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  “Right,” I blinked and tried frantically to remember anything besides the feel of Thor’s hands on me. “Right, I was going to say it makes sense a human could pull power from gods since it was from humans that the power was taken from originally.”

  Thor actually stopped halfway to me and his lust-filled look was replaced with a ponderous one. I squeezed Mrs. E’s hand in gratitude before moving away but stopped short when I saw Horus staring hard at me.

  “It makes sense that you’d be able to call the power,” he was still standing as far away from me as he could, tearing off the remnants of his sleeves, “But not that you could use it like you did. No one has ever been able to make another god shift into his animal form, much less do it halfway.”

  I understood his fear better then. It wasn’t that I’d bested him. It was that I’d forced him into a form he’d never been in before. If the myths were true, he’d be able to shift his head and keep his man form but he shouldn’t be able to shift his arms to wings as well. To have his body betray him like that must have been scary.

  “I think she merely forced some of your power back into you, Horus,” Ull looked from me to the Egyptian. “She wasn’t trying to control it, so it took whatever path it normally takes but went a little beyond normal since it was unrestrained.”

  “Yes, that makes sense,” I jumped when Thor’s voice came from right beside me. He’d snuck up on me while I was pitying Horus. I didn’t like that. It meant I'd let myself get distracted. Which is fine if you’re a god but for us mere mortals it can be bad, fatal even.

  I needed to nip this attraction in the bud. Gods were hot. They're gods, it comes with the territory, and if I was going to be working with them, I couldn’t go around throwing myself at every one that shot me a lusty glance. Hell, it was probably in their nature to try to score with every human female they came across. They probably couldn’t help themselves with their need for collecting worshipers and all. I’d have to be the grown up and have some control. No problem, I can be mature, I can be restrained.

  I was so totally doomed.

  “Aaahhh!” I jumped as the stone in my pocket sent a jolt through my leg. Everyone looked over at me like I was a puppy about to do a new trick. I pulled the stone out and was immediately hit with a vision of a hotel room.

  It was a large room with two beds, two Middle-Eastern men, and one large Mexican occupying it. Excuse me, I mean one large Aztec. The Aztec had one of the men in what looked like an embrace, arms tight around his chest from behind and face buried in his neck. The third man sat limply on a bed. I frowned at that but continued to look around, trying to get some idea of where they were. On the nightstand I saw hotel stationary with “J.W. Marriott” printed on top. Great, so I knew what hotel they were in, now I just needed the room number. The phone! I homed in on the phone and sure enough, it listed the hotel phone number and the room number. I took one more look at the men to memorize their faces and then let the vision go.

  “They’re at the Marriott,” I said as my eyes cleared.

  “There's a Marriott near the White House,” Ull nodded, “makes sense.”

  “Let’s go,” Thor was already out the door.

  Twenty minutes later, we had passed through the enormous, marble-floored, crystal chandelier hung lobby of the Marriott and gone up to room 512.

  Thor took point and kicked the door in. I thought for sure we’d have a hallway full of concerned guests peering out of their rooms but not a peep was made. They must have been calling management to do the dirty work. I probably wouldn’t go out either if I saw us on the other side of my peephole.

  We surged into the room, hands up and magic ready to confront the baddies. I was last in line so it was hard for me to see what was going on when they all stopped suddenly. I tried to peer around shoulders and finally ended up just pushing past everyone. Gods filled the room but there was no sight of the Aztec or his humans.

  “Okay, now what?” I looked around the Aztec-less room and then over to the gods. My body still tingled with the power I’d taken but I was fresh out of ideas.

  “It’s 12:20,” Brahma said, peering at his Rolex, like he’d been doing off and on all day. I guess I knew who Mr. Punctual was. “We need to get to the rally. It’s too late for preventative measures now.”

  The stone seemed to pulse in my jeans pocket, reminding me of the complete waste of magic it had been.

  Chapter Six

  The press of bodies crowding the park across from the White House was overwhelming. Perfume, sweat, and the scent of freshly painted signs mingled with a steady murmur of excited voices in the air. I started breathing more shallow, sweat beading at my temple. Did I mention I was a tad bit claustrophobic? I avoided Waikiki for the same reason, I hate crowds.

  We had all split up to try and search the area for the terrorists. Brahma and Horus had gone to search the surrounding buildings for snipers, Horus in falcon form so he could peer into windows as he flew by, but I had a feeling these guys were going to get up close and personal. I searched the crowds anxiously.

  My hands kept clenching, like a gunman anticipating the draw. I had a protection spell ready, all I had to do was release it with a throw of the powdered mullein already in my hand. It could cover a space about nine feet square normally but I was hoping with my borrowed power it might spread a little further. If it came down to hand-to-hand, a quick downward shake of my arms would release the knives from my gloves. Then there was my kodachi and the dagger in my cleavage. I really should give in and get a gun but I had a fear of them. I'd always had this feeling that trying to shoot a god was a bad idea. As a witch, I generally try to go with my instincts.

  So I walked through the danger zone with only a handful of herb and some magically enhanced blades to defend myself with. Thor followed closely at my back, guiding me through the masses efficiently. He maneuvered us to the front, where a podium had been set up and a man was already addressing the crowd.

  “What are we still doing in Afghanistan?” the man was saying. “Obama promised to bring our troops home back in 2009. This is now the longest war in US history. It's time to put an end to this and bring our people home!” His voice was deep, rich, and carried a very slight Irish accent. I was intrigued enough to check out the packaging.

  The voice was definitely not false advertising. The man towered above us on the podium but he was probably only a little over six feet. His black hair was cut short in sharp layers, he had what romance novels called “chiseled” features, and perfect eyebrows that had that point to them which always reminded me of what a dragon’s wing should look like. Beneath those brows, his green eyes glowed with passion for his cause, outlined in thick lashes a supermodel would envy. Why did guys always end up with lashes like that and we girls had to glue them on?

  I sighed unintentionally and Thor looked over and frowned.

  “Who's he?” I jerked my chin in the direction of Mr. Green Eyes.

  “No one you need to know.” His tone grated and I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

  Did gods get jealous? Duh, of course they did, there were plenty of myths about the jealousy of gods. I wasn’t about to let it go to my head though, it was probably just a case of Thor staking some Viking claim on me and feeling like I should be honored or some crap. Or maybe he just didn't want to lose a potential follower. Either way, I was certain it had nothing to do with the softer emotions and everything to do with an old fashioned power trip. So I ignored him and went back to staring at the new eye-candy.

  The stone started buzzing again inside my pocket but when I touched it, my vision remained clear. It didn’t need to show me where the magic was, I was already there. I looked around guiltily. I really needed to stop being so easily distracted. Didn’t I just give myself a lecture on this? Why don’t I ever listen to myself?

  Sure enough, there were the two Middle-Eastern men from the hotel room. They were sliding through the crowd with ease. Behind them was an empty space which stayed
conspicuously empty even in the press of people.

  “Those are the guys from the hotel,” I murmured to Thor.

  “Huitzilopochtli,” he whispered behind me.

  “Let me guess, he's that empty space?” I kept my eyes on the spot behind the men.

  “Yes.”

  “Groovy power.” Thor looked over at me. “Uh, I mean, what do we do?”

  “Wait,” Thor’s hand slid down my arm and even there, filled with terror, I shivered from his touch. So not good.

  I looked back at the dark-skinned men. Their eyes were focused on the speaker and I realized they were going after him first. They cleared the edge of the crowd and I saw them both reach into their jackets.

  “Gun!” I screamed as I ran forward and flung my hand towards the podium, releasing the protection spell with a cloud of powdered mullein. The herb sparkled as it spread out, drifting down in an impenetrable but invisible protective shell. The spell was good for one attack only so I hoped my target was smart enough to take cover afterward.

  The crowd panicked and turned to flee, screaming and shouting as they went. The two terrorists didn’t even spare a glance for me, just fired at the speaker like a couple of Stepford wives. The speaker just stood there, staring at them in shock. His eyes grew even rounder when the bullets hit my barrier and dropped harmlessly to the ground. Green-Eyes turned unerringly to me and our gazes met for a second while I ran across the space that separated me from the gunmen.

  “Get down!” I shouted at him as I flung my arms down and felt the comforting click of my knives sliding into place. I didn’t have to look to know there were now four, 3” long blades protruding over my knuckles. Yay for me and my fists of fury! The terrorists finally turned startled eyes to me but they moved their weapons a second too late.

  I hit both of their gun arms at the same time, flinging my arms wide and then down like some macabre eagle, as I ran between them. I felt the blades slice through flesh and skid over bone as the men screamed but my momentum carried me past them and straight into the “empty” space.

  “Vervain!” Thor’s voice boomed and I glanced back to see him pushing Green-Eyes behind him.

  My relief at seeing the speaker unharmed disappeared as I hit a solid wall in the empty air. It felt like I ran into a tank and as I looked up, the air shimmered and the illusion of open space vanished. No tank, just armor, covering a very large, very angry, Aztec warrior.

  “Huitzilopochtli?” I tried to keep the oh shit tone out of my voice as he smiled maliciously at me and metal clad arms threatened to squeeze the air from my lungs.

  “And you are?” His voice was thick and soft like silk velvet. It slid over me, brushing against places it shouldn't have been able to touch. I looked up into blood red eyes and flinched. Then a creeping lethargy overtook my limbs, sliding through them like an opiate, and all I could concentrate on were how beautiful those horrifying eyes were. Deep and soft, like the heart of a rose. He'd asked me something. What was it?

  “Vervain,” I offered my name to him like a prayer and felt my heartbeat quicken when his gaze warmed and his smile softened.

  He was murmuring something and I had a nagging suspicion that I should stop him but I couldn’t seem to remember how to do it. My arms hung limply at my sides. In the distance I heard a voice calling to me, a voice like thunder crying my name, but it grew more and more faint like a receding storm.

  “Vervain,” Huitzilopochtli slid a hand through my hair. I felt it snag, my hair caught by the metal plates of his gauntlet, but I didn't care. Pain, pleasure, I wanted all he could give me.

  He pressed my face into the gold of his breastplate and the light shining off it was suddenly too bright. I closed my eyes and rested against him. There was an odd feeling of movement, an ecstatic sense of weightlessness, and then my body became heavy again, my newly formed lungs taking a gasp of air. The glare of the sun was gone and the pressure from his hand released. I looked up and found him smiling viciously at me. I frowned a little as I began to notice how warm I was. Sweat was beading on my brow and I realized the heat was coming from him. His armor was burning through my clothes. My vision cleared, the pain jerking me free of his magic, and I screamed.

  He laughed and let me go so that I fell back onto the black marble floor. The cold stone was a relief after the scorching pain and I had to stop myself from rolling over to press into it. It wasn't the time to lick my wounds. It was time to figure out what the hell was going on and the best direction to run in.

  Frantically, I searched around me and found the park had been replaced by a large room of stone and glass. White marble walls penned me in, pulsing with thick veins of gold. Floor-to-ceiling windows ran the length of the room across to my left, devoid of curtains so the menacing jungle outside could peer in. The furnishings were all stone, not marble, just some white stone that looked as if a forklift would be needed to move it. There was a long table and four chairs, two on each side. How were you supposed to move those chairs? Maybe you just slid in and made due.

  I scampered to my feet, accompanied by the sound of my blades scratching the marble floor. Good, they were still extended. I settled into a fighting stance and eyed the man before me steadily, even though my throat was constricting in fear. The memory of wanting him hit me and I had to struggle not to vomit. He’d taken my mind as easily as the sun takes the sky from the night, like it was already partly his to begin with. I’d never met a god who could turn me against myself. How do you win against something like that?

  The others were right. I was out of my league and I was about to die.

  His head rolled smoothly to the side as he smiled again. He held my eyes with the steadiness of a snake watching his prey, as he began to unfasten his armor. First the gauntlets came off, thrown casually onto the table. Then he undid his bracers, they landed with a loud rattle near the gauntlets. By the time he unbuckled his breastplate a thin trickle of sweat was making its way down my stomach. I was running hot and cold with fear and adrenaline. Should I rush him while his hands were busy or should I just run blindly from the room and hope to find a way out? Neither seemed like a good option but if I was going to die, I'd rather it be as I stood my ground.

  “I apologize for the heat,” he pulled the breastplate over his head and started on his legs. “It’s a part of me, I’m God of the Sun but also of War and battle excites me. The sun pours through me and its heat can only be cooled by blood. It’s why I must return to this room first after a battle. It’s fireproof.”

  “Smart thinking there, flamer,” I couldn’t help it. It’s like as soon as I settle in to fight, my mouth starts the smack talk. It’s as ingrained as the stance, just a reflex. Even the fear couldn't choke it back. I almost closed my eyes and groaned. This was not a guy to back-talk to. Why couldn't I just be the strong silent type?

  He finished with his armor, completely ignoring my insult, and was left in a thin black tunic and loose pants. He picked up a gold pitcher I'd failed to notice. With nonchalance, he turned it over his head, a thick, red liquid poured out to cover him. I gasped, realizing what he was bathing in. Steam rose off his body and the air was scented with the tang of fresh blood. Fresh blood over a fire. The thick liquid sank into his skin, tinting his dark complexion with a reddish glow for a moment. A deep sigh seeped out of him, like a man sinking into a hot bath after great marathon sex.

  “There,” his wicked smile returned and with it I caught the glint of fangs. “Now we can be civilized.”

  I shook my head and gaped at him, more horrified that the monster resided in such an elegant package than in the monstrosity itself. He lifted the pitcher to his mouth and drank the rest of the contents. My stomach lurched as my body began to tremble and I knew it wasn’t from holding my fighting stance too long. Cold realization had hit and I suddenly knew how he’d stolen my will with his eyes. I was finally meeting the Vampire God, the source of all those little Buffy-plaguing bastards. This man wasn’t just a monster. He was their god. />
  “I’ve always wondered who made the vampires,” I said it casually but kept my stance firm.

  “Ah, yes,” he slid into one of the chairs and brushed his thick, shoulder length, black hair back with the easy movement of an aristocrat. “Please join me and I’ll be happy to tell you about them.”

  I eyed the graceful hand he swept toward the chair on his left and thought about it. Evidently he wasn’t going to come out and kill me right that second, so it would probably be best to save my strength. I’d leave the claws out just in case. If nothing else, it would buy me a little time. I mean really, I didn't exactly have a lot of options.

  “I guess it’s a story worth hearing,” I shrugged as I straightened and walked around the table as I shook out my tight shoulders. I slid into a seat across from his instead of the one he'd indicated. He laughed velvet softness all over me again and I rubbed my arms to try to stop the shivers.

  “I could have you on this table, naked and writhing in a second,” his eyes glowed a moment as they passed over me. “I could make you beg for me to fill you and then beg for me to empty every last drop of you until you died in ecstasy.”

  The shaking started again but I tamped it down along with the nausea. I was the Godhunter. I ate gods like him for breakfast. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words. I tried to give him my tough glare but I had a feeling it was falling a little short.

  “You forgot to add Resistance is futile.” I met his eyes… briefly. I had no idea if he needed eye contact to control my mind or not but I wasn't gonna take any chances.

  “You're fascinating,” he frowned but it was quickly replaced with a greedy smile. “I’m not easily fascinated. Maybe I'll let you live awhile longer. You may prove entertaining.”

  “Thanks,” I smirked, “I’m so relieved. Do I get a collar and a Princess Leia costume?”

  His eyes widened for a second before he let out a sharp bark of laughter. There were no velvet tones to it and I had a feeling it was genuine, maybe the first genuine thing I’d seen him do so far.