My Soul to Take (31 page)

“Morpheus?” I laid my hand gently on his shoulder and he turned satisfied eyes to me. The mist of the Dream Realm swirled and shifted inside those eyes; cerulean clouds that shimmered with vengeance.

“This was how he killed my brother, isn't it; he beheaded Phantasus from behind?” Morpheus sheathed his sword and stared down at the body. His boyish face was drawn into grim lines. Ironically, it made him darkly handsome.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“For me!” Eztli cried to Morpheus. “He killed Phantasus to save me. Your brother kidnapped me and tried to kill Blue.”

“Morvran also killed humans for you,” I nodded to the mass of possessed humans standing over their demon bodies. “Each of those bodies represent a human who he murdered to gain control over their soul. Morvran may have started out with good intentions but he ended up a villain.”

Eztli looked down at Morvran's head and sighed. She gently shut his eyes and nodded. Blue helped her up and eased her back through the crowd. He cast a somber look my way as they passed by. Perhaps Eztli wouldn't be a part of the God Squad after all. But I had the strangest hope that we'd still be friends.

“Well done,” Samedi pounded Morpheus' shoulder. “I wanted to do that myself but it sounds like you had a stronger claim.”

“You!” I pointed to Sam again. “We saw you stealing pot de tets. I was certain you were behind this.”

“I wasn't
stealing
them,” Sam huffed. “After Papa told me what was happening, I was worried for my serviteurs. I decided I'd better keep their pots safe until this was over. I was collecting them to protect them. I have them in the God Realm where no bokor can reach them.”

“That's a rather good idea,” one of the other lwas, I think his name was Ogoun, grimaced. “I wish I'd thought of that.”

“I can't believe you all thought I was capable of this,” Samedi snapped at the gathered lwas. “I may be naughty but I'm not evil. I would never take your people. If I wanted an army of the dead, I'd take them from the followers of
other
pantheons.”

“Isn't that reassuring?” Odin rolled his eyes.

“You have my deepest apologies,” Yemanja stepped forward first and then the other lwas followed suit and soon Sam was surrounded by a mass of apologetic gods.

“Yeah, yeah, you're all sorry. You're the sorriest motherfuckers I've ever seen,” I heard him mutter as I edged away. “Alright, you're forgiven. I told you, I'm not evil. But you fuckers better come to my next barbecue.”

I moved over to where Luke sat with the Horsemen and the demons. They were all floating back into their bodies and the humans who had been possessed were falling to the ground asleep. I looked at the mass of sleepers with concern.

“They'll be fine,” Cid, one of the higher ranking demons, said to me. “Being possessed is taxing on the body. They'll sleep it off and wake up a little hungover, that's all.”

“And very confused,” I looked around. “Why here? Why did Morvran pick Norway?”

“He's a Celt,” Odin huffed. “Celts have a sort of feud going on with the Norse.”

“Perhaps because your people used to attack his?” Azrael suggested.

“Perhaps,” Odin grimaced. “I guess he figured that if he was going to use people as canon fodder, it might as well be Norwegians.”

“Classy guy,” I glanced back at his body. “We'll need to take him with us.”

“Let the lwas handle it,” Trevor huffed. “They'll probably want to put his head on a pike anyway.”

“Yeah, that's some imagery I could have done without,” I sighed.

“At least it's over and no innocents were hurt,” Luke offered.

I burst into laughter.

“What did I say?” Luke looked to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse for an answer.

“I believe the Godhunter is amused by the irony of that statement coming from the lips of Lucifer Morningstar,” Ira, also known as Famine, noted dryly.

“Yep, you and your demons saved the day, Dad,” I grinned at him. “If only the Christians knew what a softy you are.”

“For my sake, I hope they never find out,” Luke gave me a horrified look.

“And for theirs,” I nodded. “Humans need their scapegoats.”

“Poor goats,” Luke shook his head sadly. “They're actually very cute animals. Have you ever seen a baby goat in pajamas?” And the Lord of Hell trailed off into a conversation about all the YouTube videos he'd seen featuring goats; screaming goats, pygmy goats, angry goats, goats playing with balls, goats jumping on trampolines... it went on and on.

Cid looked at Azrael and mouthed the words, “Kill me now.”

The bokors released the souls they had stolen and then paid for their evil deeds. I don't know how the lwas made them pay but I can't imagine it was pleasant. All I know is that the pots were returned to their proper oumphors, under the care of mambos and houngans who would look after them, and the souls were escorted back to Ginen by Papa Legba, a lwa who was a type of gate guardian (though that's an oversimplification of his duties).

The demons looked after the sleeping Norwegians until they woke, just like the guardian angels they once were. Though that's not really an accurate statement since I've seen more kindness towards humanity from demons than I have from angels. After the humans woke, Hell's henchmen went home for a well deserved party hosted by the Devil himself. It was quite an affair, as evidenced by the fact that I woke up the next morning in Azrael's old bed, covered only by angel wings and having no knowledge of how I'd got there. If you know anything about god metabolisms, you know just how powerful Satan's wine was and just how much of it I'd had to consume to get that result.

But I'd been on a mission. I wanted to forget how I'd almost lost a fight. I don't know why it bothered me so much, it wasn't like I haven't been bested before. I've been kidnapped and tortured more times than I care to admit. I guess it was my concern over my shattered star combined with the humiliation of having my ass handed to me like a plate of hors d'oeuvres.

Odin had tried to comfort me, explaining to me that Morvran was a god of war, thought to be a demon by his enemies. The simple fact that he was in the midst of battle helped him to be stronger. But I pointed out that the sub-magics associated with my Love magic were War and Victory. I should have had just as much advantage as Morvran. So I suppose our magics would have canceled each other out.

The one thing that finally made me feel better was when the lwas had showed up to join the celebration and Yemanja reported what she'd learned from the bokors. They'd been crafting spells for Morvran, weaving protections around him so thick that even my love magic couldn't get through. Which explained my first failure with Love. It had nothing to do with the power of his own love, which was evidently for Eztli.

I'd asked Yemanja why the bokors would cast spells for a god they believed to be a lwa. Wouldn't they have been suspicious that a lwa needed their help? But she said Vodou was an exchange of services and so the bokors didn't think anything of it, it was just another offering to their lwa. They'd been horribly played. I almost felt sorry for them. Except for the whole enslaving souls thing.

The Vodou community went back to normal after that and although my star situation was still unsettled, my life went back to its normal routine as well. We even had a visit from Clotho, who let me know that my threads, though still separated, had lost the hint of wrongness. Morvran was the god the Horsemen had been fated to kill. His death had put everything to rights.

So by the time Horus and Hekate's engagement party rolled around, I was more than ready to celebrate with them. My threads were as right as they could be for the moment and no god drama had come to my attention. I could go to Pan's Neverland and enjoy myself without any worry. Well, without too much worry.

“So what's the chant to get into Pan's territory?” I asked my husbands. “Please tell me it's;
think happy thoughts
.”

“Hardly,” Odin chuckled. “Though it might as well be. It's; Á
se me na bo.”

“Assy what?” I blinked at him.

“It's Greek,” Trevor took my hand. “It means; let me in.”

“Creative,” I rolled my eyes.

All of my husbands (well, the god husbands) looked fantastic in their casual suits but Trevor looked like restrained ferocity and it gave him incredible bad boy appeal. Kirill looked exactly like what he used to be; a foreign prince. His long hair was loose and brushed to an ebony sheen, matching Azrael's wings perfectly. Az had his glossy black hair slicked back from his regal forehead and looked every inch the angel.

Then there was Odin. His closely trimmed beard and his whiskey colored hair, highlighted with blonde, made him stand out among my dark-haired men and his shifting peacock-colored eyes attracted just as much attention as Azrael's diamond ones. Of course, no one could outshine Re, especially in his Armani suit, with the collar left open to show off a hint of golden chest. They were quite a group to make an entrance with.

I smoothed out my deep blue silk dress with my free hand before taking Odin's. I was always nervous when we went out together. I tended to feel like a wallflower, fading into the background amid such splendor. I had to psych myself up and remind myself that it didn't matter what other people thought, their opinions only affected me if I allowed them to. Plus, they'd be right; my men were far better looking than I. Maybe I should just feel proud about it instead of self-conscious. Unfortunately, there was no reasoning with the female psyche.

“You ready?” Azrael looked back at me and I nodded.

He stepped into the Aether ahead of us. Trevor, Odin, and I went next and then Kirill and Re brought up the rear. We emerged under an arbor of grapes and standing on a brick road. The road wound through a field of flowers up to a giant pirate ship. The ship had a flat bottom and sat securely on a hill. Towers jutted up from its deck in feats of impossible architecture, snubbing their noses at both the sky and gravity. Between the towers, rope nets were strung and off of one of them, a giant hot air balloon was tethered. At the bottom-center-front of the ship, a large door was hanging open and steps led down from it to the road.

But that wasn't even the most amazing part of the scenery. Around us, just past the field of flowers to either side of the road, was a sporadic forest; groups of trees sprouting in random patterns here and there. Amid the trees were carnival rides of strange designs, everything either too big or too small, like the miniature carousel and the super sized bumper cars. There was an enormous inflatable ball set on a platform and braced with stilts. Inside it was a plastic scene of a little town, giving the ball the appearance of a gigantic snow globe. Except instead of snow falling, there were children; bouncing off the squishy buildings with delight. It was a bouncy house. Or more accurately; a bouncy ball
with
houses inside it.

Then there were toys of unusual sizes, including a rocking horse large enough to seat twenty children, and a rather terrifying Jack-in-the-box as tall as a two-story building. It loomed above the children, waving about on its enormous spring, but they loved it, several were hanging from its hands and laughing. Amid all of this was a crystalline lake. At the center of the lake was an island and in the center of the island was a sand castle. But this sand castle was the size of an actual castle and was sturdy enough to live in. I knew it was inhabitable because I saw a mermaid swim to shore, shift her tail into legs, and then stroll into the castle as casual as can be.

A train wound through the woods and headed toward the pirate ship... pirate ship house... on the hill. It was painted in bright colors and had huge stuffed animals hanging out of the windows. In fact, one of them was driving the thing. It tooted the steam whistle and disappeared behind the ship.

And everywhere, there were children. Children of all ages, both girls and boys, jumping, shouting, laughing, playing all over the damn place. They launched themselves off the ramparts of the sand castle and jumped into the lake. They swam in the water and staged mock sword battles on the shore. They filled the carnival rides and screamed with glee. They even pulled a
Mary Poppins
with the carousel and rode the horses right off the platform. It was an overload of sounds and sights from the bizarre to the ridiculous.

An orange stuffed tiger bounced over our heads.

“I'm sorry,” I pointed after the tiger. “Was that Tigger?”

“Woo hoo hoo hoo!” Tigger laughed as he bounded away.

“Yes, I believe that was he,” Odin said dryly.

“Um,” I looked down at the bricks we stood on. They were bright yellow. “Is this the yellow brick road?”

“Yep,” Trevor grinned. “We-e-e-e'-re off to-”

“No, you will not,” Odin cut him off.

“We got a lion,” Trevor chuckled. “And the tiger just went by. All we need is a bear, Odin, and you can shift into anything. Help us out here.”

“No,” Odin grimaced as a little boy flew by, holding the rope of a very large kite. He was giggling hysterically.

“This is amazing,” Re elbowed Odin. “You have to admit you've never seen anything like this. Pan is a psychotic genius.”

“Yes, I freely admit that,” Odin shook his head. “Though I'm surprised that Horus would want his engagement party here.”

“You're here for the engagement party?” A rabbit in a waistcoat hopped up to us. He pulled out a pocket watch and I nearly fainted from happiness. “You're just on time, well done!”

“It's... it's...” I pointed to the rabbit with a huge grin.

“I am Mr. White,” the rabbit bowed. “If you would just follow the yellow brick road-”

I squealed in delight.

“Eh hem,” Mr. White cleared his throat and I tried to contain my excitement. “As I was saying, if you would but follow this yellow road here, it will lead you to the Master's ship and there you will be met by a steward. He will show you where the grown-up party is.”

“Zank you, Mr. Vhite,” Kirill nodded and the rabbit nodded regally back before hopping off. “Shall ve?”

“Oh yes,” I couldn't stop smiling. “I hope it's the Red Queen.”

“Who?” Trevor cast me a sideways look as we wandered up the yellow brick road.

“The steward,” I rolled my eyes. “Look at this place, it's like every story book rolled into one.”

“He must have collected imagery which he thought the children would enjoy,” Azrael smiled sweetly. “Our friend Pan has depths to him which I'd never imagined.”

“He's a good guy, isn't he?” I nodded to Az.

“Much more than the front he shows people,” Odin agreed. “I do admit that I'm touched by his kindness to these lost souls.”

“I'm going to turn Pride Palace into the the Mad Hatter's house,” I declared.

“Nyet, Tima,” Kirill begged as the others just shook their heads.

“We could have unbirthday parties everyday,” I whined. “With tea!”

“No,” Odin glared at me.

“No way,” I gaped at the steward who was waiting for us in the doorway of the pirate ship/house.

“Thank you,” Odin sighed.

“No,” I huffed. “I mean;
no way, look who it is
,” I pointed.

“Hello,” the wooden puppet bowed to us, removing his jaunty yellow hat to sweep before him. “Welcome to Neverland, friends of Pan! I am-”

“Pinocchio!” I shouted and clapped.

“You've heard of me?” The wooden boy beamed. “I'm so flattered.”

“You're famous,” I nodded.

“Thank you for thinking so,” he bowed again and fell over his wooden shoes. One of them fell off and rolled away. “Son of a bitch! God damn fucking pieces of wood. Even the Dutch don't wear these stupid things anymore,” he muttered as he scooped up the shoe and pulled it back on. “I want to get new shoes but Pan won't let me. He says I have to maintain a certain image.”

I just gaped at the profane puppet.

“If you would follow me?” He immediately went prim and proper when he saw our expressions.

He turned and clip-clopped his way to an elevator in the shape of a rocket. He pulled open the metal door and ushered us inside. We pressed in together, wide god shoulders hunching in around me. With a smile, Pinocchio slid into a little space near the front and pulled the door closed. He pressed a large red button and a worrying whirring noise started beneath our feet.

“Hold on,” Pinocchio grinned wickedly and waved towards to metal rails set into the inside of the hollow rocket. He slipped his arms around one placed at his height.

I grabbed a hold of a bar just as we were launched upwards at a ridiculous speed. I may have screamed just a little. I needn't have bothered holding on though, the men closest to me; Kirill, Azrael, and Odin, all reached one hand out to me and one to the rocket. I wasn't going anywhere. Well, except for up that is. The contraption came to a jerking stop and Pinocchio let go of his handhold so he could push open the rocket door.

A plain wood landing was revealed, set before a circular stone building. We all stepped out, some of us (me) on shaky legs, and stumbled over to a railing. I flinched when I saw that we were at the top of one of the precarious towers, hundreds of feet above the deck of the pirate ship. Children climbed across the rope nets far below us, laughing and waving up to us. I waved back weakly.

“Right in here,” Pinocchio opened a door set into the side of the tower. The sound of music and adult laughter filtered out. “May I have your names so I may announce you?”

“Um,” I blinked at the men and they shrugged. “I'm Vervain, this is Odin, Trevor, Kirill, Azrael, and Re.”

“I need more than that,” the puppet huffed. “Come on, you're gods, right? Seriously, WTF? It's not like you haven't done this before. Stop messing with me and give me your full titles.”