Chapter Twenty-Six
“What did you do with my truck?” Douglas opted to walk back through the woods with a small contingent of immortals―Douglas snorted―to drive the Mass Pike rather than be ‘spelled’ west by Dorian. Douglas couldn’t yet, wholeheartedly, embrace the magic-like perks these guys offered. Still, no matter his reluctance, he had to admit, weirdly, he believed their shit.
“When we drove from Trask’s house and I asked you all those truck questions, you told me it was no big deal to leave the diesel running all night.” His brother-in-law answered. “So, I didn’t try turning it off or touching anything. I just locked the doors.” Enten clearly waited to see if he’d done correctly.
“Perfect. Thanks.” Douglas nodded, daring to clap the man on the back. And, yup, his fingers came back frosty. His truck being near and dear to him, he didn’t like it being messed with, and Enten understood. Huh. These guys might be gods and…other things, but they didn’t pretend to be know-it-alls. Comforting.
Douglas could hardly believe he’d been down and out a few hours ago. He felt damned good walking through the dark with the night air filling his lungs. He could see straight and felt a sense of vitality. Had they slipped a god-mickey into his IV? Whatever. Better than caffeine.
“So, what’s our next move?” Douglas asked. He was presently accompanied by the gods Marduk and Enten, the goddess Candy, and the warlock Dorian who would also go for the ride since Douglas didn’t want an instant transport. An enormous contingent of other gods, led by the blond-braid guy, Enlil, would rendezvous at the Peace Pagoda in Leverett, standing by until they were needed.
Marduk took charge. “We know that Trask, and probably his ghouls…”
“Wait. Ghouls?” Douglas asked.
“Yeah,” Dorian answered because he’d seen them. “Those big guys Trask surrounds himself with? They’re ghouls; reanimated souls he’s taken from graveyards who feed on mortified flesh and become whoever they devour.” The warlock treated it like an everyday occurrence.
“Those guys that Trask had touching me were dead?” Douglas almost gagged.
Candy, who had opted to come along, obviously understood where Douglas came from and didn’t couch her opinion. “Stop the puke-reflex, big guy. Look at it this way. Better a ghoul than a disgusting, perverted live guy. Those ghouls had no personal agenda against you or diseases to pass on. They only followed orders. That’s got to be better than being subjugated by someone determined to make you their bitch,” she shrugged.
Douglas, who had been about to crawl out of his skin, pondered Candy’s statement. It was still, sixteen ways to fucked up, but surprisingly felt no more injurious than it had before. He supposed that was good.
Marduk continued as if there hadn’t been an interruption.
“So, when we’re a couple of miles away from your cabin, all of us except Dorian will mist out to join the others at the Pagoda. We’d like to stick around to hold your hand, but Trask and his ghouls will be able to see us, invisible or not, and would immediately abort their plans. We don’t want that to happen. What we do want is to be within range to speak and make a split-second intervention.”
They reached the truck and climbed in. Dorian and Enten had seen it before, but Marduk and Candy were all curiosity. Candy, especially, couldn’t contain her “no shit” and “fucking awesome.”
Once Douglas had them all strapped in and they were underway, Marduk―hanging his head out the window due to a propensity for car sickness―continued with the proposed plan.
“Dorian,” the thunder god pointed at the warlock, “will be invisible by ‘spell’ and undetectable to the bad guys. Therefore, he will stick to you like glue. You also won’t be able to see him but try not to panic. He’ll be there.”
“Actually,” Candy cut in, “try to panic.”
This earned her a glower from the thunder god.
“No, really. He needs to look suitably scared or the abductors will know something is up.”
“Uh, guys?” Douglas cleared his throat. “I don’t think that will be a problem. I can’t get rid of the visceral reaction I have when I’m around them even if I want to.”
Marduk sent him a pointed look, via the rearview. “We can change that if you want.”
“Seriously?” Douglas heard his own skepticism.
“Yeah. You met Dagon?”
Douglas recalled a slightly more dangerous looking god and nodded.
“Well, he has the ability to root around in your head and scrub things you might not want to remember.” Marduk clearly stated it, not as a suggestion, but as a possibility. “If you decide that particular fear takes up too much room in your cranium, he’ll be happy to remove it.”
Douglas pondered that possibility while Marduk hit him with another.
“Of course, you’ll feel a lot better about your past…and everything else once you’ve gone through the amulet ceremony with Emesh and have your half implanted. As soon as you’re immortal, the power you have over other beings will be a great equalizer. You just end up feeling more or less sorry for other-worlders with fucked up, built-in agenda’s.”
Douglas recalled the incubus they’d told him about earlier. The one they’d tricked into fucking the succubus so the other-worlder’s nutritional needs had been filled. And, hey. Wait. What was that about an amulet being implanted?
“Gentlemen. Did I miss something here?” Douglas scowled. “Amulet ceremony? Immortal?” Douglas thought back to when he’d been in the infirmary. He recalled someone talking about half an amulet that would be his. But he thought they’d meant some award presentation thing where he’d be given a plaque and slapped on the back. Apparently not.
“Dumb ass,” Candy muttered under her breath at Marduk. “You see, Douglas? You have to come to me if you want the straight shit. But on this one, I plead the fifth. Emesh should be the one to tell you.” She held up a hand and shushed Marduk to keep him silent. “I know…I know…. It’s just a formality, but really boss-man? You’re sucking all the fucking romance out of this.” She sat back on the seat with her arms crossed over her chest, looking particularly put out.
Marduk cleared his throat. “I apologize, Douglas. I may have acted out of line. You will wait for…”
“Like hell, I will,” Douglas exploded, maneuvering the big rig, using muscle memory alone, onto the Mass Pike. “You started this, and now, you’re going to tell me everything.” Douglas had pretty damned much figured it out by this time. “Fuck. You’ve got to be shitting me. My own sister and you, Enten?”
“Yeah. We’ve done it.” The cold god looked sheepish.
“And you, Candy, were you…?”
“Yup. As human as you before I got mine,” she reluctantly revealed. Douglas gave a quick turn to the back and stared. She tapped her left shoulder, pursed her lips, and gave in.
“Fine,” she growled at Marduk. “Do you want me to explain it, boss man? Or do you want to keep sticking your foot in it?”
Marduk rose into an imposing posture. “I’ve got this Candy,” he warned.
To give her props, the goddess settled back, albeit not happily by the looks of it.
“Here it is in a nutshell, Douglas. All of it,” Marduk continued.
Douglas steeled himself to remain calm.
“We gods have an amulet in our left shoulder that is our life-giving force. When we meet the wom…uh…person who is going to be our lifelong mate, who we call our Chosen, we undergo an age-old ritual where the god’s body is opened up, his amulet split in half, and the severed piece gets implanted into the shoulder of their true love. From that moment on, the pair is joined in mind and spirit, and the recipient also becomes a goddess…or god. So, to answer your questions, yes, your sister is now a powerful immortal, and will likely live forever. You will too when you mate with Emesh.” He turned a baleful eye to Candy. “There. How did I do?”
“Not bad for cold and clinical.” Candy shook her head. She leaned forward from her position behind the driver seat and peered around the chair to look at Douglas who tried not to appear shocked…or appalled at the idea of living forever. She patted his arm.
“What you feel for Emesh right now?”
Candy waited until Douglas nodded for her to continue.
“It’s only a fraction of what you’ll feel for him when you’re finally mated.”
At his disbelieving snort, she continued.
“I know that seems impossible. Especially since you love him so completely, already,” she said with certainty. “But, baby, you ain’t felt nothing yet.”
“Listen.” Douglas rolled his head to work out a few newly acquired kinks. “As much as I appreciate your insight into my budding relationship, I think Emesh, not you, should hear the L word from me, first. But when I had to leave him in that clearing?” Douglas’ voice broke, and he trailed off. Love had punched him in the gut right then and there. And it had hit him hard.
So yeah. He would do anything for Emesh. Life wouldn’t be worth living without his…god. Douglas flirted with the term, swallowed it…and accepted it. He had no choice.
Candy spoke the truth, but he couldn’t believe he’d feel even more intensely toward Emesh after an amulet ceremony. He sat quietly and listened with fascination as the goddess’ soft words filled the cab once more.
“When the amulet half from Emesh is placed, you get this immediate, visceral connection to your man, and you join with him, physically and mentally in a sexual frenzy you’ll never forget. You’ll be him, and he’ll be you. What I mean is…”
He could tell Candy prepared to get graphic, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cover his ears. He opted to bite his tongue.
“…when you put your penis up his ass, you’re going to feel it in yours. When he moans with pleasure, you’ll know exactly why because you’re getting it, too.”
Okay. Douglas did have to chuckle now. The picture she drew made him hard and uncomfortable, and short of whipping his dick out and stroking it, he needed the release valve of laughter.
The males in the cab shifted noisily in their seats, clearly uncomfortable. He laughed louder. Yup. Straight guys―and apparently even straight gods and warlocks―didn’t like thinking about their dick-free zones that way.
“After a few days,” Candy continued, “you’ll learn to control it, and then you will feel what he feels only when you want to.” Douglas could picture her dimpled smirk. “Which is pretty much every time you fuck.” She turned suddenly serious. “You’ll be part of him mentally as well, and you’ll know when he’s tired, or hungry, or angry at something you’ve done. There’s not a lot of hiding between immortal couples, and we’ve all found it’s for the best. Eternity together demands total honesty. There are only a rare handful of divorces among gods…and I understand those don’t go well.”
Douglas didn’t ask. He didn’t need to. If he decided to do this mating thing with Emesh, it would be forever.
Douglas shook himself and popped back to real-time. “This is our exit coming up.” Wow. Fastest fucking trip ever. “You’ve given me enough to think about, I should be suitably distracted when Trask’s ghouls have me. Now tell me the rest of how this rescue is going to play out.”
Marduk, who’d been standing by, got back to business.
“So, Dorian will be with you, but with one problem. He can’t communicate with us by head-talk; a little oversight in his witchy grab-bag of skills.”
Dorian cranked up a finger at Marduk which the god ignored.
“So, you’re going to have to keep us in the loop with what’s happening. As soon as you reach your destination, Dorian will record his coordinates, spell to our group, and lead us back. We’ll appear out of the blue like the fucking swat team of Trask’s nightmares.” He rubbed his hands in gleeful anticipation.
Douglas liked it. Nothing was foolproof, but he had a feeling Trask’s days were numbered. On a curious aside, he wondered what the gods planned to do with the evil doctor. Might as well ask.
“What do you have in mind for Trask,” he asked as evenly as possible. Not generally an ‘eye for an eye’ kind of guy, he wanted Trask to suffer. The Cambion had made his life a living hell.
The immortals looked around at each other.
“You might not want to hear this,” Marduk grumbled. “But there are only two possible outcomes. It depends on Trask which one he gets…and that’s all I’m going to say.” An implacable look came to the god’s face, and Douglas knew it would be useless to ask him anything further.
He headed the truck north toward Leverett. The three gods misted out at Douglas’ say so. He and Dorian continued to Douglas’ usual parking spot.
“They’re here. I feel them,” Dorian spoke into the hushed night as their feet hit the soft dirt. “I’m going to go invisible now, but I’ll be right by your side every step of the way,” he assured. “Connect with Marduk and the others and make sure you have solid communication.”
Marduk? Can you hear me? Douglas’ heart already thumped overtime, and the second it took for the god to respond was almost too much.
I have you, but you’re only coming through to a few of us. Try to broaden your spectrum. Picture the whole group and give it another shot.
I don’t know what the bloody hell you all look like, Douglas groused. Hard enough keeping track of the gods he’d conversed with directly without having to remember Dopey, Sneezy, and Grumpy.
Anshar, you’re Dopey. A vaguely familiar god responded, and Douglas felt relief. Ah, well. At least he’d done what he’d been asked.
I’m walking up the hill and through the woods toward my cabin now, Douglas told them. It comforted him to keep up a steady stream of chatter. Everything looks quiet, but Dorian said they’re here.
Head to your porch and hang out there for a few minutes. They’ll make their move. Marduk sounded sure.
Douglas didn’t even make it that far. Halfway across the clearing, he got tackled by one of three―what he now understood to be―ghouls.
Three underlings. No Trask, he gasped from the ground, instinct kicking in. He rolled onto his back and fought like a madman. Now that he realized his opponents weren’t human, he felt under no compulsion to fight clean. He aimed for the eyes, the nose, the crotch. Every self-defense course he’d loaded up on after his incarceration, caromed back into his head.
I’ll kill them, Douglas cried out. I’ll kill them all. He made it to his knees, his arms around the middle of one ghoul, squeezing.
Slow down, Douglas. Marduk’s voice bespoke calm. You can’t kill what’s already dead. You’ll only loosen their grip on their host's flesh and send them back to find another.
Marduk must have recognized the futility of his little ghoul-speech because when Douglas didn’t answer, he amended his recommendation.
Okay. Fuck it. Kill one if you want to, the god said, reasonably. Just make sure you leave the other two to deliver you back to where they’re keeping Emesh.
With a throaty shout that filled the clearing, Douglas brought an arm up from the thing’s chest, cradled its head in the crook of his arm, and wrenched sideways with all his might. The neck snapped in an odd way, like the crack of knuckles that resulted in a satisfying cascade of sound. He dropped the limp body to the ground. He didn’t even have time to register the ‘being’ arising from the carcass. He got thrown back to the grass, his arms wrenched behind him to be swiftly bound.
Two, he gasped, out of breath, beginning to panic. Two have me and they’re tying my hands.
Struggle a bit, but don’t get away. And calm yourself, Douglas. I can feel your blood pressure rising from here.
Douglas tried to breathe and see reason. Everything would be okay. Marduk would talk him through this. He’d be with Emesh soon, and it would all be worth it. Douglas shuddered. Right. Hard to tell himself that when flashbacks threatened.
One of the ghouls reflexively patted his ass when he came to his feet. He could smell their unwashed bodies―which he now understood were no more than putrefying flesh―and gagged. Fucking hell. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t go back. Douglas threw his shoulders this way and that, trying to dislodge the ghouls.
Help me, Marduk. Help me now. Douglas wasn’t a coward, but he felt himself losing his grip on reality. Hell. What was reality? Incubus, ghouls…gods. Maybe he’d already tipped the scales into crazy-town.
Enten’s voice cut through his hysteria, whipping like a chill wind through his head. You can do this, Douglas. You can do it for Emesh. He’s in Trask’s hands, and you know what the doctor will do to him. Save your mate. Be strong.
Douglas stifled a sob. Enten sent only the truth, and it righted his ship. Douglas ceased to fight. He had to believe all would be well. If he doubted it for one minute, he’d be useless, and Trask would hurt Emesh.
He pictured the face of the man he loved…the man who he’d yet to tell of his love, and he straightened further. Emesh had sacrificed himself for Douglas, and Douglas could do no differently. So not exactly composed, he gave in―the ghouls and Trask would expect his fear as Candy said―and they led him into the trees before emerging next to a large van edged up beside his truck. The back doors opened, and the macabre figure of the woman Trask called Miranda hovered over a body obviously devoid of life. She snapped her fingers, indicating one of the ghouls should roll it off the table and put Douglas in its place. This they did calmly and efficiently. Only the sound of the sputtering engine and Douglas’ rasping breath filled the silent void.
Douglas didn’t start panicking again until the chains looped around him…and around him. He shook, but bit hard on the inside of his cheek, refusing to emote. They’re wrapping me with chains and attaching locks, he told the gods.
Marduk’s voice came back, steady and certain.
Metal is like paper to us. We will shred your restraints before anyone lays a hand on you. I promise.
Miranda’s voice cut off Marduks. “Doctor Trask?” she said into a phone. “We have your subject, and he is secured. I anticipate arrival within thirty-five minutes.”
Douglas processed that and to fight back his nausea, he began a familiar ritual of calculating time and distance, something he did all the time on the road. Seventeen miles, he sent to the gods. On the back roads, we should cover seventeen miles in thirty-five minutes. Start fanning out from here in a circle of that radius and see if you can find Emesh.
Douglas took in a deep breath. Okay. If he could do the math, he couldn’t be out of his mind. At least not yet.