My Soul to Take

by Amy Sumida

  “Hundreds,” she whispered.

  “We're going to need help,” I looked around the table.

  “Well, Dad did say that Hell would stand with you,” Azrael reminded me.

  “Oh,” Eztli looked to Blue. “It's that battle.”

  “Yes, I realized,” Blue said grimly.

  “That's right, you knew about the vision Elena had,” I narrowed my eyes on Blue.

  “Elena said it would do more damage to warn anyone,” Blue defended himself.

  “And Elena is always right,” Eztli gave me an annoyed look. “As irritating as that is.”

  “She approached me at your wedding,” I told her. “Told me that she knew who was behind all of this but couldn't tell me.”

  “Yes, even when she can't tell you, she still likes you to know that she knows,” Eztli grumbled.

  “That's obnoxious,” I observed.

  “You're telling me,” Eztli rolled her eyes. “She's been my best friend for over four centuries.”

  “That's a long time to deal with an annoying person...” I drifted off as I realized my husbands were all giving me amused looks. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Trevor said and they all looked away.

  “You guys are so going to get it after we're done defeating Samedi,” I growled. “And not the good it.”

  “Anyway,” Hades drawled. “Will all the demons of Luke's Hell be enough or should we solicit more aid?”

  “How many soldiers will Luke bring?” Yemanja asked.

  “Thousands,” Azrael grinned maliciously.

  “That will be sufficient, I'm sure,” Yemanja's eyes widened.

  “Can I use my bow if I promise not to kill them?” Artemis asked.

  “Do what you have to do,” I nodded. “We'll try not to kill the humans but if it comes down to it, your lives are more important,” I gave them all level stares. “Everyone good with that?”

  “I'm not dying for a stranger,” Pan shrugged. “Be they human or god.”

  “Good,” I sighed.

  I used to be adamant about protecting humans but these days I was more concerned with the lives of my friends. Call me selfish but that's how I felt.

  “We have vampires we can bring as well,” Eztli offered. “They'd be helpful in subduing humans without killing them.”

  “Really?” I lifted my brows. “But if Teharon's sleep magic won't work, what can a vampire do?”

  “Drain enough blood that the body will have no choice but to shut down,” Blue explained. “It's not magic, just science.”

  “Yemanja?” I looked to her.

  “Souls usually won't stay in dead bodies,” she mused. “That causes stress to the soul; its natural instinct is to leave a dying body.”

  “So if they drain them enough,” Hekate mused, “the souls will actually leave?”

  “Yes but then we're left with dying humans,” Yemanja pointed out.

  “Vampires have had to be very careful about killing,” Eztli said. “We've learned exactly how much blood we can take without killing a human. It won't be a problem.”

  “I can call in the Egyptian gods,” Re offered.

  “No,” I said along with my husbands.

  “Why?” Re blinked at us.

  “Do you not remember the whole kidnapping thing?” Odin growled.

  “Or the attempted murder of our wife?” Trevor added.

  “No more Egyptians,” Kirill said decisively. “Ve have enough already.”

  “Fine,” Re huffed. “But a god can do more than a demon can.”

  “Really?” Azrael lifted a brow. “Because a demon can possess a human.”

  “Oh,” Yemanja gaped at Az.

  “Even if they're already possessed?” I asked him.

  “It depends upon the strength of the possessing spirit,” Azrael smiled. “And I think my demons, who also happen to be gods by the way, are more powerful than any human soul.”

  “Demons are gods?” Re blinked.

  “Minor ones but yes,” Azrael confirmed. “They're gods, not demi-gods.”

  “Well damn,” Re exclaimed.

  “Yes, they can do that too,” Azrael chuckled. “You can leave the vampires behind. I think we'll be alright without them.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Yemanja gathered the Vodou gods and brought them with her to the battle site. They looked grim and very vicious in their fighting gear. Even Erzulie-Freda, who was more of a diva than a warrior, looked frightening. She was one of the few pale-skinned lwas and her blonde hair stood out like a beacon among their group. So did the pink armor she was wearing. Yes, pink. But the color kind of faded into the background when you saw the look on her face... and the sword in her hands.

  Beside her, an African woman stood, skin as dark as Erzulie-Freda's was light. Her armor looked well-worn and she held her sword like she was born with it in her hand (ouch, by the way, that was a horrible analogy). This was Freda's counterpart; Erzulie-Dantor, and she was obviously a battle goddess. But it didn't matter, warrior or not, the lwas were there to fight. This was extremely personal for them and they had insisted on being in the front lines.

  Directly behind them were Luke's demons. Satan himself sat on a sin-black horse among them and at his side, on a pale horse, rode Death, my husband. Next to him, were the rest of the Horsemen; War, Famine, and the Antichrist. Or Sam, Ira, and Ted respectively. They were raring to go and so was I. I was wearing my old godhunting gloves for the first time in years. I didn't want to shift into a lioness to fight and I couldn't use my half-dragon form either, so I needed the gloves. They felt good, like an old blanket, and so did my fighting leathers. It was a physical reminder of who I was and where I'd come from. The original Godhunter.

  “There's more than we expected,” Trevor growled in his gravely wolfman voice. He'd already shifted in preparation of the battle that would begin at any second.

  Kirill gave a huff of agreement. He couldn't really see much since he was in lion form and the lines of soldiers before us blocked out the view. I couldn't see much either. My lack of height was something I lamented often but especially when I was standing at the back of an army. Still, I knew, as did Kirill, that there was an army of possessed humans stretching out across the barren battlefield to either side and back, much further than we had expected.

  We were on an open plain in Norway. An odd choice, even stranger when I considered that I'd recently been to Norway. Ull's house, the one I'd traced to with Brevyn, was here somewhere. Odin knew the place and had recognized it from my description. So to be back there, fighting a Vodou army, was a weird coincidence.

  Samedi must have taken his bodies from the locals because most of them were pale-skinned Norwegians who would have looked right at home on a Viking longship. I glanced at Odin and Thor apprehensively. These were their people and it must have been hard for them to go against them in battle. But they didn't look upset, probably because the demons of Hell had assured us that the humans wouldn't be in the battle for long.

  However, once a demon took over the possession, they'd be out of the battle completely, needing to direct their full attention into guarding their soul-less body and getting it back behind our battle line to safety. Demons normally left their bodies in Hell when they possessed a human. In Hell and under the guardianship of Lucifer. But in order to possess specific pre-possessed people, they had to be on site. Which meant that their bodies would simply drop wherever they were at the time. In this case; a battlefield.

  The demons were being amazingly brave and loyal to their leader, to come out and possess bodies in such a dangerous manner. So we all agreed that the possession was the only attack they'd be required to make. Only the highest ranking demons would sit out the possessions, mostly to watch over their brethren and make sure it all went smoothly.

  A horn sounded and we all tensed. Then another horn blared much closer to us, the sound raising goosebumps on my skin. That second sound had an eerie quality to it, like something you'd he
ar while running for your life in a nightmare. Whatever had made that sound, it wasn't your average musical instrument.

  “Samedi called challenge,” Trevor explained to Kirill and I. “And Luke has accepted. Prepare yourselves.”

  Those were the last clear words I heard. My ears were instantly assailed with a chaotic cacophony of shouts, screams, and roars. The demons possessed the human army as soon as they closed in on them and demon bodies began to fall like harvested wheat. I pulled back as a human ran by me, carrying a sleeping demon with acid green skin and oily black horns.

  It had been a long time since I fought in human form on the ground. I missed the advantage my wings gave me, and my claws for that matter. Though at the moment, neither my dragon claws nor the ones attached to my gloves were helpful. I wasn't there to kill, at least not humans. So I kept my blades sheathed and used punching as my main attack against the horde of the possessed.

  But those possessed bodies wouldn't stay down and I had to keep punching until a demon could come up to relieve me. It seemed endless and I was tempted more than once to just start killing. They simply didn't seem innocent. They fought viciously and it was difficult to remember that these bodies were just tools being wielded by an enslaved soul.

  Inside me, my beasts growled and roared, wanting desperately to join the battle, but they couldn't help me now. Neither could my magic, which I reached for in desperation. Not even Love could touch these dead souls. It was a perfect human army to use against gods. At least, gods who didn't want to hurt innocent people. Why were the good guys always hindered by their morality? It should be the other way around; bad guys should be crippled by their evil. Too bad life wasn't fair and evil often ended up being an easier path than good.

  But I wasn't evil and I had to keep reminding myself of that as every human I struck got back up again. I heard growls and shouts as Trevor and Kirill were met with the same frustrating scenarios. Overhead, flashes of magic streaked across the night sky. I assume that they were aimed at Samedi since they wouldn't do anything against the army of possessed. Then I caught a glimpse of Blue and Eztli, glowing as they had at their wedding. They were holding hands as waves of magic rolled out from them.

  “Damn,” I muttered to myself. “Maybe I should practice glowing with Re.”

  Then very abruptly, a circle cleared around me, the humans simply turning and going after other gods. I was confused for a second but then I saw him. Samedi. He was striding towards me through an aisle of the possessed.

  “Godhunter!” He shouted. “Come and meet your death! I look forward to the wails of your harem as they mourn their whore.”

  “Harem and whore?” I huffed before I responded. “You better watch your mouth, Sunshine,” I growled as I flung my fists down towards my sides. That familiar click came as my blades slid into place. He looked at my hands in surprise and I nodded, “Oh, yeah, we're doing this old school. Now bring it, you backstabbing Brutus.”

  “Is that what I am?” He chuckled and lunged for me.

  I was fast, much faster than I'd been when I'd first started hunting, but Sam was even faster. I found myself shaking off his punch as I laid amid the frigid blades of grass. What the hell? I rolled as his foot came down right where my face had been. I jumped to my feet and swung at him but he leaped out of my way with annoying agility. How could a freakin' cemetery lwa be so good at fighting? Didn't the guy just get sloshed and screw all day?

  “Alright, maybe my curriculum needs to be updated,” I growled as I reached for my Love magic.

  Love may not sound like the best weapon to use in battle but it was actually more effective than any of my other magics. It was also the first magic I'd held and I tended to lean toward using it. The butterflies rushed up inside me in a swarm of jewel-toned righteousness, shooting out of me and over to Samedi.

  The bastard just laughed.

  “What are you; heartless?” I gaped at him as my magic came flying back to me in failure.

  “Quite the opposite,” he shrugged. “I'm in love; a powerful love that your magic can't touch.”

  “Well I'll be damned,” I whispered. “I didn't know love made you immune to Love.”

  “That and some serious spells,” he grinned.

  “Why are you doing this, Sam?” I shook my head at him. “I don't get it.”

  “Because someone needs to stop you,” he growled and came at me again.

  I ducked and punched him in the belly. He grunted and spun to the side but remained standing. His red tunic was shredded, revealing black armor beneath. I grimaced and plowed into him again. I ended up knocking him to the ground and then landed on top of him but in a moment, he had rolled us over and loomed above me.

  “This is going to be fun,” he smiled.

  “You've got something in your teeth,” I stared at his mouth intently,

  He blinked, then started sucking at his teeth with his tongue.

  I used his distraction to head butt him and roll us once more. Then I tried to punch him in the face but again, he was too quick. He blocked my fist with a forearm and enough force that I was sent flying off him. I used the momentum to roll up into a crouch and faced off with him.

  “I thought you'd be a better fighter,” Samedi shook his head in disappointment as he got to his feet.

  “Ha!” I stood. “Fake laugh... hiding real pain.”

  What the hell was going on? Was I so encumbered by my broken star that even my fighting skills were suffering or was this guy a total bad ass?

  “Come on, you're not even trying,” he chuckled and waved me forward.

  “Oh, I'm going to do to your face what Limp Bizkit did to music in the late 90s!” I growled.

  “Vervain, could you please stop quoting Deadpool?” Azrael huffed from behind me.

  “Az?” I turned in relief... I mean, I could have totally handled Samedi on my own, I was just happy to see my husband. “I can't help it, Deadpool is like a cruder version of myself.”

  “Valid,” Odin sighed as he joined Azrael and I.

  “I'm waiting, Godhunter!” Samedi shouted.

  “And you'll keep waiting,” Trevor growled as he came up on Samedi's right. “The fight is over. Look around you Samedi, you've lost.”

  How had I not noticed that? All of the humans had finally been taken by our demons and the bokors who had been controlling them were sleeping like babies, thanks to Teharon's magic. I sighed and pulled the levers on my gloves to sheath my blades. I hadn't even scratched Samedi and that was damn frustrating.

  “It's not even close to being over,” Baron Samedi started to move forward but then jerked to a stop as a man slipped between us.

  The new guy pulled off his helmet and revealed himself to be another Baron Samedi. “What the hell am I doing over there?” He gestured indignantly at the first Samedi.

  “You!” I pointed at him in shock. “But you're him,” I pointed at the Baron who stood across from us.

  “Nope, I'm me,” the new Sam smiled.

  “C'est pas vrai!” Erzulie-Freda exclaimed from her place amid the group of lwas who had walked up behind us.

  “What she said,” Erzulie-Dantor growled. “Someone explain this. Now!”

  “Eztli?” The Baron who had been previously kicking my ass, stepped forward and gaped at someone on my left. “What are you doing here?”

  Everyone followed his gaze to Eztli.

  “Excuse me?” Eztli was standing beside Blue, looking terribly confused. “I don't believe we've met.”

  “Impostor, you'd better fucking reveal yourself right fucking now or I'm going to fuck you up!” The Samedi next to me shouted.

  “That's a lot of fucking,” I muttered to Az and he nodded in agreement but kept his eyes on the show.

  “It is I,” Samedi shifted, bubbling up into a froth of mist until a shorter but much wider and much uglier form was revealed. It was the god I'd seen dancing with Eztli at her wedding. The one who had given me the nasty look on his way out.

 
; “Morvran?” Eztli started to step forward but Blue pulled her back. “What are you doing?”

  “What am I doing?” He scowled. “What are you doing with the Godhunter? I thought you hated her.”

  “That was before I married Blue,” Eztli gaped at the massive god. “What's going on, Morvran? Why are you doing this?”

  “For you,” he whispered. “I did it all for you. So you'd see what kind of a god I am, that I could-” his words were literally cut off as a sword sliced through his neck.

  Eztli screamed as the rest of us flinched in shock. Morvran's body fell to its knees and his head landed beside it. Then the headless body fell forward and gushed blood all over the grass. Behind the gruesome display stood Morpheus, looking like an avenging angel. Ebony wings extended righteously from his shoulders, his legs were spread in a warrior stance, his sword was held dramatically out to his side, and his expression was as hard as the steel in his hand. Where was a canvas when I needed one? This guy needed to be immortalized in paint.

  “Morpheus,” I whispered and stepped past the real Samedi so I could go to my friend.

  “No,” Eztli was bent over Morvran's body, crying like she'd just lost a lover, and Blue stood stoically behind her. I barely gave them a glance as I hurried over to Morph. As far as I was concerned, that guy deserved what he got.

  “Morpheus?” I laid my hand gently on his shoulder and he turned satisfied eyes to me. The mist of the Dream Realm swirled and shifted inside those eyes; cerulean clouds that shimmered with vengeance.

  “This was how he killed my brother, isn't it; he beheaded Phantasus from behind?” Morpheus sheathed his sword and stared down at the body. His boyish face was drawn into grim lines. Ironically, it made him darkly handsome.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “For me!” Eztli cried to Morpheus. “He killed Phantasus to save me. Your brother kidnapped me and tried to kill Blue.”

  “Morvran also killed humans for you,” I nodded to the mass of possessed humans standing over their demon bodies. “Each of those bodies represent a human who he murdered to gain control over their soul. Morvran may have started out with good intentions but he ended up a villain.”