by Unknown
“That's not true,” she huffed. “Maybe it's a little more on than off.”
“Who's getting off and who's getting on?” I gave her a brow waggle.
“Both of us,” she giggled. “Yeah, he's kind of hot.”
“Kind of?” I laughed. “I think there's a few thousand females who would disagree with that assessment.
“I don't know about this god thing though.”
“He's technically not a god,” I sighed. I knew exactly what she was going through. I'd been there myself with Thor. “If it's the immortality thing, I'm sure we could work something out if you decided to make it a more permanent relationship.”
“That's the problem,” she glanced around us at the other diners and then back to me. “I don't want to be immortal.”
“Okay,” I couldn't argue that either, though the thought of her dying eventually made my stomach clench. Suddenly I started to think about all the other mortals in my life, people who'd one day die. Nothing had changed really, I'd always known the people in my life would eventually die but that was when I thought I'd be joining them. Now it seemed so different.
“Vervain? Vervain? Hey, Vivian!”
“My name's not Vivian,” I finally snapped out of my melancholy. “Vervain's an herb, look it up.”
“There's my girl,” she saluted me with her glass. “So what's the problem now?”
“I'm sorry,” I glanced around the crowded restaurant. All of these people would be gone in under a century. Would the restaurant even be there in a hundred years? Doubtful. I'd outlast it all. Unless someone killed me. Now there was a pleasant thought. “I'm just feeling the weight of immortality.”
“Yeah, now you see my problem,” she agreed.
“But is it a problem?” I looked over her face closely. “Are you really that into Rain?”
“I don't know,” she waved the waiter over. “Yeah, this isn't gonna work for me today,” she lifted her empty wine glass. “Can you bring us some tequila shots?”
“Right away,” the waiter flung his golden surfer-boy locks out of his eyes and winked at Krystal before going off to get our drinks.
“We're drinking tequila today?” I watched her watching the waiter. “You're breaking up with him.”
“I think I am,” she looked back at me with sad eyes.
“There'll be someone else.”
“Oh, I know,” she waved her hand airily. “I'll just miss the size of his-”
“Don't you dare,” I glanced at a nearby table where a little girl was having lunch with her mother.
“Wallet,” she finished with a big grin.
“You're incorrigible,” I grimaced.
“I have some more distressing news from the human world,” she got even more serious.
“Oh, fudge,” I puffed out a breath. “What now? Is it god related?”
“I don't think so,” she gave it some consideration. “I don't see how they would benefit... oh, damn. Maybe it is.”
“Shut up,” I whined. “What? What happened?”
“Well, it's the Olympics.”
“The Olympics?” I blinked, my face going slack.
“Yeah, the Russian Government stole a couple of young orcas from their family pod and put them on display for the Olympics.”
“That's awful,” I frowned. “I don't see the connection to the gods though.”
“There's more,” she sighed. “Have you ever heard about the stray dogs in Russia?”
“No.”
“Well there's all these dogs that live in the country, like in the wild,” she started. “They're so smart that every morning they get on the train with people and they ride into the city to forage for food. Then every night, they get back on the train and go back into the country.”
“No way,” I grinned. “Dog commuters. That's so awesome.”
“I know,” she got that look that said she was about to make life a little sadder. “The Russian Government decided that they were going to kill all the dogs to eliminate the possibility of someone getting bit at the Olympics.”
“No,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” she looked grim. “This was a year ago. The Russian civilians were outraged. They petitioned the government to stop their plans and the government said they would. Then they went and hired private companies to go out and slay the animals for them.”
“Oh, please no,” I looked up as the waiter delivered our shots. “Thank you,” I shot my tequila. “Bring the bottle please.”
“Yes, Ma'am,” he said and ran off.
“And she's not a Ma'am,” Krystal called after him.
“Krystal, you really need to get over your issues with being called Ma'am. He was just being polite.”
“You're not old enough to be called Ma'am.”
“Well I think I'm too old to be called Miss.”
“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes. “Do you wanna hear about the dogs?”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess.”
“It gets a little better.”
“Okay then.”
“They slaughtered thousands of dogs and they did it with poisoned meat, so they died painfully.”
“That's called worse, not better.” I glanced up and nodded to the waiter when he offered to pour me another shot. “Thank you, you're timing is impeccable.”
“I can't actually leave the bottle,” he said sheepishly, “but this carafe has eight shots in it.” He put a wine carafe down between us.
“That's perfect, thank you,” I smiled and he left.
“I wasn't done,” Krystal sighed.
“Oh, go on then.”
“So the Russian people have been so upset, they've gone and gathered up as many dogs as they could and saved them. There have been shelters created for the animals but a lot of civilians are simply bringing the dogs into their homes.”
“That's a relief,” I sighed, “and a redemption for the Russians.”
“There's been so much worldwide outrage that it looks like the killings have stopped,” she nodded. “But now there are all these animals who need homes. People have even been adopting the dogs and having them shipped to the US.”
“Well don't tell Trevor or Pride Palace will be overrun with Russian doggies,” I grinned. “Why did you think a god could be involved?”
“Dead animals?” She gave me her duh face. “Aren't they considered a sacrifice?”
“Oh damn,” I took another shot of tequila. “I didn't think of that. I'm not sure what to do about it now that it's over.”
“Isn't Kirill Russian?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Can't you send him to check it out?”
“What? Send him down to Sochi to walk around and ask people if they've seen any gods in the area?”
“Oh, I see your point.”
“I did meet a dog goddess once,” I thought back to the first time I'd met Blue. Not only was Tawiskaron there but there had been this little dog goddess named... “Sarama, the Bitch of Heaven.”
“Shut up!” She gasped. “She called herself the Bitch of Heaven?”
“Yep, that's her name,” I giggled. “Maybe I could ask Blue to contact her. She might be offended by all that canine death.”
“Good call,” Krystal nodded. “Why send in a lion when it's a bitch's job?”
“Oh, that was bad,” I grimaced. “But I'm glad I don't have to tell Kirill about this. I think it would upset him.”
“No kidding,” she huffed. “He's got that whole honorable thing going on. I don't think he'd like to hear about his people killing puppies.”
“Puppies?” I gaped at her.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Sorry.”
“You realize that will haunt me.”
“At least you won't have to worry about nightmares,” she threw back her shot. “I think that dance card is full already.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Are you kidding me?” I looked over Vex's dream-illusion of himself.
“After the rum qu
ote, I figured you were a Johnny Depp fan,” Vex spread his arms out to display the Captain Jack Sparrow illusion he'd created for himself.
“Why can't you just be yourself?”
“Why would I want to be myself?” He frowned. “That's not fun at all.”
“Because then maybe I'd know who I was talking to,” I put my hands on my hips.
“Oh, and you'd like that,” he grimaced. “Gathering the pitchforks, Godhunter? Ready to come a lynching?”
“I don't need weapons anymore,” I sniffed, “but if I did, it wouldn't be a pitchfork. That's kind of Luke's gig.”
“Cute,” he jangled loudly as he plopped into a delicate Victorian era chair. He looked ridiculous. “Where are we anyway?” He looked around the elegant ballroom. A waltz was being played and couples were swishing about the floor in their historical costumes.
“Tell me your name first,” I crossed my arms over my corseted chest.
“Captain Jack Sparrow,” he bowed from the neck. “At your service.”
“Get out of my dream, Captain,” I growled.
“No.”
“What's your name?”
He pressed his lips together.
“What's your name? What's your name? What's your name?” I kept asking him over and over, a technique I'd learned from the phooka pups. Finally he stood and started to vanish.
But I was prepared for him this time. I'd caught his scent. Oh yeah, he had a distinct scent in the Dream Realm. I may have only been there in spirit but he was actually, physically there... with his scent. Which meant I could track him. So when he left, I followed his trail. It took me to the edge of the ballroom and straight through the wall.
“There is no spoon,” I said to myself as I closed my eyes and walked through the wall. “Holy Hobbits! It worked.”
I stared around me with wide eyes. I don't know what I'd been expecting, maybe something similar to the Aether. A lot of stuff floating around and generally being distracting and potentially insanity inducing. The Dream Realm wasn't like that at all. It was more like the Void, an empty place until it was filled by intent, but where the Void was black emptiness, this place was blue mist.
The ground was concealed by the blue fog and the air was hung with veils of the stuff. I reached out a hand and the mist parted. I saw clearly across a great expanse, the emptiness broken by nothing except those veils. Veils of that same blue mist hung in the air everywhere. Not clouds or puffs, veils, as in sheets or...
“Curtains,” I whispered, my voice echoing through the emptiness. I caught Vex's trail again and sure enough, it led up to one of the curtains of blue mist. “Alright, Vex, here I come.”
I pushed aside the curtain and found an opening to a whole new place behind it. I walked through slowly, scenting the air and finding Vex's trail again. The room I was in was filled with people but they were all floating. Even I was floating, I realized with trepidation. The floor beneath my feet had just dropped away when I stepped in. Now the black marble was several feet below me.
The people around me paid me no heed, they were too busy doing somersaults and other acrobatic maneuvers in the air. They were dressed like Cirque du Soleil performers, with bright leotards covered in layers of chiffon and extravagant make-up. I looked down and saw that I was dressed in the same style, a red catsuit with a purple chiffon skirt. I didn't like that at all and suddenly my clothes changed to jeans and a tight black shirt.
“Sweet,” I nodded and floated through the air dancers.
I found Capt. Jack, who was now a sweet looking young man with blonde hair and a face painted to emphasize his cheekbones. He was twirling a young girl in a circle, her pink chiffon skirt billowing out around her. I sensed immediately that she was the dreamer and I was now the interloper in her mind. As I was getting over my shock, the blonde man pulled the girl into an embrace with her facing forward, her back pressed to his chest. His eyes faded to filmy gray, the eyes of a dead man, as his hands slid around her neck. He began to strangle her. As he did, she started to fade right into him.
“Oh hell no,” I shot forward through the dancers, who simply disintegrated at my approach, and knocked him away from her.
The girl stared at us with horrified comprehension as she was flung backwards. Then she was gone, poof, and the room around us disappeared, becoming the blue mist place again.
“How did you do that?” His face flashed, changing from boyish to mature, sweet to severe, light to dark, before settling back into Captain Jack. “You can't do that! Only I can walk the dreams! Only I can push aside the veils! How did you do that?” He launched himself at me and grabbed me by the upper arms to try and shake the answer out of me.
“I'll never tell,” I mimicked his words.
“Tell me, Godhunter!”
“Tell me your name!”
“Catch me if you can,” he ran toward another veil. “And then maybe I'll tell you.”
“Fudge,” I swore and chased after him.
The next dream had me running across a rooftop, crisp air whistling past my face as I jumped across the gaps between buildings. A man standing near the edge gaped at me as I ran by and waved a jaunty hello.
“Ware the edge!” I shouted as I followed Jack through another veil.
A bright mountainside meadow. Sun shining hot on my skin and child laughing. Jack was running straight through a picnic, knocking aside the teddy bears who were serving tea. I waved a hand as I passed and the teddy bears righted, all the broken china repairing itself. The little girl who'd been having a teddy bear tea party, waved gratefully at me and I waved back.
“This is kind of fun,” I laughed as I pushed aside another veil that appeared mid-air.
I was immediately falling. I was high in the sky and I could see Jack below me, near a man with a parachute. Jack motioned with his hand and disappeared. I angled for the same spot, doing a similar maneuver to open the veil, and passed into another dream.
I landed lightly and looked around. Dirt bikes raced by me and I pulled my arms in tight to my chest as a bike came too close. Vex was ahead of me, running over the rutted dirt hills with ease. Another group of dirt bikes was heading my way and I'd never make it through them.
“Screw this,” I sprouted wings and lifted myself into the air, flying over the bikes and landing just as Jack went through another veil. “Damn it.”
I pushed aside the blue mist and stepped onto a train. It was an old style train, an apartment car, and there was a paunchy man counting gold coins at a table on my right. At least it looked like he'd been counting until something had disturbed him. Jack. He was just exiting the car at the far end.
“I say,” the man lifted a hand towards me. “What do-”
“No time,” I hurried off. “Go back to your gold.”
I ran over the plush carpeting and opened the door to find another veil. I pushed it aside and found myself in a dreary factory. Dim lights and gray walls led me to a brightly lit area open to the top floor. There was a man strapped to a wall over a bulls eye. He was cringing and covered with blood.
“Oh sugar,” I ran for him. I know it was just a dream but I couldn't let the guy be... I stopped dead in my tracks. “Holy cannolis, it is sugar!”
In front of the poor sod was a giant jelly doughnut. The jelly hole was pointed directly at him and a horde of tiny men in white lab coats were lined up on the upper floor to jump over the side and onto the doughnut with the intention of squirting jelly over the dreamer. It wasn't blood at all.
As I watched, one of the little men did a cannonball over the edge and landed smack dab in the center of the doughnut. Bright red jelly squirted out and hit the man dead in the face. He winced but then started licking the jelly as the little men cheered.
“You need therapy,” I said to the jelly coated man, who I realized was enjoying himself. “And possibly a hug. After you bathe.”
I found the trail again, it led right up to a metal door. I opened it and found a wall of water. After groaning,
I imagined some scuba gear for myself and stepped in. I started swimming after Jack, who evidently didn't need scuba equipment since he was a pirate. He was far ahead of me, his dreadlocks floating around his head and making him look like a floating anemone.
A woman riding a giant turtle went by me, giving me a strange look. I ignored her and pushed on. Don't worry about me, just passing through. Grab shell, Dude. Out of nowhere a shark came at me, mouth open wide to display several rows of teeth. I panicked, flailing about in fear, and then remembered where I was. I set my imagination to work and the shark turned into a tiny fish. It hovered in front of me for a second before spinning around and swimming away in a terrified manner-a lot of tail swishing and such.
The distraction had done the trick though. I couldn't find Jack anywhere. I found his trail easily enough but I realized that I'd be doing this all night, chasing him through dream after dream while getting nowhere. I needed to go home. Get back to my own dream and out of this deep blue debacle.
As soon as I thought it, a veil appeared in front of me and I pushed it aside to find myself back in the original ballroom. That was convenient. I went on in, my swim fins slapping loudly on the marble floor. I focused and willed the scuba gear away, going back to my lovely period costume. I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and dropped into a chair with a dramatic sigh.
Dreaming wasn't for the faint of heart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I woke up in a quandary over what to do about Vex. I finally decided to wait on telling the others about him. They had enough to deal with already and I didn't know what we could do beside chase the stalker around the Dream Realm, which I'd already done unsuccessfully. I know I needed to do something, he was out there killing people, but I had no idea what or how to proceed. I needed to put some thought into it, something I wasn't good at. So I enlisted Torrent's aid to research Dream Gods and see what he could find out. When I had enough information, I'd tell the Squad.
For now, I was going on a date with an angel.
Azrael had mentioned that he didn't get to spend enough time with me and I'd come up with a plan so we could get some alone time without depriving Trevor or Kirill of their alone time too. This was going to be our first test of the theory.