"Ashli." Máax cautiously took her hand. "I know you are upset, but I want to explain my actions-"
"You've sentenced everyone to death," Kinich challenged. "There is no explaining that."
"What would you have me do?" Máax snarled. "Tell me, brother! Would you shove Penelope and your unborn child into a burning volcano if it meant saving the world?" He paused. "How about you, Niccolo? Would you let Helena, the mother of your child, die for the good of humanity? Or would you fight like hell to find another way to stop the end of days?"
The couples looked at each other, their eyes filled with sadness.
"You are right, brother." Kinich took Penelope's hand. "I would not give her up. I would find another way." His brother Votan and sister Ixtab agreed.
Yes, they understood.
"That is the path I have chosen," Máax added. "There is nothing I will not do for Ashli. Nothing. And I will fight until my last breath to keep her from dying, including in an apocalypse. What I do not understand is why my brethren will not fight by my side when I have sacrificed everything to come to your aid time and time again."
"He is right," Votan, the God of Death and War, said. "He has selflessly put himself in harm's way. Repeatedly. We love you. In fact, I too feel the urge to write a song. But about you, our brother."
One might think that Votan was joking, but he wasn't. What the hell had gotten into everyone?
Must be the apocalyptic vibe in the air messing with everyone's heads.
"This is all wonderful. I'm touched. Truly touched," Ashli fumed. "But I won't be writing any songs in your honor because I want nothing to do with you, Máax. Take me home. This time, I mean it. I was an idiot to trust you. And it's a mistake I'll never make again."
Ashli had never felt so betrayed in her entire life. Ever. From her point of view, she'd done an amazing job rolling with the punches given the circumstances, but this was too much. How could she stay with Máax, knowing he'd lied to her? Lied. Sure, she'd been able to forgive him when he'd withheld information and made her immortal without her permission, but she'd assumed that would never happen again. And technically, it had not been a lie.
But this? It was the textbook definition of a lie, and blatant dishonesty was the one thing she couldn't tolerate. Especially not from a man like Máax who had such a strong emotional grip over her. Extra-especially from a man who claimed to stand for the truth. That made him an extra-special fake.
Worst of all, the lie had brought her forward in time and derailed the prophecy? She didn't know what it meant to break one. Or why her staying in 1993 would have stopped the end of the world. But it was clear that the situation was bad. Really, really bad. And they were almost out of time. Why hadn't he frigging told her?
Oh, giantmonkeycchinoballs! The world is going to end! Ashli gripped her stomach. She was going to hurl. What had she done?
"Take me back," she croaked.
"You cannot mean that, Ashli," Máax argued.
"I can, and I do. Take me back!"
"But we don't know what will happen," he said. "Death might still seek you out."
"I would rather have one more day of a life I loved and trying to fix this mess than spend one more minute here with you, living a life based on a lie. Or worse, living with a god who proclaims to stand by the truth, but is just a weasel."
The entire room tensed. It was as if the cosmos held a breath.
Máax tried to take her hand, but she yanked it away.
He made a little growl. "I understand why you might feel that way; however, if you gave me the opportunity to-"
"What? To treat me like an infant? Make a life-altering decision for me? I've lost everything, Máax. Everything. First my family, and now you've taken away my humanity, my home, not to mention, have you seen my café, Máax? Have you? It's like Starbucks turned into a gigolo and knocked up a baboon!"
"I admit that the Uchben asset team may have overstepped their boundaries. However, their ability to predict consumer trends is flawless. Your café is quite successful. You have over one hundred now."
"What? Ohmygod, do you think any of that matters? We're all going to die!" Her mouth hung open.
"Uh, no. Not really. But you brought it up-"
"I hate what you've done to me. I hate that you've made me some murderer of the human race, not that I even come close to understanding how that's possible. But I hate it, nonetheless. And I hate that for a few hours I got a taste of a damned happy new life; then you snatched it all away. But none of that matters now, because I'm going to fix this. Take me back," she demanded.
Even the vampires in the middle of the room looked uncomfortable.
"Ashli, you are upset. And probably in shock. But we will get through this. All of us will get through this if we pull together."
Was he for real?
"Máax. Didn't you hear me? I want you to take me back."
"I cannot do that." There was a moment of pause. "I won't allow you to run away, Ashli. Not from me. Not from this fight. It is time for you to grow up and cease being an emotional hermit who lives in the shadows of the past. We will fix this. Sentin, please take her to Kinich's home. I will be there momentarily."
"Are you kidding me?" He was going to take her against her will?
"I am a god, Ashli, I rarely kid," Máax said.
"I'm a god, and I do it all the time," Cimil said.
"There are many things you do that I would not advise," Roberto pointed out. "Such as lighting your own jail cell on fire."
"One of my best moments, indeed!" Cimil replied.
"You're treating me like your property, Máax," Ashli growled. "Don't you dare do this."
"Sentin. Please take my woma-Ashli."
Son of a bitch. "You're not who I thought you were."
Sentin stepped forward in a blur, and Ashli found herself standing in the middle of a very large bedroom.
Ohmygod! She spun in a circle. "I can't believe this. I hate him."
Sentin laughed. "Gods are known to be a bit overbearing at times," he said with a thick Italian accent. "But they are nothing compared to vampires. By the way, are you single now? I'm digging your whole angry human vibe thing. It's kind of hot."
"What?" Ashli stared up at the tall, lean vampire with dark messy hair and a boyish smile that she wanted to slap right off of his face.
He lifted both brows. "I cook really well, and I'm great with kids. Just ask Niccolo's wife."
Ashli huffed. These people were unbelievable.
Seventeen
As soon as Ashli left, the heated debate reignited. Only it wasn't a debate; it was more like a frantic screaming match among the gods, vampires, and Uchben over what to do next.
As for Máax, he paced the cement floor of the cellblock, trying to understand what had transpired. How could things have gone so very, very wrong? Not only had the apocalyptic situation escalated to DEFCON 1, which was bad, but Ashli also hated him. That had to be a first in the world of mates, didn't it?
You had this coming.
"Fuck!" He punched the glass in front of Cimil. "Fucking hell!" He had to fix this. But how?
Cimil, who now wore pink shorts and a gold blouse with a pink unicorn on the front, sat cross-legged on her cot, scrunching her face into a tiny pale ball. "They don't actually do that in hell. And come to think of it, hell is a fictitious place. Unless you want to count waiting in line at the DMV, then hell yeah! Totally there with ya. But they don't fornicate there, either. Except on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Mark it on your calendar. September nineteenth. Arrr."
Fucking Cimil.
"Cimil. I'm going to ask you a question," Máax fumed. "And I warn you, the next words that come from your mouth had better be the godsdamned truth."
"The godsdamned truth." She cackled and then buffed her nails on the front of her shirt. "Oh, I'm on fire today! Not literally, but figurat-"
"Cimil!" he screamed, then looked at one of the vampire guards-not that the guard knew Máax was looking at him. "Open this cell right now. I'm going to snap her neck."
"I think not." Roberto stepped in toward Máax.
"Jeez." Cimil rolled her eyes. "Since when did you become King Poopie-Doo of the party, Máax? I was just kidding."