by Amy Sumida
“I as well,” Odin added. “He's a big one.”
Only Re and Azrael were left literally in the dark until the snake slithered into the straining light of Austin's bare porch bulb. Odin's assessment was accurate, the snake was a large one. Even bigger than the snake I'd wrestled the other night—about the size of Viper. He stopped just beyond the porch, his scales gleaming in the golden light. He was as black as he was in human form—an oily, true black with no markings to alleviate the darkness.
He rose on his thick body until his head was at the level of mine, then spoke, “Do not interfere further, Godhunter.”
“That's kinda my thing; it's right there in my name,” I countered. “You hunt humans, and I'll hunt you.”
“It won't be for much longer. I'm only asking for a little time.”
“Oh, so I'm supposed to let you keep killing because you're going to stop eventually?” I sneered. “Who are you? And who are the other snakes?”
“We are family,” he hissed. “And you'd do best to remember that you have family too. Do not hurt mine, and I will not hurt yours.”
I went still. Most of my family stood beside me or was safely ensconced in Pride Palace. There was only one man unaccounted for.
“Yes-s-s-s, I have your man,” he confirmed before I could ask.
“I'm going to make you into a pair of boots, motherfucker!” I snarled and started forward.
Odin and Trevor grabbed me by my upper arms and pulled me back.
The snake rose higher and bared his fangs at me—they dripped venom. “My family is with him now. Hurt me and they will kill him.”
“You made the wrong play, asshole.” Oh, yeah, all of my creative curses went bye-bye. “Now, I'm not going to stop until you're dead.”
“Think twice about your threats, Godhunter,” the black snake said smugly. “It will be so easy for my family to kill your man... your snake.”
“He's not so easily killed,” Odin snapped.
The black snake laughed—a hissing sound. “Do you know what happens to a snake when you put them in the cold?”
“They hibernate,” I whispered.
“Not exactly.” The snake undulated as if shaking his head. “They go into brumation. It's an extreme dormancy—our metabolism slows down so we can survive because we can't create our own body heat. Put a snake in extreme cold, and it will go to sleep forever.”
“What have you done to him?” I shrieked. I wouldn't say Viper's name. I wouldn't give this bastard anything.
“Don't worry. Your man is a god. He will not die. His body heals itself even as it freezes.”
“You've frozen him?” I roared.
“Put him on ice-e-e,” he hissed with delight.
“You are a dead snake,” I said calmly as I filled my hand with fire. “One plate of barbecued reptile coming up.”
The black snake reared back even as my men snatched at me again.
“We can't kill him,” Trevor whispered. “Think, Vervain! Think about what we talked about.”
Right. I was going to track Viper. But that wouldn't matter if this god managed to contact his family and they killed him first.
“Come after my people again, and I will start cutting pieces off your frozen snake. Shattering off pieces. Kill one of my people, and your man dies.”
A shrieking sound came from above and all of us, even the snake, angled our heads upward in shock. Something descended rapidly—a lot of somethings. The shadow of wings crossed the crescent moon, several of them, along with the outline of taloned feet. Feathers and claws. Birds. A flock of birds dive-bombed the enormous snake.
As they got closer, I noted that they were owls. Huge owls with tufts of feathers on their heads like horns and collars made of bone and leather that looked remarkably like armor. They screeched again and extended their legs as if coming in for a landing. But they didn't land. They struck the snake and everywhere they hit bled. Gaping wounds opened on that glossy hide. Black blood dripped onto the hard-packed earth of Austin's driveway.
“Sweet Peppa Pig!” I exclaimed. “It's the freakin' Owls of Ga'Hoole!”
My husbands and I gaped at the avian display, unsure of what to do. We needed the snake alive but hurting these owls seemed wrong—we had a common enemy after all. And who the hell were they anyway? They couldn't be normal owls. First of all, I'd never heard of owls traveling in a flock. They're solitary, aren't they? Predator birds and opportunistic hunters. They'll eat anything, even snakes. And it looked as if they were starving.
The black snake let out a pitiful cry and vanished. No, not vanished. He hadn't traced, he had shrunk. I caught the movement as he scurried into the grass. So did the owls. They chased the shrunken snake but then suddenly swooped upward, their screeches sounding furious—thwarted. The owl flock ascended, then flew away as quickly as they had arrived.
I ran forward in the direction the snake had gone, heading for the spot where the owls had given up. Sure enough, there was a tunnel there. A large tunnel, though it wasn't large enough for the owls to fly through. I stared at the smooth sides of the hole—thoughts of owls and earth filling my head. My men and Austin joined me and we all stared into the earth.
“Does that strike you as odd?” I asked.
“That a giant snake caused an earthquake, spoke to you, then was attacked by a whole mess of owls?” Austin asked sarcastically. “No, nothing odd there.”
“I meant the tunnel.” I waved a hand at it, then crouched to run that same hand along the inside. “It's smooth. He didn't dig this.”
Odin crouched beside me and touched the earth too. “He shifted the soil. That's why the earth shook.”
“He's a god who can move earth,” I murmured.
“Is that important?” Austin asked.
“It helps,” I said as I stood up. “Sometimes you can find a god by knowing what his magic is. There are bound to be many earth gods but this one is also a snake.”
“You're narrowing down the suspects,” Austin said in approval. “That's what detectives do.”
“That's what god hunters do too,” I said with a smirk. “But right now, I'm hunting a different snake god—one with star magic instead of earth.”
“It's time to get Viper back,” Trevor snarled.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“There you are!” I caught Viper's scent.
Odin had traced us to the spot where he'd come out of the tunnel. Before we left his house, I took Austin to Pride Palace. It's never a good thing when a bad god knows where you live. Believe me, I've been there. I also picked up Kirill and some of the Intare to bring back with me. Odin is powerful enough that he could draw all of us through the Aether with him in one go so he didn't have to make multiple trips.
“This way,” I said as I started after Viper's trail.
Since we were all under a glamour of invisibility, my words were a little silly. We had formed a chain just like we had to trace—each of us holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of us. Except for me, of course, since I was in the lead.
We began in a wooded area just outside the little town of Elgin and went straight into a historic district. It had a distinctly old west feel despite the modern lampposts and the traffic lights that dangled from cables strung between brick buildings. I don't know if it was the architecture or the antique signs or what that made it seem as if we were on the set of a John Wayne film. Maybe it was the two-foot-high, hand-painted, white, block letters proclaiming DRY GOODS above a storefront. Whatever the case, I half expected a tumbleweed to roll by.
It was getting late and the streets were deserted. The town was a bit larger than Lexington, but we'd yet to pass a bar. There had to be one around there somewhere. I've yet to visit a town in America that didn't have at least one bar. Viper's trail led me past a smokehouse and a Mexican restaurant, both closed. I ignored the spicy odors that hung in the air and focused on the musky scent of my lover. It led me to a steel door set into the back of a brick building. There
were no businesses in the building, only a sign declaring that it was available for rent. I dropped my glamour and waved toward the door.
“It's locked. Opening it will likely cause enough noise to alert them to our presence.” I stared at the empty space behind me expectantly.
The others dropped their glamours too. No sense in bothering with them at that point. I suppose we could have bought ourselves a little more time as far as sneaking up on the snakes went but once we engaged in battle, we'd have to reveal ourselves so that we didn't catch each other in the crossfire.
“Allow me.” Odin stepped forward and yanked the door open.
As I suspected, the lock screeched something fierce as it broke. We stormed inside while the echoes died down. The interior was dark, dusty, and broken up into several rooms. All of the rooms were empty but the corridor led to a storage room. The lights were on and a whirring came from the back corner. One of those freezers with the double doors that convenience stores use to store ice was the source of the sound.
Between the freezer and us stood a large group of people. They had dark skin, eyes, and hair with slim builds. I'd guess them to be either African, Haitian, or possibly Egyptian. I had a sudden image of the fire-spitting snakes that guarded the gates in Aaru and wondered if our enemies were closer to us than we knew. Could one of Re's people have betrayed him?
There were a good forty or so snake-shifters facing us, but I wasn't worried. I knew we'd win; Viper's life depended on it. It was only a question of how these snakes were going to die, not if. I could use fire but in such close quarters, I could injure one of my own. Better to go with Lunacy, from my Moon magic, or simply tear them apart with my dragon claws. I opted for the hands-on approach since I was so very, very pissed.
I flung my hands down—a move that used to release blades from a pair of Atlantean gloves I appropriated from the first god I killed, but now real claws sprung from my fingertips—dragon claws. The snake-shifters transformed as the rest of my group made their battle preparations. My Intare became lions while Kirill and Trevor took their were-forms. Azrael went Death Angel, Odin's hands started to glow, and Re's whole body started to shine. I grinned at the soon-to-be-dead snakes.
Then someone broke the tall, mullioned window at the back of the room.
Every head swung toward the window. A man in a leather jacket knocked away the remaining shards of glass with a crowbar, then a bunch of owls flew through the opening.
“Who the hell are these birds?” I muttered as I launched myself forward and started killing snakes.
I'd be damned if I let them have all the fun.
Owls swooped down, their cries echoing around us. Magic blasted forth in bright ribbons, lions roared, a werewolf howled, and Death swung his scythe. The man in leather climbed in the window, tossed the crowbar aside, and joined the melee. He was built like Kirill—muscular but not brutish—and had hair in the same shade of black. It went only to mid-back on him, not past his hips like Kirill's, but it was still lovely—glossy, thick, and straight. That's where the similarities to my black lion ended. This man's skin was tinted terracotta and his eyes were as dark as his hair.
He did as much damage as his owls, tearing out throats with curled fingers tipped in claws, striking downward instead of across as I did. Frankly, I didn't care how he fought as long as the throats he went after only belonged to the enemy snakes. And so far, they had been. He and his owls focused completely on the snake-shifters, not a single stray claw hitting one of us. But the snakes soon realized that they were hemmed in and on the losing side. They dropped to the floor and made for the window.
We gave chase—all of us. I got knocked into a couple of times by swooping birds and snarled at them absently as I tried to kill as many snakes as I could get my hands on. But the reptiles flowed like water, slipping past us and over the window ledge. En masse like that, several took damage but most managed to escape. The owls went shooting out the window after them, but I paused and looked back at the freezer.
“We'll take it from here,” the man in leather said to me.
I got a better look at his face then: strong lines, high cheekbones, and firm lips. Definitely Native American. But it was only a glimpse. Seconds after his declaration, he shifted. His body became hazy as it drew in on itself, condensing into the shape of an enormous owl. With the shift, his clothing transformed as well—shrinking into a leather and bone collar like the ones the other owls wore. That was a trick I was damn envious of and had never seen before. Magic clothing that transformed along with you? Where did I get me some?
The giant owl pushed off the cement floor, leaving scratches from his talons, and flew through the window, screeching as if warning us not to follow.
“Should we go after him?” Trevor's voice rumbled out of his werewolf throat.
“You can if you want to, but I'm not.” I ran to the freezer.
No one left. Instead, they gathered around me as I unlatched the freezer doors and cast them open. There, on the frosted metal floor, laid a giant, lime-green snake covered in ice crystals. I reached for him, but Odin grabbed my hand.
“You could shatter him,” Odin warned me. “We need to get his temperature up first.”
The whirring sound suddenly stopped, as did the influx of cold air. I glanced over to see Trevor with the freezer's plug in his werewolf hand. I nodded to him and then to Odin as I lifted my hand and called forth my fire.
“I think perhaps my magic would be better suited for this job,” Re suggested as he stepped up beside me.
I squinted at him as he started to glow with the heat of the sun. “Okay, just hurry.”
Now that Viper was before me, I could acknowledge how wrong I'd been. He hadn't left me. Well, he had, but he hadn't meant to stay away so long and completely ignore me. We could work this out. We could get past our argument. We just had to defrost him first.
The rest of us stepped back as Re's heat started to make us sweat. It wasn't burning, as it could have been, just the warmth of a summer's day. Under that magical sunlight, the ice melted from Viper's scales and water began to drip out of the freezer and onto the floor. The tip of Viper's tail twitched. I held my breath. His scales brightened. His eyelids fluttered. Finally, Viper lethargically lifted his head.
I jumped forward and yanked him out of the freezer, trying to gather his heavy coils so I could hold all of him. Viper's snake head draped over my shoulder as his body slipped through my hands and I ended up on the floor with him, his long body draped and curled around mine like a kitten with a ball of yarn—post playtime.
“You found me,” Viper whispered, his tongue tickling my neck.
I brought his head forward and cradled it like a baby. Snake eyes the color of fresh grass blinked up at me. Nearby, Re continued to shine—both palms held toward us. Sweat rolled down my back but I didn't care. I stroked that slick face and thanked fate for being kind today.
“It took awhile,” I was finally able to speak past the tightness in my throat. “But yeah, we found you. Can you shift?”
“Shift?” He blinked. “Oh.”
Viper's body shivered, the green brightening into a cloud of light. I felt him thicken and writhe in my arms, though I couldn't see all of his transformation. The breadth of his shoulders extended beyond my grasp but his neck remained in the cradle of my arm. The light faded and revealed Viper's naked body, lying across my lap. He gasped deeply, as if surfacing from a dive, and focused more intently on my face.
“Vervain.” Viper turned toward me as he slid off my lap and pulled me into an embrace. “I thought I was dead again.”
“Just asleep,” I said gently.
I felt the men around us back away, giving us some privacy without leaving us vulnerable. I was grateful for that, but I couldn't look at them—couldn't take my eyes from Viper's.
“I'm so sorry, Viper.”
Viper sat up and pulled me onto his lap. “No, I got embarrassed and behaved like an idiot.”
“But
I lectured you like a child. That was wrong of me. Do you really feel like I run your life?”
“Baby, you gave me life, then gave it purpose.” He briefly pressed his forehead against mine. “I'm sorry I said those things. I'm sorry I called you the Dark Star. You're not that woman. You'll never be her again.”
“I'm sorry I yelled at you in front of everyone and hit you like a girl.”
Viper chuckled. “We've had our first fight. It's not the end of the world.”
“No, we've seen the end of the world and this is not it.”
“Hell, baby, we came back from world domination, this little fight is nothing.”
“Yeah, but maybe next time we have an argument, don't run off and get frozen afterward,” I grumbled.
