by LJ Vickery
“Yes, I know.” He held up his hands in surrender. “We’ve had friends in the past who have undergone the ceremony, so we knew it was possible. It’s just that…none of us ever thought it would happen.”
“Okay. Fine. I’m sorry I went off on you.” Dani-Lee didn’t look very sorry. She was obviously trying to calm down. “Tell me how I’m supposed to know the right way to take this thing out of you, and how I’ll put it into Tess.”
“You will not be operating on me,” Marduk informed her. “Enlil will act as my best man, which is, believe it or not, what we call it.” Marduk caught her raised brow. “You will watch the ceremony preformed so you will see just how the amulet is oriented within me, and you will place it in Tess in just the same way.”
The doctor looked intrigued. Marduk knew it wasn’t every day that a human got to oversee an immortal procedure.
Marduk continued, “As soon as the amulet is placed successfully in Tess, there’s a short time where we wait and see if it takes. If it does, she will begin to heal instantly from her wounds.” Marduk was not stupid. He reminded the doctor of Tess’s chances to regain use of her legs with conventional surgery. “She will heal completely, unlike what you will be able to do for her at a hospital.”
Dani-Lee glanced down at her watch. “Well, we’re running out of time. I’ll keep track of her vitals and, if it looks like things are deteriorating, I’m calling it, amulet or not, and she goes to the hospital. Agreed?” Marduk let out a breath.
“Agreed.” Marduk turned and left, reluctantly. He’d heard raised voices in the room next door.
He looked in and saw Enlil and Huxley, arguing with the captive female. Lenore had long since regained consciousness and, although she had a line of stitches ten inches long on her left arm, she was intent on leaving.
“Who’s in charge here?” Her green eyes flashed. “You can’t make me stay. I need to go!” The fury came off of her in waves. She was trying, albeit angrily, to assure the pair that she was furious at Dagon for lying to her. She insisted she hadn’t known that he’d meant to harm Tess. She sat on the edge of a bed and looked steady for the first time since they’d brought her in.
Marduk, before gluing himself to Tess’s bedside, had decreed that Lenore would stay their prisoner. It seemed Huxley was all about letting her go.
“She protected Tess from Dagon,” Hux reminded Marduk when he appeared in the doorway.
“And need I remind you that she works for Dagon?” Marduk was cutting the woman no slack. She might be a good bargaining chip. Perhaps a trade for that asshole, Matthew, would be appropriate.
“Fuck you, buddy!” Lenore rose from the bed and trounced forward on three inch heels. Who wore heals for rendezvous in the woods? She actually poked him in the chest. “There’s no way you’re keeping me here, so go screw yourself!” She examined him like a giant bug under a microscope.
Marduk was not used to being confronted by someone as insignificant as this rabid, pint-size woman, and caught Enlil’s amusement at her temerity. He growled at her.
She remained unintimidated. Fine, he’d mess with her brain another way.
“So you think your boss is the one to trust? Do you remember Enlil turning into his bull form?” He got a crisp nod from her before he continued. “If you think that was pretty, sweetheart, wait until you see Dagon go off. His alternate self is a sight to warm anyone’s heart.” He smirked at her suddenly hesitant expression.
“He can do that, too?” Lenore’s voice sounded unsure.
“I can tell there’s a lot of things old Dagon hasn’t shared with you. Like, how about we’re the good guys?” Enlil spoke and caused a flush to spread across her cheeks.
“That remains to be seen.” She recovered nicely. “I have questions for him when I return, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to keep me.”
Let her go, said an excited voice from the doorway.
The four looked up. Shamash wasn’t messing around.
Lahar just texted. Anshar is just having the…uh…instrument finished. He wasn’t going to say “knife” in front of Lenore. They’ll be here in half an hour, and the ceremony will be immediate. Quickly! We have things to do.
Marduk knew Shamash was right. Now was not the time to be thinking of prisoners. He was still reluctant to let Lenore go, but he didn’t want her anywhere on site when the amulet ceremony was taking place. Better to have her far away. Now that they knew who she was, they could deal with her another time. She was just a pesky human female.
Huxley had been filled in on all the details, and wasn’t going to be allowed to attend the gods half of the ceremony. Immortals only, was Marduk’s thought, making an exception for the doctor.
“Take the woman to a taxi so she can get home. Then come back and sit with Tess while we take care of business.” His mouth turned grim. This was one gathering Huxley should be happy he was going to miss.
Lenore swept by the men and out of the room with all the dignity she could muster, given the situation. The gods took one last look at her plump little ass as she turned the corner. Marduk shook his head. It was too bad for Enlil that she was so ill tempered. Women who knew about the gods were not exactly falling out of the trees.
“Enlil.” Marduk stopped him, giving Huxley time to leave the room. “I haven’t asked you yet, I haven’t had time.” He hesitated, unsure of himself. “I, uh, was wondering if you would stand up with me?”
“Crap! Me?” Enlil seemed dumbfounded. “You want me to be the one to…” He hesitated. Marduk knew how he felt. The thunder god’s hand actually shook where it rested on Enlil’s arm. It was a sucky position to put anyone in, but Marduk put all his emotions up front for Enlil to see. For the first time in hundreds of years, he was letting the wind god know how much he trusted him. “Please.”
Enlil gulped convulsively. “Yeah. Sure I will.” Marduk knew he was scared shitless. The feeling was mutual.
Each god went to his own room to prepare. Ceremonial clothing was removed from chests where it had been hidden for centuries. Each god had, over the years, acquired their own finery from where it had lain in museums, tombs, and private collections. These garments belonged to them alone, and no laws governed the immortals’ consciences as they’d procured it. Now it would finally be put to use.
Solid gold torques and armbands, loincloths woven with priceless jewels, these were the trappings of gods, and all were donned with great reverence. Marduk alone would be dressed plainly with a simple linen cloth draped around his hips. He would go barefoot. His lack of attire symbolized that the value of the amulet surpassed all he owned, and his willingness to share it was the ultimate sacrifice.
The twelve gods gathered in the meeting room after Anshar and the others returned successfully. The hardened osmium blade was entrusted to Enlil, who tucked it carefully into a highly decorated scabbard.
Marduk knew that when Hux poked his head into the room to let them know that Lenore was gone, the freaky guys he had come to know had been replaced by foreign, god-like creatures. This transformation would be even more astounding to the human than when Marduk had become large or when Enlil sprouted horns. Marduk watched Hux shake his head, incredulously, and leave to replace the doctor at Tess’s bedside.
Dani-Lee would give Huxley his orders. He would know what to watch for as he paid strict attention to his pale sister, lying on the bed. The doctor knew her job. She’d have Hux call her if there was any change.
The gods waited for Dani-Lee to come down the stairs and into the meeting room. Her reaction, when she entered, was equivalent of Huxley’s, even though Marduk knew she only saw him and Enlil.
She was clearly bowled over by their regal bearing and attire. Wow, was the word written across her face. Enlil was sporting more gold than the doctor could afford in twenty lifetimes, but Marduk was sure that wasn’t what held her attention. No, it was the way they carried themselves. Marduk recognized it in himself and his men. It was something other-worldly; something old�
�very old. Marduk waited until all the gods had left the room then, gesturing to the spot behind Enlil, Dani preceded him to the elevator.
Far below the compound, past even the dungeons, the gods had carved out a special room that they used for religious ceremonies. Having emerged in the subterranean level and down several long corridors, they filed in now, lighting candles and incense, each chanting words from a language long lost. Ancient weapons and artifacts filled the room with walls covered in intricate pictorial writings. A scribed pathway in the floor led to an altar slab, which the gods lifted to an upright position.
Marduk nodded his head at his brothers and walked forward, turning so that his back came flush up against the stone. He reached out his hands, one to each side at shoulder height, and grasped metal spikes that had been driven into the block. He had seen this done many times before, in the old world, before his banishment. They all had, and knew what to expect. Enlil moved forward and reverently placed a knotted strip of leather between Marduk’s teeth, then beckoned for Dani to come forward.
Her slight footsteps made no sound as she approached. Marduk set his face with resolve and readied himself. It was inappropriate to speak, but the doctor didn’t know that.
She whispered to Enlil, “Why is there no anesthetic?”
He answered, voice also low. “Gods our size require great amounts to render us senseless. Unfortunately, it is absorbed into the amulet and can kill the much smaller and more vulnerable recipient. We take no chances with our Chosen even if it means pain.”
Marduk gestured with his head. Talking should cease. It was time to get the ordeal underway. His limbs were already taut with anticipation.
“You have the box ready?” Enlil asked the doctor.
Dani produced the small, sterilized cooler that had been gripped at her side.
“Good,” he breathed, raising his knife into position. He began to chant.
The rest of the brothers joined in, and the vibration of many voices flowed up through Marduk’s body.
He didn’t flinch as the first incision was made, and didn’t move as the next cuts were scored and the flaps of skin were peeled back. Sweat beaded up on his face. His jaw clenched as the next layers of fat and muscle were cut loose, and his tense limbs couldn’t help but quake. That’s when he began to glow.
Professional curiosity seemed to win out over ceremony, and Dani leaned forward to peer into the cavity. Blood ran freely down Marduk’s chest, but the amulet was easily discernible. Remembering the ceremonies from ages ago, Marduk knew it was the most beautiful thing the doctor had ever seen.
She stilled Enlil’s hand as he raised the knife back into position. She obviously needed to look, to feel, and to see. The good doctor took neoprene gloves from her pocket and snapped them on. A small flashlight from the other pocket illuminated the site, and she probed, as gently as possible, to see how the talisman was positioned.
Marduk’s flinch must have brought her back to the understanding that this was no cadaver or unresponsive patient she was palpating. This was living, breathing, aware tissue under her fingers. She memorized it all with one more quick look and then backed away.
Enlil’s knife went deep. The chords in Marduk’s neck stood out, ready to snap. The breaths he was taking through his nose were short and fierce, and his body began to expand. Thunder ripped through the room.
Enlil didn’t miss a beat. He carved, he cut and, just when Marduk thought that he could take no more, Enlil beckoned the doctor forward. He pointed to the right half of the now severed amulet with the tip of the knife. Marduk nearly bit through the leather between his teeth as her gloved fingers reached in and scooped out the loosened half.
She wasted no time seeing what more would occur in the basement lair. Depositing her prize in the cooler, she bolted away to the room where Tess waited, unaware.
****
“She hasn’t woken up,” Huxley spoke to the doctor in hushed tones.
“And she won’t for a while.” Dani-Lee administered another dose of something into Tess’s IV. “I hope you’re okay with this.” She eyeballed Huxley and didn’t relish having a six-foot-something dead weight in the room.
“Not a problem,” Hux shot back. The doctor took him at his word.
“Antiseptic,” she said, holding her hand out across Tess’s inert form, just like in the movies. Hux handed it to her without missing a beat, and she saw that he cringed very little as she slathered on the orange liquid, then used the scalpel to slice into his sister. Slow and steady. Dani was good at this. She hoped it would save Tess’s life.
Back in the basement, Marduk’s brothers lowered the slab so that he now lay prone, waiting to regenerate. The incision needed to stay open until the amulet grew a phantom half to replace the part taken. When this occurred, Marduk and the gods would know that the piece removed had been successfully implanted.
They watched and waited. Marduk, although not in as much physical pain, suffered tremendously, chanting words of prayer and making promises to gods long unseen, unsure if the procedure would work. If it didn’t, he would falter and die, which was how he would want it rather than face a world without Tess.
Minutes ticked by. Several of the gods, unable to remain still any longer, began ghosting back and forth between the two rooms, checking on progress and reporting back.
“It looks like it’s in.” Enten’s voice was triumphant, appearing beside the altar. His words were not needed. They all stared in wonder when Marduk’s amulet began to pulse with new life, a glowing and ghosted half nestling and entwining firmly into place.
A cheer arose from the group, and Marduk’s chest began to heal immediately. He pushed himself to sit, then rose shakily to his feet. Hands shot out to help him stand. They knew where he had to go. He didn’t stumble as his feet pounded down the long hallway to the elevator.
Marduk entered Tess’s room. He sat quietly by her bedside, waiting for his Chosen to awaken. Dr. Dani-Lee, who had tactfully left the room, said it wouldn’t be long. Marduk had the bucket ready in case Tess had her customary reaction to the anesthetic.
Her eyelids fluttered open. Marduk’s chest expanded with a love greater than anything he’d thought possible. This was his Chosen. His other half. Tess was now truly his, as he was hers.
Marduk reached down and stroked her hair as she came to awareness. They would be together forever.
“Did it work,” Tess asked as soon as she could get her tongue to function. That she was so instantly aware of what they’d done, spoke for the connection that they now shared.
The god placed his hand over the spot on her shoulder where her amulet now resided, and the skin had rapidly healed. He didn’t have to answer. He thought it in his head, and saw Tess smile.
“How do you feel?” he asked, then paused, testing and sensing. He realized his question was rhetorical. He knew exactly how she felt. “You don’t need to throw up!”
Tess looked around, moved her head, blinked her eyes, and looked pretty satisfied. “I don’t.” She didn’t even seem groggy. “How did you know?”
“Now that you are my mate, I feel what you feel.”
She got that impish look in her eyes that Marduk so enjoyed.
“Do you think not throwing up is my new godly super-power?”
Marduk laughed and bent to hug her, then watched as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed to meet his embrace. She gasped, momentarily stunned.
“It worked,” she whispered, barely able to believe it. “It really worked! I can move my legs.” She started to cry.
“Hush, my love.” Marduk’s eyes began to water, too. Relieved, but not quite as surprised as Tess that she had healed completely. “Remember how I told you we’d feel things from each other? Well,” he sniffed, “our friends are going to get the wrong idea if they see me crying.”
Tess giggled and wiped her damp nose on his chest. She looked down. He was wearing nothing but a skimpy little cloth across his groin.
> He watched her reach down with a questing hand, exploring beneath the material. Mmm. Marduk shuddered in delight. From now on, he could see wearing loincloths around the house, and going gloriously commando!
“So I should be able to feel this…in more ways than one?” she said cheekily, and wrapped her hand around a warm, solid cock.
Oh! Tess gasped. This was going to be so much fun.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Plenty of time for that later.” Marduk nuzzled Tess’s neck and removed her hand from his stiffening rod. “Right now, we have a whole bunch of anxious gods and one antsy brother who can’t wait to see you.”
Tess rose slowly to her feet and marveled at how good she felt. If this is what it meant to be immortal, she’d recommend it to everyone.
“My clothes?” Tess looked around, grimacing down at the drafty hospital gown she wore.
“The ones you had on were trashed, but I brought you a new set.” His eyes twinkled, and she found out why. He had picked her new, red lingerie for underneath jeans and a button-down shirt.
Tess could play naughty too! She dropped the gown.
Living room, twenty minutes! She heard Marduk send the message to the waiting immortals, and laughed. Would it take them that long? Her last couple of encounters with Marduk had taken her breath away with their speed and intensity. She’d give him four minutes. She’d be done in three.
Marduk whispered to her of the celebration his brothers had planned, but also let her know that with her naked body standing ready and waiting in front of him, they’d just have to be patient.
Tess could feel her shoulder warming in response to Marduk’s lustful gaze. It actually tingled. A whole new erogenous zone, she wondered? Tess reached up and brushed Marduk’s shoulder and amulet. He let out a surprised groan. Yup. She couldn’t wait to get her lips on it. She held her body away from her new husband and let her eyes drop.
“You have far too many clothes on.” She pursed her lips at his loincloth, which he quickly and obligingly unwrapped and dropped at her feet.