2 The Judas Kiss (19 page)

             
He hesitated at the sight of the hotel robe, but he had nothing else to wear, and he always kind of had a thing about wearing clothes for more than a day.  He slipped on the itchy terry cloth, tied the belt and sat down on the bed.  It was more comfortable than most hotel beds he’d slept on, and the TV was new and expensive.

             
Pushing the button on the remote, it turned on to the local news.  A kidnapping from a local hospital, three patients had gone missing.  Ben cursed under his breath.  He didn’t need the details to know exactly what was going on, and he looked over at his phone, terrified that at any minute his boss would phone him.  He, after all, had worked all of the hospital murders.  The cases were supposed to have been solved.  He assumed it had been Stella who filed the reports of the missing bodies being used in experimentation at the compound.  No use in telling the public that the brain-dead patients were the puppets of ancient Greek gods.

             
Ben laughed at the absurdity of the thought and flipped channels.  He settled on a show where some overly-excited man was traveling the country, visiting sandwich shops and diners, and drooling over food that was sure to kill him in less than five years.

             
It was mindless and just what Ben needed in the background as he let his head fall against the pillow.  Sleep claimed him, and in his dreams the world was right, there were no gods, and his sister sat in the sun, smiling at him.

Chapter Nine

              Andrew woke Ben up way too early for Ben’s liking.  He was hungry and rested, and ready to get started.  Ben was slower going that morning, his head pounding from drinking the night before, and his throat was raw from smoking.

             
He gave a few coughs and groaned as he pulled his already-worn clothes on, hating the feel of dirty socks on his feet.  He ignored Andrew’s persistent bitching for him to hurry and he took his time in the bathroom, setting his hair straight, washing his face and using the disposable hotel toothbrushes lying in a neat, packaged pile at the edge of the sink.

             
He looked like death, his skin pale, eyes dark, but with food and coffee he knew he’d perk up, and he directed Andrew to the hotel’s café on the other side of the property.  The café was located directly waterside, the outside seating on the dock with only thick strands of rope separating the tables from the dark, still, bay waters.

             
It was a nice morning out, the hazy fog at a minimum, and the winds had died down considerably from the night before.  Ben was pleased to have slept until at least dawn, and he chose the table nearest to the water, a sullen Andrew following suit to the chair.

             
The server, an overly perky girl with that sorority air about her, plunked the pasted wooden menus down on their table.  “Can I get you guys anything to drink?”

             
Andrew looked perplexed so Ben took the lead.  “Two of your darkest roast coffees and a couple glasses of OJ.  Thanks,” he finished off with the brightest smile he could muster.

             
Andrew was glaring at him over the menu, his eyes narrow and fierce.  “We don’t have time for this.”

             
“Is the world going to blow up today or something?” Ben asked irritably as his eyes scanned down the list of breakfast items.  He’d been poor about his diet for some time now, but the allure of huevos rancheros was too tempting, especially with the café’s acclaimed homemade chorizo.

             
“I don’t know,” Andrew said, but it was clear that the matter wasn’t as pressing as that.  “We’re meeting someone in the city today.”

             
Ben lowered his menu and frowned.  “Meeting someone?  One of your someones?”             

             
Andrew gave one slow nod of his head.  The server returned and plopped down the juice, coffee, and a small dish of cream.  “Thanks,” Andrew muttered to her, not meeting her gaze.

             
Ben sighed and ordered a stack of pancakes for his god friend, and the huevos rancheros with runny eggs and a side of toast.  He was starved and knew that if they were going to meet yet another god, he was going to need all the energy he could get.

             
“Who is it this time?  Give me someone good, why don’t you,” Ben muttered as he stirred a couple of sugar packets into the coffee.  He ignored the cream completely and gulped down the hot liquid.  It was a little more bitter than he liked, but right then coffee was coffee.

             
“Someone good?” Andrew asked.  “What does that mean?”

             
Ben laughed in spite of the situation and shook his head.  “I don’t know.  How about… Odin.  Let’s meet up with Odin.  Or how about Ra.  You know that guy?”

             
Andrew lowered his eyes and let out a long sigh.  “This isn’t a game, you realize.”

             
Ben laughed harder, shaking his head.  “Yeah,” he gasped.  “Yeah I know.”  He forced himself to calm down, taking a drink of his juice.  “I do know that, but this whole thing is just so ridiculous.  You know, I’ve got Nike running around in my sister’s body, I’ve got Asclepius—and you know I’ve never heard of that guy before—drinking himself into a stupor in some doctor’s office.  And then there’s you.  The guardian of the rainbow thingie…”

             
“Bridge,” Andrew said in a dead tone.

             
“Rainbow bridge!” Ben said, slapping the table lightly with his hand.  “I just don’t even really know how to process any of this.”

             
“Well you’d better figure it out, human,” Andrew said, his voice taking on an odd quality.  “I don’t like being stuck down here with you animals any more than you like following me around, but this doesn’t just involve you and your little friends anymore.  This threatens all of us, and don’t think I won’t force you to cooperate if I have to.”  Andrew ended his threat with his eyes giving a great big flash, sending sparks shooting in front of Ben’s vision.

             
The detective stopped laughing, the blood draining from his face and he took a deep breath.  “Why me?  What is it about me that you have to threaten to force me to cooperate?” Ben asked, getting angrier as he spoke.  “Why not that guy over there walking down the street?  Why not go and fuck up his life beyond recognition and then threaten him when he doesn’t want to play along anymore?”

             
Their conversation abruptly halted by the arrival of food, but Ben wasn’t hungry anymore.  Andrew stared down at his plate as Ben poked both egg yolks with his fork, watching the yellow liquid run down the pile of seared reddish meat.  The air between them was tense, and Ben was fighting off the urge to bolt, though he knew his running would be useless.

             
“I dislike being in this body,” Andrew said after a little while.  He took a bite of the pancakes and raised his eyebrows, clearly enjoying the taste.  “The human form has its certain pleasures, Ben, and I can see why your kind fights so hard to keep them.  We’ve never had to experience the mortal death.  The feeling of our essence being ripped from our forms and forced into another awareness.  Even moving from corporeal to what we are now was a slow process.”

             
Ben took a tentative bite of his food and his stomach reminded him that stress or no, he needed to eat.  The coffee was unpleasantly cold now, but he drank the rest of it, saying nothing to Andrew’s response.

             
“I’ve never been one to pay a lot of attention to humans, but I find you agreeable.  Regardless of your perplexing ability to ignore the obvious, I appreciate that you don’t blindly follow the ignorant ideals that gods would have any say-so in the fate of human souls, and reject the notion so readily.”

             
Ben looked at Andrew and frowned.  “Are you talking about heaven and hell?”

             
“And their variants based on any human theology,” Andrew said, waving his fork, his words thick behind the doughy pancakes.  “Truthfully, I have no idea what happens after your souls move on.  Reincarnation, yes, but eventually you move on to another plane and no longer exist here.”

             
Ben was acutely aware that Andrew had skillfully avoided the ‘why me’ question, but the perky brunette swiftly approaching their table took away any thought of pressing the god any further.  It was Olivia from the night before.  She was smiling, but she wasn’t looking at Ben, and Ben was even more horrified to see Andrew beckoning her over.

             
“I thought you wanted to meet this afternoon,” Andrew said.

             
Olivia scanned the tables and snatched an empty chair from one nearby.  She plopped down and gave Ben a wink before answering Andrew.  “Oh well, seems a bit silly when we’re staying in the same hotel, doesn’t it?”

             
Her accent was gone, Ben noticed, and he frowned, sitting back with his arms folded.  He had been so damn sure she wasn’t one of them.  Nothing tipped him off.  “Why didn’t you say something last night?” Ben piped up.

             
Olivia looked over at him stony faced and then she laughed suddenly, clapping her hands together once.  “Oh that wasn’t me last night,” she said, touching her palm to the center of her chest.  “No, that was this poor romantic fool I’m riding around in.”

             
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at her over his fingers.  “What?” was all he could come up with.

             
“Well she was convenient,” the new god said with a wave of her hand.  “Look, she doesn’t mind, she thinks she’s still asleep and I’m not going to keep her.”

             
“Please don’t,” Ben said in a tired voice.  “She was nice.”

             
“Ben, this is…” but Andrew hesitated, staring at the woman for some time.  “This is my brother.”

             
“Got a name?” Ben asked, wishing he had a strong drink, or at least a cigarette right then.

             
“A lot of them,” she said with a big smile.  “I’ve been everything from an archangel to the God of Thunder.”

             
Ben blinked a few times, the corners of his mouth quirking up.  “Thor?”

             
“That would be the one,” she said with a slight shrug. 

             
“You’re Thor?” Ben repeated.

             
“Thor, Michael, Horus, you name it,” she said.  “I was eclectic.  Unlike my brother here, I liked you people.  Still do.  I have a more permanent vessel.  I’m in advertising.”  She winked and snatched up Andrew’s untouched coffee, taking a drink but grimacing as the liquid had gone stone cold.

             
Ben let out a breath and sat back.  “Okay so… Thor.”

             
“I go by Alex, if that helps,” the god said with a shrug.  Looking down at the rather perky breasts, she looked up and smiled.  “And Alex is unisex, isn’t it?  Helps with confusion since I’m probably going to be hanging out in this body for the rest of the day.”

             
Ben cleared his throat and said, “Okay, Alex.  So I take it you weren’t the one Andrew here was chatting with in the portal?”

             
“No,” Alex said, her face darkening.  “I try and stay away from Asclepius.  He’s a little bit of a whore for my tastes, and frankly, I’m not interested in leaving this plane and I don’t want to take any chances.”

             
“What do you mean?” Ben pressed.

             
“If we step through the portal too far, we can’t come back,” Andrew filled in.  “The portal, at least the one in Greg’s office, is a one way ticket.”

             
Ben looked over at Alex.  “So you don’t want to go to the other side.”

             
“Not a chance, my friend,” Alex said, her pretty face lighting up with her smile.  “I love it here, and I love you people.  Humans, man,” she shook her head, “can’t get any better.  Such passion and drive, and no matter how hard you fall you just get right back up.  I love this realm and I plan to stick around as long as I can.”

             
“You can’t be here forever,” Andrew said in a warning tone.

             
“You leave my longevity to me, stormy-man,” Alex snapped.  “Anyway, don’t you have somewhere to be?”

             
Andrew jumped at that and stood up swiftly.  “I nearly forgot.  Damn.  Ben, I have to go run a very important errand, but it’s best if you stay back.  Alex here plans to spend the afternoon with you.  When I return we should have a better idea of where to go.”

             
He didn’t give Ben a chance to respond as he dashed off through the parking lot, disappearing around one of the large white vans emblazoned with the hotel logo on the side.  Ben stared down at his barely touched plate and knew he wasn’t going to be able to eat anymore.  The eggs had congealed, the chorizo’s grease turning the tortilla shell into mush, and the sausage was ice cold.