Ben felt nervous now, nervous because it was obvious that even Thor, the big, strong, human-loving teddy bear, had to feel needed by the humans. The protector, and it was obvious it wasn’t just self-preservation Thor was seeking when he agreed to help stop Nike. Thor needed to be in that role. The divine protecting his flock. Ben wondered what would happen if Thor learned the truth about the human soul.
Ben settled into the comfortable chair and put his head back on the cushions. His fatigue was threatening to take over, but he struggled against it. This was not the time to give in to his human weaknesses. They had work to do, and if they had even a glimmer of hope, Ben had to crack Persephone and save Jude from whatever new madness had befallen him.
Chapter Twenty-One
It took all of five seconds for Ben to fall into a deep sleep. Mark, seated on the floor by Jude’s head, watched as the detective sat down, deep in thought, and closed his eyes. Within moments he was snoring. Mark chuckled a little, shaking his head as he poured another icy stream of water across his companion’s broiling hot forehead.
The water hit the skin and evaporated almost instantly, and Mark sighed, terrified to know what sort of pain and anguish Jude was suffering right then. He was tired. It was never-ending, and he took a moment to be grateful that the majority of their time wandering the earth had been in hiding. There had been these moments of agony, but Mark spent more time hunkered down in freezing cold Monasteries than he did fending off attack after attack.
Alex, who had gone to check on Andrew and Persephone, walked back into the living room and fixed narrowed eyes on Ben’s sleeping form. He opened his mouth to say something, but Mark held up a hand to silence the god.
“Just give him some time,” Mark said, feeling a wave of compassion wash over him. It was atypical for him, because frankly he just didn’t care about the other humans when his and Jude’s safety was at stake, but Ben had gone through all of this to protect them. “He’s exhausted, and he’s not going to be any good to us if he’s about to collapse.”
Alex relented, likely because his human form knew all-too well what it was like to suffer at the hands of mortality and mortal limitations. With a sigh, he sank into the chair across from Ben and rubbed at his tired, red eyes. “Still no change.”
“Did you expect any?” Mark asked, sounding more bitter than he had intended. He gave a sad, apologetic smile and continued, “I’m not sure what’s causing all of these symptoms. I’m guessing it has something to do with a power clash. Perhaps the intended love curse, or whatever you want to call it, can’t fully interact with Jude since he’s immortal? It’s frustrating because I don’t have the slightest clue on how to go about figuring out what the hell to do for him.”
“And the worst part,” Alex said with his fingers still pressed gently into his eyelids, “is he could stay in this state indefinitely.”
Mark gave a slow nod despite the fact that Alex wasn’t looking at him, and he began the water bath on Jude once more. “I was asleep when you took him out. How long was he like this before I woke?”
“He went to sleep drunk,” Alex said with a wave of his hand. “I just assumed he’d sleep it off and we’d keep him inebriated until we could figure out how to snap him out of it. I mean hell, I was prepared for him freaking out and trying to escape, or even trying to contact that winged son-of-a-bitch. I went to wake him up just before you got up, and I noticed that he was just burning up and sort of twitching and moaning.”
Mark pressed the wet cloth to Jude’s lips and squeezed some water down his throat. The unconscious immortal swallowed and coughed, but otherwise didn’t give a response. Sighing, Mark dropped the cloth into the bowl of ice water and turned to face Alex. “So what’s the plan, exactly?”
“Not sure yet,” Alex replied with a shrug. “We have half information from Benjy there, about Hades and that whole deal, and we need to know the whole story. There’s some sort of deal going on, but I’m not entirely sure it’s safe to go into it with Miss Double-Oh-Seven in there thinking she could pull the wool over us.”
“Obviously we have Nike to worry about,” Mark said. “She’s got that poor girl with her as far as we know, and we have no idea how soon she’ll be back at full strength.”
Alex gave a knowing nod and tapped his fingers on his knee in a random rhythm. “Well we let Benjy catch a few Z’s and then he talks. Then we get our little Bride of Hades to chat, and then we head out. We already got the portal location from her, unless she was lying about that, though I don’t think she was.”
“Nor do I,” Mark affirmed. “I’m certain she wants us to get to the portal, I’m just not sure if it’s for Nike’s benefit or ours.”
The pair of them fell into a tense silence, Mark’s worry superseding any desire to be polite or make small talk. Jude continued to tremble in his impossible fever while Ben snored a few feet away. Alex sat there, his eyes fixed on the wall, clearly deep in thought, though Mark wondered how present the god was at that moment.
Mark wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Ben’s cell phone went off, the shrill ring startling everyone and jolting Ben awake. He stared around, confused for a moment, and then fumbled into his pocket and pulled out the small device. Frowning at the screen, he cast a worried look toward Mark and Alex before answering it.
“Detective Stanford,” he said in a gruff tone. The absurdity that Ben still felt connected to his job nearly made Mark laugh, but Ben’s expression quickly shifted his thoughts to curiosity. Ben had lit up, his mouth stretching into a smile and he said, “I never doubted you. We’re having some issues, can I contact you on this number?” A long pause and then he said, “Yes, okay.”
Every muscle in Mark’s body was tense with anticipation as Ben punched the end button and stared at the two. “We weren’t able to talk much before about my meeting with Hades,” he said, his voice lighter than it had been in weeks, “but he just told me that Asclepius has been released from the portal room.”
“Perfect,” Alex said, clapping his hands together. “I’ll have Andrew seek him out and find him an acceptable vessel.” He stopped at the dark look on Ben’s face and quickly said, “To use only until we get to the active portal. I swear, all human beings will be returned safely and without harm.”
“Not all,” Ben said darkly.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Alex snapped and rose from the chair. “I’ll secure Persephone and have Andrew get on his way.”
As Alex disappeared down the hall, Mark rose and stretched his legs. Glancing at the clock, he realized he’d been sitting there for hours. It was evening now, and he was aching and exhausted. Ben, though rested, still looked completely wrecked, the skin under his eyes dark, and he was pale. Mark quickly rummaged around the kitchen, but there wasn’t a lot for them to eat and he knew they’d need as much sustenance as they could get now, because the next twenty-four hours were likely to be tough.
“Should we order in?” Mark asked as he scanned the take-away menus secured on the fridge with fruit-shaped magnets. He wondered who the apartment belonged to, suddenly, and why everywhere they stayed was so perfectly stocked and well managed. In truth, Mark didn’t really want to know how Alex managed these things. He likely wouldn’t enjoy the answer, and he had plenty of guilt to contend with already.
“I don’t care,” Ben called back.
Mark used Alex’s discarded cell phone and called out for Chinese. When he went back into the living room, Alex had Persephone bound to one of the desk chairs, her furious eyes boring holes into all of them. Andrew was nowhere to be found, but from the muffled shouts in the back room, Mark had reason to believe that Heimdall had left the human body in search of the missing Greek.
“You ordered food?” Alex asked as Mark stared down the darkened corridor.
“Ah yes, Chinese,” Mark replied with an absent nod. “Thirty minutes or so.”
“Good,” Alex replied. “Now, after we sit down to our nice meal, I think it’s time for u
s to finish our chat with Persephone. Ben, you up for that?”
Ben stared at her for the longest time, and eventually gave a slow nod. “I think enough is enough.”
“Oh fuck you,” Persephone spat, but no one paid her any mind. The night was about to come to a head, and Mark could feel the conclusion of the events drawing closer.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The food tasted bland as Ben forced himself to chew and swallow mouthful after mouthful of the Chinese take-away. It was like eating the white paper boxes the noodles came packaged in, and he fought back a wave of nausea. A tense, almost tangible silence had fallen on the room, the only sounds penetrating the stillness were chopsticks scraping across the paper plates, and the occasional sigh as they all tried to keep it together.
Alex sat on the sofa near Persephone, who was steadfastly refusing to touch the food. Mark had retired after moving Jude to the back bedroom, and Andrew still hadn’t returned to his human form, so from time to time the quiet was shattered by a soft cry from the human who had no idea where he was or what was going on.
Nearly forty-five minutes passed, and finally Ben couldn’t take it any longer. He grabbed a few of the boxes from the table and ignored Alex’s cry of protest as he stormed down the hall to the closed bedroom door. They’d been instructed repeatedly to stay away from the human if Andrew was out, but Ben couldn’t stand it. This was inhumane, it was torture. Alex and Andrew were treating the boy like a transport vehicle and Ben didn’t want to imagine how scared and confused this poor boy was.
It was enough he was dealing with the stress of Persephone, trying to figure out a way to get her to crack. But to know some kid felt tortured and lost, Ben just didn’t have it in him to let the treatment continue. He put his hand on the knob, but Alex’s firm grip stopped him from going any further.
“That’s only going to make it worse,” Alex insisted.
Ben could feel the warning and strength behind the god’s grip, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t afraid of him, and his desire to bring the kid some form of comfort overrode any warnings the gods gave him. “Look, he needs some food, and he needs someone to tell him that he’s not going crazy and that he’s not in any danger. I realize you can’t comprehend what this kid is going through, but I can. We’ve kidnapped him, Alex, and you may not understand why it’s wrong, but it is. So stop.”
Ben wasn’t sure what made Alex give in, but he released Ben’s arm without a fight and backed away. “Just…be careful.”
“I’m not going to give him any information that will put him or us in danger,” Ben said, and with that, he pushed open the door and walked into the room.
It was dark in there, which Ben realized was probably contributing to the kid’s absolute terror of waking up in a place he didn’t recognize, and when he peered through the dim light, he could see the boy’s hands and feet were bound.
Giving a frustrated growl, Ben set the boxes of food on the dresser and flipped on the overhead lamp. Andrew, the human Andrew, hissed a little at the onslaught of bright fluorescent lamp in his face, and he squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head to the side. He looked grimy, sweat beading on his forehead, his hands trembling in the straps holding him in place, and Ben ached for him.
He hadn’t asked for this. There was no telling why Heimdall had chosen this kid, and he knew that even if the boy had agreed to let Heimdall in, he clearly had no clue what he was actually agreeing to. Ben approached the bed and gently touched Andrew’s knee through his jeans.
Andrew flinched and cracked open one eye. “Who are you?” he croaked, his voice hoarse from crying out.
“I’m Elijah,” Ben said, defaulting to his middle name. “You can call me Eli.”
“Where am I?” Andrew asked, struggling now against the straps holding him still. “How did I get here? Who are you people?” His voice rose with a touch of hysteria, and Ben immediately sat down, loosening the straps on Andrew’s ankles.
“Relax, you’re not in danger,” Ben said. He wondered how often Heimdall left the kid in this state, strapped to a bed, confused, no answer, no attention, just locked in a dark room while he was off trying to help the others save the world. How often had this poor kid woken up terrified and alone?
Andrew began to flex his feet the moment the straps were gone, and he began to stretch and flex his legs. “Where am I?”
“You’re in a home,” Ben said carefully, trying to construct a lie by weaving together half-truths. There was no sense in telling the boy he was being used as a vessel for a god, but there was enough information to try and keep him calm. “You were sick. You were dying, Andrew. You know that, right?”
“Look,” Andrew said, struggling against the wrist straps. Ben wanted to remove them, but he wanted to make sure Andrew would stay calm first. “I’d already been to the doctor and he told me, okay? He said that I had like six months before my liver failed and I died, but whatever man. I mean, I didn’t even tell my mom, I just left. How the hell did I get here?”
Ben tried not to look surprised by Andrew’s new information. He was dying? Heimdall hadn’t really said anything to that affect, but it wasn’t a huge shock. He’d nearly died from the withdrawals Heimdall had gone through. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Well, Jay gave me that shit to smoke,” he said, still struggling a bit. “I figured what the hell, he said it was going to help with the pain, so I took it home and it wasn’t so bad, you know? But then I started hearing this weird voice talking in some language I didn’t understand, and then like I was just floating, man. Like, there were green fields and shit, and it was raining and it was great. Next thing I know, I’m strapped to a bed in some dark room and some dudes are whispering in a corner. Then boom, back in the field again. I just kind of figured whatever Jay gave me fucked me up.”
“It was an overdose,” Ben said, going with the story. “You were found on the side of the road and sent here to recover.”
“Well I feel alright now,” Andrew said. He looked Ben in the eyes and Ben could see the incredible difference between human and god. “Can you let me out of these things?”
“I will,” Ben said with a slow nod, “but you can’t run. I brought you some food if you’re hungry.”
“Starving, man, I really am,” Andrew all but begged. “I swear, I won’t do anything stupid.”
“There are armed guards here, and I don’t think you’ll like what happens if you try anything,” Ben continued to caution, but he slowly undid the straps around Andrew’s wrists and stood back.
On edge, Ben watched as Andrew sat up, but let out a breath when he merely sat up on the edge of the bed and massaged the sore, red skin below his palms. After a few minutes, Ben handed over a box of the lo mein and a fork, and watched with trepidation as Andrew dug in.
“Thanks, man. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days. You pumping me with an IV or something?”
Ben realized that Andrew likely hadn’t eaten in days. Occasionally Heimdall would feel ravenous hunger and devour pounds of food, but more often than not, he was too distracted to eat and it took constant reminder from the others for the god to take care of Andrew’s basic human needs. Ben knew they were going to have to let this kid go soon.
“Better?” Ben asked.
Andrew nodded as he scraped the last of the noodles out of the box and then gratefully accepted the shrimp and vegetables from the second. “Yeah, thanks.”
“You’re on the mend,” Ben said and he carefully took a seat on the edge of the bed, a few spaces away from Andrew. “I can’t say you’ll make it through your liver problem, but I think whatever the drug was is slowly working its way out of your system.”
“So no more freaky hallucinations. I mean, I’ve never been on a trip like that before.”
“We can hope,” Ben said. He wanted to tell the kid the truth, that it wasn’t drugs, and he’d just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“This like rehab or something?”
“Something like that,” Ben said with a shrug. Suddenly there was a power shift in the air, a tingling like electricity and Ben realized that Heimdall was back. He stood, unsure where to look or how to make the god hear him, and he threw up his hands. “Give me a second,” he said loudly. Andrew looked at him with a frown, and Ben felt the shifting stop.
“What the hell?”
“You’re about to have a hallucination,” Ben said quickly. “Just remember that if you wake up again, you’re safe. We’re just doing what we can to take care of you.”
Andrew’s eyes went wide with panic, but before he could react, a violent current rushed through the room and Andrew was thrown back onto the bed. The food spilled all over the floor, but Ben ignored it as he watched Andrew’s body shiver.
He grew still after a moment, and then, eyes opening wide, he sat up and fixed a glare on Ben’s face. “What the hell were you doing?” he demanded.
Ben crossed his arms and his jaw clenched with frustration. “I was trying to help the poor kid. You all just leave him tied to this bed with no idea what the hell is going on.”
“So?” Andrew asked, getting up and brushing spilled peppers from the front of his shirt. He looked down at the mess in disdain and kicked the food to the side. “What does it matter?”
“Because they’re not animals,” Ben all but shouted, losing his temper finally at the treatment of his kind. “They’re not animals, they’re not vehicles. They’re not playthings, you son of a bitch! These are people and they’re not here for you to use and throw away! He’s going to wake up more fucked up than he was when he was addicted to crack and dying of liver failure because you couldn’t take care of him!”
Andrew rolled his eyes and began to change his shirt. “What do you know?”
That was all it took. Without warning, Ben’s arm shot out, his fingers closing around Andrew’s neck. He had Andrew pinned to the wall before either of them could blink, and Andrew, surprised, didn’t try to move. “I know a lot more than you think I do. I know that human souls are powerful, more than the gods, and I know that we outgrew you. So don’t for a second think that you’re above us.”
Cry, Nike! (The Judas Curse) Page 18