Myths and Gargoyles

by Jamie Hawke

  “The type that doesn’t take shit,” she replied, and then the two of us were moving through the enemy, appearing a second later at the outskirts of the attack so that we could hit them from the rear instead of being surrounded.

  She blasted away at a group of them to the left, hitting more that were incoming, and then took a few shots up at Morganna. Why the woman was holding back, I had no idea. What I did know was that the enemy was multiplying—no, not multiplying, I realized as I charged in to attack. Shades were rising from the shadows.

  This was great, because now I was getting prana as I cut them down along with the vampires, and occasional Ichor from the vampires. Apparently, some of them were at Legend level.

  It suddenly hit me—VH, fighting vampires…

  “Wait, VH for Van Helsing?” I asked Pucky.

  She blasted away, grinning, and said, “Not the original, but a great, great grandchild, yeah. Don’t tell him, but I always forget his given name for some reason. Hence VH.”

  “I heard that,” VH said, appearing as he leaped over two vampires, twisting to stab them with stakes as he fell. He landed on one knee and then pushed himself up, grinning our way. “But no worries, I’m not even going to ask yours.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not, but at the moment I was busy killing Shades and vampires, so the comment was quickly forgotten. My level went up at least four times during that fight—to level nine—and with three Ichor I was starting to feel like the man. Upgrading was going to be fun!

  A burst of white light sent Shades evaporating, the swan brothers charging through a group of vampires with Elisa in their wake.

  “Can you get to her?” Elisa asked, turning to Pucky.

  “Physically?”

  “Connect, on the Fae level.”

  Pucky looked concerned, then glanced my way and held out her hand. “You’re coming with me.”

  I gulped, not sure if I liked the sound of that after my last visit to Fae land, but took her hand and nodded.

  A flash of light and our surroundings were replaced with green grass. Intense warriors stood where the Shades had been—now turning to look at us. Black and red armor, but now that I saw closely, there were only shadows in that armor.

  Floating above them all, like their goddess, was a woman whose face at one minute had the look of Riak, at another Morganna. Her face was shifting, as if unable to decide which to go with.

  She looked at us and floated down, landing a few paces away. “You don’t belong here.”

  “Riak, this is wrong,” Pucky replied. “You’re in there, and you can still change it all. Undo what you’ve done.”

  “And go back to serving the agents? Or worse, you?” Riak’s face showed as she laughed, then it flashed back to Morganna. “This will all be over soon enough, child.”

  “Riak,” Pucky tried, but Morganna stepped toward us, the army moving as if attached by chains.

  “You’ve found powerful friends… I can respect that. But next time I find you, it will be with much more powerful allies at my side.”

  “Like Arthur?” I said, stepping up as well. “I can’t help but ask… where is he?”

  Morganna turned her gaze toward me, snarled, and then vanished as the army charged us.

  “Out, now!” Pucky said, but before I could reach her, the first of the shadow army had me, grabbing me and continuing to move in, even as Excalibur hacked at them. Pucky shouted and lunged, grabbing my hand as an axe came at us and—

  With a THUD we were back in our world, landing on the ground to see more vampire bodies than before, the portal with Morganna closing, and no sign of her.

  “Where’d she go?” Red asked, arriving at our side in a flurry of red robes, her magic dagger held at the ready although the enemy was fleeing.

  “She’s not ready to face me,” Sekhmet said, appearing with hands outspread as she walked, pulling dark energy from the fallen vampires. “Not on her own.”

  “He wasn’t there,” Elisa noted. “Arthur.”

  “Nor with Morganna,” Pucky said, and I nodded in confirmation.

  “King Arthur’s risen?” VH asked, kneeling, glaring up at her.

  “And you would be?” Elisa asked, glancing from him to Pucky and back. “A friend, or…?”

  “Sorry,” Pucky said. “I wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly, but when it comes to hunting vampires, there’s none better.”

  Elisa nodded, as if that was sufficient, and glanced at the train, looking about to ask if he was coming with, when he took a step away, eyes darting to the retreating vampires.

  “I must track them down, finish them off,” VH said. “If Arthur’s truly risen, he has to be stopped.”

  “He’s not that way, or anywhere close,” Sekhmet said. “We have a trace on him.”

  VH considered her, nodded, and started off after the vampires. “Good luck, then. If you don’t kill him, be sure to let him know I’ll be along soon enough to finish the job.”

  We watched him go, then looked around at the chaos. The train conductor was standing at the front of the train, looking our way in confusion, so Red said she’d go take care of him with a bit of magic. Elisa said she’d do the same for any passengers who might’ve seen anything. Back home others would move in and take care of it, but we were far from home.

  “They’re able to track the sword?” Sekhmet asked as we boarded the train.

  “That’s my understanding.”

  “And yet, Arthur wasn’t with them.” Sekhmet caught Bastet and took a seat, her sister on her lap, and stared at me with her fierce eyes. “You know what that means, of course?”

  “I don’t,” I admitted.

  “Arthur and Morganna… something’s not working out between them. My guess is she was here looking for Arthur as much as she was looking for you. Until she finds him, she won’t be able to accomplish her primary objective.”

  “Which is?” I asked.

  “She means to unleash the Old Ones,” Pucky said, voice low. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  Sekhmet nodded. “Although, old is relative. I was around before Merlin, before he took the powers of Maleficent and others.”

  “I’m not following,” I said.

  “Merlin went evil on us, and it’s part of what led Arthur to becoming the vampire he is. A curse, they say. Among powerful magicians, witches, sorcerers and the like, there’s a belief that if you absorb enough powers from others of your kind, you can become a truly immortal god—one who can’t die, no matter what.”

  “Has anyone ever achieved it?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “Me neither,” Pucky said, shaking her head and finally, after having checked around, she sat down next to me. She leaned over, head on my shoulder. “Though I hear Merlin had the power of four before he was defeated.”

  Sekhmet nodded. “And since most people agree that six very powerful ones would be enough, it’s a good thing he was finally defeated.”

  “Defeated by whom?” I asked.

  “Actually,” Pucky leaned forward to see if Sekhmet had an opinion as she said, “nobody knows.”

  Sekhmet looked down at the cat, shaking her head. “I had my own problems to deal with, as you saw. I’m afraid I don’t have all of the answers on this.”

  The others were returning then, so I sat back, contemplating what I’d just learned and what that could mean for our situation. Morganna was attempting to become a truly immortal god. That terrified me.

  Pulling up my screen I was excited to see where my skill tree could go, aiming for that group attack. Even with three Ichor at once, though, it still wasn’t enough. However, what I could do was upgrade the shield to level two, which made it stronger and larger. With my second upgrade I was able to give Excalibur two boosts, one that was an attachment boost making it lighter and harder to drop; and a second upgrade to amplify my strike, giving it a boost when attacking that momentarily made it sharper and longer.

  Both got
me closer to my goal of the group Tempest strike, though some other options looked like they’d be great too. Hopefully I had a lot of leveling up to go.

  We started off again soon, all of us ready for another break. Before closing my eyes, I pulled up my screen again, looking over my levels and skills. Even though going up against Morganna was a terrifying thought, with powers like this I was starting to feel like quite the badass.

  38

  We journeyed on for some time, drifting in and out of sleep. We got off the train at the edge of a tourist town well outside of Cairo, where we were able to arrange a flight at a small airfield, thanks to Elisa and her connections (or maybe it was her money).

  As the airplane was being prepared, the rest of us found a woman in a corner of the airport with her little, empty restaurant. The metal tables and chairs reminded me of patio furniture, and the section of missing floor that gave way to the dirt beneath didn’t inspire confidence in the airport, but when we were seated and served plates of lamb and couscous, I was out of complaints.

  “Where exactly are we going?” I asked.

  Sekhmet leaned in, motioning me close. “If I told you, others might hear.”

  “Others meaning… them?” I gestured to my team.

  “Funny.” She was petting her sister, a fact that I would never get used to. After a moment, she nodded. “Bastet says you can know this, it’s—”

  “We can see the tickets,” Elisa cut in.

  Sekhmet frowned, looked down at the tickets in her hand that said, “Milan,” and frowned. “Ah, yes, but we shouldn’t say it out loud. In case.”

  I perked up. “Hold on, so we’re going to…” I stopped myself, glanced around, and pointed. “For real?”

  Her nod was most welcome. Italy was one of the few places in the world I’d always wanted to go, and the idea that I was now getting a free trip—albeit at the cost of having to risk my life to save fairy tales and the world—was pretty fucking awesome.

  Judging by Sekhmet’s frown, we’d ruined the fun for her. What this told me was that she liked to have fun, and wasn’t merely some super old Myth or goddess or whatever. The hint of a smile as she stared at me confirmed it, though it made me curious about what else she was thinking.

  “I’ve been to Europe once,” Pucky said, staring off into the skies. “Used to live in Greece for some time, actually—now that’s a place where it’s no fun to be a Myth. Legends go crazy over there, though Heracles…” She stopped herself, glancing my way. “Not that I’d ever go that way,” she added, muttering, “again.”

  “What?”

  “Just a quick makeout session after we took out that damn Hydra for the twentieth time. In the corner of an old temple, on a starlit—”

  “I get the picture,” I said, annoyed that I was getting annoyed.

  “Oh my gods, he’s jealous!” Elisa laughed, then licked her lips. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Who wouldn’t be? She’s talking about the actual Heracles, right? Hercules, or whatever you want to call him. I don’t think many guys can compete.”

  Pucky turned to me, very serious, and put a hand on my knee. “Dear, Jack… You would never have anything to worry about. He’s all muscle—”

  “Not helping.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Women who’ve lived as long as we have don’t care about how muscular a man is.”

  “Though, our man is looking sexier lately, you have to admit,” Elisa said.

  Red even grinned at this, and nodded.

  “I like muscle,” Sharon chimed in. “But Heracles-level muscle? Yuck. It’d be like fucking an animal, you know?”

  “Right.” Pucky glared at them. “As I was trying to say, there’s a lot more than muscle and horse-cock that we care about. Maybe we’ve each gone through that phase, but…”

  “That big?” Red asked, an eyebrow arched.

  Pucky blushed. “Oh, I didn’t mean to say that.”

  “You said it was just a kiss!” Elisa pointed out.

  “It was—because he whipped it out. Fuck that. A guy doesn’t just whip it out with me unless I ask him to. Fucking animal.”

  “Are we talking, like…” Red held out her hands, almost a foot apart.

  “Oh God.” I turned, not wanting to hear this part, especially. While they’d clearly been enjoying me in bed, a foot long was definitely not something I could boast about. Maybe I’d hit seven inches once when I was really, really excited, but come on.

  “Yeah, about,” Pucky said. “But that’s when I stepped away. As I said, not a gentleman. Not like you,” she squeezed my leg again, and then lifted her hand to my chin and pulled me back to face her. “Don’t do that. You’re sexy as hell, and me seeing some nasty dick that just happens to be humongous doesn’t change a damn thing. You don’t think you please me? Fuck that, I know that you know you do. You know?”

  “As much as I agree,” Red said, “even without having… tried it on, or in,” she shared a chuckle with Elisa, “I have to say the whole insecurity thing is a bit of a bummer. Can we flip that around? Focus on the fact that you have all of us fooling around with you in some form or another, and not a one of us seems to mind?”

  Of course she was right, but before I could say so, Sekhmet almost choked on her drink.

  “Wait, you’re all fucking him?” she asked.

  “Well…” Pucky shrugged, and Red couldn’t help but smile. Elisa nodded like it wasn’t a big deal. I took a sip of my beer, hoping it would hide the fact that I felt totally exposed here.

  “And when do I get in on this?”

  Now it was my turn to nearly choke. “What?”

  Red turned too. “Are you serious?”

  “Ten thousand years in a tomb can give you such a crick in the—oh, who am I kidding, it hasn’t been that long, but still. I could use a good lay, even if he has a teenie weenie.”

  I took big chug of my beer.

  “Not teeny,” Pucky said in my defense.

  “A very nice cock, actually,” Elisa said. “I’ve painted it—it’s gorgeous.”

  My eyes went wide, focused on the bubbles in the mug.

  “Even better,” Sekhmet said. “Where do I sign up?”

  “It’s kind of a members-only thing,” Red explained. “Right now you’re our guide, doing so for a price. You join up, become a full-fledged Myth on team Protector, we can talk.”

  “The boy doesn’t speak for himself?”

  “The man,” I corrected her, “does, but agrees whole-heartedly with my team.” Maybe I was feeling emboldened by their nice compliments and coming to the defense of my package, I don’t know, but also didn’t want to offend her. “Not that it wouldn’t be… nice, I imagine. I mean, I wouldn’t imagine, because it’s not like that—I’m not just a dildo you use whenever you want.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t get it,” Sekhmet admitted.

  “It’s like a relationship,” Pucky said. “Only, we’re all involved. And… we kind of have to agree on new parts of the relationship.”

  “All of you?” Sekhmet turned to Sharon, then Red, knowingly.

  “Some of us… took more time to come around,” Red answered, and held out a hand, which Sharon stared at for a moment, then kinda high-fived. I was pretty sure that’s not what Red was going for, but she smiled and turned to me with a grin. A second later, I felt a foot running up my leg.

  Really? Being questioned about all this was turning her on?

  “Well, you all are strange,” Sekhmet said, and her head jerked over to Bastet. “No, you wouldn’t get to—sorry.” After a moment, she said, “Fine, I’ll ask. Jack, if we were on the team, would—”

  “Not funny,” Elisa said, petting Bastet. “Sorry, but you have to break your curse before even getting to talk about this stuff.”

  Bastet hissed at her and jumped from the table, slinking away.

  “She’s never been so rejected,” Sekhmet said, and then laughed. “We’re just fucking with you.”

  “Wait,
now that I think about it,” I said, turning to Elisa. “If it’s a curse…?”

  “A way of breaking it?” Sekhmet asked, guessing where this was going. “We’ve tried plenty, and at this point Bastet doesn’t even want to bother.”

  “Yeah, but—” I started to protect, only to be shut down by a look from Elisa.

  “If you ever want to try, we can,” Elisa said. “Breaking curses is one of my specialties.”

  “I’ll be sure to let her know.” Sekhmet leaned back, looking me over with a devilish grin. “Seriously, Jack… Jack’s ladies. Think about it—one good time with me before I go on my way, after we find your King Arthur, of course.”

  Elisa smiled kindly and Pucky rolled her eyes, but Red took a moment to look Sekhmet over, while Sharon was merely staring at me, seemingly trying to see what I thought of the whole thing. I stared back.

  “It’s not weird for you?” she finally asked.

  “For me?” I gulped, went for my beer, but she put her hand on it.

  “Yeah. While we’re on the subject—when I first grabbed you, on the stairs… you didn’t resist. Now this—at what point does it become weird for you? Too much?”

  I thought about that. I mean really gave the question my attention. “It’s already weird, but in a good way. In the way that blows my mind, you know? I have physical limits, I imagine… sure. And emotional.”

  “And it’s like a relationship, but like a team,” Elisa said, helping me out. “Right?”

  “Exactly.” I gave her a nod of appreciation. “I guess that’s what helps this feel natural. It’s not like we’ve talked about marriage or anything like that—titles and whatnot, but you’re all with me, and I’m this Protector now. Now and forever?” As I said it, my mind started to spin.

  “Oh no,” Red said, taking Sharon’s hand away from my beer and sliding it closer to me. “Don’t make him think about it too much, he’s going to get scared.”

  “You’ve had scared Protectors before?” I asked, then downed the rest of my beer.

  Sharon laughed. “I’ve been responsible for scaring one or two off.” At Red’s glare, she wiped the smile from her face. “Oh, right… not something to brag about anymore. Sorry.”