by LJ Vickery
“Let me go, you fucker.” The language was certainly heartening to Bel. She’d gotten sick and tired of the simpering female cats surrounding Ridhwan, they were all a bunch of spineless pussies.
But this approaching bundle of anger? This could be good. At best, it would be another person who could help Bel to escape. At worst, the woman would break the infinite boredom. Bel would have a new and interesting playmate to keep her diverted. And for those reasons, Bel stepped forward to intervene. She couldn’t have them damaging the best thing that had happened to her since she’d ended up in the godsforsaken hole.
“Give her to me,” Bel ordered the cat with an attempt to conjure her once-commanding voice. “Attend to your kitty-friend before he expires. It looks like he needs some serious help.” Bel certainly hoped so.
A small, writhing body was thrown her way, and thank gods, whoever it was caught herself before plowing into Bel. The impact would have sent the goddess crashing to the ground. Instead, Bel held out a hand to steady the projectile-being.
“Get your hands off of me,” the scrapper yelled, and Bel backed off.
“Okay, I don’t have to be told twice.” The goddess put both palms up, face out. “I’m captive here too,” she said out loud.
But they can’t hear or speak our language in their heads. Bel took a long sniff and filled her nose with the other’s energy. But how is it you can? You’re not a goddess.
Who wants to know? Large dark eyes, framed in a pale face surrounded by long ebony hair, blinked suspiciously in her direction.
The name is Beletseri, Bel offered. As far as she knew, it would mean nothing to whoever this was
Oh my gods, the female cried. Matthew’s Beletseri? Bel’s guest dropped hard to her butt in what looked to be shock.
Bel, also knocked for a loop, recovered first. Crouching low, her heart beat faster. That’s me. How do you know Matthew? Who are you?
Instead of answering, the new captive looked around. Shit. That means we’re in the jungle somewhere. Somewhere they can’t find us. She shook her head, panicking. Man, am I screwed.
Bel moved forward and took hold of the girl’s shoulders. The goddess needed answers before shock set in.
Tell me who you are, and why you’re here?
The girl blinked twice.
My name is Riley. And I’m pretty sure they took me by mistake.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Verrie sat in the kitchen, fretting about Dumuzi being in hell. She poured her third cup of tea and sat, joining several goddesses who were also brooding about their men. Jake, Douglas, and Dorian, who had stayed behind, were keeping them company, doing a lot of smirking at the women’s fussing when a faint call came in.
Immortals…school… It was Dagon’s voice. Two words, then…silence. Verrie leaped to her feet as Tess tried to contact the god again, unsuccessfully, then attempted Enten, also with no luck.
“Sienna. Riley,” Verrie cried, suffused with panic but not knowing what to do. Her eyes darted this way and that to goddesses who were suddenly checking holsters and grabbing carving knives out of drawers. They were wasting no time.
“What’s going on?” Dorian grabbed Tess’s wrist as her fingers closed around a meat-cleaver. The warlock couldn’t tune to head-talk and needed to be brought up to speed, quickly.
“Call from Dagon,” Tess barked. “From the school grounds. He was cut off, and now, there’s no reply. We need to move. Fast.”
Dorian was gone in an instant. He’d be first on the scene because of his ability to transfer from place to place instantly. The rest of the immortals had to travel god-style, but they would be on site in less than five minutes.
Candy took a hard hold of Verrie’s arm. “You stay here. I’ll keep you plugged into my brain every second we’re gone, so you’ll know what’s happening.” The goddess turned and noticed Glory was grabbing a lethal looking screwdriver from the junk drawer. “And oh no you don’t,” she raised her voice shrilly. “You will stay here with Verrie,” she ordered. “There’s no way we’re explaining to Enten why his extremely pregnant wife put herself in danger.”
“But my husband…”
“…will be fine,” Candy pointed a finger at the goddess. “Unless you’re there to distract him.” She was half-way misted when she snapped one more order. “And call Absu.” The god was with Frank. “Tell him we have trouble and to get his charge home right now…and to watch his ass.”
Charlie negated the need for Glory to head-connect after Candy completely disappeared. “Don’t bother, Glory. I’m going to Absu in case the shit hits the fan for him, too, but don’t worry you guys. Between the two of us, we’ll have Frank back in no time.” She disappeared without another word, and the kitchen went suddenly quiet.
Verrie found herself in the embrace of Glory―as hard as that was around the enormous mound of the goddesses stomach―but the contact was comforting.
“They have to be fine.” Verrie tried like mad to hold back her tears. “Dagon and Enten wouldn’t let anything happen to the girls.” Glory continued to stroke her back but didn’t answer. The goddess stifled a groan. Surely that wasn’t good.
It seemed like the longest five minutes of Verrie’s life, waiting for Candy to get to the scene and connect back. In the meantime, she heard Glory mind-calling Ereshkigal in Hell to get help reaching the guys who had gone to confront the demons in Galla’s realm. There was no way for the goddess to contact the Blue Hill contingency by conventional means. On earth, they used satellite dishes and towers to transmit their head signals over long distances. There were no such conveniences down below. The best Glory could do was contact the queen who had the power of communication within all Hell’s realms. Ereshkigal would alert Marduk and company. The gods, accompanied by Nergal, needed to know there was an emergency at home
After a minute or two of trying, the goddess made a frustrated noise. “I can’t seem to reach her,” Glory worried. “Perhaps she’s visiting her sister…” At that extremely opportune moment, Anna walked into the room, looking for Jake.
“Wow. It’s a ghost town around here. Has anybody seen my husband?” she asked, wiping the sweat off of her face with her shoulder.
“You don’t know?” Glory’s mouth dropped open.
“Know what?” Clearly, Anna hadn’t been privy to the activity taking place. Verrie noted the work-out clothes, then spied the ear-buds draped around the goddesses neck.
“You’ve been cranking the tunes again.” The pregnant goddess shook her head but wasted no time filling Anna in. “There was a call from the school grounds. Dagon was just able to let us know there was trouble. Everyone took off except us.” Glory snapped her fingers. “We were just trying to reach your sister, Eresh, so she can let the guys in Hell know something’s up. But she’s not answering. I’m thinking she might be up above, visiting Ish-Din or your father.”
The situation was instantly clear to the savvy goddess. “I’ll find her.” Anna quickly downed a glass of water that had been abandoned on the counter and disappeared. Verrie didn’t know what to make of that and must have looked confused because Glory explained.
“Anna is half-sister to Eresh and Ish-Din. Their father is the old king, Shulmanu, and Anna’s the newfound illegitimate sibling. Luckily, that still makes her blood to an Overworld being which means she’s allowed up there when we’re not. If Eresh is visiting, Anna will find her.”
“Okay…” Verrie’s bewildered reply was cut off by Candy’s voice.
We’re here you guys. Dagon’s hurt, we don’t know how badly yet, Holly is checking. Enten’s down too and not moving. Dani’s going to him. It looks like he’s on top of someone.
There was the sound of scrambling.
It’s Sienna. Verrie, it’s Si. She looks fine. Candy’s tone changed. Glory, you hold on girl. Enten’s out, and it looks like he’s hurt pretty badly. But Dr. Dani’s got him, and he’s breathing.
A pause followed. Verrie’s gut twisted in knots.
I’ve got Sienna in my arms, Verrie. She’s scared…with a few bumps and bruises. It looks like Enten pushed her down and shielded her from whatever got to him.
Verrie had no right to feel so relieved with a wide-eyed Glory next to her, wringing her hands over her husband’s condition. She was poised to ask more about Enten’s injuries when another inquiry came through.
What about Riley?
They all heard the question, and it hadn’t come from a voice the immortals had ever heard in their heads—Verrie knew right away it belonged to Frank. Candy immediately imparted the news Verrie had been about to ask for.
Riley’s gone, Frank. Whoever did this…they took her.
Verrie slumped into her chair. Her head dropped to her hands. It was too much to take. Because of her and Sienna, they’d put their best friends…no, their closest relatives in danger.
Verrie could only marvel at the strength in Frank’s reply when it came. Absu and Charlie are bringing me back to the compound, she stated. We’ll discuss how we’re going to get Riley when I return.
In the midst of all the horror, Verrie noticed there was not a trace of a Boston accent in Frank’s god-talk. It was funny how Verrie’s mind under siege could fixate on something so mundane instead of fully processing the rest of the fucked-up shit happening. But she wasn’t given the option to space out for very long.
Tess arrived back at the kitchen, all business. “Come on,” she poked Verrie’s arm. “We need to take a couple of cars and pick up our wounded. And we need to make it fast. Dr. Dani says the guys are both losing a lot of blood.”
“Why the car? Why not poof them back here?” Verrie questioned.
“When there are severe injuries, going invisible isn’t an option.”
The goddess turned at Glory’s anguished cry and gave her the most irrefutable and assured look that was possible. “Severe, but not enough to kill them, Glory, do you feel me? Nobody’s dying. But they need immediate care.” She looked back at Verrie. “So, let’s go.”
The goddess went to a pegboard by the doorway, snagged two key rings and tossed one over. “You know where the school is.”
Verrie nodded and followed Tess out the back door.
What about bystanders, gawkers? Glory’s voice followed in the wind. What if someone has called 911? We can’t let them be taken to a hospital.
The goddesses are on it, Tess assured her. They’re busy wiping minds left and right. Candy is really good at it, in case you’ve forgotten.
Good. That’s right. Glory’s panicked voice calmed down a little. Just get Enten home to me, safely. I’ll go up to the infirmary and make sure everything’s ready for Dani when they get back.
Excellent, Tess replied. ETA will be approximately forty-five minutes.
Verrie drove as fast as the speed limit would allow…plus eight. In Boston, that was what urban myth allowed as the “won’t get stopped” overage. She hoped―all the way―the geeks who had put that shit together were correct.
When Verrie finally came upon the scene, it was surreal. There was blood everywhere, a contingent of goddesses propped Sienna up, and another surrounded the two downed gods. But the most fucked-up thing were pedestrians who strolled around the carnage as if nothing was amiss.
Verrie couldn’t imagine the amount of power it took to keep all the would-be witnesses from…witnessing, but the intense and painful scowl on Candy’s face told the tale. And the effort was taking its toll. Verrie wasn’t sure how much longer the petite agent’s brain could hold back so many. The sooner they got the gods loaded into the vehicles, the better.
Tess’s vehicle beat Verrie’s there by a few minutes…clearly, the goddess was not as constrained by speed limits as Verrie. Jake and Douglas already had Enten halfway to her car, carrying him as gently as possible.
Verrie ran to Sienna and gathered her shaking daughter into her arms.
“Mom, I…”
“Shhh… Quiet now, Si. Let’s get these guys taken care of, then we’ll talk.” She stroked her daughter’s hair. “Everything will be okay. Don’t worry. They’ll find Riley. I give you my word. They’re gods after all.”
Sienna gave a little hitch of her shoulders to show she’d heard her mother but seemed content otherwise to keep her face buried in Verrie’s chest.
Damn. Verrie hoped she could deliver on the promise she’d just made.
Addie-May and Obedience transported Dagon a little more creatively. Being witches, they used skills Verrie hadn’t seen before. They’d conjured a wheeled gurney to appear under the ebony-haired god which Holly now pushed toward the car Verrie had driven.
“Careful.” Verrie, who had Sienna in tow as she made her way to the driver’s side heard Holly warn the witches as they got Dagon to the vehicle. “Ease him in slowly. His right arm is nearly severed, and we want to try to save it. Otherwise, he’ll have to regenerate, and that will take a lot of time and pain.”
Shit, she sure was calm for someone whose mate was nearly in pieces. Her brow had creased as she said it, but Verrie knew there was an unspoken relief the injury hadn’t been to his left side. A blow to his amulet could have been fatal.
As the witches facilitated Dagon’s airborne move into her car, Verrie looked over to where Jake and Douglas finished placing Enten into Tess’. The cold god’s back was a bloody mess, and they’d laid him across the rear seat on his stomach.
Verrie knew the most worrisome aspect of both god’s injuries was that neither was currently awake. Dani said it was due to massive blood loss, and if that was the case, the sooner they got the pair back to the Blue Hills to receive banked blood, the better.
On the trip home, Verrie didn’t even try to obey the speed limit. If she got stopped this time, she had Holly with her who hadn’t left her injured husband’s side. The goddess wouldn’t hesitate to mind-blank anybody who tried to stop them. Still, the trip seemed to take forever. Verrie couldn’t help but send repeated, worried glances toward her daughter. Sienna looked to be in shock, and Verrie couldn’t blame her…even without knowing the details of what had occurred.
As they drove around the circular drive and up to the front door of the compound, Verrie saw Glory―and the other women who had misted on ahead―standing outside, waiting.
Dani wasted no time employing all hands to bring the injured pair up to the infirmary, but having received that help, shooed all but the wives from the room. The ousted women joined Verrie and Sienna back in the kitchen within minutes of arriving home. Jake had a determined look on his face as he approached her daughter.
“Sienna, you need to focus.” Jake hovered over Verrie where she stood, hugging her daughter. “We need to know exactly what happened.”
“Jake, don’t you think…” Verrie had been about to ask the agent/god to cut her daughter some slack, but Sienna shook her head at her mother.
“No, Mom, I need to tell him. If I can help them find Riley, they need to hear it.”
“That’s right, Sienna. Good girl.” Jake pulled out a chair and eased her away from Verrie. He directed the girl gently onto the seat, then called over his shoulder. “Hey. Somebody? Anybody? How about some orange juice?”
A glass appeared instantly at Sienna’s elbow, compliments of one of the witches. Verrie would have laughed under any other circumstances. Witch tricks, Federal Agent tricks. Oh yeah. Jake was good. A little playing nice, a little gentle coercion. His training sure showed with the orange juice. Textbook precautions to get her daughter’s blood sugar level back under control.
He let her have a long sip.
“Now, why don’t you tell us the details?”
Verrie watched Sienna take a second gulp from her glass, then draw in a deep breath. She didn’t hesitate. “The last bell rang, and we’d planned to meet by the steps at the side of the building―the ones by the library.”
Verrie nodded. She knew the spot.
“Enten was with me, Riley and Dagon were already outside, across the street on the grass
by the sidewalk. The minute we separated from the crowd and started to cross the street, I heard Dagon yell a warning to Enten. He said, ‘Behind you.’ I looked up and saw a blurry figure moving toward them, too, going really fast. The next thing I knew, Enten threw himself on me and we went down.”
Tears leaked from the corners of Sienna’s eyes as she struggled to keep her voice even.
“I knew something bad was happening to him because his body kept jerking on top of me…and…and he was making horrible groaning noises in my ear, but he also kept telling me I was safe, he wasn’t going to move, and wouldn’t let them get me.”
Now her daughter was outright sobbing.
“I looked over at his hand, the one I could see with my face turned to the left, and he’d…he’d frozen it to the ground so he couldn’t be moved.” Sienna threw herself from the chair to wrap herself around her mother knees. “He wasn’t just being hurt, Mom. He was hurting himself too…to protect me. His hand was bleeding so badly where he kept it anchored.”
“Hush, baby, hush, it’s okay. He was doing what he could. He’s the god of winter, you know, and I’m certain his hands are used to that kind of punishment. Jake?” Verrie appealed to the agent for some additional words to calm her daughter.
“Hell, yeah, Sienna. Don’t worry about Enten. I gather he’s had frostbite a million times in his life. And besides, gods heal extra fast. His hand is probably completely fine by now.”
Verrie noticed he didn’t say anything about the horrific injuries to the god’s back.
“Now, more about this blur you saw,” Jake prompted, turning Si’s mind back to the unresolved issues at hand. “Can you tell me anything about it? Take your time. Think hard.”
Sienna grew still before rising into her mother’s embrace. “Well” She wiped her eyes, attempting to pull herself back together. “While Enten had me down, I could see a little of what was going on across the sidewalk, and I know this will sound kind of strange, but it looked like the…thing attacking Dagon and Riley was…it seemed almost like a…like a… No. I was probably just imagining things.”
