by Amy Sumida
“Welcome!” Narcissus said. “Please join us. Allow me to introduce Vervain the Godhunter. Dearest, this is—”
“Qaus of the Arabians, Gish of the Afghani, and Disani of the Kafir,” I cut him off.
I specifically mentioned Qaus first to let him know that I'd deduced who secretly ran his group. Gish and Disani sputtered, but Qaus smirked at me.
“AKA the Gods of the Gays and the Bottle Water Goddess,” I went on.
Everyone gaped at me in confusion then. Even Narcissus stared at me in shock.
“Do I really have to explain this again?” I huffed. “I thought at least you would get it.” I waved at Narcissus. “What with all the human brains you've been consuming, you Zombie Egotist.”
“Zombie...” Narcissus gaped more.
“They're rainbow gods,” I explained. “A rainbow is the symbol for gay pride. And Disani sounds very similar to Dasani; the bottled water. But it's not funny if I have to explain it.”
“It's not funny at all,” Disani said.
“Oh, it most certainly is,” I argued with her. “I have several people calling you by those names and chuckling as they do so.”
Disani's dark skin flushed to mahogany. “I thought you were going to kill her?” she snarled at Narcissus.
“I've taken her magic.” Narcissus shrugged. “It's good enough.” He looked back at me. “Zombie?”
“Because they eat brains.”
“Oh.” He blinked and then chuckled. “I like it.”
“You would.” I rolled my eyes.
“This is not good enough!” Disani shouted. “Qaus told you of her arrival so that you'd take her magic and kill her. Not dress her up like a doll and play house.”
“He is, isn't he?” I gestured at my dress. “Of all the decades.” I shook my head. “I hate the 50s.”
“What's wrong with the 1950s?” Narcissus asked. “Men were manly and women were feminine. I thought you liked manly?”
“Not that kind of manly.” I made a face at him. “And women may have been feminine but it was in a submissive way because they were repressed. Of course, they weren't as repressed as the African-Americans who were getting abused and murdered in America simply for standing up for themselves. The 50s sucked.”
“But you could also say that African-Americans triumphed during that period and women grew stronger as well,” Narcissus countered. “It was the turning point.”
“The turning point was when Lincoln freed the slaves,” I argued. “The 50s was the boiling point.”
“As you say.” Narcissus shrugged.
“Is she a prisoner or a guest?” Qaus frowned at me.
“A guest,” Narcissus said.
“A prisoner,” I snapped at the same time.
“I see.” Qaus smirked.
The last time I'd met Qaus—in that wrong future—he'd been seriously pissed off at me. Seeing him calm was like meeting a different man. I studied him further.
“You wouldn't happen to know a bunch of Argentinian cannibal gods, would you?” I asked him casually.
Qaus' rainbow eyes widened in surprise.
“That answers that,” I muttered. So, I'd finally found the Gods behind the recent attacks. They had influenced Katila and the Argentinians. But why? “Is there a particular reason you're gunning for me?”
“A prophet told me you would kill me,” Qaus said as he stepped closer.
Qaus really was an attractive man; all those strong Arabic features paired well with the light eyes, or eyes of light, rather. He toned down the shifting rainbows and it became easier to look at him. I wasn't sure if he'd done it on purpose or if they had an automatic dimmer, but I was grateful. It's hard to stare down an enemy when you can't look them in the eyes.
“That's funny,” I said to him, “a prophet told me not to kill you.”
I'd managed to surprise him again. Qaus' head jerked back fractionally before he cocked it at me.
“Who told you not to kill me?” He asked softly.
“Silenus of the Greeks. He told me not to kill all three of you,” I said. That wasn't exactly what Silenus had said, but I wasn't about to tell Qaus that he had died in a false future... then again, maybe I should. “Actually, what he told me was to beware of false futures and to not let them lead me into action I shouldn't take.”
“Sounds appropriately prophetic.” Qaus grimaced. “But I fail to see how you got 'Don't kill Qaus, Gish, and Disani' from that.”
“All right, Rainbow God, I'm going to be straight with you.” I waved my hand at the couch. “Why don't you have a seat?”
Qaus sat down on the couch, and I resumed my seat on the loveseat set at a right angle to him. The other gods looked at each other in bafflement.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Narcissus asked.
“That's what I'm trying to figure out,” Qaus said. “Sit down, everyone.”
They sat. I lifted a brow at Qaus. My suspicions were confirmed; he was their leader.
“Go on, Godhunter,” Qaus said.
“A few years ago, when I was pregnant with my son; not yet sons, but that's another story.” I shook my head as Qaus lifted a dark brow. “I was kidnapped; summoned by a human, and trapped by my own blood.”
“Fascinating,” Gish drawled.
“Shut up,” Qaus growled at him before nodding at me to continue.
“My daughter came to me from the future; a future that had gone very wrong,” I said. “I won't tell you how she was able to time travel, that's too much to share, but I will tell you that when I went with her to that future, I saw and experienced things that will never happen. I came back to this time and altered the choice I'd made that had set the realms down the wrong path.”
“You're saying that your decision altered both the God and the Human Realms?” Disani scoffed.
“And the Faerie Realm.” I nodded serenely. “I'm not trying to be arrogant; it is what it is. You know; a butterfly flaps its wings and all that. I guess I was the butterfly. Huh; that's oddly appropriate.”
Disani gaped at me.
“Anyway, I had to change the future,” I went on. “And I did. One of the things that changed was a fight I had with the three of you. You abducted me and chained me up with rainbows. I tried to cut them with my dragon claws, and you told me that rainbows can't be cut.”
Qaus' face went still as he stared intently at me.
“My husbands rescued me,” I continued. “They killed you; all of you. But you, Qaus, died horribly. Burned by Re, boiled by your own water when you tried to put out the flames, and then torn apart by my lion and werewolf husbands. I didn't kill you personally, but you died because you took me.”
“That's closer to the prophecy,” Qaus whispered. “'The hunter of gods will watch you die screaming,' was what I was told.”
“Holy Holly Hobby,” I murmured. “When were you given that prophecy?”
“Five years ago.”
“Five years?” I asked in surprise.
“It's taken awhile to plan your death.” He smirked.
“Long enough that things have changed,” I said.
I shared a heavy look with Qaus.
“This is bullshit!” Disani waved her hand at me. “She's playing us; trying to get us to back off.”
“I don't have to get you to back off,” I said confidently. “Narcissus won't let you touch me here, and outside of his territory, I'm strong enough to kill all three of you.”
Qaus sat back in his chair and considered me. “But you won't.”
“Silenus is good at what he does.” I shrugged. “So, I've been told. I had no intention of ever hunting you unless I was forced to.”
“Ironic that I may have pushed the prophecy along by trying to circumvent it,” Qaus murmured.
“How were you to know that the future had changed?” I offered.
“You are rather pleasant for a killer of gods,” Qaus noted.
“I only kill gods who hurt humans,” I said.
&nbs
p; “Fair enough.” Qaus nodded.
“Fair enough?” Gish huffed. “Are you actually falling for this?”
“What does it hurt for us to walk away?” Qaus asked. “She's trapped here; there's no escape from Narcissus' territory, and he'll sooner kill her than free her. The Godhunter is effectively hobbled.”
“I want her dead,” Disani growled.
“What the hell did I do to you; beyond saying that your name sounds like bottled water?” I huffed at her.
“You consort with demons,” she hissed.
Before I could say anything, Qaus beat me to it.
“Oh, shut up, Disani,” Qaus snapped. “Your demon vendetta is ridiculous. We are all Atlanteans, after all. They are not truly evil creatures from Hell.”
“We may have started as such, but the magic has changed us,” Disani lifted her chin as she spoke. “They are evil creatures; murderers, liars, and rapists.”
Oh; there it was.
“Hey, I get it,” I said gently. “I've been raped; in several ways actually. It's traumatic but it's not the end. And it's not the fault of an entire race. If you truly want to triumph over the man who attacked you, live in love. Don't let what he did ruin your life or your heart. Especially not your heart.”
“If you really were raped, you would understand that what you've suggested is impossible,” she hissed. “I could never trust a man enough to love him. The chance for a loving relationship was taken from me.”
“Look, lady,” I growled, “you can call me nasty names, but never call me a liar. I was taken by Anubis. He controlled body and put a damn slave collar around my throat. He nearly killed my mate by keeping us apart. He not only raped me, he also made me like it. He humiliated me and fucked up my head in ways you can't even imagine. And that's just one of the times I've been tortured. So, you can take your pathetic sob story and shove it up your ass. You have no idea what true torment is.”
“Ya lahwy,” Qaus whispered. “I've heard rumors about you, Godhunter, but I had no idea.”
“You sympathize with her?” Disani stood in shocked anger. “You're a fool! But then you are a man; led by your cock. I should have known better than to join forces with men; you are the dumber sex.”
Disani stomped out and left us all staring after her.
“At least she's not bitter,” I murmured.
Qaus laughed and looked from me to Narcissus. “Are you truly going to keep her imprisoned?”
“Are you suggesting otherwise?” Narcissus asked in shock. His eyes were wide; they had been for quite awhile.
“It seems rather ungrateful after she freed you,” Qaus noted.
“What the fuck is going on?” Gish shrieked. “When did you switch sides? How did we just lose Disani? Fuck; it's true what they say about the Godhunter; she can make the most determined god surrender.”
“They say that about me?” I asked with a lopsided grin. “Huh.”
“Indeed,” Qaus murmured before he looked at Gish. “If she's not trying to kill me, it means that I was misled into making the first strike. In effect, I have wronged her; started a war where there was no animosity brewing. Righting that wrong is not surrendering but behaving honorably.”
“You've wronged the Godhunter?” Gish asked. “Listen to yourself; you're talking crazy.”
“Listen to yourself,” Qaus countered. “You want to continue to persecute an enemy who was never our enemy, to begin with, simply because you don't want to admit to being wrong. Those are the motivations of a weak man.”
“I'm not wrong or weak,” he snarled. “I was following you. If any of us were wrong, it was you.”
“Fine, Gish.” Qaus held up his hands. “I was wrong. Now, shouldn't we focus our efforts on something more worthwhile?”
“You spent five years planning this!”
“I wasted five years.” Qaus sighed. “Damn. All for a broken prophecy foretelling a future that will never come. I'm sorry that my plotting has brought you to this end, Godhunter.”
“Call me Vervain,” I said as I held out a hand. “And this isn't my end; far from it. Peace between us, Qaus?”
“Peace.” Qaus smiled and shook my hand. “For now, at least.”
“The fuck with this!” Gish lunged forward.
Chapter Forty
The pool in the center of our seats spewed up a wall of water between Gish and me, but he disappeared before he could reach the barrier. I relaxed out of my defensive position as the water fell back into the pool, and then I noticed that Qaus was gone too.
“You sent them both away?” I asked in surprise.
“I didn't like what either of them was saying,” Narcissus murmured as he stared at me thoughtfully. “I don't think I shall let any of those three into my territory again. I've got what I want now, anyway; my freedom and you.”
“Narcissus, why are you doing this?”
“Power and love?” He shrugged.
“Love of power more like.”
“You don't think I'm capable of love?” Narcissus asked as he moved onto the loveseat beside me and took my hand.
“Self-love,” I said warily.
“Isn't love of the self a foundation for all other love?”
“Sure; if you have the materials to build on it.”
“I think I'm falling in love with you, Vervain,” he whispered and then leaned forward as if to kiss me.
“Back up, Psycho Killer.” I pushed him away. “I'm still not interested.”
Narcissus roared as he stood and then kicked one of the couches across the room. He loomed over me and then backhanded me into the wall. As I shook off the blow, he tromped over to me with fury in his eyes. I scrambled to my feet and faced off with him, but his stare lowered to my belly. Cold fear shot through me as he smiled wickedly.
Narcissus balled up his fist and pulled it back. “I think you're about to become far more accommodating, dearest. If not, your little bundle of joy will feel my wrath.”
“You fucking, psychotic, zombie motherfucker!” I hissed. “You touch my child and will fucking gut you!”
Narcissus laughed cruelly. “I don't have the restriction the Mirror did. I can kill your baby without laying a hand on you.” He lowered his fist. “One thought, and I could sever a limb... or his head.”
I went still.
“Now, I'm going to escort you to your room.” He held out an arm to me, and I trembled as I took it. “And you are going to bathe and primp yourself until you're perfect.”
Narcissus started leading me down the maze of hallways. Unlike the Mirror's world, these corridors didn't shift from reflective mist into substantial matter; they remained solid. I would have been reassured by this if there hadn't been an unsettling abundance of mirrors hung on the walls. Oh, yeah; and if I wasn't on my way to get dolled up for my date with a serial killer narcissist.
“I shall return for you when I have everything ready for our liaison. Don't fret, dearest, you will enjoy it. I have had years to perfect my performance, as you've already seen.” Narcissus opened the bedroom door and gently nudged me in. I turned to stare at him warily.
“Put that on after you bathe. I'll be back soon.” He pointed at a crimson dress, draped over the bed like a fresh spill of blood.
Why do villains love to dress me in red?
The door shut, and I had to stop myself from screaming.
Chapter Forty-One
“Every gods-damned time!” I snarled. “Can't I have one single pregnancy go by without someone threatening my baby?”
I was shaking with fury and fear. The last thing I would do was be more accommodating to that piece of murdering filth. But I couldn't let him hurt Vero either. Inside me, my son stirred as if he could hear my thoughts.