Cities of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 2)

by S. M. Schmitz

  Cameron lifted his chin in Jasper’s direction. “I knew he always carries that pistol. The New Pantheon came close to capturing him once, and he never goes anywhere without it now.”

  “Well, I didn’t know that,” Selena pouted.

  “I didn’t exactly have a chance to explain why I was mocking them like that, other than it was just fun.”

  “Are you sure they’re gone?” Jasper asked uneasily. He’d lowered his gun but still hadn’t put it away. His eyes kept searching the parking lot, as if waiting for the Norse to reappear.

  “Yeah,” Cameron answered. “Now that they know demigods aren’t obligated to fight fair, they might even leave us alone for a while.”

  “But they found us awfully quickly,” Selena said. “It’s almost like there’s some beacon in that hammer, and they’re just following the signal.”

  “I should have left it in the Otherworld,” Cameron sighed. “I wanted to leave it in the Otherworld, but Macha and Badb insisted I take it.”

  “If Thor can somehow sense it or track it, then we can’t hide it anywhere here and we can’t keep it with us. What the hell are we supposed to do with it?” Selena asked.

  “Hope the threat of shooting them is enough to keep them away for a while?” Cameron responded.

  Selena crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “If that’s our plan, we’re going to need more guns. And just so you know, I didn’t grow up hunting either. I feel just as useless with this as I would fishing.”

  Cameron shrugged at her and handed her the golden hammer. “You can carry this then. You wouldn’t shoot one of the Norse anyway, even though I sometimes think your compassion should have limits.”

  “It does,” Selena mumbled. “I didn’t feel at all sorry for Quetzalcoatl.”

  “But would you have shot him?”

  “Once he started throwing spears at you, yes,” Selena snapped.

  “Ok, got it!” Jasper interrupted, sounding completely exasperated by their incessant talking yet again. “Selena, Cameron’s right, and I can’t believe I just said that. You really have no business with a gun because I’m not convinced you can hurt anyone. It’s not in your nature as a… mostly-goddess of healing. But we should arm Cameron and Anita in case the Norse show up again, or worse, show up with help.”

  Selena held the hammer out and frowned at it. “And… I’m stuck carrying this thing around?”

  “Gets old really fast, doesn’t it?” Cameron asked.

  Selena nodded, and Cameron smiled at her and took Mjölnir from her. “So I’m useless,” she sighed.

  All three demigods stared at her, but to her surprise, Jasper answered her before Cameron could. “How could you think that? You’re the only one who can keep us alive. From what I hear, you may even be able to bring us back to life.”

  She swallowed at the painful reminder of healing Alan’s lifeless body and kicked at a patch of grass growing through a crack in the cement of the parking lot. “If we can trust this particular Irish myth, then Dian Cécht could heal anything except decapitation.”

  “And apparently replacing hands,” Cameron reminded her.

  Selena smiled at the patch of grass and nodded. “Although there’s a tiny possibility Creidne, who’s like the blacksmith for the Irish gods, made Nuada’s silver hand, not Dian Cécht, which would make more sense.”

  “Got it,” Jasper interrupted. “Don’t get anything cut off. I’ll try to avoid that. Think we can get out of Bakerton, Nebraska now though? Because the only way I know how to arm Cameron and Anita is to get back to Louisiana.”

  “Selena could just break us into a pawn shop or something,” Cameron suggested.

  “What is it with you and breaking and entering?”

  “Hey, we didn’t break into the glass castle so that was merely a suggestion made in good fun.”

  “We didn’t break in because we couldn’t find a way in. And then that possessed creature…”

  “I give up,” Jasper said. “I’m walking back to Baton Rouge. Anita… if I were you, I’d think about joining me because those two have every pantheon in the world chasing them and they’re annoying as hell.”

  Anita shrugged and told him, “I still think they’re cute. And that’s a long walk. But…” She grabbed Selena’s shoulders and turned her around then pointed to a car in the parking lot. “It’s not a Porsche, but how about that Mercedes?”

  Cameron nodded in apparent approval and grabbed Selena’s hand, dragging her toward the black Mercedes. “We’re improving. Maybe next time, we will finally get our Porsche.”

  “If there’s a Hell, we’re so going there.”

  “Nah, you’re safe. Even if you were to die after joining the Tuatha Dé, pretty sure Hell doesn’t want to bother with dead goddesses.”

  “What do you think happens to gods when they die then?” Selena asked as she unlocked the doors on the Mercedes. “Either no one has a soul, or only humans do, and if that’s true, what about us? If demigods have souls, do we give it up when we become gods?”

  “Are you seriously having an existential crisis in a cheap motel parking lot in the middle of nowhere Nebraska?” Jasper asked.

  “It’s Nebraska,” Cameron pointed out. “Everywhere is the middle of nowhere.”

  “Point taken,” Jasper conceded.

  “And I’m driving this time,” Cameron said. “Jasper, you can… here, hold this.” He handed Mjölnir to him, and Jasper wrinkled his nose and sighed.

  Selena laughed and slid into the passenger seat. “Think we’re biologically predisposed to be disgusted by Thor’s weapon?”

  Cameron nodded again and waited for her to start the car. The engine purred to life, and he smiled at her, that playful, sexy grin that still made her heart jump into her throat every single time. “If we’re returning to Baton Rouge, can we make a pit stop to deal with Quinn and Avery? And to answer your question, I think humans and demigods have souls… except for those two.”

  Selena shook her head and grinned back at him. “If they come looking for us, we’ll deal with it. I know you’re hurt and angry, but we’re better than them.”

  Cameron snickered and shifted the car into reverse. “No, my Sweet Goddess. You’re better than them. The rest of us are just riding your coattails.”

  “If that’s the case,” Anita said, leaning forward from the backseat so Selena could see her, “I’m happy to ride along with you.”

  Jasper grunted and threw the golden hammer on the floorboard by his feet. Cameron smiled at Selena and told her, “You’re winning him over.”

  Selena smiled back at him as he pulled onto the street and insisted, “You’re still not giving yourself enough credit. You got pulled into a world you wanted no part of, and that’s not your fault. But you’re a good man, Cameron. You’re nothing like the gods you hate so much.”

  Cameron glanced in the rearview mirror and licked his lips, accelerating as they passed through the town’s incorporated limits and into the surrounding farmland. “That’s what worries me, Selena,” he said quietly. “Sometimes, I think I’m far more like them than I want to admit.”

  Chapter Nine

  The sun had set by the time they reached Baton Rouge. Selena and Cameron had moved to the backseat, and Anita slept in the passenger seat up front while Jasper drove. In a rare moment of showing he was actually capable of courteousness, Jasper whispered to Cameron, “Think this is a good place to stop for the night?”

  Selena looked out the window at the motel. They’d had terrible luck with motels lately. Either the New Pantheon or the Norse would probably just burn this one down.

  But Cameron agreed it was a good choice since it was so close to the interstate in case they needed to leave quickly again, and Selena’s conviction that this night would end up exactly like the previous one only grew the closer they got to the motel’s parking lot. As soon as Jasper pulled into an empty space, Selena killed the engine and asked them, “What should we do about this car? We can’t le
ave it here. The cops have to be looking for it.”

  Jasper nodded and Anita stirred and yawned, looking around in that dazed way people often do when waking in an unfamiliar setting.

  “We’re going to check in then you’ll start the engine again,” Jasper said. “I’ll take care of getting rid of it.”

  “Getting rid of it… Jasper, this isn’t a gangster movie. There are no docks around here where you can just push it off into the ocean.”

  Jasper snorted and almost smiled at her. “I’m going to hide it, Selena. Tomorrow, we are going to have to get rid of it in a more permanent way though, not only to evade the cops but just in case the Norse saw us leave in it.”

  Cameron stuffed Thor’s hammer into a black duffel bag they’d found in the trunk and looked at the dark street that ran in front of the motel. “Where are you going to hide it? And how are you going to get back here?”

  “Down the road. And I’m going to walk back. I’ll be gone an hour. Anita, stay with them until I get back.”

  Anita nodded and covered her mouth as she yawned again. She grinned sheepishly at Cameron and Selena and pointed toward the clock. “This is what happens when you keep an old lady up past midnight.”

  “You’re not old,” Selena told her.

  “And at least you didn’t turn into a pumpkin or something,” Cameron added.

  Jasper grunted and shook his head. “I’ll go get the rooms. Let’s just hope the Norse didn’t figure out the fake names on the IDs Athena gave us.”

  “Or Ukko,” Cameron reminded him. “Don’t forget about those guys.”

  Jasper rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like “Obnoxious asshole.”

  By the look on Cameron’s face, that was exactly what he was going for; apparently, the temporary truces between them could only last so long. Selena had listened to them occasionally acting like mature adults all day as some decision needed to be made, but as soon as it was over, one of them had to shatter the dam and let the flood waters loose.

  Jasper disappeared into the lobby, and Anita yawned and twisted in her seat again so she could see Cameron and Selena in the back. “Do you know the story of Deirdre?” she asked.

  Cameron immediately said no, but Selena had read about her tragic myth. She just had no idea why Anita would mention it now. Anita glanced at the lobby where Jasper had just approached the counter then smiled at Cameron. “You should read more Irish mythology, Cameron. I’ve always interpreted it as a cautionary tale of what happens when someone interferes between the bond of two soul mates.”

  “Huh,” Selena said. “I’ve never thought of it that way. I always just read it as the typical greedy king and what happens when he doesn’t live up to his role as a leader for his people, especially since Irish kings did have obligations to the people they served.”

  Anita shrugged and said that was true, too. “But,” she added, “if that were the only lesson to learn from Deirdre’s story, they could have left out the love at first sight part with Noísiu since King Concobar could have lost the respect of the men of Ulster a thousand different ways.”

  Cameron sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Are you going to tell me this story or not? Or were you just planning on having a debate with Selena because if so, I’m totally playing fantasy football in my head, and I’m tuning you both out starting now.”

  “You should tell him,” Anita suggested to Selena. “You have a lovely way of retelling these myths.”

  “The Reader’s Digest version,” Cameron begged. “It’s late, and I’m tired.”

  Selena snickered and told him he asked for the Reader’s Digest version pretty much every time she told him about one of their ancestral stories. “When Deirdre was born, a druid prophesied that she would be the most beautiful woman in the world. Concobar, the king of Ulster, greedily decided he wanted this future beauty to himself and took the baby to be raised by his servants so that one day, he could claim her as his plaything. When she was a teenager, she mentioned to her caregiver that she would love any man whose hair was as black as a raven, his skin as white as snow, and his lips as red as blood. Her caregiver immediately knew who fit that description: Concobar’s nephew, Noísiu.”

  “This is the Reader’s Digest version?” Cameron interrupted.

  “Yes, shut up or I’ll tell the longer version,” Selena said. “As soon as Noísiu and Deirdre saw each other, they fell in love and ran away together. But Concobar was furious that he’d lost what he considered his possession and ended up tricking the couple into returning to Ulster. Noísiu was killed and Concobar ended up deciding he didn’t want to keep Deirdre after all, so he gave her to another man. She threw herself from his chariot and died, but a lot of Concobar’s warriors refused to fight for him after that and ended up going to Connacht to serve Medb, who then led the greatest raid on Ulster in all of Irish mythology.”

  “That… was a really long story,” Cameron said.

  Selena rolled her eyes at him then looked at Anita. “What made you think of Deirdre?”

  Anita shrugged and watched Jasper as he pulled the door open to leave the motel’s lobby. “I just think it’s a good lesson for all to keep in mind. Too bad we have no way of delivering that message to Ukko and the Norse.”

  Selena blushed as she realized why Anita had brought up this myth. Cameron had gotten suspiciously quiet, but she was too embarrassed to look at him. She watched Jasper walking back to them instead and was grateful for his return, since it broke the awkward silence inside the car. He opened the door and handed a card key to Selena. “You’re in 359. We’re right across the hall. Top floor… just in case.”

  Selena groaned then realized he’d only handed her one key. She glanced at Cameron then looked at Jasper with her best you’re-kidding-me expression.

  “You have to share,” Jasper sighed. “With all the constant flirting between you two, I wouldn’t think this is such a problem.”

  “It’s not flirting,” Cameron corrected. “It’s witty banter.”

  “Dude…” Jasper sighed again then rubbed his eyes. He’d apparently decided he was too tired to give Cameron a hard time about it. “Selena, keep Mjölnir with you. If he makes a pass at you, just hit him with it.”

  Anita snickered and shook her head like she already knew Selena had absolutely no intention of hitting Cameron with anything if he ever made a pass at her. Selena was pretty sure she was blushing again.

  “Go hide the car,” Selena told him. “And be careful.”

  Jasper flashed her that plastic grin and told her, “You and Anita could grow on me. You just need to ditch this loser.” He nodded toward Cameron who flipped him off.

  “Hurry,” she reminded him. She started the engine again then opened her door and walked toward the motel’s lobby before anyone could say anything else about her relationship, or lack of one, with Cameron.

  Anita followed them into their room and Cameron offered her his bed until Jasper returned. Anita thanked him between two more yawns and fell asleep quickly. He sat next to Selena on the other bed, and she flipped stations until she found a movie channel showing X2: X-Men United. “Watch and learn,” she whispered. “Rogue and Gambit, although she’s dating someone else in the movie.”

  “I missed the beginning,” Cameron whispered back. “I’m already lost.”

  “Gambit is originally from New Orleans. He’s almost like your spirit mutant.”

  Cameron snickered and told her, “You know these guys are fake, right?”

  Selena smiled and shrugged. “We’re real. And how many humans know that demigods are just walking among them, pretending like they’re ordinary people?”

  “So why don’t these mutants do that? What’s their deal?” Cameron asked, pointing to the television.

  “Some of them couldn’t blend in. They couldn’t hide their powers, and normal people were sometimes hostile to mutants. Professor Xavier started this school to not only help kids with these mutations but to try to build better rela
tionships with ordinary humans.”

  Cameron grinned at the TV screen and told her, “You really read a lot of comic books.”

  “I read a lot of everything,” Selena said then added, “Smartass.”

  Cameron watched the screen for a while then said, “It’s actually not a bad idea.”

  “To read? It’s actually a great idea and one I highly recommend.”

  “Now who’s the smartass?” Cameron teased. Selena smiled at him and waited for him to explain. He pointed to the television again. “This school. Training people with gifts to use them properly and to work toward developing empathy between those who are different and those who are normal. Can you imagine if we’d had something like that?”

  Selena kept staring into his beautiful chocolate brown eyes and nodded. “All the time.”

  Cameron smiled at her and reached up to her face, tucking her long blonde hair behind her ear just as he’d done in the hotel in Atlanta. Selena thought maybe she’d forgotten how to breathe again. The room seemed to spin or perhaps they were spinning while everything around them stayed still.

  Just kiss me. Just kiss him. If he finds out the truth now, you can convince him you no longer want to join the Tuatha Dé, even if that’s not entirely true. But he won’t know… right?

  Cameron leaned closer to her and she was certain she did stop breathing this time. She closed her eyes and waited to feel his lips on hers, this first kiss she’d imagined so many times she sometimes forgot they were only friends. But his lips never touched hers. His hand fell and he inhaled quickly. Selena opened her eyes, wondering how she could have possibly screwed something up when she’d done nothing yet, but his eyes were no longer on her. He was watching the door.

  A second later, rapid knocks startled her and she jumped as Anita stirred on the bed beside her.

  “Guys,” Jasper complained through the door, “hurry up. It’s late and I just jogged five miles to get back here and I’m freaking exhausted.”

  Anita sat up and yawned and called back to the closed door, “I’m coming. Don’t you have your own key?”