by LJ Vickery
“Come on, Sienna. Really?” Jake laughed. “You’re in a house full of gods who morph into hell knows what, and you’re wondering about some other strange creature that shows up? And remember…this is also Boston we’re talking about,” Jake’s voice joked, but calmed too, in an irreverent way.
Si responded, “Yeah, you’re right.” The girl swallowed hard and dared try to name what she’d seen. “The blur looked like a big black cat.”
Si brought her eyes to Jake’s to gauge his reaction.
Verrie caught her breath. She’d been at the meeting, listening to the gods talk about their enemy Ridhwan, but Sienna hadn’t. Sienna knew about Beletseri but didn’t know a cat-shifter held the goddess. It had to be the same man, and Jake knew it as well.
“I believe you, Sienna,” Jake nodded.
Verrie’s daughter sat up straighter with the substantiation and let her hold on her mother drop.
She drew a breath and continued, “Dagon tried to pull Riley behind him with one arm while holding off this blurry cat with the other.” She paused. “I saw…” Sienna grew suddenly pale but pushed away Verrie’s hands that shot out once again to support her. “No. Let me finish.” She squared her shoulders. “I saw the cat-guy…slice through Dagon’s arm, then as…blood started going everywhere, the thing grabbed Riles and disappeared.”
“Disappeared,” Jake reiterated. “And that was it?” His calm tone lent strength to Sienna.
“Yes. Uh, no actually.” She scowled. “If I didn’t imagine it, the whole weird blur thing got kind-of… bigger before it went away.” Her forehead creased. “I’m not sure how to describe it. Before it disintegrated, it grew or looked…heavier.” Her fortitude gave out with that last recollection, and Sienna sank back down in her chair. She looked wiped. “Will any of that help?” She worried her bottom lip, unusually pale.
“I’m sure it will. Especially when we call Marla and Jeremiah,” Jake assured her.
Sienna had met the unlikely pair who were currently trolling the vast forests of Malaysia for signs of Ridhwan, and Verrie instantly thought the same thing as everyone else in the room if the head-buzz was any indication. Because Marla was a cat-shifter, and Jeremiah was a full-time cat, the FO―or feline operations agents―had to be able to help.
“Remember,” Jake continued. “They do the popping from spot-to-spot thing gods aren’t able to do, so they’ll know better how it works,” he ended on a positive note.
“Like my husband,” Addie-May interjected and looked around the kitchen. “Dorian?” She peered around the goddesses and the big bodies―agents and Lauernley―who had crowded into the room while the discussion had been underway.
“Sweetheart?” Addie’s voice took on a confusing note. “Wait. Has anybody seen my husband,” she attempted to joke. “Big guy. Dark. Always looks like he’s ready to take someone’s head off?”
By the end of her little speech, she looked worried. Then she lost all her color.
“Shit.” She turned to Sienna. “A large blur left the scene,” she stated. “Bigger than the one that came in.”
Sienna nodded her head. Verrie knew where this was going.
The witch slumped back against the refrigerator for support. “Well. Now we know―for better or for worse―what happened. Si’s big-ass blur included one extremely tenacious warlock.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Marduk insisted Muze take a back seat for the hell-raid. It was the only way he would allow the monster-changer to come along. He feared if Dumuzi was given any power in a possible take-down, they’d have no demons left to question when the dust settled.
The thunder god looked at the group assembled behind him and grimaced as he tried, once again, to push through the invisible barrier they’d run into. “I knew it was too easy,” Marduk groused. “Why would Galla seal off this section of his domain? He has to know this is against all Underworld rules.”
They stood, puzzling things out when King Nergal rounded a group of rocks and trotted up to the group, adjusting his loincloth. All eyes turned to him, and he abbreviated his stride.
“What? A god can’t take a piss?” he groused and looked around at the halted party. “Why have you stopped?”
“If you could hold your coffee better, you would’ve known we hit some kind of force-field.” Marduk rolled his eyes. “You’d better call Galla and tell him to let us pass.”
It was Nergal’s time to eye-roll. “Seriously? You think some two-bit demon-turned-god gets to dictate where I can and cannot go?” Gleaming white teeth showed in an arrogant smile. One that would have had lesser beings falling to their knees. Marduk wasn’t one.
“Okay, your greatness. If you’re so powerful, do your thing.” The thunder god stood back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Let me guess. It’s Ali Baba Open Sesame,” he smirked sarcastically.
“Funny god, but you’re warm.” Nergal walked close to the barrier and extended both arms as if in supplication. Marduk and his men watched with equal parts skepticism and awe as two of the god’s tattooed runes—one on Nergal’s right forearm, the other on his left pectoral—began to glow and dance.
“What the…?” Marduk’s mouth dropped as energy arced between the king and the impedance. There was a white pulse like the flash of a camera, and the barrier trembled, shimmered like the surface of a pond that had been gently disturbed by a dipping dragonfly, then calmed. Nergal lost his glow and lowered his arms.
“After you, gentlemen,” the king mugged. “Open Sesame.”
Marduk bit his tongue and refused to respond. The royal was far too smug for the thunder god to acknowledge the feat. Unfortunately for Nergal’s big head, Anshar had no such compulsion.
“What did you do?” The sky god practically attacked the king’s arm. “What was that?”
Nergal had only to look down his nose imperiously, and Anshar backed off.
Marduk screwed up his mouth. Giant prick was obviously enjoying the hell out of this.
“How is it that all this time,” Nergal posed, “I’ve penetrated the barrier you erected around your abode, and you’ve never inquired how?” he smirked, “Did you think it was magic?”
Shit, Marduk thought. He’d never given it a thought. Fine. Let the king act all superior. Marduk wasn’t about to ask.
Again, Anshar went for the bait. “Tell us how you do it,” the blond god cajoled, playing right into Nergal’s already inflated sense of self.
“Fine. If you insist.” The king gave the entire group a sniff and swept a hand across his tattooed body. “I’m surprised none of you have queried about my ink before.”
Right. Marduk scoffed silently. As if Nergal had ever been a warm, share-gossip-and-secrets kind of ruler. When they’d been sequestered in hell, he’d been a royal prick, and since the advent of their “friendship,” after they’d all made up and played nice, they’d had too many other things to worry about.
“Well, we’re asking now,” Enlil interjected testily.
Nergal was less likely to play with the wind god’s head than with Anshar’s, and Marduk could tell Enlil the bull was impatient to move on. Bravo.
Nergal sighed and let the ego-trip slide. “When I was inducted as king of the Underworld, I was given control over the minor kings and realms here below,” he explained. “The old king, Shalmanu was smart. He had dealt with the vanity of these lesser gods a time or two and found they all liked to hide things from him—goods that should be taxed, purloined belongings from other kingdoms—so he devised a key system to unlock any door…any obstacle.”
He looked down at his pervasive scroll-work.
“As a wedding gift to me, my father-in-law had me tattooed with the same access codes he used, his residing on a group of stone tablets.” He stroked the two tattoos which had just lit up. “Mine are much easier to carry around,” he grinned. “I’m not sure exactly how they accomplish their goal, but when I approach the unbreachable, I simply open my energy in that direction, and one or more
of these runes light up. They never fail me in my forays to otherwise forbidden places. As you can see, it’s a handy little tool.” He swept an arm forward. “So, now you know my secret. After you, gentlemen.” He gestured down the long hallway.
Marduk acknowledged to himself he was impressed, but he wouldn’t tell the king that.
The thunder god knew they were getting close to a goal of sorts when a dire stench met their noses. Marduk sent a discreet glance to Shamash to keep an eye on Dumuzi. The rotten smell might send him over the edge, and they didn’t need any slaughters here today. They needed answers. The thunder god held a finger to his lips and urged the group quietly forward.
“Pssst. Boss.”
Marduk waved a hand behind him at whoever had spoken and continued to move forward in a crouch. WTF? All his gods knew better than to talk right now. He was incredulous that one of them would breach protocol when the urgent plea repeated in head-speak.
Marduk. Please stop.
Really? Marduk made an angry face no one could see. He didn’t want to cease his forward momentum, dammit, but the voice belonged to Lahar, and the god of logic would never… What? Wait. Lahar was supposed to be invisible when not around the three currently in the compound who turned him solid. That made no sense.
Lahar? Did you just speak?
“Duh.” Lahar’s voice smacked him out loud again, albeit quietly, before switching back to stealth. Which is why we need to stop, Marduk. As logically as I can surmise, Douglas, Glory, or Quinn have to be nearby. If that’s the case, we need to find out why.
I’ll ask, Marduk growled. He opened a wider communication channel. Douglas? Glory? Quinn? The deaf mate to Shamash still wasn’t completely up on all god-speak yet but would recognize her name when spoken. Marduk waited. There was no answer. Shit, Lahar. Head back the way we came. See if you can find them.
The curious group paused, watching Lahar head back down the hallway. Not ten feet away he lost his corporeality. Marduk’s blood ran cold. He watched as Lahar turned around and came back into a physical body. Fuck. That could only mean one thing. One of their three immortals in question was…up ahead. Where the demons lived. But how had the slimy bastards gotten their hands on one of them?
Sham? Emesh? Marduk appealed to the two gods whose mates were part of the equation and received a shake of their heads.
I’m not feeling Quinn, Shamash stated with an anxious shrug.
I’m not getting Douglas’s energy either. Emesh looked equally confused.
That leaves Glory, but with her babies due within the month, I can’t imagine she’d be anywhere but the compound. Marduk was frozen with indecision…which was very unlike him. But pregnant goddesses were their lifeblood, and he hesitated to make a wrong move if indeed Glory had been taken.
Nergal, with a highly pregnant wife of his own, reacted in a more territorial way and growled before taking over.
There’s only one way to find out. His face turned hard, and his jaw set in a tense line. We move in. Now. He was about to take the lead when Marduk shook off the dread which held him immobile. He put out a hand to stop the king.
It’s okay. I’ve got this. He signaled, and the group was on the move again.
Marduk came to the end of the long corridor they’d been following and inched his way toward the doorway. It opened into a large chamber where light from a fire breached the darkness that was the gods’ cover, and demon chatter filtered into their ears.
Marduk hugged the wall and dared a quick look into the cavernous space before pulling back.
There are a dozen or more demons sitting in the center of the room but no sentries. They’ve acted without interference for so long, they obviously feel safe, he reflected. The entire group is congregated around a fire, fifty feet to my right at two o'clock. Marduk looked back to where Dumuzi struggled, having a hard time staying in god-form.
Muze. If you can’t keep it under control, you’ll have to leave.
No. I’m good, the swamp god growled and hitched a few tendrils back up his sleeves.
Okay. Marduk signaled, giving orders. On three, we storm them but no killing. Dead demons don’t talk, and we need answers for what they’ve been doing.
Marduk received nods of agreement.
On my count. Three…two…one. The group burst into the room, and all hell broke loose. Just not the kind they’d imagined. As they entered at a run, they saw a dark, cloaked figure twenty paces behind the demon group take surprised note of the gods. He lobbed something into the center of the fire then disappeared in a raging, snarling hissy-fit.
Before Marduk or any of the gods had a chance to move another inch whatever had been tossed into the fire detonated in an enormous explosion that sent them all crashing back against the far wall, driven from their feet by the horrendous and unexpected concussion.
Being gods, they were only down for a few seconds, but when they made it back to their feet, the scene of devastation and carnage became instantly apparent. There wasn’t a living hell-spawn left. Vile smelling demon parts, along with small scattered fires filled the vast room. Marduk stomped out the one by his left foot and wiped something that looked suspiciously like brains off the front of his shirt. Gods-dammit, what had just happened?
“Did anybody see who that was?” Marduk growled, flicking sticky gray matter off of his fingers. He noticed a shocked look pass over Shamash’s face. “What?”
“No. It can’t be.” The salvation god shook his head. “It makes no sense.” His face hardened. “Or it makes perfect sense.” Shamash got a hold of himself and turned to Marduk.
“It was difficult to see the intruder, but my nose got a full profile, and I’d trust it anywhere. My olfactory senses are never mistaken. The shadowy figure who just blew up our enclave of answers? That was none other than our newest enemy, Ridhwan.”
Marduk tried to process that startling revelation, but as the shell-shock cleared, he became immediately panicked. “Glory.” His eyes darted around the room, hoping not to see anything that looked remotely humanoid.
“All remains are demon,” Lahar assured his boss. The logic god had already done a quick scan of the room, not for a moment forgetting the whys and wherefores of his body being corporeal. “If they have her, she wasn’t in this room.”
“Okay. Spread out,” Marduk told his gods. “If Glory’s here, we need to find her, and if not,” he sent a raised eyebrow toward Lahar, “we need to figure out what’s giving our friend his body.”
It was soon discovered there were so many pathways and mazes off of the main room, it was impossible to do a thorough search. Marduk brought all his men back together to form a better plan of attack for this conundrum.
“Lahar, since you’re the only one who pops in and out from embodied to invisible, you need to be our canary in the coal mine.”
Lahar nodded, obviously following Marduk’s reasoning, but Nergal wasn’t familiar with the saying.
“What does a canary have to do with our forays?” the king asked.
“It’s a human saying,” Marduk educated him. “It simply means a canary will be susceptible to poisons in a mine, becoming the first to succumb. Since Lahar is the one going from solid to mist, we need to use him to search one egress at a time. Lahar will lead the way, and as soon as he turns invisible, that tunnel becomes meaningless. The team turns around, marks that passage as a no-go, and attempts the next.”
“Very methodical approach. I like it,” Nergal agreed. “But it does mean we could be here for a while, and I myself… Wait. I’m getting something from my wife. Probably a request for ice cream. If you’ll just excuse me for one moment.”
Marduk, already keyed up and beside himself thinking of Glory, attuned to the king’s rigidity as he turned his back.
“What is it?” the thunder god asked when Nergal faced him again. His voice was so worried, everyone riveted to what the royal would say.
“I’ve had communication from Ereshkigal. Your compound has been in touch w
ith her. Dagon and Enten ran into trouble at the girls’ school.” He cleared his throat, and Marduk knew it was very bad news.
“Dagon and Enten are both badly injured and the girl, Riley, has been taken.”
“Ridhwan.” The name was spit like an expletive from Dumuzi’s mouth.
“I think you’re correct, Muze.” He turned an anguished face back to the king. “Can you ask her if Glory, Quinn, and Douglas are okay?” He closed his eyes, waiting for the answer. It took several minutes of relay time.
“All well, and all at the house.” Nergal sighed along with everyone else, and a rejuvenated Marduk snapped into command mode. “Lahar, that puts a different spin on why you’re corporeal. Stay here with Enlil, Anshar, Ninurta, Kulla, and Ishkur to find out why the hell you have a body.”
“Not me,” Ishkur interjected. “I’m coming to help look for Riley.”
Marduk was puzzled at Ishkur’s diffidence, but he wouldn’t deny the older god. Ishkur never asked for anything. It was obviously important and no skin off of his nose to substitute gods. “Fine. Huxley, you stay here below. Keep me informed if you find anything. Nergal?” He didn’t pause to look before misting. “Get the rest of us back home.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dumuzi popped into the kitchen along with the other gods and immediately took in the devastated faces and postures around the room. He went swiftly to Veronica and Sienna, wrapping them in his big arms, attempting to impart comfort.
Frank paced, her face white and tense, and Muze noted she didn’t hesitate for a moment when Ishkur went to her and gathered her in a tight embrace. She sank into his arms, burying her head in his chest. It took about two strokes of his hands on her back before Muze saw her shoulders begin to heave with sobs. He drew his eyes away, it was just too painful. Clearly, the two had something going between them, but now was not the time to ask.
“Jake, fill me in.” Marduk took charge in a way that gave energy to the previously lethargic room.