"Ereshkigal?"
"No. Not her. Enki."
"He's the god that rescues Inanna?"
Her smile warmed. "You are so close. No. He does not rescue Inanna. He sends two sexless beings to do it." She repeated one word for emphasis. "Sexless."
Then it clicked. "The virgins."
Her hand patted his cheek, sending the fire down his spine again. "Historically, it's been literally sexless. Eunuchs, or maybe hermaphrodites or some odd intersex people, if you really stretch your interpretation of the texts. Eunuchs can be a little hard to find these days. So Enki found himself a loophole. Change the meaning of sex, and you get a whole new pool of candidates to choose from."
"So he's been trying to get two 'sexless' virgins to save Inanna?"
Her nod was slow. "I may or may not have tipped off a certain underworld goddess to his plans."
"And it's Ereshkigal hiring me to kill them so they come under her powers as goddess of the underworld and can't be used by Enki."
"Bingo."
"But I haven't killed anyone. Why hasn't Enki made his move with the ones I haven't killed? There have been a dozen. Surely he could get two of them…"
"You're not all Ereshkigal has been using to protect herself. She knows who to watch for, and she has other traps and ambushes set for anyone journeying down to her realm."
He furrowed his brows at her choice of words. "Ambushes? You didn't help with that, either, did you?"
Insidia smiled large enough to show perfect white teeth. "I enjoy playing both sides. I don't have to be trapped in cyclical arguments with anyone. And I do like the entertainment of watching them bicker."
"So… you help Ereshkigal thwart Enki, and you help her defend her realm, but then you make sure I can't kill anyone Ereshkigal wants killed?" He paused and felt his shoulders slump. "Why do I have the feeling you recommended me to Ereshkigal to hire?"
"Because you're part of the entertainment. Also…" She leaned back up to whisper again. "I also helped Enki find his little loophole. You didn't guess that one."
"But why? Why make all this trouble?"
"I told you. For the entertainment, Luc Sebastien. Oh, sweetling, when will you ever realize you can do things simply for the joy of them? You could take some pleasure in life sometimes. It's marvelously satisfying. Stop being so stiff."
"So…now what, then? Now that I know your game, what happens? Ereshkigal isn't going to hire me anymore. Her agent K-J took out a contract on me instead. It's game over."
Deep blue filled her eyes, taking them over completely. "They broke the rules. Both of them. Enki figured out my game. Ereshkigal is playing right into his hands now. You were the next sexless being Enki was going to tap and bend to his will to rescue Inanna."
"Me? I'm not sexless or a virgin. How could I be sent to rescue Inanna?"
Insidia's eyes flashed. "Enki seems to have the taste for loopholes now. That ass. It's been what, five years since you've had sex? More than that. How long since Gilles? And even if he overlooked that, there's another technical loophole. You've never had sex with a woman, Luc. Call it the right way or not, but that's sex. You're pure as a lamb as far as he's concerned. He thinks he can outdo me. He cannot. You're mine, and I will not let him twist you to his ends."
"So he picked me, and Ereshkigal put out the contract for me to stop him." It wasn't a question.
"I claimed you, Luc Sebastien. I am not about to give you up to some stuck-up douche who only wants to tweak Ereshkigal's ear and get Inanna on his side. Again. I'm taking you off the table."
She allowed his pause to consider her words. "You stopped the Order of Hell from killing me. Just now."
Her grimace made him feel almost dirty. "And it took a considerable amount of effort from me. You'll have to finish off that threat yourself. But I can at least get you off Enki's radar. You promised me worship, Luc Sebastien. Did you mean it?"
He stiffened. He had said that. He had offered his devotion in exchange for the rules to her game. She'd given more than the rules; she'd explained everything. Almost everything. Luc still wasn't certain he really believed it, but there were things he definitely couldn't explain. Like his sudden realization that despite the downpour that had been soaking him, he was completely dry and warm. Water still came down in sheets around them, but with Insidia so close, nothing touched him. He tilted his head up. Raindrops bulleted down to strike something like an invisible umbrella over their heads. It trailed down a dome to come down in a circular curtain just out of reach. He could still see the pyramid of bullets and the throwing star balanced on its tip. He'd seen things happen that were impossible.
She was impossible.
And yet, she was.
"If that's what it takes for me to have my life back, to be able to function, I will worship you. So from now on, no more virgins? They go along with the children I cannot kill?"
"No, no, no. Just for now," she replied. "Until Enki eventually wins out. He's doing it now, actually. He found his two sexless ones while Ereshkigal was distracted by having her Order of Hell assassins chasing you down. Inanna will be free by dinnertime, and the whole cycle will start over again. Just as it has for a thousand years. A thousand thousand, even. She'll be done with you. Oh, she'll have her anger at the whole situation. Maybe she'll even blame you, but I won't let anything happen to you if you truly are mine."
"What about the Order of Hell?"
"I can't help with that. They have their own reasons to go after you. But you know that."
He sighed. "What do I have to do? Build a temple to you? Offer prayers once, thrice, five times a day? Sing hymns? Paint myself with ram's blood and dance around a fire?"
"That's disgusting. No. Something much simpler. You've already given your word to me, Luc Sebastien. What I want is little more than that."
Luc didn't feel himself move, but the incessant pattering of the rain was gone, replaced by a bright, sunlit sky. The pavement beneath his shoes became fine, white sand. Little Neck Creek was an ocean with blue-green water so clear he could see to the bottom. Tropical trees rose around them. Vibrant hibiscus in a dozen different shades sent their perfume into the air, filling his nostrils.
"I want to close a couple of loopholes. That is my price for your protection. You have your rules, and I have your devotion. You know I exist. Call my name, and I may answer if it suits me. But for my intervention, I need something more."
Luc felt his heart speed up in anticipation. They were entirely alone. He didn't know where, but he was certain of their solitude. "What is it you want?" he asked, already knowing the answer. He was beginning to sweat, partly from primal desire, partly because he was far overdressed for the heat he suddenly found himself in.
"Luc," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. "Worship me."
13
Luc had noticed the digital clock radio on the nightstand in the island's bungalow when Insidia first dragged him into the bed. It had said 10:23 then, and those artificially green numbers stared back at him as he lay with her nestled against him after a marathon of sex. He sincerely doubted it had been exactly twelve hours since he'd first noticed it. He'd heard of the Earth moving and of time stopping during lovemaking, but had never experienced either. He doubted this was the normal time stop most people referred to.
One of Luc's fingertips gently brushed Insidia's bare shoulder. It had been over half a decade since he'd touched anyone like that, and he found it still semi-automatic. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed the closeness of having a lover beside him.
"I'm not asleep," Insidia murmured beside him. She shifted, tilting her head to look at his face. "I have to say, I'm amazed you're not. Some stamina."
He couldn't fight the chuckle that wanted to bubble up. The insanity of the situation tickled him just the right way. He'd bedded a goddess. Or had she bedded him? It was difficult to say, really. She'd brought him to the bed, but he'd been the one to get down to business. It hadn't been on the business side of the
business/pleasure line for long, though. And it hadn't been a brief tryst, either.
He would keep the memory of their coupling close, a memory only for him. And cherish it though he might, he knew that it could never happen again. She was a goddess. There would always be strings attached to her. He didn't want to be tied any more tightly than he'd already become.
"You need to stop keeping your stamina to yourself. Get around some, Luc. You're robbing the world of something wonderful. And you could do with a little more experience," she added, nipping at the side of his chest.
He raised his eyebrows at her. Her laughter was barely contained behind her smile. He stared into her eyes. "I didn't give you the rise you wanted when you called me American. What makes you think this will get a rise from me?"
Even her pout was halfway to laughter. "Get rid of the cold, untouchable exterior. You're so much prettier without it. And you could do with some friends. You have more potential for them than I think you realize. Romance, too."
"I'm French," he said, refusing to let her change the subject. But damnit, it was a hint of a rise. He'd just thwarted himself.
"French, Belgian, American. Gay, straight, bisexual, liberal, conservative, Christian, Muslim, atheist, Hindu. You people and your labels. You're mortal. You're human. So much of me hates seeing how all you earthbound ones bicker and kill one another, but then I remember you learned from us, and it's in my nature to enjoy the misguided reality show that is the human experiment."
"And that's when you play games," he said. "Like with me." Shaking his head, he extracted his arm from underneath her, stood, and stretched. He did have to admit, the release of their activities did feel good. His muscles felt more limber, his mind clearer. And for the first time in months, he could think of this sort of activity and not mourn how he'd ruined his relationship with Gilles. He could move on.
"Games help keep me sane. You could do with some sanity on your part, too. Loosen up. Stop with the paranoia."
"I'm not paranoid," he protested.
"Please. I can see through you like a one-way mirror. You're one of the more paranoid people I've ever had the pleasure of having sex with. Doesn't matter if it's justified and everyone is out to get you. You can relax. There are people who have your back. Find them. Make friends."
"You sound like my mother."
She smiled wickedly, staring back into his eyes for a moment before taking in his naked form. "Do I?"
He rolled his eyes and tugged on his pants, deciding to change the subject. "This with Ereshkigal, Inanna, and Enki is all over now, right?"
"For this cycle, anyway. All taken care of."
Luc shook his head. "I never really thought Deus Ex Machina was a thing."
She tilted her head at him, only barely holding the sheets up to cover her womanly curves. "And why not? We can have our fun. Who's to say there isn't more of it than you realize? Have you never known things to just work out before?"
"'Just work out?' For me? No. That doesn't happen. There's always something left undone. Something I have to deal with myself."
Her eyebrow cocked at him. "You're not off the hook completely, Luc. I didn't fix everything. If you must, you can still be paranoid to your heart's content about the Order of Hell. And the Knights Templar. In fact, that paranoia I might recommend."
He swallowed and dug through the discarded clothes for his undershirt. "What now, then? You send me back to Virginia and… I go on as if this business didn't happen? I only have to worry about the Templars and the Hell assassins?"
"Until the next game, sweetling. Just keep in mind the rules are always changing." She rolled to her other side and stood. By the time she was clear of the sheets, she was fully dressed. Luc glared at that. Insanity.
"Do I get any hints about the next game?" he asked.
Her smile would have been poison to anyone else, but Luc thought he at least had her partly figured out. Maybe. The outward appearance, anyway. "Dear Luc, where's the fun if I give away the rules?"
He shrugged and pulled his undershirt over his head, then his sweater. The room was stifling with the thick sweater on, but he doubted she'd leave him here much longer, now that their encounter was clearly over. It would be back to February in Virginia and the cold. He would want all his layers to keep the frigid wind from ripping through his skin to freeze his core. He more than half expected her to do whatever trickery transported him back before he had his socks and shoes or coat on, just to play to her ambushing nature. When she still hadn't by the time he was shrugging into his heavy coat, he began to dread what was going to come. So what if he was paranoid? It was justified. The Order of Hell was on his trail again. She was goddess of deception and ambush. He had every right to be paranoid.
Once he had his coat zipped, he looked up to speak to her.
Insidia was gone.
Luc sighed and glared at the empty bed. He should have known.
There was the ambush.
14
There was one good thing about being trapped on a tropical island by Insidia; Luc had time to think while waiting for rescue. Of course, that free time came after a rather awkward phone call. The bungalow had no phone, but Luc's cell still had battery life and a signal. He'd hated thinking about what the roaming charges were going to be like, but he dialed the office anyway.
Scout picked up on the first ring. "East Coast Guildhall. Scout speaking."
"Scout, I need to make this call quick," he said, thinking about the damn charges. Money wasn't really an object for him, but he still hated being careless with it.
The long pause on the other end of the line didn't go along with that frugality. "…Father Luc?"
"Yes, Scout. You can officially take the ECAA and guildhall out of lockdown. Reopen, send an all clear to anyone not there, and… I need to figure out where I am."
"Luc Bertrand?"
"Yes, Scout. Can you do whatever magic it is you do and locate me? I need to get back there as soon as possible."
"How did you get this number?"
It was Luc's turn for a long pause. "Scout, what…"
"Luc Bertrand has been missing for months. How am I supposed to believe you're him?"
He almost burst out laughing in frustration. Damn Insidia. This had to be her fault. He glared at the clock that still said 10:23. "Stereotypical method is to say to ask me something only the real Luc would know," he finally said. "But we all know that sort of thing is bullshit. You could find people's secrets in ten minutes if you wanted, Scout."
"More like five," came a mumble from the other end of the line. There was another pause. "But this call is coming from a Guild-randomized number…is it really you, Father Luc?"
"It is. So if you can trace me somehow, send a plane or a boat or something to get me, I'd be most appreciative."
"A boat?"
"I'm somewhere in the tropics. Hawaii, maybe? Fiji? I have no clue. Secluded island. Small."
"I'll see what I can get on GPS." There was another pause and some clicking of keys. "When you didn't return after the lockdown, Father, we feared the worst. It was four days before Betty and I finally reported the situation to Father Reuben."
Luc winced. Father Reuben Gleissner had been the one to throw Luc to the wolves to rehabilitate the ECAA. He'd been there to pick him up after Luc made his first kill. Luc both hated and respected the man. "What did Father Reuben say?"
"He said he'd see about a replacement soon. Still don't have one." Another hesitation. "It will be good to have you back, sir. The place isn't the same without you."
"Thank you. But… still without a replacement? How many months has it been? What day is it?"
"I'm going to have a lot of questions for you about this trip of yours, Father Luc. But it's Christmas Eve. ...Sir? are you there? You've went quiet."
"Christmas Eve?" Ten months? More than ten months? Insidia had kept him there for ten-- "Wait, Scout. What year is it?"
"2009."
Relief crashed onto Luc. F
or a moment, he'd worried it had been more than ten months, that he'd been gone for years. But no, Insidia had skipped him not quite a year. It was still 2009. For a week, anyway. And Christmas Eve. Lovely.
"I've got you!" Another pause. "You're in… Vanuatu?"
"Where?"
"The Pacific. Southern Hemisphere. A ways off the coast of Australia. How did you get there?"
"Later, Scout. Can you get me out of here?" Southern Hemisphere. That explained the summery weather. At Christmas.
"As soon as possible, Father. I'll arrange rides. It may take a few days…"
Luc strode to the bungalow's kitchen. The refrigerator was stuffed with food. "I'll manage for a few days. Don't contact me too much. There isn't a cell phone charger here."
"I'll text you your first pickup time once I have it."
Luc pulled his phone from his face and checked the display. Like the clock, it said 10:23. Not even an A.M. or P.M. on it. The date was missing, too. He grimaced. "I'll just keep a watch out. It's a small island. Boat will probably be best. I think I can see a bay that could fit a small watercraft. I don't think I have any reliable source of timekeeping here, even if you do tell me when to expect a ride. Just get me out as soon as you can."
"Yes, Sir."
"And you can tell Gleissner to cancel the replacement. I'm sure staffing is as thin as it was when I first got the job."
"Will do. See you in a few days, Father."
"You, too, Scout."
It was after that call that Luc had all the time to think. He stripped out of the layers of clothing, down to his underwear, and decided to take advantage of his situation. The water was clearer than crystal and warm, to boot. He couldn't help but think it wouldn't be so bad to spend Christmas here.
He had barely stepped into the ocean when it struck him. The Pacific Ocean. Off the cast of Australia.
The International Date Line.
Luc laughed, his disbelief sounding over the waves. He was a day ahead of Scout.
"Joyeux noël to me."
Luc Bertrand- American Assassin Page 15
