by Brey Willows
“But…but she’s helping people. When I saw her in Nigeria, she was rescuing women and children. She built a filtration system in a dying village in Egypt.” Tis looked between her sisters, wanting them to understand, wanting what they were saying to be wrong.
“That’s true, she does a lot of good work. But there’s also other stuff she’s into, and, well, you should be careful.” Meg looked at Alec for backup again, and Alec looked pensive.
“You know, the thing with the world we’re living in now, is it’s a hell of a lot harder to see the lines in the sand. You’ve got great judgment, Tis. If you think she’s worth your time, then you should see where it goes. Just be careful, and go in with your eyes open, okay?” Alec’s expression lightened and she winked. “Besides, she’s supposed to be something spectacular in bed. You’ll have to find out for us.”
Tis threw an olive at Alec and started laughing. Meg launched into a tale about her latest romantic interest, and how it was so different being with someone with extra limbs and a tail. When she started explaining about the tail, Alec and Tis threw things at her to shut her up.
After they’d gone, Tis walked down to the ocean and sat on the beach with her wings wrapped around her. She watched as the sky turned from washed-out blue to cotton candy pink, to citrus orange, and finally, to bruised purple before it sank beneath the waves. Should she give Kera a chance? It didn’t have to become something or be anything more than a person to hang out with occasionally. And if it did become a thing, it certainly didn’t need to be serious. Neither of them were looking for a lifelong commitment. From the rumors, it seemed Kera was far more interested in fun, and fun was exactly what Tis was looking for right now.
But what if she leaves our periphery and ends up directly in front of us? In front of me? She couldn’t answer that, and at the moment, she didn’t want to. For the first time in centuries, she wanted to live for now, not for what-if.
Chapter Ten
Kera stared at her office whiteboards. She’d had two of the four walls turned into full-size, magnetic boards. She hated having her creative space limited, and this way she could draw out plans and see them in connection with one another, which was important for scheduling. She wanted to draw up the contracts with dates, so there was no way the people she’d glad-handed at her party could back out. But to do that, she needed to see the plans laid out in front of her. She loved color-coding each project and seeing the rainbow of plans come into being. She placed sticky notes on the board, jotting down dates and place names, then crumpling them, throwing them behind her, and changing them. She needed to account for breaks for her staff between projects. They saw too many horrors to go straight from one war zone to the next. Finally satisfied, she wrote down the specifics and emailed them to her assistant. She heard the doorbell and glanced at the clock. Tisera wasn’t due for another fifteen minutes.
Her intercom buzzed and her housekeeper said, “Ms. Petra to see you, Kera.”
“On my way.” She closed up, satisfied with the day’s work, and headed upstairs. They’d be helping people for years to come. It wouldn’t fix the mistakes she’d made in the past, but she could try to make things right elsewhere.
She shook Petra’s hand, struck by her beauty as always. She had thick, jet-black hair and distinctly Middle Eastern features. She spoke softly, but there was never any doubt about her confidence or capability. Kera had once made a play for her and had been clearly rejected. Intrigued, as she’d never had that happen, she’d hired her for the company.
“Nice to see you. Drink?”
Petra nodded and glanced around the house. “Iced tea, if you have any.”
“Make that two,” Kera said to the waiting staff member. She could never figure out their titles, all of which sounded too Downton Abbey, so she just thought of them all as staff. There was always one around when she needed something, but they were never obtrusive. She wasn’t home often enough to actually get to know them.
Petra sat down and raised her face to the sun. “How’re things?”
Kera sat next to her at the table and stretched her legs out in front of her. “Really good. Excellent, in fact.”
“No lack of money or sex, then?”
“Lack isn’t in my vocabulary, you know that. Just opportunity for growth.”
Petra snorted and opened one eye to look at Kera. “That sounds like businesswoman speak if I’ve ever heard it.”
“But you know I think it’s true.” She waited until their drinks were in front of them and they were alone again. “You have news?”
Petra sighed and turned toward her. “Kind of. But I know I shouldn’t give it to you.”
“I pay you to give me information. That Jag out there didn’t come from you withholding. Spill.”
“He was there, along with about fifteen others, mostly men. Two or three women, I think. From the look of the place, they’re not doing well. Whatever benefit they got from that stunt they pulled with you, it’s long gone.”
Kera liked the thought of him scraping by as she planned what to do with billions of dollars. Eat that, bastard. “And?”
“And they’re gone. The place has been cleaned out except for the trash they left behind. Only…” Petra looked at her indecisively. “I found a single scrap of paper, a piece torn from something else. It said GRADE.”
Kera felt the blood rush from her head and grabbed the table to steady herself. GRADE hadn’t been in existence when she’d run across him. “He’s watching me.”
“It would seem that way. Hard to believe it’s coincidental. He wanted your resources before. Now…you’d give him a whole new ballgame.” Petra leaned back and stared at her. “You know what that means.”
“Fuck that. No. I’m not going back to bodyguards. I hated having them with me for that year when I got back. I’m not doing it again.”
“That’s stupid, and you’re not a stupid woman. If you’re on his radar, you need to be careful.” She watched Kera over her glass of iced tea. “You know, I’ve got friends you might like. Bodyguards more along the lines of your…preferences.”
Kera grinned. “Hot female bodyguards instead of big, stinky men? That sounds more attractive, yeah. But I still don’t like it.”
“Compromise with me. Let me get you a few guards, and I’ll keep looking for our friend. Once I find him, and we can keep an eye on him, you can get rid of the guards.”
Kera thought about it. Memories of a damp, putrid smelling cell, of her own vomit and sweat as she lay dying, reminded her of what she was risking by being stubborn. The screams and moans of others dying around her still invaded her dreams. “Fine. But the moment you know where he is, assuming it’s far-the-fuck away from me until I decide otherwise, I get rid of the shadows.”
Petra smiled, and Kera thought for a moment how cold that smile was. “Consider it done. I’ll have guards with you by tomorrow.” The doorbell rang, and Petra stood. “In the meantime, see if you can keep yourself out of trouble.”
The sound of the front door closing was followed by the clicking of heels on the marble floor.
Tisera stood in the doorway for a moment, the sunlight kissing her beautiful pale skin, making her look even more ethereal than she was. She stepped out onto the patio, and the spell was broken. Kera could breathe again. She stood up and motioned toward Petra. “Tis, hi. This is—”
“’Uzza! Wow, it’s been…centuries upon centuries. What are you doing here?”
Petra looked like a child caught with stolen sweets. “It’s Petra now, actually. And Kera and I do business together occasionally. What are you doing here?” She threw a suspicious glance at Kera, who shrugged, at a loss.
“We’re having dinner,” Tis said.
The simple statement sounded slightly ludicrous, and Petra looked at Kera. “That thing I said about staying out of trouble? Way too late for that, my friend.” She gave Tis a kiss on the cheek. “Hopefully this means we’ll see more of one another, maybe catch up some time.”
Tis’s smile was genuine, though she still looked puzzled. “I’d really like that.”
Petra left, and Tis turned to Kera. “You keep company with old gods?”
Kera blinked, waiting for the punch line. “What do you mean, old gods?”
Tis sat down next to Kera and smoothed her long, silk print skirt. “Al-‘Uuzza was a Nabatean goddess, based at the temple at Petra, in Jordan.” She laughed. “I suppose it was as good a name as any to take on.”
“So what the hell is she doing working for me?” Kera held up her hand. “Wait. I might need alcohol for this. Would you like a drink?”
“I don’t suppose you have Guinness?”
Kera wrinkled her nose. “Gross. It’s like old pond water. But I can ask.”
“Well, if you’re asking, could you see if there’s black currant cordial available, too?”
“The stuff they water down in England? Why?”
Tis laughed, and it sent a jolt of current directly to Kera’s crotch. She was mesmerizing.
“If you add it to the Guinness, it gives it a lovely berry flavor.”
“Even more disgusting. I can’t believe I invited you here.” Kera motioned a staff member over. “I’ll have my usual, please, and can you see if we have Guinness and black currant juice?”
Tis explained what it was, as well as the one-third juice to two-thirds Guinness combination.
Kera took Tis’s hand and smiled at her. “As bizarre as this day has just become, I’m really glad you came. Now, you were going to tell me why I’ve got an ex-goddess in my employ as an investigator.”
Tis stared down at their entwined hands. “There are ways the gods work, things they don’t tell people. Things I’m not free to say. But I can tell you that Petra, at some point, had to make a choice, and she chose to give up her position as a goddess to live among the humans. I’m certain private investigator isn’t the only job she’s ever had.”
Kera took a minute to process that information. “Do all the gods have that choice? Do you?” Tis looked incredibly sad for a moment, and she regretted asking the question.
“Yes, for the most part, we all have that choice. But sometimes it’s less of a choice, and more of a…forced retirement, I guess.” She squeezed Kera’s hand and made an obvious effort to force the sadness away. “What do you need a private investigator for, anyway?”
Kera winced inwardly. If Tis knew what she planned on doing, if she knew what needed to be done, what would she think? She shuddered slightly. “Business stuff, which is incredibly boring. How have you been?”
Tis looked at her searchingly, and she could feel those spirit-type heat waves coming off her, as though she was trying to see past Kera’s words. She waited, curious as to what she’d find.
“You know, if you ever want to talk things through, you can. Before you did anything you’d regret.” Tis stood up and moved away from her.
That answers that. “Do you make a habit of getting inside people’s heads?” Tis turned to stare at her, her eyes cold and tinged with red. It was eerie and incredibly sexy.
“I wasn’t in your head. You’ve got good walls. But I know what a need for revenge feels like, almost like I can taste it. You should know something.” She stepped closer and her fangs extended slightly, her eyes more red than gray. “If you do something that puts you in my way, professionally, I won’t have mercy on you because you’re beautiful, or sexy, or interesting. You’ll be extremely sorry we ever met, and I really don’t want that to happen.”
Kera desperately wanted to run her tongue along one of Tis’s fangs. She was unbearably beautiful, even if she was threatening Kera’s life. Plenty of people had threatened her over the years, but no one had ever made it look so inviting. “I hear you, and if anything like that comes up, I’ll be sure to talk to you first. Okay?” She watched with fascination as Tis’s eyes returned to their usual storm cloud gray, and her fangs receded completely.
“Promise?”
Kera raised Tis’s hand to her mouth and kissed her knuckles. “I promise. And if talking doesn’t work, I’ll remind you how beautiful, sexy, and interesting you find me.”
A text message pinged, and they both went to check their phones. Kera held hers up with a frown. “It’s from Petra. She says you might want to watch the news.”
They went inside and Kera flipped on the fifty-inch flat screen. Their drinks were brought in, and they settled on the couch. She noticed the purple circle in the foam at the top of the Guinness and smiled. “If it isn’t right, let me know, and I’ll fire the person who made it.”
Tis laughed. “It’s perfect.” She focused on the TV. The camera zoomed in on the Afterlife headquarters, where Cerberus could just be seen inside the front doors, all three of her menacing dog heads baring their teeth at the crowd outside. There appeared to be about sixty people, chanting and holding up signs with slogans like, “No gods, no war” and “Save the humans, kill the gods.”
“What fresh hell is this?” Tis murmured.
The camera turned to a reporter, standing with a bearded hipster type who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with Humanity First.
“This is the leader of Humanity First, the group protesting here today. Sir, can you tell us a bit about what’s going on?”
“Humanity First believes in the human right to live without the interference of gods. We believe the world is safer, more secure, and more honest without the intervention of religion. Although the gods are saying there’s more transparency now than ever before, that doesn’t mean they’re making the world better. In fact, we argue that their presence here erodes the possibility of humans evolving to become a better species.”
The reporter looked baffled. “So, you’re protesting their very existence?”
“Yes, to some degree. We want them to stop interfering in human matters. They’re obviously limited, or we wouldn’t have poverty, illness, and war. Humanity First says it’s time for them to actually make a difference, or get the hell out of our way.”
He smiled for the camera, looking every inch the sincere zealot. He walked back to his followers, waving a sign that read, “What does Jesus do?”
The reporter returned to the camera. “Although there’s a relatively small group of Humanity First supporters here today, the movement is said to be growing exponentially, with membership already reaching into the thousands, many of whom were ardent followers of Frey Falconi, who was found brutally murdered in a warehouse last year. Will this be the atheist answer to the new religious movement? Time will tell.”
An ad came on for a drug to stop hair loss, with side effects that listed hair loss and death, and Kera and Tis sat quietly, taking it in. Kera turned to Tis. “Do you need to head to the office?”
Tis sighed. “I don’t think so. But I should call to see if everyone is okay.”
“Feel free to use the den, just off to the left there.”
Tis’s smile was tight with worry. “I know where it is, thanks. I came to several of Robert’s parties here in the late eighties.”
Kera laughed, glad for a lighter moment. “Redford partied with furies?”
“Well, I came. My sisters were often doing their own thing. I’ll be right back.”
Kera wandered back outside to wait for Tis. She preferred to make her business calls in private and assumed Tis would want to as well. The news broadcast made her wonder how Tis felt about it, and she wanted to know more about Humanity First. What the creepy looking guy had said made sense, and it wasn’t far off from how Kera had felt most of her life. But now, with a fury sitting in her den and an ex-goddess in her employ, the issue seemed a bit more complex than it had before. Like so many things.
Tis came back outside. “Thanks. Everyone is fine, if a little rattled.”
“Well, then let’s put this behind us and have dinner, shall we? Before something happens and we both have to rush off into the real world, capes floating in the superhero heated air around us.”
Kera led
them to the covered lanai overlooking Broad Beach. The waves of the Pacific pounded their steady rhythm onto the shore, white foam leaving artistic trails in mocha colored sand. They sat down, and within minutes, staff members brought out plates of colorful Thai food. The lemongrass and ginger smelled heavenly, and she was glad to see Tis looking eager to dig in.
Tis began to eat, and Kera liked the way she seemed to savor each bite. The kitchen staff had outdone themselves.
“I’ve always loved this house,” Tis said when she stopped eating for a moment. “I love the big windows.”
“That’s one of the things that drew me to it. Although I have to admit, since that talking fish jumped out and talked to you the other day, I’ve had a whole new way to look at the ocean.”
Tis grimaced slightly. “I think that’s probably a very common thing right now. People looking at the world differently because of the gods coming out. It must be difficult.”
Kera shook her head. “I think it’s amazing. I mean, you get so used to a place, to things being a certain way, that you take them for granted. There’s no magic left in the world unless you go searching for it. But now…” She waved her fork at Tis. “Now, you get to sit across from magic and see it smile at you.”
Tis blushed and took a long drink of her Guinness. “What a romantic way of looking at it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a big ol’ softie at heart. Don’t tell anyone.” Kera gave her what she knew was her sexiest grin and was glad to see it had the same effect on Tis as it did on other women. She blushed again and looked beautifully innocent.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
They ate in silence for a little while, comfortable, the singing of the ocean their background music.
Kera sat back and was amazed again at who her dinner companion was.
“What? Do I have food on my face?”
Kera shook her head. “I was wondering what it’s like, having sex with a goddess.”
