Chapter 14

"Open your eyes, little hunter,"Thor's whisper pulled me out of my self-scrutiny. "Look at the storm you've conjured."

The funny thing was; storms comforted me. They made me feel peaceful, always had. It was as if when nature raged, I could finally be calm. You can't fight the weather, all you can do is ride it out. So, I could relax because all the nasties out there were most likely running for cover too. Storms were like a vacation for me. A way for the Universe to say Take a breather. The sound of thunder, the feel of moisture beading on my skin, and Thor's lips tingling against my cheek; they all served to calm me. I let go of my anxiety and opened my eyes.

I could barely see the others through the heavy mist cocooning Thor and me. Little sparks lit the clouds sporadically, and I realized it was lightning. We were sitting in the middle of a miniature storm; lightning, thunder, and all. I rolled my head back to look up at Thor.

His eyes had gone indigo and within them, I saw lightning strike as if it were dancing across waves. He smiled, and I lost that wonderful feeling of safety. I didn't mourn the loss, though. A part of me seemed to wake up and realize that I didn't want a man to make me feel safe. Going down that road could only lead to disappointment or, even worse; if I depended on a man to keep me safe, I could end up dead.

This wasn't even a man, no matter how much I'd like to pretend he was. This was an ancient god. A god that already had some kind of claim on me that I didn't even fully comprehend. The last thing I needed to do was get involved with him any deeper than I already was.

Deeper was all I could think about though as he lowered his face and brushed his lips across mine. Deeper into those stormy eyes, deeper into his muscled embrace, and deeper was suddenly where I wanted him. I sighed against his lips, and he used the opportunity to invade. His mouth was hot, a vivid contrast to the cold around us, and he tasted wildly metallic with a tinge of salt. Like ozone on the ocean.

My arms pulled him sharply to me, even though I was screaming internally at myself to stop. Electricity mingled with our kiss and vibrations flowed down my skin with the bursting condensation; heading places it shouldn't go in public. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he pulled me up onto his lap with a growl rumbling from his chest into mine. The storm around us grew stronger, wilder. The wind picked up and my hair tangled into his as if it too needed contact.

Thunder rumbled through the floor and rain suddenly beat down upon us. We were soaked in seconds and he still kissed me; his tongue licking at mine and his lips slashing harshly against my mouth. My hands were tangled up in the hair at the nape of his neck, sliding up his face, desperate to connect with him. When his hands pushed up under my shirt, the sound of a throat clearing finally stopped us.

"I appreciate that this is an unusual situation,"Ull's voice dripped sarcasm. "But could you tone your lust down a bit? My carpet is not only soaked, but it's also getting singed."

I pulled back and looked at Thor in horror. Heat flowed over my skin from the neck up. I sprung backward off his lap; ending up in a sprawl over the tangled roots with my arms propping me up from behind. My silk shirt now clung to me; showing not only my hidden dagger but the pattern of lace of my bra. I was thoroughly mortified.

Thor sat where I'd left him, a little smile on his face. He rubbed his lips with a finger and his smile grew lascivious. The lightning in his eyes sparked and dimmed, but the electric look remained. I watched in horrified fascination as his hand slid down from his mouth, over his chest, and between his legs to adjust himself. I gaped at him and blushed hotter as he laughed loud enough to shake the walls before starting towards me on hands and knees, licking his lips as he came.

"Thor this is neither the time nor the place,"Brahma's tone was crisp, and his eyes were narrowed at the thunder god.

"Don't rain on my parade,"Thor shot over his shoulder as he crept closer, chuckling at his own joke.

I jumped to my feet and backed away. "Enough! Brahma's right. That was a crazy fluke, and it's not going to happen again. I was freaked out and forgot myself for a second. So, get up off the floor and take a cold shower or whatever Gods do to calm down. We need to get back to business."

"Gods don't have to calm down."Thor got to his feet and kept coming, so I kept backing up until I hit the glass door that led to the balcony. The knowledge of my restricted position jacked up the brilliance of his smile.

"We're not here for this"-I held up a hand, and it was soon pressed against his wet chest—"and I'm not an exhibitionist."

"Fine."Thor leaned down and buried his face in my wet hair.

His chest pressed against mine as he breathed deep and then exhaled hot across my neck. I did my best to ignore the shivers it ignited.

"We'll finish this later,"he whispered into my ear.

"No, we won't."I slid out from under his arms, cleared my throat, and started another backward journey across the room. I would not be some god's plaything. Oh, hell no; not this witch. Thankfully, Mrs. E saved me.

"Vervain."She grabbed my arm and pulled me over to her. "You were about to explain why you thought you were capable of taking our magic… before you were distracted."

"Right."I blinked and tried frantically to remember anything besides the feel of Thor's hands on me. "Right, I was going to say that it makes sense for a human to be able to pull power from Gods. After all, Gods took the energy from humans initially."

Thor stopped halfway over to me and his lust-filled look was replaced by a ponderous one. I squeezed Mrs. E's hand in gratitude before moving away but stopped short when I saw Horus staring hard at me.

"It makes sense that you'd be able to call the power."He was still standing as far away from me as he could; tearing off the remnants of his shirt. "But not that you could use it as you did. No one has ever been able to make a god shift into his animal form, much less do it halfway."

I understood his fear better then. It wasn't that I'd bested him; it was that I'd forced him into a form he'd never been in before. If the myths were true, Horus would be able to shift his head and keep the rest of his human form, but he shouldn't be able to transform his arms into wings as well. To have his body betray him like that must have been scary.

"I think she merely forced some of your power back into you, Horus."Ull looked from me to the Egyptian. "She wasn't trying to control it so it took whatever path it typically takes, but went a little further since it was unrestrained."

"Yes, that makes sense,"Thor's voice came from right beside me; making me jump.

He'd snuck up on me while I was pitying Horus. I didn't like that. It meant that I had let myself get distracted again. Which is fine if you're a god, but for us mere mortals it can be harmful, fatal even.

I needed to nip this attraction in the bud. Gods were hot. They're Gods, it comes with the territory, and if I was going to be working with them, I couldn't go around throwing myself at every one that shot me a lusty glance. Hell, it was probably in their nature to try to score with every human female they came across. They probably couldn't help themselves, what with their need for collecting worshipers and all. I'd have to be the grown up and have some control. No problem, I can be mature, I can be restrained.

I was so totally doomed.

"Aaahhh!"I jumped as the stone in my pocket sent a jolt through my leg.

Everyone looked over at me as if I were a magician about to do a new trick. I pulled the stone out and immediately saw a vision of a hotel room.

It was a large room with two beds, two Middle-Eastern men, and one large Mexican occupying it. Excuse me, I mean one large Aztec. The Aztec had one of the men in what looked like an embrace; arms tight around his chest from behind and face buried in his neck. The third man sat limply on a bed; eyes focused on the floor. I frowned at that, but continued to look around, trying to get some idea of where they were. On the nightstand, I saw hotel stationery with J.W. Marriott printed on top. Great, so I knew what hotel they were in. Now, I just needed the room number. The phone! I honed in on the phone and, sure enough, it listed the hotel phone number and the room number. I took one more look at the men to memorize their faces and then let the vision go.

"They're at the Marriott,"I said as my eyes cleared.

"There's a Marriott near the White House,"Ull said, "makes sense."

"Let's go."Thor was already out the door.

Twenty minutes later, we had passed through the enormous, marble-floored, crystal chandelier-hung lobby of the Marriott and gone up to room 512.

Thor took point and kicked the door in. I thought for sure we'd have a hallway full of concerned guests peering out of their rooms, but not a peep was made. They must have been calling management to do the dirty work. Not that I blamed them; I probably wouldn't go out either if I saw us on the other side of my peephole.

We surged into the room, hands up and magic ready to confront the baddies. I was last in line so it was difficult for me to see what was going on when they all stopped suddenly. I tried to peer around shoulders, but I'm kind of short, and I finally ended up just pushing past everyone. Gods filled the room, but there was no sight of the Aztec or his humans.

"Okay, now what?"I looked around the Aztec-less room and then over at the Gods. My body still tingled with the power I'd taken, but I was fresh out of ideas.

"It's twelve-twenty,"Brahma said, peering at his Rolex as he'd been doing off and on all day. I guess I knew who Mr. Punctual was. "We need to get to the rally. It's too late for preventative measures now."

The stone seemed to pulse in my jeans pocket; reminding me of the complete waste of time and magic it had been.