by LJ Vickery
Damn. Candy was good at this. Dumuzi was going to have to start paying stricter attention to protocol if he was going to hitch himself to a human. He really didn’t have the first clue how to act.
Riley looked excited―not at all stormy-faced like Sienna remained.
“You’re not kidding, are you. Wow, I can hear everything you’re saying. That is so cool. Isn’t it cool, Si?” She turned to look up at her friend and her exuberance shut down. “…or not,” she trailed off and immediately changed to a concerned tone. “So, is this what you’ve been hearing all this time, Sienna?”
The color had risen in Sienna’s face, and she still stood on the bed, chest heaving and hands twitching. She was clearly unsure what her next move should be but shook her head.
“No. It’s not.” Her mouth settled into a flat line. “But it’s too much like the other to be a coincidence.” Her face darkened even more. “These have to be the guys who ruined my mother’s life, and now they’re trying to get started on you and me.” She jerked her chin at Riley. “Grab your purse. We’re getting out of here—right now.” She attempted to move, but Dumuzi put up his hand like a stop sign.
“Wait now, whoa.” Dumuzi was all for his sullen little bride having some god-skills, but what was this about ruining lives? He was in over his head, but she was going nowhere. He didn’t want to have to physically restrain her, but he would if necessary. That would slap some hurt on trust issues for their future.
He was never happier to see Marduk, the leader of their deposed group, walk through the door.
“Thank the gods,” he muttered and pointed to the girls on the bed. “Marduk, this is Sienna, my…uh…guest and her friend Riley.”
“Sienna. Riley,” Marduk inclined his head regally. Muze could see both girls were awed at the enormous newcomer. Marduk tended to have that effect on people. Dumuzi figured it should have ticked him off that Sienna seemed more impressed with the thunder god than with him, but he really couldn’t work up one ounce of indignation. Maybe that’s what he got for forcing himself to remain mellow for the past few thousand years. It was possible he didn’t have any strong emotions left…even where his Chosen was concerned. He’d zoned out on what Marduk was saying but quickly caught up.
“…so if I can apologize for our lack of foresight, I’m sure we can ease your worries about everything else.”
Sienna’s stomach took that moment to complain loudly.
“It seems like filling you in on secret voices isn’t the only thing we’ve neglected.” Marduk sent a silent yet pointed reprimand at Dumuzi. “I suggest we all reconvene in the kitchen where Absu will whip up some food.”
I will be honored to assuage the hunger of two such fine young damsels. The proper god hadn’t shown up yet, so he most likely segued to fire up the oven at Marduk’s suggestion. Dumuzi caught a slight smirk on Riley’s face.
“You’ve got some marquis making us chow?” she quipped.
Oooh, baby, Riley just called you a marquis. How did we miss playing that game? It was Charlie’s head-voice taunting her ever so proper husband. Marquis de Sade. It’s going to be my new favorite.
Female giggles rent the air in response, and males cleared their throats. Dumuzi nearly choked, but he wasn’t about to explain to the two perhaps-clueless mortals that Charlie and Absu had a decided Dom/Sub relationship—TMI.
“So shall we…uh, head to the kitchen?” Dumuzi not-so-deftly changed the subject and raised his hand up to Sienna. She reluctantly took it and allowed herself to be lowered from the bed. He noticed, however, she yanked her hand away as quickly as possible, preferring to stand mashed against her friend as if to ward him off. Dumuzi sighed. Her power to make him visible was extremely puzzling. Not a single spark had shot up his arm at their contact. What the fuck had everyone been talking about? There were no special fireworks between him and his mate. Muze didn’t know whether to feel ripped off or relieved.
Kitchen meetings were always so much more comfortable and informal than Marduk’s office conferences. The only problem was the number of Blue Hills inhabitants had begun to overflow the available space. Still, they crowded in. Dumuzi listened with half an ear while Tess introduced the girls to the entire household.
“You’ve met me, Lenore, Charlie, our children, and the two guys who were with us at the police barracks, Jake and Hux.” Both men nodded their heads while shoving little squares of steaming hot zucchini quiche into their mouths. Absu had taken the small tidbits from the freezer where he kept home-made food for emergencies such as this. It hadn’t taken but a few minutes for him to heat them up.
Dumuzi grabbed one―his first bite of food in nearly four hundred years―and groaned as the flavors ricocheted inside his suddenly saliva-filled mouth. “Oh my gods, Absu. This is unbelievable. And you used my zucchini.”
“This vegetation had nothing to do with you,” Absu teased, and Dumuzi braced for the punchline. “It was procured from the grocery store.”
Dumuzi rolled his eyes, gave Absu the finger, and popped the rest of the square in his mouth. “It’s all mine, no matter what shitty chemicals they dump on it,” he smirked.
“Well, you can have your fill of shitty chemicals tonight. I’ve planned an all vegetarian meal for your first supper.”
The carnivores in the group groaned good-naturedly while Dumuzi ignored the puzzling glance from his future mate. Time enough to explain all that later.
Tess ignored the interruption and continued, “Dumuzi you know,” ―she skipped by him rather rapidly, considering his importance in Sienna’s future― “and my husband, Marduk is next to him. He’s the unofficial boss here. To Marduk’s left is Lenore’s husband, Anshar, and at the stove is Charlie’s husband, Absu.”
The girls gave small, half-hearted smiles while looking warily toward a raft of new people just entering the kitchen.
“You’ll never remember everybody’s names, so I’ll just throw them at you as they come through the door.” Tess paused for a breath and began making a list. “My sister, Holly, and her husband, Dagon. Candy, who you’ve met, and her man, Enlil. Here’s Emesh and Douglas, then Hux’s wife, our good doctor, Dani-Lee. The single guys are Ninurta, Ishkur, and Lahar…
Shit. Dumuzi cringed. Tess had just introduced Ninurta, who was the only god still one hundred percent invisible-one hundred percent of the time, but taking a worried glance at the girls, he let out his breath. Thankfully they seemed too overwhelmed to have caught the mistake.
“Then back to the couples, we have Kulla and Obedience, Shamash and Quinn, Enten and Glory. Jake’s wife Anna is my birth mom,” she said this with a special smile, “and speaking of Mom’s, Angie―with that big guy, Tiny―is Obedience’s mother, and Kate is Glory’s.” She looked at the girls, sporting a wry grin. “I know your heads are spinning but bear with me. We’re almost through.”
“Next is my dad, Greg Abelard, and after him are husband and wife, Ken and Vesca. Addie-May and Dorian are just over there, bringing up the rear. There,” she said satisfactorily. “Did I forget anyone?”
“Hell yeah,” was the reply, as five more very buff males pushed their way past the big, dark warlock, not intimidated in the least by his low growl.
“Oh, geez.” Tess slapped her forehead. “I forgot you guys were here.” She turned to the girls once more. “This intrepid group of five are all DEA agents from California who are trying to decide if they’re staying here permanently. Ken and Jake are actually DEA, too. I’ll give you their nicknames because nobody ever calls them by what their mamas christened them. We have Gramps, Cubby, Flick, Z, and JP.”
Flick spoke up fast before Tess could get any further. “We told our uh, German friends to keep themselves scarce until the young ladies were brought up to speed if that’s okay.”
Dumuzi knew he spoke of the six blue guys in residence. They were Lauernley from the Rhine Valley, and their colorful skin would have sent both girls right over the edge. The jury was out on whether or not that would hap
pen even without the advent of the pigmentally diverse beings arriving on scene.
Tess nodded her agreement. “Good call.” She turned to the girls. “So are you guys good? Any questions?”
Despite the fear and mistrust that lurked behind Sienna’s eyes, the girl spoke right up.
“Yeah. Who the fuck are you people?” She didn’t wait for an answer but spewed what had probably been in her brain since coming onto the property. “Why have I been in the Blue Hills, like a million times, and never seen any of you or this humongous house before? Why are we here, and how come you’re all talking in your heads in English when it’s never been that way before?” She stuck her chin up belligerently, obviously waiting to see how many of her questions would get answered.
Absu stepped forward and shoved a plate into her hand and one into Riley’s, ordering them to eat. “No information will be forthcoming until you have partaken of sustenance. I believe a blood sugar low may hasten a swoon if what you hear is disagreeable to your ears.”
“He means eat up if you want the scoop,” Candy supplied.
“We get it,” Riley shoved a square into her mouth. “Between British Studies and AP English, we’ve read plenty of Shakespeare.”
“From the two parties, forsooth,” Absu came back.
“Merry Wives of Windsor,” Sienna whipped off without hesitation, and Dumuzi’s brain stuttered. Wow. The chit was damned bright.
“Well, yes,” Marduk interjected, also clearly surprised. “But now, it’s time we get down to the business of your questions. Dumuzi will have a go at explaining everything.”
Since he was not used to paying attention, the vegetation god had already mentally misplaced the list Sienna had made, and in true stoner fashion gave a blank-faced, “What?”
“Oh, for the gods’ sake, Muze.” Candy loved him like a brother but hated putting up with his shit. “I’ll give you the list, one by one.” Dumuzi arranged his face into thoughtfulness.
“First, they’d like to know who the fuck we are.” Candy was clearly going to do this verbatim.
“Okay, then,” he advised the humans, “maybe you should sit down.” When neither girl moved, he amended, “Or not.” This wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d imagined. How had the other guys done the big reveal for their women?
“We, uh, at least most of us here,” he waved his arm in his fellow god’s vicinities, “are from Mesopotamia.” There. That was a good beginning.
He was immediately shot down.
“An archaic term for the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers—Syria, Iran, Turkey. You expect us to believe that? But go on.” Sienna wasn’t going to give him a single break, so he jumped back in.
“Right. That’s true. But when we’re from, it was all called Mesopotamia.”
“When you’re from?” Riley wrinkled her nose.
“Yup. Like for instance, I was born in 299 BCE. Marduk―the oldest guy here― dates back to Hammurabi’s code times, and the rest fall into similar time periods.”
“Wait.” Now Sienna’s bright brain was cooking. “Your weird-ass names. They’re all god names from mythology.”
“I resemble that remark,” Anshar joked, but it didn’t derail Sienna’s thought process.
“So, if I’ve got this right, you’ve either all drunk the Kool-Aid and are delusional, or you’re playing at trick-or-treat year-round.”
“No. Neither. Although we’ve been accused of worse.” Dumuzi tried not to grin. She was cheeky, this one, and although he wasn’t attracted to her in the least, he could still appreciate some good sarcasm. “We are, indeed, the gods you’ve read about, hence the reason nobody is aware of us in the Blue Hills…”
“…which is the answer to question two. Nobody gets to know because nobody would believe it, and the house is made invisible to outsiders,” Candy finished Dumuzi’s sentence.
The vegetation god chose to ignore her. “We will prove everything to you with feats of godliness.” He looked around. “Who wants to do the honors?”
As he expected, Anshar was always up for a good mind-blowing.
“Behold, ladies.” The all-sky god bowed and disappeared, then did a little un-solid conversing. I am invisible but standing right next to you. Hold out a quiche square, please.
Riley did as she was told, albeit with a trembling hand, and the food disappeared. We call it ‘acquiring,’ he informed them. We can take things, the quiche reappeared in Riley’s hand, and give them back.
“Oh my God, Si. Did you see that?” Her face was a study in confusion. “Do we believe this?”
Oddly enough, Sienna had a look on her face that was part smirk but mostly relief. “Yes,” she gave a small chuff. “Yes. At least I do. Because Riles,” Sienna turned and gripped her friend by the arm, “if I choose to believe this, then I’m not crazy…and my mother’s not crazy, and all the worry and the fucked-upedness gets to go away. Do you not get it?” Her eyes lit up, and for the first time, Dumuzi saw a real smile from the girl, not the jaded one that made her face look too old for her years. “If what they say is true, the voices haven’t been schizophrenia at all. They’ve been fucking invisible gods.”
Riley grinned back. “Wow, Sienna. I get it. That is so cool. We need to call your mother right now,” she delivered enthusiastically.
“Yeah. No. Wait.” Sienna was trying to get her mind and her priorities straight. “What about my other questions? Why did you bring us here?” She looked questioningly at Dumuzi, but without the rancor that had previously veiled her heart.
Dumuzi frowned. He turned to Marduk who was scowling too and shaking his head slightly. Without the option of private head-talk―which Muze doubted he would have with his Chosen-to-be within range―the vegetation god could only imagine Marduk didn’t want the girls to have that answer yet. He sighed, letting them down in what he hoped was a gentle way.
“That question can only be answered when your mother gets here. Since you are not of legal age yet…for anything contractual…we need her to bear witness and give permission for your purpose in the compound.” Then Dumuzi remembered her last question.
“As for that English language thing you were asking about…” Now he forced his face to take on a perplexing air. “I think I can say we’re all in the dark about that one,” he lied. “You say your mother suffers from the same mental intrusions?”
“Uh-huh. Far worse than me and Riles. It wrecked her life.”
“Then maybe we should let her tell us about it when she arrives.” Muze looked to Marduk who gave a satisfied nod.
“If you guys can figure this out…fix my mom’s life, I promise you, I’ll do anything you want. Really. Just say the word.” Sincerity shown from Sienna’s eyes, and Dumuzi breathed a sigh of relief. The girl might not want to mate with him, but she would do it if they could stop what was going on with her mother. And yeah, he knew what that was as did every other god in the kitchen. They just didn’t want to say anything yet, lest it scare the bejeezus out of the girls. He focused on the practical for now.
“Lahar says her plane will land in just under an hour. I think our DEA guys should meet her at the airport.”
“Okay,” Sienna agreed, “but if you don’t mind, I’m going to call her and tell her to look out for them.” Sienna was proving she had a logical head on her shoulders. “If you try to stuff her in a car without my heads-up, you’ll have a hell of a fight on your hands.”
Looking at Sienna, knowing what a handful she was, Dumuzi believed it.
There was only one other problem eating at him besides his non-attraction to his adolescent bride-to-be. He slipped out the open sliders onto the stone terrace and sent a look toward Marduk. He needed to air his fears. The god of thunder―and the best boss a guy could have―got the signal and moved smoothly away from the group, joining Dumuzi in the just breaking, morning light.
“Something on your mind, Muze?” Marduk gave him a knowing stare. Dumuzi snorted. Of course, the savvy god would already h
ave figured out what was bothering him.
“You’re way ahead of me, aren’t you?” Dumuzi stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and shrugged uncomfortably when Marduk gave him a nod. But he still felt the need to verbalize.
“You know what I am,” he began and got another quick nod from Marduk. “And you remember how it was when I was young.” He didn’t have to wait for another affirmative. “You’re also aware when we were in Merrymount, there wasn’t a lot of…activity from me, but when there was, it was easy to get far away and lose myself in all the undeveloped countryside.” Dumuzi looked at his friend and mentor and was relieved when Marduk took over.
“And now that you’re corporeal again, you’re worried because the Blue Hills is such a busy place, and you won’t be able to hide.”
Dumuzi propped his elbows on the stone wall and dropped his head into his hands. “You’ve got it, boss-man. If it was a few years ago, I might not be so worried because my condition had all but gone away, but it’s ramping up again. I know you’re aware of that.” He swore bitterly. “Fuck. After a nine-year moratorium, why is this shit happening again?”
“I don’t know, man, but we’ll find out.” At the skeptical look Dumuzi shot at him, he bristled. “We will find out, Muze. I promise.”
Not one to belabor the point, Marduk continued, “In the meantime, we’ll do some intervention. The guys won’t mind getting involved and following you when it happens. You know how we all like a challenge. We’ll get you secured, put you in the osmium cell in the basement.”
“With Matthew?” Dumuzi raised a brow.
Marduk smirked. “It will serve the bastard right, getting the crap scared out of him.” He got serious again. “We’ll take care of you, Muze. Don’t doubt that.”
Dumuzi stood up straight and let Marduk see the relief in his face. “Thanks,” he breathed out, “and if we’re lucky, no blood will be shed. Archie is aware when it’s going to happen and can give me a few minutes warning like a real service dog.”
Marduk grunted out a laugh. “The same way dogs can predict an earthquake or a tornado, huh?”