The Tainted Web (The Godhunter, Book 7)

by Sumida, Amy

  The fey had that effect though, I smiled a little to myself. Something that portrayed itself as meek or even cute, could actually turn around and rip your heart out without a second thought. It was even more true about the fire fey, a fact that had been driven home to me more thoroughly by the Host and our recent Hunt. I would never look at the pixies the same.

  “Apologies accepted, little warrior,” Kohana looked Meilyr over with more than the shock everyone else had shown. His eyes shone with admiration and when I glanced at the other Thunderbirds, I saw the same expression on their faces. It made me like them even more, that they could understand one of my fey and respect him for what he was.

  “The Faerie Realm has very recently been opened,” I brought Kohana's attention back to me. “So you might want to spread the word that they fey will be back in our neck of the woods soon. There's nothing to worry about though, the High King will be laying some ground rules for them to follow.”

  “Good to know,” Kohana nodded.

  “Anyway,” I smiled and shook my head, “now that we've established titles that I'm evidently not allowed to ignore,” I spared a indulgent glance at Meilyr. “Let's get back to the matter at hand. The imps have suggested we lure Iktomi here. They've assured me that they can destroy pieces of his web, the foundations or moorings as you called them, and that should lure Iktomi into the Internet to investigate. Then they will lead him back here, where we have only one Internet connection, and once he's through, we will shut down the connection, hopefully trapping him here. Since this is the God Realm, there aren't wireless signals all over the place, so it should work. Torrent also agrees that this is viable and I'm sure he'll rest easier now that we have a little more godpower behind us.”

  “I think that could work,” Kohana looked around the room at the other Thunderbirds. “We will assist in any way we can.”

  “Thank you,” I sighed with a little relief. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

  “Well, this will only take care of Iktomi,” Kohana frowned. “Mica will be left without access to power once the Spider is squashed and should be easier to handle but it may take years for his power to wane, if ever. He will still be difficult to defeat but at least we'll be able to get to him, unlike Iktomi who's hard to even pin down.”

  “This is why our plan was unfinished,” Brahma looked thoughtful. “We didn't know what to do about Mica.”

  “Yes, he'll require a different approach,” Kohana nodded. “Another weakness of these two, is their lack of loyalty. Mica will be angered that his power source has been destroyed but he will not be moved toward revenge unless it will profit him. If he can run instead of facing us, he will. An outcome I'd like to avoid.”

  “So how do we avoid it?” Trevor had been relaxing back against the couch, with his arm stretched out behind me, but he leaned forward to enter the conversation.

  “We must lay a trap for Mica at the same time,” Karni Mata added in a tone that made it clear she thought the answer was obvious. Everyone turned to stare at her in surprise. “What?” She shrugged, “I'm the Rat Goddess, I know all about traps.”

  “Indeed,” I smiled at her. “That's exactly what must be done and with all of you plus my Intare,” I swept the room with a hand, “we should be able to do it. So what do we do to draw him out?”

  “What attracts coyotes?” Horus asked, tapping an elegant finger against the side of his nose.

  “Chickens?” Pan grinned at Horus, the repartee never stopped between those two.

  “Try bigger birds,” I eyed the Thunderbirds. “You said they are your sworn enemies, right?”

  “Yes,” Kohana cocked his head to the side.

  “Is there anything you can think of, that you or a member of your family can do that would challenge him in a way he couldn't resist?”

  “The casino,” one of the other birds said to Kohana.

  “Yes, of course,” he looked over at the man like he was surprised he hadn't thought of it for himself, then looked back at me. “We own a casino in New Mexico, it's how most of the Native American gods know to find us.”

  “And this helps because?” I prompted.

  “Mica loves games,” Torrent was smiling at Kohana.

  Kohana smiled back and his attractiveness went up about ten notches. “The surest way to catch his attention is to offer him a gamble. If we held an exclusive tournament, say a high stakes poker game, available to only the god community, and let it be known that not only would we be hosting the game but participating in it, Mica is sure to show up. He would not pass up the chance to best us on our own turf.”

  “So you guys get your tournament together, hold it in a special room which you can fill with all of your own people, and lock it after he enters,” I grinned back at the Thunderbird. “He'll be trapped.”

  “We will start the process at once,” Kohana nodded and waved a hand at one of the younger looking birds, who then rushed off towards the hallway, pulling out a cell phone as he went. “I'll let you know when we have everything in place and send back some of my people to help you with Iktomi.”

  “I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help,” I stood as he did and extended my hand to him.

  “The pleasure will surely be ours, Queen Vervain,” he smiled as he shook my hand and sent Meilyr a quick wink.

  As I walked the Thunderbirds out to the tracing point, I glanced over and caught Thor's eye. Something jolted inside me, my stomach clenched and my heart began to race. Memories of our time together filled my mind and I was breathless for a second under the assault.

  He frowned a little, probably wondering what the hell my problem was, and then started over to me but I turned away, back towards Kohana. I led the Thunderbirds down the hall, making small talk as we went, but even with my back to him, I could still feel a pull towards Thor.

  I bid the birds adieu and headed back toward the common room with Trevor and Kirill but when we neared the door, I saw Thor waiting beside it and I began to shake. No, no, no, I screamed internally. This was not happening! I needed some time to get my head together.

  “I think I need a little break,” I said to my men. “Could you guys handle our guests while I go lie down for a little while?”

  “Of course,” Trevor touched my upper arm in concern. “Are you going to be okay? Do you need anything?”

  “No, I'll be fine,” I smiled reassuringly and Trevor nodded but Kirill kept his piercing gaze on me like he knew I was full of it. He just nodded though and watched me as I walked away, a lot like Thor did.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The waiting was getting to me, so I went home to my little house in Kaneohe, Hawaii to get some painting done. I didn't have a lot of money worries ever since I'd sold off some of the jewelry Anubis had given me for our wedding(long story) but I hadn't started painting for the money. I loved to paint, that I made money at it was just a bonus.

  So I sat in front of my easel and tried to picture something other than Thor's face. It wasn't happening. All I could seem to think about was him, his eyes, his thick arms, that stupid rock in his forehead. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach like I had made some fatal mistake. Why hadn't I made up with Thor?

  Because of his father, for one. I tried to focus on Odin but I couldn't hold the picture of him for very long. Then I tried Trevor, nope, no reaction there. It was strange but it felt like all of my love for my men had dried up. The only love I could dig up from inside me was for Thor.

  “What the fuck?” I asked the canvas in front of me, which had somehow been painted with an image of my ex-boyfriend's face. “This is ridiculous,” I told it but Thor just smiled back at me like he knew something I didn't. “I don't love you anymore,” I tried to tell him but the painting had no answers for me, so I gave up and went to grab a soda from the fridge.

  On the way back to my art room, Trevor traced in. I stared at him, trying to connect with him, reaching for the wolf inside of me that was a part of Trevor's soul, and
feeling nothing but irritation toward him.

  “What? I can't have one blessed minute to myself?” I snapped at him.

  “Minn Elska?” He stared at me in shock.

  “Agh,” I walked away from him, “always with the pet names. Why can't anyone ever call me Vervain? I mean is it really that hard to pronounce? Ver-vain, you all should be pretty familiar with the second half, there's not a modest one of you in the entire bunch.”

  “Kirill's pretty modest,” Trevor had followed me back into the art room, mouth open and eyes wide, like I was performing a circus act.

  “Kirill?” I scoffed as I slammed my coke down, getting sticky soda all over the table. “Are you kidding me? He knows he's gorgeous, flinging all that hair around while giving everyone his serious face. Look at me, I'm Kirill, I'm so beautiful my last Tima chose me first and my next Tima took me as a lover even though she was already bound in a bogus werewolf Binding that she had no choice in!” I ended my rant in a near scream, sending Trevor reeling back into the hallway.

  “Vervain,” he held out a hand. “This is getting worse. I'm going to get Teharon.”

  “Oh, there's something wrong with me alright,” I sneered at him. “I've put up with your manipulations, Kirill's whining, Odin's obsession, and Azrael's blasé behavior for long enough. I'm done with all of you. I want you out of my house by the time I get back, you and that long-haired lion!”

  I grabbed my purse and pushed past him. He reached out a hand to stop me and I snarled at him. He inhaled sharply, his eyes flashing yellow once as the wolf in him threatened to come out and meet my challenge, but I knew the dragon in me was too much for even an alpha werewolf and sure enough, the light never returned to his eyes and Trevor released my arm.

  I stormed out of my house, taking the steps two at a time, and marched over to my car. Before I made it to the garage though, a car horn stopped me in my tracks, and I looked up to find Thor parked in front of my house in a mustang convertible. I frowned as my heart leapt and my feet carried me over to him all on their own.

  I eyed the car as I reached him, it was a rental, one of the models popular with the tourists. What the hell was Thor doing in front of my house in a car? The rental part wasn't all that surprising, I don't know if he even owned anything beyond his boat, but for him to be there at that particular moment seemed a little too fortuitous.

  “What are you doing here, Thor?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

  “I needed to talk to you and I was told you'd be here,” he smiled but it soon faded as he saw Trevor coming out of the house. “Is this a bad time?”

  “No, it's perfect,” I jumped into the car, suddenly desperate to get away from Trevor. “Drive.”

  “Where to?” He gave me a confused look as Trevor began to run across the yard.

  “Just drive!” I shouted and Thor hit the gas.

  “Vervain!” Trevor yelled after us, coming to a stop in the middle of the road.

  “What's going on, Vervain?” Thor glanced in the rear view mirror and then over at me.

  “I just broke up with Trevor,” I sighed and sat back into the plush seat.

  “You what?” He stared at me like I'd lost my mind.

  “I know,” I rubbed at my forehead. “I think I broke up with them all actually.”

  “Vervain,” Thor shook his head.

  “Turn here,” I gestured at a street on our right.

  “Where are we going?”

  “The botanical gardens,” I pointed as we drove up to and then past a gate with a sign that read: Ho'omaluhia. “I need some peace and quiet.”

  “Alright,” he still looked confused. “Just tell me where to go.”

  “Keep driving,” I sighed and focused on the road but he hit the brake a little too hard while taking a curve and I looked over at him, shocked out of my melancholy. “When's the last time you drove a car?”

  “This is my first time,” he beamed at me.

  “Your first time?” I sat up straight. “You've never driven before? How's that even possible?”

  “I haven't had the need,” he shrugged and looked away.

  “Alright,” I held up my hands, “you don't have to be embarrassed about it or anything. Everyone has a first time.”

  “It's a lot of fun,” he was back to grinning.

  “Turn in here,” I huffed a little laugh as we pulled into an empty parking lot.

  After he parked, we got out and I led him down a little path, trees closing in around us and giving me the strangest sense of foreboding, until we emerged into bright sunshine glinting off the surface of a calm lake. I led him over to a clear spot near the shore, automatically scanning the area for any threats. There were none, the only movement came from the ducks floating on the lake and waddling around the water's edge.

  It was the perfect place for the mood I was in. So I sat down and dug my fingers into the grass, trying to ground myself and figure out where all this rage toward my lovers had come from. Ex-lovers. Something leaped inside me in denial but it was quickly burned away by the flames Thor's presence was starting to fan.

  “Do you wish to speak on it?” He eyed me out of the corner of his eye.

  “No,” I sighed. “I don't know. I've been having the strangest feelings for you lately.”

  “You have?” His eyes fastened on me intently.

  “I don't know, Thor,” I scrubbed a hand across my face. “There are reasons we're not together anymore, I just can't seem to remember them now.”

  “Because they're not important,” he touched the side of my face gently and I was a goner.

  All the memories that had been haunting me lately, came crashing down on me at once, and I couldn't stop myself from leaning toward him. Then he was kissing me and I was flooded with emotion like a stopper had been pulled. I shook with the rush of it as he laid me on the grass beneath him.

  He felt so right, so good pressed against me, his thick shoulders under my hands and his lips on mine. I pushed him back so I could look into his beautiful sea-blue eyes, a mix of blue and green, and I was a little disappointed to not see any lightning flashing in them. Always in the past, by this point, his eyes would be flashing. Then I looked over his face more closely, registering little nuances that weren't quite right.

  “Where's the rock?” I finally blurted out.

  “What?” He blinked down at me.

  “The rock,” I pushed him off me, more sure that this wasn't Thor, by his reaction to the question. “The one embedded in your forehead.”

  To my utter disbelief, he started to laugh. He laughed and laughed, great rolling waves of it that only served to make me more certain that this was not Thor. Thor's laugh was like thunder, this man's echoed but didn't boom. He was an impostor.

  “Truly?” He finally stopped laughing to look over at me. “He has a rock in his head? How could that possibly have happened?”

  “Who the hell are you?” I stood up and he sighed before getting to his feet as well.

  “I guess I can drop all pretenses,” he grinned and it definitely wasn't a smile I'd ever seen on Thor's face. For one thing, it had way too many teeth.

  He lifted his hands and very slowly, very deliberately, pulled a ring off his finger... the ring I'd given Thor. He tossed it to the ground and I felt the anger that had been gripping me, fall away like a shroud, cold and silky with the essence of death in it.

  I gasped as the horror of what I'd done hit me, my emotions bombarding me as my beasts came roaring back to life. It was like surfacing from underwater or coming over the mountain and having your ears pop. An awakening that made you realize how much your sense had been dulled. I'd been living in a fog, a Thor fog. Then Thor's face slipped away and I was faced with the real man beneath the glamor.

  “This isn't possible,” I whispered. “We killed you. You're very, very dead.”

  “Hmmm,” Kael cocked his head to the side. “Did you? Or did you kill my sister Mordag perhaps? She who helped me escape the cell in the roots of
the Castle of Eight and vowed to get vengeance upon the House of Fire for me. Did you kill her, Fire Queen? Because if you did, I'll have one more reason to kill you.”

  “Your sister?” I gaped. “No it was you, I saw your face myself.”

  “You saw a glamor,” he spat, “just like the one I used on you today. She did it to protect me and I won't squander her sacrifice.”

  “A glamor,” I glanced at the ring, “and a love spell. You used my hair in that ring to bespell me!”

  “Again,” he laughed grimly, “my sister's idea. She stole that ring from your ex-lover when she danced with him at the Faerie-God Ball. She felt its tie to you and thought we might use it to lure you away and kill you, but then you so thoughtfully placed yourself right into my hands and we didn't have a need for the ring. Until later.”

  “So you made me break up with my boyfriends just to lure me out of the house,” I huffed. “Was that really necessary?”

  “No,” he laughed and did a sort of slide and grab maneuver that left me straddling his back, his hand on my forearm holding me to him. “That was just for fun and your death shall be even more enjoyable.”

  He shifted beneath me, changing from man to horse in seconds. His hand dropped away as it shifted into a hoof but I found myself adhered firmly to his back, despite the lack of restraint. I pushed at his wide shoulders but it did no good, I was well and truly stuck.

  “What the fuck?” I began to pummel him, then pull at the thick kelp-like mane, but he just gave a neighing snort and trotted toward the water. “Oh hell no,” I whispered.

  I was afraid of the water, had been since I was very young, and I'd always attributed it to some shenanigans which had resulted in me treading water in the middle of the ocean at the age of five, but now I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't that at all. Maybe it was just the dragon-sidhe in me, making it very clear that water was not our friend.