by Amy Sumida
I sent him a duh face emoji.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Austin's warning ended up being unnecessary. It was well after noon—Texas time—when we arrived at the snake house in Lexington and by that time, all of the agents and cops had left. Yellow ribbons of crime scene tape crisscrossed the front door as well as the forlorn, faded, wooden gate but there wasn't even a cop posted to watch the place. Beyond Cowboy-Cop, that is, but I don't think he was on duty.
Austin was waiting for us on the porch, sitting in a rocking chair.
I texted him before I dropped my glamour: You alone?
Austin pulled out his phone and read the text. He chuckled, then said aloud, “Yeah, I'm alone. You can show yourselves.”
Kirill had stayed behind at Pride Palace to finish with the Intare, but my other husbands had come with Odin and me. All of us dropped our invisibility as we approached the porch.
“Did the Feds find anything we missed?” I asked Austin as I claimed the other rocking chair.
Sitting in it made me a little sad. The dead couple had probably sat here together, watching the sunrise or sunset and talking about their lives. All of that had been taken from them by a bunch of snakes for no other reason than they needed a place to nest.
“Naw, they got nuttin'.” Austin rocked lazily. “I hope you have another lead for us cause I'm plumb out of ideas.”
“Actually, no. We came back here so that Odin could go into the tunnels after Viper.”
“He still hasn't come home?” Austin stopped rocking.
“No, and I'm not getting anything through our link,” I admitted. “It's very strange. And worrisome.”
“Can I ask you somethin'?”
“You just did.” I grinned at him.
“Why'd he call you Dark Star?” He asked anyway. “Does it have anything to do with that sparkle hair you got going on?” He waved at the lock of starlight at my left temple—the one I'd gotten when I'd healed my star the first time it had been damaged. “Don't think I didn't notice that your hair twinkles.”
My husbands went still. My jaw clenched.
“Whoa.” Austin leaned back. “I just stepped in a steaming cow patty, didn't I? You don't have to tell me about the hair if you don't wanna.”
“It's not the hair. Although the hair is connected to the magic he was referring to.” I sighed. “I created Viper when I was... compromised by evil.”
“Compromised by evil?” Austin drawled.
“An old friend of mine started siphoning god magic from other gods. The process filled him with—for lack of a better word—evil. Vervain was touched by that evil,” Odin explained. “We didn't know that she was infected until she was too far gone to save. During that time, my wife became a dark goddess who tried to—and nearly succeeded in—conquering the world.”
“Do wut?” Austin leaned forward. “I know humans are kinda blind to the things y'all do, but we'd notice someone taking over the world.”
“You did,” I said softly. “Humans sent armies after me. I destroyed them. The Gods revealed themselves to humans and stood with them against me. I destroyed them too.”
“Sweet Jesus,” Austin whispered.
“I have a connection to unlimited power inside me. It's called the Trinity Star.” I stroked my starlight hair. “Normally, it's restricted by fate—the good of all, sort of thing—but when I was tainted by evil, it was too. And it stopped holding me back. I created an army of dragon warriors and a group of Star Gods to lead them. Viper was one of those gods.”
Austin gaped at me. “You really did make him? Just conjured him up?”
“Yes, and he became nearly as evil as I was. But, in the end, I battled my darkness and won. Then I nearly drained myself of all of my magic to put things back to rights.”
“Back to rights?” Austin lifted a brow. “Are you saying what I think you're saying?”
“I unmade my dragons, released the souls of my star gods—all but Viper who chose to stay with me, brought the dead back to life, wiped the memory of my reign from the minds of humans, and fixed most of the damage I'd done. I wasn't able to wipe the memories of the Gods, but—” I stopped abruptly.
“What is it?” Trevor asked me.
“Do you think this has something to do with me?” I asked my husbands. “Do you think these snakes could be after me for revenge?”
“If they were, they wouldn't have responded negatively to you showing up,” Odin pointed out. “At the very least, they wouldn't have been surprised to see you.”
“Oh. Yeah. Right.” I shook my head. “It's not always about you, Vervain.”
“Can we get back to the part where you brought the dead back to life?” Austin asked with astonishment.
“It was a one-time deal to fix fate.” I waved him off. “I don't think I could do it again. The relevant part of that tale is that Viper was created to be a general in my army. We ended up becoming much more to each other, but our relationship began with me as his goddess. He called me Dark Star the other night to hurt me—to point out that I was acting as if I owned him. Like I had when I was evil.”
“So, it was a low blow?” Austin grimaced.
“The lowest,” Odin said dryly. “Still, Viper is family and he's a young god. He's making mistakes like all of us have. We'll get past it.”
“Do you know what tunnel he went down?” Austin asked.
“Yes, Lucas gave me directions,” Azrael said. “It's the one behind the house, diagonal to the right corner.”
“I know it.” Austin stood up. “I only filled it in enough to hide it from the Feds. It shouldn't take too long to dig it out.”
We followed Austin around the side of the house and to a shed where he pulled out a shovel.
“Are you a snake too?” Austin asked Odin. “Is the term weresnake?”
“Weresnake is fine but no, I'm not a snake-shifter,” Odin said. “I'm simply a shifter. I can take any form.”
“Convenient.” Austin snorted.
“Very,” Odin agreed.
The tunnel was near an old oak. Trevor took the shovel from Austin and had the passage uncovered in less than a minute. While Trevor shoveled and Austin supervised, Odin undressed and handed me his clothes. Austin turned around to find a massive, muscular, naked, Viking god.
“Whoa!” Austin held up a hand to block the sight of Odin's impressive nudity. “Warn a guy, will ya?”
Odin chuckled as a glittering haze covered his body and his laughter went hollow. Austin lowered his hand to watch the shadow within the haze—that of Odin's body—morph into something else. That dark shape condensed and elongated. The haze lowered to the ground with the shadow and when it withdrew, a large snake was left in its place—a snake with scales that shifted through peacock colors. Probably the most beautiful snake I've ever seen.
The beautiful snake lifted his head, rising atop its long body, and opened its mouth to say, “I'll contact you as soon as I see anything, Vervain.”
“Thanks, babe.”
The snake dove into the hole.
“Well, if that ain't the darndest thing I ever did see,” Austin declared. He pulled off his cowboy hat and smacked his jeans with it.
“Shapeshifting is amazing, isn't it?” I agreed as I watched Odin's long body disappear into the earth.
“If I'm honest, it makes my brain hurt a little.”
“No quirky Texas saying for us?”
“A worm is the only animal that can't fall down?” Austin made it into a question.
“I believe a worm is an insect,” I said dryly.
“Actually, they're not,” Azrael corrected me. “Worms are classified under the Kingdom Animalia. So are insects, for that matter, but worms are not insects. Insects have exoskeletons, worms do not. But both worms and insects are considered to be invertebrates.”
“This is what happens when you send them to college,” I lamented.
“This is what happens when you mess with my Texas wisdom,” Austin shot bac
k and winked at me. “Never mess with Texas.”
“I just thought you might want to know,” Azrael grumbled.
“I was teasing, baby.” I knocked my shoulder into Azrael's arm. “Talk about worms all you want.”
“Please don't,” Re said dryly.
“Why don't we go back to your house to wait?” I suggested to Austin. “Viper said the tunnels are vast; I don't expect Odin to find him anytime soon and when he does, they'll probably just trace home. No sense in waiting here—somewhere we shouldn't be.”
Austin nodded. “Jeetjet?”
“Was the Swedish?” Trevor asked.
“I think he's asking if we ate yet,” I mused pensively.
Austin chortled. “You got it, girl! Who wants barbecue?”
We all started grinning.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Five hours later, it was dark in Texas. Kirill had long since finished bonding with the Intare but decided to stay at the palace and watch over the children. And still, there was no sign of Odin. I got worried and contacted him.
I'm fine, Odin answered immediately. It's been a long crawl. I'm coming home now.
I'm not at home; we're at Austin's.
Okay, I'll be there soon.
But what about Viper?
Odin didn't answer. I assumed he was tracing since, a few moments later, he was knocking on Austin's front door.
“You didn't find him,” I concluded as soon as I saw Odin's face. The lack of Viper behind him sort of clinched it.
“I'm sorry, Vervain. I can't track like you. I followed what I believed to be Viper's trail but lost it when he surfaced in Elgin.”
“Where's that?”
“Just outside Austin,” Austin answered for Odin.
“The tunnels branched up to the town but once I was above ground, I couldn't find Viper's scent. I think I need to take you back there so you can give it a try.”
“Oh, sugar puffs,” I whispered. “You're worried.”
Odin just stared at me sympathetically.
“Let me give the Elgin Police Department a call before you go,” Austin offered. “See if they got any reports of large snakes in the area or other unusual incidents.”
I nodded and started pacing as I went inward, trying once again to reach my wayward lover.
Viper? This has gone too far. If you can hear me, you need to say something. We're about to launch a full-out manhunt for you. Viper?
But once again, there was no response.
“I'm going to go Commando on his ass,” I growled.
“As in no underwear?” Re asked hopefully.
I stopped pacing and stared at Re, taking a few seconds to process what he said. Understanding dawned. “No, Commando is a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger and a very young Alyssa Milano.”
“Oh.” Re deflated.
“That's an old reference,” Trevor noted.
“Now I'm old?” I nearly shrieked.
“Vervain, take a breath.” Azrael grabbed my hands. “You have been spiraling since Viper left. No, since he rebelled.”
“Rebelled?” I whispered.
“Yes. I'm sorry, but you did treat him a little like a rebellious child. And you did it in front of people he respects.”
“Thanks a lot, Az,” I huffed and pulled away. “I didn't need you to tell me that, I've been thinking it myself.”
“Carus, I'm not saying that Viper behaved any better. Just that both of you said awful things you didn't mean. Things you took the wrong way. Maybe you should remember that when we find him.”
“And we will find him,” Re assured me. Then he frowned in thought. “Hold on, you can locate the Intare through your link as their goddess. Can't you do that with Viper?”
“Viper isn't a demigod,” I said forlornly. “I made him his own god so I didn't have to be the source of his magic. I made him independent and now he thinks that I want him to be reliant on me.”
“That's not what he thinks,” Trevor growled. “Damn it, Vervain, stop pouting. You're a fucking goddess! Start acting like one.”
My face fell but in a good way—in epiphany. Trevor had just given me a mental slap and told me to snap out of it. Imagining what someone else is feeling can give you the power to influence their actions, my words came back to mock me. I needed to listen to my own advice... and my lover.
“Thanks for the mental bitch-slap, Cher.” I snorted. “I'm good now.”
Trevor chuckled. “There you are. I was wondering how long you were going to mope.”
“Hey, so the Elgin...” Austin came into the room speaking but trailed off when he saw our faces. “What just happened?”
“Revelation.” I waved it away as if it weren't important. “What have you got?”
“Elgin had a bunch of snake attacks awhile back but nothing for weeks. Nothing until tonight.”
“There's been an attack in Elgin tonight?” I went still.
“Yep,” Austin confirmed. “A guy was just found dead.”
“Pop-Tarts!” I snarled.
Austin snorted a laugh.
I glared at him.
“Sorry. I know you're big on trying to find alternative curse words, but that one was hilarious.”
“Thank you. So glad that I could amuse you,” I growled. “Now, let's get to Elgin.”
“They're probably not going to attack again tonight,” Austin warned us. “Their MO seems to be one a night.”
“I'm not just going for them; I need to find Viper.”
“Oh, yeah. Uh, should I go with you?” Austin offered warily.
“No, stay here and keep an eye on your town. You never know what might happen,” Odin said.
“The Feds are keeping a pretty good watch on things.” Austin shrugged. “But it's probably best that I stay put.”
Before I could reply, the ground started to shake. Tremble, really, but it was enough to make the house shimmy and Austin's belongings rattle. We froze until everything went still.
I looked at Austin. “Does Texas get earthquakes?”
“Very rarely,” Austin said with a wary look.
“Godhunter,” an ominous voice came from outside.
We swiveled toward the front door.
“I guess that explains it,” I muttered as I headed outside.
“Hold on.” Azrael grabbed my arm. “We don't know who or what's out there.”
“That's why I'm going to look,” I said as if it were obvious.
“Perhaps we should do so carefully,” Odin suggested as he slipped in front of me.
Odin opened the door as he shifted. Dragon scales rose from his skin, forming a natural—or rather, magical—armor. It was shiny, deep blue with a purple and green sheen, and made him look as if he were about to get beamed up to his spaceship. It was especially odd beneath his clothes—straining his pants to bulging. I'd seen him do this trick before but never when he wasn't in need of clothing. Still, it made sense, especially the gorget that covered his throat.
I followed Odin outside as I shot a, “Stay here,” over my shoulder at Austin. I didn't bother going dragony myself, I'd save that trick for when I was sure I needed it. Mainly because I didn't want to scare Austin any more than he already was.
Trevor, Azrael, and Re took up the rear, but when we stepped onto Austin's porch, we spread out to face the threat. Austin flipped on the porch light for us, though most of us wouldn't need it. I scanned the shadows around the sparsely-wooded yard as I stretched my shoulders. Azrael was right, I'd been short-tempered ever since Viper left. I was raring for a fight and if this god wanted to help me out with that, I'd—as Austin might say—be obliged.
“I'm the Godhunter,” I called out. “Who are you and what do you want?”
Something moved around the trunk of a tree. I saw the outline of a man. Well, half of one since the coward was only leaning out from behind his cover to peek at me. He was darker than the shadows—darker than midnight. I probably wouldn't have spotted him without my animal eyesight.
But then his body changed shape—elongating as it dropped to the ground. I knew what that meant, I'd just watched Odin make a similar transformation earlier that day. The guy was going snaky.
“Incoming,” I whispered. “He's shifted into a snake.”
“I see him,” Trevor said.