Blessed Death

by Amy Sumida

  Krishna glanced at Brahma; barely a look, but it was heavy with meaning.

  “What weapon?” Mrs. E asked.

  “No,” Karni-Mata said. “You can't set off the Brahma Weapon; the blast will take out half of India.”

  “Not if we put a ward around the city,” Brahma said. “It will take a lot of gods working together to manage it, but it shouldn't be that difficult to arrange.”

  “Hold on; what kind of blast are we talking about?” I asked warily.

  “It's basically a nuclear bomb,” Karni growled as she stared angrily at Krishna. “And it's a long-range weapon. To set it off within the city would require...” Her face fell and her eyes went horrified. “You're not planning on coming back.”

  “I've lived a long, amazing life, Karni,” Krishna said with a gentle smile her way. “I'm tired; I'm tired of living in hiding, and I'm tired of existence itself. I want to start over. I think I've earned that right.”

  I shivered; it was the exact sentiments Ull had expressed to me before he died. Eternal life isn't for everyone. Sometimes, you need to reboot.

  “You don't have to hide,” Karni said with frustration. “I've said so for years. You can live in the God Realm.”

  “There isn't time to argue about this, Karni!” Krishna snapped. “The weapon is the only way to destroy the city for good.”

  Krishna flew us around the towers; zipping in and out of blasts of energy sent up by gods within the city. The sky above us was streaked with shimmering cobalt, vivid peony, flashing emerald, and bleeding crimson; the rainbow of a god war. It was a deadly beauty, but not as stunning as the sight of Arach flying through it all; his crimson scales gleaming from the light of the Sun and the magic his armor-like scales deflected. My faerie husband batted gods out of the sky, tore bodies to pieces, decapitated men in vicious bites, and breathed fire down upon the city. It was both wondrous and humbling to watch, and I had to shake myself free of his spell.

  The only adversaries that gave Arach any trouble were the demons—who were immune to fire. Arach had to get up close and personal with them. But that only added to his fun; my dragon husband was in his element—pun intended.

  “I'll need your help getting to the Control Room safely,” Krishna said. “And once I'm inside, I'll need all of you—and every god you can get to help you—to put up a ward around the city as quickly as possible. Once Dvārakā starts to tremble, it means the weapon has been activated. You'll have only minutes to ward the city and contain the blast.”

  “Got it,” Toby said as he casually called forth a wave from the sea to knock an enemy out of our way.

  Karni just stared at Krishna sadly and sullenly.

  “Am I the only one wondering why we aren't tracing?” Torrent asked.

  “The Control Room is warded against tracing,” Krishna said. “They found a way around the truth traps, but not that particular ward. I made it to keep everyone out; myself included. Also; we'll need a distraction. Brahma, can you fly this vimana with a few of the others and make our enemies believe I am still with you; in the midst of battle?”

  “Not a problem,” Brahma said as he fired a bolt of violet energy out of the chariot—aka the vimana. “Just tell me when you need me to take over. While I'm out there, I'll let our allies know the plan to ward the city.”

  “Thank you,” Krishna said. “Now, if we can only get through this barricade.”

  You wouldn't think that there could be a barricade in the sky, but what with the flying gods and the endless magic missiles, it was quite difficult to find a way down to the city, much less an open spot to land.

  “I can shift into a dragon and clear a path,” I suggested.

  “Allow me,” Odin said with a soft smile my way. “That dragon form is addictive.”

  Odin jumped over the railing and shifted mid-air. Ebony wings shot out from his widening form and caught the air while a massive, ferocious head lifted and roared defiantly. Scraps of Odin's clothing fluttered down around him as sunlight caught the greens, purples, and blues within his peacock scales. Dragons are innately magical creatures, but Odin's dragon looked like something out of a fairy tale. Ironic, since my fey husband had caught the transformation and rushed over to join his new brother.

  “Who's that?” Arach asked as he flew up beside us.

  “Odin,” I said. “He can shift into any form, but this one is a new development.”

  “I approve.” Arach grinned; showing off his vicious teeth.

  “We need to land,” I said and then pointed. “Can you help Odin clear a path down to that courtyard?”

  “Of course,” Arach huffed and tumbled into a spiral that brought him up on Odin's flank.

  The dragons roared happily at each other and then dove; roasting anything unfortunate enough to be within their path as they blocked incoming attacks with their bodies. Gods went plummeting into the ocean and energy blasts deflected off dragon scales instead of hitting our conveyance. Krishna seized the advantage and sent the vimana plummeting after the dragons. We soared through smoke and ash; chasing dragon tails like lawyers chase ambulances. Within minutes, we had landed in a charred courtyard; the dragons poised around us to guard us with sharp, reptile stares.

  Krishna hurried out of the vimana; giving up the controls to Brahma—who immediately disguised himself in a glamour to look like Krishna. I followed Krishna—the real Krishna—out with most of the Squad and the Egyptian goddesses, but Teharon stayed behind with Karni-Mata and Sarasvati. Then the vimana started to lift off, and I hurried over to the dragons.

  “Watch their backs!” I called to Arach and Odin.

  The dragons shot into the sky ahead of the vimana; clearing a new path for them. The rest of us followed Krishna into the city streets. The gleaming passages were full of demons and gods, and every time we rounded a corner, we faced another fight. We were making progress, but it was slow.

  And then we reached the city center.

  Golden buildings loomed over us; magnifying the light. The sparkle of jewels cast rainbows over the polished gold, and our reflections within the metal were colored amber and adorned with iridescence. The beauty of Dvārakā was overwhelming, but its current residents were what held my attention. Especially the horde of demons—both Hindu and Japanese—guarding the city's center. They glared at us as we approached, but they didn't move out of formation.

  “That's my palace.” Krishna pointed to a magnificent building of gold and silver just beyond the demon troops. “The Control Room is inside.”

  “Yes, and you're going to show me how to use it to defend Dvārakā,” a man said as he stepped through the ranks of demons.

  He was dressed in ancient Indian armor; a conical helm was held on his head by a crimson turban, pieces of gilded metal were set into a flared robe at his sternum, stomach, and thighs, a sword hung from a baldric across his chest, and the toes of his boots curled upward. He was dark-skinned and obviously Indian, but there was something familiar in his features.

  “Yama,” Krishna growled. “You cannot bring Dvārakā back; it will send the world into chaos.”

  Yama. That explained it. This man looked a little like Enma, despite the racial differences.

  “No, it won't.” Yama smiled deviously. “Because we don't intend to share this with the humans; we've brought back Dvārakā to remind the humans of who we are. We've brought it back to rule!”

  “What nonsense is this?” Hades snarled. “What is my daughter involved in?”

  “She's more her mother's daughter, don't you think?” Yama smirked.

  Flames shot up Hades arms, and Yama chuckled.

  “I enlisted Nyx, and she convinced her children to join us,” Yama said. “We gods of death have spent far too long in the shadows; it's time for us to come out into the light and be worshiped once again.” Then he turned to me. “Your husband should understand, Godhunter. He took what steps he could to make a new life for himself.”

  “And yet you sent the Angelic Host aft
er him, didn't you?” I asked. “You were behind all of this.”

  “Guilty as charged.” Yama bowed. “But know that I didn't intend for you or Azrael to be harmed. In fact, I hope that you will see the reason behind this madness, and join us.”

  “Join you?” Hekate asked in shock. “You think that the Godhunter is going to go along with your plan to rule humans?”

  “This is a chance to get back to what we lost; to form a relationship with the humans again,” Yama reasoned. “We will have the energy we need to fuel ourselves, and they will have our good will. It will be a give and take once more. Don't all of you miss that? Don't you want to help your people again?”

  “We do help our people,” Mrs. E said calmly. “Some of us never stopped.”

  “Your people still remember you,” Yama said. “They have never stopped worshiping you, and so you have never stopped helping them.”

  “Your people remember as well.” Finn—who didn't have a lot of magic beyond his ability to shift into a swan—stood with his sword at the ready. “You have enough power to satisfy yourself with.”

  “But not all death gods are so blessed,” Yama said sadly. “When I sought the help of my fellow death deities, they eagerly responded. You wouldn't think that humans could forget about death, but they have. They've forgotten that Death—and all gods—must be worshiped; that we require their sacrifices and respect. And now, we shall remind them.”

  “Our time has passed,” Krishna said resolutely. “We have taken enough from the humans; our lives are long and full of magic. Be satisfied with that.”

  “I am Death,” Yama declared. “I can never be satisfied.”

  “No! I am Death!” Krishna roared. “The mighty destroyer of the world! And I will make sure that you remain unsatisfied, Yama.”

  “Seize him!” Yama shouted and pointed at Krishna. “Destroy the others!”

  I shifted my hands into dragon claws and started slicing whatever demon flesh came within my reach. Sekhmet and Bast roared as they leapt forward; flinging dead bodies aside as they went. Sekhmet was glorious; her golden hair wild about her as she tore into the demons with claws and teeth. Her sister was more subtle; leaping gracefully over bodies to land upon demon backs and slice heads from bodies.

  Finn decapitated demons with single blows of his sword, and Thor blasted the enemy with bolts of lightning. Eztli snatched up victims to drain them of their blood while Blue, Re, and Mr. T brought down the power of the Sun to blind and blast. Trevor and Kirill had shifted into a werewolf and lion respectively, to savage the demons while Horus flew above us in falcon form; sending waves of protection energy over the Squad.

  Hades put away his flames to blast the demons with death magic instead; shouting his fury as he did. Persephone stood beside her husband; drawing upon every form of plant life she could reach. Mainly, it was seaweed that responded, and the slick stuff frothed up over the demons; smothering them and holding them tight for other gods to kill. Meanwhile, Pan spread panic among the horde, and Morpheus sent terror out within a fog of blue mist. Torrent fought back to back with Artemis using the bow Artie had taught him to shoot, while Toby launched his own arrows from my side. Torrent's skill with his new weapon surprised me a little, but the true shocker was Hekate.

  Hekate was the Greek Goddess of the Moon, Crossroads, and Magic, but she was also the Goddess of Necromancy. I had no idea that Hekate had a magic similar to that of Anubis with his jackals. Anubis could reanimate any person killed by his werejackals, but Hekate had no such limitations; she could simply raise the dead.

  As the demons died, Hekate claimed them, and soon, our army was growing while the demon army shrank. Yama watched this with narrowed eyes, and then he grabbed one of his demons. He shoved the demon off with a few shouted commands, and the thing lumbered away with his head down and horns forward. I didn't think much of it until the pounding thunder of thousands of feet drew near.

  “Just get me through,” Krishna shouted to us. “I can make my way once I'm passed them.”

  “Yeah; sure,” Hekate said sarcastically. “Let's do that.”

  Hekate waved a hand and sent some dead demons after the live ones. But the fresh, demon troops had arrived and even with all of our advantages, it seemed as if the tide had turned. We were being pushed back through the street, and Horus had to land; his protection magic depleted. Hekate stood in front of her husband; guarding Horus with her zombie demons while he caught his breath.

  Then it really started to go to hell. Morpheus leapt into the air to avoid demon claws, but Hades wasn't so lucky. The God of the Underworld was tossed aside by a team of demons who had banded together to form a living battering ram. Persephone screeched and gave up the fight to help her husband.

  A high-pitched, feline whimper alerted me to my own husband's trouble, and I raced over to help Kirill fend off his attackers. A demon had sliced open Kirill's flank while he tried to protect Trevor—who was sliding down a wall; weakened by a wound in his side. Trevor shifted back to human as I took over for Kirill and healed himself in the transformation.

  “Kirill!” I shouted. “Shift!”

  Kirill shifted from lion to human, and then both of my husbands were naked but whole. They were also weakened from the shift. I needed to get them out of the city as soon as possible or they'd be easy pickings. But the rush of demons wasn't stopping, and all of the Squad seemed to be buckling under the onslaught.

  I was about to go full dragon when a horrible shrieking filled the air. All of us looked up—even the demons—as a feeling of dread washed over us. The dry flapping and buzzing of insect wings accompanied the chilling shrieks as the strange sound drew closer. Then an angel appeared in the sky above us. He was dressed in sin-black robes and steel armor which set off his bright blond hair and made it appear as if he glowed.

  “The Angel of the Abyss!” Yama shouted with shock and horror.

  Abaddon winked at me as I smiled up at him. He pointed toward the demon army and shouted, “Kill the Yamadutas and the Oni!”

  A swarm of locusts the size of horses descended upon the demons. They had male human heads set atop their bug bodies; heads who wore ferocious expressions and golden crowns. Long, greasy hair hung wild about them, and insectile carapaces—with the blackened look of iron—protected them. The locusts bared sharp canines as they descended on the demons.

  If I hadn't known and loved the Hidden Ones, I might have been frozen with fear. As it was, I was startled but still able to draw my husbands back against a wall and protect them with my body. But the locusts followed their master's orders implicitly and only went after the two types of demons Abaddon noted. The tearing sound of monstrous insect limbs lashing out, and the high-pitched whir of enormous scorpion tails striking, was drowned out by demonic screams.

  And then Abaddon alighted before me and shouted, “Kill Yama!”

  The locusts converged on Yama—who had been trying to escape—and completely covered him. As they did, a path opened into the palace, and Krishna took it.

  “Get out of the city and get that ward up!” Krishna shouted as he ran.

  I pulled out my cell phone and called us a vimana.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  “Krishna!” Karni-Mata shouted as the vimana landed in the courtyard.

  The demons who had survived the locust attack had run off, and Abaddon sent his army buzzing after them. Karni ran toward the palace, but Teharon grabbed her around the waist and held her back.

  “We need to ward the city, Karni,” Teharon said gently as she struggled. “We can't stop him now.”

  “Get on that flying saucer, Karni!” I shouted. “Thor! Finn! Help me with Trevor and Kirill!”

  Thor and Finn rushed over and grabbed my husbands in a fireman's carry. They took them onto the vimana and laid them down; propping Kirill and Trevor against the railing. Karni finally let Teharon lead her onto the vimana, and when we had everyone aboard the giant, flying chariot, Brahma took it back up into the sky. Aba
ddon leapt up after us; his wings catching the air easily. Odin and Arach joined us; the dragons flying abreast of the vimana. We'd have a monstrous royal escort back to shore.

  That was when I saw the Japanese Shinto gods.

  The texts I had made after I called in the Squad had been to Abaddon, Athena, and Amy; or the A-listers as I had been calling them in my head. It looked as if they had all come through for me. The Oni were falling under the strike of superior magic, and the Buddhist gods were abandoning their demi-gods to the Shinto. I saw Amaterasu shining with the power of the Sun as she strode through the streets of Dvārakā; her light magnified back to her by the golden walls. I saw Sakuya and Sakuya's husband, Ninigi, fighting beside Amy, along with Hachiman and Shinno—who I had once worked with—and several gods who were unfamiliar to me. Shinno waved at us as we drew abreast of them.

  “Get back to the island!” I shouted to them. “Krishna is destroying the city and we need to ward it!”

  Amaterasu nodded and then shouted something in Japanese. The Japanese gods—who were cutting down their enemies with deadly precision—nodded crisply to Amy and fought there way back to a line of boats that were waiting for them at the Dvārakā docks. I called out the same warning to Luke and Azrael—who had already been advised of the plan by Brahma. Angels flew off in all directions and spread the word that it was time to seal the city.

  Our enemies floundered in confusion as all of our allies drew back; appearing to retreat. But we were only forming a ring around the enormous city. It took nearly all of us to do it, but we managed to border Dvārakā completely. As soon as the ring was complete, every god on our side—Japanese, Christian, Greek, and Hindu—set their magic into warding Dvārakā. The ward closed in just as the city started to tremble.

  The enemy gods started to look concerned as towers began to topple; buildings crumbling to the streets and into the ocean. But the pieces which fell outward hit the barrier of the rising ward, and most ricocheted back into Dvārakā. The bouncing debris registered with the enemy gods and they finally noticed the shimmering ward going up around them. Those who could fly deserted the others and abandoned the city; shooting through the closing hole at the top.