Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62528 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62528 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Damien slid from bed, noting empty bottles, pizza boxes, and random articles of clothing strewn over lampshades and chairs. In the living room, Belch lay passed out under the table, and Jac was gone.
He pushed Belch’s large frame with his foot. “Hey, wake up. What did you tell Votan?”
Belch didn’t move.
“Wake up!” Damien tried again. He needed to know how to avoid angering the deadliest god in the universe.
“What do you want?” Belch muttered, cracking open one eye.
“Your wife’s here, and she’s pissed.”
Belch sat up and hit his head. “Ouch.” He rubbed the spot and then crawled out from under the table. “Where is she? She’s going to kill me if she finds out I missed my workout.”
His wife was some sort of health nut and fitness guru back in LA. Funny how she and the drunkest, least healthy god of them all had ended up mates. Maybe it was the universe’s way of balancing out two extremes.
“Relax. I just said that to get you up. What did you tell Votan last night?” Damien asked.
“He was here?” Belch scratched his small beer belly. Strange, he hadn’t looked so rotund last night. The alcohol seemed to instantly bloat him.
“No. You left a message on his phone. I need to know what you said,” Damien explained.
“I don’t know. I was drunk!”
Damien sighed. “Call him. Ask him what you said.” He grabbed Belch’s phone from the coffee table. He could see the god had missed several calls from his wife. He was probably in trouble. “Call your brother first; then you can let your wife yell at you for playing strip Twister with another woman.”
“I played strip Twister?” Belch rubbed the sides of his head. “She’s going to kill me. That, or tie me to the treadmill for a year. Again.”
“Call!”
“I’m calling.” Belch dialed his brother. “It is I, following up on the message I left you last night.” Belch nodded and then looked at Damien. “He wants to speak to you.”
Damien tilted back his pounding head and then took the phone. “Votan.”
“You did not follow orders, Greystone. You were supposed to let me know the moment you located my sister.”
“I made a judgment call because, well, Cimil offered a new body to someone I care about. She also swore to turn herself in after I helped her save the dragon species from extinction. Felt like a win-win.” Even if he knew Cimil would likely split. It had been a risk Damien needed to take.
“Back up. Say that again.” Votan did not sound pleased.
“She saved the dragons, which probably sounds like a bad idea, given your theory regarding Cimil’s desire to build an army; however, it turns out they don’t mate very often and can only have a few offspring at a time. A dragon army would take centuries.”
“No,” Votan said. “I meant the part about a new body.”
“What about it?” Damien asked.
“How can Cimil provide a new body?”
“SBP, I assume.”
“What’s that?” Votan asked.
He truly did not know?
Damien explained everything he’d learned about the company, Governor Newberry’s involvement, and the supernatural-body-part harvesting operation.
“I had no idea Cimil was part of this,” Votan muttered. “When did this start?”
Damien wasn’t sure about the details. He only knew that Cimil had been keeping a close eye on SBP and then burned down their downtown LA location. But before she did, she gave the two prototypes in their lab to the two women in Damien’s life. One went to Sky. The other had gone to Willa.
Everyone knew the outcome of Sky’s second chance, but Willa, his evil witch of an ex-fiancée? She’d disappeared. All Damien cared about was that she stay away.
“If Cimil offered your lady friend another new body, it means SBP is still operating,” Votan said.
“Possibly.”
“Perhaps she is not raising an army; she is growing one,” Votan growled.
Damien had not thought of that.
“We must find her. Immediately!” Votan roared.
Please don’t make me look for her. Please do not make me go—
“Tailor, I want you to find her. Now!” he yelled. “I am sending the Uchben and their most ruthless general to assist you.”
Sonofabitch. “I will find her, but I do not need the Uchben.” They were the gods’ human army, meant to be eyes and ears here on earth.
Like Damien, some were given the gift of immortality after proving themselves invaluable. Other Uchben were regular humans with handy skills—doctors, accountants, plumbers, real estate agents, and politicians. They not only kept tabs on things down here, but they managed the gods’ assets and properties.
“Nonsense,” Votan said. “The more resources, the better. You will coordinate with my general, and tailor, this is your last chance to prove you are worthy of the immortal light we gave you. Otherwise, I will revoke it.”
Meaning, he’d end Damien’s life.
Always with the conversation toppers. So predictable.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Later that day, after she’d retrieved her truck, Jac gave a tour of the sanctuary to a group of fifth graders, all the while struggling to conceal the emotional trainwreck twirling inside.