“Roberto’s vampire soldiers gathered around, but Cimil waved them back. They knew to obey her, no matter what, despite who wore the kingly britches.
“All right, but you’re not going to like this.” She cracked her knuckles. “Truth is, in about seven months, the gods destroy the planet. We get into some war with each other. I have done everything possible to change course, but I failed. Miserably. Locking us up is the only way to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Máax grumbled several unhappy thoughts in the key of F—effing, eff, eff, eff, and effing hell. “If the gods should be locked up to prevent this war, then why are you allowing me to remain free?” Máax asked.
Here came the hard part. She needed to convince Máax to once again break the sacred law banning time travel. It was expressly prohibited, not to mention difficult and extremely risky. However, Máax had already broken the rule a thousand times, landing him in hot water. Not that he cared. Bad boy alert! Sure, he’d had a perfectly good reason for each offense, but that didn’t mean there weren’t consequences. The last time he’d been caught, he’d been banished, stripped of his powers, and left without a human shell. Yep… powerless and invisible for ten thousand years. Again, not that he cared.”
Cimil clapped. “Ding, ding, ding! I need you to go back a few teeny tiny decades, to 1993, find a certain chicky-boo, and make sure she doesn’t croak prematurely.”
“True. Máax had, in fact, been doing a lot of bidding for her lately, but he had to attempt this one final task. Not only did her latest vision reveal that saving the woman was their last chance to put things back on course and avoid the apocalypse, but it was also Máax’s one shot at happiness.
So first time Maax saw Ashli in 1993. She was 25 years old. Her parents had died 3 years earlier. She worked at a cafe left by her parents. He knew immediately she was his mate. He spooked her and she was hit by a bus. Cimil send him to save Ashli to prevent the apocalypse but he killed her within 60 seconds after. Huh. Save Ashli take two. He came a week before her death by the bus. Unfortunately, she was bitten by a bee. Her spare epinephrine shot was in her car. Maax forgot where he placed her car key thus she died before Maax gave her the epinephrine shot.
“Máax literally meant “Who?” in Mayan. He’d been called it for so long that he sometimes forgot he once had another name: Maat, which meant “truth” or “justice” in Egyptian. They had been the first civilization to truly embrace the concept and named it after him. Of course, Cimil changed the historical records and made Maat a woman. “Truth has to be female because men are lying, cheating pigs!” she’d said. He supposed, at the time, it had something to do with Roberto, but whatever. He was Máax now, the god of… nothing. Invisible.”
Save Ashli take three. Maax had an allergy to plumeria in her garden. He sneezed. She managed to tied him to a tree. But when the patrol came, he was not there. He slept next to her. In the morning, she stalked him in the ocean. She ran and slipped. He took her to hospital. He told him that she is his soul mate - match. He went to find out why the Universe trying to exterminate her.
“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.
“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.”
“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.”
“Yes.” What? Did he have to spell it out? There had been approximately a thousand women of Chaam’s descent (called Payals), spanning over the course of eighty or so years, whom Máax had quietly plucked from death’s doorstep, relocating them before their fates took a turn for the worse. He’d helped all but two hundred find new lives, safe from Chaam’s evil henchmen, the Maaskab. Those two hundred had been severely traumatized, leaving him no choice but to employ the help of his sister, the Goddess of Forgetfulness. The women were now safe, living right there on the Uchben base where they could start anew. Not a perfect ending to their stories, but sometimes perfect wasn’t possible.
Maggie wailed and then jumped on Chaam, wrapping her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. “I told you so, baby. I told you. We were meant to be happy.”
Chaam’s face whitened with astonishment. “But why? Why did you do it?” he asked Máax.”
“Cimil’s turquoise eyes glowed with mischief, and her lips curled into a giant smirk. “I have told you; Ashli will be the one to prevent us from fighting each other. She will broker peace if you save her and she is allowed to live out her natural life in her natural habitat be locked in here? Okay. Maybe I would. It’s cozy.”
Máax slammed his fist against the glass. “I’m not fucking around, Cimil! We’ve had five earthquakes. Five!”
“He is right, my evil dove,” Roberto agreed. “You must tell him what you know.”
“Cimil crossed her arms and turned away.
“Very well.” He was on his own. What was new, really? That was the way it had always been. Máax did everything in his power to save everyone’s bacon, and they turned their backs on him in his time of need. Again and again and again.
No more. He was done saving everyone. Except for Ashli.
2 days later. He was jealous because Dr. Rubin Ruiz was hitting on her and inviting her to dinner. She almost choked to death by a bread. So he suggested to take her away and told her she already died twice and nearly died twice more since he met her.
“You are making fun, I see. However, I assure you, I tell the truth. My first trip to meet you is ten days from now. This is when you are hit by the bus. My second trip is in approximately three days from now. This is when I fail to save you from the bee. My third visit to you was a few days ago, when you hit me with the shovel. So as you see, this is why we must leave now. I must take you somewhere safe until your life is squarely on a new path, one where you are destined to live.”
He tried to bring her to Spain. But there's a plane burning. So he took her back to her home. They almost have sex but there's no jade amulet to make it happen.
Just like before the bee accident, he jerked off at her bathroom, and she already found unconscious on the beach. Luckily, this time she survived.
Brutus weirdly started took interest with Ashli.
“Didn’t Cimil tell you,” Brutus argued, “that if you remove Ashli from her time that she wouldn’t fulfill her destiny of stopping the apocalypse?”
Yes, but he’d have to find another solution”.
“And I am going to take you forward in time. I can only hope that removing you from the current situation will prompt Death to seek balance elsewhere.”
“Forever.
Yes. That was it! Why had he not thought of the solution before? Because now your bond with the Universe is severed. You’re able to put Ashli first.
And that he would. For the first time in his existence, Máax would live up to his bad boy reputation, not because he felt compelled by the Universe to serve justice, but because he selfishly wanted something: to give Ashli immortality.”
For the first time, he lied to convince her to follow him to the future. 😆
“It is simple,” Máax said coldly. “I took you to my realm and filled you with our light. You are immortal now. This is why your eyes are now turquoise. Like mine.”
“Máax paced across the tiled living room floor. He’d desperately wanted to follow Ashli, but he’d already pushed things too far. Not only had he lied about the prophecy—and it was only a matter of time before she found out—but he’d also withheld his true intentions: to make her immortal. It was just as good as a lie in his book. And if he followed her now, she’d think him a complete chauvinistic bastard. He couldn’t have that. Not when their days together were now numbered. Although, he supposed, they always were. He’d broken so many sacred laws, now including making Ashli immortal without the gods’ permission and traveling back to his realm from which he was banished—no regrets, of course—that he’d probably be sentenced to entombment for two eternities. Maybe three. His only means to change that fate would be for the gods to modify their laws regarding mandatory punishment. But that required something nearly impossible: a unanimous vote.
Not likely. The gods never agreed unanimously on anything.”
“She hopped into the empty tub and gazed up at her living sculpture. Her god. Her giant caramel apple god.
Yes. Now she could see him. Really, truly see him. She let out a tiny gasp. His face was a vision of perfection just as she’d imagined. If only she could gaze into his eyes.”
“He flipped her onto her back again and slid inside her. “I’ve never been with another woman, but the seventy-thousand-year wait for you was worth every moment of torture, Ashli. You’ve already exceeded every expectation.”
Seventy thousand years? For her?
He kissed her hard and pushed deep inside, igniting her once again.”
After their night of 20 over times making love, he went to turn himself. He left a note to her through Timothy who passed the note to Brutus. So obviously, she didnt get the note and thought he simply used and leave her. She demanded the god of forgetfullness to remove his memory. Stupid.
“So be it,” he said. “Everyone, Fate cannot see one’s fate, guide one toward their fate, or create fate. She has absolutely no powers and never will. She has been faking it all along, lying to everyone.” That, in itself, was a punishable crime given that Fate had consulted on thousands of matters during summit meetings over the millennia. They had based many important decisions on her words.
“Máax’s bond with the Universe has broken, and his soul has now fully bonded to Ashli. Two lights, one soul. And as we all know from experience, once that occurs, all sorts of fun things happen—did I ever tell you about the time General DiConti was PMSing with Helena?” Cimil slapped her knee, laughing hysterically, tears forming in her eyes. “Oh, gods! He didn’t know if he wanted to cry or boink her!” She clutched her belly. “Then there was Kinich who lived inside Penelope’s body—Rarrr! Talk about kinky! Then Emma and Votan with their Vulcan mind melding—”
“Cimil. Enough,” Máax interrupted. “Get to the point.”
Cimil grinned, her turquoise eyes sparkling with giddiness. “From the moment Ashli met you, her light began pulling your power. She is now officially the Goddess of Love as it has always been destined to be.”
Impossible. “Why do you think Ashli is the Goddess of Love?”
“Ask Ms. Forget-Me-Yes over there. Ashli popped her good.”
“Cimil wagged her finger. “Uh-uh-uh. Your powers weren’t taken away. We just fixed it so that you couldn’t use them, but they remained inside you.”
“But I am not the God of Love, I never was. I am the God of Truth,” Máax said.
“Really now?” Cimil smiled. “Think carefully, Máax. Was it truth that drove you to come to our rescue over and over and over again? Or break our laws to help us and later take the punishment? Was it truth that got you to take an oath to Fate to keep her lie a secret? No. It was love, Máax, your love of your brethren. Truth was simply another way of expressing your love—being honest, keeping your word, those are all symptoms of love. Once you lost it, you started lying like a fiend.”
“A fiend? I lied once,” he protested.
“And broke your promise to me!” Fate barked.
“Shut up, Fate,” Penelope said. “Or shall we call you, Fake?”
“I’m not a fake, I’m just…” She sighed and sank into her chair. “… Just not like you.”
“Penelope took a vote to change the rules that governed the modification of their sacred laws. A unanimous vote by all fourteen gods would no longer be required. Ashli was the fourteenth vote to approve this change.
Next, time travel would no longer be banned or a crime, specifically for Máax. He would become their official traveler—the Keeper of Time Travel, although missions would need to be approved by a majority vote.
“And finally, Máax,” Penelope said, standing from her chair, smiling with tears in her eyes, “I move to lift any and all punishments that have been cast upon you. Your powers will be restored—whatever remains, obviously—and your physical form returned to you.” Penelope looked across the table. “All in favor?”
The gods raised their hands, smiles on every face.
“It is a majority vote.” She burst out crying and turned to Kinich.
Máax took a triumphant breath. The air swirled around him, and his body surged with light, power, and strength. It was finally over. He won, and Ashli had saved him. She’d been the key all along.
There is no such thing as an accident. It was all meant to be.
“Okay there, big boy.” Ashli opened her eyes. She lay on a bed of leaves with her upper torso cradled against Máax’s broad, bare chest. “You’ll never believe where I was. My parents were there, telling me I kept dying because I wanted to see them. They said you were sent to help me learn to live again.”
His smile stretched from ear to ear, and his eyes filled with unspeakable joy. “Did it work?”
“Oh my gods!” She was looking at him! With her own two eyes! “Máax? Is it really you?”
He placed his warm hand on her cheek. “Yes, my dear Ashli. It is I.”
“what Zac did was unforgiveable. At her most vulnerable moment, pregnant, having believed she’d lost Kinich, Zac used his powers to make her believe she had feelings for him. Then when Kinich turned up and became a vampire—a long, long story—Zac made Kinich crave her blood. He thought she would never love a man, errr, ex-god, err, vampire, who was a threat to her and her unborn baby.
A-hole.
Penelope rapped her gavel on the table. “I hereby open proceedings against Zac, God of Temptation. Zac, you are accused of using your powers on another deity without permission—a violation of a sacred law. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Kinich didn’t flinch, but Penelope felt the anger radiate from his body. She knew Kinich wanted him dead. Dead dead. Not deity dead. But killing a deity wasn’t possible. In fact, punishment was rather limited: banishment, removal of one’s human shell, suspension of powers, and incarceration or entombment.”
“She nodded. No, there was no excuse for that.
She wiped her eyes and looked up at Zac. “Do you have anything else to say?”
“Only that I will never stop loving you, Penelope. You are truly the most remarkable, sexy, passionate woman I’ve ever known.”
Kinich growled.
“And I truly regret hurting you,” he added. “But what I did pales in comparison to the pain Kinich caused you. Yet you forgave him. I only hope you’ll forgive me, too.”
She bobbed her head, not in agreement, but to acknowledge she’d heard him. “You may go back to your seat until it’s time for sentencing.”
Damn, this sucked. And it would only get harder.
She blew out a breath. “I call Cimil, the Goddess of the Underworld.”
“It took one hour and forty-five minutes to read the charges against Cimil who, by the way, looked utterly pleased with herself. She grinned like a madwoman the entire time in her bright red tango dress that matched her bright red hair, loose and wild, just like her mind.
“She lovingly patted his cheek. “No, my sweet pharaoh. I have kept my promise to you. It will be a little girl. And a little boy. And another little boy. And a girl.” She shrugged. “I kinda over did it on the fertility spell with Akna. Whoops!”
Roberto hugged her, and she genuinely looked pleased. It almost made Penelope want to forgive Cimil. She was crazy and wild, but she had pulled off the impossible; she’d created a new future for everyone. She’d probably been the only one insane enough to see the possibilities and take the risks. And if she truly was compelled to do evil, how could they punish her? That was her role. But it also made her dangerous. Or did it?
Damn. So confusing.
“Zac and Cimil, please rise before us for sentencing.”
The two moved to the middle of the floor.
Zac, for your crimes, we sentence
“you to banishment. Your powers will be neutralized, and you will live in the human world until we see you’ve truly learned the meaning of love.”
Zac stared straight ahead without the slightest reaction. Penelope wasn’t at all surprised. He was too proud to show any sign of weakness.
“Cimil, your acts of cruelty and disregard for the feelings of others are unspeakable. Yet we are also grateful to you for all that you have done for everyone. I hope you fully appreciate how gracious we are being because of this.” She paused for a moment. “You are also, hereby, stripped of your powers and sentenced to live in the human world.”
Penelope looked at them both. “It seems you both need to learn a lesson about empathy and selflessness. You will remain in the human world until we feel that you’ve evolved.”
Cimil huffed. “That could be forever!”
“Well,” Penelope said, “you seem to have a knack for helping others find their mates. And Zac, you desperately need to learn firsthand what real love is. So, in addition to banishment, you will both serve hard time. You are hereby sentenced to help one hundred immortals—your brethren, our vampire friends, the Payals, any immortal—find their soul mates. We hope that putting you in the front lines will help you see the error of your ways.”
“This is ridiculous!” Zac barked. “I’m not going to play the role of fucking Cupid!”
“Remove him from the court,” Penelope commanded the soldiers.
“As for Chaam, based on today’s hearing, he is absolved of all wrongdoing. He will not go to trial.” She looked at Chaam and Maggie. “We wish you nothing but the best in your life together.”
Maggie and Chaam embraced.
“Speaking of immortals. What the devil? Groans and screams exploded from every direction. Doctors and nurses scrambled every which way. His brother Guy hovered over a pain-struck Emma stretched across a gurney, her red hair wild about her face. Kinich stood beside another gurney, gripping a screaming Penelope’s hand. His sister Ixtab sat hunched over in a chair with Antonio holding her firmly by the shoulders, instructing her to breathe. And last but not least, Cimil screamed at the top of her lungs as Roberto tried to feed her ice chips. Strangely, he wore no clothes. His face was painted like a clown. It was disturbing. But not as disturbing as the howls and agonizing groans coming from the five women.
Máax felt his blood pressure hit the cold tiled floor as he took in the scene before him.
Babygeddon.”