“I agree,” Hades said as he tucked Persephone in closer against his chest and kissed her forehead. “Macaria may be blind to both her mother and her brother.”
Hades and Sephy were like a couple of newlyweds after their near-break-up; and they had been affectionate before. Almost losing each other had made them clingy to the point of ridiculousness. Not just newlyweds; teenage newlyweds.
“And no one can truly understand the bond of twins except for the twins themselves,” Toby said; confirming my earlier thoughts. “I would avenge Naye; even were he in war when he died... even were he on the wrong side of a war.”
We all processed that for a moment.
“So, we still have Thanatos,” Finn broke the silence with his sexy Irish lilt. “Who else is there?”
“Anubis is safe to cross off the list,” Re said. “He's blissfully happy with his new lady.”
“Though he would have been a viable suspect,” Torrent pointed out. “We're looking for death deities who have a bone to pick with one of us.”
“One of us,” Teharon murmured as he shared a look with Karni-Mata.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Yama,” Karni said. “I mentioned him to Teharon, but we decided not to bring him up since there's no connection between him and Azrael.”
“Yama!” I exclaimed as I looked at my husbands. “I forgot about him.”
“There is a connection?” Karni asked, and then her expression went livid. “I knew it! That no-good death monger!”
“Whoa; take a breath.” Trevor held up his hands. “Amaterasu called Vervain to ask us help her investigate some suicides in Japan, and the god behind them was Enma.”
“Enma?” Brahma looked at Sarasvati and then at Karni-Mata. “That's Yama's counterpart.”
“And his brother,” Sara said. “By blood.”
“He is? But Enma is Japanese,” I said without thinking. The looks on everyone's faces were enough to remind me that all gods were Atlantean; their appearances had nothing to do with their actual ethnicity, or even their parentage, evidently. “Right; I'm a moron.”
The Horsemen chuckled.
“This is getting stranger and stranger,” Brahma noted. “I feel as if the answer were right before us; a torn tapestry waiting for us to connect the threads.”
“Let's go over what we know,” I suggested. “Someone is trying to raise Dvārakā; an ancient Indian city.”
“An ancient Atlantean city,” Mrs. E corrected me.
“Right,” I started again, “an ancient Atlantean city in India. Then there's a plot to kill Azrael.”
“Which I'm not certain is the goal,” Ira interrupted.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Facts are that there is a plot to pit other angels against Azrael.”
“That's more accurate.” Ira nodded.
“Let's continue with the facts. We know that Lilith and Samael are separated,” I went on. “Jerry is not only denying that he sent the orders to kill Az, he's also making an effort to keep his angels from attacking Azrael in the future. He even recalled the Principalities to Heaven.”
“We know that Abaddon has been living a hermit's existence in Ohio; guarding the Abyss,” Samuel said.
“We know that Krishna has been living a similar life in my temple,” Karni offered. “And he has isolated himself specifically so that he can't be used to raise Dvārakā.”
“And we know that Enma was manipulating Amaterasu's followers into suicide,” Ira added.
Ira was about to say more when a white, swooping thing flew through our meeting and came to a landing on the coffee table.
“Mr. Snuffleupagus!” I shouted in fright.
“No”—Alex cocked his owl head at me so that it was nearly horizontal—“the name is Aleksanteri. Are you all right, Godhunter?”
“I was using the name as an exclamation,” I huffed. “What are you doing here, Alex?”
“My mistress sent me.” He straightened his head. “Again. You failed to text message her.”
“Oh, Fozzie Bear!” I decided to keep with the Muppets theme. “I forgot.”
“The Olympians,” Hades whispered and then sat forward; bringing Sephy with him. “Vervain; this would be a very good time to become one of the Twelve.”
I considered it; as a member of the Council of Olympus, I could take my concerns about Thanatos directly to my fellow Olympians. But was it worth the headache of having to judge every drama that unfolded in the massive pantheon?
“Will you send your reply now?” Alex prompted.
I looked at my men; each one of them nodded.
“Tell Athena that I accept,” I said. “I'll take my place as an Olympian.”
“A wise decision.” The owl bowed his head. “I shall convey the message.”
Alex leapt into the air and flew back to Mount Olympus.
“New fact,” Artemis said gleefully, “Vervain is about to become an Olympian.”
Chapter Forty
Here's the thing about becoming an Olympian; you can't just accept the position. The Greeks loved their rituals, and becoming an Olympian had its own ceremony. Athena wanted my status confirmed as soon as possible. So, shortly after Alex flew away, he was back again; this time with a summons to my swearing in as an Olympian. I was to present myself to Athena within the hour.
“She's so pushy,” I whined as I looked around at the Squad.
“It's best to get this taken care of right away,” Hades said as he stood. “We'll attend you.”
“I'm going too,” Artemis said.
“That means you get me as well.” Torrent grinned.
“And us,” Hekate said as she pulled Horus to his feet. “There's no freaking way that I'm missing this.”
“We haven't finished the meeting,” Horus grumbled.
“We'll continue going over the possibilities while you folks are gone,” Thor said as he waved at the rest of the Squad.
“Okay; I guess I'm going.” I got up, and my men stood as well. “With an entourage,” I added.
“Like we're going to miss you becoming an Olympian,” Trevor huffed. “I'll go grab Az;
