Harvest of the Gods (4 page)

“It's done,” Torrent turned to me triumphantly but lost his grin when he saw my face. “Are you alright?”

“
Yes,” I took a deep breath. “Thank you, that's amazing that you did it so fast.”

“
Vervain?”

“
The memory,” I shrugged.

“
It's hard to see someone as a person, with thoughts and emotions, when you need to kill them,” he said gently. “But it's good that you feel that way. Iktomi did once, before he turned...”

“
Evil?”

“
Yeah, evil,” he huffed a sort of laugh. “Just as Demeter has changed. She's not that woman anymore and she's hurt a lot of people.”

“
You're right,” I shook myself out of it. “Of course, you're right.”

“
Yes, of course,” he grinned teasingly. “Now do we go in after her or go back and get the others? We can see exactly where she exited now.”

“
We just go in for a peak, so I know where to trace back to,” I smiled. “Unless you have some other trick for tracing too.”

“
Oh, no,” he laughed, “as far as tracing goes, I'm as limited as you are.”

“
Okay then, let's go in but be prepared for anything. Knowing Demeter, she's probably got as many booby traps as a
Tomb Raider
movie.”

Chapter Five

“
Is that what I think that is?” I stared across the rolling green hills at the monolith shining at the zenith like a sculpture on a pedestal.

“
It looks like the Parthenon,” Torrent stared along with me, in rapt fascination. “She really takes her heritage seriously, huh?”

“
She takes everything seriously,” I grimaced.

“
Should we take a closer look? Do some reconnaissance?”

“
I don't know, there's not a lot of cover here,” I looked around us. “Booby traps could be anywhere.”

“
Don't there have to be buildings for booby traps?” Torrent frowned at the scenery. “Preferably ancient buildings with sandy floors and torches on the walls?”

“
Not when you're a goddess.” I peered at the manicured lawn skeptically and then at the floor beneath our feet.

We stood in a smaller version of the building up on the hill. White pillars defined the open space, set firmly between a white marble floor and an angled roof made of the same marble. The front of the roof had a triangular panel set into it, carved with scenes of people harvesting corn. I frowned when I saw that, those carvings were the only crops to be seen. You'd think the Harvest Goddess would have something to harvest in her territory.

“It's definitely easy to defend,” Torrent brought me out of my musings. “Are those cliffs?”

“
Yeah, I can hear the ocean,” I squinted toward the edge. “There must be a drop down to the water over there.”

It was good to know, maybe we could use that. We did have a god of the sea on our side after all. So I took the time to take a good look around. Near the Parthenon reproduction was a smaller building with a few trees around it, but there weren't any more buildings(besides the one we were in) to be seen. There were very few trees as well, just a few scattered randomly about the open grassy hills. The only other decorations were carved stone statues that dotted the landscape like sentinels.

Behind the tracing building we were in was more of the same, just open land as far as I could see. There must be some kind of border to her territory, so I was thinking it was probably the ocean. She lived on an island, like Greece itself. Made sense but I was expecting a little more from Demeter. Open space was great and all but what do you do with it? Something didn't feel right to me. There was something I was missing.

I stepped warily from the building, watching the temple on the hill for any signs of movement, and then made a split decision to chance a closer look. I started taking off my clothes.

“What are you doing?” Torrent looked panicked, his perfect skin stretching tight, as his eyebrows lifted closer to his pale hairline.

“
I'm going to shift into my lioness form and have a quick look,” I laughed. “Just turn around a sec, please.”

“
Oh, okay,” he gave a relieved sigh. “Warn me first next time.”

“
Haven't you seen a naked woman before?” I teased. When he didn't answer, I looked up to see the blush steal over the side of his face. “Holy shit,” I stood, my pants in my hands. “I'm so sorry, I didn't think about how you've been living. Don't be embarrassed.”

“
There was never a chance for me to meet anyone,” he stared resolutely away from me, the perfect gentleman.

“
Of course not,” I felt like such an asshole. “I wasn't thinking. Hey,” I divested myself of the rest of my garments quickly, putting them in a pile by my feet. “Life is going to be different now and let me tell you, you're living with the right bunch of guys to help you out with women. My lions are lady magnets. They'll show you the ropes,”

“
Please don't tell them,” he looked over at me with a horrified expression that became even more so when he realized I
was nude. He quickly looked away again.

“
I won't,” I said gently. “I promise. We'll just ask them to take you out sometime. Then you can watch them and take mental notes. Okay, enough of this, we'll talk about it later if you want. Or not,” I saw him blush again. “We can pretend we never talked about it at all, if you'd prefer.”

“
That would be great,” he let out a relieved laugh. “I feel like I'm finally learning how to live, Vervain. It's exciting but kind of scary and now, a little embarrassing.”

“
Like I said, nothing to be embarrassed about,” I changed into a lioness before I got distracted again, and walked up next to him.

He smiled down at me, probably relieved that I was finally covered, and gave me a quick stroke over my head. I knew it was hard to resist petting me when I was in lioness form. Something about having a wild animal standing beside you who you knew wasn't really wild, made you want to reach out and touch them. But I didn't have time to be pet, I had work to do.

I ran off toward the temple on quiet kitty paws at a breakneck speed. Nothing appeared out of thin air to stop me, no one screamed, no bells clanged in warning. Nothing. It was kind of eerie. Even my lion senses couldn't pick anything up beyond the obvious; the scent of the sea, the earth, and the bruised grass beneath my paws. I heard a distant crashing of waves but beyond that, nothing.

As I crested the last hill, the Parthenon, or rather Demeter's temple, came into view. From up close I could see that although the pillars defined an open space, there was an enclosed area inside. Marble walls stretched to the ceiling, creating a square room at the very center of the temple. Scenes of harvest, like the ones carved into the tracing building, were carved all over it in great detail. It was stunning.

Set into one of the walls and outlined with carved sheaths
of wheat, was a golden door, very tall and pretty wide. The inner enclosure itself wasn't very big, especially considering the size of the building around it, making the door look out of proportion. That inner room had to be only about fifteen feet square. There was no way Demeter lived in that small space.

I changed back to my human form and tried to open the door but it didn't budge and I didn't want to force it open just in case, by some miracle, she didn't know I was there. So I just placed my ear against the crack and listened. Nothing again, no sound at all. She wasn't in there. No way.

So where was she? I looked around, able to see the whole expanse of her territory from up there on the apex. It was definitely an island. I could see the edge of the land where it dropped away down to the ocean, and beyond it was only open water as far as the eye could see. The building to the side of the main temple was a pool, the pillars around it more for definition of the space than cover. Besides that, all I could see were those randomly placed statues. Why would anyone just put statues out in the middle of open grassland like that? It was weird. I frowned and tapped my foot. Where does she live? That goddess was not a minimalist, she had to have an extravagant lair somewhere.

And then I looked down at my tapping foot, slowly stopping the movement as a thought occurred to me. It had to be. I bet the room had a set of stairs or something that took you down beneath all this open land. Demeter was a goddess of the land after all, she'd enjoy being surrounded by it. Though after Persephone buried her alive, it might not be so comfortable any more.

Still, I gave the ostentatious door one more look before changing back to a lioness. I knew Demeter was living beneath the ground. It made total sense. I bet she thought it was brilliant. She could defend her territory easily, without worrying about any damage to her actual living space, and if she had to, she could retreat below ground.

Demeter didn't think like a human though. I chuckled a
little to myself as I sped back toward Torrent. I remember watching a special about underground cities once, the archaeologist narrating had one thing to say about the defense of such a thing.
An underground city is nothing but a tomb.
All an enemy really had to do to kill you was find your air source and cover it. Then it would only be a matter of time. The only thing you could protect yourself against below ground, was the weather.

Demeter's power was manipulating the seasons, the weather. She'd built her defenses out of ego, thinking only of how she would attack an enemy. She hadn't considered other means of combat. Dirty means. Several methods immediately came to mind. Even though smothering wouldn't work permanently on her, it would knock her out long enough for us to kill her. How convenient for her to hole up in an actual hole.

I shifted course and ran over to inspect one of the statues, some instinct telling me it wasn't what it appeared to be. Sure enough, when I got close enough to look it over, I heard the wheeze of air drifting through an opening. I shifted to human once more and examined the statue from head to foot. Finally I found them, small holes cut out of the eyes, ears, and nose of the figure. I gave a laugh and rapped on it lightly. A hollow thud echoed back to me.

“
Well, I'll be,” I shook my head. “I was right.”

I changed back to lioness and ran to the tracing building, glancing over at the scattered statuary as I went. They were probably all hollow. Air shafts, cleverly disguised as decorations. The underground area must be massive, as huge as the island itself, if the statues were any indication.

Despite myself, I was impressed, but she should have hid them better. If she'd created gardens around the statues, they wouldn't have looked so out of place. A nice home instead of the Parthenon replica would have been a clever disguise as well. I would have searched it, found nothing, and simply thought she'd
left. I never would have thought to look for more below ground. Instead, she'd let ego take over and had given herself away.

“
Did you find anything?” Torrent asked after I'd finally returned and re-clothed myself.

“
In a way. I found nothing, which told me everything,” I laughed at his confused expression.

Chapter Six

“You did it?” Trevor looked stunned. “Really? We can finally go kill the monster?”

“
Yep,” I winked at Torrent. “All thanks to Torrent here.”

“
Thank you,” Trevor shook his hand.

“
Yes, the Froekn are in your debt,” Fenrir agreed, “but we can talk about it later. I don't want to miss the opportunity to catch Demeter.”

“
Right,” I nodded, looking down at my glove-less hands. I didn't really have a use for my old weapon anymore, now that I could create my own claws... two types actually, but I was still getting used to being without them. “Torrent, you've done more than enough, you don't have to come with us.”

“
You're joking, right?” He looked around at the serious faces, a lot more than had been there when we'd left to track Demeter. Fenrir had called in back-up and it looked like Fallon, who'd come with Samantha, had fetched some of the Intare as well. “I'm not missing this.”

“
You're a good man,” Fenrir clapped a hand on Torrent's shoulder and gestured to me. “Okay, you and Torrent can each take two of us over and then once we know the location, we'll send a couple back to bring more.”

“
Alright,” I nodded, thinking about how telling it was that Fenrir had called Torrent a boy when we first tracked Demeter but now that he was going with us to actually kill her, he was a man. “Let's go.”

I grabbed Fenrir and Trevor, leaving Torrent to take his pick from the remaining Froekn, and traced us over to Demeter's
territory. We arrived in the tracing building and Fenrir immediately went back, leaving Trevor with me. Torrent traced in and both of his passengers traced back as well, so that it was just the three of us staring out across Demeter's immaculate lawn.

“
You'd think she'd have some crops,” Trevor mused as we waited.

“
I know, right?” I shook my head. “What a waste of space. In Hawaii the only land this wide open are graveyards and golf courses.”

“
Graveyards and golf courses,” Trevor laughed. “It sounds like a joke. What do graveyards and golf courses have in common?”

“
They're both focused on putting something in the ground?” Torrent offered.

“
Hole in one,” Trevor laughed some more.

“
Well,” I felt my face settle into grim lines, “let's hope this turns out to be a graveyard with only one corpse: Demeter.”

It didn't take long for the rest of the Froekn and my lions to arrive, as each batch was able to bring back twice its number. I explained to them what I believed was waiting for us below ground and gave them two options. We could cover the air shafts and hope we get them all, then wait for her to surface or pass out. Or we could just go in swinging. Guess which option my fighting men choose.

So I found myself running across Demeter's land once more, my eyes shifting left and right, just to be sure I hadn't missed anything. We got to the temple quickly and Fenrir took only moments to get past the golden door, partially kicking it in and then tearing it off its hinges. We piled into the small space after him.

“
Shit,” I stared at the delicate gold cage that hung above a hole in the floor. It was good to be right about the underground bit but that tiny elevator would hold two of us at the most... or one Fenrir.

“
Very clever,” Fallon opened the door and eyed the interior of the elevator before inspecting the mechanism attached to the top of it. “We'll have to fight her one by one while we wait for everyone to descend.”

“
If she hasn't shut it off completely,” Trevor narrowed his gaze on the cage. “Why is it up here waiting for us?”

“
Either she knows I entered her territory and has fled,” I
frowned. “Or she knows we're coming for her and it's an invitation. Either way, it's bad news down there.”

“
So we just walk away?” Fenrir shot me an astonished look.

“
I didn't say that,” I glanced at him. “I just think we need to plan out how we're going to do this.”

“
Okay,” Trevor nodded. “So we assume we're walking into a trap. Should we send our best warriors in first or keep them in reserve and just keep her distracted until we can pool our efforts?”

“
Fuck this,” Fenrir was already in the elevator. He closed the door and hit the button. “I go first.”

“
Dad!” Trevor made a grab for the cage but Fenrir was already descending with an evil grin on his face. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Trevor stomped around and then paced while he stared over the side of the hole.

We heard the elevator stop but it didn't start up again. The sounds of fighting were the only thing coming up the shaft. I looked around frantically as Trevor started to swear more, and finally found the controls to bring the cage up again. I hit the button and the sound of gears shifting came from a mechanism in the corner. It was coming back up but I didn't know if we'd be in time to save Fenrir.

Normally I wouldn't worry for Fenrir, he's amazingly strong and has survived countless years of pursuit from gods who wanted him dead. He could take Demeter on, no problem. But we were in Demeter's territory and both of them were angry enough to make killing a fellow god possible. The odds were at least even, if not leaning in Demeter's favor.

Finally, after an excruciatingly long time, the cage was back up. Trevor immediately entered but when I made to follow him, UnnúlfR stopped me with a hand on my arm and a shake of his head. I was about to protest, when he spoke.
“It's my father down there.”

I nodded and stepped back. I knew all about the ties of blood. It would be cruel to prevent a son from going to defend his father but that didn't make it any easier for me to let my lover go down there without me.

The elevator lowered once more, Trevor holding my gaze for as long as he could, before he was beyond my view. I didn't walk to the edge and peer over, all you could see was a shaft barely bigger than the cage, going down through raw earth. Instead, I waited, listening carefully for the sound of the machine stopping. As soon as it did, I hit the button to bring the cage back up. I was going next, no matter what.

I jumped in and Ty, Trevor's other brother, went in with me. He gave me a grim look and flexed his shoulders as we went down into the ground. He'd taken off his shirt and jeans, leaving only his boxers on in preparation for his shift. We wouldn't have fit if he'd shifted first, another limitation of Demeter's devious elevator. He'd have to hope for an opportunity to shift when we got there.

Growls and screeches greeted us as we descended but the volume of the sound was nothing compared to what I'd been expecting. Someone was down already, I knew it. I reached for War and Victory, the clang of swords and the shine of gold filling my head as the magic gave me added strength and upped the chances of us winning. Unfortunately when you fought gods, even victory magic didn't guarantee you'd win, but it did help.

I shifted my hands into dragon claws just as the elevator touched ground, so Ty had to open the door for me. The sight in front of us made my stomach drop and had the both of us running in opposite directions.

Ty ran to Fenrir, where the Wolf God was unconscious and buried beneath a lot of rocks, and I ran over to Trevor, where he stood over the prone body of UnnúlfR.
Demeter was resplendent in her golden Atlantean armor in front of him. Obviously prepared for us, she was holding Trevor at bay by radiating heat onto him. Trevor was drenched in sweat and shaking, the small room we were in was quickly becoming an oven.

I leaped for her, taking her to the ground and breaking her concentration. She smashed her gauntleted fist into my face, breaking my nose with a crunch that echoed through my head and releasing a tide of blood down my chin, but I held tight. She pulled back, trying to keep her face out of the way, and I laughed.

“Afraid of a little blood?”

“
Not at all,” she spat. “Just don't want to catch anything. Everyone knows what a little slut you are.”

“
Why is it always
that
insult?” I shook my head, splattering blood all over her like a dog shaking off water, as I leapt to my feet and kicked her while she was down. Yeah, I kick villains when they're down. I never said I was an angel, only that I slept with one. “Can't you guys come up with something better than I'm a whore? It's boring really.” I tried to crush her head with my boot but she rolled out of the way at the last second.

“
Don't worry,” she laughed as she jumped up, “you won't be bored for long, dead people don't feel boredom.”

“
Oh, now see,” I nodded with approval. “That's much better but I've met several dead people and I have a feeling you're wrong. Balder definitely seemed bored right before Hel turned him into a tree.”

“
Balder was turned into a tree?” She stopped and stared at me.

Demeter had aligned herself briefly with Odin's son, Balder in an effort to defeat me but it hadn't worked out. Loki had killed Balder and now Balder was in Hel's territory, one L not two. Technically he was in Niflheim, one of the two Norse territories which provided afterlives for those of the Viking persuasion, but whatever.

“Yep,” I punched her in the gut, right where her breastplate ended, and tore my claws up into her ribcage, behind her armor. “I don't recommend pissing off Hel.”

Trevor had recovered from his heat stroke and was at my back, waiting for an opening as I pushed Demeter further and further down the hallway that was connected to the elevator room. He would have jumped in when I pulled back but Demeter used the chance to turn and make a run for it, dripping a trail of blood over the white marble floor as she went.

“Damn it,” I swore as I heard the elevator touch down once more behind me.

I hadn't heard anything from Ty, so I had no idea if Fenrir and UnnúlfR were okay but I didn't have the time to go check. Fenrir would want me to pursue Demeter no matter what was going on with him, so I did. Trevor ran beside me in his werewolf form, having finally gotten a chance to shift when I was keeping Demeter busy. I considered shifting into a lioness and my magic tingled inside me at the thought, but I didn't know what to expect in Demeter's underground lair and I decided it was safer to remain human for the time being.

Suddenly the hall opened up and we stopped short to stare. It was surprisingly bright underground. Light filled the whole of the massive chamber as if it had its own sun. It illuminated the numerous gardens, villas, and pools that spread across the ground without any trace of its source. The ceiling was covered in plant life, none of it glowing, although it was very pretty. So where the hell was the light coming from?

There were several buildings spread across the expanse but mainly the underground chamber was filled with plant life, intricate gardens filled to overflowing. All the buildings were ancient Greek, done in white marble and adorned with statuary, but the gardens were an assortment of every type you could think of. From Japanese tea gardens, with carefully pruned pines and curving bridges over ponds filled with koi, to jungle-like areas kept
restrained only by large marble walls.

There was a wild English garden to my right with a trellis covered in roses, and lavender growing out of its bed in disarray. Next to it were manicured hedges outlining a more Victorian themed lawn with restrained flowers set in defined squares. Next to that was a desert landscape full of cacti, and then Moroccan gardens with a tiled fountain in the center of it. It went on an on, gardens of all varieties, leading towards a Greek palace in the center of it all.

The white marble monstrosity sat like a Queen among her courtesans, all paths leading to her. It had a long veranda with tall columns supporting an angled roof inset with a fresco of Demeter. Set back in from the veranda, the palace split into two levels, the upper edged with a balcony and the lower set with a golden door in the center of it. The veranda widened outwards into a half-circle with steps leading down from it, and at the base at both sides of those steps, were two immense statues, one of Demeter and one of Persephone.

Demeter raced along the white path before us, heading straight for the palace. She was completely healed since she was a harvest goddess and they tended to have a quicker recuperation time than the rest of us. The recuperation must have applied to hair as well because her golden locks flowed out behind her, as long as they were before I'd chopped them off. She glanced over her shoulder at us and her face paled. Then she put on an extra burst of speed.

I looked behind me and wasn't surprised to see Azrael there, his wings were down but even though, I could just barely see Fenrir and UnnúlfR behind him, both were a tad dirty but otherwise unharmed. I smiled in relief but wasted no time in pleasantries. I got myself in gear and ran after Demeter. The men raced behind me, more Froekn and Intare coming in behind them, until we were all running in a mad dash through the most magnificent collection of plant life I'd ever seen.

My nose was filled with the heady mix of a myriad of blooms and ripe fruit overlaid by fecund earth and the clean scent of green growing things. Branches hung out beyond the boundaries of several types of walls, into the walkway as if they were trying to impede our progress, but I kept running, brushing them out of my way without a thought. Then they actually were trying to stop us.