Dogs and Goddesses Read online

  Kammani rubbed her forehead. She was getting a headache. She never whined and she never got headaches; this world was changing her… . No. She was a goddess; she was going to change this world.

  “What did you do to my people?” Samu said, thunder in his voice.

  “It wasn’t me. Ishtar seduced the people from me. I tried to stop her; I tried many things …” She remembered what some of those things were and talked faster before he could ask. “… but she betrayed me and sent me into the desert; she took my robes and my rings; she took my people and my power—”

  “Here,” Samu said, focused as ever. “How did we end up here?”

  “Munawirtum told Miriam that after Ishtar imprisoned me in the sand, the Three took the priestesses into the secret room and gave them drinks so they would sleep safely until my return. But I could not return without worshipers.” She sat down on the altar step. “Without worshipers …”

  “Gods cease to exist,” Samu said, sympathy in his voice now. “So why have you risen again?”

  “I was called,” Kammani said proudly. “Thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of voices cried out my name.”

  “And said, ‘Come to Ohio’?”

  Kammani glared at him. “No, Sharrat did that. She seduced the man who opened the temple and made him bring it and the other priestesses here, to this new world, out of Ishtar’s reach. Her granddaughter is the new Sharrat.”

  “Shar,” Samu said. “She is not Sharrat. And this is not our land, and these are not our people. And you are not telling me everything.”

  “But she has Sharrat’s fire within her,” Kammani said eagerly. “You can see it in her. It’s deeply buried, that passion, but she is the new Sharrat, one of the Three—”

  “Yes,” Samu said, “but the Three are different now. And they do not remember.”

  “They will.” Kammani stood up. “They will remember as the people remember. The people called me, Samu-la-el, or I could not have risen. A thousand, a hundred thousand, a million voices called my name and I rose.” She took a step toward him. “And now together, we will rule this world.” She put her hand on his arm, sure of him again. “Come. I have waited long for you.” She unfastened the pin at her shoulder and gestured toward the secret door as her robe fell open, and she smiled at him, knowing her body was magnificent, irresistible in the light from the torches.

  “I must return to Shar’s temple,” Samu said, his eyes cold on hers. “I swore I would return with Wolfie.”

  “Don’t blame me,” Wolfie said from behind Sam.

  Kammani grabbed her robe, suddenly feeling naked. “Are you dead to carnal pleasure?”

  “I swore,” Samu said. “I must go.”

  “WHAT?”

  “MAY THE SUN SHINE ON YOU,” Sam said, and walked out, Wolfie scrambling for the doors in front of him.

  “It is different here,” Umma whispered beside her.

  “It’s not that damn different,” Kammani snapped as she pinned her robe together again. Fucking god-kings, thought they ran the universe.

  Bikka clicked her way across the stone floor. “Cheetos?”

  “NO!” Kammani said. “We will follow the old ways! THINGS WILL BE AS THEY WERE!”

  “Nooooo,” Bikka whined as Umma sidled away.

  “Professor Summer?”

  Kammani looked toward the doors that Samu had left open.

  A young man stood there, tall and well-muscled, brown-haired and blue-eyed, looking confused and angry and …

  Healthy, Kammani thought.

  “Professor Summer’s office is locked,” the man said with ill-concealed impatience. “And I gotta turn this in.”

  Kammani took a step closer. “You are Sharrat—Shar Summer’s?”

  “I’m her student,” the young man said. “I need to put this paper in her office… .” He looked around. “What is this place?”

  “Welcome,” Kammani said, gliding toward him now. “This is the Temple of Kammani.”

  “Oh!” The young man’s face cleared. “Yeah, right, my sister told me.”

  Kammani stopped. “Your sister?”

  “Bun Essen,” the young man said. “She said it was some kind of sorority. Like she needs another sorority.”

  He snorted and then smiled at Kammani, taking her in with open admiration that was balm to her ego. “Although if you’re in the sorority, hey, I’m there.”

  Samu had been stupid in the beginning, too.

  And four thousand years was a long time to sleep alone.

  “I’m Doug,” he said, frankly staring at her body now.

  “Come in, Doug,” she said, loosening the pin on her robe. “I have much to show you.”

  “Like what?” Doug said.

  You try to walk out of here, I’ll turn you into the dog you are, Kammani thought, and let her robe drop.

  “All right,” Doug said, and started toward her.

  NINE

  At eleven, Shar pushed the last of the revelers out the door of the coffee shop, many of them with boxes of cookies in their hands, and surveyed the damage. The place was a mess, but it was nothing they couldn’t clean up in the morning, so she went into the kitchen.

  “Have you seen Abby?” she said to Bowser, and he growled, “Upstairs,” while Bailey mumbled in his sleep, curled next to him.

  “Well, tell her I locked up,” Shar said, and went out the back door, flipping the lock so it would catch behind her. The night was cool, and she rubbed her hands over her arms and then slung her bag over her shoulder and started down the alley toward home. It was pitch-dark, but it was Summerville, so she was safe—

  A huge shadow loomed up in front of her and she screamed.

  “It’s us,” Sam said.

  “It’s us,” Wolfie said.

  “Stop doing that,” she said, and walked past Sam, her heart pounding from more than the fright. It lifts, I can feel my heart lift when I see him, and it must stop doing that.

  “Stop doing what?” Sam said, falling into step beside her, a bulwark in the dark, as Wolfie pattered beside them.

  “Rising up in front of me,” Shar said. “Coming out of nowhere.” Different verbs, Shar, different verbs.

  He stopped walking and then Wolfie did, too, but she kept going.

  “It’s just creepy,” she said, and he said, “Shhhhh.”

  She turned around and he had his head up, the way Wolfie lifted his head when he was listening. She listened, too, but there was nothing except faint laughter from the street and the soft sounds of the night. “What?” she said, but he had already turned around and was going back down the alley with Wolfie at his heels, past the courtyard of Abby’s coffeehouse, and she followed him until he stopped at a large closed Dumpster.

  “That’s it,” Wolfie said to him, and Sam nodded and lifted the Dumpster lid with one hand to look inside.

  “What’s it?” she said to Wolfie, and Sam reached into the Dumpster and pulled out a plastic grocery bag, full of something … moving. Shar stepped back and Sam let the lid fall as he carefully opened the bag and reached inside.

  “Help,” something cried faintly, and she went closer as he pulled out a little red-brown dog with floppy ears. “Help,” it said again and she reached out without thinking and took it from him, cradling it in her arms.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, her voice choking as she stroked the little guy. “It’s okay. You’re okay now.”

  “WHO DID THIS THING?” Sam said, and she looked up, tears in her eyes even though she was angry, too.

  “Some college kid,” she said. “They get puppies and kittens and when the year ends, they just leave them, sometimes at the animal shelter, and sometimes they just turn them loose. It’s awful, but this …” She looked down at the dog in her arms, its dark little eyes imploring her in the dim light of the alley as it wept. “You are going to be just fine, now,” she said, stroking him as she cuddled the puppy close. “You’re safe. You’re coming home with us.”

&nb