The participants had all scattered, terrified. Thomas Morton was clapped in chains, and the gods were rendered invisible. A real cluster-fuck that Marduk hadn’t been able to prevent. Enlil reminded him of that now.
“You never lost yourself to any carousing in Merrymount, and see where that got you.” He exhaled. “At least the rest of us enjoyed our time with bodies.” He quirked an eyebrow at Marduk. “But this time, it’s different, isn’t it? You have Tess to think about and a son on the way. You have to keep them safe, I understand. Just don’t hide from everything. From the joy of living.”
Enlil got to his feet and clapped Marduk on the back. “Let it go,” he suggested, speaking once again, Marduk knew, of their play with the models. “We had fun, and we’ll deal with whatever comes of it.”
He started to turn away, but clearly had one more thing to impart. “Listen, I still don’t trust Erra implicitly, but I think he’s head over heels for Ishtar-Dinitu and he’s not about to do anything to screw that up. Once we’re sure of him, and with both Nergal and Ereshkigal on our side now, I can’t help but think we’re pretty safe. So stop worrying.”
Marduk wished he could, but something wasn’t quite right. And that something tweaked his gut. He didn’t know what it was, but considered the possibilities as Enlil walked away.
The threat from the Underworld still ran strong. Erra had, just a few minutes before, contacted Kulla and relayed that he’d had another conversation with the fake “Nergal.” The imposter still tried to get the war god to go after Chosen. Whoever it was, they could be a formidable foe. It was obviously someone who had been working their way toward ridding themselves of the gods for a long time, and wouldn’t relinquish that path now, even with the possibility of being discovered.
Another, and more immediate threat, could be from one of the Chosen themselves. The girl, Gloria, or Glory as she called herself, made her living putting things out in the public eye. What if—once she was told of Enten’s god status—she couldn’t keep the news to herself, and plastered it all over the newspapers and magazines to which she contracted?
There weren’t many things a god could do these days to get in big trouble with the overgod―the one who ultimately ruled over everything above and below―but one of them would be to disclose their presence to humanity. Oh sure. A human here, a human there. That was just fine, as long as the mortal in question was a mate, or could keep their mouth shut.
Take, for instance, Tess’s family. There had never been any doubt in Marduk’s mind that the gods’ secrets would be safe with them. Lenore and her folks? The witches―now on premise―had classified information of their own, which made them ultimately safe. But what, really, did they know about Glory?
It had been several days since the photo shoot on the beach, and dammit, Enten needed to do some research.
Enten, could you join me on the back terrace? Marduk sent the call out, expecting he would be answered right away. He waited several minutes.
Enten, are you nearby? He received no response. Marduk cursed and reached out for Shamash.
Sham, connect me to the GTS. The Gods Transceiver Station was something the techno-gods had concocted from an old microwave and some parabolic reflectors, allowing the gods to transmit and receive brain communications much farther than their normal ten-mile range. I need to reach Enten. I imagine I know where he is.
Sure thing. Shamash laughed. And you imagine correctly. Last I saw him, he was in jeans and a T-shirt, and told me he’d be gone for the day. He looked blissful, if that’s even possible for Enten.
Enten was being careless. Marduk sighed. Patch me through.
Within minutes, he was connected and received Enten’s voice, loud and clear.
Sham says you’re looking for me. I’m in Northampton, boss. The god sounded downright chipper. I’m sitting across from Glory’s office at a coffee shop in full body, which is how I know she’s in there. Three hundred feet was the maximum separation before a god who was not yet mated could be solid.
Marduk tried to keep his voice even. I believe it’s unwise to be near her. The Underworld power who is currently against us, tracked Huxley and Dani. I’m afraid it will be even easier to find you. And if that power feels we’re concentrating on a certain area, he or she is bound to figure out it’s because of a Chosen.
You make sense. Enten’s voice laced with disappointment and Marduk felt the chill from a hundred and ten miles away. So what am I going to do? How am I supposed to contact her? I can’t use the phone if I’m away from her, because I won’t have a voice, he groused. And if I approach her, whatever evil might be lurking could descend on her immediately.
Marduk understood Enten’s despair, and immediately became concerned.
Enten’s tone became agitated. Shit, Marduk. I’m losing control. People are freaking out. Ice is crawling up the legs of their cafe tables, and their drinks are going frosty even though the ambient temperature is in the eighties. You’ve got me so fucking upset that I need to leave. Right now.
Marduk lost touch for a few seconds, and figured Enten walked purposely away from where Glory worked in order to disappear.
I’m on my way back, boss man. But I’m not happy.
Gods. He hated to cock-block the guy, but they had to go about this in a smarter fashion. Marduk had set a bad example by letting his inhibitions loose while on Rainsford Island, but it wouldn’t happen again.
Marduk picked up his phone and punched in Glory’s number. She had given it to him when Enten confessed to losing his phone. The cold god had assured her he’d use Marduk’s line to get in touch.
“Enten?”
Marduk could hear the excitement in Glory’s voice. He hated to burst her bubble, but he needed to do some serious damage control. “No. This is Marduk. I’m the owner of the phone, remember me?”
Glory clearly tried hard to hide her disappointment, but failed. “Of course I do. How’s your wife?”
Marduk chuckled. “Getting bigger every day and hating it.” He wouldn’t mention the swollen ankles. For some reason Tess didn’t find it amusing that he shared her pregnancy manifestations with the world. He remained fascinated, but used discretion, now. “I regret doing this to you, but I’ve thought it over, and you can’t use our pictures for your clients.”
“Oh…umm…” She hesitated.
Marduk groaned. This had to be bad. “What is it?”
“I’m really sorry, but you already signed the release forms and…”
Gods were not known for their patience. “You mean you won’t free us from those signatures?” Anger threatened to boil over, momentarily blinding him from being polite.
“Hey. What’s with you guys, anyway?” Glory obviously hated the tone he’d taken. “Why don’t you give me a chance to finish?”
Damn. Marduk didn’t want her to think they were all jerks. He took a deep breath and apologized. “Sorry, Glory.” If he weren’t so paranoid, he never would have jumped down her throat. “We’ve actually got a few…” What would sound good? He couldn’t say they had rogue gods after them. If he said bill collectors, Glory would think them indigent, which wouldn’t bode well for Enten’s chances with her. Enemies sounded too suspicious, like they were mob figures. He went with the next thing that popped into his head. “…ex-wives who would love to find us. It’s one of the reasons we do impromptu shows and you never see us advertised. We like to stay off the grid.”
“I absolutely get that,” Glory agreed, very readily it seemed. “And I don’t plan on holding you hostage with your forms, but I have bad news. We released a few pictures already to the Boston daily newspaper. They’ll be in tomorrow morning’s edition.”
Marduk groaned. “I don’t suppose we got lucky and our faces aren’t visible?”
Glory stayed silent for a moment. “Sorry. I’m the one who made the choices. There’s one of Anshar and one of Enten, and I’m afraid they’re both fully recognizable.” She paused, and when he didn’t comment, added, �
�I’m really, really sorry.”
Marduk counted to ten and gave his best effort at sounding cheerful. “I’m probably concerned for nothing,” he answered.
“If it’s any help, I promise if anyone calls to ask about the pictures, I won’t give them a single bit of information. As a matter of fact… Let me just get to my computer.” Her footsteps echoed as she moved position. “I’ll delete anything about you off the hard drive and destroy your paperwork. Hang on for just a few minutes.”
Marduk could hear her clicking away.
“I’m isolating all the pictures that include you… Uh, Marduk?” He could almost picture Glory biting her lower lip. “Would it do any harm if I save one?” she asked, with a sheepish tone in her voice. “It’s of me and Enten coming up out of the water. I’ll put it in a separate file,” she told him quickly.
“I don’t see any problem with that, Glory.” Marduk wasn’t a total dick, and it made him happy that Glory thought of Enten in such a positive light.
“Thanks.” Click. “Done. I’ve wiped everything clean,” she told him.
“Thank you, Glory. One other thing.” He didn’t want to interfere with the budding relationship between her and Enten, but knew his god would be pissed at having been recalled from Northampton. He had to help him out the best he could. “Enten is on personal business for a day or two, but told me he’ll call you as soon as he gets back.”
“That’s great. I mean…thank you. You can tell him I look forward to hearing from him.”
Marduk chuckled as he said goodbye. He could tell she really meant it.
It wasn’t long before Marduk felt Enten’s presence back at the T-Taj. They all needed to meet and figure out how they would proceed with Glory from here. It would set the tone for the way they’d deal with all of their future mate searches.
Gods. Come to the meeting room. Five minutes. And Dagon? That means you too. It was no secret Dagon hated the whole meeting thing. He always thought the group should function as a dictatorship, not a democracy. Of course, in the old days, he had wanted to be the dictator.
Sure thing, El Presidente. Marduk realized Dagon hoped to rile him up. He would instigate a sparring session with Dagon very soon to take some of the stuffing out of the god. It would be quite pleasurable.
Seven minutes later, Marduk looked around the room. “I see we’re all here.” Twelve gods―besides himself―three goddesses, two witches, and two humans crowded around, waiting to hear what was on his mind, which off the top of his head was, “I knew it. We’re going to have to build a bigger meeting room.”
Dagon groaned. “Just kill me now.”
“It would give me great pleasure,” Absu was quick to retort, with a few of the others mentioning some things they’d gladly do to contribute to Dagon’s demise.
“It’s nice to know I’m loved,” he returned, forked tongue in cheek.
Marduk took charge before things broke down into pissing contests.
“I think we all know that, thanks to Absu,” He made sure to give the proper male his due. “Enten has been acquainted with his future Chosen.” Nods came from every quadrant.
“But we have a problem. Erra let me know that whoever is behind the bad shit coming from the Underworld…they’re still at it.” Growls erupted all around. “That means if Enten meets Glory outside of the compound, his god signature can be located and she will be in danger.” Concern in the room was palpable.
“On the other hand, he needs to spend time with her and get to know her, so we can see if she can be trusted to be brought into the safety of our compound.” Marduk held up his hand to forestall Enten, who looked ready to blow.
“I know she’s yours, so you automatically trust her, but her work derives from putting things out in front of the public. We can’t have her using us as a means to advance her career.” Marduk didn’t really believe Glory was like that, especially after his conversation with her earlier, but he would take no chances.
“With our other Chosen—Tess, Lenore, and Holly—we got thrust into things fast. Unless we had intervened, they could have been seriously harmed, so we didn’t have time to be careful.” He looped his arm over the shoulder of his Chosen.
“With Glory, we have a chance to take things slowly and make it work without putting anyone in danger. We just need to figure out how to do that.”
Marduk could see Lenore’s mind churning. She had always been in charge of strategic matters when she’d headed up the PP—or Pilgrim Posse, as the faction in Plymouth had been fondly termed—before mating with Anshar and changing sides, and it would put her in good stead now.
“Divide and conquer,” she said to the room at large.
“Excuse me?” Marduk was unsure of what Lenore meant.
“Divide and conquer,” she stated once again. “Aren’t you familiar with Philip II of Macedonia?”
“A pleasant chap.” Absu piped up. “Highly educated, but a constant source of irritation to the Greeks, especially the Athenians.” He sniffed.
“Yeah, that’s the guy. Anyway, we can take a page from his book. I know for a fact that, without Erra on their side, the PP has to be following Matthew’s orders.”
Loud boos filled the air.
“I know, I know…and Matthew is being led by whoever is pulling the strings from the Underworld.” No one could disagree.
“With the manpower at his disposal, even with the fact there’s probably at least a very small faction of gods involved, the bad guys can’t be everywhere at once. So here’s what I suggest. All of us with god energy signatures become highly visible, put ourselves smack dab onto the Underworld’s radar, and take western Massachusetts by storm.”
Dagon agreed almost immediately. “Smart girl. We all put out our god energy and let whoever is running the show point Matthew and his minions in sixteen different directions. It could take them weeks to find out what all of us are up to, especially if all of us, including the invisible gods, interact with plenty of humans.”
“That’s all well and fine,” Lahar put in his two cents worth. “But Enten and I will be noticeably solid, where we weren’t before. That makes us the most suspect if we’re found.”
Ishkur, who was always good with logistical problems put in his thoughts. “Where’s the collar that was brought to the Underworld?” The item in question could be put on anyone, including a god, and they had to obey orders given while wearing it.
“I think Ereshkigal still has it.” Interjected Holly. “Why?”
“We’re going to try it out on Enlil,” Ishkur stated. “He still has to be visible while he’s within a hundred yards of Huxley, Tess, or Holly. If we can order his body to stay invisible around them, we’ll know it will work for Enten and Lahar. They can follow Glory around without being corporeal.”
Marduk could see Enten about to speak up, not to be denied some face-to-face time with his lady love, but Lenore interrupted before he could protest. “You could do the embodied thing at will…sporadically,” she assured him. “If you get with her for dates, out of the public eye, the PP can’t find you that fast. That shouldn’t do any harm. Right?”
She looked at Marduk, and he nodded his assent. Enten looked appeased, at least for the moment. They’d hammer out the nuances later, but it seemed like a pretty good plan. He sent Tess off to contact Ereshkigal about the collar—she’d been given special, pregnant-lady privileges, with a direct line to the queen—and beckoned everybody else to troop down to the computer room to look over Shamash’s shoulder. They were all anxious to see where they would hang out while vacationing in the happy valley.
Marduk kept an eye on Enten, who stood in a deep contemplative thaw. It was pretty apparent where the winter god wanted to be.
Chapter Eight
Emesh knew Glory was running late for something. She glanced at her watch for the fifth time in the last few minutes. He was quite amused as his brother’s intended muttered to herself.
“Dammit. I hate when this happens. I ho
pe the Bolognese doesn’t sit too long before I pick it up.”
Yum. Bolognese. Emesh hadn’t had the delectable dish in millennium. He wondered where she took the food on a Tuesday night.
“It’ll be just my luck we’ll miss the beginning of that talent contest on TV.”
Now Emesh was intrigued. Glory had just mentioned one of his favorite shows.
She grabbed her laptop, finally able to leave her busy office, and he followed as she walked briskly to a restaurant called Spoleto. She walked in like she owned the place, got a thumbs-up from the hostess, and headed straight for the waitress station near the kitchen. Glory dug money from her purse, and with a smile, exchanged dollars for to-go boxes. With a wave, she headed out the door and walked briskly toward the parking garage.
Emesh grinned over his assignment. It had been several days since the gods’ meeting, and true to Lenore’s master plan, they scrambled things up, taking turns watching Glory as well as following other decoy humans in and out of stores, homes, and businesses, doing their best to confuse the unknown and unseen enemy.
Enten was currently assigned, invisible, to a twenty-something aerobics instructor who hated her job trying to motivate teens at a camp for overweight youth. He’d told Emesh that the unfeeling bitch frustrated him out of his mind. He wanted to be with Glory, but Tess had been unable to locate Ereshkigal and ask for the collar that would―perhaps―keep Enten incorporeal around her. And Marduk had his cold brother holding off on the inevitable courting ritual until he figured out if she could be trusted.
The winter god had reluctantly agreed to his post, but only if goddesses, married gods, and Emesh were the ones to follow Glory. The rest of his brothers―horny bastards―he feared, might take advantage. He took no chances that they would find an excuse to follow her into the shower, or acquire all of her undergarments as a joke.
Emesh, following Glory into her car, had first watch on his future sister-in-law. He settled in for the ride.
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