Sun God Seeks...surrogate? (28 page)

“Penelope
,” Kinich warned, “
tell whichever of my brothers is turning on the charm to can it. You are taken.”

Taken? I am?
My heart did a victory lap. He was jealous…
Oh yeah!

“Really now? That’s not what you said last night,” I mumbled quietly into my hand.

“I said nothing last night,”
he growled.

“Exactly.”

Again, he growled.
“We will discuss this later, woman
.
”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Okay. I was being a little petty. But dammit. He so deserved it.

“Yes, we will. Because my brothers are off-limits.”

“Eternity is a long time to spend alone, Minotaur. So why don’t you make up your mind.”

“Uh-hum.” Someone cleared their throat.

I looked up and found the other gods glaring. Except for Zac. He was still smiling.

“Sorry.” I rose from the seat as Kinich had instructed. “I call this Summit of the House of the Gods to order on this day of…”

Gabrán quickly chimed in. “December twenty-first.”

Why did I know that date?

My mother’s birthday?

No.

Jess’s or Anne’s? No. Their b-days were in the summer.

BOGO day at Macy’s shoe department?

Nope.

“It is the day of the Mayan apo…blah blah blah,”
Kinich’s voice faded to nothing.

“Sorry? But did you say apocalypse?”

“Yes. The Maya prophesied that the end of the world would start today.”

Holy shit!
“Apocalypse! Today? Well, hell. You could’ve told me, Kinich!”

I felt a firm grasp on my hand. “It is nothing to worry about, Penelope. They were a superstitious people.” Zac’s smoldering, hypnotic gaze was relentless.

“Sorry, but,” I asked, “what are you the god of? Can’t recall.”

He smiled brightly. “When I figure that out, you’ll be the first to know.” He lifted my hand and planted a lingering kiss.

“Fucking saints! Off. Limits. Penelope,”
Kinich barked.

My entire body tensed up. “What? I didn’t do anything.”

“I feel every goddamned sensation in your body. And right now you’re reacting to something
.
”

Hmmm. Was I? Okay, maybe a little. But Zac was hot. Who couldn’t help but be a teensy bit flattered? In any case, it was an innocent appreciation of an astoundingly handsome male, but it didn’t run within a spit’s distance of what I felt for Kinich.

Regardless…

“Afraid of a little competition?” I prodded.

“Grrrr,”
was all I heard in response.

A satisfied grin swept across my face.

“Alrighty. I hereby call to order the Summit of the Gods. Who among you wishes to nominate a topic for the agenda?”

Instantly, four hands shot into the air.

“Kinich? I can’t remember. Do I go counterclockwise or clockwise?” I whispered.

“Clockwise. The gods are seated around the table according to their rank and power. Except for the Bacabs, who sit in accordance with North, South, East, and West.”

“What’s a Bacab?” I whispered.

“They are the eldest four and therefore slightly more powerful than the rest—except for those of us whose gifts are based physical powers.”

I made a mental note to forget that bit of foolishness as soon as possible.

The first topic, as expected, was nominated by Guy and received unanimous consent to be added to the agenda. Suicide lady asked to discuss a rotation of powers. Apparently she nominated this topic every summit, but everyone voted her down because nobody wanted to risk inheriting her position.

Poor, poor lady.

Next came the topic of what to do about Kinich’s and my predicament. Also unanimous. Finally, the Mistress of Bees, who wore a bright yellow, formfitting satin jumpsuit and very large beehive on her head, nominated to address the recent surge in pirated e-books, but no one seemed to know what an e-reader was, so they declined.

“Okay, then.” I clapped my hands together. “I hereby close the nominations for—”

“I have a topic, Penelope,”
Kinich chimed in.
“Two, actually.”

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t see your hand.” I looked around the table. “Kinich has two topics,” I informed everyone since they couldn’t hear him.

“I request that the House of the Gods discuss and call to a vote the banning of deity procreation.”

I gulped. “You mean…”

“Yes, the banning of the making of Payals.”

He wanted to make me—well, more of me—illegal?

“Penelope, humans and gods were not meant to bear children. It goes against the natural order of the universe and there are consequences when we take such action.”

Kinich sighed. Obviously, he could sense my shock and despair. Even my hair follicles were sad.

“Penelope, you must understand. It is my duty to protect humanity. I cannot look the other way simply because I have feelings for you
.
”

Did he truly believe my life was a mistake? An abomination that would destroy mankind? Me? I couldn’t even cook, so attributing the destruction of civilization to me was a pretty far stretch.

And I couldn’t help where I came from or who my ancestors were any more than I could help that I had a deity stuck inside my body.

Well…well…fine!
He’d made his feelings known. What could I do aside from pretend he hadn’t mortally wounded me?

I squared my shoulders and looked up, realizing that the entire room waited with baited breath. “Um…he wants to put the banning of making more Payals to a vote.”

There was a communal nod, but no reactions. Seemed everyone had been expecting this.

I counted the raised hands around the table. There were five: Belch, She-Ra, Suicide, Bees, and Eclipses.

Bees gave me a sympathetic glance while waving her hand in front of her face to see through the swarm of bees circling her head. “I’m sorry, Penelope, but I think we should, at least, hear what Kinich has to say.”

Guy suddenly stood up and pounded his hands on the table, “You are all fools! Fools! And I’m warning you now, if you side with Kinich, I will not obey.”

Bees’ tiny yellow subjects began circling faster. “Then you will be banished permanently.”

Zac chimed in. “We have not agreed to discuss the matter. There must be a majority vote. Only five hands have been raised.”

All heads turned toward me.

“How do you vote, Kinich?” Zac asked.

My heart thumped like a bongo. “Please don’t, Kinich. Please don’t do this,” I whispered.

“I am sorry,”
he said, his voice filled with only a hint of remorse.
“I vote yes
.
”

“Well, I don’t!” I barked. “I’m not going to help you officially declare my life a sin, or mistake, or act against nature…or whatever! My answer is no!”

Bees stood from her throne. Her angry swarm began circling above the table. “That is ridiculous, you do not get a vote.”

“Why not?” Zac argued. “She houses the power of the sun, and it is our law that whoever holds this gift will be our leader. Only a unanimous vote from all fourteen can change this, and we will never have one because Chaam is locked away.”

Bees huffed, which caused her tiny black-and-yellow soldiers to kamikaze Zac. “Semantics! She is not the Sun God,” she blasted.

Zac didn’t flinch. “Put them away, Colel,” he growled.

She plunked her fist on her hip. “Or what? You have no powers.”

“I am a Bacab,” he warned. “I may not have gifts, but I am still physically stronger than you, which means I can tear your head clean off without breaking a sweat.”

The bees crawled on Zac’s arms and face, stinging him and falling to the floor, but he simply stared Colel down, not acknowledging their presence.

“Enough!” I commanded. “Put them away, or I’ll turn them into bee fritters.”

I hated that idea. Her bees were really cute. Kind of like tiny yellow assassins with a sweet tooth.

She rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. The bees promptly flew back inside the hive on her head.

“Thank you, Bees—I mean, Colel.” I closed my eyes for a moment to enjoy a calming breath. “Right. Where were we?”

Zac straightened his shoulders and looked at each of the gods. “I was attempting to say that Penelope has publically demonstrated her command of the sun’s power. Until she is separated from this power, she is the Goddess of the Sun. It’s no different if we decide to do another rotation of duties”—he pointed to Suicide who was about to speak—“But we will not!” He turned back to Bees. “My point is, if we do, then whoever houses the particular gift inherits the title.”

“I wanna be Fate next time,” Belch slurred, and scratched his protruding belly that had escaped from the bottom of his green nylon jacket. “I’m tired of being the life of the party. People respect Fate; they just get knocked up or vomit when I’m around.”

Bees sat down and crossed her arms like the cantankerous deity that she was. “Fine. But we all know this issue isn’t going away. Kinich will be restored to his usual arrogant self by the next summit, and we will vote again. The topic will be addressed.”

Guy leaned back in his chair with a smug smile across his face. “Not if you want to win the Great War, which you will not without me.”

Belch leaned forward and pointed at Guy. “Or, can I be him? I’m tough and strooong.” He flexed his biceps and squeezed the flabby-looking muscle.

“Shut it, Belch,” said Fate, brushing back her blond locks. She turned to me, “Let’s move on. Penelope is our stand-in Sun God, and she has spoken.”

Kinich growled,
“Looks as though Cimil’s plan was successful, Penelope.”

“Huh?”

“All along we assumed she wanted you to be the surrogate mother of my child, when in fact, she was plotting for this. You, the surrogate Sun God. My proxy. A Payal who just successfully turned the tides away from a vote on this matter.”

I gasped internally. Could that be? This entire situation had been orchestrated by Cimil? Holy demon bun cakes. These people played a pretty mean game of chess. And, Christ, I’d followed along with Cimil’s plot like a mindless, naïve little lamb playing hopscotch with a pack of wolves. With superpowers. And weird tastes in gifts.

But regardless of all that, I couldn’t help but feel wounded by Kinich’s views on Payals. He was wrong. Flat-out wrong. Somehow, I’d prove it to him.

“Kinich, I’m sorry. But, regardless of Cimil’s hand in all this—I did what I thought was right. Just like you—”

“I have another topic.”

“Kinich, I—”

He interrupted,
“I wish to vote for your immortality.”

Trying not to sound whiny, I said, “Oh for Pete’s sake! Would you make up your mind? Payals are evil. Now you want to make me immortal. You don’t love me, but you don’t want anyone else to look at me. Pick a story and stick to it! ”

The gods stared with interest.

“Oh. I love a good fight. Do share what our brother is saying, Penelope,” Suicide requested cheerfully.

“Penelope, raise the topic. We will resolve our differences later. Here is not the place.”

“I don’t want immortality. In fact, when this is over, I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“Penelope, I—”

I moved to close the nominations for agenda items.

“Stubborn woman, this is not over.”

Like he’d instructed, I recorded the topics on the stone—a weird caveman-like iPad of sorts that turned black wherever I touched it with the silver stylus.

I then called for the discussion of the first topic.

Guy rose from his seat and cleared his throat. “I seek the counsel and wisdom of my brethren regarding my most recent discovery. It seems that the absence of Chaam has not impeded the Maaskab’s advancement in the area of manipulating dark energy. They have evolved from astute apprentices to masters.”

I noticed his hands, which were firmly planted on the table. I imagined he could crack a man’s skull with hands that big.

“Upon returning to our realm,” he continued, “I sought to understand why the Uchben were able to detect the Maaskab’s presence on the satellite. I found no evidence of them in the physical world, but I witnessed several dozen Maaskab sifting in and out of their phantom encampment. My belief is that they’ve somehow learned to occupy another dimension, the dimension used by the vampires to sift.”

The gods made a collective gasp.

“What leads you to believe this?” Zac’s voice rang out among the rumblings of the others.

“I watched as they stepped through the temporary portals they created. The color of their energy signatures shifted frequency as they did this.”

I was a bit rusty on my sci-fi lingo. Space-time continuum, tachyons, set fazers to stun; those were concepts I grasped. But this…?

“I have witnessed the same fluctuations when observing vampires sift,” he continued. “And I can tell you from sifting myself—”

“When? When have you sifted?” asked Bees.

“When we were battling the Maaskab the night I captured Chaam. The black jade pyramid functions as an amplifier of sorts. I merely had to think of moving and my body followed.”

I really didn’t understand what they were getting at. “So they’re hiding in some other dimension?”

Guy nodded. “Everything in the universe is made up of atoms, which are merely tiny particles of energy held together by their positive and negative charges. They form a bond. Similar to how gravity holds the moon to Earth, but on a much, much smaller scale.

“However, between each particle is space. In fact, the entire universe is mostly space. When vampires sift, they slip between these cracks. But they cannot remain there. It is these bonds, these charges that bind the atoms together, that propel the vampires as they are pushed out of the atoms’ spaces like a foreign contaminant. It creates enormous momentum and speed.”

Alrighty then, it’s official. Life is stranger than fiction.