by Polly Iyer
“Jason figured that out, but it made no sense to me. Maia and Dione―you’re not thinking Compton, a very Zeus-like character, did the dirty with his own daughters, are you?”
“Nothing would surprise me anymore. Compton’s a megalomaniac. I wouldn’t put anything past him. Did you see Maia the other night? Not the most outgoing, is she? And the deal she pulled with those two hoodlums. She hates her father, and Selene, too. Again, why? There’s more here than meets the eye.”
“There’s no indication that Compton did anything with those women. Selene isn’t a woman who’d share her man with his daughters.”
“Selene’s either a sexual predator or she’s a big tease. I’ll go with my first impression. Selene and her sisters are all gorgeous and not as dumb as they wanted us to think. My father would call them stacked. Not a bad description either. Like the two girls, Brigid and Nona.” Diana tapped her pencil. “Oh, and I mentioned Nona is the goddess of pregnancy in Roman mythology, but Brigid is the goddess of childbirth. Now doesn’t that ring your bells even a little?”
Lucier scanned her notes more carefully. “So we have disappearing people, satanic elements, stolen babies with IQs that will probably soar off the charts when they’re grown, lots of voluptuous women, and mythological gods and goddesses.” He fell back into the sofa’s cushions. “This is way over my head. What do you think?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not good.”
“I’d need a hell of a lot more to question Silas Compton than your mythology research.”
Diana pointed to the names in the notebook. “Don’t you see? Mythology is all mixed up in this.”
“That proves my point about your Brother Osiris. Another mythological name.”
“Would you stop saying he’s mine. You know why he picked that particular name.”
“Yeah, because he has no―”
“Stop! Don’t say it. He had cancer, for God’s sakes. It’s not like he chose the name without reason. And the name Seth, Crane’s son and Selene’s brother―the one who’s supposedly doing humanitarian work overseas? I remembered what Cash found at the beginning of this case and looked it up. Seth was the brother of Osiris, the one who killed him.”
Heat prickled Lucier’s skin. Rubbing his scalp, he said, “I want you to leave New Orleans and go to South Carolina to stay with your parents.”
She jerked back and scowled. “Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t miss what’s going to happen for the world.”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“That’s exactly why I wouldn’t miss it. Besides, Silas Compton called. He wants to set up a time when I can read the group.”
Lucier’s breath caught. “I hope you said no.”
“I did at first. Then he said he’d donate a million dollars to any hospitals or charities I chose.” She shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I couldn’t turn that down, could I?”
Chapter Thirty-One
Temptation
Maya sat at the dining room table reserved for the elders. No point in being stubborn. She was starved, and she ate with unabashed relish. “Great food, as always,” she said. “Healthy and plentiful.”
“Why did you do it, Maia?” Seth asked, fixing his magnetic eyes on her. “You had to know what would happen.”
Avoiding his gaze didn’t relieve the unnerving effect of his penetrating stare. Steeling herself, she faced him. “Those babies were kidnapped. How can you condone that?”
“I don’t, but my father says we need other genetic material. We’ve tried to keep certain of the youth apart. I’ve segregated some of them because there were…problems. Even a―” Seth turned away, either unable or unwilling to look at her.
“Even a what?” Maia asked.
“A brother and sister―”
“Oh, my God,” Maia said, cutting him off. Her food, delicious just moments before, now rose in her throat like spoiled leftovers. She stood and paced the perimeter of the room. “What are we doing, Seth?”
“I stopped them before it happened a second time. Fortunately, nothing…took.” He looked at her apologetically. “Animal attraction is difficult to control.”
“If anyone should know that it’s you. I’m the perfect example.”
“I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but you’re the only one I’ve impregnated. Oh, I’ve engaged in other sexual liaisons. I am human, after all. But my only children are your children.”
Did she believe him? Did it matter? “Yes, and the last time you drugged me. I’m not a baby machine. I didn’t want another child taken from me as soon as I’d given it sustenance. You can’t imagine how painful that is.” Tears flooded her eyes. Damn. “You raped me, Seth.” She brushed the back of her hand across her cheek to wipe away a tear.
“I’m sorry.” He brushed away another tear.
“Your job may be to make babies; it’s not mine.”
Seth didn’t speak for a while. “After you left―after the last time we were together―I’ve been only an organizer because my sperm didn’t take with anyone else. They even harvested it, but nothing happened. There’s nothing wrong, but…” his gaze locked on Maia’s, “I can only succeed with you.”
Heat engulfed Maia’s body as if flames licked around her, searing her flesh. “This has to stop. You must know that.”
“We’re in too deep. Our culture has been taught from birth, drilled into us. Rejecting everything we know is going against family. Against my father and mother, against my sister―your mother.”
Maia bolted to her feet. “Selene is not my mother. My mother threw herself out a window because life was too unbearable, and your sister waited in the wings with her talons sharpened to drag my father into this abomination. It’s the old story of Faust, isn’t it? Sell your soul to the devil for riches. But this story has a twist―sex. Then one day the devil calls in his marker. Am I my father’s marker, Seth? Am I?”
“Stop!” Seth tipped over his chair when he got up. “This compound can’t be exposed. The world wouldn’t understand our ways.”
“Do you understand? I grew up in it too. Not from birth like you, but early enough to be indoctrinated. I bought into the whole package until I was forced to have a third child. Then I found out about the kidnappings. It’s one thing to keep our ways within the group, quite another to destroy the lives of others by stealing their babies. Don’t you see how wrong this is?”
Seth raked his fingers through his hair. Frustration etched his handsome face, the lines deepening. But he kept silent.
“I know the agony of having my baby torn from my breast. Now we’re doing it to innocent people. People who weren’t brought up like we were. They’re in pain and we’re the cause. We must put an end to this.”
“Don’t say that to anyone else, Maia. As much as I’d like to keep you here, I want you to stay because you want to, not because the leaders forbid you to leave.”
“You’ll tell what I said because duty is burned into your brain, just as fucking is. They’ll never let me go. Not unless you help me. The kidnapped babies must be returned to their parents.”
“I need time to think.”
He’s wavering. Could he finally see the evil?
“They’ll do whatever it takes to stop me. Even my father.” Seth snorted. “Especially my father. Once I break the code, everything’s over. For everyone. You know as well as I that sex and riches are powerful incentives. Incentives my father and his father before him used to recruit the others.”
“People literally sell their souls to the devil, don’t they? Just like we did.”
“We had no choice. Besides, Satan is no different than any other god. Instead of guilt, we have pleasure. How can that be wrong? How can love be wrong?” He moved toward her, traced his fingertips around her nipple. “It wasn’t wrong between us, and you know it.”
Her skin tingled from his touch, excitement shimmered down her spine. “No,” she said, pushing him away. She couldn’t do this
, but she was already limp in his presence. She mustn’t fall under his spell again. “Please, Seth, no. I can’t.”
“I know you want me,” he said, moving even closer. “I hear your heartbeat, feel the tremors when I touch you.”
His hot whispers in her ear sent pulses to her sex. I have to resist him. “I can’t. Please stop,” she begged. “Please.”
He backed away, the hand that caressed her frozen in midair. “I want to make love to you more than anything else in the world.”
Seth always had power over her, ever since they were children. She wanted to believe him, but he was a trained seducer, like his sister. “I suppose you’d keep me here forever, making your babies.”
“It would be my pleasure, but only if you want to. I won’t force you again. I promise.”
“I can’t do anything until the stolen babies are returned. I won’t.”
He shook his head, but said nothing.
“What about Anat?” Maia asked. “Will you keep her locked up forever? She’s your niece, Selene’s daughter, my father’s daughter, my half-sister. She and Cal were the only ones who fought the evil from the beginning.”
“There was no evil here until the new babies. Just love. As for Anat, she’s well cared for. She has everything she needs, and she has her baby.”
“What?” Maia said, her voice pitched high. “Did you drug her too?”
“Honestly? I don’t know how it happened or with whom. I told her with her beauty and brilliance she’d have to conceive sooner or later. She has visitors. I’d say Cal Easley, but I don’t think so for other reasons. If she knows whose baby it is, she’s not telling, and her visitors say she didn’t have sex with them. One of them is lying.” He turned to her. “Maybe you can find out.”
Even if she found out, Maia wouldn’t tell Seth. Anat, beautiful Anat. So different from Maia. “Let me see her, and I demand to see my children.” She paused. “Our children.”
* * * * *
Selene sidled next to Silas into the cushy down of the sofa and flung one long leg over the other. “Do you really think Maia will behave, Silas? She hasn’t been herself lately.”
“What do you want me to do? Lock her up like Anat and throw away the key?”
She coyly twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “It’s an idea.”
Selene’s tone indicated she was joking, but Silas knew her too well to be taken in. “A month or two at the compound will do the trick.”
“If Seth can’t handle her we might have to resort to something drastic. He’s the only one who holds sway over her. She can’t resist him.”
“That’s because the Cranes are irresistible, my dear, but even Seth may have trouble this time, like last. She doesn’t want another child. Not even with your baby brother.”
“Wait and see.”
“I can’t keep her locked up. I won’t. No one knows about Anat and the others, but Maia has a job. She has a life, such as it is. Dione sister will ask questions. Do I tell my other daughter her sister won’t be coming back?”
“What if some nosy reporter starts digging? Not to mention Diana Racine and her cop lover, especially after that fiasco with those two street thugs. They could blow everything to bits. We can’t allow that to happen. We have to control them.”
“We will, but first things first.”
“Is that why you’re arranging these readings?”
“Of course. She’s Diana, Goddess of the Moon, daring and curious, unable to resist tempting fate. It’s as much a part of her as her gift. Besides, your father wants her.”
“I don’t know why. She’s such a puny little thing with none of the attributes to make a man happy.”
“Phillip doesn’t want her like that. Your mother would never consent to another woman.” He slid his hand into the warm notch between her legs. “Is that all you think about?”
“Yes. Pleasing a man has been my destiny since the day I was born, just like my mother from her birth. I don’t hear any complaints from you, considering your hand is in my crotch.”
“Because you’re irresistible.”
Selene inched closer until she was almost on top of him. She unbuttoned his shirt and eased her hand inside. “If Daddy wants Diana Racine, he shall have her. And I shall have you. Isn’t that what you want, darling?” She buried her face into his chest, nibbling his nipples, biting hard until she drew blood, which she sucked with unabashed delight.
“Oooh, yesss,” Compton murmured, pain stimulating the swelling in his loins. “Angel of Darkness, what you do makes me crazy.”
She stood up and slipped out of her skirt and blouse, revealing skin the color of rich cream and breasts that swelled over a low-cut lacy black bra. She wore no panties. “Relax,” she purred, “and let me pleasure you.”
“You’re so cruel. I’m about to burst, but you know that.” Compton’s eyes closed and his head lolled back in ecstasy. “You beautiful witch,” he said, reaching around her back to the snaps on her bra. Her skin felt like the velvet touch of an orchid petal on his fingertips, and he caressed her back in long strokes as he inhaled the sweet scent of sex. She pulled back, as she always did, teasing him into desiring more of her. Leaving him breathless.
“I saw the way that cop looked at you the other night. I saw his hard-on. He couldn’t resist you any more than I can.”
“Hmm, I’m not so sure,” she said, stroking herself. “I think he was playing the game.”
“You found him attractive, didn’t you?”
“Yes. The color of his skin, his strange, exotic eyes. He’s an incredibly sexy man. What’s more irresistible is he doesn’t seem to know it.”
“And you wanted him.”
“Yes. I liked the way he moved, like a cat. I imagine he’d be an excellent partner in bed. Does that turn you on?”
“Thinking of you with a man outside our group has an erotic effect on me. I could watch you fuck him, but then I’d have to kill him. I couldn’t let anyone live who had taken you.” He drew her near, put his lips to her breasts, then his tongue, then his teeth. Her moan hinted of pain but also pleasure, and he felt himself grow harder.
“The thought of you killing someone over me makes me want you more, because no one satisfies me the way you do. Am I not enough for you?”
He took in the beauty of her form. “You’re worthy of the gods.”
She stood and stretched him on the sofa, tugged off his trousers, and tickled her fingers over the length of his now naked body. Teasing his erection, she watched him shudder. He reached for her. “Not yet, baby.”
She strolled to a chest against the wall and opened the top drawer. Along with a pair of handcuffs, she extracted a ring-like contraption and a flogger. She smiled at the look of anticipation on his face when she turned him over and cuffed his wrists behind him.
“Now I’ll make you forget everything else, including your wayward daughter.” She began what would take hours to finish.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Agenda
“I’m not surprised the reading will take place on the night of the crescent moon,” Lucier said, placing a bowl of vegetable pasta in front of Diana. “The obvious timing seems more like a warning to stay away than a temptation for you to go.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but if you insist on going, you’re not going without me.”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t.”
Lucier emitted an under-the-breath scoff.
Spearing a wedge of zucchini, she said, “I know what you’re thinking.”
“Right. You trotted off before without backup. Twice. That hardly makes you trustworthy.”
“Not fair. I had good reason.”
“What about getting into Compton’s car?”
“That…that―”
“Exactly.”
“These people have already tricked me. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn right,” Lucier said. “I don’t suppose Slater will be there, will
he?”
“I didn’t ask, but I wouldn’t count him out. He’d never let me read him, though. He’s never let me touch him.”
“I thought you told me you did. You lied.”
“A tiny white lie so you’d leave him alone.” Diana caught Lucier’s furtive glance. He was jealous of Slater, and her fib didn’t help. A moment of guilt fluttered through her for deceiving him, but another part of her thought his reaction kind of sweet. She’d never been jealous before she met Lucier, and no one had ever been jealous over her.
“You think if I touched him, the same thing that happened with Compton would happen with him, don’t you?”
“You mean you’d see your hand turn black and skeletal? I don’t know, but I bet he’d pass something to you, which is why he’s stayed out of your reach.”
“He’d have to let down his defenses.”
“Compton couldn’t have wanted to transmit to you, yet he did.”
Was Compton so arrogant he’d passed his evil to her on purpose? “Maybe he forced the image into my mind to observe my reaction. No law officer in the word would or could act on an image or vision, nor would a judge or jury accept them as fact. My so-called nightmare? I’d have the courtroom in stitches.”
Lucier swirled linguine onto his fork. “I’m going to try to talk to Dione Compton. She and her sister are close. If she’s convinced something’s happened to Maia, she might talk.”
“Don’t bet the farm. She’s more afraid of Silas than she is of harm to her sister. Or…”
“Or what?”
“Or maybe it’s Selene she’s afraid of.” Diana sipped her iced tea. “Something about that woman gets under my skin.”
“She was the perfect hostess.”
“Yeah, to you. She ignored me.”
“So she’s a man’s woman. Lots of women are.”
Diana kept her silence. Lucier was right. What man wouldn’t respond to a woman who threw her lean, shapely body at him like Selene did to Lucier. If she said anything, he’d call her jealous again. She almost laughed. These were devious people, and they brought out the worst in Lucier and her. Jealousy, suspicion, subterfuge. If they were playing Compton’s game, they were sure learning fast.
