to repair myself, and then when I’ve finished I’m more than happy to turn the item over to your custody. I know I’ll be able to get it back if I need it. I know where to find you." Ruby turned her head from one side to the other to indicate the opulent condo she’d gifted him.

  "That you do, my dear," he replied. "And I’m very pleased that you have it set up just so. I appreciate a place so prepared I can manifest without need of an avatar. Even with three of them, sometimes it’s nice to take a gander at you mortals with my own eyes."

  "I’m glad you like it," she said. "It’s your place, do with it as you will. Only I will ask that you try very hard not to blow it up. I have a good insurance policy, and my agent is pretty good about not asking questions. Living with Stardust across the way means I actually have a rider for things going kaboom unexpectedly. But still, please remember I live two floors up, and I happen to like this building the way it is. Having to rebuild would be a pain in the ass. And I’d just rather not."

  "I promise," he said. "Nothing too incendiary at your precious address."

  "Now," Ruby said, shifting gears, "speaking of my address and things going kaboom, I really should get upstairs and get a shower. I have this miasma of violence and peasants about me at the moment. I need to wash it off."

  "I wasn’t going to say anything," Loki teased, letting go of her hands as he quirked his lip in her direction, "seeing as how you nearly died today and all."

  "It pleases me that you care more for my survival than my comportment," she said.

  "Well, only because we’re here," he replied. "No one’s going to see us together."

  "Oh, there you are, you pretentious dandy. Don’t ever change."

  "Wouldn’t dream of it."

  "Good." Ruby stepped past him as she started back toward the elevator. "I’ll be seeing you," she said in parting.

  "Maybe sooner than you think," he replied, stopping Ruby in her tracks with that statement.

  She turned around slowly to face Loki, one eyebrow raised in an expression that told him she would appreciate an explanation.

  "You know the Blights are on loan," he clarified. "I’m going to have to have them back."

  "Soon," she replied firmly. "Just let me get through the ritual and have powers in my own right and I’ll gladly turn them over."

  "Well, you had best put a rush on it," he replied. "I know powerful rituals can’t be hurried if you expect proper results, but the Blights aren’t mine, and I don’t know how long we can keep them here."

  "I’m nearly there," she assured him. "You’ll know when it’s finished."

  "I mean it, Ruby," he warned as she turned again to leave. "The time is going to come when they have to go back, and when that time comes, it won’t matter whether you’ve completed your ritual or not."

  "I appreciate the heads-up," she said. "I’ll do my best to finish quickly."

  "Not your MO, if I recall correctly," he called after her. "I seem to recall you like things drawn out ‘til nearly morning."

  Ruby rolled her eyes. Good on him for getting in a lascivious barb. "Good memory," she declared with a grin.

  "Please tell me your superhero boyfriend at least has some stamina," he teased.

  "Well, he’s no god," she replied, "but we’re working on it."

  "Well look at you with a little project," he mocked. "Your patience and generosity are shockingly admirable."

  "And your snark is familiar and comforting. Now," she called, still not bothering to turn and face him again. "Off with you. I need a shower and sleep. I’ll be in touch."

  "You’ve been warned," he called out again as Ruby pressed the button for the elevator. The doors opened immediately. As she stepped in and turned to press the button to take her down to her office, she spared a glance back at Loki.

  He was already gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  A quick dash across the Goblin Records lobby, an admonishing look from Bridget, and a brief ride up her private elevator later, Ruby could not believe the relief she felt as she stepped into her own apartment. She really did need to shower, and she was positively aching to run her fingers over the Eye of Africa after today’s magical craziness.

  She thought about grabbing a drink first, and decided there was no harm in taking the short walk to the bar in her sitting room as a chance to peer across the way and see if she could get a glimpse of what was going on in Starcom Tower. It wasn’t peeping if he had the shades open, right? She strode across the elevator lobby and through the vestibule toward the veranda doors and adjacent bar.

  And was thoroughly surprised to find Jaccob leaning against her sofa. They’d compromised on his proposal of a lock on her door. She’d let him do a little tinkering with the building’s wiring--putting alarms on the doors and windows of her penthouse; he’d wired in hidden code boxes all about the place. The system recognized Ruby by voice and by retinal scan, so all she had to do to keep an alarm from sounding was to speak the proper disarm phrase. And she’d insisted Jaccob give himself a code. The system had been in place for weeks now, but this was the first time she was aware of him using it to let himself in.

  She smiled when she saw him, unconsciously reaching up to smooth her hair. "Hi," she greeted, rushing to him and taking both of his hands in hers. She was a bit surprised at herself for being so pleased to see him, but it was hardly the biggest surprise of the day. "I wasn’t expecting you," she said. "I wish you’d called me; I’d have come up if I knew you were waiting."

  "It’s okay," he said. "I just wanted to--" Jaccob paused and looked closely at her. "Where have you been?"

  Ruby did her best to smile. She was sure she looked a mess, with her hair all askew, and having made no effort to repair her face after this afternoon’s calamity. Loki hadn’t made nearly the issue out of it she might have guessed he would, but still, keeping to this disheveled state for this long was wildly out of character. It was unsurprising that Jaccob, in his perpetual and endearing concern for her, had noticed. Ruby tensed all over; she couldn’t very well tell Jaccob she’d been downstairs talking to Loki.

  "I was in the office," she lied. "I was dealing with our video production problems." It wasn’t a complete fabrication; he didn’t have to know the work she was referring to had been done entirely via her phone while waiting for and riding on elevators. "The FBI is demanding we hand over all our
footage. They think we may have caught the bombers on camera. And they’ve already filed an injunction to keep us from releasing anything we’d already made copies of. They’re afraid it could hinder their investigation, or something."

  Ruby rolled her eyes as she crossed to the table where she kept her scotch decanter. She’d have been satisfied with a gin rickey to have in the shower, but as long as she was pausing to discuss this ugly business, she was going to have a dram of scotch. She gestured to the glasses and waited for Jaccob to nod before setting two of them in front of her and pulling the stopper on the decanter.

  She continued as she poured two glasses. "Meanwhile I have multiple networks that carved out room in their schedules for the debut of this music video. We’re using captured audio from the rehearsal and trying to cut together some sort of moving retrospective, feel-good/Americana type thing from our camera checks, backstage photos, and old concert footage, so we have something to put on the air. I’ve got engineers on their way here now to see if they can do anything with that rehearsal audio to make it worth releasing on StarTunes." Replacing the stopper, she said, "And I’m getting pressure from all sides to donate any profits from this whole thing to whatever charity is bound to pop up in support of the bombing victims. Some people are saying I’m supposed to set up a fund or something to help pay the medical expenses of anyone who was injured in the bombing. Like it’s my fault they don’t have insurance."

  "They’re inner-city kids, Ruby," Jaccob reminded her. "Technically, it’s Prather’s fault they don’t have insurance."

  "Well then, let him pay for it," Ruby snarled. "The fact is we did this concert for free." She crossed back toward Jaccob, handed him a glass, and gestured for him to sit, sinking into the sofa herself and taking a generous sip from her drink. "I was only willing to do a free show because I knew we’d make it up. Between the publicity value and the sales of the single, I thought we’d at least break even. Now, because some fascist asshole or another decided to blow the thing up, I’m set to be out a cool eight and a half million dollars, give or take. All I can do is hope the Young Dudes comeback tour will make up the shortfall."