Parallel Process

by Barbara Sheridan

  “Could’ve been luck.” He dropped his backpack off his shoulder. “Or maybe not.” Haku insisted this run-in with the demon was pure coincidence, but Matt’s gut feeling said otherwise. Something was going on, and it started here in this lot.

  Matt pulled out the goggles he’d “borrowed” from Professor Adler and fitted them on, tightening the straps at the back of his head. Damn, they were heavy and dark; the lenses were tinted black on the inside like old-school welding helmets. After flipping a couple of the switches at his right temple, the battery pack resting on top of the lenses charged up. The equipment hummed to life and the lenses turned on.

  Everything was tinted in shades of blue, but it was easy to make out shapes, even if the details were a little blurry. But Adler was nearsighted, so maybe…Matt focused on the legs of a partially melted tripod and fiddled with the lenses. He was able to rotate them clockwise and counter clockwise until the legs suddenly came into focus.

  “Cool.” Matt grinned. He carefully looked over the scorched patch of cement, searching for anything unusual. When nothing stood out against the blackness, he flicked on some different switches. Finally, he hit a setting where the glow in the lenses turned purple, and bright neon blue claw prints showed up amidst the burns.

  Excited, Matt started back-tracking the prints. The marks vanished from the ground and reappeared on the station’s wall in the exact area where the demon had moved along the side of the building. Matt followed the trail to the second trailer where Elaine had tried to hide. He moved around behind the parked vehicle.

  The tracks led to the rim of an uncovered steam vent wide enough for a man to fit through. Matt peered over the edge. More of the blue claw prints continued into the service tunnel some eight feet down. Dropping his backpack down ahead of him, Matt climbed in and ignored the warning voice in his head, which sounded a lot like Haku.

  Why are you going into a dark, enclosed tunnel where you don’t know what the hell is waiting for you?

  “It’s for science.” Matt skipped the last few rungs on the rusty ladder and hopped down to the damp floor. “And for love,” he added softly. Whatever was going on with Haku, Matt was almost positive it had to do with this somehow. Again, there was no evidence for that other than a strong feeling that linked this all together ‑‑ and that feeling was only getting stronger the more he investigated.

  The lenses did a good enough job of illuminating the passageway, thanks to their origin as night vision goggles. Around Matt, the walls were concave violet blobs and those neon blue claw prints led straight down the tunnel. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, Matt moved quickly along the path. He splashed into a few puddles of stale-smelling water, crinkling his nose at the musty odor.

  But another, more pleasant scent overpowered the mildew the further Matt moved on. It took him a while to recognize the floral, woodsy fragrance. He stopped in mid-step before rounding a bend in the tunnel. “Sandalwood,” he whispered. The same scent Haku had mentioned earlier in the office.

  Matt charged around the corner.

  And smacked face first into a wall.

  With an “oof,” Matt landed on his ass. Jostled in the blow, the goggles flickered off. “No, dammit,” he cursed and smacked the side of the equipment. It gave a discouraging whine as the batteries powered down. Swearing some more, Matt tugged the dead goggles off and blindly groped around in his backpack until he found a pocket-sized flashlight.

  Turning the narrow beam over to the wall, Matt sucked in his breath. Symbols were drawn all over the moldy bricks in stark white, fresh chalk. Matt squinted at the marks, unable to read them, but recognizing the swirling script as Devanagari. And Haku probably thought Matt never paid attention to the menu at the Indian buffet near campus. Ha!

  But Matt’s moment of self-satisfaction didn’t last long. As he held the flashlight between his teeth and riffled through his bag for a pencil and paper to write as many of the symbols down as he could, a rumble started from behind the wall. Bits of mortar and dust tumbled from the ceiling, and the ground trembled.

  A loud crack echoed in the tunnel as the wall in front of Matt split open. Blinding white light pierced the darkness before a form filled the fissure. Matt caught a flash of sharp claws and fangs as another demon leapt out straight at him. He braced himself for the blow that never came. The creature darted around him at the last moment and raced up the tunnel. As quickly as it happened, the walls stopped shaking and the crack closed itself up with no sign of damage.

  “What the hell?” Matt blinked, still trying to get used to the sudden darkness again. Why hadn’t that thing come after him this time? Maybe it had never been after him in the first place.

  “Shit!” Matt grabbed his bag and ran after the demon. He had a very, very bad feeling he already knew where that thing was headed.

  * * * * *

  The sound of Haku’s sneakers squeaking on the polished tile floors pierced the silence in the gallery. From overhead, the track lighting cast a muted glow on pedestals and display shelves arranged throughout the room. During the year, this posh wing of the administration building housed student art shows and cultural exhibits. Receptions were held for school officials and invited guests on the opening nights for some of the shows. The gallery was also open to students daily until late in the evening, not that very many took advantage of the opportunity to soak in the culture.

  Haku was alone in the gallery as he maneuvered around the different displays. The current exhibit focused on the contributions made by alumni in their respective fields. He paused in front of a collage sandwiched between two vertical pieces of Plexiglas that hung from the ceiling on two silver wires. The photos showed the faculty advisors from the Psychology department holding therapy sessions that looked like a cross between group therapy and Pilates. In the blurb next to the collage, their clinical approach was described with words like “revolutionary” and “cutting-edge.”

  He sighed. “No chance in hell is our program getting this kind of recognition.” The fine hairs on his arms stood on end as soon as the words slipped out. Another presence filled the room, though Haku was sure he hadn’t heard any footsteps at the entrance behind him.

  Glancing over his shoulder, he saw no one. So when he felt the silky and shockingly hot caress of lips on his neck, Haku spun around, startled. He lurched backward against the heavy Plexiglas, heart pounding against his ribcage with more than surprise. The man who’d kissed him laughed so softly, the power that rich sound possessed over his body surprised Haku. He shivered, and the quickening of his pulse now was due to something other than surprise.

  “Maaya.” Haku suppressed another shiver.

  The man smiled. Something about the way he allowed his lips to part and lowered his eyelashes made the expression completely sexual. Haku looked away, working hard to keep his breathing even. He desperately tried to come up with an austere comment or a sharp question ‑‑ anything to prove to himself and show Maaya that there was no strange attraction between them. In a far less commanding voice than he’d hoped for, Haku squeaked out the first dumb thing that came to mind. “Did you sign the guestbook at the front?”

  Ignoring the question, Maaya silently moved forward. He brushed against Haku’s body before continuing on through the gallery. The heat that flowed between them from that slight touch sent another jolt through Haku. He whipped around and followed Maaya.

  “What are you doing here?” Haku asked. “Why?”

  “Did you know they gave him the entire back wall?” Maaya arched a sculpted brow at Haku. He stopped and gestured at the elaborate displays set up at the end of the gallery. Shadow boxes with pieces of broken pottery were fixed on Venetian plaster, and more pedestals with spotlights featured other artifacts. A stone and plaster bench was set up on a platform and roped off, the decorations on the legs worn with time, but nonetheless elaborate.

  Maaya stepped over the ropes and reclined on the bench, resting his elbow on one of the high, curved ends. He raise
d an eyebrow at Haku, as if inviting some kind of challenge or question. Probably so he could reply with another in return. Haku refused to be baited. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy to deny the pulsing between his legs.

  “So you’re here to see Dannings’s archeological finds?” He pretended to be fascinated with the speckles of dust on the platform’s red carpeting.

  Finally, Maaya spoke up. “This was a bed, designed with the more adventurous of couples in mind.” He rounded each vowel with a tone drenched in sensuality, making his unspoken invitation from a moment before much clearer.

  “It looks uncomfortable.” Haku swallowed. “Very hard.”

  “That’s usually a desirable quality.” Maaya licked his lips, and Haku’s knees almost gave out. He gripped one of the pedestals for support and almost knocked over the glass case on top. Muttering every curse word he knew in English and Japanese, Haku clutched the case and secured it again.

  “Oh. You meant the bed,” Maaya mused, fingering the open collar of his white linen shirt. Haku tried to remember if the top four buttons had been open before, when Maaya had first appeared. He gave up when he realized how much of his attention was drawn to the lean, chiseled muscles of Maaya’s chest and upper abdomen.

  “Look, I’m trying to find information and you’re not doing anything to help,” Haku said shakily.

  “That’s fair.” Maaya lowered his stare.

  Haku blinked, wondering if he’d heard right. “Excuse me?”

  “What would you like to know?” Maaya’s gaze flickered up, eyes glittering in the dim lighting.

  “The ink that Dannings found,” Haku said after a moment. “He was obsessed with it or something. Tell me about it.”

  The request clearly agitated Maaya. He pursed his lips and drummed his fingers on the edge of the bed. “Well, it’s not ink at all. It’s my blood.”

  Haku stared silently as the words sunk in, and he tried to ignore the steady throb in his groin as Maaya smirked.

  “You realize, of course, that if you keep standing there with your mouth hanging open I may not be able to contain the urge to fill it,” he said slowly, his right hand languidly trailing down his hip then dipping to brush across the risen fabric of his crisply pleated black slacks. “You know you want to. Why deny yourself the pleasure?”

  Haku swallowed hard and ignored the weird tug that damn near compelled him to cross over that velvet rope and become Maaya’s sex slave. “You’re trying to change the subject. Why is your blood in an ink bottle that belonged to Alexander the Great?”

  Maaya’s smirk turned to a scowl, and he sat up, his back rigid, his mesmerizing eyes frightening in their intensity. “Alexander was far from ‘great’ in many senses of the word.”

  The lights in the gallery dimmed and the temperature in the room dropped with a sudden chill. Maaya continued in a low voice, but the floors and walls seemed to vibrate with an unseen power. “His skills against human opponents notwithstanding, the man overstepped his abilities when he tried to venture into my home. Unsatisfied with taming the Persians, he moved further east. The most powerful army from the Indian tribes could not stop him, not with their greater numbers or giant beasts of war.”

  “Elephants?” Haku guessed.

  Maaya nodded. “Alexander’s men had never seen anything like those creatures before, and I understand a few ran from the scene because of it. Kudos to the rest who stayed for their bravery, and for their proficiency as soldiers. They won that battle.

  “As Alexander prepared to venture further into the land, a priestess arrived at my temple in Beas and pleaded her cause. Of course I had to help; Divya was a very devoted and lovely worshipper. Very persuasive. She gave me her service in exchange for an army strong enough to bring the Macedonians to their knees.”

  An uncomfortable feeling too close to jealousy for Haku’s comfort washed over him. He could imagine what that service had entailed. His expression must have soured enough for Maaya to notice; he gave Haku a bemused smile before quickly becoming serious again.

  “I gave her a key to hell.” Maaya stood. “Placed it within her right eye, gave her the power to see the demons I have locked within the bowels of the earth. And I also gave her my blood in a glass vial so she could summon and control these creatures. Any commands she wrote with that ‘ink’ were followed without question. When Alexander arrived at the Ganges, he didn’t face the tribes of fierce warriors history claims. He was greeted by a legion of demons no mortal man could match in combat.”

  “They ran,” Haku said.

  “First they pissed their pants.” Maaya arched a brow. “Then they ran.”

  “What happened after that?” Haku rubbed his face with both hands, trying to make sense of everything.

  “Divya…sort-of-died.” Maaya ran the words together.

  A burst of dry laughter escaped Haku. “Sort of?”

  “It wasn’t pretty.” Maaya pursed his lips. “Sometimes humans can change into another state of existence. There are creatures you would call vampires, for example, which were human once. That wasn’t the case with Divya. The key desiccated her body from the inside out within hours. She was nothing but an elegantly dressed corpse when I returned to the temple and found her petrified in her chamber. So it surprised the shit out of me when I tried to remove the key from her eye and she bit my arm.”

  “I can imagine.” Haku swallowed.

  “A fragment of her soul remained in that body, a very protective and bitchy fragment, I might add, and there was enough of my power within her to keep her animated. Rather than fight her for the key, I made Divya a guardian over it. Together with what remained of the blood, I locked her away and sent Alexander the scrolls she’d written as a gift. At the time, I thought it was funny. Then more than two thousand years later, Dannings discovers those papers, hunts down her tomb, and finds a sneaky-ass way to have all the artifacts brought to this country so he can steal them!”

  Stepping over the ropes, he moved toward another display. He knocked the glass case to shatter on the floor and held up a palm-sized wooden box, still intact, despite its obvious age. Maaya opened the lid and revealed the empty inside. “The vial is missing.”

  He tossed the box aside and turned on his heel. Spreading his arms open to indicate another roped-off platform against the wall that Haku had been too distracted to notice, Maaya hissed. “And so is her corpse.”

  The sarcophagus was made of stone, with carvings of people and animals etched into the pockmarked and weathered surface. Haku was no archeologist, but the design certainly didn’t look very East Indian. Maaya brushed off the observation. “I borrowed from the Syrians. Do you realize how hard it is to contain a Fury? You can’t just stick one in the ground and call it day.”

  “You sure she’s not in there?” Haku asked weakly.

  Maaya gave him a dark look. “Yes, I am.”

  “But nothing makes sense.” Haku came up beside him. “Why would Dannings do any of this?” The man was an asshole, but once the university officials got wind that artifacts on loan from the museum in Beas were missing, his career could be over from the scandal alone.

  “I don’t know and don’t give a damn.” Maaya narrowed his eyes, the gold flecks within those hazel depths flashing. “I just want everything back before he fucks things up.”

  “The demon we fought last night.” Haku clenched his jaw.

  “One locked beneath that transfer station for some time,” Maaya confirmed. “Only she could’ve released it. Dannings is manipulating Divya.”

  Haku folded his arms across his chest. “That demon is dead, at least.”

  “About that…” Maaya tapped his chin. “I don’t think you or your friend were the true targets of the attack, otherwise the demon wouldn’t have succumbed so easily.”

  That verified one of Haku’s worst suspicions. “Shit,” he cursed.

  “But that was a beautiful kill, regardless.” Maaya turned an appraising look toward him. His tone softened into a s
eductive purr. “A fierce warrior lurks within your soul, Haku. One I wish to claim badly.”

  Damn that voice. After everything he’d heard, Haku realized he had one hell of an amazing encounter with a supernatural being to document. But that didn’t stop his thoughts from drifting back to how much he wanted Maaya’s cock in his mouth. A strangled whimper slipped out of him.

  Maaya took a slow step closer. A wave of heat passed over Haku’s cheeks as his face flushed. He took a deep breath to calm down, but the fragrance of sandalwood that washed over his senses intensified his arousal.

  “I can’t talk to you when you’re distracted like this,” Maaya drawled. He traced a fingertip over Haku’s cheek and down his throat. “Stop torturing yourself and surrender to those desires.”

  Letting his arms hang down at his sides, Haku backed away. He eyed Maaya evenly. “The only curiosity I want sated is in regard to the information I need to figure out how to deal with this situation. Then you can leave.”

  “You’re stronger in character than most men are, Haku.” Maaya frowned, but the expression seemed more thoughtful than angry. “I see. We’ll just have to continue playing these games until you come to terms with this relationship.”

  “There isn’t any relationship.” Haku’s pulse quickened.

  “Perhaps not with me in this form.” A smile played on Maaya’s lips and he diverted his gaze toward the front of the darkened gallery. Past the various displays, Haku saw a glint of reflected light as the glass door opened and a man entered.

  “Haku, you in here?” Matt called out. As he made his way through the maze of displays, he sounded rushed, anxious. “I called Adler, and he said you came this way. There’s something seriously bad happening.”

  Haku’s breath hitched in his throat. He whipped around and grabbed Maaya by the front of his shirt. “Don’t you dare,” he said, his voice shaking. “Leave him alone, damn you!”

  Somehow, Maaya slipped through Haku’s grasp without raising a finger or jerking away. The muscles in his shoulders and chest glided beneath his clothing as he stepped back, the motion fluid in its grace. He moved to the other side of the ancient bed and leaned against an empty spot on the wall, partially obscured in the dim lighting. Maaya’s lips moved, but it was Matt’s voice whispering in Haku’s ear.