Wings of feathers and of leather pounded the cold air as hot breath churned up steam. We were soon surrounded by misty clouds; flying to a soundtrack of wing-beats and demon-shrieks. Too bad there was no one to chase; we would have made an excellent Wild Hunt.
But this wasn't a hunt; it was a victory lap. As we circled Hell, the demons behind our dread of dragons began to sing. It was a song that would have brought chills to my skin if I were still wearing skin. There had been only one other time that I'd heard anything comparable to this music; it had been in Makhon, the Fifth Heaven that Samael rules. The Song-Uttering Choirs of twelve orders of angels had sung the Trisagion; a holy chant. It had been beautiful, but this was another type of beauty. This was fierce and free and as far from a chant as you can get. The singing of Angels moved you to tears, but the singing of Demons moved you to fly.
And so we did; we flew over Hell with the music of its children urging us on, and I never wanted to land.
Chapter Forty-Six
We did land eventually, and the party continued long into the early hours of the morning. The God Squad, the Intare, my lovers, and I stumbled home and fell into our beds; blissfully happy. Trevor even gave up his alpha spot in our bed and crawled up the stairs to his.
I woke up hours later—sunlight streaming into the room through the balcony—and turned over to find Re's golden rod stirring as well. I groaned and rolled the other way; too tired to deal with that yet. I came face to crotch with Kirill. As soon as my surprised breath hit his sensitive skin, he also rose to the occasion. That's when I realized that my head was at the foot of the bed.
Oh, well; might as well make use of it.
I woke my husband and fiance with languorous licks that led to something much more vigorous. We ended up in a tangle of relaxed limbs and sweaty skin, but when the sound of Lesya and Trevor's voices filtered down the stairs to us, we unwound ourselves rapidly and ran for the bathroom. It was one thing for her to see naked men and quite another to see them aroused around Mommy.
Kirill, Re, and I emerged from the bathroom half an hour later; showered and fresh. Odin, Trevor (he let the Wolf have control for half the party), Azrael, and Toby were eating breakfast at the table with Lesya. I'd made a larger dining table during the two days we spent waiting before trying to trap Katila in Hawaii. So, everyone could fit now. It was nice to have a meal with them together.
“Good morning, Family,” I said as I sat down.
They all wished me a good morning; Lesya being the loudest. I was too happy to tell her to use her inside voice. Katila and his mother were dead, the Demons were safe, and I could go back to enjoying my life. Maybe I could even start looking forward to my wedding. I glanced at Re, and he smiled adoringly at me. Yes; I was definitely looking forward to marrying the Sun God, Re, and then having our honeymoon. Now that everything was settled, I'd actually be able to—
“The Argentinians took Athena!” Hades declared as he hurried into our bedroom.
I closed my eyes, sighed, and tried not to scream.
“What do you mean; they took her?” Odin asked.
“I think I was pretty clear,” Hades huffed. “Athena went to speak with Orco Mamman and never returned. Alex informed me this morning. We came straight here.”
“She's been gone all night,” Persephone added with a worried expression. “While we were partying in Hell, my sister was being kidnapped. I feel horrible.”
Her sister. Why hadn't I made that connection before? If Zeus was the father of Athena, Artemis, and Persephone, that made them half-sisters. Duh.
“Alex said that she left and never returned?” I asked. “He doesn't actually know who took her?”
“It must be them, Vervain,” Hades said with an exasperated wave. “It would have to be all three of them; the two mothers and the father. Those gods are far too weak to take Athena on their own.”
“Has anyone heard from Triton?” Toby asked.
Hades' eyes went wide as he turned to his wife. Persephone pulled out her phone and texted with rapid taps of her fingers. After a few minutes of anxious waiting, Sephy's phone chimed, and she read the response.
“Donnie says that Triton went missing yesterday,” Persephone announced with widened eyes.
“Damn it to Hades!” Hades declared; making us all blink.
“It will be okay,” Persephone said gently to her husband. “We'll find them.”
“She's right,” I said. “These are gods I can actually track. Someone call Torrent; I'm going to get dressed. We'll go to Orco's hill and follow her trail from there.”
“Thank you, Vervain,” Hades said with relief. “I feel awful about what I said to her.”
“You weren't the only one who told Athena to handle this herself,” I reminded him.
“I'll tell Donnie to meet us here, and we can all go together,” Sephy said as she squeezed her husband's hand.
I hurried into my dressing room as one of the guys texted Torrent. I hoped he was awake. He'd been pretty tipsy and still partying hard when I saw him last. At least he wouldn't be hung over; that was one good thing about the effects of alcohol wearing off quickly.
Within fifteen minutes, we were all downstairs and
