by Sumida, Amy
“Honey-Eyes,” I wrapped myself around him and he crumpled into me. “You know you have the final say. I promise you, I will never take another man to my bed that you don’t approve of. I’m more than content with the way things are and hopefully the magic will be too and I won’t even need to take another lover but if I do, then we’ll discuss it together and you’ll get the deciding vote, okay?”
“Okay,” he mumbled into my hair, his huge frame curled completely around my short one. I could feel his hands curling through my hip-length hair and I couldn’t help but return the favor to his shoulder-length locks.
“Besides,” I gently pushed his face up so I could look at him. His amber colored eyes were a little red and it made my chest clench. “I couldn’t go back to Thor, he’s Odin’s son and how gross would that be?”
“You’ve already been with him,” a crease appeared under the hang of an errant curl on his forehead.
“That was before I knew about Odin,” I pushed his hair back, “before I had been with Odin. Now it would be just a little too backwoods for my taste.”
He laughed, just a little but enough that I could finally relax and leave him to use the bathroom before I went out to face Thor. I didn’t expect that confrontation to go nearly as well.
Chapter Three
Thor was waiting as calmly as possible, sitting at the hand-carved Chinese table, in my Asian themed dining room, with a cup of coffee in his hands. As calmly as possible for him, which meant his leg was steadily twitching and the cup was in danger of cracking.
Kirill had bought big, manly cups after he’d been living with us for only a week. He couldn’t stand the dainty Royal Copenhagen teacups I preferred. He said they couldn’t hold more than a of couple sips. I said they were beautiful, were the perfect size for me, and were a nice little luxury to start my day with. I was thankful for the new additions now though, and even more thankful that it was one of them that Thor was holding.
“Thor,” I sat down across from him and Kirill instantly set one of my little cups in front of me. It already had coffee with cream and sugar in it. I smiled my thanks at him as he sat next to me. Trevor was still in the bathroom and part of me hoped he’d stay there and let us have this conversation without him.
“How are you, darling?”
Shit, he was taking low blows already. Trevor wouldn’t be happy. As it turns out though, it wasn't just him I had to worry about. A low rumbling suddenly indicated that Kirill wasn’t so pleased either. I looked over at him in surprise.
“I velcome you into our home,” Kirill's blue eyes brightened and narrowed on Thor, “and you insult me by being overly familiar vith my voman?”
“Whoa,” I sat back and stared at this new Kirill. I mean I knew he was fierce, hell I was the one who brought him back from the brink of insanity, but I’d never seen him defend me as my lover. Of course, he and I being lovers was still a fairly new concept.
Thor took a deep breath and narrowed his gaze as well. The temperature in the room went down a few degrees and a slight breeze started to lift our hair.
“Stop it, Thor,” I snapped my fingers in his face. “Kirill’s right, we’re not together anymore, and this is his home now too. You need to respect that.”
“Vervain,” Thor sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. The temperature regulated and the breeze petered out. “Alright, fine. I apologize, Kirill. I just miss her… a lot.”
“Forgotten,” Kirill smiled gently… now there was the lion I was used to.
“What’s forgotten?” Trevor came into the room and took the seat on my right.
“I don’t know,” I giggled, “I can’t remember.”
“Just misunderstanding, Alpha,” Kirill slid a mug of coffee over to Trevor, whose mood was known to improve drastically with the addition of caffeine. We were a lot alike in that respect.
“Mmmm,” Trevor said distractedly as he eyed Thor over the rim of his mug.
“I suppose it would be too much to ask for, to have a moment alone with Vervain?” Thor eyed Trevor back.
“Yep,” my alpha said cheerfully.
“Fine,” Thor looked over at me. “I think we should keep this link between us open. You blocked me out before but it could come in handy if you ever need back up.”
“I thought you were angry with me,” I patted Trevor’s thigh when I noticed him tensing up.
“I got over it,” he looked at me and it was like nothing separated us, no lovers, no arguments, no time. I didn't like that look. It was dangerous and I wanted it as far away from me as possible. “And you know why I was mad.”
“So all you want is to keep our connection open?” I took a sip of my coffee, Kona, yum.
“You could have called about that,” Trevor narrowed his gaze.
“I was shocked last night to find Vervain in my head again,” Thor gave me a look that spoke volumes and it was all I could do, not to blush.
I’d forgotten how it was when we were together. I could send him images easier than words. He must’ve seen everything I was thinking in relation to him. There’d been some pretty racy images bombarding me and there was no way he’d believe I wasn’t interested in him anymore, after sharing them. I almost groaned. If I’d known my thoughts were going to be monitored, I never would have had them. Or I would’ve shielded first at least.
The messed up thing was, I really didn't want Thor anymore. You can't help reminiscing about past lovers. I mean, come on, I was thinking about Thor and my mind wandered. It's just memories. It doesn't erase what happened between us and it doesn't mean I still want him. In fact, I was pretty certain that Thor was best as a memory.
“I needed to see her,” Thor continued and I suddenly realized why he was there. I was about to be blackmailed.
“What do you want, Thor?” I spoke to him in my head.
“I want you, darling,” he spoke back in the same manner, as my men watched us curiously.
“Well, you saw her,” Trevor broke in. “Now you can go.”
“You’re practically the last person who could have me right now,” I ignored Trevor for the moment, continuing the silent conversation. “I don't think we're good together. Even if I did, my alpha won’t have it and your antagonizing him, isn’t helping matters.”
“We still haven’t established what we’re going to do about our connection,” he said out loud before adding in my head. “You still want me, darling and I still want you…more than anything. We’re not over.”
“No I don't and yes we are,” I sent to him before continuing out loud. “I’ll keep the connection open enough to use it if necessary. Thank you for stopping by, Thor. I’m glad you’re not upset anymore. I don't enjoy fighting with you.”
I stood up and all the men stood with me. It was nice to be around gentlemen, even if they also happened to be shifters and gods. I walked Thor to the door as he continued to talk to me in my head.
“I’m desperate, Vervain,” Thor shot at me. “Do you know how hellish it is to watch you with other men and know that I can’t have you? It’s going to stop. I’m going to get you back, no matter what I have to do.”
Before I could respond, he traced out, not even bothering to step out the door. I looked back at my men as they began to growl in unison. And they hadn't even heard the worst of it. Great, just great.
Chapter Four
“Why are you here, exactly?” Odin looked straight at Trevor, even though Kirill and I had come to visit as well.
“You need to do something about him,” Trevor was pacing while the rest of us, including my son Vidar, were seated comfortably in the fur-covered seats near the hearth of Valaskjálf's great hall. Vali was out hunting in the forest of Asgard, as usual.
“You want me to do something about Thor?” Odin’s single remaining eye widened considerably.
“You’re his father, aren’t you?” Trevor stopped his pacing to glare at my other lover.
It was hard for me to see them like this. Usually Trevor didn
’t accompany me to Valaskjálf, Odin’s silver hall, where we’d once lived as a married couple back when I’d been Sabine. Who I kind of still was but let's not get into that. Trevor didn’t want to see us together. He didn’t want to see this place. He didn’t want it shoved in his face that I had grown old here with Odin as my husband, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Does your father exert enough control over you, that he could stop you from seeing Vervain?” Odin was trying very hard to be diplomatic and, surprise of all surprises, kind. “Could he stop you from loving her?”
Trevor roared in response. Hugin and Munin, Odin’s ravens, squawked and flapped. Geri and Freki, his huge white wolves, just added their howling to Trevor’s music, like it was some great game. I shook my head at the fracas as Odin tried to calm everyone, especially my wolf.
“I don’t want him as one of her lovers either,” he sent the wolves a look and they quieted… then they moved over to sit at my feet. “Traitors,” he sent them a scowl before smiling resignedly, “but who could fault you. I’d rather sit at her feet too.”
“Could we please focus here?” Trevor’s jaw was clenching and unclenching, making me concerned for his molars.
“Do you think I really want to share her with my son?” Odin suddenly looked exhausted. “I’ve no idea what to do. On one hand, like my wolves, I can’t blame him and for me to try to counsel him to forget her, is hypocritical. On the other hand, the thought of them together makes my blood boil and frankly, makes me want to vomit.” He sighed and looked over at me. “Either way, he’s my son and I love him. I don’t want him to suffer needlessly.”
“So do something,” Trevor sounded like he was about to burst a blood vessel.
“What would you have me do?” Odin looked like he had Trevor’s blood vessels on his mind too and he wouldn’t mind, in the least, helping the bursting along.
“Talk to him,” Trevor raged. “Tell him he’s being an asshole!”
“Trevor,” I stood and the wolves got up to follow me. “I think what Odin is trying to say, is that this is a complicated situation and it needs to be handled delicately.”
“Delicately?” Trevor turned to face me. “What the fuck does that mean? Are we supposed to baby him because he has a broken heart? He’s a god, for god’s sake. He needs to grow up and be a man!”
I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh.
“What, may I ask, is so funny?” Trevor’s mood had not improved with mine.
“A god for god’s sake?” I giggled a little more. “He needs to be a man? I don’t think human expressions work well here.”
“Vervain,” Trevor growled, “this is serious.”
“Is it?” I looked over at Kirill and Vidar, so alike in coloring but so different in appearance, then over at Odin. “Cause it’s feeling pretty ridiculous right now.”
“Vervain,” Trevor’s eyes were beginning to glow.
“No. Enough, Trevor,” I waved my hand in disgust. “I let you drag me over here and disturb Odin. I let you rant and rage. I’ve had enough. You shout that Thor should grow up, while you throw a temper tantrum. You need to grow up. The adults have important things to do like, oh I don’t know, stop a plague goddess.”
“So now I’m behaving like a child?” He totally bypassed the key message, big surprise there.
“VѐulfR!” Now, I was getting mad. Trevor quieted instantly at the sound of his given name. “I don't want to be with Thor, okay? You guys are going on and on as if what I want isn't the issue here but it is. What I want is the only thing that should matter because if I don't want Thor, he will never be my lover again, no matter what the rest of you want. Now, have you heard of the Black Plague of 1900?”
“The one that hit San Francisco?” He frowned, losing his anger to confusion.
“No,” I swallowed hard as old black and white photos flashed through my mind. “The one that hit Hawaii. Chinatown, to be exact.”
“The plague came to Hawaii?” He sat down hard, next to Kirill.
“You don’t remember that?” Odin’s tone was pure shock. “They were burning the bodies at the Iron Works.”
“They burned down Chinatown,” I added quietly. “It was pretty much martial law, although that wasn’t technically declared. There were over three-hundred deaths recorded but that number must be sorely inaccurate because the Chinese, who wanted their bodies sent home to China for burial, began hiding the corpses of their loved ones, to save them from cremation.”
“That’s horrible but what does it have to do with us?” Trevor was an amazing wolf but sometimes he was a little slow on the uptake.
“Who do you think started the plague?” I shook my head and resumed my seat across from him. “Who do you think brought it to Hawaii… to Chinatown?”
“Oh,” his face fell.
“Chinatown may not be the slum it once was but it’s still not the cleanest of places,” I rubbed a hand over my tired eyes. “I’m sure there are more than enough rats to carry the plague far and wide. Do you have any idea what an outbreak of bubonic plague would do to Hawaii? The Chinese never recovered, they’re now only 5% of the population there.”
“Doesn’t government take precautions?” Kirill’s face was suddenly more solemn and his face was normally pretty solemn to begin with.
“They still test the rats down at the waterfront every so often but the rat population is the highest it’s been in 30 years,” I had no idea that my men didn’t truly understand the ramifications of this particular goddess running amok on my island.
“But there’s vaccines now,” Trevor wasn’t going to give in easily. “There are antibiotics and ways to control disease.”
“True,” I wanted badly to take comfort in that but those old pictures kept popping up in my head. Scared people held back behind a line of armed military men, burning buildings sparking off to level the city, and then the worst, the only picture of a plague victim taken. It was an extremely painful, ugly way to die. “But bacteria have been mutating, finding a resistance to medicine. They say life will always find a way. What people don’t realize, is that death is just as tenacious.”
“I think she’s right,” Odin grimaced. “Xi Wangmu wouldn’t be haunting Chinatown if she didn’t think she had a chance of wrecking some havoc.”
“So now we come to the reason why I let Trevor drag us all over here to disturb you,” I looked away from Trevor’s astonishment, to Odin’s curiosity. “I need to borrow your library.”
“Of course,” Odin stood and made a gesture to indicate I should precede him. “What are you looking for? Maybe I can help.”
“I need to know how to stop a plague goddess,” I smiled grimly.
“Oh, that’s easy,” Odin smiled back but his smile was more on the vicious side. “You kill her.”
Chapter Five
“Do I even want to know?” Krystal picked up a horrendous peek-a-boo, black, strappy dress and glared at it. But she wasn’t talking about the dress.
“No, you don’t,” I continued our conversation about what I’d been up to lately. “It involves Chinatown and rats.” Okay, that was a bit misleading but I didn’t want to scare the shit out of her. “Just stay out of Chinatown for the next… well, until I tell you its safe.”
Krystal was an Interior Designer who bought a lot of my paintings for her clientele. We'd become good friends when we discovered that we were both witches. Because of her witch status, I'd finally told her about my situation and, to my utter amazement, she hadn't laughed. Or called the looney bin to come pick up their missing patient. The friendship had only gotten stronger after that.
“Rats?” She scrunched up her nose. “No problem, I hate rats. You know I'm a cat lover.”
“Good. Brilliant,” I got in line behind a lady who looked liked she should be shopping at Chanel instead of Nordstrom Rack.
My cart was full of shoes, clothing, and underwear. Dating a werewolf and a werelion could be hard on the wardrobe, so Trevor had handed me a b
unch of cash that morning and told me to go crazy. You don’t have to tell me something like that twice.
Even though I’m the bad-ass Godhunter -insert laughter here- I’m still a woman, and I enjoy being female. So the clothes were classy but very feminine, with only one pair of jeans in the bunch, and they were designer. My small bit of Japanese blood likes good quality; it’s just the rest of me doesn’t like paying a lot for it. Thus, I shop at Nordstrom Rack.
We were nearing the counter, Krystal pushing her own heavily laden cart, when a flash of gold caught my eye. I looked up to see Anubis walk in the double doors, like a king strutting to his throne. Women gasped, men shuffled uncomfortably, and children started asking their mothers if they could go get an autograph.
I just groaned.
“Whoa,” Krystal, it seemed, wasn’t immune to Anubis' charms either. “Do you think they’re filming a movie around here? Oh, or maybe he's some kind of foreign royalty.”
“Neither,” I shifted and tried to pretend I didn’t notice his entrance, “that’s Anubis.”
“Anubis?” Krystal was still adjusting to the fact that I battled gods as a hobby… and occasionally dated them. “The guy who abducted you and then fell in love with you?” She looked at me like I’d gone insane and started giving away all my Jimmy Choos. “And you didn't forgive him, why?”
I sighed. I really didn’t want to rehash things and I really, really didn’t want to have to do it as the object of my hashing was strutting through Nordstrom Rack ruining my shopping spree. Things with Anubis were complicated, to put it lightly.
“He tortured me for over a month,” I tried to keep my voice low but the woman in front of us was lifting an eyebrow in my direction.
“Yeah, with sex,” Krystal eyed Anubis' sleekly muscled form. “He can torture me whenever he wants.”
Then he spotted me.
“Here he comes,” Krystal sighed, “Fuck, just look at the way he walks. That boy is sex on a stick.” Then she narrowed her gaze on me. “Didn’t he try to make things up to you?”