Chapter 8

There was a loud screeching followed by a muttered oath and then the sound of crashing. Thor didn't seem the least bit concerned. In fact, he had a little of his smile back. An average sized man walked in waving his arms about his head furiously. A large falcon swept past him and landed on the armor in the corner.

"Curse you, Horus,"the man snapped. "Watch where you're flying."He noticed us staring at him and smiled brightly. "He can be such a birdbrain."

A loud screech filled the room as the falcon launched himself at the man, who then dove for cover. The falcon stopped short and hovered with great flaps of his wings. Bird-form blurred and elongated until it was no longer a bird but a man dressed in a black, short-sleeved shirt and slacks.

"The falcon is one of the wisest winged creatures there is,"the ex-bird-now-man looked down his long nose at the other, who was climbing to his feet.

"Then why do they even have the term birdbrain?"Mr. Average stretched his neck up so he could poke his face impudently into the taller man's.

He was dressed more casually; in torn jeans and a yellow shirt which read "Everyone panic, I'm here."They looked like opposite sides of the social spectrum.

"It's a ridiculous term made by humans who know nothing of the amazing avian mind."The ex-bird—Horus, evidently—was as regal looking as he sounded, and I was back to staring again.

Horus' skin was the light gold of a falcon's feathers and his nose was just a step away from the beak it previously was. There was more intelligence in his brown eyes than warmth, and his bearing was so grand that my knees buckled with the urge to curtsy. It was a good thing that I was still seated.

"No one knows the avian mind because they have no mind. Their brains are about the size of a pea."The smaller man batted at his curly brown hair which kept falling into his eyes; it seemed to want to play as much as he did.

It was kind of charming. In fact, the more you looked at him, the more charming he became. His lips seemed to be constantly on the verge of smiling even when he was fighting with the bird. His hazel eyes held even more merriment than his lips, and his face ended in a pointed chin like an elf's. To top it all off, I caught a glimpse of little horns hiding in his curls.

"Pan,"Thor's voice rumbled out; making the name into a warning.

"Pan?"I couldn't keep the disbelief from my voice.

Both men turned to me; Horus with a frown, and Pan with a radiant smile.

"Pan, as in reed pipes and wood nymphs?"I asked.

"The one and only."Pan bowed gallantly and left Horus sputtering behind him. "And you are Lady…?"

"Vervain,"I said as I smiled. Why was I smiling?

"Ah."Pan's smile turned sensual. "I love flowers; they have such sweet nectar in their depths."

"It's actually a herb,"I said, but Thor spoke over me.

"Pan,"Thor's voice was a low growl, and it was powerful enough to make the potted orchid on the table shake.

"My mistake."Pan backed away; still grinning. "I didn't know that this bloom was already plucked."

"There's been no plucking."I shot a nasty look at Thor; hoping that he caught the message that I didn't appreciate this type of protection. What; did he think it would make it easier if everyone thought we were an item? Not as if he could be seriously into me or anything, and not like I cared... much.

"Hmm."Pan moved forward again; this time, he claimed a chair next to the Navajo goddess. "Which is it then, Thor; plucked or un-plucked?"

Tsohanoai moved his wife closer to him as he eyed Pan.

"She's spoken for."Thor leaned forward to glare at Pan.

"Hey, now."I shrugged Thor's arm off. "There's been no plucking, or speaking of plucking, and there will be no plucking period. Can we find another word for 'plucking;' one that doesn't rhyme with plucking?"

"Enough!"Horus walked stiffly to the table and sat in one of the end chairs as if he were about to bring the meeting to order. Big surprise there. "We're not here for you to play your silly games with a human, Pan. I would like to know what she's doing here, though."He looked pointedly at Thor.

"I caught her stealing the same information that I went to Valhalla to collect."Thor leaned back and let that tidbit sink in before continuing. "When I realized who she was, I decided to ask her to join us. I think she'll be valuable and besides, it's the humans' fight too."

"And who is she? What makes her so valuable?"Horus crossed his muscular forearms and the short sleeves of his linen shirt rode up to expose a detailed tattoo of a falcon in flight on his bicep. Too detailed in fact; I'd never seen ink like it. It was as if a real bird had been miniaturized and pressed into his skin. Kinda creepy actually.

"She's the only human who has ever managed to kill our kind,"Thor spoke very quietly but his words seemed to echo around me.

Horus and Pan sat forward with a gasp. Evidently, I was known by sight to only some of the gods. I felt as if I had just had my superstar status revoked. Oh, well; there goes my fifteen minutes. Fame can be so fickle.

"The Hunter?"Horus lifted his head and scanned me dubiously. "This is the Godhunter?"

"There's no need to get nasty now."I didn't know what was worse; having a nickname among the Gods or not living up to it.

Horus narrowed his eyes. "You don't look strong enough to kill gods."

"Well, you don't look like an asshole but there you go,"I said and then nearly clamped my hand over my mouth.

I have no filter; the words go straight from my brain and out my mouth. It made me a horrible liar and got me into heaps of trouble. I think the only thing that saved me in this particular instance was the immediate laughter of all the other gods.

"Come on, Horus."Thor clamped a large hand down on Horus's shoulder, and I saw Horus wince. "Admit it; that was funny… and you deserved it."

Horus did no admitting and no laughing, but the tension did seem to ease from his shoulders. He sat back, nodded, and that was that.

"Okay,"Thor said, "let's get started then. Vervain, the documents please."

I leaned back into the chair so I could reach down into my jeans; which also put me further into Thor's side. His breath was in my hair, his scent suddenly stronger, and I quickly yanked the papers from my pants and moved away from him. Thor took the documents from me and smoothed them gently on the table. I watched his touch linger over the paper and had a brief moment of imagining those fingers somewhere else. What was it that I had said about amateurs falling for their prey? I was starting to feel like a supreme moron. Thor turned abruptly and stared at me; slowly raising an eyebrow.

"What?"It came out a little harsher than I intended; nerves have a habit of turning me into a bitch.

"Did you want to look this over with me?"Thor's eyebrows shot downward.

I felt even worse for being paranoid. So, of course, I got snappier.

"Why; do you only read Old Norse?"As soon as the words came out, I felt like an ass. "Sorry; I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I could hazard a guess,"Pan piped up from across the table but was shushed gently by Estsanatlehi.

"It's forgotten."Thor hadn't even glanced at Pan. He just started skimming the document. "The next strike will be in Washington DC; they're going to instigate an attack on a peace rally through some al-Qaeda terrorists."

"Well, that'll put a damper on the party."I leaned in closer to see it for myself.

"Even the protesters will back the war after being shot at."Horus twisted his lips into a mockery of a smile. "Nothing like murder and mayhem to beget more murder and mayhem."

"So, what do we do about it?"I looked around the table, and the whole thing took on a surreal quality for me. These weren't just people I was talking shop with, they were gods.

They all looked at me—the lone human in their midst—and I'm sure more than a few of them wondered how I could help. Hell, I wondered it. I was more of a surprise-ambush kinda girl and even then, I had to psych myself up every time I got ready to hunt. I guess all warriors have a battle cry to help bolster their spirits. Mine went something like: I don't wanna diiiiiie! Well, it was more of an internal battle cry.

"So, we go, and we stop them."Brahma looked bored. In fact, he was paying more attention to the minuscule pieces of dirt beneath his fingernails than he was to us. When he finally looked up and saw our expressions, he huffed. "What? How hard could it possibly be?"