We Will Bleed

by Nicole Thorn

  “That’s a lot of guns,” I commented, looking around the warehouse. The police had been stationed outside, but not at both doors for some reason.

  We stood in a moderately sized warehouse used for evidence overflow. They had to keep stuff in here when they couldn’t fit it into the room at the station. It also had a boat and two cars on the other side.

  “And I would like to leave as soon as possible,” Juniper said, clutching Verin. “I popped up here, and don’t have a damn clue why.”

  “We can figure it out later. I think we should get home and stay in a safe little cluster of nonhumans. Guns make me twitchy.”

  The guns made all of us twitchy, and it looked like Argus might have been the one to clean this place out. His camp had been shoved full of weapons and fighters, and the last thing I wanted was to find out how much he had built up since the last time we really fought with him. He didn’t have the golden fleece anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find people willing to fight for him.

  We snuck back out again, avoiding the hired guards who didn’t seem to care much about their jobs. I saw them chatting with each other, probably happy that they got something as easy as guarding this place. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they took naps.

  In the car on the way home, Jasper explained what happened to him, but giving so few details. I noticed the careful wording but didn’t call him out on it. I could ask him later if I needed to, but if he wasn’t telling us, then we didn’t need to know.

  “You were there?” his sister asked. “Like, you were literally in the vision?”

  “Yes,” he said. “It felt as real as this.”

  “What did you see?” Verin asked, glancing back for half a second. “Where were you?”

  I didn’t miss the look on Jasper’s face, but the others did. He cleared his throat before he began to lie. “I was outside of our house, and I saw Argus. He was waiting for the demigods to leave so that he could go inside.”

  As if I needed another reason to hate him. It had been a plot that he’d waited out, hoping to catch our family when we weren’t there to protect them. It pissed me off that we’d made it so easy for him in the end. We walked out, not thinking twice that he could have been out there, waiting for his chance to ruin us.

  I wasn’t happy with this new development in the visions. If they couldn’t have them safe at home, that meant a whole new level of danger to the seers’ lives. They could hold their own better now, but they could still be hurt in other ways. Juniper could have popped up all alone with Argus, or worse. Maybe he would have had people with him. Enough to take her down and keep her away from us. Same as Jasper if he up and vanished at every vision. Get enough people, and they could keep a god locked up. We wouldn’t have any idea where he was, and I had enough of losing him for my liking. There might have to be some new rules with the visions if we didn’t find a way to control this one.

  Verin’s hands tightened on the wheel as his voice got gruffer. “That’s fine, because we’ll be waiting for him as well. Then I’ll peel the skin off of his face until he screams so loud that all the windows in the room shatter. If I thought I had the patience for it, then I would torture him for days.”

  Sweetly, Juniper said, “I believe in you. If you wanted to, I bet you could keep him alive for a while.”

  Verin smiled at her. “Thank you, but I don’t agree. I would rather him be dead and no longer a threat, than suffering with the potential to get away and mess us up even more. I trust that my father will torture him plenty in the underworld.”

  “I’m sure he will,” Juniper said. “Your dad hates him almost as much as you do.”

  We pulled up to the house, and Verin hurried around to open the door for Juniper. She smiled, taking his hand as they walked to the house. I decided to hop onto Jasper for a piggyback ride, and he carried me into the house.

  “Who doesn’t have mustard?” I heard from the kitchen. The four of us stopped, listening out for the familiar voice. “I mean, how am I supposed to make deviled eggs without mustard?”

  I jumped down from Jasper, taking a few steps to the kitchen. “Persephone?”

  My sister popped her head out from the opening, and then she rushed to me. I got picked up in a hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you. I heard what happened. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Medusa had shown up too, apparently, and she appeared next. She went to hug Juniper, then Jasper, and Verin last. “Me too,” she said.

  She set me down and put her hands on my shoulders. “Medusa called me the day you went to see her, trying to find out what the problem with Jasmine’s visions was. If I knew, I would have told you. You have to believe me.”

  Persephone wouldn’t have lied, and especially not to me. Medusa wouldn’t have put up with that kind of thing. “I believe you. Mom on the other hand . . . ”

  Her nose wrinkled. “I’m not happy with Mom right now.”

  “Neither am I,” Medusa growled. “Those goddess bitches sure do like playing with people. I could kill them.”

  “Don’t get in trouble,” Persephone warned. “And I heard from a little birdie that some of the gods actually helped.” She looked to Jasper. “You guys are gods?”

  He nodded. “We are.”

  She smiled. “It happened in a terrible way, but at least you guys get to share immortality together now. Also, it’ll come in handy when the next asshole comes along to mess with you.”

  Jasmine and Zander came down the stairs then. After a minute of happy squealing between the greetings, Jasmine said, “When did you guys get here?”

  “An hour ago,” Medusa said.

  “I am greatly disturbed that you guys could be in our house and Zander and I didn’t notice. To be fair, he was naked for some of it.”

  Jasper hung his head, sighing as he mumbled something about locking her in a room. That threat never worked out, so he should have stopped going to it. It would only upset him more, and we all knew Jasmine wouldn’t stop with her . . . bragging.

  “Don’t feel bad,” Medusa said. “We’re very quiet.”

  “We are,” Persephone agreed. “We’ve been making deviled eggs in your kitchen.”

  Jasmine smirked at my sister. “You just have a thing for eating other people’s food, huh?”

  Persephone flipped her off. “It’s only good if it’s stolen. Also, my condolences for your death. Hades filled me in, and he’s pretty annoyed that the gods were so much trouble. If I had a vote, I would have turned you kids a long time ago. You’re too useful to be human.”

  “Thank you?” Jasper said, sounding like he asked a question.

  “You’re welcome. Also, I might have heard that you asked my sister to marry you. Is that true?”

  I smiled as Jasper pulled me to his side. “I did. I hope that’s okay with you.”

  She snorted. “Well obviously. All right, let me see the ring.” She reached for my hand, staring at a blank finger. “Oh.”

  “I didn’t plan it out or anything,” Jasper said. “So, I didn’t have a ring. We were just talking, and then I asked her.”

  “I don’t care about a ring,” I said. “That’s more of a Jasmine thing.”

  My in-law smirked. “Darn right. Anything shiny.”

  That made Zander smile too. “Don’t worry. When I blow you away with my amazing proposal, you’ll get the best ring that’s ever existed. You’ll cry.”

  “Will not.”

  “Will too. You’ll never to recover from the perfect and wonderful wooing that I’ll plan for you. It’ll shame you into never trying with your own wooing stuff ever again. You’ll quit.”

  Verin waved his hands, scoffing at the whole thing. “Neither of you have a single chance at winning this proposal thing, because I’m going to propose to Juniper with more romance than you could comprehend.”

  “My mother is the goddess of love,” Zander said.

  “Yes, which will make your defeat all the more painful.”

  Jasper and I s
tood there listening, because jumping in would have been our own death. I expected nothing less from the rest of my family, because they seemed to think that the bigger the proposal, the more important. If I could have planned it, it wouldn’t have been any more perfect than mine was. Jasper and I were quiet and subtle, and I liked it that way. The fact that we agreed to get married in a casual conversation felt like us.

  Persephone pushed Zander and Verin back from each other, using no effort. “All right, boys. You can cool it now. How about you show me where the mustard is, so I can finish our snack?”

  Juniper led us all back, cleaning as she directed my sister and Medusa to where everything was. They didn’t seem offended at the rigorous cleaning that took place before they finished cooking, so there was that.

  “These are really good,” I said after a bite of deviled egg.

  Zander rolled his eyes. “I could probably make better.”

  Jasmine smacked his arm.

  We all sat down at the table, and my sister took a seat beside me. She held one of my hands tightly. “Really, I need you to know that I’m not on Mom’s side. I don’t agree with the gods when they abandon their children like they do. Our mother has let you down on more than one occasion.” She looked between all three seers. “I’d been trying to find out what changed the visions when I got the news about what Argus did to you. If Hades didn’t take you to the gods, then I would have.”

  Verin smiled. “Dad can always be counted on.”

  “That happens when you screw a person over. They don’t wanna help you. The Olympians learned that the hard way. They turn their backs on so many people, and then they’re offended when they realize it made enemies. They’re lucky the six of you don’t go against them.”

  “They did make us gods,” Jasmine said. “Not all of them are so bad.”

  “No,” Medusa agreed. “But most of them are selfish. Even some of the ones that voted to turn you, did it for selfish reasons. They’ll assume you guys will help them with anything now.”

  I’d thought of that in the time we’d been back. Everything came at a price with the gods and killing Argus wouldn’t pay it back. None of what we had done so far would have paid it back if the gods thought they could reasonably get more from us. We’d proved ourselves to be good fighters, and we knew how to get ourselves out of trouble. That put targets on our backs, as well as making us something people would want to use. Erebus knew that.

  “We can handle what comes,” Verin said. “We have so far.”

  “True,” Persephone said. “But it can always get worse, honey. Always. You need to stay on your guard. If you need help, you kids can always come to me. I might not be able to do anything, but you know I’ll try.”

  I did know that. If Hades hadn’t been willing to help, then I would have drained every source I had. Every god I knew would have gotten a visit from me, demanding favors I didn’t earn. At least it didn’t come to that.

  “Thank you,” Jasper said. “We appreciate it.”

  She leaned in his direction and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad you and my sister found each other, and I’m happy you’re getting married. I’ll send you kids a nice present.” When she stood up, she said, “I should go. Mom is expecting me, and I need time to hide.”

  Jasmine laughed. “Is that going to work?”

  Persephone smirked. “Probably not, but I have to make a point.”

  Medusa stood up after her, grabbing an egg for the road. “And I’ll help make that point, as well as call her some names behind her back. If nothing else, it’ll make me feel better.”

  The women blinked out of the room with a wave each.

  Jasmine sighed, looking at the big spread of food on the table. “Well at least they left the eggs.”

  ***

  Jasper and I sat curled up on the couch, all by ourselves. I got on his lap and took advantage of the fact that he so willingly kissed me. I still had a lot of moments where it surprised me that Jasper was interested. I hoped a hundred years of being married would fix that.

  “Maybe we should use this quiet moment to set a date,” he said when we stopped to take a breath.

  I frowned. “Even if we did, you know what would happen.”

  He frowned back. “Yeah, we would get our siblings busting in with their two cents. They wouldn’t pay attention to a word we said.”

  I groaned. “I don’t want some big, loud wedding. I would be happy if we could just have something tiny and quiet.”

  Jasper’s expression turned thoughtful. “We can do that. Hell, we could do that today if you wanted.”

  My eyes widened. “Today?”

  “Hera was pretty kind to us when we met her. I bet if we summoned her, she would marry us.”

  The thought of having it done today made me all warm and happy on the inside. In a little while, I could be married to Jasper, and it would last forever. No dark day would approach, counting down to when old age took him. He would look like this for all of eternity, never changing.

  I sat up, grinning. “Our family would kill us, but I think we should do it.”

  Jasper and I got off of the couch, and we snuck into the backyard together. Our siblings were upstairs, and I wanted to keep them from knowing as long as we could. They could watch Hera marry us, but we needed to buy enough time so they couldn’t try and step in and make us have a wedding.

  Jasper grabbed the bucket we kept alongside the house, and we stood by Nemo. The man looked at me, then at the bucket. “What do we offer her up?”

  “I have no clue. She’ll hear us no matter what, so I say I try something random.”

  I made a white rose grow in my hand, getting it to a full bloom before I dropped it in the bucket. Jasper had a book of matches, and he struck one for me. The rose went up in flames, and we waited for the goddess that we intended on summoning.

  It took about two minutes, but the woman showed up in our backyard. She smiled at me, and then looked to Jasper.

  “You kids need me for something?”

  I got all giddy on the inside, stepping up next to Jasper so I could hold his hand. “We were hoping you could marry us.”

  The goddess clasped her hands together, grinning. “Oh, I would love to. Right now, I take it?”

  “Please,” Jasper said. “We didn’t want any of the fanfare. Only to—”

  “What. The. Fuck,” I heard from the air. One second later, another body joined us. Clad in a crisp black suit with a pink tie, Eros looked unhappy. The man glared at me. “Is this a joke?”

  “Hello to you too,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare hello me. You could have called anyone, and you picked her over me?”

  Hera smiled. “They have good taste.”

  Eros rolled his eyes, focusing on me. “Kizzy, my brother is your brother, which makes you sort of and not at all my sister. I expected more from you.”

  “Well that was your mistake.”

  He pouted.

  With a sigh, I said, “Look, Jasper and I didn’t want something big and crazy. You’re incapable of anything less than extravagant for something like this. You know it.”

  The man still frowned. “I would have tried for you. What? Are you pissed about what happened? Let me tell you, I’m not in on any of that. Mom pulled a bitch move with those other people.” He pointed to himself. “I love love, and I wouldn’t let something as stupid as death fuck it up. Mom was the one to give ambrosia to Psyche so that we could be together forever, so I don’t know why she was so hesitant to make your friends immortal too. Just know that I would have voted for you guys.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “This wasn’t anything personal. Hera is the goddess of marriage, so it felt right.”

  The woman looked very proud of herself. “I agree. And, Eros, you probably shouldn’t call all the gods I live with bitches. They had their reasoning for saying no. Stupid reasons, but reasons nonetheless.”

  He didn’t look convinced. “You sh
ouldn’t let love die because some giant came in and killed people. Love is special and important.”

  “If you had your way, couples would never die.”

  “So? At least I have a heart.”

  Then the jig was up as four other people walked through the backdoor, spotting us in an instant. Jasmine and Zander led the charge, already accusing us with their eyes.

  “Guests,” Zander said. “Um, what’s up?”

  Eros gave him a quick hug. “Just here to marry your little sister.”

  Jasmine turned sharply to me and Jasper. “You dicks! You weren’t going to tell us?”

  Jasper defended us. “We were, but we didn’t get the chance yet. We summoned Hera, and then Eros decided to show up.”

  Zander narrowed his eyes. “You called her and not Eros? Obviously, he would have been the better choice. No offense,” he said to the goddess.

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Offense taken.”

  Jasmine looked so hurt as she approached her brother, and that had been what I was afraid of. I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but it wasn’t her wedding. It was mine and Jasper’s, and we wanted something that felt right for the two of us.

  She sighed. “But a wedding in the backyard? It’s so boring. There aren’t a million flowers, there’s no band or seats. None of our friends are here. What’s the point?”

  Jasper answered simply. “That wasn’t what we wanted. If when you and Zander get married you want a jazz band, flowers, ribbons, whatever, then you do that. If you want a million people there, then invite them. All I care about is having you guys here, and marrying Kezia. This is us. The backyard of the house we share, with our family.”

  Jasmine couldn’t fight him on that one, but she sighed again. “Fine then, you should do what you want.”

  Zander looked a little upset too, but he went down easier than Jasmine. “At least we’re all here.”

  Hera cleared her throat. “Shall we start then? I do have some other things I need to attend to today. Like hiding all of my husband’s lightning bolts again.”