Shadows of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 1)

by S. M. Schmitz

  Maybe they were brothers and friends and fathers and husbands, too. And maybe they were good brothers and friends and fathers and husbands.

  She wondered what Cameron would think of her if she admitted that she would try to save Ukko’s life if she had to. He would probably refuse to help her anymore. After all, he’d claimed that was their goal: to rid themselves of the leadership of the New Pantheon, to weaken it permanently by removing the gods who were giving it so much power.

  Selena left her forehead on the cool glass of the window and closed her eyes again. “Cameron?”

  She heard him turn around, but she kept her eyes closed.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “What’s wrong with their Otherworld? Why can’t they live there now?”

  “Don’t know. Ukko was really vague on the details. I think in all of the myths, all these gods supposedly had their own Olympus, right? But it’s really just one place and for a long time, they kept to themselves and they’d just go back and forth between the Otherworld and Earth whenever they wanted. But then people stopped believing in the different gods and they were forced to hide so most tried to stay in the Otherworld and that’s when things got dicey. That many gods all holed up in one place indefinitely… I just have a feeling it didn’t end well.”

  Selena opened her eyes and lifted her head. “But that wouldn’t keep them out now. If there was some war a long time ago, that shouldn’t matter now. I got the impression they couldn’t stay there long.”

  Cameron shrugged at her as if to say he had no idea. Quinn slowed down as the road curved with the river and glanced at her in his rearview mirror. “Gods will abide by agreements though. Doesn’t matter how long ago they made them or how few of them are left. If they agreed to partition the Otherworld and Earth a certain way, they’ll still hold themselves to it.”

  “They were cast out,” Selena breathed. “The gods here lost this civil war so that’s why they can’t stay in the Otherworld. But guys like Ukko may want to. What if we could figure out who they need a new agreement with and just…”

  “Selena,” Cameron sighed, “I admire your compassion. I really do. But we can’t travel to the Otherworld and even if we could, why would the victors want to renegotiate this agreement? They got what they wanted. They don’t care what guys like Ukko are doing down here. They’re not going to take pity on us and let him move back in just so we don’t have to deal with him.”

  Selena crossed her arms defiantly and scowled at him. “It’s worth trying. And it’s a better idea than just murdering people.”

  Quinn choked on the soda he was drinking and Cameron rolled his eyes at him. “Right now, I’d like to deal with the pissed off snake going around eating people, ok?” Cameron asked. “And if it’s also ok with you, I am going to kill him.”

  Selena scowled a little less. “Well… he’s not really giving us much of a choice.”

  Cameron nodded and added, “It’ll be easier for you if he stays in his animal form. I think you’re struggling with the idea of killing people, but you’re forgetting we’re not dealing with people. Gods are nothing like humans. They’re not even like demigods. They tend to be selfish and prone to violence and vindictive and capricious.”

  Quinn shot him a you-don’t-really-know-what-that-word-means-do-you? look. Cameron flipped him off. “It means they’re fickle and unpredictable, smartass.”

  Selena laughed as she watched them. She’d had so few opportunities to watch friends interacting with each other in any capacity other than as a distant observer. She felt both out of place but in it, infringing on a private moment between friends yet part of this moment as one of them. Cameron turned around and smiled at her, flashing that boyish, mischievous grin that would lead her to either salvation or damnation.

  “I’m telling you, Selena. I’ve never met a god I could trust. Be careful around them.”

  “Your own will protect you,” Quinn said. “If you knew who they were and if there were any around. They tend to be territorial and familial.”

  “Familial?” Cameron mocked. “Dude, I don’t even think you used that correctly.”

  “Cameron,” Quinn sighed, “shut the fu…”

  “Hey,” Selena interrupted. “Your camp.” She pointed to the blackened stilts, all that was left of Cameron and Quinn’s camp. It had belonged to several other demigods they worked with and they would often come out together to go fishing in this river, just like the four men who had disappeared recently. Cameron’s damaged Jetta had been towed away and Quinn parked where it used to sit. Selena opened her door and Cameron hurriedly followed her out, looking at her like she shouldn’t be acting on her own, making decisions for herself, and she thought he had a point. But then again, she had managed to evade Ukko and four other powerful agents of the New Pantheon for three years by herself.

  She wasn’t nearly as helpless as he seemed to think she was.

  She was, admittedly, almost as clumsy as he already knew she was.

  Selena turned in a slow circle and took in the surroundings of the camp with the advantage of sunlight and not having multiple pursuers. Despite how badly her heart still ached over the deaths of those men, she smiled to herself and murmured, “It’s so beautiful out here.”

  “Surprising, isn’t it?” Cameron asked. “People hear the word ‘swamp’ or ‘marsh’ and immediately think of a bad set design out of a Hollywood B movie. Mother Nature is far more creative than that though.”

  Selena nodded and approached the bank of the river, and Cameron followed her. He put an arm around her and pulled her back when she stepped too close to the water. “I think Quetzalcoatl is in the river. He’s following boats to the shallower bays, but he’s probably watching us right now.”

  Selena instinctively stepped back and it was probably only her imagination, but the Basin seemed to grow darker, more sinister, deadlier. The sound of gravel crunching beneath a car’s tires made her jump and she turned to see the second car of demigods parking behind Quinn. A third would be joining them soon.

  Jasper opened the passenger door and stretched lazily, apparently not nearly as concerned with their mission as he should be. She’d met him the day before when he and Quinn had shown up at Cameron’s apartment, and he’d immediately hit on her. Cameron threatened to beat the shit out of him before throwing him out, and Quinn, sounding like he’d had to break up more than a few of their fights, had stood between them and fixed Jasper with a warning stare and told him to leave Selena alone.

  By the way Cameron was glaring at him now, she didn’t think he’d forgiven him yet. Or maybe he just always looked at him that way because he’d made it clear even before that incident how much he disliked Jasper.

  Jasper flashed her a wide grin and walked casually to her side, ignoring Cameron. He had the air of a man who knew he was attractive and was used to getting his way with women, and that just made Selena want to turn him down in front of as many people as possible. On her top five list of least desirable qualities, arrogance was definitely up there.

  “Morning, Beautiful Goddess,” he said and he even bowed to her. She glanced at Cameron who rolled his eyes and tried to concentrate on the river again.

  “Good morning, Jasper,” she said crisply. “And my name is Selena.”

  “Fitting name,” he continued unabated. “Just as lovely as you are.”

  Selena shrugged and turned to the river. “It’s from the Greek for moon and the moon is just a big rock.”

  Cameron snickered and Selena smiled. Part of her felt gratified that Cameron was getting a kick out of her deflecting every one of Jasper’s attempts to hit on her again.

  “But at night,” Jasper went on, still apparently undaunted or thinking she was just playing hard to get, “when the sun reflects off of it, the moon is beautiful. So as I said, a fitting name.”

  “It’s an illusion, Jasper,” Selena corrected. “What you’re seeing are the reflections of the sun’s rays, so what’s really beautiful is th
e sun and what it can do. That’s like telling me I’m only pretty when I cover myself in makeup and expensive dresses and PhotoShop myself down to a size 0.”

  “Don’t do that,” Cameron interjected. “I’ve known women who are naturally that small and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not you. And I never really understood women’s obsession with makeup, though to be honest, my ex-girlfriend splurged on a Versace dress once and she looked killer in it.”

  “Ex-girlfriend?” Jasper scoffed. “Which of the three was that?” His tone made it clear that was intended to be a humiliating insult and by the expression on Cameron’s face, it had worked.

  And Selena suddenly wanted to throw Jasper in the river and let him take his chances with Quetzalcoatl. Of course, she knew herself. She’d probably immediately backtrack and save his life if she could, but she was already getting a fairly clear picture as to why Cameron hated this guy so much. She crossed her arms and glared angrily at him. “I’ve had two boyfriends, one of whom turned out to be an agent for the New Pantheon and betrayed me, so really, only one that’s ever even loved me. Are you going to give me a hard time about it now?”

  Jasper forced a smile and shook his head. “Course not.”

  But Quinn had heard enough. The third car with the rest of the demigods had all arrived, and they were standing around listening to these three argue about something trivial and stupid when they were supposed to be hunting a giant feathered serpent who was swimming the Atchafalaya waterways and eating people.

  “Jasper, what did I tell you yesterday?” Quinn barked. “Leave Selena alone. We get it. You’re descended from a sex god so you can’t seem to fathom anyone not being interested in you, but she’s clearly not.”

  Selena laughed then immediately blushed and covered her mouth with her hand. Only Cameron seemed to find her outburst amusing. Jasper looked offended. But she’d never met anyone who was descended from a sex god. She almost felt sorry for him, as if he couldn’t control his obnoxious behavior. As Quinn motioned for them to start walking along the banks to see if they could spot the ancient Aztec god, Cameron leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I saw that look. Don’t even think about taking pity on him. He’s just an asshole.”

  Selena watched the dark blue material of Jasper’s t-shirt stretched tightly over his broad shoulders as he walked with Quinn and another demigod, the psychic, a pretty brunette with a petite frame and oval shaped tortoise-shell glasses, and shrugged. “We’re all partly human, Cameron, and I choose to believe there are few humans who have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.”

  “You’d have to look really hard to find his,” he muttered.

  “Probably,” Selena agreed. “But I’d rather not.”

  Cameron snickered and turned his eyes back to the river. After two “boating incidents” only two days apart, traffic on the river had been halted and it was quiet. Even the water itself was tranquil with only the occasional ripple of the current as it moved downstream.

  “Are the bays where the fishermen disappeared close together?” she asked Cameron. “Maybe we should have started there.”

  He shook his head. “Not that close. That’s why we think he’s in the river itself.”

  “I’ve never been fishing,” she announced then felt silly for making that kind of announcement while they were hunting for a god who still took his own human sacrifices.

  But Cameron just smiled and kept his eyes on the river. “I’ll take you one day.”

  “Aunt Tara wasn’t very… outdoorsy. We didn’t camp or fish or do any of that stuff and growing up in Villa Rica, we were probably one of four families who didn’t. Like we weren’t outcasts enough already.”

  “That describes pretty much any small town in Louisiana, too. My dad used to take me out here, and sometimes, out in the bays along the Intracoastal. That’s partly why this snake bastard has to die. That could be my…”

  Cameron took a slow, deep breath but Selena didn’t finish his sentence for him or expect him to continue. Even though he rarely talked about his family, she knew he’d been far luckier than she had: his mom and dad and younger brother were all alive and still in his life, and they loved each other.

  She never knew her father and she had lost her mother when she was only three. Her mom’s sister, her Aunt Tara, raised her after her mother lost her battle with ovarian cancer. Selena didn’t know yet she could heal; she didn’t know how to use this gift that had been passed on to her from some god who had existed thousands of years ago.

  If she had, her mother would still be alive.

  She’d never learned to forgive herself for her mother’s death.

  And she’d never told anyone about it or that she failed to save her.

  She felt Cameron’s hand wrap gently around her arm and he stopped her. She looked up at him, surprised, but he looked worried. “Are you all right?”

  Selena nodded then realized she’d been crying. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and tried to laugh it off but only a sob escaped her throat. The others stopped walking, too, and turned around to watch them. The pretty psychic’s eyes filled with compassion but she said nothing.

  “Sorry,” Selena cried. “It’s just… a lot to deal with lately. I’ll be fine. Promise.”

  “It’s ok,” Cameron assured her. “I get it.” He put his arms around her and hugged her and she rested her forehead against his shoulder. There was something so safe and comforting about his embrace, as if here, the problems of her world couldn’t catch up to her and find her and threaten her anymore. Part of her realized the psychic, whose name she couldn’t remember, must be sensing these thoughts as well, but she already knew she kept most of what she perceived from others to herself.

  “For God’s sake,” Jasper complained. “When you two are finished, come meet up with us. Some of us are here to work.”

  Selena felt the muscles in Cameron’s chest and arms tense, but he didn’t bother responding and he didn’t let her go.

  “Why do you have to be such a jerk?” the psychic snapped.

  “You tell me, Miss Avery. Isn’t that your thing? Always prying in people’s heads?” he snapped back.

  Avery. That’s her name.

  Selena lifted her head to defend Avery but a loud splash from the river startled them all. Each of the six demigods who had shown up this morning to look for Quetzalcoatl backed away from the bank of the river and stared wide-eyed at the ripples on the surface of the water.

  “It could have just been a fish,” Avery offered.

  “Or a huge ass snake,” Jasper countered.

  A feathered tail shot out of the water and slapped the surface again, filling the air with a sharp crack then the gentler sounds of the waves hitting the bank of the river.

  “Definitely not a fish,” Quinn muttered.

  Cameron’s fingers wound around Selena’s hand and he pulled her farther away from the river, just as Quetzalcoatl’s massive serpent head rose from the water, wearing what appeared to be a devilish grin.

  Chapter Ten

  Quetzalcoatl’s serpentine body rose from the water, his crimson eyes immediately settling on Selena. His long, forked tongue slithered between his teeth, so foreign in the mouth of a giant snake, and Selena shuddered and backed farther away from the river. Cameron’s arms wrapped around her protectively as they watched the massive god lift himself onto the bank of the river.

  “You’re not taking her,” Cameron warned, “so let’s… talk?”

  The feathered reptile made a hissing noise that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

  “I don’t think he’s in the mood for negotiating,” Selena whispered.

  “It was worth a shot,” Cameron whispered back.

  Quetzalcoatl had already witnessed their constant bantering and he apparently wasn’t confused or intrigued by it this time. He lunged forward, his giant jaws opened, and Selena’s legs felt weak. All she could see were the massive teeth, its hollow throat that stretched and could easily consu
me a grown man. And he was aiming for Cameron.

  Selena screamed and tried to use her telekinesis to knock Quetzalcoatl back into the river, but it was as ineffective as they’d feared it would be. It didn’t even slow him down. Cameron let go of her and ducked as the gaping mouth of the feathered serpent bent toward him then punched the side of his head. It seemed to sting Quetzalcoatl or maybe just surprised him, because he lifted his head and turned those angry, bloodthirsty eyes on Cameron again.

  Quinn and the others attempted to distract Quetzalcoatl by pelting his tail and midsection and trying to drag him away, but they were powerless against a god. With one swipe of his long feathered tail, the demigods were sent flying either into the river or into the woods, and Selena’s heart dropped as she watched them scatter.

  “God, Cameron, we’re all going to die! What should we do!” she yelled.

  Cameron didn’t even have time to give her his cut-that-shit-out look. Quetzalcoatl lunged at him again, his jaws gaping, his throat opening, preparing to accommodate the large meal before him.

  “Somebody help us!” Selena screamed. She didn’t know who she was screaming to or appealing to for help, but her telekinesis still did nothing. She couldn’t even knock Cameron out of the way; Quetzalcoatl had immobilized them, his own power weakening their gifts. Cameron gave her one last look, a sad and remorseful expression that Selena couldn’t interpret, then he closed his eyes, resigned to his fate.

  The cawing of a crow startled them all, even Quetzalcoatl. It had been loud, like the crow had somehow stumbled upon an amplifier and was playing with it, but its cawing repeated, shrill and angry. With Quetzalcoatl momentarily distracted, Cameron stepped away from its cavernous jaws and bumped into Selena, who was frozen in the same place as she’d prepared to watch the death of a man she knew she was already falling in love with even though she was desperately trying to avoid it.