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Nelson shook his head and said truly magickal words that set Nox’s heart soaring like none other could. “This wasn’t the detour, it was lunch. We’re going to Parklawn Cemetery. I thought a nice, quiet walk and some time visiting the Menorah Gardens might cheer you up and help you relax.”
“This is a date!” Nox swooned, he was so touched and turned on by Nelson’s thoughtfulness. “And it looks like we will be having sex soon…”
1 Gach oíche (Gock E-ha) Every night, nightly.
Ten
Sex in a cemetery might have been Nox’s idea of a good time, but Nelson insisted they had discovered another one of his sexual limits. No matter how beautiful Nox was as he basked in the sunshine and thrilled at the unseasonably warm afternoon, or how much he teased and taunted Nelson, they weren’t getting off together on hallowed ground.
“It’s sacrilegious,” Nelson scolded as they strolled past ancient-looking moss-covered headstones. They had come across a young woman making rubbings and Nelson had bought a few sheets of paper and a bar of wax from her to keep Nox entertained.
“You’re not religious and you don’t believe in an afterlife,” Nox reminded him as he crouched and copied the ornate angel and words chiseled into a stone.
“I still respect the dead and I’m not so sure about the afterlife anymore,” Nelson admitted, giving Nox a hand up after he left an old Irish sixpence as an offering.
“Thanks!” Nox wound the arm with the rubbings around Nelson’s neck and pecked at his lips. “That’s why you’re so sexy, Nelson.”
“What?” he asked, confused because the bar seemed rather low if a hand up or spiritual uncertainty impressed Nox.
“Most men fear and fight the things they don’t understand,” Nox explained in a low, sultry purr.
“Let’s keep it moving,” Nelson said as he rearranged them and headed off toward the Menorah Gardens. He had spotted a few people there earlier, sitting on the benches and reflecting at the wall so he had higher hopes of Nox behaving if they had company. “What do you know about the afterlife?” he asked Nox, suddenly curious. Nelson rarely thought about death and his own mortality, but it occurred to him that Nox might have some insight.
“Very little, I’m afraid, as I haven’t been yet,” Nox replied and dashed Nelson’s nascent hopes.
“Oh. Well.”
“But I can tell you what I have learned from myths and legends, as pertains to the Celtic version of the afterlife, or the Otherworld,” Nox offered as he clasped his hands and the rubbings behind his back.
Nelson made a thoughtful sound as he followed at Nox’s side. “That sounds interesting and like it might be useful information, seeing as there may be only one degree of separation between me and a Celtic god.”
There was a weary groan from Nox. “I thought we agreed…”
“We did,” Nelson said hesitantly. “But I’m not talking about cults or curses. I’m talking about us. What happens after we die? I didn’t care about the afterlife before because I didn’t have a life to begin with. Now, I just want to know that there’s a chance I’ll be able to find you again and that we’ll still be together.”
“Ah.” Nox swallowed loudly and nodded as he paused, his eyes glittering as they held Nelson’s. “We will if I have any say in the matter.”
Nelson let out a relieved breath, chuckling softly as he hooked a finger under Nox’s chin and touched their lips together. He savored the warmth and the peace, wondering if Nox might be right about cemeteries being sacred, loving spaces instead of morbid, haunted places. “Good. I know I’m supposed to care about solving the case and saving humanity—and I do—but I wouldn’t be scared if I knew we’d still be together. And I take comfort in the fact that you could have a say in the matter.”
A faint laugh slipped from Nox as he kissed Nelson. “I never thought about it like that before. All I’ve ever wanted was to hang onto this normal, mortal life and have a normal, mortal death. But I’d find my way to Mag Mell1, kick the Dagda straight in the balls, and rip out His beard if He tried to take you from me.”
That was the closest Nox had ever come to acknowledging that he wasn’t a normal mortal and accepting that a confrontation of some sort was imminent.
“Tell me about the Otherworld—this Mag Mell,” Nelson said, sliding an arm around Nox so they could stroll again.
“It’s paradise!” Nox said, his face and his eyes lighting up with wonder. “It isn’t a heaven like the Biblical Heaven, but more like the Greek’s Elysium. Some accounts describe it as a mystical island off the coast of Ireland, but we know that’s not true.”
“Where do you think this paradise is?”
Nox shrugged and lifted his gaze to the sky.
“It’s the Otherworld. A realm of everlasting light, beauty, youth, and joy. Only deities, kings, heroes, and the few adventurous mortals brave enough to risk eternal death have ever seen it. That’s where the Dagda rests and where he’s waiting. According to the legends,” he added, once again hiding behind his shield of academic pragmatism.
“Fine,” Nelson said with an eye roll. “What about the rest of us mortals? Where do we go if we aren’t lucky enough to see Mag Mell?”
“I think you’d fall into the category of heroes, if not brave, adventurous mortals,” Nox mused, leaning against Nelson and steering them away from the Menorah Gardens and toward the trees and the wilder, more secluded end of the park.
“Possibly. But what happens to those who aren’t lucky enough to live in paradise?”
