Accidentally...Over?(14)

Thanks for the reminder, asshole.

Yes, he'd prevented her from dying this time. But what about the next?  And the next? That was the conundrum. When he'd originally agreed to  this whole thing, he'd assumed that saving Ashli from death was a  onetime deal. Humans die all the time in accidents-cars, drowning,  falling off a cliff when searching for a secret stash of rare Miss Piggy  Pez dispensers.

That was actually Cimil who fell off the cliff.

Right.

Point was, he'd believed, erroneously, that saving Ashli was simply a  question of inserting himself at the right place at the right time.  Afterward, she'd be free to live a full, healthy, happy existence. Now,  after the vision, he understood this was not the case. Death would come  for her again and again. But why would the Universe want such a thing?                       
       
           



       

It can't fucking have her. Especially if she was the key to stopping his  brethren from going to war with each other. But he still couldn't  figure out how. That was the kicker. By now, he would've expected to see  some clue as to why this was her destiny.

He rubbed his brow. So what's the plan, Máax?

You must go to Cimil and force her to tell you what she knows. She is  hiding something. The vision had something to do with the realm of the  dead, and that was Cimil's turf.

But what leverage could he employ? You'll think of something. Or perhaps you should try to think like Cimil. What would she do?

She would find your weakness, the thing you desire most, and then make  you hop through flame-engulfed hoops until you lost your mind and all  sense of hope. Then she'd torture you some more, talk to a bug or two,  go shopping for useless used human merchandise, and then you'd get your  prize.

Hell. I don't have time for that crap. He'd opt for threatening her.

Planting his bare feet firmly in the sand, he stood over the buried  tablet, focused his thoughts, and watched a small pit the size of a  manhole open in the sand. The portal.

Not wanting to walk in on Cimil and Roberto mid-coitus, lest he be  forced to remove his own eyeballs, he aimed his arrival a few moments  ahead. He stepped inside the portal, successfully landing in the same  conference room he'd departed from twenty years into the future. He  approached the heavy metal door and cracked it open, listening for any  signs of lovemaking. Or in Cimil's case, noises resembling animal  fornication.

To his delight, prison riot – like shouting greeted his ears instead. Not  to his delight, the foundation began to shimmy and creak all around him.

Splendid. Another earthquake. He wondered what the score was now.

Máax entered the long, sterile-looking hallway-gray paint and  fluorescent lights-turned the corner, and immediately spotted Cimil,  sitting cross-legged on her cell floor, playing paddleball. Toward the  center of the cellblock, a line of vampires attired in black leather and  tees stood in formation like an immortal football team, their gazes  cold and alert, ready for anything.

Except for that guy. Máax quirked a brow. One of the vampires, a blond  on the end, stroked an empty space of air to his side. "There, there,  Minky. All will be well."

Cimil's unicorn. How the hell had it gotten inside the prison? Damned beast was as big as a rhino.

Thankfully, his brethren remained inside their glass holding tanks, each  in varying states of "pissed as hell" or "freaking the hell out."

Máax had to admit, despite the dire situation and countdown to doom,  seeing all thirteen gods jailed, guarded by fucking huge vampires, had  some entertainment value. They had even managed to capture the infamous  chick magnet Zac Cimi, Bacab of the North (also known as Ix Zacal, the  inventor of weaving; Z, Keeper of Tchotchkes; and Kuju, the Yukaghir  Spirit God of Food-his specialty happened to be creamy sauces-among  many, many other titles and gifts), and most recently titled God of  Temptation. Zac had gone into hiding because he also held the honor of  being the gods' most wanted. (Not wanted in a sexy way, but in a "you're  in a heap of shit" way for trying to steal another god's mate.) While  it was common for the deities to have many, many gifts and to be known  by many, many names, depending on the culture, "most wanted" was not a  title anyone desired. Not even Máax who prided himself on being known as  the bad boy of the gods.

Bastard deserves to be locked up. In fact, perhaps they will all benefit from a little reflection time.

Sure he loved them just as a human might love his or her siblings-though  the gods were not truly related-but they'd all used Máax in one way or  another, taking advantage of his need to see justice served at any cost.  Example: There was the time Camaxtli, aka Fate, had Máax travel back to  ancient Greece to steal the book of the Oracle of Delphi. Fate had used  the book for years to predict the future. Why? A secret. One she made  him swear to keep until his grave. Example two: The time Cimil had him  steal the book away from Fate so she could give it to some Demilord.  Why? Yeah, another secret. The list of manipulations, deceit, and games  went on and on. And yet Máax never turned his back on the other gods-not  even that lying coward, Fate-when they asked for help. Not even when  his suffering became almost too much to bear.                       
       
           



       

So, yeah, despite the apparent eminent destruction of their world, he  found it pretty damned satisfying to see them all incarcerated. Too bad  the moment felt ruined by his need to return to Ashli. And the fact that  the Universe wanted to kill her.

Oh, well. "Revenge is completely overrated anyway," he muttered.

All heads swiveled in his general direction.

Kinich, ex – God of the Sun, was the first to start yelling at him. "Máax,  you will release us from these cells! Immediately!" His long  golden-brown hair fell about his face while he pounded his fists into  the glass.

Then came the screaming from Ixtab, Ah-Ciliz, Zac, Akna, Acan, K'ak,  Votan, and the rest, including his other sister-the one whose name no  one ever remembered. Sucked to be the Goddess of Forgetfulness.

Yes, everyone yelled, except Cimil, who looked bored out of her immortal  mind. Then she simply held up five fingers. "Rumble, rumble. Ticktock,  Invisi-boy!"

Máax knew she meant five earthquakes had now passed and was about to say  something else when he noticed one other god oblivious to the chaos:  Chaam.

His large frame, draped in a black caftan garment, sagged on his bed.  Next to him, his mate Maggie, with long brown hair and wearing a light  gray dress, resembled a barnacle clinging to a sinking battleship.

Maggie hiccuped and mopped her tears with Chaam's long black hair.

This is very troubling.

Back off, man, you need to return to Ashli. Whatever troubles him can wait.

Máax's gaze wondered back to Maggie. With her wide brown eyes and  freckled nose, her aura of innocence was just the sort a deity-him,  okay; him!-couldn't turn away from.

Yes. Yes, you can. Think of Ashli. He had to see her again soon. Perhaps  touch her silky, soft lips and get yet another glimpse of that perfect,  smooth, round ass or those gorgeous, cocoa-brown breasts with the pink  little nip-

Maggie hiccuped once more and then snorted between heart-wrenching sobs.

Hell! Bloody deity hell, hell, hell!

Máax knew this wasn't a detour he could afford, but his nature to ensure  a just world drew him right in like a moth to a flame, like a bee to  honey, like Cimil to a BOGO sale on pirate costumes. (She'd started some  idiotic holiday having to do with pirates. How did a god have time for  such frivolous bull crap?)

"Brother?" Máax placed his palms against the glass of Chaam's cell,  ignoring the raging voices exploding in all directions. "What is the  matter?" Besides this fucking apocalypse.

Maggie looked up with wet doe eyes. "Máax! You have to help him. Please tell him! Tell him it's not his fault!"

Chaam didn't bother to lift his drooping head. His long hair hung like a  flag of defeat. "Don't defend me, Maggie. Don't do it. Tell the  vampires you've relinquished your love for me so they'll set you free.  Just …  fucking go, woman."

"How can you say that?" This time she wiped her tears with the backs of her hands. "After everything we've been through."

It was true. Everyone knew the two had been through their share of pain  and struggles. After meeting Maggie, his one true love, Chaam had been  possessed by dark energy, committed a series of heinous  atrocities-started breeding like a rabbit with random women and then  murdered his female children to use them as some sort of apocalyptic  biofuel (yeah, like he said, heinous)-then had been captured and  imprisoned inside a real-life "temple of doom." Maggie had also been  imprisoned inside one of the tablets. Well, not inside, but in the  dimension that existed between everything. Not pretty. Chaam had since  been cured, thanks to Máax and their sister Ixtab-but Chaam had a  mountain of baggage to deal with.