"Thank you, Henry, I appreciate it very much, and I'll be happy to teach your acts a few songs."
We talked a little longer, and then he called for his car and took me to his estate in town and had his staff set me up in one of the many spare guest rooms.
The next month was nice, if a little boring at first. I did help his acts, with what I could, and I also let Henry talk me into doing one private show a week, usually I'd do an acoustic set with just a bass guitar backing me. It was fun, and I know Henry appreciated it a lot. But I didn't have any desire to get up on stage and perform anymore; mostly I was just killing time until I delivered.
Evan showed up a few days after I moved in, apparently Alice had gotten him a job working for Henry, as both a roadie and as security for his acts when they were on stage. I just did my best to ignore him, which was easy at first, as Henry put him to work and made him prove himself before he'd even let him near me.
I think Alice had told him that we had a history, but I think she also told him that I was sweet on him. All I know is that Evan was sure acting like I was his long lost love every time he saw me if Henry was around. He'd make with the puppy dog eyes and the heavy sighs, and hang on my every word like they were pronouncements from on high.
When Henry assigned Evan to be my roadie and security for my weekly shows, I just sighed and put up with it.
"Would Madam like her feet rubbed?" Evan said with a wink.
"Knock it off already, Evan," I sighed. "Gods above, I think I liked it better when you were trying to 'get' me."
"Oh I'm still trying to get you," Evan said with a smirk.
"Let me rephrase that, trying to kill me," I grumbled.
"Well, that's in the past now, so why don't we let bygones, be bygones, and here, have a seat while I get you something to drink, and pack up your gear for tonight."
I blinked, he was being suave alright, and turning on all the charm.
"Oh my goodness, you really are trying to get me in bed!" I said looking at him rather shocked as the realization dawned.
"Well you did say that I was a hottie, didn't you?" And saying that he actually struck a pose and winked at me again.
I quickly shook my head; this was something I didn't need. Or even want!
"What, I thought you found me attractive?" Evan said, and suddenly he looked rather hurt. That was almost worse. "It's because I'm ugly, isn't it?" He said.
I groaned "No! No it's not that!"
"It is, isn't it? You can tell me the truth!" He said and I could tell he was starting to get upset.
"For a woman who is the hottest thing on two legs in the entire freakin' sphere back in Saladin you sure don't seem to know much about attraction!" I almost yelled at him.
Evan stopped and looked at me, "What?"
"Oh please, you're an incredibly hot woman, you make this," and I motioned to my own body. I knew I was good looking here, but I wasn't in the same class as Evean was, I wasn't even close. "You make me look plain and drab. Now please don't tell me that you only slept with guys based on their looks!"
"Well, yeah, of course not." Evan said and put his hands on his hips, in a decidedly feminine gesture, "But that was because I was doing it for Roden."
"Wait, what?" I shook my head confused, "Evan, I may not have been a woman long, but I've been one long enough, and been with enough to know that looks don't mean as much to women as they do to men."
"Oh really now?" Evan said and looked me over.
"Evan, you've got a body like a Greek god, and when you turn on the charm you make the girls all pant like they're in heat!"
"Well, you don't," He said and glared at me.
"That's because last time we hooked up you tried to kill me! What the hell do you expect?" I shook my head, "Shit, I can-not believe we are even having this conversation!"
"So you do find me attractive then?" Evan asked looking at me curiously.
"Of course I do! Hell, when you're acting like the hottest guy around do you think I give a damn about how 'attractive' you look? You're a big bad ass alpha male; of course I think you're hot!"
"Ah!" He said and started looking me over again, "So how about it? Say after the show tonight?"
I smacked my head with the heel of my right hand and swore, "Evan, why in the hell are you trying to get me in bed? Especially after last time?"
"Well, I thought maybe if we ummm, 'buried the hatchet,'" he said and gave an outrageous wink, "we could get along?" he leaned over then and ran his fingers through my hair, and took a deep breath, taking in my scent.
I shivered, it was damned sexy, and he had to know it.
"Evan," I warned, "Right now I'm pretty damned terrified of getting into bed with you, and if you don't want a swift kick to the nuts, I think you had better back off."
He took a step back, and gave me the puppy dog eyes again. "Aw, Wilma."
"Why the hell aren't you beautiful?" I said changing the subject quickly. Evan was well versed in the pickup arts, obviously, and right now I did not want to be 'picked up.' "As a woman you're so beautiful it's almost painful."
Evan sighed, "How come you're not seven feet tall?"
"Because Fel made me b..." I stopped and looked at him, "Roden made you like that?"
Evan nodded, "Yeah. I'm ugly as ugly can be in my natural form, so his gift to me was to make me one of the most beautiful women in the sphere. He said it was easy to do, because I was so ugly."
That stopped me, and I thought about it a moment, "Can't he fix it so you're beautiful everywhere?"
Evan shook his head, "Not yet, he's not that powerful. He'd need like a couple million followers and a couple dozen temples to be able to do that. He'd have to alter my base form."
"Oh," I said and nodded slowly as I got the picture.
"Exactly, 'oh.'"
"So you really weren't experienced when you came to Saladin, were you?"
Evan laughed, "I was a virgin! Only thing I knew about sex was what I'd witnessed when sneaking a peek of other people having it."
"That must have been pretty rough,"
"Yeah it was, but as Evean," He smiled at me, "All you men just follow me with your tongues hanging out. Lambs to the slaughter."
I had to laugh, "Yeah, but it's not just your looks, Evan, you don't just look hot, you act it too. For someone who grew up ugly, you sure have mastered the art of seduction."
Evan shrugged, "Roden had his clergy teach me. They're all pretty good at it."
I nodded, "So I've heard."
Evan smiled, "So does this mean...?"
I shook my head, "Not tonight, Evan, not tonight. So, have you thought of cosmetic surgery?"
"Cosmetic what?"
"Surgery, you know, get your looks fixed?"
"How would that help?" He said looking confused.
"Well, you fix your base form, and everything else gets better, right? I mean how much could it cost?"
"Do you think they could do that?" He asked looking surprised.
"Of course, where are you from back on earth?"
"Vietnam."
That stopped me a moment. "If you're from Vietnam, how do you know about boy scouts, and bygones, and all the rest of that stuff?"
Evan actually blushed, "I used to sneak into a lot of movie theaters and watch the movies, especially the American ones. The women all looked so glamorous with their dresses and the men were all so full of action." Evan smiled, "It was my escape."
"I read a lot," I said.
"Why? I've seen what you look like, you're not ugly, you're very good looking."
"I was a fat kid, so I got teased a lot growing up. In college I started exercising and lost the weight. After that," I shrugged, "it took me a while to stop thinking of myself as the fat kid that girls didn't want to be seen with."
Evan laughed at that and shook his head, "Well, let me get your gear and let's get going, or we'll be late."
I nodded and got up and grabbed my guitar. I wondered if all champions were
such messed up people.
Six
Lionesnesc
Another month had gone by since Evan had been assigned as my personal roadie, the passes and little hints hadn't stopped, but that's all they were now, just teasing. Evan might be rude, and at times even crude, but deep down Evan was still Evean, and there was a line there that apparently he wasn't going to cross because of that so I didn't have to worry about him trying to 'force' the issue.
Or maybe because he just feared what I'd do to get even?
In either case, it didn't matter, because a sort of understanding had been worked out, and that was all that mattered.
"What's with that guy in the back of the room?" I whispered to Evan between sets. It was late on a Wednesday night, I was out doing one of my once a week shows at some private party. I was shocked at the kind of money Henry was pulling in for these little shows. But apparently I was still a big hit in these parts, and I was still singing songs that were new and different. Of course if any of the copyright owners ever made it here I'm sure there'd be hell to pay, but it didn't seem very likely.
"The short one with the hat pulled down low?" Evan asked leading me back towards the private makeup room that was set aside for the performers. I didn't miss the fact that Evan hadn't turned to look; obviously he'd noticed the guy as well.
"Yeah, him."
"Not sure, I asked our host about him, she said he's the date of one of her guests."
"Something about him doesn't seem right," I said.
"Like the fact that he's not mingling or eating, or doing anything other than holding up that wall?"
"Is that an expression back in Vietnam, or did you get that off of an American movie?" I chuckled.
"I think the soldiers left that one behind after the war," he smiled. "So, want me to do something about him?"
"Keep an eye on him. Last time I was here, one of the other bands tried to kidnap me to get all the material I have up here," I said tapping the side of my head.
Evan looked surprised at that, "Really?"
I nodded, "It was pretty nasty, and Stephen got really pissed, took one of their heads off with a big ass knife."
"Let me guess, that's the night you got pregnant?" He teased.
"Umm," I thought about that one a moment and I could feel myself blushing, that may very well have been the night.
"Gotcha!" Evan teased.
I grumbled, but left it at that.
"I'll keep an eye on them, and talk to the other band's roadies as well."
"Thanks, Evan," I smiled.
"Anything to get you into my bed," Evan said and winked.
I sighed and rolled my eyes as he walked away laughing.
Sarah, the woman accompanying me on bass guitar came over then, and we chatted a bit and discussed the play list. She had a great voice, better than mine to be honest, and sang backup for me, as well as the duets. I suspected that when I moved on, she'd be in pretty high demand because of all the songs I was teaching her. But that was fine with me.
"How's the baby doing?" Sarah asked.
"Fine, now that I'm starting to show, I suspect things are going to get harder to deal with."
Sarah laughed, "Yeah, say goodbye to seeing your feet. Still, it's worth it."
I nodded, Sarah had two kids already, which was part of why I picked her, I figured she'd be good for advice when the time came that I needed it.
"To be honest, I'm feeling pretty good about it all, it's not like I've been getting tired or anything, quite the opposite actually."
Sarah nodded, "Yeah, that's your hormones kicking in. Enjoy it while it lasts!" She said smiling.
"Well, at least I can make Evan rub my feet when they start hurting."
"I thought you and he weren't?" Sarah said giving me a questioning look.
"Just because we aren't, it doesn't mean I can't torture him," I said in a low voice.
"He is a little strange at times, I hear you two have a history?"
"A little," I shrugged. "I think he's trying to get on my good side, too bad I don't have one!" I checked the clock on the wall, "Well, I need to hit the lady's room, before the next set."
Sarah nodded and joined me.
The second set went well, but I noticed that our 'friend' had disappeared. I wondered if Evan had anything to do with that, but when I turned to look at him during a break between songs he just looked at me and shrugged.
When we finished, the hostess came over and we chatted for a little while, and I shook hands with everyone as she introduced me to her guests. Again, our 'friend' was nowhere to be seen. I decided not to ask about him, and eventually excused myself to go get cleaned up.
I opened the door to the bathroom and everything slowed down. Our short 'friend' was there, and he had a big ass old fashioned revolver. I dodged to the side as he opened fire and Sarah screamed behind me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me as I ducked into a room on the right side of the hall.
I could see the next several bullets tearing through the plaster walls as he tried to track us, Sarah stumbled and fell to the floor, so I let go of her hand and kept moving. The firing stopped suddenly, and I heard the sound of a loud click, and then some swearing, followed by some fumbling. I guess he had a misfire. That was followed by the sound of a bunch of metal objects hitting the floor, I guess he was ejecting the brass from the revolver and reloading.
I looked around for something to use as a weapon, I only had a small knife on me, nothing really serious. Firearms here were only supposed to be owned by the priests, the champions, and the military, so I wondered how this guy had gotten one.
I also resolved to get one myself after I got out of this mess.
I found a floor lamp and grabbed it, it was long and tall and made out of some sort of glass, so I lowered it like a pike and turned to attack.
Sure enough he had followed us into the room, but he paused to aim his gun at Sarah's head. Their was so much smoke in the room from the previous shots, that I guess he didn't see me, so I screamed as I charged, hoping to draw his attention, but it was too late, and he shot her point blank, and then turned the gun on me.
But I was still boosted, and he most certainly was not. I took him under the chin with the lamp, the lighting fixture on the top shattering and collapsing as I drove it forward into his body with my enhanced strength. Then the glass rod snapped off at the end, and the now sharp tip plunged into his neck and came out the back.
I grabbed for the gun as he flailed and when my hand touched his, I knew it instantly: He was a priest. Not of the Goddess Sireen, someone else. What the hell was he after me for? Or was he really after Sarah and I just got in the way?
Evan suddenly arrived as I wrestled the gun away from the now limp fingers.
"Careful, he's a priest," I said and then let Evan deal with him as I turned and knelt down to check Sarah.
She was dead. She'd taken two shots to the body when he'd first opened fire on us, I don't know if those killed her or not, but the one to the head definitely had.
"Take the gun, we're leaving." Evan said grabbing my arm.
"What about Sarah?"
"She's dead, there may be more of them, we need to go, now, Will!"
I nodded and let Evan pull me away. We quickly ran to the back of the house, I could hear a lot of commotion coming from the room we'd performed in, and I didn't want to see what it was. I checked the safety on the handgun; there wasn't one, but it was a revolver with a big hammer, so hopefully it wouldn't go off accidentally, so I tucked it in my waistband.
"Where are we going?" I asked as Evan led me out a back door, then between two outbuildings.
"There's a police station about a quarter mile to the south. I thought we'd head there first."
"There's a church closer than that," I said and motioned to the east.
"So?"
"That was a priest, Evan, and not one of Sireen's. If he's got friends, they'll be a lot worse off in a church than in a police station.
<
br /> Evan changed course, "Damn, you're right!"
My stomach churned for a moment and I put a hand on it and gasped.
Evan stopped and started to run his hands over me, "You okay? You wounded?" He said concerned.
I shook my head, "The baby just moved, that's all," I said and caught my breath a moment, then pushed him, "Keep moving."
Evan nodded and taking my hand again continued to lead me down a back alley and then between two rather fancy townhouses.
"Too bad we can't take a moment to celebrate," he said shaking his head, "I mean that's one of the first milestones, right?"
I sighed and nodded, "Baby's first gunfight." I said unhappily.
It took us a good twenty minutes to get to the church; Evan had stopped at each street crossing and waited until there was no nearby traffic before we scuttled across. When we got there, I strode right through the doors and quickly down the aisle.
"Madam, what are you doing? Who are you?" An acolyte said running up quickly.
I stopped and grabbed my purse, I had the money from today's performance still in it, they had paid up front, as was usual. I pulled it all out and handed it to the acolyte, "I'm making a donation to the Goddess Sireen." I turned and looked at Evan, "Give him all your money."
"What?" Evan said looking a bit shocked.
"Just do it!"
Evan dropped the rather large blade he'd been carrying, which until this moment I hadn't even noticed, and pulled out a rather large wad of money and handed it to the kid.
"What? What's this for?" He said looking at me confused.
"It's a donation. Now go get the head priest, and alert whatever guards you have."
He looked at me.
"Chop chop!" Evan said and turned him around and gave him a little push.
The acolyte went.
"What was with giving him all our money? I'm broke now!" Evan grumbled softly.
"I'll pay you back, I'm loaded, remember? That reminds me, I need to donate half of whatever I got left in the bank when we get back to Henry's."
"What in the hell for?"
"Rules," I said.
"Rules?" Evan looked at me a little blankly.
Portals of Infinity: Book Five: Demigods and Deities Page 5
