“Jewelry is better,” Kirill said sagely.
“Nice to meet you, Brother Death.” Macaria shook Azrael's hand. “Like actually meet instead of passing by each other at work.”
“Yes; it is nice.” Azrael laughed. “Though I'm retired.”
“Yeah; Dad told me,” Macaria said. “It's one of the reasons I came along. I don't work a lot these days either, but I remember how restless I was when things first started getting slow, and I thought maybe you might need some pointers.”
“Az is adjusting really well, actually,” I said proudly.
Azrael frowned.
“Aren't you?” I asked. “I thought you were happy?”
“I am happy, Carus,” Azrael assured me. “But there are moments when I feel...”
“Lost?” Macaria asked.
“Yes,” Az whispered. “Lost; without direction.”
“I didn't know,” I said as I blinked through more shock. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“There wasn't anything to be done about it.” Azrael shrugged. “It's not as if I want to start collecting souls again. It's just something I need to get over.”
“This is all very fascinating,” Horus drawled as he walked up with the rest of the Squad. “But could we have this powwow another time? Perhaps when I'm not here.”
“I think I might be offended by that.” Toby frowned.
“By the word 'powwow'?” I asked as I looked pointedly at his Native American face.
“No, by Horus being such a prick,” Toby drawled.
“Very funny.” Horus rolled his eyes. “He's in the Squad for all of three seconds and he's already insulting me; wonderful.”
“The guy catches on fast,” Pan said in approval.
“Be that as it may,” Horus said, “our hostess is waiting on us. It looks as if I'm not the only prick here.”
Horus raised a hand to indicate that Sekhmet was indeed standing within the doorway of her home; waiting for us to notice her. Re had already gone inside; no doubt bored with our conversation. If Re didn't want to be somewhere, he just left. Sometimes I wished I could follow his example.
“Please come in.” Sekhmet waved us in.
“Before we go in, could we just talk about this?” Finn waved his hand toward Odin. “Is that Odin, or has Vervain acquired yet another boyfriend?”
“When Thor shaved, no one said a damn thing,” Odin muttered. “Why am I getting so much flack over this?”
“Because Thor didn't transform into another man when he shaved,” Pan said. “You look like Thor's younger brother.”
“His younger, hotter brother,” Artemis murmured under her breath.
Torrent grimaced at his girlfriend.
“What?” Artemis shrugged. “He's hot; who knew? Be confident enough in your own attractiveness to let me note it.”
“I knew,” I said smugly. “The beard didn't cover all of his attractiveness.”
“But its removal has revealed some striking features, Odin,” Mrs. E said gently. “It's a very good look; you should stay clean-shaven.”
“Oh.” Odin cleared his throat. “Thank you.”
“Told you.” I winked at my husband.
Chapter Six
There is a lot of poverty in India. People live in poor conditions in most of the country. But those who happen to be members of the upper crust of society live like royalty. Sekhmet may not have been a goddess anymore, but she was still very high society.
“Nice palace,” Macaria said what we were all thinking.
“Thank you,” Sekhmet said as she led us to a large, airy living room where Re was already reclining with a crystal tumbler in his hand. “Help yourselves to a drink.” She waved toward a bar in the corner. “And make yourselves at home.”
She had made herself at home already; the interior of Sekhmet's house was done in the décor of the region. From sari curtains to carved wood furniture, the place was heavily influenced by India.
“Why did you choose to live here?” I asked Sekhmet as the others went to see what the hand-carved bar had to offer.
“This is why.” Sekhmet waved toward the room. “My money goes much further here.”
“And no one recognizes you,” Macaria added.
Sekhmet flushed.
“Mean girl alert,” Torrent whispered.
“Mac,” Hades growled.
“What?” Macaria huffed. “It's the truth. You said she was stripped of her magic by her father.”
I widened my eyes at Hades.
“Thank you for your discretion, Hades,” Re snarled.
“My most sincere apologies.” Hades flushed. “I had assumed that my daughter could be trusted.”
“So did he,” Mac nodded to Re.
Sekhmet was visibly shaking.
“That will be enough of that!” I declared in my Mommy voice, and everyone went still. “Sekhmet made a mistake, and she is paying for it; end of story. A story of which you are not a part of, Macaria, and therefore have no right to comment on. Now, we've only just met, so I'm going to cut you some slack this once. But if you make one more nasty comment to anyone here, you will not be welcome back—not in my home, at least.”
I looked questioningly at the rest of the God Squad, and they all nodded.
“Nor in any of our homes,” Horus added for the group.
“This bitch stole your baby,” Macaria huffed at me. “She ain't your friend.”
“Get her the fuck out of here, Hades,” I growled. “Before I give her title a new meaning.”
“All right, all right,” Macaria growled. “I was trying to get your back, Godhunter, but I guess I read this sitch wrong. I apologize for offending whoever I just offended.”
“That would be Sekhmet, Re, and your father,” Hades growled.
“Yeah; okay,” she huffed. “I'm sorry. Can I stay?”
“Just sit down and be quiet,” Hades snapped.
Mac sat.
“Thank you,” Sekhmet whispered to me.
“Thank you for contacting us with this information,” I said to Sekhmet. “Now, what have you discovered?”
“It started as a little flicker,” Sekhmet said. “There's not a lot of magic in this city; most Hindu gods live in the God Realm.” She paused to nod to Brahman
