Rock Hard (15 page)

“I’m going with you.” It was definitely a statement, and Marduk guessed it was because Enlil did not trust him alone with Tess.

“No need to join me. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be fine,” Enlil growled, “but will she?” Marduk was only going to put up with this for a few more days. The guy was doing some major cock-blocking, and if Marduk had to chain him in the basement to get him off his back, he’d do it.

The two took off and arrived at Tess’s house a few minutes later. They tried the front door and found it open, much to Enlil’s fury. It only took a minute, after entering, to notice that their corporeal selves hadn’t emerged.

“What the…” Marduk was instantly on alert. “She’s not here, and we have no idea where she’s gone!”

“She’s probably making a quick stop somewhere for food. Give me a second. I should be able to sense her.” Enlil was obviously worried too.

“Anshar said she stocked her cupboards with food earlier today.” Marduk tried to calm himself. “I’m going to look around and see if there is any indication of where she’s gone while you do your thing.”

He went to her bedroom and immediately spotted the brochure on the bed.

“Could this be anything?” He emerged waving the alcoholic’s meeting schedule in his raised hand. “It says there’s a meeting tonight on Hancock Street.”

Enlil indicated Tess’s computer, which remained open on her table. “Punch in the address.”

Marduk accessed the computer and got the location in a flash. They were both out the door with the same purpose in mind—find Tess and make sure she was safe.

****

Tess cut through the Wollaston T parking lot, which was pretty much deserted on a Sunday night, and headed down a back street that would eventually bring her to the meeting. She suddenly felt a small tingle at the back of her head. She had walked this way a couple of times before and had been perfectly safe.

This street skirted some nice neighborhoods and, only at one spot, passed by some converted factories that were empty and silent at night. She was letting her imagination and the words of Marduk-the-Invisible get the best of her. Just in case, she reached into her purse and wrapped her fingers around the canister of pepper spray her brother had urged her to carry, feeling better immediately.

As she continued past the bright street lights, Tess knew she wasn’t imagining that tingly feeling. She heard footsteps behind her. Not that it was a crime to walk the same way she was, but as she tuned in a little more, she was aware that the footsteps belonged to more than one person.

Her heart rate increased. Well, she could do one of two things. She could run and possibly look like an idiot, or she could turn and confront whoever it was, still looking like an idiot but able to make some kind of an excuse. Tess chose to stand her ground.

Whipping about, she saw a group of four, no five people less than two streets back. As they approached, she noticed the business suits and was releasing a sigh of relief when she recognized Mr. Donut from earlier in the day. Ah shit, I hate it when I’m right.

It was too late to run, and she was damned sure her pepper spray and self-defense skills weren’t going to do much good against five assailants. She gulped in great quantities of fresh air and took a stance. The best she could do was hurt them as much as they were going to hurt her…and a little screaming couldn’t go amiss. Some Good Samaritan might hear her cries. Screaming it was!

Marduk heard the distress call and changed trajectory. He was too far north.

That’s Tess
, he sent the message into Enlil’s head, who had already been closing in on her location.

Marduk spotted her up ahead, but began to regain physical form and had to hit the sidewalk running to reach her, wasting valuable time. Enlil had obviously just experienced the same problem. The upside was that the suits weren’t aware of them as they closed in from the rear.

Tess whirled in front of the pack, screaming and pointing her pepper spray in a fast arc. Marduk saw one pull a gun from his jacket and take aim. He got there just in time and tackled him from behind. He and his prey fell to the ground, gun skidding out of reach across the pavement.

Marduk gained access to his boot and extracted a lethal blade, pulling the man’s head back by the hair and slashing across his neck. He had no time to gloat as a shoe connected with his ribs.

Marduk grunted and rolled to the side, while at the same time sweeping his feet in the direction of combatant number two, hoping to use him as the king bowling pin to bring some of the others down. His plan backfired and two heavy bodies drove the breath from his lungs as they toppled onto him instead.

Marduk roared as he felt blood, hot and wet, gush from his leg where one of the bastards stabbed him on the way down. Lightning tore at the sky, but he dared not direct it to earth for fear of hitting Tess. He located a face in the twist of limbs and drove his fist into it again and again, until there was no more resistance, then groped for his next victim.

Marduk risked a glance at his brother. Enlil was also deep within the skirmish and kicking some serious ass. Marduk thought he saw a body go one way and an arm another, but he was too busy with the asshole he was grappling to pay too much attention.

Again, Marduk grunted as a blade slipped under his ribcage, but he quickly removed the skewer and turned it back on its owner, plunging it again and again into the man’s chest. Two down, or maybe more, thought Marduk, struggling to his feet and trying to clear his blurred vision.

Enlil had one bastard in a choke-hold, which meant the asshole wasn’t long for this world, and the only remaining bad guy on his feet struggled with one arm around Tess, who was putting up a hell of a fight.

Marduk thought he saw something shiny emerge from the man’s pocket and, before he could react, her attacker plunged something violently into Tess’s thigh. The fog left Marduk’s head and his bellow of rage rocked the night. He dragged the man off, ready to snap his neck.

“Don’t,” yelled Tess, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled to the pavement.

“She’s right.” Enlil’s commanding voice overrode all Marduk’s instincts. “Save that one for later. We need to know who is behind this.” Marduk knocked the man unconscious with one blow and raced to where Tess lay on the ground. The syringe still hung from her leg and Marduk removed it, sniffing.

“Something to knock her out.” He threw the thing away, disgustedly. “Whoever is in charge, they want her alive.”

“Let’s clean up here. Then I’ll go for back-up.” Enlil looked around to see if anyone else lurked in the darkness. “We’ll need two motorcycles. It looks like we’ll be bringing Tess and one guest back to the compound.”

“Have Ishkur attach a couple of sidecars. Neither of our passengers looks like they’re up for a ride.” Marduk heard a groan from one of the other assailants on the ground. He brought the man to his feet, hand wound tightly into his shirt-front, and shook until the guy’s eyes opened. Awareness and then instant hatred filled his captive’s face.

“Listen to me, you bastard,” Marduk snarled. “You go back to where you came from and tell whoever you’re working for that they’ve pissed off the wrong guys.” He shook the defiant male again. For some reason, the douche-bag wouldn’t look at him. “Do you hear what I’m saying? As soon as we torture your friend for information, we’re coming for you. So you better be ready.”

Marduk expected more hatred or fear. What he didn’t expect was the look of raw mockery that crossed the guy’s features. Blood dripped from his mouth as he grinned evilly at the god.

“We’ll be ready for you, all right,” he spat, splashing red onto Marduk’s face. “More than ready.”

Chapter Thirteen

Dagon railed! “I told you not to underestimate the power of these infidels. We have lost four men, gods be cursed!” Lenore and Matthew could only watch with looks of stoicism on their faces as Dagon destroyed the room. The god was volatile, incensed, and at certain moments he seemed almost to transform into another being. When finally he calmed down, his eyes still blazed as he beheld his executives.

“There’s only one thing to do,” he commanded. “We need to strengthen our forces with men of a more…how should I say it…volatile nature.”

“But our people are all hand-picked and groomed from families who have served your charter for generations. They understand, and have always understood, the reason we have to fight. All of our people believe in the cause.” Dagon heard hesitation in Lenore’s voice. “If we recruit strangers, they may not have the same moral code as our chosen.”

“Moral code!” Dagon spat. “You have the audacity to talk about moral code? Did you see how our man, Stuart, came back? Nearly torn to pieces and, from his description of the carnage, our adversaries showed no mercy to any of our people.” He pinned Lenore with a furious stare. “Not only that, but when I went back to retrieve bodies and assess the damage, the scene had been scrubbed clean. Do you know what that means?” Dagon waited only a second before answering his own question.

“It means they used their powers over the elements to cause the earth to rupture, swallowing the bodies, and the rains to come, washing away the blood. We have no remains to return to their loved ones, and not only that,” he continued, “these despicable gods will do the very same things to you and to me and to the rest of humanity if they’re not stopped!”

He watched Lenore and Matthew carefully from beneath half-closed lids. The reality of the confrontation in Quincy had obviously shocked them. With this small, extra push, he knew he could get them to put aside whatever petty ethics they harbored. Oh, they would agree to added troops. His captains weren’t fools, and didn’t want the humans they had been working with for so many years decimated.

He also knew where he would find his new special forces. His “stolen” memories told him there was a correctional facility nearby. All he had to do was break in, read some files, then find a few dozen hardened criminals, who had previously been released and were desperate for work. If he offered them enough money for some dirty jobs in the name of world salvation, why wouldn’t they be up for the ride?

Only one thing irked him. As he was assembling his new army, Marduk would already have taken the girl into their airy-fairy compound in the Blue Hills. It was a stronghold he had tried to breach in the few years after their banishment, when he still remained awake. All of his efforts had failed.

“I want our remaining people in the field, watching the roads in and out of their compound in the Blue Hills,” Dagon ordered. His leaders knew where it was.

“I want to be apprised of all movement our men can see, and have them ready to follow those spawns from hell to the end of the earth, if necessary.”

“I will personally take charge.” Dagon sensed enough steel in Matthew’s voice to assuage his ire. “And I’ll make sure that nothing goes wrong.”

“See that it doesn’t,” Dagon snapped, and stormed from the office to locate and assemble his new draftees.

****

Tess came awake slowly, aware immediately that she wasn’t at home. The bed underneath her was too soft, and the room smelled like…Marduk. She took in a deep whiff. Mmm…a heady mixture of threshed wheat and…ozone? No, that couldn’t be right. She cracked open one eye and the room started to spin. Tess groaned.

“You’re awake,” Marduk called softly from nearby.

“Going to be…sick.” That was all Tess got out before rolling to the side of the bed, stomach heaving, intent on finding a bathroom despite the fact that she probably couldn’t walk.

A gentle hand stilled her and thrust a wastebasket her way. She hung her head over the edge of the bed and let go. Marduk held the bucket for several long minutes, keeping Tess’s hair back from her face with his free hand.

In her misery, she heard Marduk murmuring syllables of comfort, nonsense words, things to take her mind off the humiliating fact that she was hurling her guts up in front of the hottest male she’d ever encountered. Could he be for real? Her stomach settled for the moment, and he whisked the bucket away, returning quickly with it emptied and rinsed, offering her a damp facecloth meant to soothe. Tess wiped her lips.

“Must have been the drug…” she offered in a small voice, “…whatever they used to knock me out…I’m allergic to almost everything.” Her stomach cramped at the mention of the foreign chemicals. “It may take me a while to work it out of my system.” Tess grabbed for the wastebasket once more.

“I’m right here,” Marduk soothed. She felt his hands making small comforting circles on her back as her stomach emptied itself of everything.

What seemed to be an hour later, Tess felt more than purged and the room had stopped doing a tilt-a-whirl around her. She felt totally wrung out and disgusting.

“Well, that was charming.” She gave a self-deprecating laugh as he came back with a clean bucket for what seemed like the tenth time. She finally looked Marduk full in the face. Last time she had seen him, he was bloody and enraged. Right now, he appeared no worse for the wear, and obviously read her thoughts.

“I cleaned up while you were knocked out,” he told her. “You do remember me saying that we heal fast.” He raised his shirt and, sure enough, where a deep stab wound should have been, there was now an oozing slice that looked like it was on its way to fine, along with the most beautiful abs Tess had ever seen.

“Stitches would have been good,” he admitted, “but I didn’t have time to look for our good doctor. Someone needed to stay with you.” He lowered his shirt and his eyes, as if surprisingly pleased at playing nursemaid.

“Thank you.” Tess hoped her voice carried the appropriate level of appreciation. “How long have I been down?”

“About six hours,” came his unexpected reply.

“No!” Tess quickly sat up on the bed and the room spun crazily again. She held up a hand to ward him off when she heard him move to help. “I have to be at work in…” She spied the time on his DVR and groaned, “…five hours!”

“Give me your boss’s e-mail address, and I’ll have Shamash tell them you won’t be in.”