by Oxford, Rain
He frowned. “Then why do you not want me as your god? I thought you of all people would refuse to work for anyone but the best.”
“No. Right now, you are a goal to achieve; a role model. Someday, when I supersede you in power, I might consider you a friend. However, if I were to work for you, you would instead be an obstacle. And you don’t want to be an obstacle in my way, I promise you that.”
“An obstacle to what? What is your end goal?”
“The single most powerful force is inside me. For now, it is a hindrance, which I will learn to control, and once I do, it will be a tool for me to become the most powerful being in the universe. Maybe I will even reign over the void.”
“Does your father know of your ambitions?”
I laughed. “He is a healer. He always told me I could be anything I wanted to be, that I am a good person. I don’t want to hurt anybody, including you, so I really hope nobody tries to stand in my way.”
“What about your brother?”
“We are each everything and anything the other needs. My brother will stand by me through anything.”
“And your sister?”
“Alice is a healer, like our father. In fact, she is identical to him in her soul; the only thing she inherited from our mother is her appearance. I, on the other hand, am very much like my mother. Fortunately, the catastrophe that resulted in me could never happen again. And to be perfectly honest, you should have stopped my mother and father from ever even meeting.”
“I can’t really figure you out. You are a perfect combination of your mother and father. You have the power of a god, and personality of a demon.”
“Huh. I think the humans would call that a devil.”
“Is that what you are? A devil?”
I grinned as I mentally rolled the word over my tongue. “I don’t know. I like the sound of it, though.”
Chapter 9
Divina
Earth was the only world I was responsible for, but since my Noquodi and I lived on Duran, it was only reasonable that I would do my part to help Duran. I knew eventually that humans would mature as a race, but magic would never be widely accepted. That was perfectly fine with me; it just meant we could never settle permanently on the planet.
Ronez had lived happily on Earth with his magic, but he wasn’t nearly as powerful as his son, he didn’t have me, and he wasn’t a doctor. Dylan often told me he never regretted leaving Earth, but I knew he missed it.
Earth and Duran were thought to be similar by the gods, that Earth would eventually become just like Duran, but I knew my people better than that. Humans were nothing like Sago when it came to their ambitions. If any of my brothers were asked which race would outlast the rest, each would admit without hesitation that it would be the humans.
I was very proud of my world and my people. Of course, there were some despicable, horrible humans; every world had a problem with bad apples. As a god, I loved shaping my world and the people on it, but since I took a mortal form and made my home on Duran, I slowly distanced myself from my world. My intention was for my world to be self-sustaining, and my people never let me down yet. Sure, they made mistakes, but they were like ambitious little children and couldn’t see the future. They would figure it out eventually, and Dylan would stop them from getting into too much trouble.
That was, in fact, the reason I found myself on Zendii. My intention when I visited with Erono was to send Kiro and Dylan, but my brother told me Kiro was going to Earth to deal with an old enemy of his and his brother’s. While I thought it was odd, I decided to allow Dylan to go with him and go to Zendii myself. It occurred to me to have Kiro deal with Zendii while I helped Dylan on Earth, but I knew Kiro didn’t like to leave unfinished business behind and I wanted them to have time together like they did before Dylan became a father.
Although Zendii was not one of my favorite places because it was all tourists and over-the-top elegance, there were also some shady towns. Zendii was a place bombarded with culture. I flashed there easily enough and arrived in a shadowy alley between a bath house and a restaurant. The fact that Zendii was based on pleasure made it really easy to find my way; I reached out my magic to find the fear. Successful, my energy came back to me with the images and direction I needed.
A man was the source of this fear, but it was odd that my magic didn’t tell me whose fear it was. I sent out my magic again, specifically to tell me the power this man had, and frowned when it returned. The man had no magical ability.
So on a world of magic, on a land of luxury and pleasure, why was there so much fear surrounding him? I walked slowly and confidently down the dark streets, not looking around or fiddling with anything. Tourists were pray on Zendii, and this was one of the shady towns. My backpack was safe, but I didn’t want to draw attention to it.
Men and women worked the streets, trying to draw customers into their brothels or restaurants. Bath houses were operated at all hours of the day and night, but the clientele changed drastically at nightfall. Here, magic was used to seduce and persuade, to lore and trap. This was a place I made Dylan stay away from because it was against his nature to walk away. Luckily, it wasn’t against mine. As far as I was concerned, everyone who came to this place made their choices and would have to live with them.
A sudden sense of forewarning made me step back in time to avoid being sprayed with glass when the window of a tavern exploded outward, spilling two wrestling men into the street. A woman inside screamed to one of the men not to hurt the other and I laughed. People were so funny sometimes.
I walked around them and was heading away when one of the men shot an energy bolt at the other. Why did they have to go and make it not funny? With a sigh, I turned back to the mortals and waved my hands apart, sending both men back until they were each hanging ten feet apart and suspended a few feet above the ground. It was almost funny again as they struggled against unseen forces.
The woman hurried out of the tavern and dived at the feet of one of the men. I took a moment to observe the situation. One of the men, the one with the woman weeping at his feet, was considerably younger than the other and had desperation in his eyes. Although probing his mind with my magic was easy, understanding the thoughts of mortals was a different matter. Apparently it was easier for me than for my brothers, but deciphering the linear thoughts of a three-dimensional creature who perceived life in a two-dimensional way was usually difficult. Mortals were simple; they saw progression from point A to point B by direct line.
That was, in fact, the reason I could stop Dylan from the Sight. Dylan and my son had the ability to see three-dimensionally, but until they could conceive it, they would never experience it. Until they did, I could easily shape their futures. Unfortunately, Samhail’s visions were powerful and specific, where as I saw everything at all points in time. Usually, Samhail and Ron could have a vision, come up with a plan, and implement it before I even knew what I saw.
In my mortal form, I typically perceived my environment with a two-dimensional viewpoint, as all three dimensional beings did, while my magic acted fourth-dimensional. I may not see through three dimensional objects as I could when I wanted to, but my magic would and could warn me ahead of time of danger. I could see a being as they were in my presence, but my magic would see all points in their timeline, past, present, and future.
What I saw from a person when I wasn’t looking for a specific event, was everything emotionally significant first, and then everything in order of how much of an impact the event had on the world around them. While this man was not actually important, he was desperately in love with this woman, who shared his passion. Unfortunately for them, the woman’s father wanted her to marry someone else, and as she was twenty-one, he could force her.
There were many hundreds of paths to choose from, but I focused on the most precedent. If she married the man her father wanted her to, she would be miserable and most likely commit suicide at the age of twenty-four. The man would also be miserable and m
ost definitely end up offered to Raktusha, where he would die of illness due to his Kahún blood. I would have to speak to Vretial about this. Before her almost certain death, the woman would have a son by her father’s favored. The child would be a magnificent healer, but would be abused by his father until his father’s unimportant death.
Another path would be for the two in front of me to marry. Both of them would go to Raktusha and be saved by illness because the woman had Dios blood in her. Interesting… They would have a daughter who would marry the leader of a strong political faction… and another man at the same time. Her people would love and adore her and she would definitely be a great addition to my brother’s world. Of course, these were just the most likely paths based on the most plausible decisions. There was another option I could offer, which would be for the woman to marry neither man, but I didn’t see many benefits to that choice.
People were easily manipulated, but they followed the intended plan more when they were happy then when they were miserable. This woman in particular was prone to suicide and the chance of her ending her own life if I didn’t help her be with this man was very high. I could easily have left her alone, since her life meant little to me, but Dylan would be disappointed in me if he ever found out. Dylan was a healer and never turned away anyone in need.
The other man I held in my power was the woman’s father, who cared more about his business than his daughter’s happiness. Reaching into his mind and manipulating his thought processing was easy. I could have been more elegant and gentle, but I wasn’t feeling particularly charitable. Instead, I just made him take more interest in his daughter. He already knew his daughter was in love and suddenly decided his daughter can make up her own mind. With this finished, I dropped both men to the ground and walked away.
I was almost proud that I did something Dylan would approve of. How sad I had become that my mate’s approval caused me to manipulate the affairs of individual people? It was the exact kind of thing I would have done before I took a mortal form, just for fun.
Once I entered the neighborhood, I knew something was definitely wrong here besides fear. There were no people on the streets, no music playing from restaurants, and abandoned buildings. In the surrounding neighborhoods, restaurants left their doors open so that light and sound spilled out into the dark in attempt to draw in cold and hungry customers. Here it was quiet, and the fear leached from every person huddling away from the dark and the solitude.
There was death in the air.
Since the fear was shared by so many, it was impossible to follow it to a particular spot, so I entered the first tavern I came to. Duran had alternatives to alcohol which were healthier and shared none of the negative side effects, but several places still sold it because it was extremely cheap. Mokii had weak wines, and Zendii provided everything people could want. This particular tavern had strong, primitive beers, which supported a customer base of strong, primitive men.
Catcalls greeted me by the men as the door shut out the cold behind me. Even some of the waitresses gave me appreciative looks as they went about their duties. I considered turning down the pheromones, but I wanted cooperation and in a town like this, seduction was the fastest means for persuasion. Everyone else would be trying to manipulate me as well, which was amusing to watch.
The tavern was dim, as was the music. Booth tables lined the walls as tables with chairs filled the rest of the space. There were bathrooms across from the door, against the opposite wall, and the door to the kitchen was next to them, which made me shiver. I was a goddess, but I hated dirtiness. There was a bar to the right of the door, lined with stools. Behind the bar was a busty woman with rich red hair piled in thick curls on her head, dotted with sparkling diamonds. Other than in her hair, she wore no jewelry. Her dark blue dress was skin-tight and accentuated her features.
The other front-of-the-house staff consisted of three women who were obviously sisters. All three were young, shapely, and flirty. The customers were all men who were not elegant or clean-shaven.
I took a booth and waited for one of the women to make her way to me. It was a man who approached me first, reeking of beer and trying his best to hold in his gut. He wasn’t terribly drunk, but he was making his way there.
“What is such a pretty lady doing all on her own at night?”
I gave him my most innocent smile and waved to the seat across from me, inviting him to sit. He did with a great grunt as the entire bench sagged under his weight. Without magic, I couldn’t tell how much of it was muscle and how much was fat, but he wasn’t revolting by any means. Alcohol made a man weak of mind, but I wouldn’t judge a person for making any attempt to escape their lives. Some people had been dealt nasty hands and they truly deserved sympathy, even from the gods.
“Just looking for someone to spend some time with,” I said, not suggestively. I wanted him to be willing to talk, not think I was easy. If he thought I was only a little interested, he would try to entice me, but if he thought I wanted him, he would only try to get me upstairs and give up quickly when he realized otherwise. Had I not been mated to Dylan, I would have done what I needed to get a man talking, but I would never betray Dylan.
If the gods had morals about anything, it was the “old way.” Vretial had told us stories about honor, life, battles, and mates. He told us about the values of the gods before the war. Those values may not always make sense to us, but we all agreed to uphold them for our race’s sake. While I could remember my childhood, I was separated from the other Iadnah. I remembered the war, but that was all my childhood was. Of all my brothers, only Vretial remembered their lives before the end of the war.
The man started talking about his job, which was reconstructing some of the buildings in this neighborhood. It was almost perfect. I gave him just a miniscule wisp of fear, which got him talking about working at night. Some men would feel fear and clamp up, as was the natural instinct for this man, but my pheromones were soothing as well as seductive and without a single word from me, he was telling me everything.
He told me that working at night used to be favored, but for the past few months, people were disappearing. More specifically, women were disappearing.
“How are they connected?” I asked. “Are they prostitutes? Business women?”
“The first ones were servants over at the Brarir Manor. Now others are disappearing as well, especially prostitutes. No one with families, fortunately.”
At this point, the waitress arrived, where the man ordered another beer and I ordered a tea. She asked if I wanted a menu, but I wasn’t in the mood to eat. Once I received my tea, I let the man drink his alcohol before pressing him further.
“The master of the Brarir Manor, does he have a job?”
“Taron-sep owns this town. He receives all money generated by the businesses and pays the staff poorly. The prostitutes are paid well, but they must serve him for free. If they refuse, he takes them by force and then he doesn’t pay them. You’re not here to work, are you?”
“No. I never sell myself. Are there any women still living in his manor?”
“He has some servants who weren’t scared off, but nobody knows how many people live there except for them.”
I could have asked what kind of security detail the manor had, but it didn’t really matter. In my true form, I could be anywhere, but even with a mortal body, it was easily to appear and disappear wherever and whenever I wanted. Of course, it is more difficult, because this body is limited.
I scanned the immediate area to both read the man in front of me and look for a woman who would make him happy. There was a very compatible woman just across the street, preparing for bed alone. Sending her a sense of urgency I knew she wouldn’t understand, I gave her the mental picture of the man in front of me and the location. She would realize when she saw him that he was perfect for her, and she was just pushy enough to convince him she was the one he had been waiting for all his life. It was my way of thanking him for his help.
By now he had figured out I wasn’t cuddly and sweet, which was what he ultimately wanted. I stuck around for another five minutes until the woman I sent for walked in, looking around for the man of her dreams. She was small, but perfect for the burly man who wanted a woman to protect and love. I pointed her out to the man. “She looks a bit flustered. You should ask her if she needs help,” I said. He was out of the booth before I could finish talking.
I finished off my lukewarm tea before heading back out into the cold. Mortal bodies were delicate, but I was used to it.
At the end of the street was a mansion protected by a tall iron gate. The sign on the gate read that this was Brarir Manor. There were no guards or servants wandering around, so I pushed gently on the gate. My magic ran through the metal to unlock the gate and with a loud creak, it opened.
A camera was activated by the movement, but with a simple burst of my energy, the electronics fried. Obviously, this was not a town of magic. There was a lot of power here, not in magic, but in fear.
I refused to hide in the shadows like a petty thief, so instead I bent light away. I could be seen, but I wouldn’t be. After spying into many occupied rooms, I found an empty one. The window was locked, but it was child’s play to reach my magic through the glass and unlatch it.
This was a small, simple room with wood floors, tan walls, a low ceiling. There was a bed centered against the north wall that was large enough for two with dark blue bedding. The window was on the north wall near the bed. Across from the foot of the bed was a sliding door, which I assumed led to the rest of the house. Against the east wall was a light brown, wooden wardrobe. There were night stands on either side of the bed with modest electrical lamps on them.
Before I had time to close the window, there were footsteps outside the door, so I dived under the bed.
The door opened and two women entered. One of them sat on the bed while other turned on the lantern. The woman then then went to the wardrobe and put something in it. “Are you nervous?” she asked. Her voice was older, patient, and kind.
