by Amy Sumida
This was the first time I'd seen it in action.
Horus stood on Re's left, his right hand on Re's shoulder as his right eye burned with golden light. Both of Re's eyes glowed as well; as bright as the Sun. Re had his left arm lifted and stretched toward Disani and Gish, his magic streaming out in a blinding blast that burned the two gods as if they laid in an incinerator. It was a deja vu for me—similar to what Re had done to Qaus in that awful future—except ten times more powerful.
And that wasn't all.
On Horus' left, Hekate stood with her right hand on his shoulder. Hekate is a Moon Goddess like me and as such, Horus is able to amplify his wife's magic too. While Horus' right eye blazed gold, his right shone with softer silver light. Hekate held her right arm out toward Disani and Gish, in a pose similar to Re's, but her magic was more subtle; it fractured the sanity of the two gods and kept them from thinking straight enough to come up with a new plan of attack. Yes; Horus and Hekate were perfectly matched.
“Stop!” I called out to Re and Hekate. “I need to question them.”
Re drew back the sunshine and winked at me. Hekate simply dropped her arm but continued to watch Disani and Gish carefully.
“Effective,” Arach muttered in an impressed tone.
I angled my head down and over the groaning gods. Their bodies were blackened; their skin cracked and bled when they opened their eyes. It amazed me that they still had eyes; that those tender orbs hadn't melted away beneath Re's heat. I suppose that was a testament to the magic they'd taken.
“Who taught you to take magic?” I growled at them both. “Tell me, and I'll give you a quick death.”
Disani just started laughing It was a horrible, wheezing, wet sound that made me want to squish her with my foot. Except I hated getting guts on me; guts are stinky.
“This is only the beginning,” Gish's voice grated out of the gaping hole where his mouth used to be. “She's coming for you, Godhunter.”
“Who?” Arach placed one claw over Gish's torso and pushed down enough to make Gish cry out.
“She's already moved on,” Disani hissed. “You'll never stop her.”
“Who?” I repeated Arach's question as I followed his lead and laid my claw on Disani. If I had to deal with guts, so be it.
“Beautiful War,” Gish whispered. “Death with flowers in her hair.”
“Give me a name!” I roared in Disani's face.
“Do your worst,” Disani said bravely. “I'll never tell you. You won't suspect a thing until you feel her breath on the back of your neck. Your husbands, your children, your friends; she's going to kill them all!”
I'd never thought I'd get to use this quote, and if I hadn't been so damn furious, I would have reveled in it. As it was, the dry, Slavic accent came out of my dragon mouth with nary a quirk of my scaly lips. In my best Orphan Black-Helena impersonation, I asked, “Did you threaten babies?”
“Not I,” Disani declared with far more confidence than she should have had. And damn her, but she didn't even acknowledge my strange accent. “She will kill your babies. All of them.”
So I continued, very calmly, and added the best Helena line of all time, “You should not threaten babies.”
I started with her feet.
Piece by piece, inch by inch, Arach and I cut the two gods apart. It became so grotesque that everyone else turned away. Only us Dragons could handle watching the employment of such psychotic precise pain. Animals don't torture each other; it went against the instincts of my lion and wolf to dismantle Disani in so calculating and cruel a manner. But my dragon understood that although you don't torture your food, sometimes torture is necessary when dealing with an enemy. It sent a warning out to other predators; don't fuck with my family. And both the Lioness and the Wolf saw the sense in that; all of my beasts had babies they called their own, and all of them were overprotective mothers. As soon as Disani had threatened our children, her gory fate had been sealed.
But no matter what we did to Disani and Gish, they didn't talk. Arach finally crushed Gish's skull with a frustrated roar, and I sighed deeply before slicing off Disani's head. There comes a point when even a dragon gets disgusted.
Chapter Five
“Whoever this unknown woman is—” Thor began.
“This unknown, baby-threatening woman,” I interjected in my Helena accent. I hadn't been able to enjoy my quote at the time so I had to stretch it out a little.
Thor took a deep, calming breath before he continued, “Whoever this unknown, baby-threatening woman is, she's a goddess of war and death.”
“One who likes to wear flowers in her hair,” Torrent added helpfully.
Everyone grimaced at him.
“Every detail is important,” Torrent admonished us instead of being cowed into silence, and that made me smile.
Torrent had come a long way from the hesitant, too-perfect-to-be-real god. Now, his green eyes were bright but not glassy, his skin was clear but not poreless, and his hair was a more natural pale blond. And now, he was gaining confidence.
“Torrent's right,” I said. “That detail is important or Gish wouldn't have said it. He was taunting us with the information.”
“So, which death goddesses are known for wearing flowers in their hair?” Arach asked.
“Sorry, Hades, but what about Macaria?” I gave the Lord of the Underworld a hesitant look.
“Flowers?” Hades scoffed. “That's not my daughter's style.”
“Maybe not but what about her myths?” Trevor persisted. “Not only was Macaria called Blessed Death, but she's also a reaper.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Hades snapped.
“Disani said that she used her psychopomp magic to take god souls,” Azrael reminded him. “A reaper is—among other things—a psychopomp; we harvest souls and carry them to their afterlives.”
“It's not her,” Hades said adamantly. “Mac turned on her own mother for us; she wouldn't come after Vervain now.”
“Or maybe she did what she had to do to shift the blame from herself to her mother,” Azrael's voice went cold and sharp; a tone I rarely heard from him.
But, out of all of us, Azrael deserved to be bitter about Macaria. Ms. Blessed Death had nearly torn him away from me with her lies and manipulations; all to distract me while her mother, Nyx, helped a bunch of gods raise Dvaraka, an ancient god city that had been submerged beneath the sea. Macaria did turn on her mother in the end but was that truly honorable or had it been self-serving?
“My daughter is not behind this!” Hades shouted; smoke billowing up from his skin.
“You don't have to get all hot under the collar about it,” Pan joked as he waved at the smoke seeping up around Hades' neck; escaping the confines of the Lord of the Underworld's impeccable suit.
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
“All right.” Persephone laid a hand on her husband's shoulder as he turned his glare on Pan. “This is a touchy subject, but we can't afford to overlook anyone. This isn't just a few gods hurting humans; this is a God Apocalypse. The end of us. Hades and I will look into Macaria; I promise to remain objective even though he can't.”
“Thanks, Sephy.” I gave her a smile. “Sorry, Hades. No one wants to see you hurt, and I dearly hope it isn't Mac. Now, who else is there?”
“Who isn't there?” Odin grumbled. “War and Death go hand in hand and every pantheon has gods for them.”
“I think the question we should be asking is which of those numerous War and Death Goddesses want to destroy Vervain,” Hekate drawled.
We all exchanged a heavy look.
“What?” Hekate asked.
“V has a lot of enemies.” Morpheus leaned back in his seat—another of the narrow-backed chairs I'd made for Az and our winged guests—and pursed his thin lips. His black wings had glittering stars sprinkled among their feathers but despite their shine and the casual way he was dressed, he looked suddenly deadly. The blue mist swirled in his eyes a
s he contemplated the many gods who wanted me dead.
“Yes, but how many of them are Death and War Goddesses?” Hekate insisted. “I'll bet there are far fewer than you think.”
“Well, there was Morrigan, but Vervain killed her,” Torrent offered.
“There are no female death angels,” Azrael added. “So, I think my pantheon is in the clear.”
“Zis time,” Kirill muttered.
“Fair enough,” Azrael agreed.
“What about that Egyptian Goddess who kidnapped Lesya?” Arach asked.
We all went still.
I glanced at Re and saw his jaw clench.
“Sekhmet is Re's daughter,” I reminded Arach. “He took her magic; she couldn't have done this even if she wanted to.”
“She could have if she replaced her magic with another god's,” Arach shot back. “Or if she simply taught other gods how to steal power as a way to get back at you.”
We went quiet again.
“Is Sekhmet a goddess of death?” I asked Re. “Or is it only war?”
“Gish didn't say that the woman was a death goddess,” Re reminded me tonelessly. “He said; Death with flowers in her hair, implying that the Goddess brought death. My daughter is not technically a goddess of death, but she is a warrior goddess. One of her names is; Lady of Slaughter.”
“Does she vear flowers?” Kirill asked gently.
“Her son, Nefertum, is the God of Sunrise, Perfume, Aromatherapy, and the Healing Arts derived from Flowers,” Re admitted. “Nefertum inherited his attachment to flowers from his mother. Sekhmet has been know to adorn herself in them before she goes into battle. She says it keeps the odor of death at bay.”
“Fozzie Bear!” I cursed. “Do you really think it's her, Re? I thought Sekhmet was doing better?”
“Oh, my daughter is an instant suspect, but Re's gets points for good behavior?” Hades sneered.
“No; she doesn't,” Re said firmly as he set his stare on Hades. “I will look into my daughter's activities, and if she is behind this, I will take care of her... permanently.”
Hades nodded crisply.
“Re,” I protested, “you are not going to kill your daughter. If she's guilty, we'll handle it together.”
“If she's done this, it's my fault, Lala.” Re shifted his stoic stare to me. “I've been too lenient or too harsh. I've failed in some way. And if that's the case, I must take care of it myself.” Re stood up and strode over to me to kiss my cheek. “Let me know if you discover any new information. Meanwhile, I'll look into Sekhmet's activities.”
I watched Re leave as the God Squad continued to go through possibilities.
“I can't think of any such goddess in the Hindu Pantheon who wants Vervain to suffer,” Brahma said. “Can you, Sara?”
“No.” Sarasvati, Brahma's wife, shook her head; her long, dark hair swishing heavily and her matching eyes solemn. “We have some fierce goddesses but none of them have a grievance with the Godhunter.”
“We got Akhlys,” Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, tossed out the info casually; as casually as her athletic body leaned against her boyfriend, Torrent. “She gave you the Death Mist that one time, remember?”
“As if I could forget,” I grumbled.
“Akhlys is definitely not the type to wear flowers in her hair,” Persephone scoffed.
We all grimaced. Akhlys is the Greek personification of Sadness and the Goddess of Deadly Poisons. She holds the Death Mist; the gray haze that covers a person's eyes when they die. To put it very lightly; she's not an attractive woman and no amount of flowers could change that.
“And she doesn't have an issue with Vervain,” Hades added. “She only helped Eros because he had to sleep with her to get the mist.”
“What about the Keres?” Hekate asked. “They might be mad about their mother being executed, and they're definitely goddesses of war and death.”
“Spirits of death,” Hades corrected. “But yes.”
“And they've got psychopomp abilities too,” Persephone added with a look at her husband.
“Yes; they send souls to me,” Hades agreed. “If anyone wanted to avenge Nyx, it would be them.”
“I can check into them,” Hekate offered.
Hades nodded gratefully; he'd have enough to deal with as it was. Mac is a handful.
“The Native Americans don't have anyone who fits those specifications,” Toby said.
“Nor do the Norse,” Thor added as he crossed his ridiculously large arms and made them look even larger.
Odin frowned.
“What is it?” I asked Odin.
“Thrud,” Odin murmured and slid his worried gaze toward his son.
“Now, we're onto my daughter?” Thor asked in shock. “I know Thrud isn't fond of Vervain, but she doesn't want her dead.”
“Thrud,” I whispered.
An image flashed through my mind; a memory of being in Bali for Valentine's Day with Odin. We had run into Thrud when we were walking through the gardens of our hotel. And Thrud had been wearing flowers in her hair.
“She came into Faerie to meet Brevyn,” Thor reminded us. “Brevyn, who has Ull's soul. Thrud does not want to kill your children, Vervain. Quite the opposite. She may not like you, but she loves her brother. I think that, if nothing else, should exonerate her.”
“He has a point,” I said to Odin.
“Watch her, Thor.” Odin kept his stare on his son. “Just watch her and tell us if you notice anything unusual.”
“Fine,” Thor growled petulantly.
“What's it with you and Squad-daughters?” Finn asked me in his light Irish accent.
I could always tell how much time Finn spent with his siblings by the strength of his accent. He must not have seen them for awhile because it wasn't so thick. When he caught me staring at him longer than usual, he winked an emerald eye at me and gave me his signature smile. Finn has classic, Irish—I guess that would be Gaelic—good looks, with sin-black hair, fair skin, and that panty-dropping accent. He had a crush on me once, but I was pretty sure—despite his flirtatious wink—that he had gotten over his infatuation. I'd seen him at Moonshine on several occasions with a hot redhead.
Then what Finn said registered fully, and I frowned as I remembered that Zariel had given me grief in that screwed up future too. Fallon wasn't exactly on the God Squad, but he was Intare and that was close enough. Finn was right; a lot of my friends had daughters who had given me grief.
“I suppose daughters are better than ex-wives,” I said without thinking. “I don't know how many times I've been persecuted for being with some woman's ex...” I saw Thor's shaky expression and trailed off. “Sorry.”
“What happened with Thor's ex-wife?” Arach asked me.
“I'll tell you later,” I mumbled.
“Sif tried to kill Vervain,” Thor said in a steady rumble. “But she only managed to kill Vervain's relationship with me.”
“Ah.” Arach angled his dragon gaze from Thor to me. “You do seem to attract negative female attention, A Thaisce.”
“Bitches!” Hekate declared loudly, startling everyone. “Whatchu gonna do, right?”
I burst out laughing and nodded gratefully at Katie for the much-needed comic relief. “Whatchu gonna do indeed.”
“Kill them,” Arach said in a baffled tone; as if he couldn't understand why that was even a question.
“And that's what happens when you invite the Dragon to a God Squad meeting,” Trevor muttered to Kirill.
“Da; death,” Kirill agreed. “But zis time, I'm okay vith it.”
“As you should be.” Arach nodded regally.
I just groaned.
Chapter Six
Vero laid between Trevor and me on our bed; giggling as we took turns kissing and tickling him. It had been a week since his birth; that wild day when I'd brought my son into the world and then rushed off to try to save it. Disani hadn't been bluffing; more gods had gone missing after we'd killed her and Gish. It was po
ssible that Qaus was behind the disappearances, but I didn't think so. I believed that Gish and Disani had told the truth when they'd taunted us with the vague description of a goddess of war and death who wore flowers in her hair and wanted all of my loved ones and me dead.
I was concerned but not panicked. Not yet. Pride Palace has strong wards that would protect my family from anyone who wanted to hurt them. As long as we stayed here, we'd be safe. Of course, all of us couldn't stay in my territory forever, but I could relax knowing that at least the children couldn't be hurt.
