by Unknown
“These are the Muses,” Apollo chuckled as they all gave me nasty glares. “I'm kind of like their boss.”
“So you're the head Muse?” I looked him over.
Morpheus burst out into laughter as Apollo narrowed his eyes on me. I glanced over my shoulder at Morpheus but he was covering his face with his hands. A failed attempt to muffle his outburst.
“What I say?” I tried to look innocent.
“I am not a Muse,” Apollo gritted out.
“Well he is definitely amused,” I pointed back at Morpheus. Then everyone started laughing. “Now pretty much everyone is amused. Are you sure you're not amused? Even one teensy weensy little bit?”
“No, absolutely not,” his lips almost smiled but he caught it in time.
“Enough!” Hades' voice lanced through the conversation like a whip. “Everyone will please sit down and then you will all tell me, in an orderly fashion, what exactly Zeus has been asking of you.” Everyone hurried back to their seats when Hades removed his shades and revealed the fires burning behind his glass-like irises. “Thank you. Now, we will start with the Fates.”
“Of course we will,” I sighed and exchanged a concerned look with Trevor. “Where better to start than with fate?”
Chapter Five
“I think I need to lie down,” I said as we all arrived back at Pride Palace. “I never knew there were so many Greek gods. It's a bit mind-blowing. Like watching Fight Club for the first time.”
“He was Tyler Durden the whole time!” Torrent burst out and I giggled.
“They were the largest group that left the shores that day,” Odin said as he walked with me into the dining hall and pointedly ignored Torr's outburst.
“There were gods of fingers, Odin,” I headed for the kitchen door at the end of the hall. “Fingers! It's ridiculous.”
“And don't forget the goddesses of the hours,” Trevor laughed.
“And the winds, the seasons, and the stars,” Azrael added.
“Ze nymphs, ze dryads, ze satyrs, ze sirens, ze Furies, ze Nesoi, and ze Charities,” Kirill continued.
“Yes, like I said,” I groaned as I opened the kitchen door. “I never knew there were so many.”
I came back out of the kitchen a good fifteen minutes later, with a tray of coffee and snacks, but I was still focused on the meeting with the Greeks. It was a little difficult to get past.
“And that Cerebus,” I continued as I put the tray down. “I thought he was a dog.”
“Da, he is,” Kirill nodded. “Did you not smell dog? It was practically burning my nostrils.”
“There was way too much for me to smell,” I rolled my eyes at his cat prejudice. “I couldn't hardly focus on any one scent. And how exactly do you manage sleeping with me and a wolf every night, if your sensitive nose can't handle eau de canine?”
“You are my Tima,” Kirill shrugged. “I love your scent and as far as Trevor goes... zat's vhy I sleep on other side of bed.”
“Watch it, lion,” Trevor growled. “Or the next time you're sleeping, I'll rub my scent all over you... using my boxer shorts.”
“You are sick, evil man,” Kirill shuddered.
“Cerebus is a shapeshifter,” Trevor held out a chair for me, giving me a secret wink. “He guards the Underworld but he also fancies himself Hades' personal bodyguard.”
“He does?” I laughed. “Why have we never met him before?”
“Hades doesn't allow him out of the Underworld much and when he has visitors, he usually sends Cerebus on patrol,” Odin said from his seat across from mine. “He's a bit unbalanced.”
“No kidding,” I rolled my eyes.
“Vervain,” Odin put his mug down with a serious thud. “We need to talk about this prophecy.”
“We did that already,” I whined.
After three hours of taking down notes on what Zeus had been requiring of every Greek god in the room, Hades had brought up the topic of the prophecy again but no one could come up with anything more helpful than, “Watch the Godhunter”. A solution that both offended and terrified me. I had visions of weird finger gods stalking me in the shadows, waving their divine appendages at me in warning.
“There are things that could not be said amongst strangers,” Odin persisted.
“He's right,” Azrael backed him up. “I for one, want to know what this other prophecy is about.”
“Other prophecy?” My head was aching.
“Tima,” Kirill said from my right. “He said zere vere two prophecies at vork, one given long ago by ze Light.”
“Oh, right,” I sighed. “Well, who's the Light? We should ask them?”
“And now we get to problem number one,” Odin rolled his eyes. It was so nice to be able to see him roll both of them, that I almost didn't mind the fact he was rolling them for my benefit.
“See, this is the thing with prophecies,” I continued. “They never really tell you anything helpful and you always end up doing exactly what you would have done if there hadn't been a prophecy in the first place. I think the only reason there are prophecies is so that some pompous jerk can say I told you so after it all goes down.”
“Are you quite finished?” Odin rubbed at his temple. He looked tired. As tired as I felt. A glance around the table at my other men showed the same thing. We were all stressed over this.
“Okay, what do you think we should do?” I gave up being a smart ass in favor of being nice to Odin. It was a fair trade I think.
“Be careful,” Odin said. “I think we should be very careful.”
“Well, I think we've arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically,” I sighed in frustration. That's what I got for being nice.
“I don't know what to do, Vervain,” Odin growled, “but not only did Silenus say there was another prophecy, he said this one was given in a time of Dark. That can't be good.”
“I'm getting really tired of references to the Darkness,” I looked around at everyone.
“I don't think it was,” Trevor frowned thoughtfully, his beautiful, honey colored eyes narrowing. “I think it was just meant to convey how terrible it's going to get. I have a feeling that this thing with Zeus is going to turn into a war.”
“Great, now the Froekn Prince is prophesying too,” I sat back in my chair, cradling my mug to my chest in an effort to comfort myself with its warmth. My dragon rose up in response, heating me from within, and my muscles slowly relaxed. “This really is bad.”
“You zink?” Kirill grimaced.
“Well,” Trevor shrugged. “At least we don't have to kill a giant spider.”
Chapter Six
The prophecy and its dark implications was fading away fast. A mere memory being replaced by the new memory of jiggling male appendages. Sounds good to you? It wasn't, I assure you, it wasn't. I've experienced innumerable terrifying things but few came close to the horror of a Vegas male strip club.
I pushed back further in my chair, trying to get away from the aforementioned appendage. At least it was covered by a thong but still, I had no desire to have a stranger rub his private parts on me. What was I even doing there? I glanced around at the laughing women around me. Each and every one of them having the time of their life.
Right, this is what happens when you date the Angel of Death. You end up in a strip club with some strange dancer's schlong waving in front of you like a cucumber in a hammock. Maybe I should explain further.
Luke, aka Lucifer Morningstar, aka Satan, aka Beelzebub, aka the Devil, aka the Root of All Evil, aka Azrael's Daddy, was marrying Holly, aka the Holy Spirit, aka Azrael's Mommy, and although I wasn't the maid of honor, I was a bridesmaid and as such, I was required to participate in all pre-wedding activities. Including and especially the bachelorette party. So there I was. In Las Vegas. In a strip club. With a buff, oily, mostly naked man altering between trying to rub his face in my boobs or his crotch in my face. Neither option appealed to me. Which my companions found to be the height of h
ilarity.
“Will one of you please do something about this?” I begged.
A camera flashed.
“What the hell?” I nearly screamed.
“You asked us to do something,” it was Gello. Yes it's pronounced Jello. There was a lot of jokes from me when I'd first met Holly's best friend and Gello, who also happened to be one of Luke's demons, was now getting her revenge. “I did something,” she grinned at me, displaying super white teeth.
Gello had been in demon form when I'd met her in Hell. I'd been with Azrael at the time and my first reaction actually hadn't been to make a whole stream of jokes about her name. It had been to look over at Azrael with a lifted brow.
Gello in demoness form bore a remarkable resemblance to me in my half-dragon form. A form Azrael had a particular fondness for. Now I knew why. He'd obviously had a crush on his mother's best friend. It was easy to see what he'd found so appealing about her. Though I did resemble her, Gello's figure was even more lush than mine. She jiggled when she walked. Yes, I realize that's another jello joke, don't think I didn't use it after I stopped glowering at Azrael.
Anyway, I digress. In the Vegas strip club, Gello was in her human form. A form which demanded almost as much attention as her demon one. She was stacked. Ridiculously stacked. An obscene amount of stacking at both top and bottom. She had bright red hair and even brighter acid-green eyes. Her skin was a golden tan and she had a mouth that made men think of sex just by looking at it. On top of that, she was wearing a dress that looked like it was barely clinging to her nipples. If she breathed too deeply, she'd be giving a free show. I have no idea why the stripper was focused on me. Maybe he thought Gello was a stripper too and was giving her some professional courtesy.
This whole bachelorette party had been planned by Gello, who was also Holly's maid of honor. She'd rented a suite at the Bellagio, a private room at this strip club, and a party limo to drive us around Vegas as we tried our best to get stinkin' drunk. The we I refer to included both angels and demons, not to mention the Holy Spirit herself. The only woman I really knew there, was Holly so I wasn't just nervous, I was a little intimidated.
“Will you please go rub on one of those willing ladies over there?” I asked the gentleman above me, who was leaning in for another attempt at inserting his face into my cleavage. I waved a twenty in his face. That did the trick. He snatched it up, stuck it in his thong, and went to find someone else to legally sexually harass.
I gave a sigh of relief and Holly laughed uproariously.
“You act as though you've never had a lap dance before,” Holly said, as if every woman in the world must have experienced this phenomena during puberty.
“I haven't, actually,” I glanced toward the dancer and saw that he had his leg propped up on the back of Aba's chair. Aba, that's one B not two-yes, so many jokes with this crowd. Anyway, she was one of Holly's angel friends. She, in turn, had her leg propped up around the stripper's waist and was running her hands all over his slick skin. I looked away before my eyes melted. “Nor do I ever want to experience this again.”
“Oh, Vervain,” Holly slid down the long vinyl bench we were all seated on, getting in closer to me. “Try and relax, have a little fun. This is all meaningless. This man here will be dead in a few short years. Let's celebrate his beauty with him in this moment.”
“Wow,” I blinked at her. “I didn't think this night could get worse but now I'm kind of depressed.”
“You look at immortality the wrong way,” she shook her head at me with a smile. Holly was a fragile beauty, she made you concerned for her just by sighing, but when she smiled, she became irresistible. You could do nothing but simply sit and bask in her loveliness. So I did. I sat and stared and she continued to lecture me. “You should rejoice in every moment, never squander it on sadness over things you can't change. Celebrate the lives of mortals with them, honor the shortness of their lives by remembering them the whole of yours. That's our way of giving them immortality as well. Honor the gift you've been given by living every moment with the grace and happiness of a goddess.”
“Wow. I guess you're right,” I whispered but I'm sure she still heard me, even over the thumping music being piped into the dimly lit room. Goddesses have excellent hearing. “It's offensive to be given immortality and then sit around moping about it.”
“Exactly,” she nodded and then glanced over to the stripper meaningfully.
“Nope,” I shook my head. “If I'm going to live each moment with as much happiness as possible, then I cannot allow that man anywhere near me. Someone else will have to honor him with their immortality.”
“More for me,” she shrugged and laughed again.
Camera flashes illuminated the dark, showcasing grinning demons and angels. I gasped as I suddenly saw even more faces peering at me from the shadows beyond them. Flash. Pale skin. Flash. Bright eyes. Flash. Pointed ears. They stared at me accusingly. I started to stand but then they were gone.
“What the hell is wrong with me this time?” I muttered to myself.
“What was that, Vervain?” Holly glanced back at me.
“I was just asking how much time we were gonna spend here?”
“Oh, another hour or so.”
“Fantastic,” I sighed and searched for my watered down drink. Where was Dionysus and his wine when you needed him?
Chapter Seven
I tiptoed through the dark bedroom, trying not to disturb my sleeping men. The bachelorette party was still going strong but I'd put in enough time to be able to leave without anyone making a fuss.
I went to the walk-in closet and stripped, throwing my smoke infested and oil-stained clothing in a hamper by the door. I thought about it and then cast in my underwear as well. I should have probably showered but I was just too tired. Instead, I slipped on some panties and then headed to bed.
Before I got to the second step on the platform leading up to the massive bed, Kirill started to growl in his sleep. I froze, staring at him in concern. His head tossed on the pillow, his long black braid shifting like a snake beside him. Another growl and then a snarl. I climbed up into the bed and slid in beside him.
“Kirill,” I said softly as I pulled his tense body against mine.
“No!” He shouted, throwing me so hard that both Trevor and I were flung from the bed, tumbling down the stairs together.
I groaned as Trevor leapt to his feet and settled immediately into a fighting stance, while his wolf eyes began to glow and search the room for his assailant.
“It's Kirill,” I got up and laid a hand on Trevor's arm.
“Again?” Trevor relaxed and looked toward the bed.
Kirill had woken himself up but he was staring straight up with wide, terrified eyes. His chest was heaving with rapid breaths and his hands were gripping the covers with white-knuckled intensity. I headed back over to him.
“Kirill?”
“Tima,” his voice sounded constricted.
“Another bad dream?” I crawled into the bed and felt Trevor come in behind me.
“Da,” a clipped answer.
“Are you okay?”
“Da,” he sighed and his shoulders relaxed. “I'm sorry, I don't know vhat happened.”
“You fucking threw us both out of bed, man,” Trevor grumped and I shot him a nasty glare.
“I apologize,” Kirill glanced at Trevor and there was something off about the look. I couldn't figure it out.
“Are you sure you're alright?” I touched him and he flinched. I yanked my hand back.
“Tima,” he closed his eyes and shook his head. “I'm sorry.” When he opened his eyes again, it was Kirill once more. “Come here.”
He pulled me into his side and settled his face above my head. Behind me, Trevor settled in close and we wrapped around each other and settled into sleep. Right before I drifted off, I saw it again, the way Kirill had looked at Trevor, and my heart clenched with fear.
Chapter Eight
The next morni
ng, Kirill seemed perfectly normal so I let go of my anxieties from the previous night. About mid-morning, Hades called for a meeting, once again asking us to join him in the Underworld. So I traced to Hades' Palace with Trevor, Kirill, Odin, Torrent, and Morpheus. Azrael was busy working. The dead can be demanding customers.
This time we were meeting in Hades' office. It was big enough to accommodate the God Squad but small enough that we were all nice and close. Hades sat behind his big, black desk with Persephone. The placement wasn't lost on me. He wanted to feel in control of this meeting and I was wondering why.
“Is everyone here?” Hades looked around the room and then nodded to himself. “Okay. I asked you all here to tell you about Pasithea.”
“What did Mom do now?” Morpheus groaned.
“Something unexpected,” Hades grimaced. “She ran to Zeus for sanctuary.”
“What?” I shared a confused look with the rest of the Squad. “But isn't he the reason she doesn't have immortality? I mean, she was the one who rebelled in the first place.”
“It appears that she'd rather face whatever Zeus is going to ask of her than me,” Hades looked a little smug about that. “Zeus has welcomed her to Olympus and she's told him of our plans to stop his ambrosia monopoly.”
“How did she even know about our plans?” Horus peered directly at a now squirming Morpheus.
“Did you tell her?” I asked him in a horrified voice.
“No,” he sighed, “but I told Phantasus. I was hoping he'd join the cause since we're going up against Zeus and he really hates Zeus.”
“Looks like he loves his mother more,” Trevor stared straight at Hades and Hades nodded.
“Zeus has asked me to return to Olympus for another meeting,” Hades declared. “I leave momentarily.”
“Not without us you don't,” I declared just as firmly.
“She's right, Hades,” Teharon, Mohawk God of Healing, spoke before Hades could. His turquoise eyes were inexorable. “We won't let you go alone.”
“Showing up with the Godhunter and a pack of her cronies may be misconstrued as an act of war,” Hades gave us all a serious look.