Balm of the Gods

12. Eminent Domains

Cal answered the ring of the doorbell with a spring in his step. He knew who to expect. Mayim had come over yesterday at this exact time in the morning, arriving from a night spent over at her Department-issued safe house. He understood it was necessary that she spend her nights apart from him, Mina, Kjelle, and Pim, even if he wished otherwise. She had cover to maintain and check-ins to make -- and magic-fueled dreams made up for nights spent physically separated.

What had made up for it yesterday, too, was how Mayim had answered the door dressed less like an agent and more like a call girl.

Her long jacket had opened up to red lace and stockings beneath. ("Went shopping," was all she'd said. "Used the Department's credit line. I'm here on field ops, after all. Naughty, aren't I?") But most of that tantalizing ensemble hadn't lasted long before it ended up in a heap on the floor. Mayim had hardly made it through the door before Cal was on her, taking her, with Mina, Kjelle, and Pim all nearby to welcome her properly to a new day on her 'mission.'

Cal knew today was different when there was no sexy surprise behind the door. Instead, Mayim stood dressed much like she'd been when he'd met her, her expression tight and her eyes determined. As the agent walked inside, her fingers brushed his hand, but the two didn't kiss or fall right to passion. Something seemed to weigh heavily between them. Cal shut the door and followed her, already starting to worry that something was wrong.

"They called," Mayim told him, stopping in the living room. Mina and Kjelle looked up with concern from the dining table nearby, as did Pim as she emerged from the hallway. "My superiors. It's about the alchemist."

"Vythia," Kjelle supplied. Her serious tone matched the mood. All in the condo knew the name and the threat it carried, but the High Cosmos blonde knew better than most. "What happened? Is she close? I haven't even sensed her."

Mayim shook her head. "Nowhere near our neighborhood, but she's coming, and she's not wasting time. I hardly got more than the essentials, but the Department tracked her to a place called Mansfield, Illinois. They sent a small task force to bring her in." The agent's eyes flashed. "From the sounds of it, she was ready. She took them down like it was child's play."

"Are they alright?" Mina asked, getting up from her seat and crossing the room. "The agents, I mean?"

"Mostly." Mayim grimaced. "They're lucky nothing lethal got thrown around out there. Sounds like she just went through them with tricks and traps and left them more embarrassed than anything else. They weren't in any condition to pursue. Thompson, the task force leader, saw her drive off and thinks she's heading in this direction." A pregnant pause. "Long story short? My little vacation's over. They're back on high alert with these High Cosmos affairs, they're planning an intercept... and they want me to spearhead it."

Cal felt his throat grow tight. "And did you accept?"

"On one condition, yes." Mayim's gaze was fixed on him. "No backup. No assists. I do it alone."

"Against the alchemist who tore through a whole task force?" Mina's voice rose in pitch. "What are you --"

"Easy. The thing is, that's a cover. What I want -- and what the Department can't know about -- is to work with you." Mayim swept her gaze across the room. "If all of you are willing."

Kjelle tilted her head. "Us? On a mission with you? We're not exactly trained agents." Pim, now standing by her side, nodded her uneasy agreement.

"Maybe not," Mayim conceded. "But I think all of us together stand a better chance against a High Cosmos alchemist than any Department team ever would. With that elixir? Cal, you alone would be a game-changer. On top of that, I can still access all the Department resources we'd need to help pull this off. If the rest of us play our part, too?" She shrugged. "I think that's the grounds for a good plan. I just wanted to know if you'd be in on it with me before I really started drafting things out."

"It's going to be dangerous." Kjelle glanced at Cal, her golden eyes searching his. "A lot of things could go wrong against someone like Vythia. I don't know her personally, but I've been in her presence. 'Intimidating' would just be the start of it. Her reputation as an alchemical genius precedes her where I'm from. And the elixir? Our ace in the hole? That's her creation. What if she knows how to neutralize it, or resist it? What if she's prepared... or even expecting us? This might not be like when we..." She turned to Mayim. "Apologies in advance, Mayim. You're a badass, but you're human. This is different."

Mayim didn't flinch. "I know. I'm not underestimating her. That would be stupid for anyone to do. But I think we've got an opportunity here, and a lot of reasons to take it. I wasn't going to make my move without consulting you all first. And I can shift strategies with the Department if you'd rather avoid this." She frowned. "But there's another thing you need to know. This city? Now that the Department knows it's where Vythia is headed? It's going to be crawling with operatives within the day. The Department likes their contingencies. If my intercept fails, they'll want a second line of defense here. A big one. Whether or not any agents would be looking for you directly, I can guarantee they'd find out about you. Department agents don't miss details on a field mission... especially magic as strong as yours."

Cal's jaw set. He looked to the others. "Then that's not good."

"Which is why, if it's my vote, we act now." Mayim didn't back down. "We get the hell out of the city. We go north and intercept Vythia on her way down. We... do our thing. Hopefully." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm not trying to say I know for sure that's the best thing to do. But if we wait around too long, nothing good is going to come of it. So, what do you say, Cal? Want to do some Department field work and take this alchemist bitch down a notch?"

Mina, Pim, and Kjelle all looked to each other. Cal could feel their uncertainty. His own feelings were hard to pin down. But Mayim was right about one thing: if the Department was on its way here, then sooner or later, Cal's secret was going to be out. He couldn't imagine the kind of scrutiny he'd end up under if the organization found out about him. Mayim, he'd dealt with. The whole Department? That was another beast entirely, and a conflict he'd prefer to avoid. All that, and Vythia coming in hot for his elixir? He'd be damned if he was going to stick around and do nothing.

Cal took a deep breath and stepped forward. "I'm in, Mayim," he said, setting his face with resolve. "If we've got a shot at this, we should take it." Three sets of eyes fell on him -- his harem's. "If the rest of you agree."

Pim spoke up first. "You know I'm ready." She smiled, nervous but clearly trying to keep herself steady. "I want to help, whatever it takes. I've already been halfway around the world on one mission with Mayim. I'm ready for another."

"Count me in, too." Mina leaned back against the wall, arms folded. "It's not like we can just sit around and hope this all goes away."

"If my god's going to battle," Kjelle put forth, an edge of adoration in her voice even now, "then what kind of High Priestess would I be if I didn't follow?"

Cal felt his confidence soar. "Then let's get to it. We've got work to do."

Mayim's grin was like a tiger's. She liked that boldness. Liked how his harem backed him up. She liked a lot about him, but that was nothing new. "I've got the Department on standby. A word, and we'll be on. But there'll be preparations to make, and fast." Her gaze pierced Cal. "First and foremost, lover? Shower up, and don't be stingy with that elixir."

***

***

Mayim shared all she knew. Vythia was traveling by car, likely a purloined one, and making her way steadily south along a predictable route. If they could meet her halfway, the agent reasoned, they'd be able to spring the fight on her on their own terms, away from prying Department eyes.

That was the start of their plan, anyway.

"She's taking it slow," Pim noted, watching Mayim's tablet as the agent highlighted towns and landmarks that Department intel could confirm Vythia had already visited. A small time-stamp hovered next to each. The Thai girl was no agent, even if she'd been in Mayim's company a while now, but she could do the math and determine that Vythia's pace was more 'road trip' than 'race.' "I wonder why?"

"Because she thinks she can get away with it," Mayim replied, swiping through more Department data on the screen and frowning. Pictures snapped by hidden cameras and magically-cloaked drones. Reports from undercover scouts. "She must think this will be all too easy for her."

"Then that's a mistake on her part," Cal said, watching over Mayim's shoulder. "Let her keep underestimating us. We'll show her what for." He knew, of course, that there was a limit to how confident they could afford to get. Vythia seemed no slouch. And a routed task force of agents in Mansfield could attest to that.

"It's still a risk," Kjelle murmured. The blonde High Priestess looked worried as she leaned against the couch. "But there's no helping that. It's us against her. It was always going to be. If we want to keep this..." The deep breath she took carried tantalizing notes of Cal's elixir, threatening to break her concentration -- but her willpower won out. For now. "We have to win. All or nothing."

"Then we'll give it everything we've got," Mina said. Her hand slipped into Cal's and squeezed. She was putting on a brave face, but Cal could see the nervousness in her eyes. "Mayim, where do you think we should plan on intercepting her? Do we just drive north until we run into her? Set up a roadblock? Sorry, agent stuff is still new to me."

"Actually, I've got a different plan," Mayim replied. "There's a safe house I've just been cleared to use. A few hours north. It's out of the way, on the edge of a lake. Most of the surrounding land is woods and dirt roads. A few other cabins in the area, but they're empty right now; hunting season's over. The closest actual town is miles off." The agent rolled her shoulders. "This place is remote enough that if a small-scale magical battle broke out, no one would be the wiser." She brought the map back up, navigating to the lake area. Cal saw a blue-green blob not even labeled with a name. "Better yet for our purposes, it's actually the closest Department site to Vythia's projected route. Not that the highway leads right there -- but if she's tracking the elixir itself and we brought it with us, she'd deviate."

"So that's where our home base is going to be," Cal mused. "Looks nice and quiet."

Mayim set the tablet down. "It won't be that way for long. But it'll be a hell of a better place for us to be than here." She glanced aside at the condo's floor-to-ceiling window with the Midtown view. "At least, until the storm blows over."

"We'd better finish packing and get on our way," Mina said. "I'll get my essentials. We're not going to have much time, are we?"

"Right. We've already let enough of it tick away. But if we leave within the next half hour, we'd still be making good time. So let's do it."

Mayim rose from her seat, then paused, glancing Cal's way. Something rose within her, powerful and undeniable. She strode to him, grabbed him by the shoulders, and pressed herself into a hard kiss. He returned it, his hands clutching her hips, as Mina, Pim, and Kjelle all looked on with interest. When the agent finally pulled away, her eyes were blazing.

"Don't mind me. It's just that you smell incredible, lover. I know we can't indulge. Not for a while. But... call that a tide-over. Or at least a little something for good luck."

She pushed away, smirking, and left for the hallway. Cal felt a slight heat rise to his face.

"We're definitely in the right hands," he muttered, looking to the rest of his harem, who all grinned and nodded. "Fuck, she's intense. In the best way possible. Let's not keep her waiting."

***

***

They packed their essentials, taking and using what they could. Clothes went into a pair of duffels that Mina retrieved from her closet. Toiletries topped off the packs. No one knew how long the trip would last, but no one bothered taking more than a few changes and some other essentials. Most essential of all, of course -- and given plenty of room in its own bag -- was the bottle of Cal's golden elixir. He took special care to cushion it, wrapping it in towels that would also serve to hide it from direct view.

Before long, the condo was locked up and darkened. Mina had already arranged for the week's photoshoots to be postponed, calling in and feigning a family emergency. Only one client seemed pissed, but when the photographer hung up, she shrugged Cal's way and offered, "Maybe you can fuck her to make up for it later." Despite the circumstances, Cal laughed.

Mayim's Department-issued sedan would have been cramped for all five of them, and Mina's electric car seemed like a no-go for a long trip whose remote destination would lack charging stations. Mayim floated the idea of calling in a larger van from the Department, but dropped it just as quickly, knowing no other agents could get involved in this -- even for something as simple as a vehicle hand-off. So the last remaining option, one Cal almost forgot about, was his own car.

"It might be a better option than we think," Mayim said, nodding with approval as she circled the old, well-loved Honda Civic in the parking garage. "It's inconspicuous. The elixir should ride with you in there."

That settled their transportation plan. Mayim would drive with Pim. Even if a Department pull-over or rendezvous occurred, there'd be no one to see but Pim, already well in the agency's books as an important witness traveling with Mayim. Cal, Mina, Kjelle, and the lion's share of luggage would go north in the Honda.

And so they set off.

Mayim led the way, with Cal's car close behind. They left behind the high rises of the city, then the suburbs, then took an arterial freeway north. In time, they'd moved even from that to a smaller two-lane highway, lined by trees and farmland. Despite a bit of tension among them as they thought forward to their confrontation, it was an easy drive. The rolling landscape of hills, fields, and forests made for good sight-seeing. Small towns and communities passed by, but Cal barely paid any second glances. He knew there was little time to stop and smell the roses. There'd be a fight ahead, and one they couldn't lose.

But he never quite stressed. For one, he had the reassuring tingles of magic balm on his skin. And he had Mina and Kjelle. For the first serious time, the word 'family' passed through his internal monologue. Maybe it wasn't quite that. Not yet, anyway. But there was a closeness between them that transcended mere lust. They were more to each other than that. They shared his secret and his power. They were in this together, and not because Cal had put them under his spell. They'd well and truly bonded in this.

If he was really transforming into a god -- the real thing out of myths, with power to match, not some flippant title -- then he'd definitely found himself surrounded by the perfect court. Kjelle was his High Priestess and magical counselor. Mayim was his champion, a protector of his interests and a capable and cunning warrior. Mina had all the bearings of a queen. Pim was his first foreign convert, who'd come halfway across the world to end up his. Those not present filled their own unique niches and had their own ways of worship, too. Was all of that destiny?

Cal had to wonder about his golden balm sometimes. The longer he used it; the deeper he came to understand it -- especially now, with Kjelle's help -- the more he thought it couldn't have only been the world's best aphrodisiac. Was it also some ineffable guide, ensuring the user that he'd find exactly the people he needed to bind to his cause? Did he even have to be aware that the person he was seducing was someone he needed, or that their resulting bond would strengthen him? Did the magic just work that out on its own?

Maybe he'd find out as time went on. Maybe he'd find out a lot more, too. What would come next? A temple? A palace?

A godly domain of his own,vast and splendid?

His magic resonated with that, raising hairs on the back of his neck. Kjelle had mentioned that, hadn't she? But why did it feel like something Cal was about to experience? Here and now, with a confrontation looming? Even with an enemy vying to take his whole magical world away from him, why did he just feel like that world was opening up to him -- like he could doanything he wantedwith it?

His thoughts were interrupted as he glanced at his fuel gauge, then to the women beside and behind him. "We're going to have to hit up a gas station soon," he told them, almost shaking his head at the thought that, despite everything, he was still driving a plain old car that needed plain old fuel. "Anyone need a snack or a bathroom break while we're at it?"

Mina checked her phone's map. "There's a station a few minutes away. Looks small, but there's a rest area beside it. We could stop there. Stretch our legs. Maybe even..." Kjelle, in the back seat, looked at her with curiosity. Mina's grin was wicked, but it faded with a shake of her head. "Ah. Wishful thinking. No time or place to do that. If only."

Cal couldn't help but chuckle. "After we take care of things, we'll celebrate. I promise."

Mina tapped out a quick message to let Mayim know about their stop. Soon enough, Cal was pulling up to the pump, with Mayim's sleek sedan parked at the next one over. As he got out, the agent leaned out her window and gave him a nod. "Going to go in and grab a bite. Pimchan's going to take a walk around the rest area. Do what you like. Just meet us back here in ten."

"Sounds good," Cal bid her back.

Mina handled the gas, leaving Cal to wander toward the rest area with Kjelle and Pim -- the latter of whom moved ahead to sit down on a bench, taking in the unremarkable view. It was a nice enough little spot, with a paved walking trail winding around its perimeter. An ugly pavilion, all concrete and steel, jutted up in the middle of the open space and sheltered several rotting wooden picnic tables. Cars and trucks passed on the nearby road, and a few people milled around the rest stop, but none paid Cal, Kjelle, or Pim any attention. It was a peaceful moment, even if in an unremarkable place. He'd take it.

But that ineffable feeling of destiny still wouldn't leave him. Like a voice in his head, telling him to look around, then look deeper. To feel. To trust. Feel and trust what? Nothing here was worth his time. But the feeling persisted. It wouldn't let him go.

"Something wrong, Cal?" Kjelle asked, placing a hand on his arm.

"Just... haunted by thoughts, I guess. Not even in a bad way. I'm not sure how to describe it, but..." He looked around again, then shook his head. "It's nothing. Just nerves."

The blonde nodded, but her eyes lingered on him. "I've felt it, too," she said after a moment. "Something about you and the elixir. Something... special. I don't think I can sense the specifics, but you're coming into your own, Cal. Your destiny. Your power. That's what I feel."

"Destiny? Power?" Cal looked at her, his gaze searching hers. "Here? Now?"

"The magic's responding to you. You're in need of its power. Greater power than before. So that's what it's granting. You're... awakening. I can't explain it better than that."

Cal thought about that. He thought about the feeling nagging at him. And... something like an idea appeared. A rush of sensation accompanied it; a tingle of magic that made him shudder. As if his own power was telling him his High Priestess was right.