A Taste for Blood (The Godhunter, Book 6) (22 page)

“
How exactly will this save the race?” I started to actually consider it, which scared the shit out of me. “All that you'll have is one more dragon-sidhe who won't have a mate.”

“
One more than we have now,” he shrugged, “and one that I can pass my throne to, if the need ever arises.”

“
And all I'd have to do is have sex with you, go through childbirth, and then hand my baby off to you.” I felt a tremor course through me. I didn't see a way for me to raise children in my current life but that didn't mean I wanted to hand over a child of mine to that blood-licking dragon-sidhe.

“
The child would be treasured,” he gentled his tone. “The last heir of the dragon-sidhe and the next ruler of the House of Fire. I am better equipped to guide and protect the child than you are but you would be welcome anytime you chose to visit.”

“
I don't think I could do that.”

“
Then marry me and we can raise our offspring together,” he grinned broadly.

“
Not gonna happen,” I groaned. “We can't compromise because a compromise is about both parties getting a little of what they want and I don't want any of this. I think this discussion is over.”

“
Don't you want to know how to bleed off the dragon heat?” His eyes started to do the dragon slant.

“
What I want to know is how to suppress the dragon because I can't allow the dragon to consume my other magic.”

“
Why ever not?”

“
Because it would kill the man I love,” I growled, “ and I would lose my lions, who I also love. I just can't be a dragon-sidhe.”

“
You are a dragon-sidhe, whether you suppress it or not,” he frowned, considering. “Fine, keep your other magics, I don't need you to shift forms to bear my child, your magic knows what it is. Still, if this is your decision, you'll need my help even more.”

“
Vervain,” Azrael came into the room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the mirror. “Who the hell is this?”

“
Ah, one of your lovers?” Arach looked him over and dismissed him in a blink.

“
Azrael, Archangel of Death and ruler of Shehaquim,” yes, I deliberately used all of his titles to impress the dragon, “this is Arach the Annoying.”

“
King Arach,” Arach drew himself up straight and glared at me. “Of the House of Fire and Leader of the Host.”

“
Oh, you,” Azrael narrowed his gaze on the man in the mirror and strode forward to confront him. “Stay away from my woman, Tinkerbell. You think you're hot stuff? I'm an archangel, we were made to kill dragons. I've even got a special spear for it.”

“
Holy shit,” I laughed. “First of all, bravo on the Tinkerbell thing, I called the High King that too but no one was there to understand the joke. Second, you have a dragon killing spear? Why didn't I know about this?”

“
I have no problem facing you and your puny spear,” Arach interrupted me. “Angels are just Atlanteans trying to imitate their betters and failing miserably.”

“
Ho, damn,” I exclaimed. “That was a pretty good comeback. Unfortunately, you're not helping your case by insulting my angel. I happen to love this guy,” I pointed back at Az. “You, not so much.”

“
Carus,” Azrael purred and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “I love you too.”

“
I gotta go,” I shrugged at Arach.

“
Fine,” he glared at the angel over my shoulder. “For now, but this is not over, A Thaisce.”

The mirror went foggy and he disappeared.

“It is
so
over,” I grumbled, “and what the hell is an
ah hash ka
?”

“
Ah hash keh,” Roarke sounded it out as he walked back in. “ A Thaisce
,
it means,
my treasure
or in your case, it means you're screwed because dragons never give up treasure. Did I say that right? I just learned another sexual word from your lions.”

“
Yes, you said it right,” I sighed. “Dragons and treasure, he really isn't going to stop, is he?”

“
Nope, never,” Roarke nodded gleefully.

“
We'll deal with lizard dick later,” Azrael took my hand and led me over to the little sitting area. “I have to tell you something and you'll probably want to call your little god group after I'm done.”

“
God Squad,” I corrected, “and awesome nickname. I'm so using lizard dick the next time I talk to him.”

“
Vervain,” Azrael sighed, “this is serious.”

“
Okay, I'm sorry. You're just so much like me sometimes, I have to revel in it. Go ahead.”

“
I was called for a pick-up this morning,” he started.

“
Is that what you call transporting a soul?” I blinked at him. “That's a little cold.”

“
Please just listen,” he growled and I nodded. “It was a child, a little girl of about five.”

“
That's awful,” I remembered the Maile Amber Alerts and a horrible fear hit my belly.

“
It was,” he rubbed a hand over his face. “I've seen horrible things, Vervain. Terrible, monstrous things but this,” his breath shuddered out of him. “It was evil, pure evil.”

“
Do tell,” Roarke settled next to us.

“
Shut up, brat-cat!” I snarled and Roarke sat back with an affronted look. “Sorry, Az, go on.”

“
The child had been killed, her throat slit and her heart removed, and that was the only good thing about the situation. That they'd killed her first.” His teeth ground together before he continued. “They skinned her, Carus. Flayed her and wore her skin like a cape as they danced around her heart on a platter.”

“
What?” I felt sick, images scrolling through my head that I'd never be able to get out. “Who did this?”

“
That's the thing,” he flexed his shoulders and I saw the faint outline of his wings shimmer in and then out of view. He must have been really upset to loose control of that. “I went to collect her soul because she was a Christian and so I was called to her side but when I got there, there was another god already trying to claim her.”

“
Another god?” I leaned forward and took his hands. “Who?”

“
I don't know,” he shook his head. “I've never seen him before but he had dark skin, dark hair, and wore these strange glasses strapped to his face, like goggles you'd wear swimming. He said the child had been sacrificed to him and as such, her soul belonged to him. He said it was his duty to take her to the upper world. I'm pretty sure he was an Aztec deity. He's not a death deity, I would have known if he were.”

“
No problem then,” I said. “We'll just ask Blue. I'm sure he'll know who he was. Did you get her soul?”

“
Yes,” he sighed, a little of the tension leaving his shoulders. “She chose to go with me and when it comes to death, the gods can only try to sway the minds of mortals, they can't force them. She belonged to Christ in life and so she was mine in death. I was able to release her soul in Heaven.”

“
Well, there's that at least.”

A new thought occurred to me. Anubis had said he'd be waiting for me if I ever died... again. He'd said I couldn't escape him but if what Azrael said was true, I'd have a choice on where I was headed, as long as I had more than one deity offering me an afterlife. I looked over to Azrael and felt a weight lift from my chest, between him and Odin, I think I was covered.

“Me too, except there's more,” Azrael continued, closing his eyes. “Her's wasn't the only child corpse there.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I had feared such,” Blue sighed and sat back in his chair.

Azrael had just finished explaining the horrifying things he'd witnessed and the Aztec god who'd been a party to it. The room had gone eerily quiet, expressions ranging from anger to terror had flowed across my friend's faces. For the most part, we were able to at least understand the motivations of the gods we fought against. They wanted more power and they'd manipulate humans any way they could to get it, but children? No one killed kids. It was like an unwritten rule, you just didn't go there.

“Are you going to explain that comment or just keep us in suspense?” I looked pointedly at Blue.

“
The combination of weather issues and missing children had me suspecting someone,” Blue began. “Now with Azrael's description, I'm sure it's him. It's Tlaloc, my cousin.”

“
Your cousin likes to dance around in the skins of children?” I couldn't keep the horror from my voice. Who could, when saying those words?

“
He was a great god once,” Blue sighed. “We shared a temple on the pyramid that I'm sure you remember.” He looked at me with a little smile.

“
Oh, Blue,” I shook my head, “
so
not the right time to bring that up.”

“
Yes, of course,” he shrugged, “I was making an effort at levity but I can see that it's an impossible endeavor under the circumstances. Tlaloc is a god of rain. He was sacrificed to so that he would bring the rains and ensure a good harvest. The harvest was very important, without it, people would starve. So the Aztecs sacrificed what was most precious to them.”

“
Their children,” Finn grimaced. He was familiar with parental betrayal and I could see the thought of other parents performing the ultimate betrayal, killing the children they should be protecting, stuck in his craw even worse than it did for the rest of us.

“
Yes,” Blue looked down at his lap. “I'm not comfortable discussing this. I've never approved of sacrificing children, but in defense of Tlaloc, he never asked for the children to be sacrificed to him. They were offered and he took them but once he held their souls, he did the best he could for them, taking them to the Upper World, a place of perpetual Springtime in the God Realm. There, the children know happiness and love, while they remain forever young.”

“
That sounds horrible,” Persephone whispered.

Ah, we'd hit another sore spot. Persephone's mother had tried to keep her a child, if not in body, than in soul, forever. Demeter had been royally pissed when I'd encouraged Sephy to grow up and move in with Hades but Sephy had grown into a confident woman, in part from taking my advice (though honestly, I had very little to do with it) and now saw Demeter's desires as controlling and selfish. She was just a little bitter over all the years Demeter had cost her by trying to keep Persephone immature.

“It's the best he could do,” Blue frowned. “I thought he'd be relieved when the sacrifices started to wane but instead, he got angry. He'd grown accustomed to being revered and of course, the power he'd get from the young lives given to him. I offered him a portion of the energy I was collecting through manipulating humans but he declined and became a bit of a recluse. I haven't seen him in years.”

“
And now he's popped up and has started taking his own sacrifices,” I shivered.

“
No,” Azrael interrupted. “That's not what I said. I said he was there, I didn't say he did the killing.”

“
He has priests,” Blue deduced grimly.

“
There were four other men there,” Az nodded. “Men of mixed races but beyond that, I wouldn't be able to describe them. I was too shocked by what they'd done to focus on their faces. I can tell you that they were in a deserted house but it looked in good repair. I'd wager that these are not people without means.”

“
Wait,” I looked over at Azrael in disbelief, “you know where they are? Why didn't you tell me that to begin with?”

“
Of course I know where they are,” he frowned at me. “I had to go there to get the child's spirit. As far as not telling you, I thought you'd know that already and I'm sure they've long since moved on to a new location. What with my unexpected interference.”

“
But you weren't seen by the humans,” I reasoned. “Maybe Tlaloc didn't tell them about you. I mean, why would he care that an angel knew where his little minions were holed up? He wouldn't be expecting you to call the cops or anything.”

“
Maybe not,” Az blinked. “I just got the sense that he recognized me, more than my angel status that is.”

“
Either way,” I shrugged, “it's worth taking a look. Even if they're gone, maybe we'll find some clues to help us track them.”

“
Let's go get these fuckers,” Pan growled and everyone agreed with him.

I ran to my bedroom to get geared up.

Chapter Thirty

Azrael's first assumption had been correct, the bastards were gone by the time we got there. We busted into an empty house on the outskirts of Haleiwa, a little surfer town on the North shore of Oahu. It was close enough to the beach that we could hear the waves crashing against the sand and a salt-laced breeze wafted in through the windows.