The Tainted Web (The Godhunter, Book 7) (15 page)

I looked away and focused on the end of the tunnel.

“I told you not to stare,” Meilyr admonished as he pulled me along.

Soon we exited and our little tunnel expanded out until I couldn't see its borders anymore. I breathed a sigh of relief to be through the Aether. I'd known it was pure consciousness but I hadn't considered what that meant exactly. I hadn't thought that every magical deed projected there, every result or possession desired, would be left there forever. I hadn't realized that memories were copied from the minds that passed through and gathered like precious jewels to be added to the collection of thoughts and deeds that were already there.

“Next time,” I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, “I'm not looking at all.”

“
Well you can look here,” Meilyr waved a hand to indicate our new surroundings. We were standing in front of some kind of building on a street deserted of people but filled with cords of color glowing brightly. They streaked through the air around us, several of them disappearing into the building while most spread out in all directions. There was a green one right in front of me. I focused on it and saw that there were images and numbers displayed in it, flowing down through it.

“
Each color gives a clue as to the contents,” Meilyr waved a hand at the thread. “Green is usually something to do with possessions or profit. This one appears to be the transactions of an individual's bank account.”

“
It looks endless,” I looked over at the thousands of other cords. “How do you find anything?”

“
You can search through the threads,” he waved his hand out toward the colors, “or find an access point, usually it's a server, where all the threads converge, and search there. We can travel with them too. If you find one heading to a location you wish to go, you just grab onto it, wrapping both arms and legs around the line, and it will pull you along.”

“
Wow,” I felt my brows rise. “How about finding that energy you thought was out of place here?”

More imps popped out of the Aether, looking a little like a tribe of red wookiees with their improved size. They reached out towards the streams casually, trailing fingers in them like they were bodies of water.

“We test the threads,” Meilyr gestured toward the imps, “try to feel him out.”

Then I saw it, amidst the bright colors lurked marks of sickly green and putrid yellow. I wandered closer and saw the patches spread, poisoning the ribbons they'd infiltrated until the whole line took on the noxious appearance.

“Nicely done,” Meilyr was beside me. “We think the spider does this.”

“
Spider?” I turned to him in surprise.

“
Yes, the presence always takes the shape of a spider when he's here.”

“
A spider in the web,” I huffed. “How poetic.”

“
Yes, the web,” Meilyr nodded. “He infects the threads with some kind of venom, viruses most likely, but it's not all from him directly. We've never bothered before,” he looked over his shoulder at the other imps and they just shrugged. “But we could follow one of these back to the source and see where the taint begins.”

“
Yes,” I looked down the length of the poisoned thread. “I think we'd better ride the tainted web.”

Chapter Twenty

We jumped onto the thread and as soon as my legs wrapped around it, dangling me like a suckling pig over a roasting fire, I shot forward. The thread felt slick beneath my hands and vibrated like speakers playing rock music. I held on tight, watching the scenery around me change rapidly. Then I leaned out and took a look forward to see that we were heading straight toward a cement wall.

It was a split second before we hit, I barely had time to tense for the splat, but we never made impact. We sailed right through that and every other obstacle that presented itself. The Inter Realm was energy and no matter how solid I still felt, I was not solid. I was simply information being swept along the net.

“
Look,” Meilyr shouted from behind me and I twisted my head around to see what held his attention.

Ahead of us and to the left was a huge black spider. Its body was the size of mine and covered in bristling hair, its eyes flashed red, and its legs shone like glass as they tapped their way along the threads without being carried off by them. It stopped, one leg waving in the air before it hesitantly. Then it rushed off on a course that would take it directly into our path.

“He's trying to intercept us,” I called back.

“
He's fast too,” one of the imps behind Meilyr observed and we all looked forward to see that he was already to our thread, his large mandibles opening around it.

“
Jump,” I yelled as I let go of the thread and landed with a surprisingly soft thump on the ground.

The imps fell around me just as the thread was severed. It didn't fall though, it seemed to pause its flow of information before blinking rapidly and then simply disappearing with a loud buzzing noise, like a hundred moths hitting a bug zapper.

I got to my feet just in time to see the spider turn in our direction. His eyes fixed on us as he leaped onto a group of threads and tightrope walked his way toward us.

“
We need to get out of here,” I looked at the imps, “unless you guys think we can take him on his own turf?”

“
No way,” Meilyr shook his head as he stared wide-eyed at the oncoming Internet insect.

“
Where?” I shook him until he focused on me and then his eyes shot around us at the collection of threads.

“
That one,” he pointed to a red thread and jumped for it simultaneously.

We all followed, looking over our shoulders at the arachnid who seemed to be gaining on us despite our rapid acceleration. We flew through buildings, up into the sky, and past a park, while the monster continued to chase us. I cringed as we crossed through another thread but we just went harmlessly through, the thread as insignificant as the rest of the terrain as long as we clung to the one we were riding.

“End of the line,” Meilyr called back to us. “Cloak yourselves!”

I cast the glamor that made me invisible, just as I was thrown from the line but I was still in the Inter Realm. Meilyr was right in front of me until he placed his hand on the back of a laptop and disappeared. I hurried over to it and placed my hand as he had done. I instantly felt the pull of reality, of solid form and mass, and I let it bring me back to my true form.

Everything seemed a little duller but it was comforting, like coming home to a quiet house after spending the day at the carnival. The Inter Realm was just a tad too much for me.

I took in my surroundings quickly, searching first for a door and then heading for it before I fully registered what was happening in the room. When I did, I stopped in my tracks and gawked for a second.

There was a woman in a cat costume but not like a sexy kitty with a nose and whiskers painted on her face, no she was wearing a bright pink fun-fur suit, like the kind you'd expect to see at a theme park. It covered her completely and the only way I even knew it was a her, though her kitty did have super long eyelashes over its eyes, was because she was moaning like she was in the throes of an orgasm.

She was on her side, a pair of large underwear discarded next to the pallet she was stretched out on, with a laptop in front of her. Beside the laptop, a spherical web cam sat, focused intently on her as she rubbed herself, or rather her costume, and moved her limbs in ways that I was sure she thought was erotic.

I didn't know whether to laugh or scream.

I chose instead to leave the room quietly but quickly, hoping the image of her wouldn't haunt me too long. Once out of her room, I found myself in a small hallway which led to a set of stairs, which in turn led out of the apartment building. When I finally stood on the street, I breathed a sigh of relief which almost became a scream when I felt a little hand take my own.

“My Queen?” Meilyr whispered. “Is that you?”

“
Yes, Meilyr,” I sighed. “Let's use the Aether to trace home. I don't think I can handle another trip to the Inter Realm quite yet.”

“
Yes, Queen Vervain,” he agreed. “I too wish to stay away from the web until I know how to kill the spider.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“It was a spider?” Blue asked in horror. Funny that the Father of Vampires would be squeamish about arachnids.

“
A big black one,” I smiled at his disgusted face, “with a hairy body and pincers.” I made a clinking noise as I held two fingers splayed to either side of my mouth and tapped them together to mimic the spider.

“
Horrible,” he declared while I laughed.

“
Did you find anything else out?” Thor asked, and I when I looked over at him, my heart sped up.

“
Just that he's poisoning the web,” I cleared my throat and looked away. What the hell was this about? I hadn't felt attracted to Thor in over a year. “He cut us off before we could follow the thread any further.”

“
Which means you were on the right track,” Thor nodded and I stared at the perfect angle of his jaw.

“
A spider?” Teharon looked as if he hadn't heard a single word past the one that began with S. “You're sure it was a spider? Not just a monster that may have appeared to be a spider?”

“
It was a spider,” I frowned at him. “I've seen a lot of beings that most people would consider monsters and that was just a spider, nothing special about him besides his size and I think that was due to the Inter Realm, the imps were the same size as me so I'm pretty sure you can be whatever size you want in there.”

The imps nodded in agreement and I looked over at them with a new realization.

“Do you guys want to be taller?” I asked as gently as I could.

“
Oh no, my Queen,” Meilyr looked back at the other imps and they twittered mischievously. “We like our size, it helps to be small when you want to be sneaky, but it's fun to be larger sometimes. The Inter Realm, it lets us see what it's like to be different.”

“
Yes,” I frowned, “to be different. You could be anything you wanted in there, right? Is that why you looked more like you belonged in
Star Wars
than Faerie?”

“
Yes,” Meilyr shrugged, “we could even look like you if we wanted. You can be whoever you want to be online.”

“
So why is he a big black spider?” I wondered.

“
Because gods aren't as free to alter their appearances as humans and fey are,” Finn said, running a hand through his short black hair. Everyone looked at him. “What? Just because I was lucky in the looks department,” he waved a hand out at the rest of us, “a lot of us were lucky, doesn't mean we each don't long to look like something else after hundreds of years in the same shells.”

“
But we can't change,” Horus tapped a finger onto the end of his beak-like nose thoughtfully. “Beyond minor alterations at least. So that means we're dealing with a spider god.”

The whole room got silent.

“Why is that so remarkable?” I looked around at everyone.

“
There aren't too many spider gods,” Hades shrugged and pushed his shades more securely up. “What is it, two, three?” He looked around at the others.

“
I only know of two,” Karni Mata, the Rat Goddess and Teharon's new girlfriend, answered as she rubbed Teharon's back. “One is Anansi and the other is...”

“
Iktomi,” Teharon cut her off. “He's Navajo but he's a trickster, cunning but not evil. This surely cannot be him.”

“
So Anansi?” Pan scoffed.

“
Why not Anansi?” Teharon looked like he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince. “He's a trickster too and a god of knowledge. Is not the Internet a realm of knowledge.”

“
I know Anansi,” Hades shook his head. “He's a respectable god, way past his years of playing tricks. Really, those days were about bringing joy to his enslaved people, teaching them about throwing off the bonds of slavery while keeping laughter in their hearts. He's a good man and there's no way he'd swindle people out of money unless they themselves were swindlers.”

“
Okay,” I looked from Hades to Teharon. “So there's no others?”