by Amy Sumida
“I don’t have a deck with me,” I shrugged.
“You may use mine,” his voice was low as he studied my face and pushed an old wooden box towards me.
I felt the magic before I even touched them. “What have you done to them?”
He smiled and nodded with approval. “I’d hoped you’d feel it too,” he flipped the lid open and in the faded blue lining, nestled a beautiful deck of tarot cards. Weathered but beautiful. They were hand painted, thick like the antique decks always are, and gilded here and there with real gold.
I reached for them but then pulled my hand back. “So what have you done to them?”
“I’ve done nothing to them,” he looked at them with reverence. “I found them on one of my quests. They were buried in a cave.”
“Buried in a cave?” I narrowed my eyes. “Was there anything else in the cave? Say… a corpse?”
“There may have been,” he smiled secretly.
I hissed and withdrew my hand. “You stole cards from the dead? They’re full of a dead person’s magic?”
“A dead witch actually,” he nodded. “I happen to be God of the Dead,” he waved his hand to encompass his servants and I took a closer look at his men.
They were all thickly muscled and had the look of battle about them. I’d never contemplated the truth in the religions created by the Atlanteans. The stories yes, the religions not so much. Was Valhalla really the home of fallen warriors? How was that even possible? I didn’t think they were really gods in that sense. I didn’t think they could actually provide an afterlife.
“Are you trying to tell me that we’re being served tonight by dead Vikings?”
“Yes,” he frowned. “Did you not know of Valhalla?”
“I do but I didn’t know you Atlanteans could actually provide for the dead. I know the stories are half truth/half myth. I just assumed the afterlife was the myth part.”
“I bound the warriors to me in life,” Odin’s eye glittered. “When they died, I owned their souls, so they came to me.”
“You own their souls,” I whispered and shook my head, “that’s not possible.”
“They believed it and so the strength of their belief kept them bound to me,” his voice had dropped low. “Belief is everything. Right, witch?”
It was. Belief gave magic power. Without it, the magic failed. I nodded and stared back at the cards.
“The witch who these cards belonged to…”
“She was a lover of mine,” he leaned forward and touched my hand where it lay on the table. “You may use them without fear. We have a truce tonight, I wouldn’t break it.”
I picked up the cards and felt the tingle of old magic. It rushed into me like a pair of watchdogs set loose and I felt my stomach clench in preparation for the bite. The bite never came though. Instead, they pulled up short and seemed to scent the air. I stared into those dark eyes and saw only my own reflection shining back at me, no curse, no magical backlash. I sighed as it seemed to rub up against me in welcome. My eyes closed and I found myself stroking the cards lovingly.
I heard Odin draw a sharp breath and whisper something that ended in ine or ene.
My breath caught and my eyes flew open. “What did you say?”
“Nothing,” he stared at me with a wide, horrified eye.
“Nothing, my ass,” I glared at him. “What did you say?”
“Please,” he closed his eye and that horrible haunted look I'd first seen on his face was back, only worse. Like ten times worse. “Just read the cards… Vervain.”
I frowned but the cards felt so good in my hands, I couldn’t help myself. They wanted to be read. They needed me to wield them. So I shuffled them, slipping into the trance-like state that always came over me when I read. Then I handed them to Odin.
“Go ahead, sweet raven, ask the cards for guidance.”
“What did you call me?” The cards sat in his hands forgotten as his face went slack.
“Raven, I think.” Interesting, I'd just spoken automatically. I tried to remember the stories I’d read about Odin. Yes, he could shapeshift into a raven, into anything actually, just like Loki, but he preferred the raven or eagle. It must be why I’d called him that. Strange but that was about par for the course when I was reading. I’d been known to spill out secrets before laying down even a single card. I had very little control of the talent. “One of your powers is to shift into a raven, right?”
He stared hard at me again and then finally nodded. I nudged his hands and he flinched from the contact before dropping his gaze to the cards to begin to shuffle. He closed his eye as he focused and the cards flew expertly through his fingers. Then he handed them back to me and looked away as he took a deep breath.
I took the cards and began to turn them over onto the table one by one. “The Emperor,” I smiled, go figure. “Obviously you, the man and his empire. You rule your world completely,” I flipped another card and inhaled sharply. “You’re covered by The Moon, deception and lies, lunacy driven by obsession,” another four cards went in a circle around the main card. “The knights. All four of them,” the odds of that happening were crazy. I looked into the faces of the normally valiant men painted on the cards and saw cruel twists to their lips and traitorous thoughts filling their eyes. “You’re surrounded by warriors but instead of guarding you, they plot against you,” I laid more cards out as the people painted there seemed to come alive, miming out some elaborate play.
“This wide and universal theater presents more woeful paegents than the scene in which we play,” I murmured.
“What?” Odin looked from the cards, to me, and back again.
“Nothing, sorry,” I motioned never mind with a hand while I tried to keep my concentration. “I randomly spout lyrics and poetry when reading the cards. Usually Shakespeare.”
“Ah,” he grunted. “The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows he is a fool.”
“Did you just call me foolish?” I lost it completely and looked up at him.
“No,” Odin blinked rapidly. “I just meant I was a fool not to get the reference.”
“Oh,” I frowned. “I never got that line anyway. I mean if the fool thinks he's wise but he's still a fool, and the wise man knows he's a fool, than everyone's a fool.”
“I never thought about it like that,” Odin's brows lifted. “Huh.”
“Anyway,” I looked back down at the cards and let myself sink into the reading again. “You feel trapped, like you can’t move without being cut. See how the woman is surrounded by swords?” He nodded and stared at the cards intently. “She’s blindfolded by her fear and tied up by her doubts. If only she could believe in herself, she would see that she’s not completely surrounded. She can walk right out of there. You need to let go of your fears and trust in yourself. The path to set you free is right in front of you. Here is the Seven of Swords, see the thief running away? There’s one in your midst.”
Odin looked up and frowned at someone. I followed his gaze and saw Loki staring interestedly at us.
“Son of a bitch,” I made to stand but Odin spoke first.
“Not tonight, Godhunter. This is a neutral zone. Any quarrel you have with Loki is going to have to wait.” He touched my hand lightly but it was like my finger had been a fuse and his the match. Something zinged up my arm and detonated in my chest. I fell back into the chair with the impact.
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat. My hands were shaking and, for a second, they didn't look like my own. They were paler, thinner, the fingers more elegant. I shook the vision away determinedly. “The…the Seven of Swords can also mean failed plans. Your plots may not go the way you think.” He frowned at me. “Here’s the Devil. You’re enslaved by your ambitions and have a tendency towards violence if you don’t get your way. It can also signify addictions, things you are bound to.”
He smiled ruefully and nodded. “Continue.”
“There are swords everywhere,” the painted characters lifted their
weapons and swung them at each other across the boundaries of the cards. “You live in the heart of battle. It’s invaded your home and you don’t know who to trust but there’s a new beginning,” I laid the Death card, the Six of Cups, and then The Star. The fighting stopped, all those little faces peering at the final three like they held the most significance. “Death and rebirth…life and reincarnation, a card of transformation,” my stomach filled with the Love butterflies, as if I'd summoned them with the word. Was it talking about me? Was I supposed to transform Odin? I looked at the Six of Cups and sighed in relief. It wasn't me he needed. “Someone from your past will return and bring new hope. This person will give you the answers you need and help you transform your life. When you are lost, they will be your guiding star.”
When I looked up, he was staring at me with a funny look. “Thank you.”
I nodded and took a deep breath, coming out of my semi-trance. “My pleasure. You have a fine deck here, take good care of it.” I gathered the cards and placed them gently in their box before I started to stand.
“Vervain,” Odin caught me by the wrist and I shivered like someone had walked over my grave. “Take them,” he handed me the cards.
“No,” I started to reach for them anyway and quickly closed my hand into a fist. “I can’t, they were your lover’s.”
“I know,” he kept staring at me intently and for a one-eyed man, he could manage some serious stare. “She’d want you to have them. Please take them as my Yule gift to you.”
I searched his face for some sort of trick but found nothing to betray the honesty in his voice. The raw, emotional honesty. Part of me wanted those cards badly and part of me was screaming to just run away. Run away from Odin, from the party, from everything.
In the end, pride won out. I couldn't let all the gods see me running away from Odin and it would be rude to refuse such a generous gift. Plus, I just plain wanted them.
“Thank you,” I took the cards and held them to my chest. Before I knew what I was doing, I laid a soft kiss on his cheek. I pulled back suddenly to stare at him in shock. Swallowing hard, I stood abruptly. “Thank you, Odin, and Happy Yule.” It took all my willpower not to run.
“Happy Yule... Vervain,” his whisper followed me, feeling more intimate than it had the right to.
“Oh what fresh hell is this?” I groaned as I walked away.
I stopped short of the dining tables and looked around me at all the shiny faces, all the deceitful gods who Odin called friends. They toasted each other and laughed, never knowing that their leader knew of their duplicity. He saw more with his one eye than any of them did with two. They plotted behind his back and their arrogance blinded them to his wisdom.
“In the land of the blind,” I said as I stared at the room with a little smile.
“The one-eyed man is King,” Thor’s voice came from behind me and I jerked around, still clutching the box of cards. “Vervain, what did he say to you?”
“Nothing really,” I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat. “I read his cards and he gave them to me as a Yule gift.”
Thor frowned and reached for the cards but I clutched them tighter. “Are those Sabine’s cards?”
“He said they belonged to an old lover, a witch.” They felt good, even through the wood box.
“Sabine,” Thor nodded. “She was Odin’s only human and his only weakness.”
“That was his third wife, right? The woman he still mourns?” I felt cold and sad suddenly. Sabine. Was that what he had whispered? Had I unknowingly made his pain worse? Reminded him of her? Maybe he'd given me the cards in an attempt to finally let her go.
“Yeah, one and the same,” Thor shook his head. “He buried those cards with her but then he went back later for them. He said he could still feel her in the paint. I cannot believe he’d give them to you so easily. What did he make you promise for them?”
“Nothing,” he stared so hard at me, I cringed. “I swear. I even refused them at first but he insisted I take them. He said she’d have wanted me to have them.”
Thor looked shaken as he stared over to the table where Odin still sat. Odin was staring back at us and he smiled at Thor but there was no happiness in that smile. It was a smile full of regret and irony. Thor narrowed his eyes and started over to Odin but I stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with those cards?” He looked at the box like it might suddenly turn into a snake and bite him.
“There’s magic in them but it’s gentle with me,” I rubbed the worn wood. “It holds no threat. Don’t worry about it, I’m fine.” I smiled and pulled him toward the high table. “And I'm hungry. Can we eat already?”
“Of course, darling,” he laughed and followed me to our seats.
Chapter Ten
It had been a long night but the party was still going strong when we left. I stared at Valhalla from Thor's balcony at Bilskinir and smiled as the sound of revelry drifted across the water to us. The golden hall looked huge, even from so far away, but it didn't appear to be as massive as it truly was.
“I’ve a gift for you,” Thor whispered from behind me and a silver chain dangled in front of my face.
There was a hand-blown glass dolphin hanging from it. It was deep blue with hints of green in it and reminded me of Thor's eyes. Even with the vibrant coloring, it was so life-like, it looked as if it would leap off the chain at any second. He put it around my neck as I wiped at my suddenly wet eyes. His body enveloped mine, one arm around my waist, the other lightly touching the dolphin where it lay on my chest.
“To remind you that courage sometimes means leaping into the unknown,” he kissed my cheek. “And that sometimes the unknown is wonderful.”
“You're wonderful,” I turned in his arms and studied his gorgeous face. “I may know Trevor like I know myself now but half the fun in a relationship is discovering the other person. You're absolutely right, the unknown is sometimes wonderful.”
“Happy Yule, darling,” he smiled wide.
“Thank you, baby,” I pulled away and headed back inside. “I have a little something for you too.”
“You do?” He followed me, his face lighting up like a child's.
“You thought I forgot about you?” I raised a brow and handed him a tiny box.
He raised a brow back at me and held the miniscule present between his thumb and pointer.
“Great things come in small packages,” I chided.
“Yes, I can see that,” he leered at me and I smacked him.
“Open it, will you?”
He pulled at the tiny bow but only managed to get it knotted tighter. I would have helped him but it was way too amusing to watch his big fingers fumbling with the wrapping. Finally he cursed, pulled a dagger, and cut the ribbon away. He grinned at me smugly and tore the paper. The lid fell off and he pulled out a thick gold ring. His face fell into serious lines as he studied it and my stomach dropped. He'd totally misunderstood the gift and gotten the wrong impression. It wouldn't have been so bad, if he wasn't so obviously opposed to the idea.
“Don't worry,” I tried to make light of it but I have to admit it stung. I'd thought he was open to the idea of a long term relationship, pushing for it even. I guess I was wrong. Again. “It's not that type of ring, just a ring.”
“Why would I be worried?” His frown transferred to me.
“If you thought I was proposing or something,” I shrugged. “I'm not, it's just a ring.”
“I didn't think that,” Thor's head cocked to the side and his lips tilted up. “You're a very blunt woman, darling. If you decided to propose to me, I doubt you'd do it like this. Besides, I'm sure I'll propose before the thought even enters your head.”
“Uh,” my Love butterflies were going crazy in my belly. “What do you think of the ring?”
“I was staring at it intently because the gold seems to be encasing something dark.” He looked at me sharply. “Is that your hair?”
&n
bsp; “Yes,” I smiled as he finally got it. “I had it made from some of my old jewelry, so even the gold has been close to me. I thought that since I had your oath, you should have something of mine.”
“Vervain,” Thor breathed as he touched the ring reverently. “You're a witch so I know you're aware of the ramifications of giving me your hair and items you've worn.”
“Yeah, I want not only you but everyone who sees this, to know how much I trust you,” I took the ring and held it out to him. “Will you wear it?”
“Of course I will,” he held out his hand and let me slip it on his pointer.
“The pointer finger, for success,” I murmured.
“I already feel like I've won,” he pulled me against him and lowered his face for a scorching kiss. “Thank you, darling.”
“You’re welcome, baby thunder.”
Chapter Eleven
Grand Opening New Year’s Eve Party
Gods and Goddesses, Wolves and Witches
All are welcome at
Moonshine
Please go though our special VIP entrance for oathing
Moonshine is a magic-free club for the safety and enjoyment of all
I looked over the flier that had been passed around the God Realm, as our limo pulled up in front of Moonshine, Trevor's new club. I was more than a little shocked to see the line of people waiting to get in. Not to mention the local media. I smoothed the brown leather of my dress nervously and checked to make sure it was still in place. My curves had a tendency to fall out of dresses when they were cut too low and this one had a deep V neckline. Its hem was ragged like it had been pieced together from unfinished hides, giving it a savage look, which seemed appropriate for both the occasion and the way I was feeling.
I threw my long, dark ponytail over my shoulder and checked out my date. Black slacks clung to Trevor’s thick legs and a bit of muscled chest flashed through the open collar of his matching silk shirt.