by Amy Sumida
“Zis is best homage to ze man he vas,” Kirill said in quiet awe.
“I'm glad I sent Fallon back,” I nodded. “he deserves to be a part of this.”
“It almost seems a shame to pursue violence on such a day,” Jared sighed.
“Yeah but we're doing it to save people,” I looked over at him. “You, Fallon, and the others have already saved all of these people. Let's make sure they stay safe.”
“Do you smell it yet?” Kirill scanned the area.
“Not yet.”
I wandered slowly through the crowd, loath to disturb the camaraderie by rushing through them. I breathed deep and caught a hint of the trail, then turned left and stepped right into it. Then I could practically see it snaking through the people, away from the memorial.
“I've got it,” I took Kirill's hand and wove us through the crowd as Jared followed closely.
“I've caught it too,” Jared nodded.
We finally made our way from the stadium to an open area. The scent led to a more secluded spot and then ended abruptly. I took another sniff and was able to trace the trail through the Aether. I noted the location, somewhere in Nevada. They were out in the desert.
“They traced to Nevada,” I said. “They must know something about Brighid being a goddess, if she's tracing them places.”
“It's looking less and less likely zat zese people are innocents,” Kirill observed.
“Let's go,” I held my hand out to them. “Zombies should be in works of fiction only, it's time to put them back where they belong.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
“Another warehouse,” Thor observed.
The warehouse was in the middle of the Nevada desert. There was nothing for miles around except a road that led up to it. It looked like a forgotten place, in need of repair, but then looks could be decieving.
“You'd think with all that money they could have found some better digs,” I gave Thor a bland look. “You ready for this?”
“Pain,” Thor narrowed his eyes on me, “lots of pain.”
“Gotcha,” I looked back at the rest of the God Squad and the group of Intare that had wanted to come along. “Thor says it's time to bring the pain.”
We rushed the warehouse but pulled up short when we reached the locked side door. Thor yanked it off its hinges and threw it across the parking lot. I arched an impressed brow as he strode in and we all followed in his wake.
Something must have altered in the dynamics between Brighid and her people because she was in full glory, standing before them without a glamor of any kind. She gave a little start when she saw Thor but her group was much more shocked than she was.
“Thor,” she spoke, sounding entirely different from the Brighid I'd met. Her voice was sharp and her face was set in hard lines, the tightness around her eyes giving them a cruel aspect. “How lovely of you to stop by. Calm yourselves,” she said to her frightened flock, who was edging away from us. “They're merely a nuisance.”
“A nuisance, am I?” Thor's eyes flashed and every step he took caused the building to shake with thunder. “What makes you think you can battle all of us,” he waved his hand back to our group, “all of me,” he gave a vicious smirk, “and win?”
I frowned, watching the scene with trepidation. That kind of confidence came from holding a wild card. Brighid had a back-up plan and Thor was walking right into it. I started forward, my spidey senses going off in warning.
“Thor,” I began to ran as he reached her, “wait!”
I pushed him out of the way just as a syringe appeared in her hand and slashed the air where his neck had been. We jumped to our feet and backed off, eying her warily.
“You altered it, didn't you?” I nodded to the syringe.
“How clever you must think you are, little mutant,” she sneered at me. “Yes, I already infused the virus with rejuvenation but then I altered it to work so rapidly that even an immortal's healing capability won't be able to overcome it. The truly ironic thing is that it was you and your wolves who gave me the idea. I never would have considered mutating a virus so that it could harm an immortal. How wonderfully brilliant, how deliciously evil. I wish I could have met the goddess who came up with it.”
“Yeah, you two would have got along swell,” I rolled my eyes. “Two psychos in a pod.”
“You think I'm insane?” She glanced around as the rest of our team spread out through the room. “They're all armed with syringes of the altered virus,” she indicated her humans. “They won't be easy to take.”
“Oh please,” I shook my head at her. “Teharon, do you mind?”
“My pleasure,” he came forward and waved a hand at the humans. They all dropped into comas, falling into a big puppy pile of terrorists.
“Now, you were saying?” I looked back at her.
“It doesn't matter,” she shrugged. “Take them all, I'll get more.”
“Why are you doing this, Brighid?” Thor showed a hint of his hurt. “You're a goddess of health and medicine. This goes against everything you stand for.”
“Everything I stand for or everything they've made me stand for?” She waved a hand toward the comatose people. “I have given and given of myself to humans. I've protected and guided them, healed their wounds and given them medicine to cure their ills. Do you know what they gave me in return?”
“Enough energy to make you immortal?” I narrowed my eyes on her.
“No, she glared back at me. “Death. They took my husband and my son. They may have given me energy but it came with a high price. They dreamed up a future for me that I couldn't control and it took everyone I loved away from me.”
“That can't be true,” I frowned. “The myths influence gods but they can't kill you. Fenrir's still alive and he's supposed to be dead.”
“Fenrir's death comes with Ragnorak,” she scoffed at me. “The end of the world.”
“Oh,” I glanced at Thor for help but he was just staring at Brighid like he was seeing her for the first time.
“Brighid,” Thor finally said. “Bres wasn't killed by the myths.”
“The myths said that Lugh poisoned my husband,” she sneered at Thor. “And he did.”
“You were at war and Bres lost,” Thor sighed. “War does horrible things to men.”
“They came to a truce,” Brighid growled. “They made peace but the stories the humans wrote, the poems, they told of Lugh tricking Bres into drinking poison under guise of hospitality. For no reason at all, Lugh was to kill Bres, and he did. Lugh was ever one to follow the dictates of mankind and he liked the idea of trickery. Bres went to Lugh's home to talk of peace and Lugh offered Bres a poison laced drink. Bres suspected it was poison but he drank it anyway, my brave, foolish husband. He wanted peace so badly.”
“Brighid,” Thor shook his head. “For this you would kill all of mankind? You'd destroy the world and cripple us all? For petty grievances centuries old?”
“Petty grievances?” She screamed. “My husband and child are not petty grievances. Lugh poisoned Bres and now I shall poison the world!”
“Oh yeah,” I nodded to Pan, “she's lost it.”
“Toats,” he nodded back to me.
“Imbeciles,” Brighid snarled. “My plan is already underway. By now my zombies will be consuming South Africa.”
“Yeah, about that,” I sucked in my breath in false regret. “We caught your patient zero and we healed him. He's safe at home and Mandela's memorial is proceeding as planned.”
Her face fell and she launched herself at me before anyone could react. At the last second, I lifted my hands and sent fire shooting out in defense. She kept coming, straight through the flames, though everyone else stepped back to avoid them. Then her hands were at my throat and I was startled enough to lie there and let her choke me for a few seconds.
“I'm a goddess of the hearth, remember?” She snarled at me. “I protected homes from fire. I'm immune to your flames, fire bitch!”
Shit, I did forget
that. I turned my hands into claws and stuck them into her sides. She screamed but held onto my throat and I felt her flesh begin healing around my hands. I yanked them out, tearing pieces of her away with me, before I could become fused into her. I'd fought another goddess who healed as fast as Brighid and ironically, she was Thor's ex-wife. But I never came close to becoming fused to her flesh. That was super fast.
Something else that was super fast was the wall of vines that had shot up around me and Brighid. I saw it twisting through my peripheral vision as the sound of panicked shouts filtered through the thick foliage. Right, she was a goddess of Spring, making her magic very similar to Persephone's. Which meant that not only could those vines impede any help from getting to me, they could-
“Son of a bitch!” I heard Pan curse. “Someone toss me a knife to cut these damn things with!”
They could attack.
Then Brighid produced another syringe and smiled insanely at me. I growled and gave in to the urge I'd been having all along, to drain her magic. I wasn't wearing my emerald for once, I'd forgotten it in the Faerie Realm, so I couldn't siphon her magic into the earth but I could still drain Brighid enough to weaken her and then cut off her head with my dragon claws.
I reached for her magic, the same way I reach for the power of the earth or the moon when I perform a spell, and I felt... nothing. A panicked jolt twisted the pit of my stomach and I stretched my reach further. I strained and searched but nothing came to me. It was gone, my ability to take magic from the gods had disappeared.
The realization made me vulnerable, distracted enough that Brighid found an opportunity to drive the syringe into my arm. I sucked in a gulp of air, my heart clenching with the knowledge that my time was up, death had finally won. Brighid's face shone with the glow of victory, she knew she had me and knew with that single plunge, came the chance to kill not only the entire human race but several gods as well.
She smiled brightly, her golden hair glowing like a halo around her, so peaceful looking and beautiful. Then her head was simply gone and her body fell over me, gushing blood all over my face. I flinched in shock and sputtered as my mouth filled with her blood. Images filled my head; a handsome man with dark hair smiling at me with tender eyes, that same man lying on a cold stone floor with eyes unseeing, a child with golden hair like mine and eyes like the dead man's, my child as an adult, fighting a war, then his body returned to me upon a shield. Only it wasn't me, wasn't my memories, they were Brighid's.
I yanked the syringe out of my arm and pushed away from Brighid's corpse, spitting and wiping at my mouth furiously. I didn't want to see pieces of her life, didn't want to sympathize with her. Brighid may have had good reasons to be angry but they weren't good enough to kill the entire human race. I spat the remainder of her blood from my mouth and realized that the blood magic that I'd thought was limited to Arach, the sharing of memories with a taste of blood, was not so limited after all. I'd have to be more careful in the future, not like I'd be trying to drink people's blood or anything, but I could at least be more aware. Note to self, don't open your mouth when someone's beheaded on top of you.
Speaking of which, what the hell had just happened? I looked around as I climbed to my feet and saw Thor standing over Brighid's body, his giant hammer in his hand. I gaped at the blood and fleshy bits still sliding off it's gleaming surface and then looked up into Thor's face.
“Thor?” I walked over to him slowly, the last time he intervened in a battle to save my life from his ex, he'd blamed me for it. I really didn't think he'd go that route again but you never know, grief can do strange things to a person.
“Vervain?” He looked up, lines of strain fading from his forehead. “It's done. I brought the pain.”
“Yeah, it's done and yes, you did,” I smiled gently and everyone around us seemed to relax. “I'd hug you but I'm covered in blood.”
“Rain check?” He gave me a small grin and I knew everything would be okay. Thor would be okay.
“Definitely,” I sighed and watched as Trevor collected Brighid's head and then took hold of her body. “What are you doing?”
“We'll have to burn the bodies,” Trevor's gaze skipped over my face in a way that spoke of how horrifying I must have looked.
“Bodies?” I frowned and then looked to the side, where the comatose people had been.
They were no longer sleeping. Someone, I have no idea who nor do I want to know, had killed them quickly while they slept. It was merciful and probably better than they'd deserved but some small part of me had hoped we'd just turn them over to the police.
“Vervain?” Horus put a hand on my arm, startling me not just because of the touch but because of who originated it. “Breathe,” he pretended not to notice my flinch. “Slowly but not too deeply. Just breathe and look at me.”
I turned and looked into his face. For the first time I really studied him. His skin was a color found in the wings of falcons, a light golden brown, and it was smooth, like a child's. His eyes were stark against that softness, sharp and intelligent. I saw for the first time that the deep brown of his right eye held gold striations in it and there were silver threads in his left iris. The Sun and the Moon, he held pieces of them within his eyes and beyond that light, beneath the sharpness of wit, there was a deep reserve of compassion. So much compassion that the only way to survive it was to hide it. I smiled and touched his cheek lightly.
“They would have killed all of the humans in the world if they had their way,” he stepped back, breaking the spell his eyes had created. “It was the right thing to do, the merciful thing.”
“I know,” I nodded. “I think it's more that I feel guilty for feeling relieved that I didn't have to do it.”
“Amazingly enough,” Horus rolled his eyes, “I actually understood you.”
“Oh, there you are,” I punched his shoulder lightly. “You had me scared for a second. I thought I might have to go the rest of my life without hearing another one of your arrogant insults.”
“Never fear,” Horus' lips twitched. “I am ever at your service.”
“I think we'll need your assistance for this, Vervain,” Teharon touched my shoulder gently.
“What's that?” I turned to look at him and he nodded toward the doorway, where my friends were dragging the bodies outside. “You want me to burn them?”
“It would probably be best,” he nodded. “I'm sorry you've had to participate in the killing of so many humans lately. You do know that you have my sympathies?”
“Thank you, Teharon,” I watched Pan carry a young woman outside, holding her gently, respectfully. “But I think I've been a bit foolish. Life is life, whether it be the life of a human, a god, or a faerie. One is not more important than another, no matter what they've done. All life should be valued. I used to know that, used to take great pains in remembering to practice it, but somewhere in this war, I guess I forgot.”
“I don't believe for one second that you forgot out of malice,” he squeezed a clean area of my arm. “We all have our ways of coping with death. You don't have to take it all into your heart to remain a good person. It's okay to let some of it go.”
I went outside to find a line of bodies laid out in the middle of the parking lot. Flashes of other bodies were superimposed over them for a second, bodies with oddly shaped faces and strangely colored skin. I'd been covered in blood then too but I had gloried in it. Up until I realized what I'd done, what kind of monster I'd become.
I swallowed back the acid rising in my throat, realizing the real reason I hadn't wanted anymore blood on my hands. Teharon may be right, maybe I didn't need to keep all of that death inside my heart, but I did need to remember. I fell back on my old technique of setting to memory the people that I killed. Starting with Brighid, I looked on their faces and burned their images into my mind before I set fire to the bodies and burned them away forever. I wouldn't torment myself with the images but I would remember and hopefully that memory would keep the monster at b
ay.
“It's all over now,” Trevor's hand slid onto my back as he stepped up beside me.
“Yes,” I kept my eyes on the fire.
“But you're still troubled,” he looked over at me.
“Vervain?” Thor was watching me with a discerning look. “What is it?”
“I think I've lost my ability to take god magic,” my voice sounded hollow and I realized that I was afraid. I was scared that the loss of this ability would jeopardize our efforts to look after humanity. It could cost us the entire war.
“What?” Trevor edged forward to face me better. “Why do you think that?”
“Because she tried to drain Brighid and it didn't work,” Thor was standing before me, a strange expression on his face. “Isn't that right?”
“Yes,” I admitted as the God Squad pulled in closer around us. “I tried and I couldn't touch it. I forgot my emerald in the Faerie Realm so I couldn't...” I stopped as something occurred to me. Had what I'd done in Faerie somehow weakened my ability? Odin had said that great magic came with a price but I'd never found that to be true in Faerie. Maybe I was wrong.
“Vervain?” Trevor gave me a squeeze.
“I'm sorry,” I stumbled over the words. “I forgot my emerald in the Faerie Realm, so I couldn't use it to filter Brighid's magic. I decided to just pull enough out that it would weaken her but it didn't work. I reached and reached and felt nothing.”
“Every vessel has a limit,” Karni Mata said into the silence and we all turned to look at her. She looked magical, her white hair becoming a part of the smoke that drifted around us, her dark eyes staring straight into mine.
“You're saying I'm full,” I felt an overwhelming relief as I understood her words. “Of course, I should have realized it sooner.”
“You have three types of magic,” Teharon nodded as he put an arm around Karni's waist and pulled her in against him. “They make up a part of your triple trinity and with them, you're complete. You can't add any more.”
