Amy Sumida - Perchance To Die (The Godhunter Book 12)

by Unknown

  “Sweet baby nurials!” I jumped. “How long have you been here?”

  “A few minutes,” he laughed. “I said hello but you were distracted.”

  “Yeah, I tend to retreat into my head when I paint,” I admitted. “How are you? Did you need something?”

  “I'm fine. I just thought I'd come say hello and then I saw you painting and got curious,” he indicated the canvasses with a wave of his hand. “These are really good. Do you sell them?”

  “Yeah. Once upon a time, when I was a mere mortal, I painted for a living,” I chuckled. “Then I found out about the gods and my life took a drastic turn. Now I don't have a lot of free time for painting, much less for selling them. My dealer is getting annoyed.”

  “Did you tell him you're hunting gods for his benefit?” He joked.

  “Well, not the dealer but I did tell the Interior Designer that buys a lot of my work,” I grinned at his shocked face. “She's also a good friend of mine and a witch. She knows all about this.”

  “That must have been an interesting conversation.”

  “You should know, you heard it yourself very recently.”

  “Yeah, I guess that's true,” his eyes wandered over the paintings. “Who's this?” He pulled a portrait out of the stack and held it up in front of him.

  I froze and stared at the lines of a face that was so familiar to both my heart and my hands.

  “Look at his eye,” I whispered. “Who do you think he is?”

  Griffin frowned and looked closer, finally seeing the unmistakable peacock blue. Then he put the painting down and stood back from it, studying it. His face settled into intense lines, his eyes focused on the face that must have been completely foreign to him and yet it was him. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling.

  Oh wait, maybe I could.

  “It's surreal, isn't it?” I came up beside him and looked down at Odin's face. “Knowing that's what you looked like and yet having no memory of it. At least I had a few memories of Sabine by the time I saw her.”

  “I know that face,” he slid a glance toward me. “It's like a song I used to know. The words are just on the tip of my tongue but I can't get the melody right.”

  “Yeah, that's a good way of describing it.” I thought about what I went through when Odin first confessed who we were to each other. “And it's scary, really scary. So much of who we think we are is wrapped up in our appearances. We look in a mirror and say; 'Yes, that's me. Those are my eyes and that's my mouth, my chin, my hair.' It's shocking to realize that all of this,” I waved a hand to my face, “has little to do with who we really are. It's just a shell, a package we slipped into. Once the fallacy of who we are being tied to our physical bodies is stripped away, we're left reeling with the truth. That although the physical affects us, it does not define us and we must search for the definition of ourselves inwardly not outwardly. I guess that's when I realized I didn't know myself at all.”

  “At least you had memories to cling to,” he glanced at me. “The only memories I have aren't really mine.”

  “But they're also bad memories, memories that you don't want,” I offered. “I had a brand new life that had to be reconciled with my old one. A life I didn't want to give up. I am Vervain, there's no disputing that, but I'm also Sabine and that was hard to come to terms with. I'm not saying my situation was more difficult than yours but it wasn't easy either.”

  “No, I don't expect it was,” he cocked his head and looked back at the painting. “I was a pretty good-looking guy.”

  “Yes,” I exhaled a surprised laugh. “You knew it too.”

  “Are you saying I was egotistical?”

  “Honey,” I smirked. “You were a god, egotistical is too mild a word for it.”

  “Were,” he frowned. “So I'm mortal now?”

  “Yes,” I considered my answer carefully. “Do you want to be immortal again?”

  “I don't know. What would it mean exactly? What would the price be for this immortality?”

  “Oh, what an Odin question that was,” I smiled fondly. “And to answer it, I'm not sure. I became a goddess after I stole god magic. I already had a goddess' power when I took a sip from the grayel. With you, it would be like creating a new god and I'm not sure how that works. It used to be that new gods were given their magic by the people who believed in them. Then they were bound by that belief. So I don't know if that means you'd get immortality without magic. I'll ask Fenrir, his fiance recently became immortal.”

  “But would I be a new god?” He walked to the balcony doors and stared out across the grasslands. “If my soul really is Odin's, then wouldn't I still be him? Wouldn't I become Odin again? Have his magic?”

  “I... I don't know,” I floundered. “It's a good theory.”

  “Then I'll wait on the immortality,” he turned to face me. “I'm not ready to be him again.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “It's another Zombie Apocalypse!” Aidan's voice came through the intercom near the door.

  I jolted upright in the bed.

  “It's not zombies,” Teharon's voice replaced Aidan's. “But could you all please come down and join us?”

  I looked from Trevor to Kirill and sighed. Here we go again. I climbed out of the massive bed and down the little steps of its platform. I padded across the purple carpet and cast a longing glance at the electric kettle in our little kitchen. Sigh, tea was going to have to wait till I went downstairs.

  “We'll be right down, Teharon,” I pressed the button and said into the intercom.

  Then I wandered into the closet, which was really a room unto itself. I couldn't help smiling when the lights came on. It really was magnificent, everything I'd ever wanted in a closet. I ran my hand over the glass showcases, my emerald pendant from Odin rested in one of them on a bed of black velvet. Then I stopped gawking and got dressed. I could admire my closet later, after I heard about the not-zombies.

  Trevor and Kirill wandered in and pulled some clothes on too. Jeans and T-shirts, so casual and yet so gorgeous. I sighed as I slid into a knee-length black sheath dress. I would have liked to spend some time undressing them in the closet but that was yet another thing I didn't have time to do.

  We took the elevator down to the first floor and found the dining hall full of gods. Well okay, it wasn't full but the whole God Squad was there, including my sons, Vidar and Vali. I kissed them hello and took the cup of coffee Vali offered me. It wasn't the tea I'd been craving but it would do.

  “What's going on?” Trevor asked before I could.

  “Please, everyone take a seat,” Teharon was sitting across the long table from the seat I took, with Karni Mata beside him. He looked way too serious, even for him, and I couldn't tell anything from Karni's totally black gaze.

  We all sat, taking up quite a bit of room as several Intare had joined us also. I gave Pan a questioning look but he just shrugged. It looked like I wasn't the only one out of the loop.

  “We had a visit from the Thunderbirds today,” Teharon started.

  “Oh how wonderful, how are they?” I perked up. “Is the casino doing all right?”

  “They're fine,” Teharon waved away my questions. “But it wasn't a social visit. They came to deliver a warning.”

  “A warning?” Horus peered down his nose at Teharon. “Have they declared war on us? I would have thought birds would have more sense than that.”

  “The warning wasn't concerning them,” Teharon sighed, sensing that he wasn't going to get his story out without interruptions. “They came to tell me that my brother has begun to build an army of monsters.”

  “Monsters?” Blue cocked his head, his sleek, shoulder-length, black hair sliding in a perfect curtain to frame his jade eyes. “That's a relative term, isn't it?”

  “Hold the presses,” I stood up and everyone stopped talking. “Gods damn it!” I pounded the table with my fists. “Does anyone else have any siblings or other relatives they want to tell me about? Like right now?”
>
  “We all have family, Vervain,” Brahma shrugged. “How could we not, with as long as we live? You may or may not meet them and that may or may not be a good thing. So let's just leave our relatives out of our relationship for the time being, shall we?”

  I have a daughter,” Thor said casually and the room went silent.

  “You have a what?” I turned my head slowly to face him.

  “I have a daughter,” he looked around the table at all the grim faces with a perplexed look of his own. “What? You all know about Thrud.”

  “Thrud?” I gaped in indignation. “I don't know what's worse; the fact that you have a daughter who you never told me about... even when we were dating, that everyone else knows about her already, or that she's named Thrud. What kind of stupid name is that?”

  “You named your son Vidar,” Thor glared at me.

  “Vidar is so much better than Thrud,” I huffed. “Thrud isn't a name, it's a sound. Thru-u-ud, the sound you're going to make when I knock your ass out and your head hits my floor.”

  Pan started giggling and Trevor coughed loudly into his hand.

  “Why are you so upset?” Thor really was baffled.

  “You have a child that you never told me about!” I leaned across the table at an angle so I could yell at him. “And we slept together. We talked about marriage! We talked about children and you didn't think to tell me that you already had a daughter? You're supposed to tell your girlfriend about any children she may become a mother to.”

  “Thrud hardly needs mothering anymore,” Thor scoffed.

  “Yes, and that's a good thing,” Horus sniffed, “since you killed her mother.”

  Silence.

  “I'm sorry, what was that, Horus?” I transferred my glare to him.

  “Thrud was Sif's daughter,” he looked me square in the face. Gotta hand it to Horus, he didn't fold under pressure.

  “You had a child with Sif?” I looked back at Thor. “Sif, the one who tried to behead me in my sleep? That Sif?”

  “To be fair,” Finn piped up. “You beheaded a lot of gods in their sleep first.”

  “And I'm about to behead one while he's awake,” I growled at Finn.

  “Vervain, leave Finn alone,” Ull sighed. “This doesn't matter right now.”

  “You!” I pointed a finger at Ull and he jerked back in his seat. “You never thought to mention that you had a sister?”

  “She kind of takes after Mom,” he gave me an apologetic look. “A little intense. Not someone you should meet, you know?”

  “Vervain, can we get back to the matter at hand?” Teharon made the mistake of garnering my attention.

  “And you!” I sat back in my chair heavily. “You have a brother?”

  “A twin brother actually,” Blue added and everyone looked in his direction. “What? I assume you all know who he is.”

  “No, they don't,” Teharon sighed. “He's a bit of a touchy subject for me.”

  “Oh, my apologies,” Blue waved his hand toward Teharon. “Please proceed.”

  “Why thank you,” Teharon's voice dripped sarcasm.

  “Wait,” I stared Blue down. “How do you know who his brother is?”

  “Because he was a friend of Huitzilopochtli's,” Teharon answered. “His name is-”

  “No,” I interrupted. “No way, nuh-uh. Don't you dare tell me-”

  “Tawiskaron,” Teharon finally just spoke over me.

  “The guy with the mohawk and the suit?” I gaped at him and then thought back. I hadn't seen that god in years. He'd been on Team Blue at the time and I'd been a little afraid for my life when we'd met, but I seemed to recall a certain similarity in features. “Twins? Your twin is a demon god?”

  “He's not the kind of demon you're thinking of,” Teharon shot a look at Karni and she shrugged.

  “There are many types of demons,” she helped explain. “Every culture has their personification of evil. There must be a balance and Teharon's brother was the darkness to his light.”

  “Could we not use that word right now?” I rubbed at my forehead.

  “What, evil?” She cocked her head at me, long white hair shifting around her.

  “No, darkness,” I grimaced. “I've had enough issues with the Darkness to last me a lifetime and it doesn't seem to be over yet.”

  “The Darkness is back?” Trevor grabbed my arm, his eyes wide and alarmed.

  “No, it's the dark fey now, remember?” I reassured him. “They've just been having some trouble adjusting to their new bodies. Never mind that, tell us more about your brother, Teharon. What's he been doing?”

  “My brother is the God of Winter and Darkness,” Teharon started.

  “What the hell did I just say?” I huffed. “And winter isn't a happy word for me either, by the way.”

  “Vervain, I'm not going to change my brother's title for the sake of your delicate sensibilities.” Teharon growled, shocking me into silence. “His magic is in diametric contradiction to mine.”

  “What did he just say?” I whispered to Trevor.

  “I have no freaking clue,” Trevor whispered back. “He's using those big words again.”

  “Oh for Heaven's sake,” Persephone huffed. “His brother is the opposite of him. Light and dark, winter and summer, health and disease, perfection and mutation.”

  “Well I see we've entered the no humor zone,” I mumbled to Trevor.

  “He's my opposite, that's why he makes monsters,” Teharon nodded to Sephy. “My magic heals and perfects, his mutates and poisons.”

  “I don't like that word either,” I whispered, thinking of the Hidden Ones.

  “Oh, what word now, Vervain?” Teharon was really getting upset if he was speaking to me like that.

  “Monster,” I said seriously to him. “I don't like the word monster. If he causes mutations, then they're mutants. They're not monsters.”

  “Okay,” Teharon sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. “I'm sorry, I'm just so stressed about this.”

  “It's okay, I deserved it.” I took the teasing tone out of my voice. “Now, who is he mutating?”

  “What's that?” Teharon looked up.

  “You said he's making mutants,” I prompted. “Out of who?”

  “Oh,” he blinked. “He's taking homeless people off the streets, runaways and prostitutes, people who won't be missed.”

  “How evil mastermind cliché of him,” I sighed.

  “And did the Thunderbirds know why he's making mutants?” Hades asked.

  “No,” Teharon glanced at the Lord of the Underworld. “That's another reason why they came to me. They want me to go talk to him, see what he's up to exactly and try to get him to stop.”

  “Will that work?” Finn asked, the barest hint of an Irish lilt betraying his discomfort. “Will he listen to you?”

  “I don't know,” Teharon shared another look with Karni Mata. “But I have to try. If he keeps going, the Thunderbirds will intervene.”

  “Alright then,” I looked around the table at the God Squad. “When do we leave?”

  “You don't have to go with me,” Teharon looked around the table. “I just wanted to keep you all informed.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I gave him a lopsided grin. “You had me at mutants. Which, by the way, was the first draft of You had me at hello. Come on, let's go see your brother.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Really?” I looked up at the snow covered mountain looming before us. “There? All the way up there? Why did I say I wanted to come along, again?”

  “Because you're the kind of person who always has her friend's back.” Trevor came to stand beside me and stare up at the mountain with a gleam in his eye. He loved this kind of stuff; hiking, the outdoors, fresh air, blah, blah, blah. Sure I liked it too... when I was an animal. Not so much when I was a woman. I mean, come on, don't I get enough exercise hunting gods?

  “Why couldn't we have just traced up there?” I glared at the mountain peak like it was all
its fault.

  “We can trace closer now,” Teharon nodded. “I just wanted to do it carefully, check out the area first. In case Tawiskaron has left us any surprises.”

  “Surprises?” Pan hunched into his puffy jacket. “Normally I'd be all up for surprises but today? Not so much.”

  “Exactly,” Teharon pointed toward the mountain. “You see that large pine? That's near the Jay Camp. We can meet there, that's as far as we can go on that trail anyway. The Long Trail goes one way and we have to go the other.”

  “Jay Camp, the Long Trail?” I narrowed my eyes on Teharon and took a good look around. “Where the hell are we?”

  “You can say that again,” Brahma stamped his feet, huffing foggy breath into the air.

  “I told you all you didn't have to come,” Teharon rolled his eyes. “This is Jay Peak, we're in Vermont.”

  “But why are we in Vermont?” I whined.

  “Our people come from this area,” Teharon started to look a little sad. Karni patted his shoulder, her white glove looking like a flag of surrender against Teharon's black wool coat. “Tawiskaron has never left.”

  “Plus,” Horus looked around him disdainfully. “He's a winter god, remember? He probably loves this horrid cold.”

  “Yes, precisely,” Teharon gestured to the tree, its pine needles barely peering through the heavy layer of snow weighing it down. “Shall we?”

  “Right,” I nodded and traced up to the tree.

  It took only seconds to trace up the mountain. I appeared in a packed earth clearing adorned with snow and mushy puddles of dirty water. There was a single cabin standing in “Jay Camp” and rustic would be a kind way of describing it. Everyone popped in around me as I continued to glare at the structure.

  “I thought you said this was a camp?” Hades voiced my opinion perfectly.