by Amy Sumida
“And what do you see?” I asked him.
“A warrior who rides the gray horse; you have honor and love in your heart, but you don't let that stop you from doing whatever is necessary to protect your tribe. Thank you for doing what I could not, and ending the evil that has plagued my people for centuries.”
I blinked up at him; surprised yet again.
“You think your son was evil?”
“I am not blinded by love.” Inyan stroked the starlight stripe in my hair, kissed my cheek, and released me. “And as far as Iya; he has never been right in the head. He seduced his mother and impregnated her,” he said with disgust. “His latest antics are just another bead in his disastrous design.”
“Then you'll help us stop him?” I asked hopefully.
My husbands and Re had stepped up beside me as soon as Inyan let me go; they'd been hovering nearby throughout our exchange in case I needed them. Trevor took my hand as Azrael loomed over me from behind. Odin and Re stood on my right, carefully watching the Native American deities for any abrupt movements.
“Let's not get ahead of ourselves.” Inyan held up his wide palms. “This is a gathering of the Wakan Tanka, and there is a procedure to follow. First, allow me to introduce my fellow founders. Beside me are Maka, Goddess of the Earth, and her husband Skan, God of the Sky.” Inyan waved to the couple. “And here is Wi-akan, God of the Sun,” he indicated the blond man.
I glanced at Re, then Naye, and both men were smiling a greeting at their fellow solar deity. Wi smiled back at them, but his gaze strayed to me and his smile shifted to one more seductive. Great; another arrogant sun god looking for a moon goddess. But even as I thought the words, a woman separated from the crowd and went to stand beside Wi. He transferred his ardent attention to her, and his expression softened with true affection. Wi wrapped an arm around the tiny woman.
“This is my wife, Hanwi,” Wi introduced the woman.
Hanwi nodded to me. “I feel the magic within you calling to mine. Welcome, Sister Moon.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
The woman smiled, and her gray eyes began to glow. “My husband is a flirt, especially around moon goddesses. Please disregard him.”
“No problem.” I chuckled and waved toward Re. “I've got one just like him.”
“They cannot appreciate our appeal,” Re said to Wi.
“Truly, they know not how difficult it is to hold magic connected to the source of life and light,” Wi commiserated. “We are duty-bound to spread our warmth and greatness.”
“Can we move on from this sun-shiny bullshit?” Trevor huffed.
“Please”—Inyan waved to several colorful, woven blankets that were set around the campfire—“join us, and share your burden. Tell us what you have discovered so far.”
The God Squad and I took seats on the blankets, and the four main gods of the Lakota Pantheon joined us. Hanwi stood behind her husband, and the rest of the pantheon closed in around us. Then we proceeded to tell the Lakota what we believed Iya was up to. When we finished, there was a brief pause as the four main deities conferred with each other.
“Zuzeca!” Inyan called out.
A massive snake slithered through the standing gods and then circled the perimeter of our blankets. Its crimson body glistened in the light of the fire, and its tongue trembled in the air before it. The sound of its skin sliding over the grass would have once made me shiver, but now it comforted me. I knew snakes now; knew how they moved and thought. I sat very still and watched this one, letting my own reptile rise inside me. I felt my dragon's scales pressing up, just beneath my skin, and the whisper of leathery wings trembled within my mind. The snake paused, its head swinging back to me as if he could hear it too, and I felt its magic brush against my dragon. A low rumble shook my chest, and the snake's magic pulled back. The snake slithered to Inyan and then lifted itself up until it was the same height as the god. The air around the reptile went hazy, blurring its form, and when the haze cleared, a man stood before Inyan.
The new man—Zuzeca, I assumed—was naked. I looked away, but someone tossed the naked guy a large piece of leather, which he wrapped around his hips. I looked back with relief and a little curiosity. Snakes usually felt a kinship with my dragon, and my dragon had developed a sense of snakes in return. I usually knew when there were snakes nearby, but I hadn't felt this man's presence until he'd made himself known. That meant he probably had a concealing magic.
“They speak the truth,” Zuzeca said with a surprisingly resonant and hiss-free voice. “The truth as they know it. But this one”—he pointed at me—“is not a dragon.”
The crowd gasped, and my men growled. My jaw dropped, and I was about to roast the uppity snake-shifter when he continued.
“She is a dragon queen,” Zuzeca said reverently. “One who walks the path between the between.”
“Explain that,” Inyan ordered. “I have no time to wade through your riddles today, Zuzeca.”
“This queen flies the skies of time itself,” Zuzeca sent me a wide-eyed look. “She has changed the threads of Fate and woven her own future.”
The Wakan Tanka murmured in shock, and I looked at my men with a similar feeling. How had Zuzeca's one brush with my magic shown him so much? That was one perceptive and sneaky serpent.
“Thank you, Zuzeca.” Inyan nodded to the snake-shifter, and Zuzeca eased to the side of the gathering, still casting awed glances my way. Then Inyan asked me, “Would you tell me about it if I asked?”
“The time travel or the threads of Fate?” I lifted a brow at him.
“Both.” He chuckled.
“Perhaps when there isn't the threat of global destruction looming over us.”
“You must give me something,” Inyan urged. “I can't be satisfied without at least a crumb of the story.”
“It's something to do with my faerie blood,” I said evasively. “Magic I inherited, and magic which I passed down... or will pass down, rather.”
“You are as cryptic as a soothsayer,” Inyan announced. “But that will suffice for now.” Then he turned to the Lakota gods. “What say you, Wakan Tanka? What shall we do about my firstborn?”
“Send Hogan, Hnaska, and Keya to catch Iya,” a burly man roared with a grin.
“Fuck you, Mato,” a much smaller man snapped. “Why don't you go after him yourself, if you're so eager?”
“Because bears don't do deep sea diving,” Mato shrugged. “It's just not our thing, Turtle.”
“Easy now,” a stunning woman with softly glowing skin said. “Let's not be distracted by personal squabbles. We need to reason this out together.”
“Wohpe is right,” an odd-looking man said. His features seemed unfinished. “We cannot be distracted. Now, let's have some real suggestions.”
“That's Ksa,” Toby said to me. “He's Inyan's other son. Technically, he is the first born, but the myths say that he was hatched from an egg, and not born of a woman, so Iya gets the title.”
“Hatched?” I blinked in surprise.
“It's why his face looks like that.” Toby nodded. “But, unlike his brothers, he's a good guy.”
“My reason says to dive in and catch Iya, then bring him back here for a trial,” a sharp-eyed man called out.
“You just want to hunt, Wambli,” another man shot back.
“And you just want to fuck, Yum,” Wambli continued the verbal sparring.
“There's nothing wrong with that.” Yum waggled his brows at the women around him.
“Yum?” I whispered to Re.
“He's the God of Luck and Love,” Re whispered to me with a smile. “Yum is an appropriate name, don't you think?”
“He's hot, but I don't think I could bring myself to sleep with him,” I said. “Calling out, 'Oh, Yum' would be impossible to do with a straight face. Talk about ruining the mood.”
Re chuckled.
“You find this humorous?” Skan asked Re.
Re straightened like a teenager ca
ught looking through dirty magazines in church.
“My apologies,” Re said. “I figured that you'd let us know when you had come to a decision.”
“What have you to say, Godhunter?” Inyan asked me. “What would you suggest we do?”
“I think we should continue with our current tactic of watching the ocean surface above Iya's home and waiting for him to emerge,” I said immediately. “It worked well for us recently. Torrent used satellite surveillance to monitor the area from afar, but if you prefer, you could send gods there to watch for him on site. With people there, it may be possible to catch Iya as soon as he emerges.”
“Simple,” Inyan noted with a smile, “but wise. We will need gods who can swim or fly to watch the sea.”
“Or we could use one of my ships, and all gods can go,” Thor offered. “I have two currently in port in San Diego, and I can bring more in from Hawaii if necessary.”
“Even better,” Inyan slapped his thick thigh. “What say the Wakan Tanka?”
The Lakota gods muttered to each other, and finally, heads began to nod. They were in agreement at last.
“And when we catch Iya, we shall bring him to the Spirit World, just as Wambli suggested,” Inyan declared. “We will lay judgment upon Iya's deeds and decide upon proper punishment together.”
I frowned at that bit, unsure whether to trust a father in sentencing his own son, but my Native Americans friends seemed to be pleased with this decision. So, when Inyan looked at me for approval, I nodded too.
Chapter Thirty-Six
We all went home for some rest before the big event. Torrent continued to keep the surface above Iya's home under satellite surveillance just in case he popped up before we got into place. But Iya had spaced out his attacks previously, and we weren't expecting him to speed things up now.
My group bid each other goodbye on the Sky Road. To leave, we had to step off the end of the sparkling plank; an event I was not looking forward to. I knew it would be fine, but an illusion can mess with your mind at subliminal levels. And my mind was already being messed with; Toby kept giving me looks that made my body react in unsettling ways. My heart beat erratically, my hands shook, and my breath fluttered like a bird... and then there were those other reactions; you know the ones. Awkward feelings that made me want to do things that would have serious repercussions to my life. Had Eros turned on my libido and left it on raging mode? I just didn't know, but what I did know was that I needed to be careful around Toby until this whole thing was worked out.
The God Squad traced first, and watching them take the leap and disappear—literally into thin air—made me feel a little better. My body began to accept what my mind had been trying to tell it; we would be fine. One by one, the gods stepped off the Sky Road, until it was down to my men, our Native American friends, and me. And that's when something strange happened.
“Vervain,” Toby's soft voice always had currents of strength rolling beneath its surface, but it hadn't affected me so deeply in a long time.
His voice touched something inside me—the modest power within it making me tremble—and despite my unspoken vow mere moments before, I turned to him with a smile. Toby's smile was kind and tender, his eyes sparkling in the glow from the stars around us, and the look in his gaze was pure love. It was as if we were back in the solitude of his tranquil cave, and we were lovers again. I leaned forward, and he met me halfway. Toby's arms came up around me, and the scent of fresh water washed over me: Toby's scent. I was transported fully back to the time when we had loved each other, and I forgot completely about our avid audience. His hair swept down around us as he lowered his lips to mine. Just before our lips met, I was pulled away from him roughly.
“What the fucking hell is going on?” Trevor snarled, placing himself between Toby and I as he glared from me to the Navajo god.
I blinked in shock and shook my head free of the bombarding memories. Toby was looking similarly surprised, holding a hand to his temple and rubbing it as if it pained him.
“Vervain?” Odin leaned into my vision and stared deep into my eyes. “What's going on? What are you feeling right now?”
“What is she feeling?” Trevor shrieked. “She's going to be feeling sorry for this motherfucker right here as soon as you move aside because I'm about to kick his ass!”
“Ease down, Trevor,” Azrael said in a grim tone. “Do you really think Vervain would kiss another man in front of us of her own free will?”
“Now, you're saying that he enchanted her?” Trevor growled. His glowing honey stare shot back to Toby. “Oh, you're about to die again, Aquaman.”
“Aquaman.” I giggled, and they all turned to stare at me in horrified amazement. “Because he's a god of water,” I explained it and then laughed outright. “Aquaman; like the comic book guy. Except they cast Khal Drago as Aquaman for the next movie, and I don't know if I like that. Even though, I really like Jason Mamoa. But he is part Native American, so in a round-about way, that makes 'Aquaman' even more perfect a nickname for Toby. Or does it make Khal Drago more appropriate?” I frowned and then decided, “Nope; it's definitely Aquaman.”
“Vervain?” Trevor lost all of his heat as he pushed Odin aside and took my face in his hands. “Fuck; her eyes are dilated. Odin, do you see this?”
“I was trying to until you pushed me away,” Odin huffed.
“Toby?” Naye had his brother's bicep in a firm grip and was shaking him with it.
“I'm fine,” Toby protested, but he sounded drugged; his voice hollow and wispy.
“What happened between the time you left Pride Palace, and the time we joined you here?” Odin asked me. “Vervain?”
Odin snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. I had been staring off at the Milky Way. It was just so damn pretty. I looked back at my husband and smiled.
“Did you know that the only difference between a star and a sun is the location of planets?” I murmured. “Being the center of a planetary system is what turns a star into a sun. It's not who you are, or even how bright you shine, but who you have in your orbit that makes you important.”
“Carus, that's lovely, but we need you to concentrate,” Azrael said gently. “What happened after you left Pride Palace and came here?”
“What happened?” I repeated the question as if the words were in another language.
“Nothing,” Toby answered for me. “We arrived on the Sky Road, and then we spoke for a bit. I was telling Vervain about this territory, and...”
“And?” Re asked with narrowed eyes.
It was Re's anger that fully snapped me out of it. Re rarely got angry, or at least he rarely showed it. He was the guy that smiled at his enemies all the way up to the point when he demolished them. The mere tone of his voice was jarring enough to pull me out of my lust haze... or was it more than lust? I was so confused.
“And we had a moment,” I took over, my voice back to its usual steadiness.
My men took relieved breaths, and Trevor's hand slipped into mine. I nodded at his questioning look, and his shoulders sagged. The poor guy; I'd given him a scare—again. I kissed his cheek before I explained further.
“We looked at each other, and something changed,” I said to my guys. “Something clicked... or maybe snapped.”
“Yes,” Toby whispered. “Oh, sweet water,” he lamented. “What's happening to us? I thought we had sacrificed our feelings?”
“You did,” Odin said pensively. “But emotions are tricky things.”
“Do you think this has anything to do with what Eros did to me?” I asked him.
“What did Eros do to you?” Toby's eyes flashed in anger, and his fists clenched.
“Whoa, brother,” Naye said with wide eyes. “She's not yours anymore, remember? You don't have a right to get upset.”
“Not now, Naye!” Toby shrugged off his twin's hand as he continued to stare at me. “What did he do to you, Vervain?”
It became absolutely clear that something
magical was afoot, but I had recovered enough to control the rising tide of emotions inside my chest. I tamped down the swirling butterflies and focused on the situation instead of what was happening inside my heart.
“Toby, I'm fine,” I said calmly. “Eros used our connection through Aphrodite's magic to wreck a little havoc in my life, and then he tried to kill me. He obviously didn't succeed, so you can relax. Okay? Take a deep breath.”
Toby did as I suggested and then blinked rapidly as he turned shocked eyes to his brother. “I'm sorry, Naye. I don't know why I said that to you.”
“It's okay, Toby,” Naye whispered with worry. “I feel the imbalance in you. Something has affected your spirit.”
Naye's eyes slid to me in accusation.
“Do not look at my wife like that,” Azrael said in a cool, deadly tone.
“Toby was fine until today!” Naye snapped. “He's moved on from her. He has a lover and is building a new life for himself. Then we come here to help you, and this happens! Whose fault do you think it is?”
“Not Vervain's,” Odin's voice brooked no arguments. “If she affected Toby, she did so unknowingly, and it stemmed from something that was done to her.”
“So, you do think Eros had something to do with this?” I asked.
“It's possible,” Odin said, but then he looked over Toby again. “But I can't see how Eros could affect Toby's soul through Vervain. You say that you feel an imbalance in him, correct?” He asked Naye, and Naye nodded. “If anything, the collision of Vervain's and Eros' magics produced an explosion that is still burning itself out. Toby might have fallen prey to the fallout, but that would be a temporary, minor reaction. It shouldn't be able to reach his soul.”
“Doesn't love affect the soul?” Toby asked, his gaze straying to mine.
“It does,” Odin agreed. “But what Eros hit Vervain with was Lust, not Love.”
We all stared at each other until an old woman's voice interrupted our communion.
“Whatever you have to work out,” Hihankara called out to us, “do it somewhere else. You're blocking the Sky Road.”
