Chapter 18

"Why don't you introduce me to your friends first, Hummingbird?"Stalling was always a good option in my opinion.

"My name means Blue Hummingbird on the left, little witch. I'm the Sun God, and the Sun rises from the South, the left-hand, and is carried by the hummingbird."He made a soft sound of mirth. "I'll take you're teasing as a sign of affection, but you'll tell me the truth of your involvement with the Viking or my tolerance will end."

Go figure. I'd been telling my boyfriends for years that my endless barbs were a form of affection. That's love, baby, I'd say. None of them had accepted my explanation and now here was this god taking my actual insults as affection. How typical.

"Yeah, I'm so into guys who threaten to kill me when they get bored."I rolled my eyes. "Look, you'll get your truth when I get mine. Who are these people and what are you guys up to?"I narrowed my eyes at him.

"She makes demands now?"The Asian was at it again.

"Let her be, Kuan Ti,"the blonde spoke up for me. It's so annoying when they're beautiful and nice. "She's obviously frightened."

The woman had the face of an angel. No, scratch that. She had a face that would make an angel weep to realize that compared to her, he was hideous. Her body was long and slim, but curved at hip and chest. Her skin was creamy gold and was so perfect that it practically glowed. She was amazing, and Hummingbird didn't look twice. What was with these gods? How exactly do you become immune to heart-wrenching beauty?

"Kuan Ti, she's my problem, not yours."Huitzilopochtli said the the Chinese man before he turned to me and then gestured at the angel. "Vervain, meet Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Sex, War, and Victory."

"Pleasure."I nodded to her. The Goddess of Love. Yeah, big surprise there.

"Yes, that too."She winked at me and crossed her delicate, pale arms over her pristine, white, linen suit.

She was all white, gold, pink, and perfect. Her scent wafted to me, and I couldn't stop myself from inhaling deeply. She smelled plasticky sweet, like a Strawberry Shortcake doll I had as a child. I had a sudden flash of burying my face in the shiny red hair; the fake aroma of strawberries enveloping me. On a very deep level, my brain immediately equated her to happiness, and I had an overwhelming urge to bury my face in her hair as I used to do with my doll. I quickly blinked away the odd impulse.

Huitzilopochtli got up, came around the table, and helped me to my feet. He placed my hand on his arm and escorted me over to the Chinese man as if we were at a royal ball. Why he hadn't felt the need to bring me over to meet Aphrodite was beyond me, but if he wanted to insult a goddess, it was his business. Or maybe he thought I wouldn't appreciate being close enough to her to force a comparison.

"This is Kuan Ti."Huitzilopochtli gave the man a nod. "He's a god of war. Originally, he was a general in the Imperial Army of China, but he's also a friend,"he said the last bit as if it were the most important achievement of all.

I extended my hand to shake Kuan Ti's, but the General took mine firmly in both of his and bent over it to place a quick kiss on my glove; right over the blades.

"What lovely gloves you have."He smiled. "Forgive my abruptness. We are in the midst of battle and it has brought out the soldier in me."

"No prob, General."I pulled away from Huitzilopochtli to pull on the lever that sheathed my blades. "As you can see, I was prepared for a fight as well. But then I was snatched from a crime scene so I guess it's not all that surprising."

"A battle scene,"Huitzilopochtli corrected.

"I wouldn't call two men with guns against a crowd of unarmed people, a battle."I put my hands on my hips.

"A small skirmish then."Huitzilopochtli reclaimed my arm, led me away from Kuan Ti, and stopped in front of Lir. "This is Lir, whose son you saved today. Don't expect him to be grateful though; it was his idea to kill Fiachra, in the first place."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"I blurted. I hadn't extended my hand to him, and I didn't intend to.

"My son was cursed by a jealous mistress. She cursed all of my children in fact. Changed them into swans and turned their hearts against me. Fiachra and his siblings have been plaguing me ever since,"Lir huffed.

"I saw a man today, not a swan,"I said. A handsome man who looked nothing like this bad-tempered asshole.

"He changes at will now, but it wasn't always so."Lir grabbed my hand and shook it mechanically, then turned away and stalked from the room.

"He's a little temperamental where his children are concerned."Huitzilopochtli turned me with a hand on my back and led me to the man with a mohawk. "This is Tawiskaron."

The Native American man didn't say a word, just held out his hand and shook mine. His eyes narrowed at me, and I flinched when I saw them turn completely black. Actually, that's not an apt description. They didn't turn black, they simply disappeared. In their place were pitch-black holes. As I held his hand, it felt as if I were falling into their darkness and it was far from empty. Inside the twin pits of his eyes, things lurked. Horrifying things, whispering and chattering gleefully at the prospect of a new arrival. I tried to pull away, to lurch back, but I was caught firmly by both his hand and his stare.

I felt a scream start to crawl up my throat.

"Vervain!"Huitzilopochtli yanked my hand out of Tawiskaron's and the terror finally abated.

Tawiskaron's eyes were an ordinary dark brown once more, though they hovered over a sinister smile. My breath was coming hard and fast.

"Tawiskaron!"Huitzilopochtli pushed me a little behind him. "Rein in the darkness. I think I was very clear when I said she was under my protection. I will not have her harmed by your demonic ways."

I blinked and looked Tawiskaron over once more. Demonic? Funny how I'd never considered that demons could exist. I guess the term was as relative as "god"was. If all the Gods were really just Atlanteans, then why couldn't they be demons as well? Some of those bastards sure did act evil enough. Speaking of which . . . Tawiskaron's face had fallen into a fearful expression and even paled a little. I looked over at Huitzilopochtli and saw why.

The Aztec's eyes were churning pools of blood. Pretty terrifying, but I have to say the pits of darkness scared me more. It must not have been simply the appearance of those eyes that sobered Tawiskaron, but the meaning behind their appearance because he obviously disagreed with my assessment. I swallowed roughly and began to back away from them both.

Huitzilopochtli's hand snaked back and grabbed me before I could get too far. He shot one more menacing look at the cowed Tawiskaron and then led me to the small, dark-skinned woman. Her short hair was a soft brown, so silky it almost looked like fur, and it stuck out from her head, begging for a comb.

"This is Sarama, Messenger Goddess, Mother of all Dogs, and Bitch of Heaven,"Huitzilopochtli introduced her.

"Excuse me?"I almost choked.

"Yes?"She looked completely confused.

"Your title is Bitch of Heaven?"I was about to lose it. Deep breath; in and out, don't laugh at the little dog goddess.

"Yes."

"Oh, that's just too easy."I couldn't do it. I'd save it for later.

"I don't understand."Sarama frowned at me.

Under my hand, I felt Huitzilopochtli twitch, but his face was completely serene. "It's nothing Sarama, you know humans."

She frowned deeper, but let it go. "You were with Thor?"

"Sort of."

"Sif will not be pleased."Sarama looked over to Aphrodite, and the Goddess of Love frowned.

Which meant that a slight crease appeared briefly between Aphrodite's brows, giving her a dramatically concerned appearance. Would nothing make this woman look bad?

"His ex-wife?"I blurted and then groaned when everyone stared at me. I needed to work on that filter between my brain and my mouth.

"You said that you didn't know Thor"-Huitzilopochtli looked smug—"thought his name was Mark."

"Yeah, yeah; you caught me. Congrats."It was going to come out anyway so what the hell, I just went with it.

"You must know him well if he's told you of Sif."Aphrodite was next to me in three long strides.

"I just met him, actually."I felt cold shivers crawl down my spine as I watched them all exchange looks.

"I'll handle this,"Huitzilopochtli announced and waved them away. "Let the others know what's happened, and we'll join you later."