Taken By Storm

by L. J. Vickery

  Anshar noted that the male with Dagon looked confused at the term his long lost relative used to demarcate their relationship.

  “Dagon.” Anshar kept his voice flat but couldn’t help but ask, “Why am I here?”

  “We had a little bet going, Matthew and I. We didn’t know if it would be you or Enlil, but my money was on you.”

  “Explain.” Anshar was in no mood for the talkative flights of fancy that Dagon, loving the sound of his own voice, sometimes engaged in.

  “It seems that our Miss Crest…” At Anshar’s puzzled look, he explained. “Oh, Lenore to you, of course. Well, our dear Lenore has been found to be of my blood. A direct maternal line all the way from 1600s Plymouth to me. I do believe you and your band of merry men have finally gotten with the program and researched Tess’s bloodline. They found a similar thing with her; a direct maternal line from Enlil.”

  Dagon was clearly pleased that he had figured this out.

  “With Lenore, my bloodline was easy to trace. From the time I impregnated the first woman, until this day, each generation has produced only one female offspring. No muss, no fuss, no messy siblings.” His eyebrows drew together.

  “It would be interesting to see if the same phenomenon is true with Marduk’s woman, Tess. I am aware that she has a brother and a sister, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that turns out to be an anomaly.”

  “What does this have to do with me?” Anshar was filing away information to give his brothers when he eventually escaped. His gaze analyzed the small, square basement room that appeared to have been hastily assembled, as evidenced by the work tools still lying about and the fresh coat of whitewash on the rock walls and concrete floor. The jail cell took up most of the tiny room. His eyes didn’t detect any weaknesses in the structure, but he wouldn’t let that discourage him. He drew his eyes back to the approaching pair who briskly joined him inside the enclosure.

  “Well, since Tess made Marduk flesh because she is his Chosen, it would only make sense that Lenore should have the same capabilities for whomever is her future mate. When we all met in the clearing for our little, uh, confrontation at Bloody Pond, every god was there except you.”

  Anshar closed his eyes. Dagon was very long-winded, especially when impressed by his deductions in this case.

  “Therefore, Lenore’s mate could either be you, who was not present, or by default, Enlil, because he was the only physical, unmated god. Imagine my delight to find that you fell out of the sky right at our little angel’s feet yesterday. It made things very tidy.”

  Anshar had already surmised as much but wasn’t going to give Dagon the satisfaction of agreeing with him.

  Dagon procured a blade from the sheath at the small of his back. “Now for the unpleasant part.”

  Anshar’s eyes went wide. Was Dagon going to kill him?

  “I’m going to have to remove half your amulet.”

  Terror filled Anshar’s breast. This was not something he had anticipated. Death would have been preferable. Panic hit his gut, and he swallowed convulsively. He might get his wish. Dagon intended an impromptu amulet ceremony without anyone’s consent, and if it went badly…

  “What if you’re wrong?” Anshar cried. “What if the fact that you and I are cousins has something to do with my turning for her?”

  Dagon looked momentarily flustered but seemed to tamp that response down. He put on a distinctly bored visage while he tested the sharpness of his blade on the edge of one thumb, drawing a quick drop of blood.

  Anshar, panicked now, tried a different tack. “If she’s truly mine, why hasn’t my amulet glowed in her presence? We were alone last night and not once did I glow.”

  Dagon’s face twitched with uncertainty again, and Anshar grabbed hold of his cousin’s disquiet.

  “You’ll kill me if she’s not the one. You know that!” Anshar paused to pull air into his constricted lungs. “And if you kill me, I won’t go back to the Underworld. I will ascend to the heavens. Do you truly think Ereshkigal, our queen, will be pleased if that happens?”

  Anshar’s last words were a bluff. He had no idea if Ereshkigal, tucked safely in Hell, gave a flying fuck about him, but he’d use everything else he could think of to stop Dagon.

  “Sorry, dear boy, but I won’t be deterred.”

  Apparently Dagon was willing to risk all to have Anshar and Lenore mated, and he suddenly knew why. If this worked, Lenore would then know where Anshar was at all times, be able to follow him, monitor the gods’ every move and report back, giving Dagon a pair of eyes on the inside. Not only that, but the little kick-ass female would share Anshar’s all-sky powers, super strength, and be linked into the rest of the gods. It couldn’t get much better than that for his cousin.

  “You’ll feel a slight pinch.” Dagon snickered at his own joke as he lowered the blade.

  Anshar screamed in agony! During his long existence, he’d been stabbed, beaten, dismembered, and disemboweled. But the deeper Dagon cut, the more Anshar was sure he had never felt pain such as this. Part of him realized that it was one thing to undergo the agonizing ritual to prove your eternal love to a woman who was your to be your Chosen but to do it under duress, knowing that you might die? That was more than a god was meant to stand.

  His anguished screams reverberated off the walls of the basement and, when his flesh finally lay open, he wondered if he could endure the excruciating pain of the amulet being split.

  He thought of Marduk, days ago, withstanding this blazing torment for his Chosen, Tess, and he trembled. Anshar didn’t have that incentive.

  He was already aware that he was not as strong as the thunder god, but he steeled himself. He could strive to be as stoic. So be it. If not for a woman, Anshar would prevail for the pride of his brothers. He wouldn’t give Dagon the satisfaction of another sound. But as the blade lowered, Anshar couldn’t help that his muscles seized up in agonizing protest.

  ****

  Dagon sawed the amulet in half, amazed that his cousin’s howling had stopped. He could feel Matthew’s palpable relief at the cessation as well.

  If not for the god’s rigid posture, Dagon could almost believe that Anshar had passed out. But when his cousin looked up, tears streamed from his victim’s eyes, and blood pooled on his lip where he’d bitten down to keep silent. Dagon was impressed…and hopeful. He didn’t wish for his relative’s demise. Dagon alone knew what Anshar had endured after the death of his cousin’s parents. Dagon actually believed that, despite using Lenore for his own purposes, she might just be the best thing ever to happen to Anshar.

  Amulet bisected, Dagon left the incision open so that the process of phantom regeneration could occur as soon as the excised half was implanted in Lenore. He and Matthew hurried up the stairs to where she still lay unaware on the desk.

  With a few quick cuts and the peeling back of muscle and tissue, Dagon positioned the amulet, waiting for it to gain hold. How long would it take? Thousands of years had passed since Dagon had witnessed a ceremony, and he no longer remembered the details. After several minutes, he began to sweat. Surely enough time had passed.

  “Is it working?” his human captain asked. “You can go check on the guy, and I’ll keep an eye on her if you want.” Matthew licked his lips over Lenore’s breasts.

  Dagon gave him a look of disgust. This was to be his new commander and general of the forces he was assembling? Ignoring the suggestion that he should leave, Dagon pulled his phone from his pocket and sent himself a reminder to give Matthew a painful lesson on how to pay attention even if a woman’s finest attributes were on display. Dagon would enjoy the tutorial. Matthew would not.

  Was there a faint glow emanating from Lenore’s shoulder? Dagon leaned closer to look and certainly the muscle layer looked to be reknitting. Then, before his eyes, the miraculous healing process began to take place. Thank the gods! He had no idea he had been so worried until things had begun proving successful. Lenore should be waking up in a matter of minutes, and Dag
on needed to hurry to the basement to see to Anshar.

  “Stay here,” Dagon commanded Matthew, “and don’t touch her if you know what’s good for you!” He hurried from the room.

  ****

  Anshar felt the warmth in his shoulder. He heard Dagon’s steps and knew that the operation had been a success. That meant two things. Anshar would live…and Lenore was most definitely his Chosen. He didn’t know how he felt about the latter. He’d barely had an hour to get to know her. But that hour…he smiled, remembering. Perhaps things wouldn’t be so bad. Shit! It suddenly hit him hard. He had a wife.

  Dagon entered the cell, leaned over Anshar, and quickly fussed with his shoulder.

  The prone god was so preoccupied with thoughts of Lenore that he didn’t even feel the flap of sinew and flesh close over.

  “Now what happens?” Anshar asked.

  “In a day or so,” Dagon answered, “once Lenore gets used to her new powers, I will let you go.” He smiled. “You will have a mate, and I will have a watchdog. I think we both win.”

  Anshar knew his cousin was well on the way to being triumphant at pulling one over on his enemy gods. But he would come to regret it. To Anshar’s way of thinking, the Blue Hills gods would prevail, and Dagon had only assured that Lenore would become collateral damage. As far as Anshar knew, Dagon was blissfully unaware of the connection that a god had with his Chosen. Anshar had seen proof of it with Marduk and Tess. If he were a betting man…oh, he was…he’d put his money on Lenore coming over to the Blue Hills side of things.

  ****

  Upstairs, Lenore—through slit eyes—watched Matthew explore each of her breasts with his long fingers. She controlled her breathing as he closed his eyes and lowered his head to pull one soft bud between his lips.

  Like a viper, her hand shot up and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him from his feet and cutting off his wind. Her green eyes stabbed into Matthew’s with unforgiving malice. Lenore took a good long squeeze, watched her co-worker thrash, then threw him across the room. Then she sat up slowly and covered herself.

  ****

  Hearing the crash from his position below in the basement, Dagon smirked at Anshar.

  “I think Lenore may have just discovered one of her new powers.” He gave a sardonic sneer. “I told Matthew not to touch her.”

  Chapter Four

  When Anshar hadn’t returned by the previous night, Marduk was frantic. There was no rest to be had. The Blue Hill gods were sure that Dagon had to be behind Anshar’s disappearance.

  Gods were coming and going, flying concentric circles of ten miles, each one farther from the compound. It was the only way, with their current range of communication, that they could stay linked. Stopping in strategic positions that the resident computer genius, Shamash, had marked on a gridded map, they attempted through their mind network to contact the missing Anshar.

  Not only was their ten-mile limit of transmission working against them, but unknown to them, Dagon had put similar protections on his headquarters in Plymouth as the Blue Hills gods had done to theirs. It was impossible for a mental connection to be made across those boundaries, without Dagon’s consent. The only thing that could, at times supersede that rule was the mental connection between a god and his Chosen.

  Huxley and Enlil prowled the streets of Plymouth on their motorcycles, knowing that Dagon’s headquarters had to be nearby, hoping to catch sight of either the god himself, or one of the henchman whom they might recognize from their last encounter. Surely there would be no mistaking Lenore, who had briefly been at their home, or the asshole mortal, Matthew, who had stabbed Tess in the back. The latter had better make himself very scarce because both Huxley and Enlil had some bones to pick—or break—with him.

  At the end of two days, everyone in the group despaired and felt on the verge of defeat. Marduk was inconsolable. Anshar had been his best friend since the first day they’d met in the Underworld. They always had each other’s back, even if that only meant picking it up off the ground and waiting for it to regenerate. Anshar, if he was okay, would be trying to contact him…and he hadn’t. That’s what had Marduk so worried.

  Tess finally convinced him to take a break, clear out of the toxic atmosphere of the compound for a while; chill and go down to the beach to give her some more tutorials on how to lose and regain her body.

  His wife was getting good at the thunderstorm stuff and the extra-strength muscles had kicked in big time, but she still didn’t feel confident leaving her body in the mist and hadn’t sucked up enough courage to try flying. To Tess, the thought of being up in the air without wings was creepy. She told him she could do without that skill for a while.

  On the beach after Tess made a few abortive attempts at poofing out, Marduk called it quits. Neither of their minds were focused enough for lessons, so they decided to visit Dr. Dani-Lee Whitehill at the city hospital.

  Dani-Lee had been brought into the gods’ fold to take care of any on-site injuries and had done a stellar job patching up both Tess and Lenore after the battle at Bloody Pond. The doctor had then gone on to complete Tess’s half of the amulet ceremony. Tess and Dani-Lee were as good as sisters. Well, almost, thought Marduk, Tess still missed her real sister, Holly. Not knowing where her twin was, tied Tess up in knots. Marduk could relate. Not knowing Anshar’s location, even for these few short days, was killing him.

  Once at the hospital, Marduk and Tess stopped at a nurse’s station and were just asking for Dani-Lee when she appeared, in scrubs, from around a corner.

  “I’m due for a break in about half an hour,” she told them before disappearing back down a hallway. Tess spent the ensuing wait-time practicing her “acquiring” and “compelling” skills.

  All the gods, whether visible or invisible, could take items from the world around them, render them unseen, and then return them to the physical realm. But the process, which they called “acquiring,” had certain rules that were posted back home on the refrigerator. Rules like #1: people can’t be acquired; and #5: no taking things while humans are watching.

  Tess was bending the last one a little, not nearly as much as the gods who delighted in defying it, but enough to cause Marduk some consternation. Tess acquired lunch from a full cart, then carried it to its room designation, confounding the delivery folks. She unwound a stethoscope from the neck of a handsome doctor, and the purloined item found its way into the pocket of an admiring nurse. Not only that, but when the nurse discovered and withdrew the item in front of the startled doctor, Tess looked them in the eyes and convinced them they had to spend some quality time together “discussing” the strange phenomenon. At the end of the half-hour wait, Marduk admitted that he’d been distracted from his worries, if only just a little.

  Dani-Lee eventually joined them in the cafeteria.

  “You two look like hell!” she said by way of greeting. “Been keeping each other up?” There was obviously no mistaking that the pair were madly in love and lust, with each other.

  Marduk wished that too much sex was the cause of his insomnia. “Actually, our friend, Anshar, is missing,” he informed the doctor. “He disappeared two days ago, and we haven’t heard anything from him since.”

  “We’re afraid Dagon took him. It’s the only explanation.” Tess supplied. “Nobody else can see Anshar, so it only makes sense that Dagon’s the culprit.”

  “Well, Lenore is employed by Dagon, right? Have you called her and asked whether they’re holding him?”

  Marduk and Tess exchanged glances.

  “We have no way of contacting Lenore.” Tess looked as confused as Marduk felt.

  “I have her number in my phone at my desk downstairs.” Dani-Lee looked back and forth between the two as Marduk leaped to his feet.

  “You have her number. Why?” His eyes sparked, and the sky rumbled. She’d better move fast to her phone because he was about to pick her up and do the Tarzan thing to her office.

  Dani clearly caught his urgency. She leaped to h
er feet and started out at a near run.

  Marduk and Tess followed.

  “I told her I had to follow up on her wound and make arrangements for removing her stitches,” Dani-Lee said over her shoulder while making quick tracks to the stairs. “Do you want to call or should I?”

  They made it downstairs in record time, entering the small closeted space painted lovingly in hospital green.

  “You make the call,” Marduk decided. “She’s more likely to trust you since you fixed her up.”

  “Okay.” Dani tapped out Lenore’s name and waited for the ring, putting the phone on speaker so Marduk and Tess could hear.

  “Hello?” Lenore’s voice on the other end sounded apprehensive. Caller ID would likely have her on alert.

  “Lenore? Hi, it’s Doctor Whitehill…Dani-Lee. How’s the arm?” Dani was rambling a little, but Marduk nodded his approval. They wanted Lenore relaxed before the doctor brought up the question of the hour.

  Lenore, in Plymouth, looked down at her completely healed arm, which four days ago had sported a ten-inch line of stitches. How could she explain to the good doctor that her boo-boo no longer existed? Though Dani was aware of immortals, Lenore couldn’t just blurt out that she was a goddess now.

  “It’s looking fine,” she assured Dani. “You did such a nice job that I doubt there’ll be much of a scar.” Nope, no scar at all.

  “Great! Great. Now I just need to have you come in for stitch removal next week.”

  “Oh, I’ll have my own doctor do it,” Lenore was quick to respond. “He’s right down the street.”

  “That’s fine…Lenore, listen the stitches aren’t the only reason I called. I have some friends here from the Blue Hills. You recall Tess and Marduk? Marduk is the one who let you go,” she reminded.

  Lenore knew her silence was probably deafening, but at least she hadn’t panicked and hung up.

  “They’re really worried about their friend, Anshar. He’s been missing for two days, and we were wondering if you could give us any idea if he’s okay.”