The Gates of Troy (Lopez Time Book 3)

by Phillip S. Power

  When the last of them was gone, walking into a world where open fields and great forests ruled, Zack moved over to Tarsus and started working at the ropes that bound him. Those, it turned out, weren’t made of anything physical at all.

  “Magic. Let me…” It took a while but Zack did it, getting his grandfather free.

  The Librarian stood up. Naked, though whatever had been being done to him was otherwise faded or hadn’t left a mark in the first place. Then he bowed.

  “Enki. Great one. I see that you’ve returned.”

  Kind smiled.

  “Get up. We don’t do that anymore. This isn’t the time of the gods. You, more than any other, saw to that. Maybe it’s better that way? You built a world that… While I don’t love all of it, is what it is. We should let the children do their work. These new gods, who aren’t that at all. It is time, I think. So, I am Enki no more. Now I am simply Kind. The student line walker, if I can make that work for me. Loki the Trickster of the North has become Troy Lopez now. Perhaps your greater demons should become something new as well? The veil has gone, and with it the need for them to be what they were forced to. We can discuss that later. Or not. I hold no right to demand your time or energies.”

  Tarsus, the leader of the greater demons, as far as they had one being in that role, seemed amused. No longer in pain, just as if he found the whole thing funny.

  “I see. Perhaps it is time then, for that to happen. At least if you’re seeing the need for it. I wonder what we will become, given that? Not all will wish to change.”

  Troy shrugged.

  “Then they don’t have to? If we change the rules enough, a lot of them might just decide to be different. Half of the insane greater demons are just goofs that want to be loved and appreciated. The rest… That might be hard. Or not. They can change, if they see it as valuable. You used to be a god and became something different. You could do it again. If you want.”

  “Yes. Not that I’m saying I will. Not yet. I will think on the matter. Now, you three came to save me. That was kind of you. What payment do you wish for that?”

  That was by the demon rules, which they’d just talked about changing.

  So, Troy did.

  “Well, I need an Italian cream cake. Large. Do you know a good shop for that? For Kind, well, you should let bygones be bygones. Zack… Do you need anything?”

  “I’m good, actually. If we aren’t doing the demon thing anymore, we need to stop being assholes to each other. At the very least, I claim the right to save my horrible grandfather if I want. Now, we should go and pick up Darla and Ann, then get something to eat. We can go over the new ideas for things with them? I have to say, I can do without being a demon, if that’s in the works? I’m pretty bad at it.”

  Tarsus, waving his right hand over his body, caused a nice white outfit to appear. It was tunic and loose trousers that looked nearly like pajamas. On seeing it, Zack bowed.

  “That is different. Are we going to be humble and stuff? I can fake that.”

  Troy nodded.

  “Me too. I’m the very best at being humble. Totally awesome at it.”

  The others all laughed, which was the idea. The world wasn’t going to be better, really a lot of things that were hidden from the world would return soon, which wasn’t going to be a great thing all the time but it would be different, if they played their cards right. Some of the changes would help people. Some wouldn’t. The goal was to keep reality running, which this would. Even as things got hard for some.

  “Now, some of that food? Then… I need to become a vampire again. Blood is tasty, sure, but it gets a bit boring after a while. I could totally kill a burrito platter about now.”

  Zack was in on that one, and Tarsus smiled.

  Kind just tilted his head.

  “I don’t know that one? Little burro plate? That sounds like enough food. Depending on on the size of the burrito, of course.” There was an innocence to the way it was said. As if he really didn’t know the difference. They all got that he did, of course.

  Troy laughed. It made sense after all. That was why it was funny.

  Chapter sixteen

  The picnic, was actually going well. Darkness had fallen already, which meant that the bands were starting to play. Cortechs Rocks actually did, considering they were made up of a bunch of middle managers and one female lawyer. People in the crowd danced in front of the stage anyway.

  The food and drink had flowed, with only a few minor problems. Most of those had to do with equipment breaking down. Interestingly, Zack, sent out by his mentor, Darla The Technician, fixed all of them. For everyone. In one case that meant running off with Kind to Michigan, in order to borrow a new part for an old soda machine.

  Avery spent most of the day cooking for people. Along with half the cast of Red Rain. It kind of backfired on them, since people wanted to be close to the famous folks. Lots of them. Even the vegans in the crowd stood in line for hours, to get free food from L.J. and Avery. It was so busy that Judy didn’t even get to sneak off every few hours to have sex.

  Troy was working as well, at the Vampire burger stand. The competition. Not that they were winning that day. Only, they kind of were. Molly the waitress led Troy, Ava, Jim and Bonnie to having real quality in what they were serving. The Red Rain food booth was burning half their food. The rest was cooked well enough to prevent diseases from spreading at least.

  Avery was, cutely enough, totally beside herself over it.

  The people from Tim and Taman’s world set up a stand as well. They gave away magic, which was popular enough. They were little things, but cool looking. Mainly bracelets with glowing tiles on them that made your aura glow in different colors. Tor Baker had also brought in a magical water feature that was simply amazing. It literally danced in time with the music, causing the water to make a variety of statues in the air.

  It did the people playing the music, as well as a few others in the crowd. How they were picked, Troy wasn’t able to guess at, but the clear things started to glow as night fell. Then the dancing changed, to look like what the crowd was doing, more or less. There were a few stylistic differences, but it was actually massively fun.

  Thankfully, the food going crowds slowed down after that. Not all of it though. The ice cream booth that was part of the wall, being run by Calley Hale and Morgan Bauer, as well as several of their shifter buddies, which were notable for their nice blue shirts. Those all had big white letters on them, that said a single word.

  Shifter.

  Troy had to like that one. Looking at Calley, he smiled.

  “See, I should have coordinated and worn a shirt that had vampire on the front.” Not that he was one of those. Over the last day he’d pretended not to be Loki, really hard. The issue there was that a few of the greater demons, not loving that they might be asked to change their evil ways, for some insane reason, had outed him as himself.

  On television. It had gotten a lot of replay miles. Mainly because he’d killed Adama by himself. That kind of worked though, since it told people they still had good people on their sides, while suggesting that vampires couldn’t actually beat up ancient deities.

  It wasn’t really affecting his love life at least.

  Taking a page from the Zack playbook, since he’d publically sworn off being a greater demon, along with Keeley and interestingly, Bente the fashion designer from Italy, Troy just told everyone that wanted to know the truth. That he’d faked being Troy so well that he really had been.

  Most of them were good with it.

  The shifters and most of the vamps in the area just looked at him, about half of them grinning at the idea.

  Jim, who was still tall, though thinner now, as well as better looking, slapped him on the shoulder. Troy had practiced changing people on him, before doing Maria. That meant the gentle seeming nudge nearly took him off of his feet totally. The kid didn’t have political power, but he could take being shot in the face without sneezing about it. Also, smal
l tanks could be lifted and fast cars outrun. They’d tried it, just to make sure it was working right.

  He was so good looking that the first thing Krista Hall had done was ask him if he acted on meeting him. The second was pull her mother off the boy. She might be dating Barry, who was still right there, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like a little strange on the side. Which was fine, if Barry was into that too.

  “Don’t worry, Mr. Lopez. In two weeks no one will care about what you are, as long as you can get them a fifty percent travel discount.” He stopped then, pretending to be serious. “Speaking of which…”

  Ava, the tiny elf-like mage girl snorted.

  “No doubt. I nearly didn’t come today. Not until Jainy called up to remind me that the difference between a god killing god and a god killing vampire isn’t really that much, where I’m concerned.”

  Bonnie moved forward, her large frame clumsy, even as she got about half the work done by herself.

  “Order up! Two large doubles, double fries, no ketchup.” She had to call that out twice, the local man that had ordered it looking up at the sky as he was. Watching the dancing water figures. Troy didn’t blame the fellow at all.

  It turned out that he knew the man, since Ava waved for his attention.

  “Uncle Marks! Order up! Leslie… We can do veggie patties? They aren’t horrible. I had one earlier, for lunch.” Molly had made each of them eat something, to make sure it was made well enough.

  Troy had changed into a human for that part, even if it wasn’t his current act. That was, unfortunately, pretty close to blown. There was a meeting later, with Bey and the council. They felt tricked, of course. Most of them could soak that. Troy didn’t want Bey to think it was a bad thing though. The small vampire was his friend. In a lot of ways the only father that he really remembered ever having.

  Nevi and Leslie had moved back to town, since The Children of Baphomet were all gone. Interestingly enough, their bodies weren’t impossible to find. Kind was in one of them. It was his now, made that way via shape changing of his own, of course. The other gods had taken what they’d needed from that pool as well. The minds that had, probably haplessly, been part of getting them all free were well and truly gone now.

  Which was kinder than what Troy would have allowed them to have.

  That simply wasn’t the best thought in the world. After all, it was time for things to change. Some of the greater demons had told people who he was, to get revenge on him. But they’d only done that. Beings that were known to kill and take slaves, had mainly agreed not to be what they once were. Not all of them and some would take longer than others to switch over.

  It would happen. The pieces had been put in the right place and the puzzle completed, for the time being. Tomorrow would lead him to something new, in order to keep things together. That was the life of a trickster. Even one like him that was way too big for his britches.

  Finally, at nearly ten in the evening, he heard Eve up on the stage.

  “Whoo! Cortechs Rocks! Next up we have a really special treat for you all. A chart topper from a different reality! Tobin Peterson. First though, we need to have a serious and boring speech about civic duty from Troy Lopez. Vampire. Trickster. Ancient god… Everyone, a big round of applause for Looookiiii!”

  At least part of the people there cheered. That was down to the energy that Eve had brought to the whole thing, but it was still pretty nice of them. He hurried, not bothering with pain over his movements. That meant he was able to walk to the stage, the world still around him. Only one person even tracked what he was doing. Mark Steinberg watched him move, the whole time. Walking around at the same speed that he was.

  The man waved at him, and got one back, just as he was about to step back into normal time. Right next to Eve. She didn’t jump or hit him, which was better than he deserved, just popping in right next to her like that.

  No one really noticed him for half a second. Then, not having a real speech, since he wasn’t supposed to have been on stage, not being a police officer any longer, he waved.

  Then started a chant.

  “Ci-vic-Du-ty. Ci-vic-du-ty!” It was weird, but enough people started to follow along that they kept it up for about twenty seconds. When they went silent he laughed and took the mic from Eve, who was trying to hand it off instead of holding it like a good vampire.

  “Good evening Lincoln! I won’t make you wait long to hear Tobin. I think you can buy his latest album in the foyer after the show? The same with Living Proof. I just wanted to thank all of you for coming together tonight and realizing that, in the end, we’re all just people…”

  A heckler, one who looked an awful lot like Zack Hartley, cupped his hands together.

  “Even the demons and gods? Are they people too?”

  The stadium went silent, or as quiet as that kind of thing could get. As if it was some kind of hard question to answer. That or a big insult.

  “Why yes, young gentleman. We’re all people and all of us matter. Especially the shifters.” He stopped then as about forty people cheered that line. Mainly the ones in the nifty blue shirts. “They brought the ice cream, so let’s have a big hand for them? The cast of Red Rain as well? And Avery Rome in particular, since she paid for all the food tonight. Our mage friends kept us in soft drinks and lemonade, let’s hear it for them, too!”

  There was loud applause at the mention of each group. Even when he did the last one.

  “And last, but certainly not least, let’s thank the people formerly known as greater demons, who worked behind the scenes to make this whole thing possible tonight!” No one got it.

  Everyone cheered anyway. Crowds were fun that way.

  “I’m getting off the stage now. Tobin Peterson and his friends!”

  The applause went back to polite as the smaller version of him came out onto the stage. Running, with three women behind him. They were all fine enough looking and in ball gowns, which didn’t fit the picnic theme. It looked pretty boring, until they started to sing. Then everyone was captivated. They were better than just good. One of them was Lydia. Troy didn’t know the others, yet.

  Then, after the first song ended, people screamed. They did it until Tobin started to sing again.

  “It reminds me of the songs of my people.” That came from Gregor.

  Troy turned and nodded at him.

  “Right. The Angel Formerly Known as The Cleric. Things must seem a bit…” He recalled the man, now, of course. The being. He had a body, meaning he was, for his people, fallen. They were inter-dimensional beings of decently high power levels. Everyone had to come from somewhere, so he wasn’t going to hold it against the man. Being.

  The older looking fellow shook his head then.

  “All things must change, and we must do our best to flow with them. Things will be different this time, I hear? The darkness is returning to the world. On the good side, church going has gone up nearly fifteen percent in the last week alone. I was going to turn in my demon papers later tonight. Almost half of us have. Most of the insane went first. That was truly interesting to see. The Vile, Marcus now, came to me dressed in a nice suit, suggesting that we look into aiding inner-city schools together. His old visage of rot and disease totally gone. It was… Amazing, to say the least. I trust that we can get your help in that as well? With travel and so forth? It will take a while, possibly several generations, for people to trust us again. Not that we can’t simply hide from the disdain.”

  That was a real point. Almost as if there was a hidden cue, the older looking man walked back to his booth. They were handing out books. Just fiction. Real things, with all of them being new. That got a little attention, since it wasn’t a rock concert, just a family picnic.

  Everyone had made it.

  Everyone except Clem Foley and The Children of Baphomet. The vampire biker gang. That one he kind of felt bad over. He hadn’t told them to try for Troy, but had given them a set of weapons that would have worked, if they’d been good
enough fighters. That had, naturally, been all about pushing himself to be strong enough in time. It didn’t seem needed, but being who he was, Loki understood that it had been.

  If he hadn’t been ready to kill, then half the vampires in the area would have been led into an attack on him. By Harriet, trying to stay alive. This way only five of their number died. They’d be needed in the future. Even Roger, the day man, had a place in things to come.

  That was the trick to being him, of course. It always had been.

  Troy Lopez, Loki, even his time as a god, had all been about making certain the world came out correctly, in the end. That all of them did.

  Looking down as he wandered back to his food booth, he was stopped. By not one, but two women. Avery and Barb.

  The looks in their eyes matched, for some reason. They were a bit scared seeming. Since the human muggers that might have been there that night would not be a threat to them, he smiled. It was the trickster thing. He knew that one.

  So he didn’t pretend it was anything else.

  Barb moved toward him.

  “Um… Troy… The, you know…” She looked away, a tentative smile on her face.

  The whole thing was a classic set up for a breakup. The only thing there was that Troy understood not only what was needed, but what he needed to do at that very moment to prevent things from going sideways.

  “I’m still me. Okay, admitted, my past is like… ten percent cooler sounding than what you knew about. Sure, I can give you that. The other ninety percent is all Lopez. This is the Lopez time, you know that? Not the age of Loki.” Then he snapped his fingers. “Damn. I need to make a cake. For Darla? I promised her one, as a present.”

  Avery grinned then.

  “I can bake one of those? Bente had me learn how to make the right kind, about a week ago. That wasn’t an accident, I bet. They’re very nice.”