by LJ Vickery
Marduk ignored Absu’s lack of response and kept hammering away at details. “For those of you acting as ambassadors, let our new allies know that we have an enemy who will stop at nothing to see our lives derailed. Huxley,” Marduk turned to the only god who hadn’t been given orders. “I wanted you to take charge here in case I become distracted by the impending birth of my son, but now I’m wondering if you’d like to go hunting Beletseri.”
Huxley’s face lit up, and Absu could almost read the royal prince’s mind. Paperwork and diplomacy, or hunting for a rogue goddess? No contest. Hux grinned an evil slash from ear to ear. “My proverbial bags are already packed. I’m on it.”
Absu almost felt bad for Beletseri, because this time Huxley’s Chosen, Dani-Lee, would be home and safe. Nothing would keep the one-time human from ripping the goddess limb from limb. And he was one who could do it.
Marduk wrapped things up. “I think that’s all the business we have for now. I want everyone to check in with me every night by ten, either in person or by head communication. No exceptions. If you’re off the grid, as Jake would say, we’ll assume the worst and send a posse. Now, if nobody has anything else to add, you’re all dismissed.”
Kulla, standing near the doorway, cleared his throat in a strangled manner and gestured for everyone to stay put. Those rising from chairs, plunked their asses back down.
“You have something to add, Kulla?” Marduk was clearly impatient, anxious to get back to Tess.
The man looked positively green. “There’s no easy way to say this, but in my defense, what I’ve withheld didn’t mean anything in the big picture until Nergal’s announcement.”
Absu had wondered what stick was up Kulla’s ass that had sent him running from the room after the king’s announcement. The divine architect certainly had everyone’s attention now, and he didn’t let the silence drag on.
“I already know who my Chosen is.”
The bombshell hit, and everyone looked shocked, mirroring Absu’s own astonishment. All except Candy, who never reacted predictably.
“That’s awesome, Kulla.” She leaped up and gave the god, who had been invisible to her until she became a goddess, a huge hug. “I’m so happy for you. Plus, that’s one less woman who has to be found.”
“Now, I didn’t say that,” muttered Kulla, awkwardly patting Candy’s back. He attempted to pry her loose, probably because Enlil looked ready to flatten him at the unexpected body contact.
“Explain,” Marduk barked. Absu had a feeling the thunder god wasn’t going to like this.
Candy flounced back to her seat, and Kulla found a chair, fiddling with his fingers as he sought the words to make everyone understand. He looked as if he had difficulty finding a place to start.
“What’s her name?” Lenore prompted, clearly trying to make things a little easier.
“Obedience.” He snorted and shook his head, letting everyone know that the name did not accurately describe the woman. “Obedience Trungle.”
Lenore was the first to pick her mouth up off the floor. “That sounds…fu―okay…witchy, Kulla.”
“Exactly,” he stated with a sigh. “This is going to sound cliché, but Obedience was…is…a witch from Salem.”
Absu wrapped his head quickly around that one as Kulla continued. “I met her on one of our trading expeditions back in Merrymount days and we, uh, hit it off.”
An understatement, to be sure.
“She quickly figured out that I wasn’t quite the human I was pretending to be, and I did the same with her. But she never picked up on the god thing, and of course, we weren’t allowed to tell anyone. Likewise, she never told me she was a witch, but I could detect it, and it certainly wasn’t a problem for me.”
Absu could see where this was going and it was both good and bad.
“I tried to visit Salem as much as possible, but Thomas Morton didn’t like his indentured servants going too far afield. So for the first year, I only saw her three times.” He cleared his throat. “Eventually, Obedience and I began corresponding via courier, and we arranged to meet in Boston once every few months.” Absu and the rest of the gods shook their heads. How could they have missed this bit of business going on right under their noses?
“The first time we, uh, became intimate, I understood she was my Chosen. My fucking amulet lit up like the blazing dawn, and although I was able to hide it from her, I know she sensed our connection. We were both aware that we were more to each other than just a passing fancy. Unfortunately, she was under constant watch by the elders in her community. Her parents had moved on to prevent the disclosure of their immortality to the colony where they lived. And they selfishly left her, as a very young woman, to fend for herself. She wasn’t as pious as the elders demanded, so she was appointed very strict guardians, who monitored her comings and goings.”
“On the rare occasions when we were able to meet, she’d ask me to take her away, to start a life with her someplace else. I told her I was an indentured servant and under obligation for several more years, that I couldn’t leave until I’d fulfilled my covenant. She refused to see why I wouldn’t break that bond and run with her. Again, I couldn’t tell her about being a god, or that I would be brought back to the Underworld if I breached my contract. She saw my refusal as a lack of trust. The more I played for time, the angrier she got, until she finally declined to see me anymore.
“I sent her letters that went unanswered. I traveled to Salem, but found she had put some kind of a protection spell around herself, so I could get no closer to her than a mile.
“Every time I crossed that one-mile mark, I’d find I was headed in the opposite direction from where I’d been going, very much like our protective barrier around the compound here. It was my turn to be angry. I couldn’t believe she wouldn’t wait two more years to marry. My gut burned night and day to be with her, but her heart had grown stubborn.” Kulla looked around. “The rest, you know,” he concluded. “Within a month of shutting me out, we lost our chance at redemption in Merrymount and were rendered invisible.”
Absu felt for his friend. How would he feel if he couldn’t see Charlie anymore?
Kulla’s voice fell even further. “I considered she might still be aware of me, even bodiless, because of her witch powers and the fact that she was my Chosen, but the enchantment that kept me away from her when I was physical also kept me from finding her in my incorporeal state.”
He dropped his head to his hands. “I don’t know what happened to her. I don’t know if she finally left Salem, or if she stayed to be rounded up during the witch trials and put to death. My reasonable brain says she’s alive, because I didn’t feel her death.” If a god was mated, death would be immediate for their Chosen, but none of them questioned what they’d feel if their unmated Chosen were to die. “I’ve looked far and wide for hundreds of years. If she’s alive, her spell must still hold. I’ve never been able to find her.”
“Oh my gods. That’s the saddest story I’ve ever heard.” Lenore had been moved to tears. “I can’t imagine living nearly four centuries without Anshar.” The relationship between a god and his Chosen ran deep. Even without the amulet ceremony, Kulla had to feel the loss right down to his bones every day he existed.
“I wish you’d told us sooner.” Lenore came to stand by the god whose head was now cradled in his arms on the table. “Perhaps the witch community can help you find her.”
Kulla raised his eyes to look at Lenore. “I’ve pretty much shunned witches ever since she shut me out. I haven’t exactly been nice to your mother and grandmother since they arrived on the property,” Kulla admitted. “I accepted you because you mated Anshar, but I’ve gone out of my way to avoid your family. I’ve had a distrust of all things witchy since Obedience cut me off so many years ago.” He took Lenore’s hand. “I’m sorry. I developed a prejudice and I’m not proud of it.”
“It’s okay, Kulla. If Mom and Gram noticed, they’ll understand once they find out what happened.
But how do we go ahead from here?”
“That’s a valid question, Kulla. If we get the warlock, Dorian, to locate Obedience and she’s willing to drop her protection charm, how will you feel about taking her as your Chosen?” Marduk queried.
Kulla spoke through gritted teeth. “I’ll do what is necessary to save all of you. I still love her, but I don’t know if I can ever forgive her for the years of misery I’ve suffered. Even now, just thinking about her makes the pain in my body nearly unbearable.” He grimaced. “Perhaps finding her will put an end to that. The real problem is whether she will even consider mating with me after all this time. She never trusted me after I refused to run with her.”
Absu stood and walked to where Kulla sat, putting a hand on the defeated man’s shoulder. “I know we all feel a deep responsibility for your misery, Kulla. First, for not taking note of your situation when it occurred, and second, for not keeping you safe and whole so that you might pursue your mate.” He tightened his grip. “We will fix this, my friend. Don’t worry. I’m not sure how it will be accomplished, but you will have your mate.”
Marduk, listening to the interaction, turned and left the room without another word. Absu knew why. He felt this failure deeply, acting as the leader of their group. And now, the poor god had the weight of everyone else’s survival on his shoulders. Even Anshar, the betting god, probably wasn’t willing to risk odds that the boss could make everything right this time.
Chapter Five
Tess sent head messages to all the goddesses, then tapped her foot impatiently, waiting. Being the boss’s wife, she’d called her own meeting in her room. She’d sent Marduk away on the pretense of needing several specific dishes to eat, so her time with the women would be short. But with Candy headed off to California, who knew when they would get together next? Discussion of the feminine side of the action needed to be undertaken.
Holly, her twin, was the first arrival, with the rest of the females hot on her heals.
“How are you two feeling?” Candy asked pointedly to the twins.
“Fat and tired,” came Tess’s unhesitating reply. “If this baby doesn’t come soon, I won’t be responsible for my actions. Last night, I made Marduk sleep on the floor so I could have more room in the bed. I’m getting to be a princess bitch.”
The women all laughed before Holly let off some steam. She pointed an accusing finger at Lenore. “How come you and I are both the same amount of pregnant, and I’m still puking and feeling like shit in the second trimester, while you haven’t had one moment of discomfort?”
Lenore pinked up. “I sing to the little guy whenever I start to feel a tad iffy and it calms my tummy right down.”
Tess and the others had come to value Lenore’s ability to sing bad things away, just like the Lorelei from whom she’d descended.
She quickly defended her actions. “I would have shared, but your usual bouts of sickness come early in the morning and late at night, and I didn’t think Dagon would welcome me barging into your bedroom like a big know-it-all.”
“Oh, Lenore,” Holly begged. “I understand that you’re still a little leery of my husband, but Dagon would welcome your help. He’s had enough of holding my hair back to last a lifetime. Next time, I’m calling you in to see if it will work.”
“Fine. I’ll bring a bucket just in case.” Lenore snorted.
“So tell me what’s going on, ladies?” Tess changed the subject back to the issues she wanted to know of, not having been a part of the downstairs meeting. Holly, Glory, and Dani-Lee also were all ears. None of them had eavesdropped on the earlier conference.
“If you ask me, the big bombshell of the day came from Kulla.” Candy told the group―the self-proclaimed Goddess League―everything that had been discussed.
“Wow.” Tess felt terribly guilty. “Marduk’s got his hands full dealing with Kulla’s problem on top of everything else and I’m forcing him to make food and sleep on the floor? My bad. Belly be damned. He’s getting some love tonight.” She looked to Lenore and Candy, who were the best strategists among them. “So, in your opinions, how can we help?”
“We all have brains and laptops,” Lenore stated. “And even if confined to bed,” she tipped her chin at Tess, “we need to use all of our free time to help find potential mates.”
Tess was puzzled, and blurted out her concern. “Wait. How come the guys haven’t asked us to do that already?” she pondered.
Lenore scoffed. “I know why they haven’t requested our help.”
“I’ll bite,” Glory spoke up. “Why aren’t our skills being used? Enten knows I’m a computer nerd.”
Lenore’s eyebrows waggled. “Because our big bad, sexy gods are afraid we’ll find out just how many women they fucked back in the day to create these bloodlines,” she warned. “And I would imagine they were all pretty active.”
Tess knew from Lenore that only Anshar had still been a virgin when they met, but she wasn’t going to let that feline out of the bag. She sighed. Marduk was probably tomcat number one. “So we just have to put the green-eyed monster in each of us to rest, get over ourselves, and treat this academically. Can we do that? Are we all in?”
There was a chorus of “yeahs” and a lot of backbone stiffening, because there wasn’t much the goddesses wouldn’t attempt for their mates. If that meant researching every woman their husbands had tumbled back in the day, well, so be it.
“And we need to kick Absu’s ass into gear,” Lenore huffed. “If the man continues with the white-glove treatment, he’s going to lose Charlie.”
“I’m not sure I agree,” Tess interjected. “It’s very hard for a Chosen to resist her god. Don’t get me wrong. He definitely needs to up his game if—” Tess was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in,” she called. Who knocks in this house?
The door gently came open, and Charlie poked in her head.
“I hope I’m not disturbing anything,” she sent out tentatively.
There was a shaking of heads.
“I heard voices, and I’ve been looking for someone who can give me a little advice.”
“Do tell, chiquita?” Candy flashed a grin to Tess.
Good, Tess sent out. One of our objectives has come to us. She tried to hide a smile as Charlie stepped in. She was certain they could, from the feminine side of things, hurry Absu’s agenda along.
****
“So what are you all up to? A midday pajama party?” Charlie grinned at the various states of dress the women sported, which ran from silk, to sweats, to the red leather mini skirt Lenore had plastered to her sumptuous hips. Charlie liked that. Leather called to her, and she loved the way it felt next to her skin as it warmed. Lenore was clearly a kindred spirit. As well as the leather, those toys in the dungeon totally screamed Lenore’s name.
Charlie narrowed her eyes speculatively toward Candy. Her brother’s teammate might be involved in a little something as well. She nearly laughed out loud. Who was she kidding? Every single one of these women’s husbands looked like the best Doms Charlie had ever seen. Maybe they were all into the scene. She would have to feel that one out slowly, but what fun if it was true.
“We like to make sure our men have the best possible backup for their…missions,” Dani-Lee interrupted Charlie’s thoughts and seemed to choose her words carefully. “They met this morning about various things they need to accomplish,” she shrugged unapologetically, “and then we meet to discuss what we can do to help.”
“And they don’t get mad?” Charlie’s eyes widened at the realization that the women interfered in their men’s work.
“Of course, they do.” Glory laughed, a rich contagious sound that had all the other women joining in.
“But we kick some serious ass, sweetie, and our guys aren’t given a choice.” Candy smirked.
“Although, they make us pay for our transgressions in the nicest of ways,” Lenore added.
That sounded very promising to Charlie.
“But that
isn’t what you came to hear,” Tess prompted.
Little did she know that it was exactly what Charlie needed.
“What can we do to help you?”
Charlie hadn’t planned on letting everyone in on her proposed bathtub tryst with Absu, but what the heck. These women seemed as thick as thieves, and once one of them got the story, the rest would probably have the info within minutes, anyway.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. But please don’t let your husbands know. I would be mortified.”
Every goddess quickly put her hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. All murmuring “of course not” and making big round innocent eyes. Charlie didn’t buy it.
“Yeah right,” she sighed. “But can we at least not let this get back to Absu?” He would, most definitely, be embarrassed.
“That we can promise,” Holly agreed. “Now shoot.”
“I managed to get an invitation into Abu’s big bathtub tonight.”
“Yeehaw! You go girl.” Lenore beamed with what could only be pride. There was a large chorus of huzzahs from the other women.
“That’s great. So what’s the problem?” Candy wanted to know.
“Besides the fact that I’m not sure what to do once I get him there, because he’s so buttoned up?” Her audience nodded, clearly understanding the dilemma.
“Well, other than the obvious, his bathroom looks like a plumber’s showroom,” Charlie complained. “He’s never used the tub before. There are no candles, no scented bubble baths, no fluffy towels, nothing.”
Lenore came over and put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “You have totally come to the right place. Ladies? Who can help?”
“I’ve got the candles.” Holly jumped on it. “Holiday scents? Pinecones and cranberry?”
“That sounds nice.” Charlie grinned and nodded.
“Bubble bath will obscure his…uh…finer assets from your view. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have oils?” Tess looked thoughtful. “During my first hot tub experience with Marduk, bubbles would have definitely been in the way.”
