Swamp Kings 1 (Bayou Bishops #18)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Holy shit!”

Cat’s heart jolted at Ethan’s yell. She threw the spoon down on the stove and ran to the office where he worked on Rukem’s bridge. “What!” she half yelled while flying in.

“I fucking got it!”

“Got what ?” she gasped, looking at the codes flying across the screen as he laughed.

“Watch this,” he said as the screen filled with the bridge from Rukem’s Dreamscape. “See those glowing points?”

“Yes.”

“They’re fucking bio-signatures! ” He scooped her up and spun her around.

“Bio as in… people?”

“Yes!” He set her down and pointed to the screen. “And these strands leaving the points and connecting to the bridge? They’re routes! Actual. Fucking. Routes. Roads, highways, waterways. All leading back to where?” He zoomed his finger all the way to the bottom of the screen. “To here. The Swamp.”

He scooped her up again, hugging her tightly with a laugh that made her all giddy. “I knew you’d do it.”

“The next mystery is why these signatures,” he said, setting her down. “What kind of people are these? That’s what I need to ask King Thakx, that’s his forte.”

She picked up his phone from the desk and handed it to him. “Get to it handsome. Maybe my husband will eat lunch with me today now that he’s solved one of the world’s problems.” She kissed him as he took it. “I made dumplings.”

“Mmm, how about I eat you instead.”

“I was thinking of something more…virtual.”

Her heart hammered in her chest at the daring move, watching his face slowly become a mask of pure dark lust. They’d agreed he wouldn’t use anything related to the Dungeon for a while, but she felt… disconnected to a huge part of him and began asking Big G and AL questions. Big G made it clear he wouldn’t answer but at the same time referred her to one who was a master at answering without actually answering, and avoiding 8-Bit’s wrath. And boy had he answered them. She’d never been so aroused to learn the things she had. And some days, the things he told her and how he told her gave her the very strange impression he was getting some kind of blowjob to his circuits. Which was silly.

She swallowed as he set the phone down and returned to her, placing both hands on her butt with perfect precision and pulling her into him. “What are you doing?”

“I was… wanting to discuss maybe… things.”

His lips parted as his butt molestations became nastier. “What things?”

She wet her lips, holding fast to her courage. “I want to… be a part of that world with you.”

A hot moan left his lips telling all about the amount of arousal this gave him, and that had her horny out of her mind. “What part?”

“Every part,” she whispered. “I want all of you. I don’t want you to have to hide anything from me.”

He lowered his mouth to hers and brushed their lips. “We can’t open that door, Ma-Me-nou.”

His desperation for it weighed down every word. “We can do anything we want together. I know how much you want it.”

He straightened and looked down at her, his brows drawn. “How do you know?”

Oh crap, he heard that.

“What have you been doing?” he wondered, hunger and hope mixing with his demanding curiosity .

Double crap. She wasn’t good like AL with hiding things from him.

“Have you talked to AL?”

Oh shit!

But his anger didn’t come, only more lust, turning his caramel eyes darker. She nodded.

“Tell me,” he whispered.

Oh dear Lord, where to begin.

“AL, what did you tell my wife?”

“Only good things,” he assured, his tone eager like when they talked about it. “Shall I provide a list?”

“I want every detail. But not right now. First, I’m eating lunch with my wife and then we’ll discuss it after. In my bed.”

“Why not discuss it in the dungeon?” AL suggested, his tone dropping several octaves to something she didn’t recognize. “She may need a proper interrogation.”

Oh my God. Her clit was now pounding as the sexy predator before her angled his head in contemplation. “She does seem to need persuasion, doesn’t she AL?”

“AL?” AL repeated.

“I’m not giving her your real name until it’s Zero-Sum time.”

AL gave a low laugh she did not recognize. Mercy, what was going on? “Sounds puuuurrrrrfect for our Me-nou.”

“What do you think?” he asked, moving his thumb slowly over her lower lip with a testing glide that brought a quake to her body.

She remembered what AL had said about his name in the Dungeon. “Whatever… Terabyte wants.”

He went from Ethan to this other person in the blink of an eye, taking her mouth in a brutal kiss as one hand gripped her throat and the other bit in her hair, lifting her ‘til only the tips of her toes touched the floor. The rush of fear and ecstasy filled her blood as he feasted on her mouth with eager, calculated sucks and bites while this non-AL voice whispered hotly, “Mmmm, that’s it, Terabyte… Give our dirty girl a taste of all that we owe her.”

Oh, dear God, what did she climb herself into?

****

Kult made it to the meeting room with his bundle of Garbagio tucked in his arm. “Sorry, Garbagio had a last-minute shit bomb and it fell on me to change it. If you smell anything foul, deal with it. He looked around at all the strained faces. “Looks like you’re having your own shit party in here. Where’s Kaphas and Handy? And Quantum?”

“In fucking restraints,” Harlow announced.

“What the fuck?”

“The demons. ”

Kult’s gaze cut to Atlas. “ Full sentences magic memory.”

“Quantum didn’t just suffer a mini meltdown,” Harlow said. “Whatever has a hold of Kaphas and Handy hitched a ride when they synced up.”

“How the hell’d you figure that?”

“After finally subduing him, I ran tests. Some of those results had nothing to do with what amounts to a cyber-stroke.”

“How do you know?”

Harlow’s eyes popped. “Because a cyber-stroke doesn’t cause you to try and kill your brother when he refers to your wife by her name rather than ‘ his wife’. ”

Kult stared at him. Fucking great. “Which brother did he attack?”

“ Me! ” Harlow hurled at him.

“And Kaphas and Handy?”

More wide eyes. “Oh, they wanted to help but they were too busy fighting whatever the fuck still has a hold of them. Clearly whatever has them is buddies with what has Quantum.”

“They’re symbiotic.”

Harlow nodded and aimed a hand at Fetch. “ He knows because he’s got connections to Kaphas and Quantum. ”

“So, they’re both locked up?”

“For now, ” Harlow said. “Until those demons override Kaphas and Handy’s power and use it to escape.”

Kult bounced and paced with a suddenly fussy Garbagio. “So, they’re fighting it.”

“Yes,” Harlow said, collapsing into a chair next to the table.

“What’s the plan?”

“Handy needs a body,” Harlow muttered. “He will take whatever’s in them with him into the new vessel. He said to build the body with containment capability while we discuss a permanent solution.”

“You want me to hold Garbagio?” Atlas offered.

Kult glared at him, then caught that familiar look in his brother’s gaze, the craving to touch a miraculous bundle of power. That’s what his son was. Their son, if he was being fucking honest and he surely wasn’t, he was boldly lying and trying his damnedest not to give a single fuck. “Five minutes,” Kult said, walking toward him. “He’s been pissed lately. I think he doesn’t like being passed around. It’s fucking with his ability to lock in to any one thing.”

The smile on Atlas’s face as he took the baby put a big dent in Kult’s kill urges. They both stared at the tiny scrunched up face, his magical powers drawing mutual grins from the two devil’s watching. A third smiling devil came to the show, daddy Pain. Kult waited for the usual jealousy, but it was no match for those guns this baby carried in his little squeaks.

“He’s been so restless,” Pain said. “I have to hold him all night to absorb whatever is bothering him.”

Kult eyed him, envious of both the job and the power he had. “It works?”

He nodded, stroking his forehead with his finger, immediately settling him. “He loves my touch for what it can do.”

Kult didn’t like what he heard in that. “It’s you he loves, not just your touch, dumbass.”

“He’s so light,” Atlas marveled. “I still can’t get over that he’s a whole human and yet this tiny.”

Sync finally joined them and delivered a kiss to his forehead. “I don’t mean to break up the party,” he cooed softly. “But Uncle Handy and Uncle Kaphas and Poppa Quantum are in real trouble.”

“If he ever gets too fussy, call me and I’ll come and calm him then give him back,” Pain said to Kult.

Like hell that was happening. “We’ll manage. I’ll teach him coping mechanisms since pain is a natural part of life.”

Pain kissed his forehead next. “Good idea, daddy.” He straightened, grinning at Kult, then leaned toward him with his pucker .

“Put those lips on me and they’ll star in your next masterpiece.”

Pain laughed, giving the kiss to Garbagio instead. “Daddy doesn’t want my kisses. You’ll have to have all of them.”

Pain raised his head, putting his face before Atlas’s. “I’ll just chew your fucking lips off,” Atlas warned quietly, getting everybody’s sadistic chuckles.

“So, about Handy’s body,” Kult said to Harlow, getting back to it. “You have any ideas?”

“Nothing fool proof,” he muttered. “But get this. He asked for the Bishop to help design it.”

“The Marsh King?”

He nodded. “Apparently, he saw his capabilities. After he gets the bat bite.”

“And will he?”

Harlow gave a huge, frustrated shrug. “Next item on our list. Call the Marsh Kings in for a chit chat.”

“All of them?”

“These people move like a pack of wolves,” Harlow cried. “I’m making an educated guess it’ll be all of them.”

He nodded, thinking. “Ask them to meet us in that Sanctuary Hall. It’s private and big enough.”

“Good fucking idea,” Harlow said, pointing at him and pulling out his phone. “Fuck.”

“What? ”

“That party is tonight, the one we were invited to and cancelled.”

Kult considered that. “It’s kind of important to the safety of the entire Hoard, I think.”

Harlow’s face brightened. “It is!”

He got back to his phone as Kult stopped next to him, inspecting for signs of injury. “What did Quantum do to you?”

He put the phone to his ear then lifted his chin, revealing clear finger marks on his neck. “Damn near crushed important cartilage.”

“Fuck. How did you stop him?”

“Fin.”

Kult turned, finding those icy blues on him. “I strategically restricted blood flow to his brain and primary muscle groups, inducing unconsciousness and temporary paralysis.”

Kult aimed his holy fuck look at Harlow who grinned.

“He’s got some pretty impressive blood controlling powers.”

No shit. Kult regarded him again. “Nice work, Finisher.”

He gave him a single nod while Kult had the urge to dig into his gaze and figure out what was different about him. Something was. He turned his ear to Harlow’s quiet conversation on the phone now, gathering an affirmative to the immediate meet up .

He made his way to Fin who stood before he reached him. “Where are they? Are they awake?” Kult asked.

“They are.” He regarded Fetch and Fathom engaged in communication he couldn’t detect, indicating they didn’t want anybody hearing. Interesting. “I’ll take you to them.”

“I’m coming,” Harlow called as they headed for the door. “The Marsh King and Co. are leaving their little party to come join ours.”

“I’m coming too,” Pain said, following.

Kult shot a finger at Atlas. “You too.” He wanted his baby in earshot. “And you,” he said to Sync.

“We’re right behind you,” Fetch called out.

“You may as well ask them to bring food,” Kult said. “I damn near went just to have the gumbo.”

Harlow snorted.

“What? I’m serious.”

Harlow handed him his phone as they headed for the Sanctuary Hall. “You can ask.”

Kult took it, glancing back to make sure Atlas was right behind him. He found the recent calls and hit the button.

“Mon frere,” the Bishop answered.

“Evening Bishop. It’s Kult. How much money will it take for you to bring me some of that gumbo?”

His deep laugh filled his ear. “That hospitality is a free one. How many are we feeding? ”

“Uh, how many is he feeding?” he asked Harlow.

“Ten men,” Atlas hurried, like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“I heard,” Bishop said. “We’ll be there with supper within the hour.”

“Merci boo-coo,” Kult said, practicing his French.

“Luh pleh-zeer eh too ah mwah, mon frere.”

Kult chuckled. “Sounds like a love note.”

Bishop gave an easy laugh. “I said it’s all my pleasure my brother.”

Kult grinned. “Feeling’s mutual. See you swamp scoundrels soon.”