Chapter 10

"I've been meaning to ask you about that."I panted after him. I was really glad I'd worn my flat-soled boots. "I thought you were supposed to have a great, big, bushy, red beard."

"I shaved."Thor's pace quickened, and I practically had to run to keep up. "I've been spending a lot of time in Hawaii and it gets itchy with the heat. Beards are for cold weather."

"Okay, great."I felt like that little dog in the old cartoons that jumps around the big dog panting, What d'ya wanna do today, Spike? Huh, Spike? Huh? Except this little dog was being dragged. "So, you shaved it; looks good. I like the stubble, but there's one other thing I've been meaning to ask."

"What?!"Thor stopped again and threw down my hand as if holding it were too much encouragement for my mouth.

"Where are we going?"My voice was just a tad too timid sounding for me so I couldn't stop there. "More importantly, are we there yet?"I added a bit of adolescent whine just for good measure.

"Yeah, Dad."Ull jumped up next to us. "Are we there yet?"

I liked Ull immediately. All we had time for was a grin and a wink to acknowledge our new camaraderie before Thor started pulling on my hand again. I was pretty sure that I was going to have bruises.

Thor didn't let up until we'd reached our destination. A secret underground hideout? A chic high-rise loft? No; it was Starbucks. Thor pulled me with him all the way to the counter.

"I'd like a grande caramel macchiatto with whip,"Thor announced to the barista as she stared back at him; dumbstruck. He yanked me forward and put an arm around my shoulders. "You want anything, babe?"

The woman transferred her attention to me long enough to determine that I wasn't anywhere near as interesting as he was and then went back to gawking at Thor. I wasn't sure what shocked me more; his ordering what I considered a girly drink (one of my favorites by the way) or his calling me babe.

"Uh, the same please."I gaped at him.

"Make it two."Thor smiled at the girl and for a second I thought she was going to faint.

"You want that hot?"She blinked wide eyes at him.

"Oh, definitely."He grinned wickedly, and I thought for sure she was going down.

She did sway a little, but then she bucked up and rang us up as I silently cheered her on. You can do it! He's not all that special, just, you know, a god. Hey, I'm on the side of anyone making me coffee. Thor paid and then steered me to an overstuffed couch to wait as the rest of the gods placed their orders.

When we were all seated with our beverages, I held and sipped my coffee like it was a lifeline. I was so not sitting in Starbucks with a bunch of gods who looked like Benetton and Armani had got together to make a magazine spread. I looked up; licking whipped cream off my lips and blinking hard. Yep, there they were; sipping from paper cups with the sound of pressurized steam and folk music in the background.

"How long have we got before the rally?"I looked around; wondering if gods wore watches because I sure as hell didn't.

I'm not a watch-wearing kind of girl. I could go into this whole long diatribe about how I don't like to be restricted by time or some other such granola crap, but the truth of the matter is; I'm just too lazy to remember to put one on every day.

Sure enough, Brahma pushed up his silk sleeve and revealed a Rolex. The diamonds in the face sparkled at me in an attempt to change my mind about the whole watch wearing thing. I have to admit they made a good argument. If someone bought me a Rolex, I might make an effort to wear it every day. Or at least on non-god-hunting days.

"The rally is at one o'clock. It's now seven forty-six AM, Eastern Standard Time so that gives us roughly another six hours."

I groaned and took another sip of coffee. It had been a long day… yesterday, and I still hadn't got any shut-eye since then. "Don't you guys ever sleep?"

"We sleep."Thor's hand slid up my back and onto my neck, where he began to knead my muscles expertly. "We just don't need it as much as you."

"Figures."I sighed and let him work out the knots. "I know we don't have time for a nap so let's just get on with it."

"Okay."Thor set his cup down. "We need a locator spell, Vervain."

"No prob."I sipped my coffee and thought about it. "Wait, what am I supposed to locate?"

"Can you focus on a magical disturbance?"Horus asked from his big, purple, overstuffed chair. So surreal.

"You want me to find a disturbance in the force, Luke?"I giggled; on the verge of exhausted hysterics.

"Who did she just call me?"Horus puffed up and put his coffee down. "I am not the—"

"Relax, Egyptian,"Ull chucked Horus on the shoulder. "It's just a movie reference."

"Humph,"Horus picked his mug up but divided his glare between me and Ull as if we were in cahoots.

"Sure; I can do a locator spell,"I got back on topic. "But it'd have to be done while this disturbance is happening, and they aren't going to be using magic constantly. Can't you guys just do some god juju?"

"Even gods have our limitations,"Horus looked as if he'd swallowed a bug.

"You know, I've always wondered about that."I just realized that I had the perfect opportunity to up my god-hunting game. "I know about beheading as a good way to be sure of the kill, but just in case I have to do some hand-to-hand combat, what route should I take? I mean; do you guys just regenerate or what?"

"You want us to tell you how to kill us?"Horus squawked.

"It's a valid question."Thor frowned. "We'll be taking her into battle. Vervain needs to know our weaknesses."

"And if she uses the information against us?"Horus narrowed his eyes on Thor.

"Then you'll get to see firsthand if she really is strong enough to kill gods."Thor glared back.

"Well, as I'm sure you've realized, some of us are a little harder to kill than others,"Ull said as he ignored the banter and focused on me. "How susceptible you are depends on your magic. And that goes for healing too. Only gods whose power includes regeneration can fully regenerate otherwise-fatal wounds and even then, they're limited to as much energy as they have stored up. The rest of us can take care of tiny cuts but other than that; if you cut us, we will bleed... and keep bleeding. We have to heal normally or go to one of our healers. If it's really bad, we have to restock our immortality."

"Ull,"Thor's voice held a warning note, "that's going too far. You know the law."

"The law?"I felt my forehead wrinkling. "You have laws?"

"Of course,"Ull continued as if Thor hadn't spoken. "We—"

"Could you cast a spell on an item?"Estsanatlehi, who I was already referring to as Mrs. E in my head—along with her husband Mr. T, hehe—pulled a smooth, white, river stone out of her purse. She cast a weighted look at Ull, and he clamped his mouth shut. "A spell that would alert you to excessive magic in the area?"

"I think so."I considered how much effort I would need to put into it to get coverage over as large an area as we'd need to monitor as I took the stone from her. My gaze swept by Ull, and I had a sudden thought. "You're his stepson,"I blurted like an epiphany.

Told you; no filter.

"Yes."Ull frowned in confusion.

"That means you're married,"I said accusingly as I turned to look at Thor.

"Why do you care if I'm married?"Thor tilted his head to the side. His eyes seemed to flash brightly for a second and his lips twitched.

"I don't,"I said immediately. "Are you?"

"Let's just say that we had a messy breakup."Thor's smile came out in full force as his arm crept across my back.

"And you got custody?"I sat up straighter; leaning away from him.

"Custody?"Thor shook his head a little; as if he was trying to clear it of my human insanity.

"Of the kid."I jerked my head toward Ull, and Thor's laughter literally boomed out.

Now, I don't like overusing the word literally because it's so often misused, but let me just say that I am definitely using the appropriate word here. Thor's laughter shook the light fixtures, it rattled the windows, and I could swear that I heard someone's car alarm go off down the street.

"The kid"-Thor let his laughter die down to a light rumble—"chose for himself."

"Yeah."Ull leaned forward and winked at me. "Mama's not happy."

"And when Mama's not happy..."I looked expectantly at Ull, and he didn't fail me.

"No one's happy,"Ull finished gleefully. "You can say that again; she's been a holy terror."

"Define terror."I narrowed my eyes on Ull.

Was I going to have to fight his Mommy?

"You don't see her here do you?"Ull spread his hands wide.

"Well, I don't exactly know what she looks like."I didn't like the cold feeling I was getting in my gut. "I don't even know her name."

"Her name is Sif,"Thor answered grimly, "and she looks like him."He pointed an accusing finger at Ull as if it were somehow his fault.

"Hey, don't blame me because you married a bitch,"Ull politely lowered his voice to issue the insult.

"That's your mother you're talking about."Thor leaned in and matched his stepson's tone.

"She's your wife. I didn't have a choice about her being my mother."

"She's my ex-wife,"Thor grumbled, but backed off.

"Wow; she sounds like a charmer."I looked back and forth between their sulking faces. "I can't wait to meet her."

"No!"Both of them shouted at the same time and earned us the attention of the whole shop… again.