Selena finally forced herself to meet Cameron’s eyes and she’d never seen such a murderous expression in them before. “The spear,” he said. “You wanted me to accept some spear, so where is it? I’ll learn how to use it and I’ll kill those bastards…”
“No!” Selena yelled. She grabbed his hand again and shook her head quickly. “When I asked you to make that promise, I didn’t know what it would do to you. You can’t… not until you know the truth. When Badb tells you everything and you decide it’s the destiny you want.”
Cameron inhaled slowly then turned to the old woman sitting quietly across from them. “Will it help me kill these assholes who are after Selena?”
“Yes,” Badb answered. “Indirectly. It’s not the spear itself but how it will transform you.”
“Transform me…” he repeated. He took another slow, deep breath then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever happens… if it helps her…”
“No,” Selena cried. “You don’t want this fate, Cameron. You don’t want to be a god.”
“A god?” His handsome face contorted into utter confusion, and Selena shot Badb another explain-now-or-I’ll-kick-your-old-ass glare. She knew she didn’t stand a chance against the war goddess, but she wouldn’t let Cameron be manipulated into taking Lugh’s place among the Tuatha Dé.
“When a god dies,” Badb explained, “a descendant is chosen to take his place. Because time on Earth and time in the Otherworld are so different, often, that descendant is born hundreds of years after the death of the god. Lugh’s power, the essence of what made him a god, was passed to you, just as the essence of what made Dian Cécht such a powerful god has been passed to Selena. You are meant to be one of us, one of the Children of Danu, but the treasures we brought from the island cities to Ireland have been stolen from us. You remember this now.”
Cameron blinked at her then gasped. “Oh my God,” he breathed. He turned those beautiful chocolate brown eyes toward Selena and shook his head slowly at her. “Selena… I am so sorry. God, you must have hated me.”
“Which god?” she teased.
Cameron let out a half-hearted laugh, but she could tell he was overwhelmed with guilt about his argument with her in the woods. “Cameron, Badb did the right thing. She has a terribly bad habit of not explaining herself better in the moment, but in hindsight, if we had both admitted everything we’d just experienced… traveling to the Otherworld, meeting Perun and learning about our ancestry, then we could be dead already. I don’t think Avery knows about you yet. Only me. When Badb cloaked your memories, she hid them from Avery and that protected you in the end.”
“But it doesn’t matter if…”
“Of course it matters!” Selena laughed. “Our destinies are bound together somehow. We are meant to be the new protectors of the Tuatha Dé but I will never ask you to become something you don’t want to be. But I will find the Dagda’s Cauldron and I will accept my role as a goddess in their pantheon. You don’t have to take the Spear, but I would like your help in finding the missing treasures.”
Cameron sighed and cast a quick glance at the old goddess who still sat there silently, just watching the young couple as if she knew more about their future than she was letting on. “Of course I’ll help you, Selena. You know I will. But I don’t… I don’t want to be a god. I’m sorry.”
She had expected him to say that, but hearing it stung more than she’d expected. She already knew why: she would take her place in her pantheon and live far longer than he. Cameron would remain a demigod, which meant she would have to watch him grow old and die. She tried to remind herself there was nothing in the destinies Badb had shared with her that foretold they were meant to be lovers, but it’s not like the heart had ever been a rational organ.
“Well,” Badb said, smoothing out more invisible wrinkles in her long black robe, “you should pack. You can’t stay here anymore since they’ll be coming for you anytime now. And we still have to deal with Quetzalcoatl and the army he’s amassing against us.”
“Who, exactly, are our allies?” Selena asked. “Don’t tell me we’re doing this on our own.”
Badb waved a hand at her then made a shooing motion to try to get her moving. “Course not. The Greeks will help us.”
“The Greeks…” Cameron groaned and rolled his eyes but Selena couldn’t imagine why having the Greeks as allies would be a bad thing. They had a large pantheon and many of them were supposedly quite powerful. Badb had been watching him, and she cackled when Selena asked what was so bad about the Greeks.
Cameron flipped Badb off.
“Jasper is Greek,” he answered, not even trying to contain the vitriol he felt toward the man who would have to fight alongside him.
Selena snorted. “That’s pretty fitting, actually. He’s got a bit of a Zeus and Eros complex going.”
“He’s got a bit of an asshole complex going,” Cameron mumbled.
“Also fitting then,” Selena giggled.
Cameron smiled at her, but Badb had heard enough of their joking. “We’re leaving,” she said.
The goddess stood up and waved a hand at them to follow her but Cameron remained on his couch, scowling at the old woman who thought she could command him like a dog. Badb rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a spell so Selena pulled Cameron to his feet and urged him to leave with them.
“I’ll leave with you,” he told Selena while still scowling at Badb.
“You don’t have a car,” Selena reminded him. “We kinda have to go with Badb.”
Cameron sighed heavily and raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Ukko owes me a new car. I liked that car.”
“We’ll work on getting you a Batmobile,” Selena laughed. “Now come on. Before Quinn returns with Thor.”
“Huh,” Badb scoffed. “Let that giant bastard come. I’ll show him what good a magic hammer does when that’s all you’ve relied on for millennia.”
Selena kept pulling Cameron toward the door as he tried to turn off lights as they passed them. “Isn’t he a weather god though? Didn’t he ever figure out how to use that to his advantage?”
Badb’s old face wrinkled in disgust as she thought about her enemy. “Thor doesn’t think. Not that bright. Why do you think he trusted Loki for so long?”
“He should have killed him when he cut off Sif’s hair,” Cameron agreed.
“Thor is quick to anger but easily appeased,” Badb explained. “But still not that bright. He is exceptionally strong though. There are others you must be more careful of. Tyr is both strong and intelligent, and he has shown himself willing to make tremendous sacrifices for the good of his people.”
Selena slowed down as they descended the stairs from Cameron’s apartment and since he was still holding her hand, she fell forward. He caught her and helped her regain her footing and Badb shot her a what-the-hell-was-that-about? look quickly followed by a that-was-totally-intentional-wasn’t it? look. Selena shook her head at her. She was never clumsy on purpose, even when it did result in Cameron coming to her rescue.
“I know these myths,” Selena said. “I know how much they loved their friends and wives… ok, they were all cheating assholes, but I guess everyone was back then… it’s just… I’m going to have to fight gods who have homes and families and people who love them. Most of these gods aren’t evil. I’m willing to bet even Quetzalcoatl has something good about him.”
Badb snorted and shook her head. “When people still believed in him, he demanded human sacrifices to fill his appetite for human flesh. You tell me… what is good about that?”
“Didn’t people sacrifice animals for the Tuatha Dé?” Cameron asked.
Badb held a hand in the air as if that were a ridiculous question and kept walking. “All religions used animal sacrifices. Sometimes, people ate the sacrificed animal afterward. People have to eat, don’t they?”
“It’s kinda arrogant to assume any living thing should be killed just as a way for
someone to show they respect you,” Cameron persisted.
Badb just shrugged. “Never said I needed a lamb slaughtered in my name. Humans have made their own rules about how to conduct their religions for thousands of years, Cameron. That’s not our doing.”
Cameron started to argue with her, but Selena groaned and interrupted him as they reached Badb’s car. “Just tell us who Quetzalcoatl will be fighting with. Who in his pantheon is left and who has he recruited?”
Selena heard the doors unlock and Badb motioned for them to get in the car. Neither of them had packed any of their belongings as she’d originally asked so they had nothing to load inside. Selena pulled the door open and slid onto the backseat and Cameron sat beside her. The doors immediately closed and locked on their own. Cameron eyed them uneasily but Selena was still waiting for Badb’s explanation.
Badb turned the key in the ignition and gunned the engine then turned around and winked at her.
“Um, Cameron, you might want to put on your seatbelt,” Selena whispered.
Badb threw the car into reverse, hit the gas and peeled out of the parking space. She shifted the transmission into drive and hit the gas again, and Selena swerved along with the car, sliding into Cameron who hit his head on the glass of the window.
“Ow!” he yelled. “Who the hell taught you how to drive?”
Cameron rubbed his head and helped Selena sit up but Badb just cackled and sped down Sherwood Forest Boulevard.
“There are a lot of cops that patrol around here,” Cameron warned.
Badb cackled again and pressed her foot on the gas.
“We’re not going to live to see this war,” Selena whispered to him.
“Hey,” Badb snapped. “I’m a good driver. You watch.”
“You’re making me seasick,” Selena snapped back. “You watch me throw up all over the back of your car.”
Badb lifted one of her thin, black robed shoulders at her. “It’s a rental.”
“Would you just tell us about the Aztec?” Cameron asked irritably. He looked a little seasick, too.
Badb swerved around a truck, this one with a Virginia Confederate battle flag sticker on its bumper and what Selena could only assume were supposed to be testicles hanging from its hitch. Badb flipped the driver off then cackled again as she cut in front of him.
“What was that for?” Cameron asked.
“Don’t like men like that,” Badb answered. “Give you all a bad name.”
“What is wrong with her?” Cameron asked Selena.
“She’s old. She’s cranky,” Selena answered.
“Quetzalcoatl,” Badb said. “He’s always been a bit of a loner but the surviving members of his pantheon will help him. They are rightfully bitter about their history. They can’t even live in Mexico anymore, which is why Quetzalcoatl is in the Atchafalaya Basin.”
“Weren’t you chased out of Ireland? Not only by Christian missionaries, but eventually, the English?” Cameron asked.
Badb nodded and swerved around another car. “Yes, but it wasn’t as bad. Today’s major religions replaced us all but what happened in Africa and the Americas was a massacre of the people who worshipped those gods. With fewer people who believed in them or who could even remember them, the gods were weakened. Sometimes, they were so weakened, they became mortals themselves.”
“That’s why there are no Polynesian gods anymore,” Selena said, understanding illuminating her tone. “They didn’t have a written language and their religions were transmitted orally. When the Europeans arrived, they wiped out every pantheon in the islands.”
Badb nodded again and pressed the gas pedal farther to the floorboard as the light ahead of her changed to yellow. Selena gripped Cameron’s arm, whose eyes watched the intersection warily. Badb made it through the intersection as the light above them turned red. A cop on the corner watched them pass and Selena and Cameron twisted in their seats, but his lights never turned on. He went through the intersection as if he hadn’t even seen the car flying down a busy, crowded boulevard.
“The Aztec gods were once powerful. Very powerful,” Badb explained. “Quetzalcoatl is resentful that he has been weakened so much, but with Huitzilopochtli dead, he wants to rule over the others. He wants to rule over all others, not just the Aztec. If this isn’t settled soon, we may need to convince the other Aztec gods that fighting with Quetzalcoatl just because they’re from the same pantheon isn’t in their best interest.”
“And how are we supposed to do that? I can’t even get you to drive like a sane person,” Cameron said.
“I’m a good driver. Perfect record,” Badb insisted. “Here’s who I know will be there. Tonatiuh, the sun god.” Badb paused and looked over her shoulder, her beady eyes giving Cameron a pointed look, but he returned a “Yeah, so?” look which made Badb sigh and face the street again. “Xipe Totec, who may be worse than Quetzalcoatl…”
Selena groaned and Cameron put an arm around her. “Please don’t tell me he’s another giant reptile.”
“Worse. Quetzalcoatl demanded human sacrifices because he ate what was given to him on the altar. Xipe Totec is violent by nature. His priests would wear human skins at his ceremonies, and…”
“Ok!” Selena interrupted. “Great. Get eaten by a giant snake or have our skin become a fashion accessory. Anything else we need to know?”
Badb just kept talking. “Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of running water like oceans and rivers. During the ceremonies celebrating water and rain and life, children were sacrificed because their tears were believed to…”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Cameron said. “We don’t need all the details. We get it. The Aztec liked to kill people and were a pretty gruesome bunch. But does that mean the gods are, too?”
“Why is it always god’s sake? Why not goddess’s?” Badb asked.
“Badb!” Selena reprimanded. “What about the gods we’re going to fight?”
“Pretty bad,” Badb answered. “You’ve already met Quetzalcoatl. And when gods do nothing to stop the sacrifice of children, what do you expect from them?”
Selena had to admit that was a fair question. She closed her eyes and rested her head against Cameron’s arm who held her a little closer. There was something so safe, so perfectly natural, in the way he kept his arms around her protectively, affectionately. She told herself it was only because his genetics drove him to defend her at all costs because she didn’t want another broken heart. Alan had been bad enough. Cameron had the potential to destroy it completely.
Selena lifted her head as Badb swerved onto the interstate and headed west. “We’re going out there now, aren’t we?” she asked.
Badb nodded. “It’s been six days. Tomorrow, Quetzalcoatl will be waging a war whether we’re there or not. If we’re not, he’ll come looking for us. Might as well prevent widespread carnage if we can.”
“And… you’ve got an army of Irish and Greek gods waiting for us in the Basin, right?” Cameron asked.
“I’ve got a few,” Badb answered.
“A few…” Cameron said. His arms seemed to instinctively tighten around Selena and she closed her eyes again, allowing herself one last moment to imagine they were simply ordinary people living an ordinary life on their way to a completely, utterly ordinary friend’s house for poker night.
“We can’t leave the Otherworld unprotected, Cameron. We would lose it. Macha and Nemain have stayed to guard the palace. The Dagda will be with us.”
“Why do you keep calling him the Dagda? Can I be known as the Cameron from now on?”
“No,” Badb answered.
Selena snickered and lifted her head. “I think it’s from the meaning of his name, but I’m not sure. ‘Dagda’ translates as ‘good god,’ so when they put ‘the’ in front of it, they’re saying ‘the good god.’ It’s his Cauldron I need to find in order to become the next goddess of healing.”
“Goddess…” Cameron whispered. He sat back from her and stared out the window as they cr
ossed the Mississippi River.
“What did you think I meant back at your apartment?” Selena asked.
Cameron shrugged but kept staring out his window. Selena caught Badb looking at him in her rearview mirror, but Selena sat up straighter and stared out her own window. She wondered if Cameron thought he would be able to change her mind about joining the Tuatha Dé or if he was just angry and felt his own sense of betrayal that she would choose this destiny when he’d made it so clear how little he liked the gods and the games they played.
Or maybe he was worried it would change her, turn her into the same kind of creature that most gods and goddesses seemed to be: selfish and more concerned with their own victories and fortunes than the wellbeing of others. Even though Badb had demonstrated considerable concern for their welfare, her allegiance was to the Tuatha Dé, and Selena knew their history. She and her entire pantheon had taken sides in the wars of men and even influenced outcomes when they wanted to. If there was such a thing as a loving and benevolent god, then it wasn’t the gods who had birthed the demigods that roamed the Earth now.
Nobody spoke again until Badb pulled off the interstate at the Butte La Rose exit. Cameron leaned forward and flicked his wrist at the goddess still pretending to be an old woman. “Where are you going? If this war isn’t starting until tomorrow, I seriously don’t want to sleep in the middle of a swamp where I’ll likely just get eaten by a giant snake again.”
“You didn’t get eaten by a giant snake last time so how could it happen again?” Badb retorted.
“You’re a pain in the ass,” Cameron said.
Badb just nodded.
“And cranky,” Selena added. “Don’t forget the cranky part.”
“Yeah,” Cameron agreed. “You’re a cranky pain in the ass.”
Badb cut a hard right and sent them both careening into the door. Cameron hit his head again and cursed at the goddess who just laughed, or more accurately, cackled.
She flicked on her headlights as the sun dipped below the tree line and the sky darkened to a bluish gray. She finally eased off the accelerator when she pulled off the paved street and onto a narrow dirt road dotted with camps. Cameron rubbed the sore spot on his head and Selena touched his hand. He smiled at her as she healed the headache Badb’s terrible driving had given him.
Shadows of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 1) Page 16