Harvest of the Gods (20 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

“
Anubis!” I called as I walked out of Duat's shiny, obsidian, tracing chamber. “Anubis!” I didn't want to startle the guy by walking into Duat unannounced.

However, shouting someone's name can be a bit startling as well it turns out and Anubis came running down the hallway, dressed only in a black silk robe. I stopped in my tracks, gaping at the expanse of golden flesh revealed by the open neck of the robe. He, in turn, gaped at me and my terrified lions.

“Anubis,” Trevor finally broke the silence. “We need your assistance again.”

“
What happened?” Anubis smoothed his slick black hair back, the metal beads that adorned it clicking softly.

“
The Darkness has touched my lions,” I gestured to them.

“
That would explain why Ethan is here,” he sighed and nodded.

“
Ethan's here?” I nearly cried, I was so relieved.

“
Of course,” Anubis smiled gently. “You know I accepted them all. Your lion is fine. Well he's dead but his soul is fine.”

“
That's right,” I sighed, “the Darkness only consumes fey souls.”

“
Let's get these men to the fountain,” Anubis tightened his robe and made a gesture that we should follow him. “We can discuss everything else after we're sure that they're safe as well.”

“
Yes, thank you.” I gestured my lions forward.

We raced them down to the peacock fountain and shoved
them in, pretty much as abruptly as it sounds. We weren't bothered by niceties, we just wanted them in the water. They came out renewed and much calmer, and I hugged Anubis afterward, thanking him for helping me yet again.

“
Tell your mother that she saved my life,” I added when I pulled away. “Her blessing protected me from the Darkness and her suggestion of using my love magic to battle it was brilliant. It worked, I was able to hold it back long enough for us to trace away. Thank her for me until I get the chance to send her a muffin basket.”

“
A muffin basket? Never mind, I will relay your gratitude,” Anubis stroked a hand down my hair. “I'm glad you're okay, Vervain.”

“
Me too,” I gave him a little grin.

My lions thanked him as well with handshakes and even a hug from Chris, and then we all headed back inside to visit with Ethan a little before we left. He was with the other dead Intare, looking relaxed and fairly content for a dead guy.

“Tima,” Ethan gave me a hug. “You saved them. I'm so glad my death brought you to my brothers. At least it wasn't for nothing.”

“
I'm sorry I couldn't save you too.”

“
It's my own fault,” he shrugged like he was talking about losing money, not his life. “We should have known better than to go out when the Darkness was still lurking about.”

“
We thought it was only after the Froekn,” Chris frowned. “It never occurred to us that Andrasta might come after the Intare.”

“
What were you guys doing anyway?” Trevor asked in an exhausted tone. I glanced over at him and saw the strain in his face, little lines around his eyes. No wonder he'd snapped, he was being pushed to his limits.

“
We went to see a hockey game at Barclays Center,” David
stepped forward, brushing his blonde hair from his face. “We were on our way home, had just stepped into a garden to find some privacy to trace, when Andrasta appeared. I don't even understand how she found us.”

“
Barclays Center?” I frowned. I wasn't a sports fan.

“
Brooklyn,” Timothy offered.

“
Brooklyn?” I was even more confused. “I didn't think Brooklyn had any trees.”

“
You didn't what?” Trevor started to laugh.

“
Well it's Brooklyn,” I huffed. “That's like the rough part of New York, right? I didn't envision it as a tree friendly place.”

“
There's actually quite a lot of little grassy areas and there's trees on a lot of streets there,” Chris shrugged.

“
Yes, fantastic,” Anubis rolled his eyes. “We've established that there's trees in Brooklyn and that your lions are idiots. What have I gotten myself into?”

“
And he's back,” I laughed. “There's the snarky Anubis I remember. You know, you should try hanging out with Horus. I bet you guys would get along famously.”

“
Yeah, or they'd kill each other,” Trevor rolled his eyes.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

By the time we made it home I was ready for bed. Two fights in one day, even if I hadn't fought them both personally, was enough for me. I was glad to take my lions home completely healed and they were welcomed by the rest of the waiting Intare, who were overjoyed to hear that Ethan had made it safely to Duat. Anubis' contract had held and now they had the assurance that they were safe should anything happen to them. It's one thing to have the promise of a god, it's another to see that promise fulfilled. So there was a lot of relief making the rounds in Pride Palace that night.

Ethan's body had been laid in his bed. We'd bury him in the morning, with his brothers out in front of the palace. It was strange, knowing we'd be having a funeral but having very little sadness about it. Ethan was dead but he wasn't lost to us, so I had a feeling the burial would be respectful but brief. There was a feeling of loss for me, even though he was alive in a way, his connection to me had been broken and I mourned that. He was no longer mine. I mourned his life and his ability to live it but it was a surface pain, one that would fade quickly.

After everything was settled, I walked Odin back to the tracing wall and kissed him goodbye.

“You scared me tonight,” he whispered and pulled me into a hug.

“
I know,” I buried my face into the muscles of his wide chest and breathed in his clean scent. As much as Trevor's scent meant home to me, Odin's was a different home, a different life, which I couldn't help but miss every time I inhaled that invigorating smell. “I'm sorry, I just reacted again. I know I do that a lot but I have these animal instincts that drive me occasionally.”

“
I know but I can't go through your death again, Vervain,” he stepped back and looked over my face as if he were memorizing it. “I don't know if it's even possible to bring you back again.”

“
You'd have to claim my soul this time,” I grinned, “unless you want Anubis to end up with me.”

“
That's never going to happen,” he rolled his eyes. “I'd sooner let Azrael have you.”

“
Then it's not so bad,” I kissed him again for good measure. “You'd have me more than you do now.”

“
Dead is dead,” Odin frowned. “All your ties would be severed. Trevor would die, the Intare would go crazy, and Arach would lose the chance of continuing the dragon-sidhe race. Not to mention he'd never have you again because you can be damn sure that I'm not letting that faerie into Asgard. And you would never see the Faerie Realm again either. Would you be happy with that?”

“
No,” I sighed. “I need Faerie about as much as I need all of you. It's like I have two different lives now but they're both equally important to me.”

“
And I could never live with you being unhappy,” he said quietly.

“
Odin,” I laughed. “I'm not going to die, okay? Stop talking about it already. I don't want to think about this now. It's enough to know that my soul will live on, that it has a home with you. Unhappy or not, it's better than nothing.”

“
No it's not,” he said gravely, “but I'll let it go for now. I love you, Vervain. You know you
are
life for me.”

“
I love you too, my Sweet Raven.” I touched his face, studying him as he had me. “I never want to live without you either.”

I watched Odin trace away and then trudged back to the bedroom I shared with Kirill and Trevor. They were waiting for me, one on each side of the bed, and I smiled when I saw them. I stripped tiredly, throwing my clothes in the hamper before walking to the middle of the bed. You had to be careful when you had more than one man. I couldn't pick a side or it might hurt someone's feelings.

So I just climbed in bed between them and they laughed, knowing exactly what I was doing. Then they slid in beside me and we snuggled under the covers together in a warm pile. Thick arms around my waist, strong hands on my hips, and the smell of wolf and lion surrounding me. It was more Heaven than any woman deserved and if I hadn't been so damn tired, I would have shown them in no uncertain terms how much I loved them both.

But I was exhausted and my mind was a lot more peaceful than it had been for awhile, knowing that I could at least hold the Darkness at bay long enough to flee from it. So I slipped into sleep easily, not realizing till the very last moment of consciousness that Fenrir had never showed.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

When we got to Fenrir's Hall the next morning, it was to find full blown chaos.

“
What the hell is going on?” Trevor surveyed the mayhem with a shocked expression.

There were broken bits of things scattered everywhere, furniture overturned, and dents in the walls. Carpeting was scrunched up against the walls and curtains were torn to shreds. There was a sharp scent in the air, something that registered in my lizard brain as anger but in a very unnatural way. The sounds of fighting wolves echoed down the hallway to us and we began to run in its direction.

When we got to the main dining hall we stopped short. Fenrir was in half-form, towering over everyone as the most gigantic werewolf I'd ever seen. He must have been nine feet tall, thickly muscled, with wild gray hair standing out from his body to make him look even bigger. He had a Froekn pressed up against his chest, holding him tight despite his struggles.

The Froekn he was holding was also in werewolf form but he looked even more wild than Fenrir. He was growling and snapping, trying to bite Fenrir and anyone else who came close enough. His eyes had the look of insanity to them and he was frothing at the mouth, spittle flying in all directions as his legs flailed wildly.

As we watched, another werewolf broke free from where he was being held by yet more shifted Froekn, and started running right toward us. He was howling and then baring his teeth as he leaped over broken tables and sailed through the air on a direct course for Trevor. Trevor punched the wolf in the face and he went down in a heap at our feet.

“
No!” Emma came into the room behind us, holding a large leather bag. “Don't hit them in the head, they've already got encephalitis, you may send them straight into a coma!”

“
What the fuck is going on?” Trevor shouted back at her.

“
They've gone mad!” Fenrir answered instead. “Help us restrain them. There's rope near the door.”

Sure enough, there was a pile of thick rope thrown haphazardly near the door. Trevor grabbed lengths of it and handed it to me and Kirill, then ran off to help his father. I looked at Kirill and he shrugged, then gestured to a struggling group on our right. I made an
after you
gesture, and then hogtied the comatose wolf at our feet before I headed for another pile of wolves toward my left.

“
Rouva,” one of the Froekn from the pile called. “Can you tie his hands?” He motioned with his head toward where they'd wrangled a werewolf's paws behind him.

I nodded and wrapped the rope around the wolf's wrists several times before tying it off. The ones holding him down shifted position so they were on top of him, one practically sitting on his shoulders while three others held down his legs.

“Now his ankles,” another wolf said. “Better tie them up to his knees.”

I raised a brow but did as he suggested and wrapped the wolf all the way to his knees. As I was finishing, I heard a scream and then Fenrir's deafening howl. I looked over to see Emma beneath a wild wolf, several Froekn barely holding the crazed one back while Fenrir leaped his way over to them.

He yanked the wolf off Emma, one arm holding both of the werewolf's behind his back and the other encircling the wolf's neck so he couldn't bite anyone.

“
Get out of this room now, Emma!” He yelled at her. “Go
and lock yourself in my bedroom!”

“
I can help,” she shouted back and retrieved a syringe from the floor. “I have the PEP shots they need!”

“
You can give them the shots after we get them restrained,” Fenrir snarled at her as other Froekn moved forward to tie up the werewolf he held. “Get out, Emma, you're human! They'll kill you!”

I ran for them, knowing that stubborn look on Emma's face. I'd worn it often enough myself. She wasn't going to budge when she thought she could do some good right where she was but Fenrir was right, she couldn't give these wolves shots in the midst of this, she'd only get herself killed. So instead of wasting time arguing with her, I barreled into her belly, throwing the much taller woman over my shoulder and carrying us both out of the room with my momentum.

We ended up in a pile in the hallway and she pushed me roughly off her and tried to get to her feet. I beat her to it, pulled her up, and started dragging her down the hallway. She was screaming at me, pulling at my hand where it gripped her, but even though she was bigger than I, I was much stronger and her struggles were ridiculous.

I didn't even bother explaining things to her, I knew whatever I said would fall on deaf ears. She wanted to be beside her man and nothing I said would deter her. So I just found a room, threw her in, and locked the door behind her. I loved her man too and I knew she was too much of a distraction for him right now. Fenrir wouldn't be able to help the Froekn if he was worrying about Emma's safety.

I ran back to the dining hall and got right to work helping the next group restrain another werewolf. Fenrir caught my eye before I got there and nodded his thanks to me with a little smile. I nodded back and started tying rope around the werewolf's wrists.

An hour later we had a pile of tied up werewolves. We carried them each carefully to a bedroom and tied them to the beds in an effort to make them a little more comfortable. There were fourteen total and it had taken over eighty of us to restrain them all. By the time we were done, we were all panting with the effort and didn't even have the energy to set the Hall to rights.

I turned over a chair and sat down heavily, the others following suit till we were all in a loose circle in the center of the dining hall. We stared at each other with exhaustion and shock, no one speaking until I finally broke the silence.

“
Oh shit. Emma,” I looked at Fenrir. “You better go get her. She's in the third bedroom to the right,” I pointed out the door of the hall.

He sighed and got heavily to his feet like he was walking to the executioner. I laughed a little at his expression but then I quickly sobered and looked around at the destruction. What the hell was going on?

A few minutes later Fenrir came back in with a stomping Emma following him. She was prattling on about administering shots but he wasn't listening, he just came back to the chair he'd vacated and sat down in front of me.

“
Why does Emma think a bunch of shots will help them?” I asked Fenrir but it was Emma who answered.

“
It's rabies,” Emma gestured wildly. “Demeter had me brainstorming ways to hurt the Froekn and all I could come up with was rabies but I told her it wouldn't have a lasting affect on werewolves, they heal too rapidly. So she hired a biologist to work with it. I had no idea he actually developed something that was successful.”

“
Are you certain that's what this is?” Trevor asked.

“
It has all the symptoms of rabies,” Emma nodded.
“Headaches and fever progressing to acute pain and violence. I need to give them the PEP shots, it's the only way to treat rabies. I went and got some as soon as the wolves started exhibiting signs but I came back to this,” she waved her hands around the room. “I've never seen rabies progress so rapidly.”

“
How did they even get infected in the first place?” I looked over everyone but it was Ty who looked guilty and started talking.

“
I didn't want to worry Dad,” Ty ran a shaking hand through his dark hair. “I should have said something.”

“
This is not your fault, Son,” Fenrir patted Ty's shoulder.

“
What's not his fault?” I looked back and forth between them.

“
When we went to check on the guards we posted at Demeter's,” Ty started, “they weren't all dead when we got there. One was still alive but he had obviously killed the others. He was still tearing at their bodies and when he saw us, he attacked us. He bit Alan and Jack. We had to kill him, he was out of his mind, and I thought that Demeter must have done something to him but I didn't know what and I didn't know it was contagious. Then Alan and Jack started with the same behavior.”

“
The first two bit others before we could restrain them,” Fenrir continued for Ty. “Then it progressed to what you walked in on. We've got a full blown outbreak on our hands.”

“
Rabies spreads from bites, da?” Kirill asked.

“
Yes,” Emma answered. “It's not contagious otherwise, so as long as no one else gets bit, it'll be confined to those who are already sick. Fenrir, please, let's go give them the shots, this is progressing too fast and it's all my fault.”

“
No it's not,” I insisted, “this is Demeter's doing. You had no way of knowing what she was capable of.”

“
It'll be okay,” Fenrir stood and helped her to her feet. “Let's go give them the medicine.”

Several of the other wolves went along with the two of them but Ty, Trevor, Kirill, and I stayed behind with the rest.

“Whatever this is, it's mutated,” I said after I was sure Fenrir and Emma were out of earshot. “I doubt those shots are going to have a positive effect.”

“
So what do we do?” Ty looked like he was about to have a breakdown.

“
I don't know,” I sighed and looked down the hallway, where the sound of growls and howling were getting louder.