Cry, Nike! (The Judas Curse)

by Angella Graff

  “It has to end some time, doesn’t it?”

  The question was met with the only honest answer he’d heard in a long time. Silence.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Being behind the wheel of a car carrying Andrew and Persephone, two people Ben was not comfortable around, was frustrating enough. Knowing where they were headed, and why, had set the detective so on edge that the two passengers in the car seemed to know not to say a word.

  Ben wondered what Alex was thinking when he declared that he’d cart Jude and Mark in his own vehicle while Ben would drive the ailing god and the woman who had betrayed him. Persephone rode in the back, her eyes downcast the entire time, but it didn’t stop the pang of anger, sadness and regret every time Ben glanced in the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of her.

  There was a small part of him that wanted to pull the car over, grab her by the shoulders and scream, “Just tell me that you’re sorry and you mean it and I swear I think I can love you again!” The bigger part, however, wanted to pull the car over, draw his gun and put a bullet between her eyes. It was a little psychotic, but every time Abby’s face popped into his head, Persephone’s betrayal surfaced along with it, and it was driving Ben to the point of a breakdown.

  They had gotten to the border of Arizona, stopping in a little town for gas and food, when Ben got the call. His phone began to buzz in his pocket, and thinking it might have been Hades, he grabbed it and answered without checking who was there. “Stanford.” His automatic greeting.

  “You busy?” It took Ben a moment to recognize the voice of Albert, and when he did, fear crept into the pit of his stomach.

  “Just putting gas in my car,” Ben said without indicating where he was or why. “What’s up?”

  “Look, I know I told you I’d only contact you if we had a break in your sister’s case, but right now the department is dealing with a rash of suicides and I was hoping you might have time this week to look into it.”

  Ben frowned and stepped away from the car so no one could hear him. Suicides were typically not their department, and though often enough they looked like homicides, they ended up just being one of those strange full-moon phenomenon that happened every now and again.

  “Got any details for me?” Ben asked. As much as he knew he should hang up, considering he was going off to a war of sorts, anything to distract him, to remind him of his former life before all this had happened, and he clung to it.

  “Well so far nothing specific,” Albert said. “The only connecting factor is that they were primarily women, though two men in the last twenty-four hours were added to the list. Different ages, locations, though it seems concentrated in the downtown area and a few near the bridge, but there’s no connecting race or physical features. The autopsies that have been performed don’t show any signs of drugs or poisons, and all of them lived a wide range of lives from destitute to fantastically wealthy.”

  Ben took a deep breath and looked up at the too-bright, too-blue sky. The old Ben, the detective Ben, loved this kind of challenge. Connecting puzzle pieces together that seemingly made no sense, finding that one tiny, minute detail that had been overlooked to create a giant work of art. Generally leading to a serial killer. It was some of the most satisfying moments in Ben’s past. Now, however, he was just tired and he didn’t know what to tell his boss.

  “Have there been any other signs? Any typical serial markings, anything at all?” Ben asked, knowing the answer would be no.

  “You know that’s the first thing we’ve looked for. As far as we can tell, these are just your average, run of the mill people jumping in front of busses, off ledges and over bridges. We wouldn’t even be looking into this if the death toll wasn’t as high as it is in the last twenty-four hours.”

  “Number?”

  “Sixteen,” Albert said grimly.

  Ben sucked in a breath of air. The gas pump clicked loudly, signaling that the tank was full and he walked over and put the nozzle back. “In twenty-four hours?”

  “Unfortunately so,” Albert said. “We have two other possible related suicides down in San Jose as well, and another about two nights ago, a woman threw herself in front of a bus. We have security footage from a nearby club, but it doesn’t show anything unusual. Bit of visual disturbance, but that’s typical for the recording software they’re using.”

  Never in his life did Ben ever thing his mind would go right to the supernatural, but right then, it did. Visual disturbances pointed to possible gods, or whatever the hell else there was out there, and Ben figured it would be worth a look. “Look Albert, I’m sort of on the road right now, gone a few days, but if you don’t have any leads by the time I get back, I’ll come in, check out that video and see if I can come up with anything.”

  “Thanks,” Albert breathed. “I hate to do this to you while you’re recovering but—”

  “It’s fine, no worries,” Ben said. He saw Alex start to approach the car, so he finished up with, “I have to get going but I’ll be in touch soon.” With that, he ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

  “Who was that?” Alex said as he leaned against the side of Ben’s car.

  “My boss,” Ben said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Not important. Everything okay on your end?”

  “Oh the boys are arguing, as usual,” Alex said as though he was talking about a couple of bickering siblings. “Yours?”

  “Total silence,” Ben said. “Honestly though it’s better that way. I’m torn between wanting to comfort her and wanting to kill her and bury her body in the desert.”

  “You do realize that you’re probably going to have to do just that, don’t you?” Alex warned. “With Persephone gone, Stella isn’t going to be able to function on her own.”

  Ben let out a breath of air and gave a nod. He didn’t tell Alex that it had been his plan all along, though he still wasn’t sure he could go forward with premeditated murder. Killing a god-bearing vessel who was pointing a gun at him was one thing. Taking out a woman, possible serial killer or not, just because he was afraid of who she might tell his secrets to, was something completely different.

  “Look, we’ll be there soon enough. We need to get right to the portal site, so you’re going to need to stay ahead of us and make sure Persephone doesn’t try any detours. The closer we get, the more Andrew and I should be able to sense the thing, so he’ll tell you if you’re on the right track.”

  Ben nodded again and wordlessly nodded a farewell to Alex as the god stomped back over to his own vehicle. Andrew and Persephone, who hadn’t left the car, looked at Ben as he got in, but another silence settled on the trio as Ben pulled out onto the highway to finish their trek.

  ~*~

  “We’re going to have to hike it to get there,” Persephone’s quiet voice said, breaking through the ringing silence in the car. Ben was navigating impossibly winding roads, creeping along at a speed barely registering on the dash. They reached the small city of Sedona, but Persephone directed them down a small road heading north up the mountain.

  Ben drove in an agonizingly slow pace, following Persephone’s directions until she pointed to a small stone spout on the side of the road. “There,” she said.

  Ben turned on his signal, pulled over, and frowned at the spot. The stone spout was pouring out water, gushing into a small ditch and down the hill. Turning off the car, Ben got out and listened, hearing rushing water not far off, but whatever it was, it was likely a creek rather than a river.

  “Should we just leave the cars?” Mark asked as he climbed out of Alex’s car. “Obviously whatever’s going to happen, the last thing we need is for you,” he nodded to Ben and then over to Alex, “both to have the police on your tail.”

  Ben ran his thumb and fingers around his mouth and down his chin in thought. He grabbed his cell phone, which had no bars, but that didn’t matter. It was getting late, and he knew they had several hours on Hades and Nike, if they were taking the long way. That, howeve
r, was something he didn’t know, and was frustrated that he hadn’t asked.

  “We should do something with them,” he finally said.

  “I think Andrew and I can handle them,” Alex stated as he looked up and down the small, winding road. There wasn’t a car in sight, nor were there any people. “Hades and Nike, wherever they are, aren’t anywhere nearby. Yet.”

  “Unless Hades cloaked himself,” Persephone spoke up.

  Being that she hadn’t said a word about their situation since being found out, Ben was surprised, but he couldn’t look at her. Instead he turned to Andrew, who was a shocking shade of yellow, and his hands were trembling against his sides. “I don’t think he’s in any shape to be doing anything,” Ben warned. “How far is this hike?”

  Persephone gave a small shrug. “About a mile, I think.”

  Ben let out a frustrated sigh, threading his hands into his hair. “I feel like this is just a colossally stupid idea. I mean, we have no means of communication, we’re going on the good faith of a thing, whatever he is, who could possibly be working against us, and he’s dying.”

  Andrew gave Ben a pained smile and said, “The human inside is dead already.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Ben cursed.

  “The body will handle a hike,” Andrew continued, ignoring Ben’s ire. “A mile won’t kill it. We all knew I wasn’t going to last regardless, but I can hang on until Nike arrives.”

  “I’ll go with Alex,” Mark piped up finally. “Alex will be able to figure out where you all are now that we’re close to the portal. Right?”

  Ben glanced at Alex who gave a sharp nod. “Yeah, I can feel it already. You four just head out and start getting yourselves prepared.”

  Ben didn’t want to agree, didn’t want to do this at all. He felt naked, alone, and completely vulnerable. He forced himself to remember his sister, remember Nike walking around in her body. He forced himself to remember the basement and the tortured bodies of Jude and Mark. It was that alone which allowed him to grab his gun, grab their overnight bag, and head off into the woods.

  The suit he was wearing quickly became uncomfortable, sticky with sweat, and he slipped more than once because his shoes were made for the office, not for hikes. Andrew lagged behind, slowing the group, but it didn’t really matter. They were getting there, and everyone seemed fairly certain that Nike wasn’t nearby just yet.

  Jude stayed slightly ahead of the group, walking alongside Persephone in case she fled, though Ben had a feeling she wouldn’t. Not now, not after everything that happened. Ben kept one hand at the ready in case Andrew collapsed, but about fifteen minutes into their trek, they came to a clearing and Persephone stopped.

  “There,” Andrew said, and Ben followed his finger to a ring of stone in the center of a plateau. Ben hadn’t realized that they were up on a plateau, the layout of that land confusing and had turned him around. He didn’t see anything different, just like he hadn’t in Greg’s office, but he could feel it this time. There was that pulsing energy coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and it set every hair on his body standing straight up.

  “Now what?” Ben asked, looking at Jude and Persephone who were a few paces away.

  Persephone shrugged. “Better to keep our distance for now. That portal’s strong, and we don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention. A dozen or so of the other gods have aligned themselves with Nike, and it’s possible she’s told them to keep on the lookout for when we arrive.”

  Ben didn’t trust her, but it was sound enough advice. He didn’t need to see the portal to feel how powerful it was, and he realized that his hands were trembling from rapid surges of adrenaline. He dropped the overnight bag down on the ground and looked around. The plateau was covered in tall trees, though the landscape was red, a sort of adobe color, like clay stretching on for miles. Had they not been on a veritable death march, Ben might have thought the place was nice looking.

  “Let’s start a fire. It’s going to get cold soon, and Andrew looks like he needs the rest,” Jude said, speaking for the first time since they got on the trail.

  Ben couldn’t argue with that. Andrew looked like he was minutes away from shuffling loose the mortal coil, and the last thing Ben needed was their one and only chance of dragging Nike through that portal to crap out on them so early.

  “What happens if you die?” Ben asked as he grabbed pieces of dried, fallen wood from the ground. Jude had dug a small pit in the adobe sand for the piles of wood.

  “Are you asking me?” Andrew asked, his eyes half-closed as he rested against one of the larger boulders. Ben rolled his eyes, preparing a sarcastic comment, but Andrew continued. “I don’t know. Obviously I would exit this body. My powers aren’t strong enough to maintain these organs, and unfortunately the human soul is long gone.”

  Ben felt another stab of grief. Andrew had deserved to live out his last days as himself. Regardless of the death not being Andrew’s fault, Ben hated that the god had robbed the human of those last moments. “And what happens to your incorporeal form?”

  “I’m tied to the elements,” Andrew said with a slight shrug, his eyes slipping further closed. “I don’t have a host body to return to the way Alex does, so I suppose I’d just go back into the wind.”

  Ben pursed his lips but said nothing as he arranged the wood with some pine needles for kindling, and used his lighter to get it started. It didn’t take long before a fire was roaring, and as the sun dipped low into the west, he felt concerned that Alex and Mark were taking so long.

  “Mark’s fine,” Jude said after a few moments, seeming to read Ben’s thoughts. When Ben looked at him sharply, Jude quirked a smile. “You looked concerned.”

  Ben sighed and ran his hand down his face. “You don’t think they’re taking too long?”

  Jude shrugged. “Perhaps they are, but I just know they’re not in danger.” He glanced over at Andrew, who had slipped into unconsciousness, his breathing labored, but steady for the moment. “He may not make it to dawn.”

  “I figured as much,” Ben said. He glanced to his right where Persephone sat, slightly aglow in the violent orange of the setting sun, out of earshot, but far enough that Ben couldn’t drag her back if she tried anything stupid.

  “This isn’t the end of the world, you know,” Jude said after a long pause.

  “What?”

  Jude laughed and slipped further into a reclined position. “I know it feels like it, like the world’s going to come to an end. But it isn’t. Nike’s going to be stopped, Persephone is going to die, Alex is going to leave, and Mark and I will continue to exist.”

  “You see all of that?” Ben asked curiously, not sure whether to believe the strange immortal.

  Jude gave a shrug. “Sometimes what I see is total and utter nonsense. Sometimes what I see is the truth. It’s hard to tell the difference.”

  “And what about Apollo? What about that whole mess? Where does that end?” Ben asked, because he knew that despite what Mark had done, it wasn’t totally over. Jude wasn’t cured, he was just woken.

  Jude’s smile went tense and he sighed. “It hurts, to think about him. I met him for thirty seconds, really, but that thirty seconds turned into an eternity, before and after my existence. He’s still in there, too,” he said, tapping his temple. “I can feel him, whispering, talking to me. He’s only quiet when Mark is around.”

  Ben winced because he knew deep down that Jude would never be really loved by Mark. Ben had only read a fraction of their history, but in those words, their history screamed volumes. Mark was never really there for Jude, not then, and not in the end. Jude’s loyalty was his Achilles heel, and Ben was bound and determined to never feel that way about anyone. Ever. Not even his sister.

  He glanced back at Persephone almost involuntarily and he felt his throat tighten just a fraction. “It’s almost over,” he said quietly.

  “For you,” Jude replied.

  Ben had nothing to say back, because wha
t could he say to the absolute truth. They were dealing with a problem that was here and now. A threat to the human race, to the gods and to existence itself. A threat that had destroyed everything Ben had ever known and believed in, and everything he hadn’t. Ben was never going to be the same, but he would still move on from it. He would move on, go back to work, he would live his life and one day he would die.

  He knew now there was something more after that, but he took comfort in the fact that it wasn’t pearly gates and robed angels and a vengeful god who smote the gays and the adulterers. Whatever it was, Ben didn’t worry about it, because there wasn’t hellfire waiting for him, and he took comfort in the fact that despite his many mistakes, he was a good guy deep down. And frankly, above it all, he just didn’t need to understand what came next.

  For Jude and Mark though, it just kept going. This purposeless existence, with no guide, no answers, no peace. Ben didn’t particularly like Mark, and he still just didn’t get Judas, but he still felt for them. A lot of their pain had been his fault, and even when this all ended, and he took care of this threat, they wouldn’t have any real reprieve. They still had to exist underground, hiding from any and everything that wanted to leech off of Jude’s powers, and tap into Mark’s strength and control. Yeah, it was over for Ben, but that would be it.

  A rustling sound startled Ben, and he on his feet before he was fully out of his thoughts, gun drawn and pointed. He kept his knees bent, ready to run if need be, but a second later, Mark and Alex appeared from the cover of the trees.

  Ben let out a shaking breath and holstered his pistol. “Jesus, a quick, ‘it’s us, don’t worry guys,’ might have been nice,” he complained.

  Mark smiled but said nothing as he took a seat next to Jude, and Alex dropped his bag near the fire where Andrew lay. “Sorry,” Alex said, staring down at his companion. “Has he been out long?”