by Unknown
“Now I see why you're vacationing here,” I said to Dave.
“Though why you chose this time of year is beyond me,” Horus grumbled.
“Reduced rates,” Dave shrugged. “Plus, we wolves don't mind the cold.”
“This isn't just cold,” Hades sniffed. “This is Arctic. This is frigid. This is-”
“Hell?” I asked with a smile.
“Indeed,” Hades lifted his dark brows. “Though I think Helheim would be a more accurate description.”
“That's uncomfortably true,” Trevor grimaced.
Helheim was named after its ruler, Hel, who also happened to be Trevor's Aunt... who had once attempted to keep him trapped in her cold castle of the dead. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds.
“It's not that cold, I've been to the Arctic and it's much colder,” Dave said and then motioned us to the large bed, where he'd laid out a bunch of photographs. “Here's where Gish and his group have made their headquarters,” he pointed to a nondescript building. “There's about sixty men there, no biggie, but I hope you've come up with some kind of plan because starting a god fight in the middle of downtown Kabul isn't such a good idea.”
“I could always go dragon on them,” I offered.
“No!” Everyone shouted.
“Joking,” I laughed and held up my hands in apology.
“We don't know what kind of explosives they have in there,” Dave added. “One wrong breath and you could take out the entire city of Kabul all by yourself.”
“I said I was joking,” I huffed.
“Did you get anything on where the other two gods are hiding?” Trevor asked Dave.
“Yeah, Qaus has ISIS with him at a location deep in the mountains,” Dave nodded. “I tracked Disani back to another spot in the desert. That seems to be the god's personal stronghold.”
“We'll have to split up so we can attack both armies at the same time,” Thor said. “We can't risk one god warning the other.”
“Good point,” Blue agreed.
“But how are we doing this?” Dave asked.
“I can sneak into the building and put all of the humans to sleep,” Teharon offered. “No one has to die.”
The room went quiet again.
“Teha,” Karni Mata slid her hand over Teharon's, the nickname sounding so exotic on her lips. “Leaving them alive may not be the best decision. They have been tainted by greed and anger.”
“That doesn't mean they can't recover from it,” Teharon frowned at us. “These are innocents, humans manipulated by gods. Are we really just going to slaughter them?”
“Teharon is right,” I said. “Killing these people would be wrong and would accomplish exactly what these gods want.”
“Death,” Hades nodded. “We kill these people and it will only make the gods stronger. They'll take the deaths as sacrifice.”
“So we need to find a way to get to the gods without injuring their followers,” Pan observed. “That's going to be difficult.”
“And we'll have to destroy their weapon stores,” Finn added, his voice lilting with just the touch of an Irish accent.
“Maybe Teharon putting the humans to sleep isn't such a bad idea,” I mused.
“But he can't be in two places at once,” Torrent lifted a blonde brow. “And we need to attack both gods at the same time.”
“Torrent,” I cocked my head at the Internet god. “Could you unmake the magic that's been cast on the humans?”
“You mean the influence these gods have impressed upon them?” Torrent blinked in surprise and then thought about it. “I think I could, if it really is a magical influence, but I don't know how long it would take or how close I'd have to get to unmake the magic. Plus, I'd have to unmake each spell individually.”
“Do you think there are individual spells cast on each person?” Artemis asked her boyfriend. “Or do you think they did a blanket spell of influence? These people probably didn't need a lot of encouraging, just a little nudge to choose these gods to lead them.”
“Hmmm,” Torrent considered. “If that's true, I could probably undo it from a distance. Magic cast upon a group of people tends to ripple out in an effort to keep everyone within its grasp.”
“Okay,” Thor said decisively. “Torrent, we need you to go with a group into the mountains and attempt to neutralize the enchantment. Teharon can go with the another group who will handle the Afghan Police here in Kabul, and he will attempt to put as many of the humans to sleep as possible.”
“And what if I can't unmake the magic?” Torrent asked nervously.
“Why don't we have Torr try to do his thing first?” I suggested. “We'll keep in communication with each other and only attack if Torr manages to undo the spell. If he doesn't, we meet back here and brainstorm a new plan.”
“I like that idea,” Thor nodded.
“There may still be some casualties,” I said gently to Teharon.
Teharon sighed and hung his head, his long, straight hair falling like a curtain around his sad but beautiful turquoise eyes. His wide shoulders slumped and he took Karni's hand as he nodded in acceptance. The most difficult part of seeing Teharon's reaction was that I knew I had once felt the same way but now, after years of fighting this war, I wasn't as sensitive to the possibility of human casualties. I didn't want them but I wasn't naive enough to think that a plan should be tossed out because of the chance of humans dying. I had learned to look at the whole picture.
“It's better than just assassinating them,” Teharon said quietly. “And at least I'll be there to help the wounded when it's all done.” I guess Teharon wasn't naive either, just sympathetic.
“But what about ISIS?” Blue asked. “Those are violent people to begin with and even if Torrent can unmake the magic influencing them, they'll still be angry men under attack. They're not just going to lay down their weapons and run away.”
“And let's not forget that only one team will have the Godhunter,” Brahma observed with a sardonic twist of his lips.
“So?” I shot back.
“So you're the one who's able to kill gods easily,” Thor reminded me. “The rest of us have a harder time at it.”
“Only extreme emotion makes it possible for us to kill each other,” Blue added. “And we aren't nearly angry enough for that.”
“But together, we'll have enough magic that it should make up for our lack of anger,” Morpheus said reasonably. “I know you've all killed gods before.”
We went silent because everyone knew who Morpheus was referring to; his father.
“True enough,” I whispered. “I think you'll handle things just fine without me. Besides, you'll have Torrent. He's even better than a Godhunter.”
“I am?” Torrent looked baffled.
“You really don't understand what kind of power you hold with that unmaking thing, do you?” Artemis shook her head at him.
“But I don't really have a magic that's good in a fight,” Torrent grimaced.
“What you've got is enough,” Thor placed a hand on Torr's shoulder. “And you do well with hand-to-hand combat.”
“All I can do is shift into a swan,” Finn shrugged. “And that's not at all helpful in a god fight.”
“You can hold your own,” I said to Finn, remembering the time he and his siblings killed a faerie who had cursed them.
“Yeah, I do alright,” he chuckled.
“Well, I'm not afraid of facing another god without the Godhunter beside me,” Hades took his wife's hand. “Persephone and I will go into the mountains with Torrent. Who's with us?”
“Let's go with them,” Hekate said to Horus. “I want to see the mountains.”
“In this cold?” I asked her. “I'm glad I'm staying here.”
“One snowy mountain is the same as any other,” Hekate immediately said to Horus. “Let's stay with the Godheater... I mean the Godhunter.”
“Whatever you want, Katie” Horus laughed.
“I'm going with you of course,” Artemis sai
d to Torrent.
“Okay,” Torrent's green eyes brightened as he smiled at his girl. They were actually dressed for cold weather. Both of them had thick jackets, gloves, and ski caps on.
“How did you know to wear all that, by the way?” I asked them.
“It's February,” Artemis gave me a duh face.
“She checked the weather on the Internet,” Torrent grinned.
“And you didn't think to mention it to us?” I lifted a brow.
“No, I didn't,” he shrugged. “You're gods, I thought you had it covered.”
“Torr, in the future, speak up,” I rolled my eyes. “And you're a god too, by the way.”
“More of a demi-god, I think,” Torr mused.
“Either way, you're one of us,” Morpheus declared. “So next time, share the info.”
“You got it,” Torrent smiled wide.
We split up the rest of the Squad; Blue, Finn, Brahma, Morpheus, Mr. T, and Mrs. E would go with Hades, Persephone, Torrent, and Artemis while Teharon, Karni Mata, Horus, Kate, Thor, and Pan would go with me, Trevor, Kirill and Dave. Azrael had his own work to take care of so he wasn't there but I thought we had enough gods that we'd be okay.
Chapter Twenty-Three
We were not okay.
Torrent had indeed been able to unmake the spell influencing the members of ISIS, so we'd gone ahead and sent Teharon in to deal with the Afghan Police. He had managed to put most of them to sleep but then he'd been spotted and the remaining police had run off to warn their god. We had rushed in to help Teharon and found ourselves in the middle of a gun fight. Except we didn't have any guns.
“Damn, we should have waited for Azrael,” I growled as I crouched behind a crate and hid from rapid gunfire.
I'd probably be fine if I got hit by a few bullets but they had machine guns and if they managed to fire enough bullets at my neck, they could potentially behead me. Or they could obliterate my heart. I'm not sure if that would kill me but it would definitely sting a bit.
“Why do you think Azrael could have helped?” Trevor asked.
“Aren't his wings bulletproof?” I shot back.
“Several gods can be bulletproof,” he shrugged.
“What the hell does that mean?” I frowned over at him.
“Most gods have the ability to cast wards around themselves,” Trevor explained. “Vervain, how do you not know this? I thought Thor taught you god magic?”
“Thor just taught me how to shield my mind,” I grumbled. “He never said anything about shielding my body. I taught myself god magic from Ku's spellbook.”
“I thought you'd figure it out on your own,” Thor shouted over the gunfire to me. “Plus, it didn't seem necessary at the time.”
“Does it seem necessary now?” I shouted back.
“Damn it all, can you do something about this, Teharon?” Thor asked the Mohawk god.
“Not from this distance,” Teharon replied calmly.
“Can we get back to the bulletproof thing?” I huffed. “I shot Blue once and it just bounced off his chest. You could have told me then that it wasn't his villainous god superpower!”
“I didn't know you shot Blue,” Thor rumbled. “You're a witch, Vervain, you can figure it out for yourself. It's just a tight ward laid over your skin. Visualize metal plating, just like the ward in your mind.”
“Well it's not like I can practice it now,” I grumbled.
“And it's not even a sure thing that you'd be able to,” Trevor added.
“Tima can do it,” Kirill scoffed.
“It doesn't matter!” Horus yelled with extreme annoyance. “A ward could hold under a few bursts of bullets but it won't under this kind of an attack. If it did, I'd be out there already.”
“Oh please,” Kate rolled her eyes. “We're gods.”
She was sitting beside Horus, casually picking at her nails as pieces of wood crate rained down around her. She stopped to brush some debris off her shoulder before looking up at us with a bored expression.
“What?” She huffed. “Throw some magic at them, you idiots. And if that doesn't work, I can open a path through the Aether that will let us out right behind them.”
I grimaced, looking from Kirill to Trevor. We were idiots. Somehow, the gunfire had thrown us. It just wasn't something we dealt with very often. Most times when we fought against humans, they'd take one look at us and start to cower. Or run. It was a rare occurrence to have them pick up guns and start shooting. Rare enough to shock us and send us ducking for cover when we should have been throwing something back at them. That'll teach us for running in half-cocked and cocky.
Thunder rumbled as Thor held out his arms and lightning cracked through one of the dingy windows, straight into his glowing palm. He stood and cast the electricity across the room at our enemies. It burst into their makeshift shield of crates and tables, splintering it all while setting it on fire.
“Thor!” I shouted. “Remember that there could be explosives in here.”
“Well, that's my magic,” he grumbled as he hid behind the crates again. “What do you want me to do?” His massive shoulders hunched in as he sulked.
In response to Thor's outburst, Gish stood; giving us all a great view of a thick, chestnut-colored chest covered only with a sparkling rainbow stripe attached to his quiver. He glowered at us with his heavy, warrior features and pulled a shiny arrow from the quiver on his back. Within seconds, the arrow came flying straight at Thor.
The crates Thor had been shielding himself with splintered apart like arrow had actually been a grenade. Thor, Karni Mata, and Teharon went flying back as debris shot out in all directions.
“Someone blast him!” Thor shouted as he rolled to his feet and helped Teharon get Karni behind the cover I was sharing with Trevor and Kirill.
“Just hold on,” I held up a hand. “Let's think-”
“I got this,” Pan said and flung his own magic over the pile of scrap metal he was hiding behind.
We all froze as Pan's magic hit and a group of men started to panic. Gunfire lessened and then stopped entirely as the unaffected men tried to calm their comrades. Gish disappeared behind a stack of crates with an angry shout. Then a horrible screaming began and we all stood up to launch our own magical assaults. Trevor and Kirill leaped over our barricade, shifting as they went, and crossed the cluttered space separating us from Gish and his crew in moments. Soon more screaming was heard.
I felt the Moon rise within me as a cool energy filled my fingers. Every god magic was actually a collection of magics that were aspects of the whole. The moon magic had been slow to reveal itself to me and I was convinced that there were facets to it which I still didn't know about, but what I had learned was worth the wait. There was Water Mastery; control over any amount of the stuff, be it a glassful or an ocean, Dark Dominion; which gave me control over nocturnal animals, Illusion; which is the ability to project any image I created out into the world and Lunacy, which was actually another type of water manipulation. The human body was mostly composed of water and I could exert a pull on that water, shifting it around until it drove a person mad. Which is exactly what I did to those men.
“Now, that's what I'm talking about,” Kate nodded in approval as she came to stand beside me and watch the chaos unfold.
“Well done,” Horus agreed, his left eye glowing white. I assumed it was in response to my moon magic.
I pondered his reaction for a moment. Gods who held the power of the Sun usually felt drawn to me and when I used moon magic, it enhanced my allure. The fact that Horus didn't seem to feel an attraction was something I'd never considered before. I guess I thought of his lack of interest as a blessing and didn't want to look a gift Horus in the mouth. But now I was curious.
Then Horus laid his hand on my shoulder and it all became clear.
A rush of power filled me, enhancing my own and burgeoning up my Moon until it once more burst from my hands to surge across the warehouse. Screaming turned into wailing as Trev
or and Kirill raced back to us. They came to a stop at my side, both panting as they stared across the room in horror.
“What happened?” I asked as my limbs shook with the remnants of my super-charged magic.
“They're tearing each other to bits,” Trevor whispered. “Gish is trying to stop them but they began to attack him as well. He had to kill some of his own men.”
I looked over to Horus and he gave me a wicked smile.
“You don't hold any moon magic, do you?” I asked him.
Horus shook his head, “I was supposed to be a god of balance; Protection and War, Sun and Moon. But mainly, I was meant to help Re. I'm his right hand man, as it were,” he indicated his right eye, which flashed gold briefly. “I can enhance his sun abilities, although I hold no sun magic of my own. Just as I can enhance moon abilities.”
“Damn, Baby,” Kate smirked. “And I'm a moon goddess. We're perfect for each other.”
“You're a moon goddess too?” I asked her in surprise.
“Yep,” she smirked. “Magic, Moon, Ghosts, Crossroads, and Necromancy; if it's Goth, I got it.”
“Well that makes sense,” I looked over her piercings and purple hair.
“I detest that name,” Horus rolled his eyes. “It has nothing to do with its source.”
“Darling, please don't start that again,” Kate grimaced.
“The Goths were a barbaric race who migrated from Scandinavia to Pomerania and then on to the Black Sea, where they ransacked and generally terrorized people. What does that have to do with the way you're dressed?”
“Wait,” I blinked in surprise. “There's a place called Pomerania? Is that where those little dogs come from?”
“Focus!” Thor snarled at us before Horus could answer me (probably snidely).
