by Unknown
I turned my head to avoid the dust and when I looked back, he was right in front of me. Before I could react, he backhanded me, sending me flying into the nearest wall with enough force that I felt my spine break. I screamed and heard my men cry out, my lions roar.
I'd lost my power to heal quickly awhile back so my only other option was to use my fire to heal myself. Unfortunately, that's a little difficult to do when your bent backwards over crumbled stonework with your legs paralyzed. I could only fumble while Zeus came to stand over me.
“I didn't expect you to be so easy to defeat, Godhunter,” he laughed and closed one beefy fist in the front of my leather vest.
He pulled me up into the air while my men rushed towards us and then, right before they reached us, he leaped up, back onto the cliff he'd come from. That didn't stop Azrael though. He simply spread his wings and jumped into the air after us.
“Sirens! I command you to stop the angel!” Zeus shouted and all the fighting paused. I looked down and watched as the sirens froze in their fight and turned toward us. Their eyes were wide in their horrified faces as they started towards Azrael. “Oh, did I forget to mention the little magical bonus I added to the ambrosia?” Zeus said into the stunned silence. “You will all obey me, whether you want to or not! Now, all you Greek gods, turn on my enemies! You fight for me.”
I gaped as the Greeks were forced to turn on us, even Hades, Persephone, and Pan. Even the Titans. We were screwed. Most of our numbers were Greek. The only non-Greeks were some of the Squad, my men, and my Intare. We'd be slaughtered and there I was with a broken back. My hand eased toward my spine, slowly, painfully, as bright spots danced in my vision.
Then shrieks filled the air as the sirens caught up with Azrael. I could only watch helplessly as my angel was attacked from all sides, torn open with talons. He changed into his Death form immediately, acid dripping from his cheeks as his eyes became stars and his face turned skeletal. His scythe appeared and he swung it out in a wide arc, obviously missing the sirens on purpose. He didn't want to hurt them and that would be his downfall.
Because the sirens pulled away and started to sing.
Azrael's eyes shifted back, first to diamond and then to blue. His face filled out and then the angelic script on his cheek went dull. He looked at me with calm acceptance, a sad and sweet goodbye in his eyes, before he pulled his wings together and dropped like a stone.
“Azrael!” I screamed, knowing no one could help him. Zeus laughed but the laughter stopped abruptly.
“Morpheus, you traitorous cur!” Zeus shouted.
I looked over to see Morpheus carrying Azrael in his arms. He nodded to me and then flew off as fast as his wings could carry them. I sighed as relief shook through me and then pooled my fire in my hand, directing its healing power into my spine. My bones knitted back together slowly and Zeus dropped me, holding his burnt hand to his chest as he hissed with pain. I gasped as the flame burned even hotter, singeing my leather a little as it spread. Good thing I hadn't worn cotton or I'd be naked.
I stood and faced him, the screams of my friends and lovers filling my ears as he smiled at me. He was so confident, there wasn't even the possibility of defeat in those stormy eyes. But then I started walking toward him just as confidently, letting my anger settle low in my belly. This needed to be done with cool calculation not fiery fury. Something shifted then, like turning a key in a lock, and I felt the star come to life inside my chest. It shone out, through my blood, my bones, and then my skin. I looked down and saw my body glowing softly. When I looked back up at Zeus, I saw him blanch.
“This will be the day you will always remember as the day you almost killed the Godhunter,” I smiled at him.
“Persephone!” Zeus screamed. “To me! Kill the Godhunter.”
My step faltered and his smile returned. Then I launched myself forward. Sephy still had to make it up the mountain but Zeus was just a few feet in front of me. I'd get to him before she even got near me. I jumped on Zeus, shocking him even more, and clung to him like a lover, wrapping both of my arms and legs around him and clasping them together so tight, there wasn't enough room for him to even wiggle a finger between us.
“You may be powerful but you've forgotten one very important thing,” I whispered in his ear, “where the magic came from.”
I closed my eyes and focused on his magic. I was prepared to reach for it, like I'd done all the other times I'd taken magic from gods, but before I could do anything, my star took over. It brightened and illuminated Zeus. I saw every nuance of his magic like it was a Lego toy before me. I knew I could take all of it or I could take only the pieces I wanted. The magic had revealed itself to me in a way it never had before.
That piece there held Rain and that one held Wind. I saw an eagle, a bull, and an oak tree. Each piece had patterns within it, swirling colors, flashing energies, and I realized that they held pieces of the people who'd been sacrificed to him. It was like looking at magic's DNA. Then there, at the center of it all, was the thunderbolt, pulsing like a heart. I grasped it, instinctively knowing that if I wanted to take all of his magic at once, this was where I needed to hold.
That's when I saw all the fine strands of gold attached to the thunderbolt. I sent my awareness seeking down one of those strands and felt more magic at the end of it. Another god. These were the connections Zeus had formed to control the Greeks. I pulled myself back and took the thunderbolt with me. The connections to all the other Greek gods snapped in a blinding flash and I felt Zeus crumple to his knees.
I landed on my back, him atop me, but it didn't matter. All of his magic was flowing into me, rushing to fill a spot in the trinity of my magic. Love poured out and into the gold around my emerald. Its departure shook through me, sending a wave of grief through my limbs. I choked on the heartache of the severance even as I rejoiced that Love would be safe inside that gold band.
I heard the tide of battle shift, the yells become more triumphant, and soon there were no screams at all. Just the labored breathing of the god above me as I pulled his magic from him, piece by piece. The power of the sky unfolded inside me, thunder roaring in my ears as a violent wind raged through my body. I felt the rain soak into me and an eagle cried above it all.
“Stop!” A woman's voice pierced my focus and I cracked opened my eyes to see Hera bearing down on us.
At her back was a younger woman dressed in Greek armor. She had a golden helmet on her head. Atlantean armor, I realized. It had things added to it to make it look more Greek but underneath the leather skirt, that gold armor was pure Atlantean. They reached us and she leveled a spear at my face. I just grinned.
“Watch it, golden girl,” I growled. “Or you'll be next. I happen to need two more magics.”
“Hold, Athena,” Hera pushed the spear away. “Godhunter, please don't kill him. This is not his doing.”
Just then, Persephone, Hades, Artemis, Torrent, Darius, and my men, made it up to us. They spread out in a semicircle behind me and I grinned even more maliciously.
“Explain quickly,” I said to Hera as I paused the transfer of magic. Zeus gasped. Before this, pausing the flow of magic would have been impossible. It was either stop or go, no in between. I wasn't sure if this was another side effect of my Trinity Star or of the gold band around my emerald.
“I'm the holder of the secret to ambrosia,” Hera confessed in a low voice. “My mother was on the High Council of Atlantis. She held the secret and passed it on to me. It was my idea to barter it for obedience and my idea to ensure that obedience with a magic bond.”
“Hera,” Athena gaped at her and backed away a little.
“Don't look at me like that,” Hera snarled at Athena. “I do what I have to, to keep this pantheon safe. I do it for all of you. I watch over you, protect you, even when you don't know it. Artemis, when you fell for that idiot hunter, who do you think sent the scorpion to kill him? I did! He would have dragged you down. He was no match for you. I protected you.”
“See?” Hera shrieked and waved her hand at Artemis. “I knew you'd never appreciate all I do for you, so I did it quietly, in secret.”
“Screw this,” I mumbled and started to pull more of Zeus' magic from him. “I don't care if it was your idea, Zeus went along with it.”
“No, wait!” Hera held a hand out to me. “Let him live and I'll teach you how to make the ambrosia... without the magical binding. You can dispense it to the Greek gods and Zeus will lose his power over them.”
“He's already lost his power over us,” Hades snapped. Discovering that he had been secretly bound to Zeus may have smarted a bit for him. He was really pissed. “You'll teach us the secret either way, Hera.”
“I won't!” She vowed. “Kill Zeus and I will fling myself into Oceanus.”
“Crap,” I snarled and pulled away.
Something unexpected happened then. I thought the magic would rush back into him, that my love magic would return to its spot in the trinity, but neither of those things occurred. I'd taken most of Zeus' magic, there was only one Lego block left: the oak tree. It was enough to fill a spot inside my trinity but not enough to kill him. Looked like I could take a god's magic and leave them breathing.
I grinned as my glowing skin dulled back to normal and a world of possibilities opened up. If I didn't have to take it all, that meant I could take most of a god's magic and return it, if I felt so inclined. I'd borrowed magic before, back when I'd first discovered the talent, but that had been a quick skim off the surface that only lasted through one use. Then I'd discovered the alternative was taking it all... and killing the god in the process. With the combination of my star and my emerald, I could take the magic and not kill. I could... who knows what I could do? I didn't have time to ponder it right then. So instead, I threw the shivering mass of Zeus off me and got to my feet.
“You'll teach me how to make the ambrosia,” I said as I felt Artemis' anger at my back. I didn't blame her, I'd be fuming if I found out someone had killed one of my men and then to have them standing right before me but not be able to kill them? I'd blow a gasket. “And you'll teach Hades and Poseidon as well. I won't have this secret be a secret any longer. They can decide who is responsible enough to share it with.”
“Fine,” Hera nodded.
“I want her dead,” Artemis growled but then Torrent came up beside her and laid his hand on her arm.
“I'm so sorry, Artie,” he said softly. “I'm sorry that she hurt you and I'm sorry you can't take your revenge upon her but I'm not sorry that the man you loved is gone. I won't pretend to be. If he were still here, I wouldn't be standing beside you. For that, I'm grateful, and for the fact that she has the power to give you immortality. I will pardon her anything for your life because there's nothing I want more than to live my life beside you, holding your hand.”
“Torr,” Artemis whispered and smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Abomination,” a raspy voice cut into the sweet silence and we all turned to see Zeus struggling to his feet. “Get away from my daughter, you false god. You freak. Do you think I can't see you? Do you think I don't know what you really are? Immortality without sacrifice. A Frankenstein monster. A science project. You're not real!”
I punched Zeus with the force of thunder behind it. There seemed to be a sort of justice in using his own magic against him. With that one punch, Zeus, Father of Gods and Men, God of Thunderbolts and Lightning(very very frightening), and Greek Godfather(as I will always think of him), fell in a huge heap at my feet. Everyone cheered. Well, everyone except Hera and Athena but whatever. Torrent's face had been slowly falling into despair during Zeus' speech but upon hearing the cheering of the others and seeing Artemis' smile, he brightened.
“You're more real to me than anyone else,” Artemis said in a loud, clear voice. “And anyone who wants to say differently, can say it at the end of my arrow. Including my father.”
Then they kissed and I couldn't help myself, I watched and did so with glee.
“Well, I'm not satisfied yet.”
We all turned to see Libys standing behind Hera. Hera jerked at the sound of Libys' voice and spun to face her. She started to sputter something but Libys simply punched Hera right in the nose. Hera fell into an undignified heap next to her husband.
Then Libys started kicking her. It took us fifteen minutes and eight gods to get the Lamia off of Hera. We may have not been trying all that hard. I know my hands “slipped” off Libys several times and then there was Artemis, who was actually getting a few good hits in herself but who could blame her? I sure as hell didn't.
Chapter Forty-Three
After a very bruised Hera came to, we sent for Donnie, who was still on the lower plateau with his people, and we all followed Hera into a hidden room within her palace. I say her palace because obviously she was the power behind the throne. As Pan pointed out shortly after everything went down, “Behind every great man, there's a woman doing all the hard work.”
To which I added, “And rolling her eyes.”
Hera showed us the secret recipe for ambrosia and then I took most of her magic from her for good measure. Evidently you needed a fair amount of it to make the ambrosia so there will be no ambrosia cooking in her future. We also took all of her plants that were needed for the recipe. She'll have to start being super nice to either Hades or Donnie if she wanted to live forever. I'd go with Donnie, if I were her.
Plus, I needed two more slots filled in my magic trinity. So taking her magic seemed like a win-win.
“Olympus has fallen!” Pan held his hands up in a rock star pose and shouted.
“Pan, will you please stop saying that?” Hades sighed.
We'd all gone back to Hades' palace for a little post battle celebration and let me tell you, the Greeks knew how to have a good time. The music was roaring in one room, where gods were dancing like I've never seen anyone dance(some of them actually on the ceiling, a la Lionel Richie). There was some crazy bottles of wine being passed about(I'm told Dionysus brought them) and they were even better than Hellbrew as far as giving gods a buzz. The Lamiai were necking with Tritons, the Muses were getting down with some of my lions, the Titans were giving Nereids rides on their shoulders, and the God Squad and I were relaxing in Hades' office with glasses of Dionysus' wine.
“I'm just happy I don't have to kick your ass anymore,” Horus said with bland derision. “It was embarrassingly easy.”
“You did not kick my ass,” Pan growled.
“Uh, I believe I did,” Horus lifted a brow.
“Pan, he punched you and you were out for the rest of the battle,” Torrent said with the easy honesty of a four-year-old. “The only one who went down faster was Zeus, when V punched him for saying all those nasty things about me,” Torr smiled at me again. He'd been doing that a lot since we'd got back.
“Torr!” Pan gaped at his traitorous friend.
“What?” Torrent frowned as everyone laughed.
“It's okay, honey,” Artemis patted Torrent's leg. “I can be brutally honest too. I think it's a good quality to have.”
“Give too soon, take too much,” I whispered as I looked over at Azrael.
“What was that, Vervain?” Az asked.
“If Zeus had managed to kill you, I would have burned Olympus.” I declared. “I would have burned it to ash.”
“Greek prophesies,” Pan shrugged, “you can't deny their accuracy.”
“Well, you Greeks had one thing wrong.” I looked around the room, away from Az's tender gaze. “Hera does love Zeus. She loves him enough to die for him.”
We all went quiet, pondering that.
“Hey, Bird Man,” Hekate poked her head around the door and broke the silence. “Come dance with me.”
“Please tell me that you're not talking to me,” Horus scowled at her but it lacked its usual vehemence.
“Oh, okay,” Hekate shrugged and looked at Pan. “You wanna be Bird Man?”
“If it means I get to dance with you, I do,” Pan jumped up but before he could take two steps, Horus stood and pushed him back into his chair.
“I will dance with you,” Horus took her hand, “but only to save you the embarrassment of dancing with Pan. He flails about like he's having a seizure.”
“Hey,” Pan whined but they were already gone.
“Where's Kirill?” I asked Trevor as he sat on the couch beside me.
“He said he was tired,” Trevor shrugged casually but I could tell he was concerned. “He went home to bed.”
“So when are you going to complete the other part of the prophecy?” Dionysus had snuck into the room with his wife, Ariadne.
“I'm not sure,” I glanced at Odin and he frowned.
“You still need one more magic,” Odin noted.
“Yeah,” I chewed at my lip. “I'm not sure what to do about that. Do I just wait until another god tries to kill me and then take most of their magic?”
“Or all of it,” Pan mumbled and everyone looked over at him. “What?”
“Do you have that kind of time?” Ariadne asked.
“You'd be surprised how often gods try to kill Vervain,” Azrael, who was sitting on my left, trailed a hand up my neck to try and take the sting from his words.
“Or how often they try to kill the people I love,” I looked pointedly at him. “That's the second time I've watched you fall, angel. I don't want to ever see it again.”
“Oh, there are so many cheesy jokes I could make,” he smiled at me. “But I'll refrain since I believe that was your way of telling me you love me.”
“She tries to be slick in front of others,” Trevor agreed.
“Take my magic,” Odin's deep baritone cut through the light banter.
“What?” I gaped at him.