Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(71)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

For their dedication and self-sacrifice, the elite Uchben, like Brutus, were rewarded with seats on the Uchben Council and would someday become chiefs themselves. To Guy, it seemed like so little—after all, they had to relinquish their mortality, couldn’t have ties with the outside world, or take a wife—but their willingness to make such sacrifices spoke volumes about their belief in the Uchben mission.

Guy and Brutus inched their way around the perimeter of the quiet, rancid smelling village, passing empty huts, unlit fire pits, and vacant stone structures. Where had they all gone?

They continued on until they reached the northern end of the village where the two men stood speechless as their eyes registered the colossal structure in front of them.

“Is that what I think it is?” Guy asked.

Brutus nodded.

“Did you show Gabrán?”

Brutus nodded again.

Guy gaped for several moments. It was nighttime, but he could easily make out the immense black pyramid and sense the darkness seeping from between the black stones. “What in the world could it be for?” The poisonous smell was strangely familiar; it held the odor of evil, death, and hatred…the absence of light.

“It smells like the cenote where I was trapped,” said Guy.

There was a rustle from fifty yards away. Tommaso emerged from the jungle, moving toward the structure. Guy’s eyes locked in on him, and within the space of a heartbeat, Guy was on top of Tommaso, flooding the man’s body with a burst of energy. Tommaso fell limp on contact and Guy dragged him back behind the trees where Brutus was waiting.

Brutus stared at Guy, his eyes wide with shock.

“What?” Guy asked.

“Did you just sift through the air?” Brutus asked.

Guy didn’t realize it, but he had.

“Must be something about this place.” Guy glared down at Tommaso.

Brutus nodded and then his focus turned to the traitor. He pulled out a long, sharp blade. “Must be Christmas. Here, let me open that for you.”

“Not yet. But, soon,” Guy replied and lifted Tommaso.

***

Guy stared with lethal fury at Tommaso as he awoke in the dirt then slowly moved his head from side to side, seemingly oblivious to the man emptying his canteen over his head or to Guy who’d just finished sharpening a very large blade.

“Where the hell is she?” Guy growled. He jumped on Tommaso, legs straddled over him, and dug the blade into Tommaso’s neck.

Tommaso cackled. “Right about now? Dead.”

Guy pushed the dagger into Tommaso’s flesh, drawing a trickle of blood. “You’d better hope for your sake that she’s still alive.”

“Kill me. Go ahead. I don’t give a shit. Because tonight, the reservoir will be full, and we have more than enough Payals to complete the job.”

Job? What job? Guy swiftly raked the blade across Tommaso’s chest, cupping one hand over the his mouth to stifle the scream. “I’ll give you a choice, Tommaso. You can tell me where Emma is, and I’ll grant you a clean death.” Guy bent over him and whispered into his ear. “Or, my dear friend, you can withhold the information and live a very, very long time. We’ll pump you full of medicine; we’ll do everything to keep that heart of yours strong and healthy so I can enjoy torturing you every minute of every day for the rest of your life. Your hell will be endless, without mercy. Now, where’s my Emma?”

“Your Emma?” Tommaso laughed. “Chaam made the Payals, she belongs to him.”

Chaam? All this time it was his brother Chaam? He was always competitive and domineering. But never in a millennium would Guy have suspected this of his brother, the God of Male Virility, whose only focus in life seemed to be perfecting the art of seduction, answering the prayers of sad, awkward young men pining for the prom queen, or helping human males maintain their macho identity—tireless, brutal work, no doubt—but regardless, Chaam wasn’t the coldhearted type.

Thank the gods that they were not really related—not in the traditional sense anyway—because if they were, Guy didn’t think he could handle hating himself any more than he already did.

“She belongs to me! Where?” Guy dragged the blade deeper over the same wound.

“On top of the pyramid. But, you’d better hurry.” Tommaso laughed wickedly. “Chaam really enjoys making the Payals bleed when he juices them. They don’t last long.”

Guy suddenly understood. Pyramid. Reservoir. Payals. Juice.

He turned to Brutus in horror. “The pyramid is made from that black jade, it’s a giant jar.”

Tommaso laughed again. “All this fuss over Emma—she’s nothing. Fertilizer.”

Guy plunged his knife into Tommaso’s chest. “A deal is deal. Enjoy your death.”

Relief swept across Tommaso’s face as blood spurted from the gaping hole. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

That was an unexpected response. Guy turned and bolted for the pyramid. He didn’t care if he had to face five-hundred Scabs on his own. If his body was destroyed, he’d be sent back to the cenote. But Emma…

Guy reached the base of the structure and sifted to the top where he spotted Emma lying over a torch lit altar with Chaam gripping a knife.

“Stop singing, you stupid bitch!” Chaam screamed, slicing the blade down her leg. “You’re going to stop this instant! Do you hear me! Turn those eyes dark, dammit.”

Though bound to the altar with ropes, she was wiggling her toes, smiling, and singing—wailing, actually, “Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride. Nobody gonna slow me down, oh no! I got to keep on movin’…”

Mathew Wilder? Leave it to Emma to save herself with corny Eighties music.

He shifted behind Chaam and plunged his dagger deep into Chaam’s neck. “Get away from her!” The two men rolled to the ground in a blur of fists, blood, and knives.

“You can’t kill me, you idiot. I’m immortal!” howled Chaam. “And you won’t be able to fight us all.”

From the corner of his eye, Guy noted the tall black silhouettes materializing on the platform. “Oh shit.” The Maaskab were coming in droves.

In that very same instant, Gabrán’s team appeared and began fighting. Brutus had undoubtedly alerted them.

Guy turned his entire focus back on Chaam whose once turquoise eyes were now black, empty. No goodness remained in his soul.

Guy’s instincts to protect the human world screamed for Chaam’s death. And yet, his brother was right; there was no way to kill him. But he could…