Rock Hard (2 page)

“Are you kidding?” Anshar yelled at his departing back. “I wouldn’t miss this for all the darkness in your heathen soul.” He paused and located the girl. “She’s headed out the exit to the right!” Marduk didn’t offer a verbal acknowledgement to his friend, nor did the crowd, but then again, invisible guys didn’t often get acknowledged.

Tess knew she had to hit the street, and glanced up at the scoreboard. Great. The Sox had finally pulled ahead five to four in the sixth. What lousy timing this guy had. She wove her way expertly around the surge of humanity lined up for sausage subs and clam chowder, focusing instead on the gates that led out to Yawkey Way.

Once free of the park, it wouldn’t be far to the Kenmore T and, as soon as she was on the train home, she’d feel a lot better. She imagined footsteps pounding behind her as she turned the corner onto Brookline Avenue, and fought her way through the crowd milling outside the hottest new brew pub. Couldn’t people see that she was in a hurry here? One guy planted himself right in front of her, purposely interrupting her flight.

“Wanna come in for a drink, honey?” He postured and slurred in a way that only a Southie boy, born and bred, would dare. “I’ll make sure I give ya a little somethin’ extra with it.” He wiggled his eyebrows hopefully.

“Oh, please,” Tess groaned sarcastically, with a preoccupied laugh. “Is that the best you’ve got?” She scooted around him and he good-naturedly let her pass. She looked back over her shoulder and wished him luck trolling for a companion. He was sending her a jaunty salute when the big dude who was chasing her smacked right into the guy’s arm. Tess grinned. This was good! The would-be Romeo wouldn’t put up with that for one second. Tess picked up her pace in the opposite direction.

Marduk, intent on the little body getting away, was stunned to have someone address him. “Hey buddy! Watch where you’re going or I’ll kick your ass.” The native Bostonian postured brilliantly.

Marduk pinned the fool with a raw glare. His prey was fast disappearing into the crowd. “Get out of my way, or I’ll be happy to oblige your ass with the blunt end of a bar stool.”

Dorchester dropped his in-your-face stance at the raw aggression that oozed from Marduk. He could obviously see that the god meant business. As he moved to the side, Marduk didn’t spare him another glance, but took off down the street with the nasty cold wind of Anshar following close behind. He knew that the Bostonian would have heard the deep chuckle in the swirling aftermath.

Marduk growled. God blast it, why were the streets so crowded? He’d better get more adept at this moving-through-people thing. Being corporeal really had its down side.

He spotted his target up ahead about to turn another corner. How could such a little bit of a woman move so quickly? Well, fast or not, he wasn’t overcome with emotion like he’d been on the beach earlier in the week, and he wasn’t about to let her get away before he had some answers. He still had some tricks up his proverbial sleeve, and it was about time he used them. Without so much as a blink, Marduk called on the clouds for a quick thunder squall. Water began cascading from the sky.

He nearly fell to his knees as the first cooling drops of moisture hit his face. Oh gods! To feel rain again after so many years! He hadn’t counted on his own reaction. Wonder suffused his whole being and, looking up, he marveled at the sensation.

By the look on Anshar’s face, his companion was suffering piercing shafts of jealousy at Marduk’s new-found faculty. If he could only find out why the woman had turned him corporeal, maybe Anshar would soon be able to join the physical world again, too. Only a strong resolve brought Marduk’s feelings back under control. He turned his attention back to his prey. The well-timed storm had done the trick and slowed her down.

Damn,
Tess realized she wasn’t going to make it to the T station. Where had this blinding rain come from? She didn’t want to cross the street in the drenching dark and risk being hit by a car. She looked to her right. The best she could hope for was to slip into the fast food burger joint on Commonwealth Avenue and surround herself with people.

Water made her glasses almost useless and she stumbled, then pushed back her hair, cleared her eyes and bolted for the fast food haven. She scooted through the entrance with feet to spare, sensing the palpable, hot impatience that reached the door right behind her.

She whipped around, body poised to face her giant well-proportioned stalker, and saw him paused outside. What was he waiting for? Tess was ready. She might be small, but she was not to be messed with. Her brother had taught her some great survival skills, and she was ready to use them.
Bring it on, asshole.

Marduk ended the storm as quickly as he had started it. He had no interest in expending energy to keep the rain going, his whole being was now focused on the presence waiting behind the glass portal. How should he approach this? Anshar glided to a stop beside him.

“So now that you have the little mouse trapped, what’s your agenda, big man?”

“Shut up, Anshar.” Marduk hadn’t actually thought this through. This was the first human contact for any of his group in more than 350 years. Sure, they had mingled, invisible, with people during their bodily exile, keeping up to date on language, styles, and technology, but it wasn’t as if he had actually talked to anyone during that time…except maybe the guy he’d threatened a few minutes ago on the sidewalk. But Marduk had yelled at him, which came easily for a thunder god. Now he had to attempt a normal conversation.

“I’m going to enter and converse with the human. How does this sound?” he posed the question to Anshar, and his voice rolled out with a loud, vicious rumble.

“It sounds like thunder, dick head.” The sky god shook with mirth at Marduk’s consternation. “You’re going to scare her with that shit-for-gravel sound coming out of your mouth.” He calmed his laughter and took pity on his friend. “All right, all right. Try for something less like storm and more like light rain.”

Marduk conjured up an image of gentle mist and tried his vocal chords again. “How do I sound now?” he asked.

“Pretty as a friggin’ feather, ya pansy!” The guy with a hard hat behind him was clearly disgruntled that Marduk was blocking the entrance. “Either go through the door, or get outta my way.” Marduk quickly moved aside and looked over at Anshar who was once again convulsed with laughter.

“You should see the look on your face…” his friend howled, “…you freakin’ pansy!”

Marduk didn’t make the mistake of speaking again, but simply glared his displeasure at his companion, looking like he wanted to rip someone’s face off. This caused a few would-be patrons to move on to an alternate feeding spot.

Anshar cut him some slack. “Okay, okay. Your voice was fine that time. Just keep the volume low and you shouldn’t scare the shit out of her too badly.”

Marduk expelled an anxious breath and reached for the door handle. He needed to use all of his godly restraint and command to be friendly, lull her into trusting him before he kidnapped her and found out what kind of powers she possessed. His lips curled back. He would succeed. The stakes were too high not to discover why this woman had the capability of changing him into a solid form.

To say that Marduk had been worried since the dawn of the manufacturing age was an understatement. Humans had rapidly been changing the environment over the past hundred years, and not in a good way. The gods had always been able to keep nature in balance, but without human synergy, he and his companions were ever closer to reverting to their barbaric elemental beginnings.

This boded ill for them, and even worse for the world that was experiencing changing weather patterns, more violent storms, and the inevitable downward spiral in the fertility of the earth that sustained them all.

Gaining their bodies would stabilize their emotions and allow their continued benevolent dominion over the world. This little mortal could very well be the key. The gods had been impotent for far too long.

Chapter Two

For 384 years, since Myles Standish of Plymouth had invaded the prosperous colony of Thomas Morton at Merrymount, thirteen gods, acting as indentured servants to the good man, had lost their corporeal being. The “why” of it had long been a puzzle amongst their group. They had searched, since their downfall, for an answer that would free them from their virtual prison.

Soon after Morton’s capture, the gods had faded from sight, losing the bodies that they had happily inhabited during their master’s tenure. The situation had been dire, but instead of panicking, even in their invisibility, they had resorted to planning. They had carved out a place for themselves in the nearby Blue Hills, a sanctuary in the bustle of humanity already springing up around the area, building a palace in the dense forest that was visible only to them. It was a magnificent structure…and it was home.

Now, after hundreds of years, the exterior of their long-term abode, originally white stucco, had mellowed to a deep bronze, making the house shimmer like a precious jewel. Red shutters surrounded each window and matching clay roof tiles topped it with an old world elegance. The whole was encompassed by stone terraces, elegant fountains and mature trees that lent a cooling shade to the massive yard. The gods had cloaked it with nature’s elements, and rendered it imperceptible to all outsiders.

Inside, the front foyer soared high, capped by a stained glass dome which filtered blue and green light onto the marble floor. Brightly colored tapestries hung on the surrounding walls, and the well-loved upholstered divans beckoned to be used. A grand sweeping staircase rose to the right, leading to the upper level, the banister a highly polished wooden serpent that still shined as if new.

The first floor boasted a luxurious kitchen that had been updated every ten years to keep abreast of advancements in appliances (even though none of the inhabitants ever cooked or ate). A state-of-the-art living area was adjacent. One wall boasted the latest in big screen, HD technology. It was clearly a masculine room and well loved.

Down a long hallway, a “situation” room had come into being only twenty-five years earlier, fascinating most of the gods by allowing them access to the global environment through the magic of computers. This was where the god Shamash ruled. He had historically been the all-seeing god, but with the help of the Internet he was a freaking genius.

Between manipulation and a little mind control, the group had for hundreds of years maintained bank accounts and post office boxes, but now things were far easier for the invisible beings using on-line services.

Upstairs lay a sprawling mass of suites. Kulla, the architect of the gods, had made sure that each immortal had his own private space and, when the advent of bathrooms occurred at the turn of the twentieth century, every one of them gained this elegant addition to their bedroom. Walk-in-closet-size shower stalls now sported stone tiles and multiple shower heads, not to mention separate raised platform tubs that graced each space.

As much as the computer and media rooms held the gods rapt, by far the most used space in the house was the exercise room. Located at the heart of the mansion, each god had an individual area within the gym, holding their own custom made benches and weights, not to mention the addition of every new machine that hit the market.

Every one of the immortal residents was bronzed, fit, and honed for fighting, but never in 384 years, had one of them bled or felt pain. When they had become invisible, all tactile sensation ceased. It was a loss they lamented greatly.

Centuries had passed, and they despaired ever to feel the earth beneath their feet again. They could still touch things, move objects, interact with nature and their surroundings. They “acquired” things simply by connecting with their will and rendering an item invisible, thus building their home and filling it with all the human trappings for comfort.

Early on, they had hashed out what they fondly referred to as the “Rules of Acquisition.” On the list, which was now affixed to the refrigerator, rule number one stated: People can’t be acquired. A couple of years ago, some joker had predicated this with a frowny face in sharpie, which inadvertently caused them all to sadden immeasurably every time it caught their eye.

The rest of the list was less emotional and more pragmatic.

#2: If you touch it with purpose, you take it.

#3: No taking from nice people without paying.

#4: Things can, with purpose, be made visible again and returned.

#5: Do not take things when humans are watching.

The rules were fairly simple and all were judiciously followed except for number five, which was a source of great amusement for a few of the gods when bored. Luckily, this crime was usually followed by rule number four, and humans were good at making up excuses for things disappearing when their stuff reappeared fairly quickly.

The hardest thing for all of them was the absence of women. As a group, they had never been the most celibate of beings, allowing themselves, while under the rule of Thomas Morton, to sample the charms offered by the obliging local women. Now, eons later, they were a desperate bunch.

When the gods had convened in the meeting room on the day of Marduk’s encounter at the beach, they had listened raptly. All remembered the warm, pliant bodies of women in their past and wondered if it would be possible to feel that joy again, as Marduk regaled them of his experience with the girl on the beach. The encounter had given rise to hope.

Brainstorming after his sighting had been loud and passionate. It had led to Marduk donning jeans before going out in public, instead of the usual robed and belted material that hung low on his hips, so as not to scare the humans in case there was a repeat of his visibility. His brothers had also insisted that he roam about Quincy and Boston searching for the girl again, whom they all agreed must have been the catalyst for his body’s emergence from the mist.

Their advice had paid off. Here he was poised to make contact, ready to fill the void of the god’s combined destinies. Marduk readied himself outside the burger joint.