by Amy Sumida
“The Godhunter has arrived!” Pan shouted in glee and I sent him a happy wave.
Thankfully, the room was full of gods I knew so there were no glares of doom sent my way. Of course just because I knew them, it didn't mean I liked all of the gods. I grimaced as Re's daughters; Sekhmet and Bastet, walked up to us. They went immediately to kiss their father and then an awkward silence ensued.
“I'm going to get a drink,” I said and started to leave.
“Wait, Vervain,” Bastet grabbed my arm and I looked down at her hand pointedly. She let go. “We're sorry about what we did to you.”
“You know they were acting under my instructions,” Re added.
“Was it your instructions for your daughter to bring along her psychopath husband to try and kill Vervain?” Trevor growled.
“No,” I held up a hand between them. “We're not doing this here. This party is for Horus and Hekate and I'm not letting any of you yahoos ruin it for them.”
“Fine,” Trevor muttered.
“Yes, you're right,” Re sighed. “But no, I didn't order Ptah to try to kill Vervain. What a ridiculous question.”
“Then they weren't acting under your orders, were they?” Trevor snapped.
“Hey!” I glared at both of them. “What did I just say? I swear, it's like being a high school teacher sometimes.”
“At one of those schools where the kids bring guns with them,” Odin muttered.
“Very helpful, thank you,” I gave Odin a peevish look.
“I do my best,” Odin sniffed and then looked to the cat and lion goddesses. “Frankly, I'm shocked that either of you two ladies would dare to approach my wife after what you pulled.”
“I didn't think he was going to hurt you!” Bastet declared.
“I know, Bast,” I took her hand. “I heard you try to stop them and I forgive you for your role in that whole mess.”
“Thanks, Vervain,” she gave me a hug. “I'm glad you worked things out with my father.”
“Me too,” I smiled but it faded when I looked at Sekhmet. “But you, you're harder to forgive.”
“I didn't ask for your forgiveness,” Sekhmet growled, tossed her long mane of golden hair, and strode away.
“Alrighty then,” I shrugged. “I guess that settles it; not forgiven.”
“My sister just needs some time,” Bast shared a concerned look with Re. “She gets even angrier when she knows she's wrong.”
“Well, I appreciate your apology, Bastet,” I avoided talking any further about her sister.
“May I offer one as well?”
I turned and saw Sokar, an Egyptian god I'd met in Aaru, the Egyptian Underworld; where the aforementioned mess had been made. I'd stopped at his pyramid for tea on my escape out of Aaru and he'd ratted me out to Ptah. And yes, I know how crazy that statement sounds. But he'd basically prevented my escape by insisting I have tea with him and then the cat sisters had shown up with Ptah and that jerk had tried to destroy me by separating my souls.
“Sokar,” I nodded to him. “So you made it out of Aaru.”
“I'm taking your advice and seeing more of the realms,” he smiled. “Vervain, please accept my humblest apologies. I was acting under loyalty and had no idea Ptah would do something so horrible. But still, that's no excuse for breaking the laws of hospitality.”
“I accept your apology,” I tried to be gracious about it, even though I kind of wanted to punch his face in. I'd forgiven Eztli after all, and she had tried to do much worse than Sokar had.
“Thank you,” Sokar bowed, his black eyes lowering respectfully.
“Please tell me you're not starting a fight the minute you walk into my engagement party,” Horus drawled from behind Sokar.
“She was doing nothing of the sort,” Sokar defended me. “Merely granting forgiveness where it's not deserved.”
I admit, I stopped wanting to punch him after that.
“Horus,” I grabbed the Falcon God and hugged him before he knew what was happening. He squirmed a second and then gave up and accepted the hug. “Congratulations,” I said when I pulled away. “I'm glad you decided to propose sooner.”
“What?” He blinked at me in shock. “Sooner?”
“Never mind,” I smiled and drifted away as my men surged forward to offer Horus their congratulations. “Katie,” I hugged Hecate next. “Are you sure you want him forever?” I teased her.
“I heard what you said to Horus,” she narrowed her eyes on me, completely ignoring my Horus insult. “It's that future, isn't it? That's what you were talking about? Were we married in it?”
“He had just proposed,” I admitted. “And it was years from now.”
“Oh yeah, that future was all wrong,” she snickered. “I never would have waited that long.”
“I am worth waiting for,” Horus entered the conversation at the perfect time.
“Uh-huh,” Katie gave him an innocent look. “You just keep telling yourself that.”
“You bring chaos wherever you go,” he looked to me in accusation.
“I had nothing to do with this,” I chuckled and turned away.
“Pan punch?” Pan offered me a glass filled with a bright pink liquid.
“Why yes, I would like to punch you, Pan,” Horus smirked. “But since you threw me this fairly nice party, I'll restrain myself.”
“Ha ha,” Pan rolled his eyes. “I wasn't offering it to you, Tinkerbell.”
“Will you stop calling me that?” Horus growled. “I don't even understand what prompted this sudden Tinkerbell idiocy.”
I looked away innocently.
“Vervain,” Pan said.
“I did not!” I denied and then realized that Pan was just bringing my attention back to the punch. “Oh, thank you.” I took the drink as my men took glasses off the tray of a passing waiter. “Is that Captain Hook?” I gaped at the waiter, who was holding his tray with his only remaining hand while he used the hook to steady it.
“Neverland wouldn't be complete without him,” Pan shrugged. “He was actually a Greek philosopher in life.”
“Wait... what?” I cocked my head at Pan.
“Well you didn't think I simply created life from my territory's energy, did you?” He lifted a nutmeg brow.
“I hadn't thought about it,” I looked around the room with new eyes. “I made animals in my territory.”
“Yeah but basically, those creatures are soul-less things that can move,” Pan pointed out. “If you tried to make a human, they'd be animated but wouldn't be able to have a conversation with you.”
“Sounds like the makings of a perfect woman,” Horus lifted a brow at Hekate and smirked.
“Who are you kidding?” She teased back. “You wouldn't even need her to move around; just hold still for two minutes.”
“Oh... da-a-a-amn,” Trevor drew out the word.
“Yes, she's spectacular, isn't she?” Horus smiled proudly at his fiance.
I barely spared them a glance, I was too busy looking around the room. I spotted Cinderella, Maleficent, and Prince Charming, all handing out glasses of Pan's punch. It was like Disneyland but the characters were real. Like really real; no make-up or prosthetics needed here. Except they were actually souls pretending to be the characters. So I guess it was more like Disneyland than I'd first thought. Or rather, Disneyland was more like Neverland, since Neverland came first.
“So who are all these people really?” I asked Pan.
“My followers,” Pan shrugged. “My people tend to be open minded folk. Most of them love altering their appearance to entertain the children. Some of them even stay in character all the time. The mermaids won't even admit that they were ever anything else.” He leaned in to whisper, “Country girls.”
“It's lovely, Pan,” I saluted him with my glass. “Truly magical.”
“Your efforts to give the child souls an amusing afterlife is admirable,” Re added.
“They must adore you,” I noted.
“The childr
en?” Pan asked and I nodded. “I'm their Pan,” he shrugged. “I guess that's come to mean a type of father to them. I don't know. I offer them sanctuary without conditions. Though I do have rules and the adult souls help me to enforce them.”
“I'd imagine that can be a lot of work,” Azrael noted.
“Not really,” Pan made a face. “The children are already dead so it's not like they can hurt themselves from roughhousing. It's only the little disputes we have to monitor. But honestly, those are rare. These kids were unloved and then found a family who wholeheartedly accepts them; nothing is more precious to them than each other.”
“Shared trauma can bond people,” Kirill nodded and I gave his hand a squeeze.
“Who was Pinocchio?” Odin asked casually.
“What's that?” Pan looked confused.
“The wooden puppet who led us in,” Odin explained. “Who was he in life? I'm just curious.”
“Oh, his name was Polybius,” Pan said.
“The historian?” Azrael looked shocked.
“Yeah, that's the one,” Pan nodded. “That's why he's my steward, he's great at keeping the house in order.”
“Oh, now I feel awful,” Az grimaced.
“Why? What did you do to my steward?” Pan began to look concerned.
“He's fine,” I reassured him. “He's just had a bit of a scare.”
“I'll be right back,” Azrael said. “I think I'm going to apologize.”
“Okay,” I glanced at the others as Az hurried off. “I guess this Polybius guy was a big deal.”
“He invented the Polybius Square,” Odin nodded sagely.
“Oh that Polybius,” I said.
“You have no idea what that is, do you?” Pan asked in a whisper.
“Not even an inkling,” I admitted.
“It's a tool used in telegraphy,” Odin went on and when he saw my blank expression, he went further. “Polybius assigned each letter of the alphabet a space on a square where it could be numerically cross-referenced.” I continued to stare at him until he finally huffed, “Spy stuff.”
“Oh,” I made a sound of epiphany as Odin rolled his eyes. “Cool.”
“Vhy don't ve go out on ze balcony?” Kirill asked me.
“I'd love to,” I took his arm.
“You guys go ahead,” Trevor offered. “Odin and I will stay and socialize so you can have some alone time.”
“Thank you,” I kissed Trevor on the cheek and then Odin. Pan angled his head out for a kiss too and I gave in. It's hard to resist that childish charm.
“I shall never wash my cheek again!” Pan declared dramatically as he held a hand to the spot I'd kissed.
“Gross, Pan,” I chuckled as Kirill led me away.
Night had set in as we'd wandered through the ballroom and now Neverland lay peacefully beneath an indigo sky scattered with stars. The sounds of playing children still carried over to us but they were winding down and muted. The toys and rides all looked mysterious in the moonlight and the lake glittered like a beacon, luring little swimmers into her embrace.
“I can't vait to have children,” Kirill said wistfully.
“Really?” I looked over at him. “I mean, I know you all are excited about having kids one day but do you really want one now?”
“I do,” he shrugged. “I know our life is unsettled and it can be dangerous, but I vant to meet our daughter. I vatch Fallon vith Zariel and I feel jealous. Zis is hard for me. I have never been a jealous man.”
“Alright,” I took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “We can discuss trying soon but we'll need to include the others in the conversation.” I glanced back over my shoulder at Trevor and Odin.
“Vhen vas Lesya born; vhat number child vas she?” Kirill asked.
“First was Rian, who is now Rian and Brevyn,” I mused. “Then came Vero and then Lesya. She was my third pregnancy. But the time schedule of things seems to have altered. Look at Horus and Hekate.”
“I don't zink ve should take chances vith our children,” Kirill frowned. “Best to keep it in correct order.”
“That would mean Vero would be next,” I said gently. “Are you sure?”
“It's how ve did it last time,” he chuckled. “I can vait, I'm just excited.”
“It's not like we can really decide who will get me pregnant next,” I mused. “I can stop the birth control spell again but I think we should just let things happen naturally.”
“Hmmm,” he considered. “Da, is probably how ve did it first time.”
“Honestly, I don't know if I'm ready to go through another pregnancy,” I grimaced. “The last one almost killed me.”
“In so many vays,” he sighed. “Okay, ve vait.”
“At least until I get this star thing handled,” I rubbed at my chest. “I definitely can't think about having a baby when my body is so unbalanced.”
“Agreed,” Kirill pulled me into his side. “Ve'll talk about it more after ve fix your star.”
“I just wish I knew how to fix it,” I mused as I looked across Neverland.
I have feeling zat it vill show you,” Kirill kissed the top of my head. “For now, don't vorry about star. Focus instead on keeping husbands happy.”
“Wow, that sounded a little caveman.”
“I am man vith cave,” he reminded me.
“That you are,” I laughed and turned in his arms.
As caveman as his words had sounded, they had also described exactly what I wanted to do. So I gave in and pulled my husband's face to mine. There's no time like the present for happiness.
A flash went off and I jerked away from my husband, blinking in confusion. Kirill started to growl and I felt his body tense beneath my palms. I instantly slid my hands up his chest and kneaded his shoulders in an effort to calm him. If he lost it, so would I and I probably shouldn't hurt Pan's father at Horus and Hekate's engagement party.
“Hermes,” I ground out in a low voice.
“Godhunter,” Hermes lowered his camera and made a face at me, like he smelled something nasty. Probably his upper lip. Sorry, that was childish.
“Is there a reason you're snapping pictures of me kissing my husband like you're some kind of scumbag private eye?”
“I'm the party photographer,” he huffed. “I have to take pictures of everyone... even those I'd rather not look at.”
Hermes and I had a rocky past. Mainly because I'd killed Aphrodite, who'd been his lover. Ol' Afro had lots of lovers and a husband but that didn't seem to bother anyone except her husband. Her lovers, some of whom had wives, didn't see a problem with her sleeping around. I had no room to talk either but my husbands knew the deal, her's hadn't. She'd even had children with some of her lovers but not with her husband. I think she even had a son with Hermes but it wasn't Pan. His mother had been a wood nymph named Dryope... see, I did know things about Pan.
“You have four seconds to run,” Kirill stepped forward and lowered his face into Hermes'.
“I was just doing my job,” Hermes huffed, his boyish face twisted in anger. He flopped around and flounced off, his golden curls bouncing as he clutched his massive camera possessively.
“Damn nosy messenger gods,” Kirill growled.
“Ugh,” I huffed. “I hadn't considered that Pan would invite his father.”
“Huitzilopochtli, God of Sun and War!” Pinocchio, who looked fully recovered, called out from the ballroom door. “Accompanied by his wife; Eztli, Goddess of the Blood Moon!”
“We'd better go say hi,” I gave Kirill a worried look and he nodded.
We hadn't seen either Blue or Eztli since the battle in Norway and I was hoping that their presence here meant she was over Morvran's death. As we headed across the crowded room, Trevor joined us. My other men were occupied in conversations; Re with a flock of groupie goddesses, Odin with his children, and Azrael with his parents. So it was just the three of us who approached Blue and Eztli.
They were such a striking couple. Blue was in a b
lack tux with a crimson tie and Eztli wore a long, slinky dress which matched his tie perfectly. Everyone was staring at them and I wasn't sure whether it was because of how beautiful they looked or simply who they were. Whatever the case, I could see that Eztli noticed it too and it was bothering her.
“Hey. How are you both doing?” I gave Blue a quick hug.
I leaned towards Eztli in one of those hesitant moves you use with new acquaintances; are we huggers yet or do we just shake hands? She hesitated too, then leaned forward and gave me a fast, barely-there hug. It wasn't a huge step forward but it was enough to let me know that she wasn't holding me responsible for what happened to Morvran.
“We're fine,” she said. “Thank you for asking.”
“I'm glad you two came,” I went on more confidently. “I was getting worried that you might have changed your mind about joining the Squad.”
“I thought about what happened,” she said gravely and glanced at Blue. “And we talked about it. I understand what Morpheus did. I barely remember my blood relatives but I have a new family now and I've lost quite a few of them recently. Two in particular were a great wound in my heart. So I can sympathize with the need for vengeance.”
“I'm sorry for the vampires who we killed in Tuscany,” I offered gently. “But you did have my lions.”
“I'm not referring to them, Vervain,” she smiled sadly. “Soldiers enter a battle with the knowledge that they may die there. Such loss is tragic but not something which requires recompense.”
“Then who do you... oh.” I had a sudden flash of our first meeting; I was in a circle of blood and she was smiling smugly until Blue came striding in and and announced that he had killed her vampire escort.
I looked to Blue with wide eyes and he gave me a pained expression before nodding. Oh damn, Blue had been the one who had killed members of her new family. That must have been a tough hill to climb over.
