Obviously, his thirst for power had gone a little sideways on him. Still, it all meant that none of this was an accident.
“So you see, goddess,” Távas added, “it is as I’ve told you. I am a bad, bad man. A greedy man. I always have been. I always will be.”
“Eh-hem?” Penelope spoke.
Aurora and Távas looked at Penelope’s tablet.
“As Ruler of the House of Gods, I call for a vote. Do we grant Távas immortality? Or do we make him live out his life in a jail cell? Those who vote immortality, please raise their hands.”
Aurora, Acan, and Ashli, the Goddess of Love, raised their hands.
Only three? Aurora’s heart sank. Her plan had failed. The gods didn’t see him as a person worthy of redemption and healing. They only saw a monster.
The human-skin thong he’s wearing probably isn’t helping.
“Three yeses,” said Penelope. “Going once. Going twice—”
“Come on, people,” Aurora pleaded, “he’s no worse than Cimil. Or Roberto or…really, any of us. We’ve all done bad things. We all have our dark sides—I mean, Acan there literally ripped all our heads off in the last meeting. We’ve all killed for the people we’ve loved, though, granted that is our role as gods. But who’s to say that he wasn’t a necessary evil? Without him, black jade wouldn’t have been discovered and many of you would still be single. Right?”
No reply.
“Fine,” Aurora continued, refusing to accept defeat. “Máax, God of Time Travel, you wouldn’t even have a title if it weren’t for Távas. He figured out how to harness enough energy to propel someone through the fabric of time, which means Ashli would be dead. Like, dead dead.” She’d died accidentally multiple times while Máax was attempting to court her—a long, clumsy love story. Luckily, Máax had been able to unwind the clock and have several do-overs until he got it right. All very romantic when one thought about it.
Máax and Ashli exchanged loving glances, and Aurora felt the room warming up.
“Come on, guys,” she pleaded. “Even you, Votan, have to admit that you wouldn’t be with Emma if the Maaskab hadn’t trapped you in a cenote using black jade jars.” Emma, for very complicated reasons, had been the only one able to hear Votan during his entrapment, which nearly drove her mad, but ultimately got them together. She went to free Votan and the rest was history.
Votan’s screen remained blank, but lip-smacking sounds could be heard coming from his tablet.
“We’ll take that as a yes,” Aurora said. “All I’m asking for is that Távas and I have the same chance you’ve been given, as improbable of a couple as we are.”
“Final vote,” Penelope called out.
Four more hands rose.
Seven.
“Fuck.” Aurora dropped her head. She needed eight. This couldn’t be happening.
“It is all right, Aurora,” Távas said, his deep voice filled with regret. “I do not deserve you. I do not even deserve the dream of you. Not after the things I’ve done. But I will spend eternity dreaming of what might have been.”
“Excuse me.” Ixy, the Goddess of Happiness, raised her hand. “But maybe I’m confused. You’re asking for Távas to become a demigod, right?”
Aurora nodded.
“But he’s filled with enough black jade and evil to light up hell for the next eternity. No—not a question. That was a statement.”
Aurora nodded again.
“Okay, so why would we vote yes?” Ixy asked. “That would be negligent.”
“Thanks, Ixy. Remind me to erase my memory of you after this meeting,” Aurora muttered.
“Don’t get your goddess panties all ruffled, Getty,” Ixy argued. “The issue is he’s bad to the bone, and taking him to our realm to be filled with divine light can’t possibly cure someone as evil and wicked as him.”
“Your point?” Aurora asked.
“I can’t give him our light, but I can try to cure him,” Ixy offered.
Jesus. Why didn’t I think of that?
Aurora’s eyes filled with tears and her lower lip quivered. “You-you’d do that for me?”
“Yes,” Ixy said, “you’re my sister. We don’t have any idea who you are, frankly, since I am only just beginning to remember you, but I know I love you, and making you happy would only bring me joy.”
“You remember me?” Aurora asked.
Unanimous nods erupted in a circle around the room.
“But how?”
“Perhaps because you’re now bonded with Távas,” Acan offered. He knew all about how mates affected each other. They balanced each other out. Sometimes they completely swapped powers.
Aurora finally saw it. She gave Távas her selfless goodness, and in exchange he gave her visibility. We’ve brought each other into the light.
Aurora smiled. But this time, the whole room saw it. And for the first time in her existence, no one would forget.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After the tumultuous meeting, Zac and Minky had left together. It was a somber moment, one Aurora wouldn’t soon forget, when Zac sobbed into Minky’s invisible mane. Really, no one knew what to say, because despite their differences, Cimil and Zac had been a team. She’d hurt him worse than she’d hurt anyone, even Roberto. Zac would never recover from such a loss—his closest friend and his mate, all in one day.
“What are they going to do?” Aurora asked Ixy, now back at Aurora’s sherbet-fiesta-colored penthouse.
“I don’t know, but I will visit him tomorrow and see if I can’t syphon off some of his pain.” Ixy began shedding her jewelry, preparing for Távas’s exorcism.
“Won’t you be a little full?”
“Perhaps. But Antonio has lined up a bunch of incubi for me tonight, and he, too, will dine.” Antonio was half incubus, half vampire and loved to snack on bad energy, whether Ixy brought it home or he found it on his own. Although her capacity was much larger and she couldn’t truly die, unlike Antonio, it was safer for her to deal with high-risk cases like Távas and then have the incubi assist her with discharging the bad energy.
“All right,” said Aurora. “I hope you have an army waiting because I have a feeling that Távas is the nuclear reactor of malevolent energy.”
Ixy scoffed. “This will be a piece of cake.”
“Ladies, may we get on with this?” Távas called from Aurora’s bedroom.
“Coming!” The two entered her room filled with Uchben soldiers. Távas lay across Aurora’s bed, still in his icky Mayan priest garb.
And I’m gonna need new sheets.
“Someone sounds super anxious to start his new happy life,” said Ixy with a giant grin, rubbing her hands with sanitizer.
“Yes,” replied Távas. “Today’s delivery window for chicken wings will be closing soon.”
“Sorry. Chicken wings?” Aurora asked.
“It is nearly twelve thirty, and the delivery places will soon shut down.”
“Not following,” she said.
“I love barbeque. But the sensation of eating something bad for me is severely handicapped by being evil. One can only truly appreciate junk food when it feels sinful, which is a challenge for obvious reasons.” He gave Aurora a sharp look. “Plus, I’m feeling extremely horny for you, so…there’s that.”
Aurora and Ixy glanced at each other and shrugged.
“Well, then,” Aurora smiled and brushed her fingertips over Távas’s cheek, “good thing Louie is spending the night with Acan.” Margarita would hopefully keep Louie in line. She was a very responsible mother accustomed to rebellious teenagers. And Acan. Same thing. “And once you’re all cured, we’ll get to work on Louie.”
Távas nodded. “It is my connection that has poisoned him. If I cannot be cured, there will be little hope for him.”
So the father-son connection had done this to Louie? No wonder Távas felt so guilty. Just another sign that Távas is a good man.
“Okeydokey.” Ixy clapped her hands together. “I’m ready.
”
Aurora reached out and gave Ixy’s arm a soft squeeze. “Thank you, sister. From the bottom of my heart.”
Ixy’s turquoise eyes sparkled with love. “It is my pleasure to help you.” Ixy turned her head and then began to chant an ancient Mayan phrase to kick off the ceremony. “Teen uk’al k’iinam. Teen uk’al yah. Teen uk’al k’iinam. Teen uk’al yah.” Ixy planted her hands on Távas’s chest.
He immediately cried out as if she were burning him with a branding iron.
Oh gods. Aurora fought the urge to touch his hand, knowing that the energy flowing through them wasn’t to be disturbed. Fact was, no one really understood Ixy’s gift. Not even Ixy.
Távas passed out, and Ixy went into a deep trance.
“How’s it going?” Aurora asked anxiously.
Ixy’s skin was turning gray—not unusual, but it meant she was almost full. Suddenly, Ixy turned coal-mine black.
“Ixy!” Aurora pushed her away, and Ixy fell to the floor, convulsing.
“What happened?” Antonio rushed into the room, his green eyes filled with panic.
“I don’t know. She only touched Távas for three seconds, four tops.”
“Jesus. He’s poisoned her.” Antonio bent down and placed his lips on Ixy, trying to syphon off the dark energy. Within a few seconds, he pushed away and fell to the floor, panting. “It’s too much.”
“What do we do?” Aurora asked.
“Call in the others,” Antonio grumbled.
“There are only three incubi in the living room. Aren’t we going to need more? Want me to call someone?”
“Who?” he sputtered.
“I don’t know. Don’t you guys have some sort of hotline or group page on Facebook?” Aurora asked frantically.
“No. We’re not a knitting circle. And most incubi don’t carry phones.”
“That’s strange, but whatever. We still need more—”
“There are very few of us left in the world, thanks to you gods. So we must try with the three we have.”
Dammit. He was right. The gods had sent most of the demons back to their realm centuries ago. A few escaped their nets, but they were too few to warrant any concern. Still, that meant there was no bad-energy-munching incubi army to fall back on.
But why wasn’t Ixy enough? Once, the Maaskab had gotten their paws on Chaam, the God of Male Virility. He was so full of poison that they’d thought he’d never be cured. But Ixy had him all spiffy and clean within minutes. Of course, she then spent weeks in a coma, but she had gotten the job done.
Fuck. Something is not right.
Aurora went into the living room and retrieved the incubi, who were watching a rerun of the show Dancing with the Stars.
I knew that show was evil. “Snack time, guys!”
The men, all very handsome with green, green eyes and olive skin—a camouflage of course—came quickly and got to work, trying to drain Ixy. But as much as they could digest, it wasn’t enough to put a dent in her color. The worst that could happen was Ixy would die and come right back in a new body. But for Távas, this was his only hope.
And it’s useless. Aurora’s heart sank, realizing that this meant there was no cure. He was just too darn powerful, a seemingly bottomless pit of dark energy.
Aurora sank down next to the unconscious monster on the bed and took his dirty hand. “Gods, Távas,” she whispered. “What am I going to do with you?” It wasn’t that she couldn’t live without him, but she didn’t want to. Now that she’d had a taste of love—messy, difficult, agonizing—she never wanted to forget it. She liked that it wasn’t perfect or easy to come by. The bumps, bruises, pain, and scars gave love its true beauty.
She kissed the top of his rough sticky hand, numb to the stench, because if any man could love her, he deserved her unwavering loyalty. “And you have mine, my evil, rotten king.”
Távas whimpered but did not open his eyes.
The next morning, Aurora woke to a very dirty and very empty bed. The Uchben soldiers were sprawled out on the floor of her bedroom, unconscious.
Oh no. She ran over to check them out. Their auras had flecks of black, but they didn’t appear to be injured, just in a very deep sleep.
Maaskab mind control. It would likely wear off.
“Távas?” She got to her feet and bolted to the bathroom, only to find it empty. She went into the living room, where she found Ixy, Antonio, and the three incubi all piled in a heap on the orange carpet, looking like they’d had some sort of clothed orgy before passing out.
“Ixy!” Aurora gave her sister a shake, noting her skin tone had returned to a pinkish hue.
“What?” Ixy groaned.
“What happened? Where’s Távas?”
Ixy’s bright blue-green eyes popped open. “What do you mean?”
“He’s not here, and the soldiers have been put under—like some sort of napping spell.”
Ixy sat up, rubbing the back of her head. “The next time I offer to help out a Scab, please shoot me in the face—it would feel way better.”
“Do you remember anything?” Aurora asked.
“Not after I passed out.”
Aurora had fallen asleep next to Távas. He must’ve woken and snuck out. “I can’t believe it. He ran. He left me.” Aurora went over to her bright yellow couch and plopped down. “I don’t understand. Why would he just go without a word?”
Ixy got up from the floor and sat beside her, taking her hand. “I’m sorry, sister, but what did you expect? He’s too evil to cure, and he can’t stay with you.”
She sighed and shook her head. “But it doesn’t make sense. I know he loves me. Otherwise, I couldn’t be sitting here right now, as myself, unaffected by the plague.”
Plus, here were the facts: she’d stuck her neck way, way out for him with her brethren. She’d fought for his life, knowing that it hadn’t just made her look a fool, but that it made her doubt her own sanity. Loving him required her to completely accept him. To have complete faith in him, too. She would never do anything like that for just anyone. He was special.
“Would it be completely irrational to hold out hope he’ll come back?” Aurora asked, imagining Távas the night he’d showed up to her hotel room in his sexy suit with red roses in hand. It was the night she’d learned that he had a big, big heart underneath it all. His rudeness had been an effort to prevent her from feeling attracted to him. He wanted to keep her at a distance because he’d needed to stay good and be there for Louie, which meant denying himself the woman he’d pined for, for over two thousand years.
A man willing to do that wasn’t hopeless.
“I do not know, sister,” said Ixy. “But…”
“But what?”
Ixy sighed. “The part of me that knows better wants you to let go and seek happiness elsewhere, because if anyone deserves it, it’s you. The other part of me knows that if I were in your shoes, and he were Antonio, I would never give up. Not ever.”
Ixy had married an incubus-vampire, so she understood the whole odd-couple thing.
Aurora drew a breath. “I’m going to hold out hope. He’s going to come back, and this will all work out somehow.”
Ixy patted her hand. “Then let us hope he proves to be worthy of you, Aurora. Because at present, I cannot think of any man who is.”
Ixy’s cell phone rang, and she slid it from the pocket inside her sunny dress. “Hello?” She looked at Aurora. “It’s Acan, for you.”
Aurora took the phone. “Hello?” She listened and then ended the call.
“What did he say?” Ixy asked.
“Távas took Louie.” Dread filled her heart. Távas wasn’t coming back. And the gods only knew what would become of that young man.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
One month later…
Zac, God of Temptation, and the saddest motherfucking deity on the planet, inhaled the cold ocean air and winced. It even hurt to breathe. Without Tula, nothing made sense. His soul was no longer in jeopardy of
flipping—it would forever be bound to her—but what did it matter now?
“You’re sure you want to see this?” Roen asked him, the large ocean freighter slowly rocking beneath their feet in the rough night waters.
“Yes.” Zac gave a nod and zipped up his black parka. It was fucking freezing out here just off the coast of Alaska—at least, that was where he thought they were. The mermen had demanded he be blindfolded and remain indoors during the month-long voyage. No one was to know where Cimil was “buried,” so to speak.
“Don’t fucking care,” Zac had said the moment they’d held out the blindfold. “I’d let you pluck out my eyes and cut off my manhood if it meant getting a front-row seat to Cimil’s sinking.”
“Do not tempt us, Zac, because we might take you up on your offer,” Roen had said. Zac knew those were empty words. The night Tula died, the merman had found them, albeit far too late. It was then that Zac told Roen what had really happened, how Cimil lied and Zac flipped. It all could’ve been avoided had Cimil simply told the truth. Or, at the very least, not intervened. But she had, and Tula had died because of it, along with many others. Even Minky was upset. Minky adored Tula.
And now it’s V-day. No, not Valentine’s. Vengeance day. Cimil had injured him in a way that could never be forgotten or forgiven. The worst part being that he simply couldn’t understand why. What had she gained from such treachery?
Guess we’ll never know.
“Dump her!” Roen commanded to three of his men who waited at the bow of the ship.
With a push, the black steel barrel tumbled over the side of the ship.
“Good fucking riddance to bad fucking rubbish,” Zac muttered.
As the barrel sank, he felt lighter. Cimil would never hurt, manipulate, bully, or threaten him again. From this day forward, he would be free to live his existence knowing his choices were his own.
Nobody puts Zaccy in the corner. And nobody hurts a soul like Tula’s. He glared down at the dark waters, feeling the five souls fade into nothing.