Kat rolled her eyes.
Dionysus wasn't finished droning on, "I don't have the patience to pretend Katerina doesn't know who I am or who you are, and I believe she isn't keen on pretending the same. I'm sure she would have told the other two eventually."
So she was Katerina to him now, was she? It was the first time he hadn't referred to her by her title. The entire facade had collapsed.
"You know, I've gone through a lot with you in the past, Kat, but everything being discussed here isn't possible or rational." Rick looked from Pan to Dionysus after his outburst, beseeching some sort of confirmation that they were talking crazy.
Dionysus sighed. "I miss ancient times. People had faith in the unknown. They didn't require demonstrations." He snapped his fingers and the glamour fell away from Melancton, who stood behind Dionysus as a sentry. Perhaps in case Pan acted on any notion of revenge.
Melancton was exquisite, even as a satyr. His legs were covered in black hair, thin at the top like Pan's, thicker closer to his dark hooves. Matching horns arched upward, stopping at sharp points above his head. He was fully naked, revealing an abundance of scars on various parts of his body, and impressive. Showing no sign of discomfort due to his sudden exposure, Melancton's lavender gaze regarded those who studied him. He glanced at Kat briefly before turning away.
Cindy sucked in a breath, and she covered her mouth. Rick stood slowly, slack-jawed. He stumbled over to Cindy's side of the couch and covered her eyes with his hand.
Yeah, Kat had been there. She yawned. A strange world it was when she was no longer surprised at witnessing a man go from fully dressed human one minute to naked mythological creature the next.
"What is the point, Dionysus?" Pan gritted out. His skin flushed with fury, he grasped her shoulders tightly. She wiggled a bit, and he loosened his hold on her. Beside her, Cindy peeked over the top of Rick's hand at Melancton. He noticed, giving her a wink. Rick was too distracted by Pan's outburst to see it.
"Yes, the point," Dionysus said, relaxing in his chair. "I wanted to make contact with you, and I knew you would not welcome a visit from an old friend." He snapped his fingers again, and Melancton was in human form, wearing jeans and a gray shirt.
Pan snorted. "After your hissy fit because you didn't get to have sex with a virgin? No thanks. I prefer keeping the company of people who don't behave like spoiled children and kill people when they don't get their way. Most of the men you cursed along with me were innocent and didn't deserve what happened to them."
Dionysus shot to his feet. "Innocent? Innocent! A fascinating way to refer to the lot of debauchers who were there that night, is it not? They may have been humans, who weren't necessarily involved in what you or I did, but they were anything but innocent. Let's examine the facts, shall we?"
He held up his index finger. "Pavlo here wanted to be welcomed into my circle because he was too shy to go out and find a wife. Instead of manning up and winning a woman over, he threw his one and only sister into the hands of Silenus; the man who turned around and offered his future bride to me on a silver platter."
Pavlo's face paled considerably.
Dionysus held up a second finger. "Secondly, Adonis was there because he'd been snubbed by a goddess and wanted to make her jealous. Pride is a bitch, is it not?" A third finger came up. "Melancton abandoned his post as a soldier in preference of wine and women. Cowardice isn't listed as a sin, but I think it very well should be."
Melancton's eyes narrowed, the only sign he was affected by the words spoken about him. Dionysus' raised a fourth finger, "Ariston—"
"Enough!" Pan leaped over the couch and those sitting there, shielding them from the others in the room. "So they weren't pure white lambs of innocence. So what? They weren't guilty of any crimes worth being made into monsters over—Silenus aside. I'm not stupid. I long ago figured out that the form of the Jersey Devil was what you tried to curse me with. If I hadn't attempted to counter it as I had, what would have happened if it still reverberated and all of us were turned into mutated abominations? The Greeks would have hunted us down like the Chimera. Like Medusa. Do I need to mention Hydra or Scylla, many of which were made the way they were by the fury of the gods?"
Kat wondered how many of the Greek "monsters" had started off in human form. There were so many in the Greek legends. Heroes were worshipped for defeating them. Hell, movies were made glorifying the defeat of those very creatures.
"How else could the gods prove to the ever-prideful humans that their wrath should be feared?" Dionysus shot back. "If you hadn't botched your attempt to send the curse back at me, none of them would have been cursed. It's your fault they were pulled into this mess, not mine."
"You initiated the first curse, so it falls on you. As to your comment about the gods, they shouldn't have sought fear. They should have sought respect!" Pan ran his hands through his hair, mussing it. "It's why people lost their faith," he said more calmly. "I saw it then while the beliefs faded. As new religions surfaced and people chose to convert to a less wrathful power."
Dionysus considered it for a moment and then shook his head. "If you are referring to the Christian deity, keep in mind he threw a tantrum and flooded the entire Earth in the process. He's been just as vengeful in the past as any of our family or ancestors."
Kat eyes widened. If she'd heard right, they'd insinuated the Christian God did exist. But regardless of all the questions that revelation brought to her mind, she decided, almost immediately, knowing was enough.
Dionysus was still speaking, "The Greeks and Romans lost their faith because the gods holed up in Olympus and left them to their own devices. They were forsaken and went elsewhere for guidance."
Pan growled. He turned to Kat and the Martinezes and nodded toward the door. "We're out of here."
"Not so fast." Dionysus stood directly in front of Pan before Kat could blink. "I didn't come here to argue theology with you or to rehash old times. I came here to offer peace."
Pan crossed his arms. Alpha male posturing at its finest. "Why would I want it? I've been quite peaceful without your presence to sully my mood."
Dionysus rolled his eyes. "Quit being the ungrateful child your father claims you are and listen to me, damn you."
At mention of his father, Pan stiffened. Kat thought he'd been mad before, but he was positively livid now. However, he didn't respond to it. Dionysus seemed pleased and strolled over to the refrigerator. He extracted a wine bottle without a label, which contained a deep red liquid and brought it to Pan, holding it toward him.
"I don't want your wine, Dionysus. I didn't really want it then, and I never want to know the taste of it again."
"Insulting me does not disprove my last comment. Besides, this isn't for you to consume. It's for her." He nodded at Kat, and all eyes turned toward her.
"Me?" Why did he have to bring her into this? "After the last bottle you sent screwed with my mind? No thanks."
"Do you care for this...ingrate?" Dionysus ignored the growl from Pan.
"Y-yes, but the last time—"
Dionysus acted as though she hadn't spoken. "Then you are aware he will never age. He will never die unless struck down by a certain type of weapon or dismembered in a certain fashion." Kat assumed he didn't elaborate because it was the same weakness he had, being gods and all.
Pan huffed. "Why does this concern her?"
"Why are all of you so fucking defensive?" Dionysus shoved the bottle into Pan's hands. "You love the woman. I can smell it on you. It's different from the desire you had for Syrinx, or any of the nymphs I've seen you with in the past. This is pure."
When he didn't reply, Dionysus gritted out, "She's going to age and die, you moron."
Pan flinched and looked back at Kat. She couldn't breathe. Pan loved her? He didn't just want her, but he loved her? Could this be true?
The look in his eyes confirmed it for her. She felt her chest tighten. He loved her. She wasn't sure if she could call her own feelings love, at leas
t not yet, but she had grown to care for him. Hell, she was hoping to send her friends packing so she could stay and explore her feelings with the satyr some more.
Pan snapped out of it and turned back to Dionysus. "Then why are you giving us a bottle of wine? It's not something to celebrate if we can't be together. What did you do to it?"
"That accusation hurts. As I was telling Katerina before you rudely interrupted a meeting you weren't invited to, I am letting bygones be bygones and turning over a new leaf. Consider it a gesture of good faith. Besides, I already told you it was for her, not you. It's not merely wine, idiot. It's ambrosia."
Pan's skin turned pasty. Kat had heard several myths about ambrosia over the years, but she always fell back on imagining her grandmother's ambrosia salad, which was a fruit salad with marshmallows mixed in it. Her stomach usually rumbled at the thought, but she had a feeling Pan's ashen complexion meant something she wouldn't like.
"I sent her a bit of it before. To test if she could handle it in its diluted form mixed with wine. As she drank it, and lived through it, without any of the sometimes regrettable side effects, we know she is eligible for immortality. This is the real deal."
Pan shook his head as if he didn't believe what he'd heard. "You risked her life with your little ambrosia experiment? What the fuck, Dionysus! You had her thinking there was something wrong with her because it affected her libido."
"Oh, don't act all offended." Dionysus smirked. "She drank it before ever starting to film in the woods. If it hadn't worked, I would have allowed her to finish her job here, found a replacement, and tried again. I'm trying to make things right between us. Consider her to be my gift to you, a peace offering."
"You can't just tie a bow on someone and give them as gifts!"
"If you don't want her, she can go home."
Pan glanced at the bottle of red liquid. "There's got to be a better way. I don't trust that there is nothing in this for you to gain if it goes wrong. I've seen what happens to humans when this doesn't work the way it should."
Dionysus sighed. "Believe what you want. I find New Jersey doesn't agree with me, and I'm taking my Boeotians and leaving. Don't come crying to me if you dispose of that bottle and then want my help. I won't be supplying a replacement." He dismissed them all and disappeared into his bedroom with a comment to Pavlo and Melancton about preparing for their departure.
When Pavlo shooed them all out the door, shutting it behind them, Katerina couldn't hold in her question any longer. She cleared her throat, regaining Pan's attention. "Okay, I know ambrosia is what makes mortals immortal. What is it? Why did you freak out?"
"We shouldn't discuss it in the open, Katerina." Cindy and Rick were watching them.
"Tell me."
"It's blood, vixen. Before he gave you wine with his blood mixed into it. Now it's one hundred percent pure Olympian blood."
Chapter 16
Katerina helped Cindy pack her clothes, which were strewn about the hotel room. Rick had thrown the suitcase at the wall when they made their way inside. The zipper hadn't been closed, and the contents had rained down all over the place. He continued to shout at them because he couldn't handle the truth of why Kat was sent to the Pine Barrens.
"Satyrs? Gods? What the fuck, Kat? You drank some rich dude's blood? His fucking blood!" Rick placed his head in his hands and sat on the side of the bed.
"Hey, don't speak to her in that tone," Pan warned.
Rick raised his head and glared.
"Stop it." Kat stood and tossed rolled up socks into the suitcase on the floor. "I didn't know about the blood. I didn't tell you about Pan when I came back because I didn't think you'd believe me."
"We watched the Jersey Devil fly off with you, but you didn't think we would believe he was actually Peter...who was actually Pan." Rick shot him another dirty look. "Dude, really? Peter Pan?"
"Humor. Get some." Pan shrugged.
"Boys," Cindy interjected, "put the rulers away, please. It doesn't matter now, does it? It happened. A freaking Greek god used us in his little game. We lived through it. Time to pick up the pieces, or in this case, our shit that you threw, Rick."
"That doesn't mean Kat has to stay here with this thing."
Kat placed herself between them when Pan stepped toward her friend. "Whoa. Cut it out. He's not a thing. What's the matter with you?"
"It's not safe for you here, Kat. I refuse to go home and leave you here with mythological creatures and pretend it's normal."
Kat was starting to regret breaking the news that she was staying with Pan when she'd given them the whole story. Rick wasn't handling the situation well at all, but Cindy seemed to know someone needed to stay calm and took the task upon herself. Her lack of criticism worried Kat, and from experience it meant she'd be hearing about it for years at the drop of a dime.
"You don't have a choice. This is what I want, and I want to stay. Pan's not forcing me. Dionysus isn't forcing me. I made this decision on my own."
Rick scowled, but Kat thought it looked more like he was pouting. He had the bad habit of being a bit melodramatic when riled. Cindy was always telling her how he threw more temper tantrums than a two-year-old when he didn't get his way. And, bless the man, he only wanted to keep the two women in the room safe from the anything he considered a threat, including Pan.
"Doesn't make it the right decision."
"Ricardo Martinez." Cindy stood up with her hands on her hips. "Obviously she cares for Pe...Pan. She was glowing earlier. You saw. A fling in the woods might be good for her. Do you remember how Kat wasn't very happy to learn we were dating, but she didn't stand in our way?"
"That's different."
"Oh, yeah? How is it different?"
"He has hooves. Freaking hooves!"
Pan's eyes were starting to glow red. If this didn't stop soon, he might shift into the Jersey Devil again and frighten Rick so badly that he'd sling both Cindy and herself over his shoulders and run off with them. Kat laid her palm against Pan's arm. Her touch seemed to placate him, and the red faded from his irises as he looked at her. She offered him a weak smile.
Cindy wasn't backing down against her husband. "So the man has hooves. He's not an animal. He's just different. Some babies are born with a pronounced tailbone and it has to be surgically removed. Does that make them an animal?"
"That's different," Rick repeated.
"You're being a bigot and incredibly rude. He's standing eight feet away from you. Not to mention, he's a god. Do you want him to turn you into a toad? Because I promise you this, Rick Martinez, I do not kiss toads."
Kat almost laughed at the disconcerted look on Rick's face, except the situation wasn't remotely funny. Rick excused himself and went outside, slamming the door behind him.
"I apologize for my husband," Cindy told Pan. "He means well. He's always been a bit overprotective, though. He'll come around. Just let the shock of it all wear off."
"What about you?" Kat asked, leaning against Pan for support. She couldn't bear it if both her friends were repelled by the idea of her staying with Pan.
Cindy sighed warily. "It's not my decision. I know you wouldn't stay unless you really wanted to. I worry Mr. Bach—Dionysus—isn't being entirely truthful about wanting to make amends. I don't like the idea of you staying and possibly playing into some grand scheme neither of you know about, but I respect that you need to be sure if you have feelings for each other or not. Spending time with Pan is the best way to do it. But I don't like it, Kat. I wish you would have told us sooner." Her eyes watered and she rubbed them before tears spilled over. "We were really worried about you. If Mr...Dionysus hadn't sent that stupid gag order, we'd have had your mom and your whole family in an uproar."
Not that Kat didn't love her family, but she was definitely glad no one else had known about her disappearance and made a spectacle of it. She didn't particularly want her name in the news a second time for being caught unaware by a creature that wasn't supposed to be there.
/> "Thank you," Pan offered when Kat didn't reply.
Cindy turned toward him. "Know if any harm comes to her, I'm going to take Rick's shotgun and go satyr hunting. I will bury buckshot so deep into your ass, you will be shitting gunpowder for a month."
When the Martinezes' white van—good as new—left the hotel parking lot an hour later, Pan cleared his throat. "Vixen, your friend is kind of frightening."
* * *
Two weeks had passed and Pan walked into the dining area to find Katerina staring at the bottle of ambrosia on the table in front of her. She hadn't touched it, but she couldn't stop staring at it. She had repeated this process nearly every night since they'd taken it from Dionysus. Not that she was mesmerized by it, but he suspected it had something to do with the fact that the more they got along, the more her mortality weighed on her.
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 151
