by Unknown
“Isleen?” Arach cocked his head at her, his dragon eyes narrowing.
“It's old magic, my King,” she shook her head. “Magic that the fey gave up before the way between the realms was closed. It was of no use to you and Mimir is a collector of knowledge. I didn't want the spells to go unappreciated.”
“And this is the magic that brought Odin back?” Arach looked over at me. “Soul magic?”
“Yeah, it doesn't work on fey, for obvious reasons,” I shrugged.
“So who was it...” Arach's voice trailed off as he put it all together. “Humans. We used it on humans.”
“Yes, my King,” Isleen looked down at her lap.
“And the High King outlawed it?”
“Yes,” Isleen whispered, looking away.
“Then it's better off with Mimir.”
“Yes well, it's with me now,” I reminded him. “And I need Isleen's help since she knew it so well. Isleen, Odin can't remember who he was yet. I need to know if there's a way to help him get back his memories.”
“Of course,” she frowned at me like I was slow. It was a look I was used to getting from both fey and gods alike. “You have the book, so you have the power to control him. Make him remember.”
“Isleen,” I growled. “Pretend I know nothing.”
“That's not difficult,” she rolled her eyes.
“Isleen,” Arach's voice held a warning.
“Sorry, my King, my Queen,” she bowed her head. “There's a spell in the book, I believe it was called Cuimhneachán Athaontaìodh.”
“I have no idea of what you just said,” I frowned and looked to Arach for explanation.
“Loosely translated it means Reunited Remembrance,” Arach nodded to Isleen. “What does it entail?”
“The subject must be connected with something from his past,” she rolled her eyes.
“I have connected him with something from his past,” I smirked. “Me.”
“That obviously hasn't worked,” she pointed out dryly.
“When he brought me back, I didn't start remembering things until he touched me,” I thought it over. “So it worked for me, why not him?”
“He must have a more powerful past than you did,” she mused.
“I was a witch.”
“But he was a god,” her look was serious and sympathetic now.
“So what should I do?” I huffed in frustration. “Take him to Asgard and make him touch everything?”
“That may not be such a bad idea,” Isleen tilted her head consideringly.
“Great, this has been so helpful.”
“You're welcome, my Queen,” Isleen beamed.
“That was sarcasm, Isleen,” Arach said before I could. “Basically, she meant the exact opposite of what she said.”
“Oh,” Isleen's smile faded.
“Yeah,” I grimaced. “What he said.”
Chapter Forty-Four
I didn't stay in Faerie for very long, using the ring to take me straight back to when I'd left the God Realm instead of waiting for time to catch up. I was too antsy over the Odin/Griffin situation. I didn't know what I was going to do but I needed to do something. I needed to see him. Talk to him.
So I ended up at Moonshine, alone. I decided it would be best to leave the others out of this. I needed to see Griffin by myself and do a little thinking. I traced straight in from Asgard, using the Family Room entrance that only certain people could get through. I came out on the top level of Moonshine, the VIP lounge, and went over to the railing to look for Griffin.
He was guarding the stairs again. They must have given him the easy job until he got more familiar with the place. I'd have to remember to thank Trevor for that. Or maybe it was Ty, Trevor's younger brother. Either way, it was considerate.
Griffin looked good as usual, his blonde hair had gotten a touch longer and there was a little scruff on his chin, making him look like the cliche bouncer. I liked the scruff, it really helped make him look less pretty. Like the change George Michael made when he left Wham(okay, maybe that was a bad reference). He had on a black Moonshine T-shirt and black jeans, the dress code for Moonshine men, and his arms were crossed over his chest again. His expression was carefully blank, the go to look for bouncers everywhere that said clearly: I'm only allowed to rough you up if you get out of line, so please misbehave.
Then he went from perfectly fine to a shivering mess in two seconds flat. I rushed to the stairs as he began to shake in earnest, his hands lifting to his face, pressing at his temples as if he could expel some kind of inner turmoil if he simply squeezed hard enough. I flew down the stairs and caught him as he started to sway, easing him down into a seat built into the side of the pool beside us.
The waterfall crashed behind him, drowning out the music that played and giving us a false sense of privacy. I glanced around and realized that we were in the same spot in which he'd once comforted me, back when Trevor had run out on me after I refused his proposal. How very ironic.
“Griffin?” I stroked the sides of his face. “Breathe, deep and slow. You're okay, you're at Moonshine. You're in the Human Realm, in Hawaii. No one's going to hurt you here. Are you with me? Can you hear me? Griffin?”
“Yes,” his breathing slowed and his beautiful eyes lost their frantic look. He focused on my face and just stared for a few heartbeats. I continued to stroke him, his cheeks, his hair, I slid my hands down his arms and held his hands. “How did you know what to say?”
“I've been there, remember?” I squeezed his hands. “I wouldn't have brought you back if I wasn't completely certain that you could handle this. I know you're strong enough to beat this but I can help you, if you let me.”
“The only memories I have belong to this body,” he finally spoke after a few minutes. “It's like they're embedded into this flesh. I rub my jaw and see a woman hitting me there. I get undressed and...”
“You see her hurting you?” I clenched my teeth against the pain. I'd not only brought Odin back to another existence, I'd given him horrifying memories of Demeter.
“Yes,” he nodded and looked away.
“These aren't your memories,” I turned his face back to mine. “I know it's hard to accept when that's all you can see but I promise you, those things never happened to you. They're just a movie inside your head. Push them away, press stop.”
“Then who did they happen to if not me?” He swallowed hard, his eyes filling with tears. “Who was this guy? What happened to him?”
“You know what happened to him,” I sighed. “He was a victim of a goddess named Demeter. She was evil and she tortured him for a very long time. Long enough that when we found him and freed him, he was beyond help. He wanted to die but I wouldn't let him,” I wiped away a tear that rushed down my cheek. “I had Teharon put him into a healing coma, just hoping that he might come back. I couldn't give up on him, not after all she'd done to him. I was able to bring Kirill back from insanity so I guess I was cocky.”
“Kirill?” He interrupted. “What happened to him?”
“That's his story, I can't share it with you,” I shook my head. “But I will tell you that Demeter played a part in it and he went through much more than Griffin did.”
“He did?” Those Odin eyes widened.
“Yeah, so I thought I could save Griffin if I just held on long enough but he drifted away. His soul left his body, it just wouldn't hold on any longer, and I realized what I'd truly been keeping him for.”
“For me,” he whispered.
“For you,” I agreed. “It's horrible, I know, but I love Odin so much. I would do many horrible things to have him back. I'd sacrifice almost anything for him. I didn't know that until I was standing over this empty shell.”
“And then you went into Heaven to find me?”
“No, I went into the Void,” I corrected gently. “It's like Heaven inasmuch as people are meant to go there when they die but its less judgmental. It's where souls are born and recycled. You may have eventually
come back on your own but I probably would never have found you and you would have been mortal, without a chance of becoming immortal. That would have lessened my chances of finding you even more. I just couldn't take the risk.”
“Did I want to come back?”
“Not at first,” I laughed half-heartedly. “But then I found out why you were refusing me.”
“Why?” He was so focused on me, I don't think he realized he was gripping my hands now, not the other way around.
“Because you didn't want me to risk my life to save you,” I huffed. “Not after you'd died to save me in the first place.”
“How did you convince me to tell you the truth?”
“You said I had other men to comfort me, other loves to fill my life. That I didn't need you. It's kind of funny that you still say those things,” I smiled, remembering our argument in the Void. “I told you that a heart couldn't beat when a piece is cut away from it, no matter how much of the heart is left behind. You're a part of my heart and it just won't beat without you. You gave in then and told me the truth.”
I stroked his cheek and he lowered his face till our foreheads were touching. We just sat there like that, me kneeling in front of him, our heads pressed together and our hands clenched tightly around each others. Then he sighed and pulled back, gently letting my hands go.
“I wish I could remember more than what this body does,” he admitted and my heart jumped. The mere fact that he wanted to remember seemed like a huge advancement to me. “I keep seeing that woman's face, seeing her above me, and all I feel is fear. I hate being afraid.”
“I'm so sorry I did this to you,” I stood and edged back, not wanting to make him feel crowded or pressured now that we'd finally made some progress. “I hope you can forgive me someday.”
“I'm not mad at you,” he shook his head and looked up at me. “I'm frustrated and tired. I want a life, any kind of life, just as long as it's not one that makes me feel like this.”
“How long have you been suffering through these episodes?”
“Since I woke up and saw your face,” he whispered.
“Oh fuck,” I whispered back. “What have I done?”
“You've created life, Dr. Frankenstein,” he stood with a defeated air. “And now your monster wants his freedom.”
My heart sank. It seemed like all it did lately was ride excessive highs and lows. I took a deep breath and nodded, walking past him. As I came even with him, his hand brushed mine and in my heart, I knew it was goodbye.
Chapter Forty-Five
I came out of the tracing chamber to find Pride Palace in an uproar. Literally. The roar of almost eighty lions filled my ears, along with one really pissed off werewolf. I rushed forward, following the sound straight into the dining hall.
One of the massive tables that ran down the center of the hall was smashed to bits and over these remnants the Intare and one Froekn Prince fought mutants. Massive mutants that looked as if Tawiskaron had recruited them at the local gym. In Norway. Or Russia. Somewhere with big men who drank rocket fuel for kicks. Maybe Alabama.
One of them stalked over to me and grunted. I gaped at the bulging muscles, twisted into weird shapes, and the misshapen jaw that jutted out too much. He was pasty white and had an overly wide upper body with scrawny legs. Blue veins stood out all over him.
“What are you, an orc?” I asked him as I bopped him on the head. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to answer me after that.
One of the mutants sailed past me and I ducked out of the way. Darius leaped by in his lion form, roaring in delight, like a cat chasing a mouse. I shook my head and headed into the fray, shouting something along the lines of “Try not to kill them!” My Intare roared a response and Trevor leaped across the table to fight beside me. He was in his half-form and he put his furry back to mine so we could protect each other. Further in the room, I saw a black lion drag a mutant down, one huge paw lifting and then dropping hard on the mutant's head. The mutant went still. That's my sweet Russian Prince for you.
It didn't take much longer to subdue the rest of the assailants and soon I was able to send Lucian off to fetch Teharon so he could heal them and we could hopefully get them home to whatever cave their barbarian horde lived in.
Teharon was appalled when he finally arrived, looking over the assortment of mutant muscle men with a hanging jaw. He went about the process of returning them to their slightly less mutated forms but first asked what everyone else was thinking.
“How did they get past your wards?”
Before we could hazard any guesses, a large lion came padding into the room. It was Aidan, I recognized his scent. He dropped at my feet and changed back to his human form but he couldn't get up. He just laid their shivering.
“He's in shock,” Trevor picked him up and put him in a chair. “He must have had to heal himself with the transformation and it must have been a lot to heal if he's this exhausted.”
“Aidan?” I knelt before him. “Can someone grab him a blanket?” I called over my shoulder. “Aidan, what happened to you?”
“I'm so sorry, Tima,” he swallowed hard and then Darius laid a blanket over his shoulders. He pulled it around himself tight but kept shivering. “I tried to hold out but I couldn't take any more.”
“It's okay, honey,” I pulled him gently down onto the floor with me and wrapped myself around him. I raised my body temperature and felt him sag into with relief. I sought the glowing cord that connected us and poured a little of my energy down it for him. “Did Tawiskaron hurt you?”
“Yeah,” Aidan growled as his strength returned. “He caught me leaving Game Stop. I'd just bought a new game and now it's gone.”
“I'll buy you a new game, Aidan,” I gave a slightly insane chuckle. “Are you alright now?”
“Yes, Tima,” he nodded and pushed himself up. “Thank you but we're going to have to change the wards. I gave him the chant.”
“Yes, I figured you did,” I helped him up and into the chair again. “It's okay, I'd rather you be alive. We handled the mutants just fine,” I waved my hand back at the comatose mutants and as I did so, the hall righted itself, broken bits coming together and overturned chairs flipping back on their feet. “Whoa,” I whispered. “That was some Harry Potter coolness.”
“Totally,” Aidan agreed.
“Looks like he's fine,” Teharon, who'd been standing over us in case Aidan needed further healing, rolled his eyes. “I'll change the rest of them back and then I'm going to go have a word with my brother.”
“No, wait,” I put a hand on his arm. “Let's give it some time, talk to the others and think this through first. I'm actually relieved that he attacked us instead of defenseless humans. The only thing that angers me is his treatment of Aidan. I'm sorry, Teharon but he's going to pay for that.”
“I understand but this worries me,” Teharon frowned. “Tawiskaron isn't one to let things get personal. “Why did he attack you here? It makes no sense.”
“Unless it was a distraction,” I exchanged a horrified look with Teharon. “Do you have a connection with your brother? One you can use to find him?”
“Normally yes,” Teharon was already texting the God Squad. “But he's blocked me recently.”
“Torrent!” I started shouting.
“I sent him with Fallon to watch over Sam and the baby,” Trevor growled as he ran past me. “I'll get him.”
It didn't take too long before the entire God Squad had arrived and Torrent was dispatched to search the Inter Realm for any alarming news about lepers or mutants. Yes lepers, the Indians at Karni Mata's temple had assumed the mutants who attacked them were lepers, an understandable confusion and one I was grateful for. At least there wasn't panic spreading over monsters rampaging through India.
“Yemen!” Torrent came running into the room. “They're in a village called Khamri in Yemen.”
“Yemen?” I blinked at the rest of the Squad. “Why Yemen?”
“There's fighting going on
over there right now,” Teharon urged us forward. “I can direct us, let's go.”
So we all went to Yemen.
It's a place I never want to go again and that has nothing to do with the mass slaughter we found. I don't know if all of Yemen looked like Khamri but I can tell you that Khamri is a desolate place. A village of stone houses, once white and now a dirty beige, huddled at the foot of a drab brown mountain. The only color in the whole place came from the clear blue sky. Oh and the blood.
We were too late. The mutants had been and gone already, leaving bodies scattered all across the village and the surrounding plains. Most of them were armed, al-Huthis rebels I was told, but several were harmless villagers. Men, women, children, they were all shot down. It would appear to anyone investigating that the rebels had killed the villagers and then turned on each other. It was probably close to the truth except there had been mutants involved, tricking the rebels into firing on both villagers and each other.
But the mutants were long gone.
“I still don't understand, why here?” I swallowed back the bile that threatened to rise, looking away from the carnage. The image of a tiny sneaker covered in blood would haunt me forever.
“Why not?” Horus was grimly staring forward as if he refused to let the evil intimidate him. “What does he care? As long as they're human and he gets their energy?” I'd heard Horus be caustic, it was kind of his default tone, but this bitterness was new. New enough to have me glancing over at him in surprise. “This is reprehensible,” he said to my questioning stare.
“I agree,” Blue had come up beside us. “Even I cannot condone this.”
“Well, thank goodness for small miracles,” I shot a smirk at him, my attempt at levity.
“Only a monster hurts the young,” Blue said simply and nobody disputed him, not even Teharon.
Chapter Forty-Six
“Oh fudgesicles,” Luke's voice trailed out of his kitchen.
We were in Hell again. There was nothing more to be done about Tawiskaron and Azrael wanted to spend some time with me. Trevor and Kirill were at Moonshine, so I could use the ring to return to when I'd left them there, earlier that night. Using the Ring of Remembrance to spend more time with my guys was working out pretty well.