by Amy Sumida
Azrael had been keeping his parents informed of our investigations, but the fact that Luke wouldn't have been able to find Katila, even if he'd been trying to, didn't lessen the sting that demons had died while Luke had done nothing.
Luke now had all of his demons camped out in his house and backyard so he could reach them at a moment's notice. His mansion wasn't large enough to house them all, but his backyard was a stunning recreation of the Atlantis countryside and had more than enough room for a demon camp. The Demons were as secure as Luke could make them, but they couldn't stay on lock-down forever. Enough was enough. It had to end. If we didn't find Katila soon, Satan was going to gather his demons and scour the realms himself. And no one wanted that.
So, the plan had to work.
My Intare wanted to join us on our Katila-trapping-adventure, but my Hawaii home is tiny and it was going to be hard enough trying to fit the God Squad in it; even if they were heading straight out to the backyard. The yard wasn't all that big either, come to think of it. Land is at a premium in Hawaii. So, I had to leave my lions behind.
We waited until midnight and then the God Squad and I traced directly into the Hawaii house. They immediately went invisible, just in case Katila was already outside somewhere; lurking in the bushes like a peeping Tom. I wandered casually out to the back porch as if it were just another restless night I'd taken for myself. I leaned against the railing; leaving the door open behind me. The invisible gods silently slipped out of the house and down the steps.
I closed the door—hoping I hadn't just let in a swarm of mosquitoes—and headed into the backyard. As I strode to the iron bench beside my little koi pond, I searched the thick mock orange bushes and the shadows beneath the orange tree. The sweet scent of orange blossoms and jasmine filled the humid night, but it didn't calm me as it usually did. I knew the Squad was within touching distance, but Katila could be as well.
When you became a god, invisibility was one of the first rabbits you learned to pull out of your bag. Every god I knew was able to make themselves invisible, even the demigods. It was the first god magic I'd learned as well. So, I didn't just look with my eyes, but also with my nose. I inhaled deeply; searching for Katila's non-scent among the floral notes and the assorted god signatures. Then I froze.
I found him; Katila was there.
I calmed my racing heart as I sat down on the cool iron bench and stared up at the stars. When he didn't show himself immediately, I asked, “Are you going to stand there staring at me all night or are you going to come out and talk to me like a civilized person? You know; in the flesh. Well, in your own flesh.”
A low chuckle preceded Katila out of the darkness. He was just as I'd seen him in Brevyn's vision; a tall, muscular man with nut-brown skin and ebony eyes. The humans who had given reports on his appearance had been right; he had a radiance about him that seemed angelic. It wasn't a straight-up glow so much as a healthy shine. In the world of gods, it was the equivalent of a nice smile. Not that impressive.
“Have you considered my offer?” Katila asked in a warm, velvet tone.
I've heard a voice like his before, but Blue had done the whole evil-sexy thing way better than this guy. It didn't matter; I wouldn't have to listen to him for long. Even as Katila stepped forward, Azrael appeared behind him; his scythe descending in a deadly arch. I could feel the magic gathering in the air; every god there was preparing to attack.
I don't know if Katila saw the glint of the scythe reflected in my eyes, or perhaps in the pond, or maybe he'd simply sensed the magic as I had. Whatever it was that warned him, he leapt forward; knocking into me hard enough to send the bench tumbling backward. But we never hit the ground. By the time the iron thudded into the grass, Katila and I were somewhere else entirely.
I rolled and punched Katila as soon as we reformed. I didn't bother to look around; it didn't matter where he'd taken me, only that he had. I've been abducted enough times to know that as soon as an opportunity presents itself to you, you need to act. If you can get the element of surprise on your side, all the better.
Katila hissed in pain and jumped lithely to his feet. I got to mine, and we stared at each other warily.
“Well done,” he muttered and then licked blood from his lips. “You continue to surprise me.”
“Yeah; you surprise me too,” I said. “I thought you'd be dead by now.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” He smirked. “It won't happen after I get you back in my bed.”
“I've never been in your bed, you crazy bastard,” I hissed. “It was into my marriage bed that you slithered; stealing my husband's body to rape me.”
“Gods take women like that all the time.” He shrugged.
“Rapist, asshole gods,” I said. “For their sake, I hope those are just myths that humans made up about them.”
“Not all of them; I know for a fact that Zeus did it. He even impregnated women in that manner,” he went on.
“Zeus. Why am I not surprised that he's a rapist too?” I huffed in disgust. “I rest my case.”
Then I noticed our surroundings. We were in a human home. Well, a house, actually. It was empty; just a shell waiting to be filled with laughter and love. Oh, and maybe some furniture. A full moon shone in through the bare windows and for some reason, the place gave me a chill. It felt familiar, even though I was certain that I'd never seen it before.
“Where are we?” I whispered; my eyes darting around warily.
“A little town in Illinois,” Katila said with a smirk.
“Illinois,” I frowned and set my stare back on him. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I thought you might like to know that you're not the only one keeping secrets in your marriage,” he said smugly. “Or is it marriages? Do you consider it all one big relationship or several?”
“They are individual relationships,” I growled. “And what has this house got to do with any of them?”
“It belongs to Odin,” Katila said as he watched me carefully.
“Odin?” I frowned as I looked around again. “You said; Illinois?”
“Yes.”
A memory surfaced. It was of a conversation I'd had with my grown son in a broken future; the same son who was even now growing inside me. In that future, Odin had left me. He had let his new body and its cellular memories influence him into giving up his godhood. He gave up on us in favor of building a human life. With a human wife and a human daughter. I never saw the house they'd lived in—not this me, at least—but I was pretty sure Vero had said it was in Illinois.
“You know about it,” Katila said in disappointment.
“I do,” I said.
It wasn't true in the way he meant, but I'd be damned if I let him know that he'd gotten to me.
“I'll find more secrets,” Katila vowed. “Your marriages are not as perfect as you believe.”
“So you hope,” I said. “And hope will fail you. My husbands and I have been through too much to ever distrust each other. There's nothing you can show me that will shake my faith in them. If any of them are hiding things from me, it's for a good reason.”
Katila considered this with a sour expression, and then he asked suddenly and suspiciously, “What did you do to Trevor?”
“What do you mean?” I smiled at him smugly.
“I tried to visit you last night, but I couldn't possess him,” he admitted.
“We fixed the chink in his armor,” I said. “You'll never possess him again. You'll have to find another way to use your new, demon magic.”
“Oh, I will,” he promised me.
“That reminds me; thank you,” I said.
Katila's determined expression went blank. “For what?”
“For what you did to me.” I lifted my chin and met his stare. “It brought something out of Trevor that I've never seen before. He healed us and strengthened us. I've never felt more alive. And it was all because you hurt us; showed us where we were weak. So, thank you for that. I'm still going to kill
you, but I wanted to say that first.”
I spread out my arms as dragon claws sprouted from my hands. Katila's eyes gleamed as he stared covetously at my claws and then at my face.
“Oh, one more thing before I kill you.” I cocked my head and considered him. “There's something that's been bothering me.”
He smirked; so certain that he could conquer me. “What's that? Ask me anything, and I shall be honest with you. I will prove my good intentions.”
Good intentions; my scaly ass!
“How is it that a god whose only magic is to be forgettable can use a death god's weapon to harvest souls?”
Katila's eyes widened before he smirked. “You think you know all about me.”
“I believe I just said that I don't.”
That seemed to mollify him.
“I'm far more than a vanishing god,” he said proudly. “I am my father's son.”
“You're a death god too?” I asked in surprise.
He gave me a mocking bow. “All hidden beneath my secondary magic. Gods have always made the mistake of underestimating me.”
“Hidden death,” I murmured as I flexed my claws. “I prefer an in-your-face approach.”
Katila looked as if he were going to speak, but then something over my shoulder caught his attention. I felt the shivering magic of the Aether and knew the God Squad had just traced in behind me.
“How?” Katila gaped at them.
“She's our wife, you fool,” Azrael said as he lifted his scythe again. “We can find her anywhere.”
Technically, that was true. Between our bonds, vows, and enchanted rings, we could sense each other when we were in danger and find each other. It didn't work all the time—wards could pose a problem—but it had come in handy often enough.
Azrael swung at Katila, but Katila danced deftly out of the path of the blade; moving faster than I'd ever seen a god move.
“I'll show you the truth, Vervain,” Katila vowed from across the room. “None of them are good enough for you. You'll choose me in the end.”
I could feel the energy of the Aether gathering around him; ready to pull him in. Katila was about to escape again!
“Here's some truth for you,” I said as I tossed Lunacy at him.
I'd had enough with Katila's escapes and manipulations; I was using the last resort weapon. Lunacy sank into him and shifted the sanity inside him. Katila screamed and dropped to his knees; clutching his head between his hands. Azrael lifted his scythe again as the other gods launched their own attacks, but Katila was already disappearing.
“I will have you, my love.” Katila set his stare at me as he traced away.
A flurry of magic and the tip of Azrael's scythe landed in the spot where Katila had been. Light exploded in a multitude of colors, and the house rocked with it. Magic didn't like to be wasted. I sighed heavily and turned away. There was no sense in trying to track Katila; I could already feel the lack of a trail.
“Great, Vervain!” Odin huffed. “Now, he's crazy enough to think that he loves you.”
I stared at Odin blandly.
“That came out wrong,” Odin murmured.
“This can't be happening!” Azrael viciously threw his scythe at the picture window.
It vanished before it hit, but it was still a rare display of violence from an otherwise calm man.
“How the fuck is he that fast?” Az continued to shout.
“He has the power of three demons now,” Teharon said gently. “And that's in addition to his own godhood.”
“But how is this even possible?” Azrael asked even though he knew none of us knew the answer. “A god has never been able to take another god's power. Only Vervain can do it.”
“Maybe it's something to do with his magic,” Odin suggested. “The way he can disappear. Perhaps his magic can disappear too—make it seem as if he's empty—and then fresh magic can surge in.”
“Magic evolves; sometimes spontaneously,” Thor said. “We could be witnessing the next evolution of our kind.”
We all went silent in horror. If the Gods received the ability to not only kill each other with ease but to also be able to take each other's magic, the God War would shift. Gods would start hunting each other for no other reason than gaining power. Then there would be the retaliations. It would be a bloodbath.
“Let's not worry ourselves over theories,” Blue said sensibly. “It doesn't matter how or why Katila is taking demon magic. It changes nothing. All we need to know is what advantages it gives him. And then we work around those advantages and kill him.”
It was similar to what we'd concluded when we planned this trap, but it needed to be said again.
Azrael took a calming breath and nodded. “Thank you, Blue; I needed that focus.”
“We all did,” Odin said. “We've allowed him to unsettle us. Let's get back to the palace and come up with a new plan that takes Katila's speed into account.”
“Before we go; Odin, do you know where we are?” I asked casually.
Odin looked around the house and frowned. “No.”
“Are you certain?” I asked. “Take another look.”
“Vervain, what's this about?” Thor asked impatiently.
“Katila brought me here to show me Odin's house; a house that I didn't know he owned,” I answered Thor and then looked back at Odin. “I believe it's the same house that you lived in with your human family.”
“My what?” Odin asked in shock. “What nonsense are you talking?”
“In the wrong future,” Trevor said. “Remember? Vervain told us that you left her and got married to a human. You had a little... girl...” Trevor trailed off.
We all knew what Trevor was thinking. Odin had been pestering me to have his child. He hadn't been able to get that baby out of his head. Odin badly wanted our child to be born, and when Odin wanted something badly, his tactics could go bad too. I'd made it clear that I was going to have Trevor's son next, and now, I was actually pregnant with Vero.
“Dude, you aren't... ?” Trevor left the question hanging.
“What?” Odin huffed. “You think that I bought this potential love nest so I could shop around for a human wife as a backup in case Vervain didn't have my child fast enough to satisfy me?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds as crazy as Katila,” Trevor huffed.
I laughed. “That has a nice ring to it; crazy as Katila.”
“I didn't know about this house, Vervain,” Odin said with deadly seriousness. “It must have belonged to Griffin, and so it would be mine technically, but I've never looked into his assets. It never even occurred to me. It feels too much like plunder.”
“I believe you,” I said softly. “I was just thrown, and I needed an explanation.”
“Which is exactly what that bastard is trying to do; throw you off—throw all of us off,” Azrael said furiously. “He wants to tear us apart with lies and innuendos because he's too weak to do it with his own two hands.”
“He won't,” I said confidently. “But if anyone has any secrets they want to share, now would be a good time to come clean.”
My men looked at each other while the rest of the God Squad stared at them anxiously—some of them (Pan) stared eagerly—and, finally, they shook their heads.
“Most of us live vith you,” Kirill pointed out. “Secrets are hard to keep under same roof.”
“Except for your little stargazing jaunts,” Trevor reminded me. “Are you sure there isn't anything more you'd like to tell us, Minn Elska? We may live under the same roof, but it's a big one.”
I laughed. “I guess I deserved that. No; I don't have any more secrets.”
“Let's go home,” Odin suggested again as he looked around the empty house. “This place gives me the creeps.”
“You and me both, honey,” I said. “It's a life that never happened; perched on the edge of becoming real.”
“I'll look into selling it,” Odin promised me. “Someone will love this place; make it
a home.”
“I'd clean that scorch mark first, if I were you,” Pan pointed to the charred mark where all the magic had hit and then he traced away.
Odin grimaced and then gave me an annoyed look that seemed to ask; why do we put up with him? I shrugged and traced away. It wasn't bad advice.
Chapter Forty-One
“Any ideas on how we counter his speed?” Odin asked as we came out of the tracing room and headed into the dining room.
“You didn't get him?” Fallon growled as he stood.
All of my Intare were waiting in the dining hall; cups of coffee and the remnants of a meal before them. Lions ate when they were anxious. I think it's our instincts; our body translates anxiety into a portent of harsh times and tells us to stock up.
“No, we didn't,” I gave them the bad news. “He's gotten faster, and he doesn't leave a trail.”
“I wish you'd taken us with you, Tima,” Lucian said.
“I don't think it would have made a difference,” I said gently. “But I'd welcome your help in coming up with another plan.”
“Why can't you just wish it all away with your star-heart?” Aidan asked.
Ever since I'd ended Ragnarok by accessing the power of my Trinity Star, it had seemed as if I had an unbeatable weapon inside me. I'd been told—by the Consciousness of the Void and of Faerie—that I simply had to believe in my star and direct its energy to use it. However, the Star was its own entity. Like my unborn son, it lived inside me and it was composed of pieces of me, but I was beginning to see that it wasn't actually me. The Star had its own agenda, and although part of that included protecting me, it had priorities that differed from mine. And rules; it had rules.
The most irritating rule was that it wouldn't help me change something that was fated to be. Unfortunately, I never knew what was meant to be and what wasn't. I'd been working with the Star on accessing its power, which, in addition to unifying my magics and souls and making me stronger, was a connection to the Nine Great Magics. Through meditation, I'd learned to sense when the Star was willing to help. A little tingling would occur in my chest. I hadn't felt that tingle around Katila so I was fairly certain that the Star would be staying out of this fight.