Divine Liaisons (13 page)

Chapter 19

Trepidation weighs my body down as I pull up in Dustin's drive.

I've made a 'pretty' effort. Wearing a skirt, and button down white cardigan which hugs curves.

It's a damn good thing my name's not chastity, because I've made up for my good girl ways in three days. I'm reformed into the type of girl I used to sneer at.

Getting out with both helmets, I walk to the open front door.

“
Hello?”

No answer.

“Dustin?! Hello?”

Still no answer.

Walking in, I feel like a thief. I haven't seen all of his home and am uncomfortable snooping for him.

Placing the helmets down on the hall table, I move to the open basement door. Faint music drifts up. Maybe he's asleep down there? I guess when you're built like a meteor and faster than whiplash, you can sleep with your door wide open.

“Hello?”

Walking down the steps, I wait for my eyes to adjust when I reach the bottom.

“Get out.”

Where is he?

“Dusty?”

“
Please leave. I'm in no state to be good to you.”

Peering through the halflight coming down the stairs behind me, I try to see into the black of his makeshift bedroom.

“
Now!
Go!”

“
I can't go. I need to –”

And the mamba strikes, shoving me head first over the couch on my right. Winded, shocked so hard my ears are suddenly deaf with my heart pounding, granite hands manhandle me.

Held down with one hand, my skirt whipped up with the other, tearing lace precedes his foot shoving against mine.

“
Dust–”

“
I warned you,” growls so low, it's like an animal behind me.

Off balance, my hips teetering forward, blood rushing to my head, large hands hold my hips when thumbs pull me open, literally from the inside.

“Dusty!”

His battle cry roars, shoving himself inside me.

I'm so humiliated, I don't know how to react. Every thrust shunts the chair forward, screeching across the room to the table.

“
How could you?
”

Trying to balance myself, desperately trying to push back up so my neck isn't at this horrid angle, I brace my arms on either side of my head.

“He's my soul mate.”

“
And you're mine!
”

It's so emotionally savage, so raw, my arms cave. He's broken inside.
I
did this.
I
hurt him when I swore I'd murder Erra if he dared.

Flopping down, I wait for him to work off his anger. He's got a primal pulse in his veins, he did warn me, and now he's trying to reclaim what he's lost. What Erra stole.

Yanked up, his hands fist in my hair, pulling my head round, twisting my whole body, lifting me and driving me backwards into the wall.

Braining me when my head ricochets hard off the brick, my teeth clack, but he's brutal, ramming up with the strength of a space shuttle. My spine grazes the rigid wall behind it.

“Stop. Dustin...”

“
I can't.”

His muscles, now that I can see them, are roided in their hardness, his hands biting into my thighs where he holds me.

“Please–”

It's a yowl of anguish, “
I can't!
”

Every thrust batters my skull into the wall, and it's beginning to hurt like a motherfucker.

“Don't make me hurt you back. Please, Dusty.”

I'm trying to pull myself up using his shoulders, wrapping my arms around his neck, hooking my chin over his shoulder to stop the battering of my skull. I'll sink my teeth into this neck if I have to.

Leaning heavily into me, impaling me against the wall, his hands let go, wrapping around my ribs with such strength, I fear they'll break.

“
Why?
”

It's a ragged gasp in my ear, pressing his face hard in my neck.

“I'm sorry.”

It's all I can say. I'm in a pretty delicate spot right now, and I just need him to let me go, put my feet on the ground, stop squeezing me
into
him.

“
You were all I lived for. My whole life, waiting to find you. And in two days, you went to him.”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
You've got a soul. Gan returned it to you. You glow with it. And you gave it to
him
!”

I'm getting scared.

“Dusty, please put me down.”

“
No.”

He pinwheels away from the wall, gripping my thighs and walking me behind black curtains, where it's so dark I can't see a goddam thing.

Dropping with me, I'm winded, and sore.

Only then does he withdraw, but staying on top of me so I can't fight, or run.

My mind is running the gauntlet, trying to connect dots, bridging gaps.

His reaction in the kitchen, the immediate fear at hearing Erra's name, leaving to go and annihilate him and finding Erik instead, the mark on the helmets – rank.

“You know him. You know who Erra is.”

Oh god! The second his name leaves my lips, I convulse under Dustin, gasping with a rocking orgasm which probably blinded me, but it's too dark in here to tell.

“Ohpitsa, you shouldn't have come here. You should have left when I asked you to. Now I'm ashamed.”

You're
ashamed. I just came underneath you by mentioning my
other
lover's name.

Breathing hard, I trace his face shrouded by pitch black.

“What's going on?”

“
It's not my place to tell you.”

“
What is that mark on the helmets?”

“
Ask him, Sarah.”

“
I'm asking you.”

A hot tear drops on my face. I hurt this boy so bad. And I still love him. It hasn't magically up and left because the angel of death claimed my soul.

“Dusty...” I pull his head down, cradling him to me, caressing his back, trying desperately to choke my shame by soothing him. “He can't take away love. I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to find out. I still feel love for you. It shook me, flipped me inside out, and happened faster than I thought possible. But there it is. I'm so sorry I hurt you.”

“
You need to go.”

“
No, we need to talk.”

“
GET OUT!” howls at me.

“
No! Please, Dustin. I –”

“
Sarah, I'm begging you. Get out of here before I do something I'll regret. If you want answers, I'm not the one to give them to you.” Lips wet with tears press hard against mine. “Now go.”

His body moves, and it's strangely cold without him. Every instinct I own wants to hold him, but I force my weak and still shaking legs to the edge of the bed. Pushing up, I sway slightly, pulling my skirt down, now without underwear.

Taking a step forward, turning back, he cuts me short.

“
Go
.”

Blinking back tears, I fumble through the curtains, too numb to be shocked when the flames burst to life, one by one, like runway lights, showing me the way back to the stairs.

Pausing at the bottom, holding onto the wall to steady myself, I look into the impenetrable darkness at the back of the den.

“
I love you.”

Bursting into tears, I run up the stairs, and out the door. Sitting down on the two steps to the front door, I drop my face into my palms, torn apart inside with what I've done to him.

He let me see the tender underside of the dragon's belly, he let me rub it until he laughed and curled me into his haven, and then I stuck a knife in so deep, I don't know if I can heal that wound.

The wind feathers my hair, stinging my tears, reminding me of two lovers sitting on an enchanted rock, opening hearts, and sharing secrets.

Hot tears make my nose run, and it's an angry sniff when I stand, stomping to my car.

I'm going to make him tell me what the fuck is going on. I don't care if I die getting the truth out of him.

Chapter 20

The door opens before I can knock.

“
This is a pleasant surprise.”

I have to be fast. And mean it. Using my momentum up the step, I blast an uppercut under his chin, shunting him back inside, following through with a punch to his throat which he just manages to graze-block.

“What the hell!?”

“
I'm going to rip you a new one.”

Halting, legs akimbo, my fists ready at my sides, I'm here to fight this man to the death.

Keeping my body spring ready, knees slightly bent, using Suncion balance, I harness chi with every inhalation.

“
Sarah, don't hit a man unless you are looking for a fight.”

“
Oh, I'm looking for a fight. You are going to tell me everything, or help me God, I will die destroying you.”

He laughs at me, stepping closer and shutting the door.

“Aah, I missed this.”

Smiling wide, he laces his arm over my shoulders, “Come on, spitfire. Let's get some fuel into that engine.”

His grip is electric-chair tight. Forcing me forward, while I'm contemplating what I should hurt on him next.

“
Do you know how cute you are when your jaw sets with determination and the fire flares in your eyes?”

Elbowing him hard in the ribs, I drop and duck backwards.

“Don't patronize me, Erra!”

“
Yeah? And how did saying my name work out for you?”

“
You're an asshole!”

He laughs again, offering his hand to me.

“We don't need to fight. Come, have a drink with me. Conversation really needs to be nurtured in you, princess.”

Ignoring the hand, I wait for him to move.

Turning, he strides his long legs away from me, to a library off the living room.

“
Drink?” he offers when I step through the open door.

“
Fine.”

“
Ah, so angry you couldn't be bothered with manners either.”

“
Screw you.”

“
Been there - done that. Wouldn't mind another round of it, to be honest.”

“
You are sorely trying my patience.”

“
Please, have a seat.”

Handing me a glass, he moves to two chairs in front of a roaring fire, with a table between them, complete with open book. All that's missing is the dog.

He gestures to a chair, leaning an elbow on the mantle and surveying me. “Sarah, you don't have to be a beast to get my attention. And you don't have to fight to get to the truth. You've been playing the human game for far too long. Their savagery doesn't become you.”

Throwing myself moodily into the chair, I glare at him. “What's that supposed to mean?”

He looks like he's about to lecture a child.

“
Ask me your questions without us having a confrontation.”

“
Who are you?”

“
God.”

“
Get over yourself.”

He smiles, a sexy pout painting his face, “And
you
think I'm joking.”

“
I'm seriously not in the mood to have you yank my chain.”

“
Sarah, I am the commander in charge of EDIN. Humans have recorded me as religion, and because I made people, they called me God. It was an experiment which has had an outcome I never intended.”

“
What?”

“
You heard me. EDIN was an experiment.”

“
Why? This is bullshit! What about all those religious books, the wars, the crap we've been sold for millennia? The pain!”

“
Exclave Defense and Inventions Numen. E.D.I.N. The place.”

“
Eden, as in Paradise? Erra, you are scaring the shit out of me.”

He slowly crosses the library, sinking into his chair, still swirling the bourbon in his glass, scrutinizing me with lusty eyes over the rim.

“What does Evangel mean?”

“
Erra, no more games – spit it out.”

“
You demented little minions are so fucking gullible, I loathe you. I spit on your existence. You are my undoing, the grossest testament to my ego and stupidity. You disgrace me,
all of you!
”

Snapping up, stalking closer, making me shrink back into my chair, his stature grows as he shoots words like bullets while advancing.

“You call the gospels evangels, when what it
means
is to evaginate – which is to
turn you inside out.
I ruined you, because you wouldn't listen. You women – I had to disfigure you because of that passionate bitch. The irony of the evangelists is so lost on you.”

“
Wait - what are you saying?”

“
Try and use your intelligence, I left you enough of the stuff to at least raise your young. I disfigured mankind by turning it all inside out. All of it is evaginated. The
truth
is evaginated. And women will always have a vagina because of it. To sheath, ha! My ass. To turn inside out is what it is. An inverted penis – a cavity, I took your power away, and you'll never get it back.”

His eyes flare brilliance as his voice stirs the pages of the open book between us.

Putting my glass down, I can't stop my hands from shaking.

“
What are you saying, Erra? Eden was an experiment, you undid women? You're fucked in the head.”

Giddiness swirls my focus when he leans over me in his true form.

“Exclave, means, a part of a country completely surrounded by foreign territory. Earth is foreign territory. We came here to simply use it as an experiment facility.”

He stands, looking down at me with egotistical haughtiness.

“Defense: we developed weapons and tested them here. Yes, your god did smite you, a lot, because we were mostly military men; we made you, we had the power to kill you. Only Lili had my consciousness, and she's the only one who got away. The rest of you believed the father and god crap we sold you.”

Turning his back on me, he paces to the hearth to stare at the epileptic flames.

“Inventions is obvious. I tried to replicate myself, we developed weapons, I created my spawn, but could never recreate myself.”

His tone is nostalgic, and full of regret.

“Numen:
I
am your Numen. I was in charge.” He pivots to stare at me. “Numen means guiding spirit, force, principle, presiding over a thing or a place; in this case, I did both.”

Stepping closer, he puts his balloon glass down, leaning a hand on each arm of my chair, “Hence EDIN was my domain, my project, and my epic failure.”

“I don't believe you. Erra, you are beautiful, I don't believe you're evil. I refuse to accept this crap story you're selling me.”

Sitting up to put my nose against his, meeting his irises with my own, I disguise my fear, “You aren't capable of such horror. I have a soft spot for you. Despite the fact that you are the most frustrating and arrogant prick I've ever met, there's a side to you which is beautiful, and touching. And I wouldn't like you if you were Lucifer / Satan, evil, whatever the fuck that bad angel is called.”

His laugh is cold enough to ice my nipples and send a shiver down my nape.

“
Let me tell you a little story about the first woman I created.” His eyes glaze opaque, his smile demented for a split-second.

“
I made her first. I did a Lara Croft with her. I created my perfect mate. She matched my intelligence, my speed, my ability. She was me in female form, with wings, with a consciousness, and with a physical body. She was my only success. She was passionate and just, she matched me word for word, step for step, and we were fine until I asked her to replicate workers for the mine. That was the purpose of EDIN, to create workers that would be self-sufficient so we wouldn't have to watch them and supervise. She refused to reproduce with me. But I created her, I was her higher ranking officer, an order is an order. She stormed out of the laboratory, and I let her go, leaving her to cool off and see the sense of my request. After all, Dustin isn't repulsive.”

His eyes narrow and his attention refocuses on me, “The best sex you've ever had with a human male, you've had with him. He's irresistible, and I made him that way, deliberately.”

“But?”

He steps closer, choosing the seat next to mine, “But he has no soul, or spirit. Lucierne is pure spirit. That's what happened in every single experiment to replicate myself, I couldn't create a creature who had both my light
and
my physical form. Dustin is my physical form enhanced, Lucierne was the first pure consciousness body. You call them angels of light, but Lucierne means 'Body of Light'. He is a body made of pure light. In every experiment after Lili, I got one or the other, she was the only one who embodied both.”

“
So you knew Lucierne would come to me?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you couldn't be bothered to warn me?”

“
Would you have believed me? I couldn't get you to stand still for five minutes. All you've wanted to do is tear me into pieces.”

“
So you know how I've felt, torn between three people?”

“
They follow me. It was just a matter of time after I found you, before they would. I shouldn't have bided my time. They sure as shit didn't.”

“
What happened to her?”

“
She escaped. She went into hiding. I sent my best generals after her, they caught up, but she has my abilities, and they feared her retaliation. They came to tell me they'd asked her to return, and she declined. I was crazy with anger. I loved her more than this entire project, the despicable race I'd created, the work, none of it mattered, I just wanted her back. We went to reclaim her, with the might of the entire army, and she was gone. Rumors of her reappearance surface from time to time, but she has eluded me.”

“
And so you made Eve?”

“
Yes. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. I needed the female for reproductive purposes only. When I made Eve, I made her so horny and high on hormones, all she wanted to do was screw Dustin. I made his scent her ambrosia. In her sight, his muscles, his smell, his stature, even his walk, that's the only drug she cares for. I gave her enough intelligence to be of assistance to him, and to help raise the young. All we needed were workers for the mines. Duplicates of him, huge muscular men capable of physical toil without tiring. All he requires to satisfy him is a woman to warm his bed, and food. He got both.”

“
You named him Dustin? Where does the name Adam come from?”

“
Sarah, humans have to be the most frustrating bane of my existence. You say I created him from dust. How you've twisted the story to make me more than I am, and less than I am. Dustin is his name, and we called him Dusty, because he was. He worked the land, he shattered rocks in the mines, mining the fuel we needed for our weapons; and the story adopted a life of its own. Dusty became confused with earth, and dust. You claim I made him from soil. Your story has soiled his perfection. And you know for yourself how perfect he is. Dustin's name means Thor's Mjölnir. Mjölnir simply means 'crusher'. And he
is
my hammer. He has the strength of an atomic bomb. He was the first of my army. The first male creation, created purely for might and strength. He is a personified weapon.”

“
What?!”

“
You heard me. Thor's hammer is a person, not a thing. He was the first of my finest.”

“
Are you Thor?”

His eyes narrow, but his mouth twitches, “Don't laugh, you little vixen. The men had minds like children. We had to teach them everything, they were trusting and mentally simple. You were created to follow orders, not question. They called me Thor, because I never gave them my name.”

“Why not?”

“
I am a scientist, a creator of races, of habitats, of technology. How do you tell your clones who you are? I was their father. I made them. But they couldn't accept that because I obviously look different, and have abilities they do not. So I told them instead that I was also God. This they could accept. Only then would they follow orders without hesitation.”

“
But
Thor
?”

“
We spoke Akkadian. It is what it is. Thor means tempest. Like your last name. The name means strength, destruction, fertility, healing, and the protection of mankind. I'd say that sums me up rather well.”

He puts his hand over mine, holding it with warmth and strength.