Nautilus Than Perfect by K.L. Hiers

Chapter 13.

“DON’T WORRY,”Milo was saying. “We’re gonna find him.”

Chase nodded wearily from his spot on Ollie’s couch, cradling his head in his hands.

This was a nightmare.

Merrick had returned to Chase’s apartment to get his car, and Chase stayed behind to call it in as a kidnapping. He refused to accept any minimum-waiting-period bullshit. Someone had taken his nephew, and he had an excellent idea of who.

Ol’ Jeff and his cultist buddies needed someone with stars in their blood, and now they had one.

The question nagging at the back of his mind was how did they know?

Ollie never registered his ability, so there wouldn’t be any record of it. There was always a chance someone at the department or another client had figured it out, but so far they weren’t finding a connection to any of the known cultists.

Calling Ollie’s parents was awful, especially when Chase couldn’t tell them much other than the investigation was ongoing. He swore he would do everything in his power to bring Ollie home safely, wishing he could tell them more.

Then again, maybe it was better they didn’t know their son had been taken by insane cultists who were going to sacrifice him to perform a ritual to end the world by waking up some crazy ol’ god.

Fuck.

Watching his fellow officers and Milo crowd into the little apartment didn’t bring Chase much comfort. There were dozens more out in the city searching too. He appreciated all the effort, but he had a god as his partner, and they still hadn’t been able to find these assholes.

“Do you need anything?” Merrick asked quietly, hovering next to him.

“A stiff drink. Like, ten of them.” Chase rubbed his temples. “We get the all-clear to go talk to Daisy?”

“No.”

“Why the fuck not?” Chase demanded angrily. “We know she’s hiding something! She’s gotta be! The truth spell—”

“It was cast without consent.” Merrick shook his head. “She has already been instructed not to speak to anyone except internal affairs. We could be charged with interfering with IA’s case if we try to talk to her again.”

“Well, what the fuck do we do now?” Chase wished he had a cigarette. “There’s nothing fucking here. We already know that.”

“I am sorry.”

Merrick had taken the liberty of using his full godly powers to search the apartment for clues and found nothing that would help lead them to Ollie. Of course they couldn’t tell anyone that, so they had to let the mortal search continue.

“We’ve gotta find him,” Chase said firmly, trying not to give in to despair. “If anything happens to him, I’m gonna go fuckin’ nuts.”

“We will find him,” Merrick insisted.

“Look, we see them coming in on the parking lot security camera, but they never left. So we know they took him right smack outta here, which means a portal, right?” Milo dropped his voice. “I can’t be, like, totally sure, but I have a theory about why we can’t find these guys.”

“And that is?”

“So Loch is always taking Sloane to all these magical worlds with, like, porno temples and stuff,” Milo explained, glancing around to make sure no one else was close enough to overhear. “What if the cultist dudes are hanging out in one of those places?”

“The what now?” Chase’s head hurt.

“There are hidden places created by the gods between this world and the next,” Merrick whispered hurriedly. “We once used them for worship and celebration, but they have been lost to mortals for centuries. They are impossible to access unless a god has shared the spell, and every location is unique.”

“Sloane and Loch got married in one of these places,” Milo said. “They’re still out there, and Jeffy boy sure did have some weird old-ass artifacts, like that silencing totem.”

“You think he found a spell to take him to one of these other-world places?” Chase asked.

“Would explain why we can’t find them.”

“Can’t you go to these places and look around?” Chase asked Merrick hopefully.

“There are hundreds of them, perhaps even thousands.” Merrick sighed. “It would take too long to search them individually, and not even I know all of their locations. Some gods kept very private worlds.”

“Like the porn temple,” Milo chimed in.

“Exactly so.”

Chase picked up some of the papers scattered haphazardly across the coffee table. Every page was filled with long lines of scribbled notes in Ollie’s handwriting. He hadn’t given them much of a look before, but a familiar street name now caught his eye.

It was then he realized the pages were a list of sentences starting with “The cultist dillweeds are on” and then a different street name was plugged in.

Ollie had been trying to narrow down the cultists’ location for them. He’d been writing all the city’s street names, going block by block and crossing them all out until he wrote his own street down.

The last few sentences were also uncrossed, and reading them made Chase’s stomach churn.

The cultist dillweeds are on Hold Street.

The cultists are here at the apartments.

Parking lot.

My building.

The cultists are here.

Having been reading over his shoulder, Merrick murmured, “He was trying to help us.”

“Here, let me, uh, inventory those,” Milo said, taking the papers from Chase. “Don’t need any nosy people wondering what Ollie was trying to do here.”

“Wait, there’s something on the back,” Chase said.

Milo flipped it over. “As the words speak, the deed must be done, but only when the Faedra’s wings flutter and the Vulgora bask in the sun.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Chase demanded.

“It’s a time,” Merrick said quickly. “Ollie must have been able to translate more of the ritual.”

“Well, what the fuck does Faedra’s wings flutterin’ and that Vulgoofus shit mean?”

“Eh, give or take….” Merrick grimaced. “Six o’clock.”

“Fuck.”

The three of them had agreed they would say Ollie had been taken for his translation skills, not because of his starsight. It was a small thing, but Chase was determined to keep Ollie’s gift a secret like he’d promised.

It was the least he could do, though a little voice in the back of his mind reminded him that keeping Ollie’s secret was pointless if he was dead.

“Thanks, Milo.” Chase frowned. “So what the fuck do we do now?”

“Sloane and Loch are searching the city for any signs of portals and other suspicious witch stuff. I know you guys did your thing here, but I’m gonna keep looking too.” Milo offered a reassuring smile. “We’re gonna figure this out, okay?”

“Are you insinuating I missed something, Mr. Evans?” Merrick narrowed his eyes.

“No, I’m just saying that a second look can’t hurt, okay?” Milo held up his hands. “Calm down, Your Royal Tentacleness.”

“That nickname is highly inappropriate.”

“Well, we’re not gonna get any shit done here sittin’ on our asses.” Chase stood abruptly, looking to Merrick. “You still got all those case files, right?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

Back to Chase’s apartment they went, and Merrick brought the files in with them. Chase pulled everything out and spread the papers on the dining room table. When he ran out of room there, he continued over on the coffee table and then the floor.

He didn’t have super godly powers like Loch or Merrick, and he didn’t have magical starlight like Sloane. Hell, he didn’t even have the forensic or technical skills like Milo and Daisy. He was a painfully average mortal in many respects, and going back through these case files and hoping he’d find something was all he could do.

It made him feel helpless, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Ollie. He wished they had never come to him for the damn translation. Logically, he knew he wasn’t responsible, but that didn’t stop him from feeling like shit anyway.

Especially as the clock kept ticking away.

“There has to be something we’re missing,” Chase kept telling himself. “People just don’t fuckin’ vanish, porn temple or no fuckin’ porn temple.”

Merrick didn’t say much, choosing to focus on the files and use his godly powers to tirelessly speed-read through them. He chased down the tiniest inconsistency, made countless phone calls, but still found nothing that would help them.

They hadn’t heard anything from Sloane and Loch yet, and Milo had only texted them to tell them he had found absolutely squat but was still searching.

It was half past four o’clock in the afternoon when Chase finally snapped. He’d been reading for so long his eyes hurt, and he went right for the whiskey. He trudged back to the sofa to pour a glass, glancing over at Merrick expectantly.

“What?”

“Waiting for you to tell me not to drink on the clock.”

“I think, considering the circumstances, I am willing to make an exception,” Merrick said, offering a gentle smile. “At least this one time.”

“Thanks.” Chase tipped the glass back.

“May I offer you physical comfort?”

“You ain’t gotta ask.” Chase smiled and patted the cushion next to him. “Come on over, Merry.”

Merrick sat down and took Chase’s hand. He snuggled against his side, resting his head on his shoulder. “I believe we will be triumphant and rescue Ollie.”

“Yeah?” Chase resisted the urge to scoff. “Even with the odds stacked against us like this?”

“I did not think I would find a mate of my own, and yet, here we are. I’ve replayed our evening of making love together countless times, and I cannot imagine it being more perfect.” Merrick looked up at Chase, his jaw set stubbornly. “I had given up hope before. I will not give up now.”

“Countless times, huh?”

“Of course that is what you focused on.” Merrick rolled his eyes.

“No, no, I hear you. Keep the faith, have hope, but I’m definitely intrigued by this ‘countless times’ business.”

“You are revolting.”

“I know.” Chase sighed, laughing mirthlessly. “Sorry. Was trying to lighten the mood. It’s not working.”

“I am very sorry.” Merrick petted Chase’s beard. “Would this be an appropriate time to kiss you?”

“Knock yourself out.” Chase bowed his head to meet Merrick halfway, enjoying a sweet and reassuring kiss. “Mm, thank you. I needed that.”

“Happy to help.” Merrick smiled. “Just as I am sure we will have infinite bouts of lovemaking, I am certain that we will find him.”

Chase wanted to believe him, but it was hard with less than two hours to go. They needed a miracle. He laid his hand over Merrick’s on his cheek, trying to be brave. “Thank you, Merr.” He smirked wearily as Merrick continued to play with his beard. “You like this rug on my face, huh?”

“Yes. I enjoy touching your beard.”

“Yeah?” Chase chuckled. “Running your fingers through it?”

“It is a very nice beard,” Merrick insisted. “I like it.”

He had the nicest beard. I always used to tell him that I couldn’t wait to run my fingers through it again.

Chase knew he’d heard someone say that before, but who….

“Wait, wait.” Chase jumped up from the couch, hurrying back over to the dining table where Slappy’s file was. He flipped through and pulled out all the mugshot photos.

In the pictures from Slappy’s arrest, he was clean-shaven. He’d also been clean-shaven in the photograph Chase had seen in his office.

“Son of a bitch.”

“What is it?” Merrick asked, joining him at the table. “Do you have something?”

“Daisy talked about wanting to get all creepy and rub up on Slappy’s beard, right?”

“I vaguely recall something to that effect. Why?”

“Look at the pictures,” Chase hissed. “When he got popped for fraud, no beard. The photograph that he had hung in his office posing with the Lord Collins painting? No fuckin’ beard.”

“I am not following.”

“Daisy told us she hadn’t seen him since the last time she visited him in prison.” Chase shook the file. “So how did she know he has a beard now?”

“She lied,” Merrick hissed.

“She had to have seen him recently to know he’d grown that big ol’ sexy beard!”

“You believe she participated in his murder?”

“Maybe she was the one who tried to make him give up the painting. Who knows!” Chase threw up his hands. “But she sure as fuck lied about when she saw him last.”

“How did she beat the truth spell?”

“I don’t know.” Chase was already putting on his coat and fumbling for his hat. “We gotta go. She fuckin’ knows something. I don’t care if you have to slap her with all of your fuckin’ tentacles, we are gonna make her talk.”

“You suspect a deeper involvement with the cult?”

“I fuckin’ suspect she’s our only lead right now,” Chase said. “We’ve got fuck all nothing. We have to try. I don’t care we’re not supposed to go talk to her. Fuck the stupid goddamn internal investigation!” His voice cracked. “If anything happens to Ollie… I….”

“We’re going. Now.” Merrick reached out and grabbed Chase’s hand. “Hold on tightly.”

The room suddenly spun and disappeared, and Chase found himself standing outside of Daisy’s house. He was a little dizzy, and he leaned against Merrick to steady himself. “Fuck, that’s still weird.”

“I apologize,” Merrick said, holding on to Chase’s arm to help him over to Daisy’s front door.

“Totally forgiven.” Chase banged away at the door with his fist and did not stop until it opened.

“Chase? Merrick?” Daisy pouted when she saw the two of them, only opening the door a few inches. “You’re not supposed to be here. My representative said—”

“Fuck your representative,” Chase snapped. “My fucking nephew is missing, and we know you lied to us.” He pushed his way forward into the house, swinging the door wide open and forcing Daisy to frantically backpedal.

“Hey, hey! Just take it easy!” Daisy held up her hands, nearly tripping over the coffee table. “Can you please calm down?”

“Your little fucking buddies took my nephew for your stupid fucking ritual!” Chase barked. “Start talking. Now!”

“Your nephew?” Daisy’s eyes widened, and she suddenly smiled. “No way.”

“Fucking excuse me?” Chase slammed the door shut once Merrick was inside, and he stalked back toward her. “If you know something, I fuckin’ swear—”

“If they’ve got him, it’s over.” Daisy laughed hysterically, clapping and dancing in place. “It’s all over! It’s almost time! It’s too late for you!”

“No,” Chase whispered, his heart clenching up tight and his mind reeling from Daisy’s shocking display. “It can’t be!”

“It’s too late for all of you!” Daisy continued to cheer. “Ha! It’s already after five o’clock! Look! It’s five ten! Fifty minutes to go! Salgumel is finally going to awaken and bring all the gods with him!”

“Not all of them,” Merrick hissed furiously, stepping in front of Chase and advancing on Daisy. He held out his hand, several tentacles unfurling from his sleeve and coiling around her neck and shoulders, forcing her to kneel. “Feel my divine flesh and look upon my true face, mortal!”

“No!” Daisy screamed in horror, gasping and clawing at Merrick’s tight grip. “It can’t… it just can’t be!”

Merrick’s eyes were glowing almost white, and he roared, “I am Gordoth, brother of Salgumel, Shartorath, Yeris, Ulgon, Elgrirath, Zarnorach, Xarbon, Solmach, Eb, Ebb, Ebbeth, and Lozathin. I was spawned by Baub, the child of Zunnerath and Halandrach, they who were born of Etheril and Xarapharos, descended directly from Great Azaethoth himself!”

Daisy cried, clinging to Gordoth’s tentacles and sobbing, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know! I didn’t know it was you!”

“Speak the truth now or suffer my wrath,” Merrick snarled, his eyes black now as he stared Daisy down. “How did you know about Oleander’s gift?”

Chase sucked in a sharp breath and licked his lips. Watching Merrick go full-on angry god was kind of hot—shit.

No, revisit that thought later. Now was not the time.

“At Slappy’s house!” Daisy cried. “Milo was on the phone with me while you guys were there. I heard him asking about the guy doing your translating and figured out it was your nephew. He worked for the department, and I looked up his address.”

“Fuck,” Chase hissed.

“How did you withhold the truth from us when we questioned you before?” Merrick demanded.

“I knew you guys were gonna come here.” Daisy closed her eyes, swallowing down a whimper and taking a deep breath. “I knew what you would ask me, so I knew what to say. Like how I really didn’t want Slappy to get hurt because I wanted him to die after what he did. It was bad enough that he broke my heart, but then he went and turned his back on the coven.

“I tried reasoning with him when we found out he had one of the Lord Collins paintings, but he refused! He wouldn’t even sell it to us because he knew we’d be desperate enough to steal it, and he’d have a chance to make money off the insurance claim like he did before. He cared more about money than anything else, even the gods!”

“The cult,” Chase realized out loud. “You’re the one running the fuckin’ show. That’s how you got around those other questions! Makin’ us think Jeff was trying to keep you away for your own good, but he was trying to snatch up your spot!”

“I was,” Daisy confessed. “At least, well, of this chapter. But I really did dump Jeff. I dumped him because he pushed me out. He turned everyone in the coven against me once they knew you guys were gonna be questioning me. He said I couldn’t be trusted, even though that bastard knew I wouldn’t say anything. Not when we were so close to waking up Salgumel!”

“Right, yeah, that’s just terrible,” Chase drawled, raising his voice to snap, “Now tell me where my fuckin’ nephew is! Do you guys have him stashed in one of those stupid god worlds? Huh? Where is he?”

“I can’t… I can’t tell you!” Daisy’s eyes widened. “It wouldn’t matter anyway! The ritual is almost ready! There’s nothing you can do—ulgh!”

Merrick’s grip tightened around Daisy’s neck. “Speak, mortal!”

“The orchard,” she whimpered helplessly, tears streaming down her face. “They’ve gone to Babbeth’s orchard!”

“Thank you.” Merrick bopped her on the forehead with one of the tentacles, and she crumpled to the floor.

She didn’t move.

“What the hell did you do?” Chase blinked in shock.

“Exactly what I yelled at my nephew for doing to you,” Merrick replied, looking almost sheepish. “I erased her memory. She will wake up with no recollection of what has happened.”

“And the risk of her remembering?”

“Worth taking to save Ollie,” Merrick confirmed. He closed his eyes briefly. “I have told Azzath where we are headed. They will join us as soon as they can. Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” Chase said. He grabbed Merrick in a tight hug, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “Let’s go.”

“We have no idea what’s waiting for us,” Merrick said. “I must take on my true form so I can fully access my power.” His brow wrinkled up in that endearing way Chase knew well. “Please do not be alarmed.”

“I already told you,” Chase said firmly, “I don’t care. I’ll love you, bat wings and all, and I’ll still want you to fuck me stupid every day for the rest of our lives.”

“Although crude, that is very kind.”

“Right?”

“Hang on.”

The world around them vanished, and Chase was struck by another wave of vertigo. He closed his eyes, waiting for it to pass. His feet left solid ground for a few seconds, and Merrick’s arms were gone. They were replaced by strong tentacles, and Chase held on tightly.

“We are here,” Merrick whispered.

It was still his voice, but it was deeper, rumbling, and somehow inside Chase’s head and his ears at the same time.

Chase looked around to see they were standing in an orchard, an endless field of black trees with strange shriveled fruit hanging from the highest branches. The sky was dark, as if a bad storm was on the way. The air smelled slightly sour, and it was clouded with a faint veil of smoke.

Chase looked over to Merrick and tried not to gasp.

Merrick was a dragon.

He was as big as a house, with black-and-gold scales and massive horns spiraling out of his head. His eyes were empty black pits, and there was a long beard of tentacles at his chin. He had powerful front arms with large talons, but his lower body was a mass of giant tentacles like an octopus.

These were the thick coils holding Chase up, and he held on a little tighter, completely awestruck.

Merrick’s wings were indeed like a bat’s, grand and glittering even in the low light of this world. The webbing was so thin that it was almost translucent, like whispers of golden cobwebs stretched between each skeletal finger.

This was Gordoth, the god himself in the flesh, and Chase momentarily lost himself in his incredible visage. His mouth was open, but he couldn’t speak.

“Are you all right?” Merrick asked, bowing his head down. “Am I that… frightening…?”

He was the one who sounded afraid, and Chase wanted to laugh.

“As if I could ever be scared of you.” Chase smiled, reaching out to touch Merrick’s snout. He stroked the slick scales and the coils of his tentacle beard, kissing his nose. “No matter what you are, you’re mine.”

Merrick made a grumbling sound, perhaps a purr, and he leaned into Chase’s hands. “My mate.”

“My mate,” Chase confirmed. He took a deep breath, looking around the creepy trees. “We ready?”

“Yes.” Merrick lifted Chase up, urging him onto his back. “Hold on. We must hurry. The orchard is vast and will take some time to search.”

“We got, like, forty minutes.” Chase straddled Merrick’s neck above his wings, hugging him tightly. He closed his eyes and hissed, “Is this a bad time to tell you I don’t like heights?”

“Do not worry. We are not flying.” Merrick lowered his head and tucked his arms back at an awkward angle next to his wings.

“We’re not?”

“No.” Merrick lunged forward, propelled by the tentacles that made up his tail, slithering at an incredible speed through the trees. “I do not want them to see us coming.”

Chase nearly fell off and wrapped his legs around Merrick’s neck, cursing loudly as he tried desperately to hold on. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Merrick’s mass was so great that the trees were crushed beneath his belly as he tore through them, but it didn’t make the slightest sound. The giant god moved silently except for the wind whipping all around them as he slithered away.

Chase clenched his teeth and ducked his head, hanging on to his hat and praying to any gods who might be listening—this one included—that they would find Ollie safe and alive.

They were almost out of time.

“There!” Merrick bellowed.

Ahead, there was a small clearing in the trees. There was a large fire and twenty or more people in dark robes surrounding an altar.

There! It was Ollie!

Ollie was lying on the altar, unmoving, and his shirt was ripped open. Jeff was standing beside him, leading a frantic chant and wielding a giant knife.

As Merrick burst through the trees, the robed cultists immediately screamed and started to scatter. Someone tripped over the firepit, sending embers scattering and catching the dried grass, creating an immediate brush fire that rapidly spread.

“Release that mortal at once!” Merrick roared, rising up on his tail of tentacles to tower over the flaming chaos, snarling furiously. “If you dare harm him, you shall know my wrath!”

Jeff hadn’t budged from his place at the altar even as his eyes bulged in terror. Instead of taking this chance to flee, however, he turned to the altar with the dagger raised high above his head.

“No!” Chase screamed, throwing himself off Merrick and stumbling to his feet. The fire was burning him and his hat had flown off, but he didn’t care. Faster, he had to move faster; he had to stop him—

The blade sunk right into Ollie’s chest.