Qaus was the wild card of the group. He didn't have War or Death as one of his magics, and there was even less known about him than Gish. All I could discover was that he was an Arabian Weather god who was associated with rainbows; which is why I jokingly referred to Gish and Qaus as the Gods of the Gays. Anyway, he used to be depicted holding a thunderbolt as he sat on a throne flanked by bulls so I assumed he had some kind of storm magic and may have even ruled his pantheon. He was swarthy and attractive with sparkling, eyes that shifted through the colors of the rainbow. I couldn't look at those eyes for long, they were too dazzling. Disani appeared to be the leader, but I had a feeling that Qaus was only allowing her to think that she was in charge. He seemed devious and deadly. As I sized him up, he was doing the same to me.
“Welcome!” Narcissus said. “Please join us. Allow me to introduce Vervain the Godhunter. Dearest, this is—”
“Qaus of the Arabians, Gish of the Afghani, and Disani of the Kafir,” I cut him off.
I specifically mentioned Qaus first to let him know that I'd deduced who secretly ran his group. Gish and Disani sputtered, but Qaus smirked at me.
“AKA the Gods of the Gays and the Bottle Water Goddess,” I went on.
Everyone gaped at me in confusion then. Even Narcissus stared at me in shock.
“Do I really have to explain this again?” I huffed. “I thought at least you would get it.” I waved at Narcissus. “What with all the human brains you've been consuming, you Zombie Egotist.”
“Zombie...” Narcissus gaped more.
“They're rainbow gods,” I explained. “A rainbow is the symbol for gay pride. And Disani sounds very similar to Dasani; the bottled water. But it's not funny if I have to explain it.”
“It's not funny at all,” Disani said.
“Oh, it most certainly is,” I argued with her. “I have several people calling you by those names and chuckling as they do so.”
Disani's dark skin flushed to mahogany. “I thought you were going to kill her?” she snarled at Narcissus.
“I've taken her magic.” Narcissus shrugged. “It's good enough.” He looked back at me. “Zombie?”
“Because they eat brains.”
“Oh.” He blinked and then chuckled. “I like it.”
“You would.” I rolled my eyes.
“This is not good enough!” Disani shouted. “Qaus told you of her arrival so that you'd take her magic and kill her. Not dress her up like a doll and play house.”
“He is, isn't he?” I gestured at my dress. “Of all the decades.” I shook my head. “I hate the 50s.”
“What's wrong with the 1950s?” Narcissus asked. “Men were manly and women were feminine. I thought you liked manly?”
“Not that kind of manly.” I made a face at him. “And women may have been feminine but it was in a submissive way because they were repressed. Of course, they weren't as repressed as the African-Americans who were getting abused and murdered in America simply for standing up for themselves. The 50s sucked.”
“But you could also say that African-Americans triumphed during that period and women grew stronger as well,” Narcissus countered. “It was the turning point.”
“The turning point was when Lincoln freed the slaves,” I argued. “The 50s was the boiling point.”
“As you say.” Narcissus shrugged.
“Is she a prisoner or a guest?” Qaus frowned at me.
“A guest,” Narcissus said.
“A prisoner,” I snapped at the same time.
“I see.” Qaus smirked.
The last time I'd met Qaus—in that wrong future—he'd been seriously pissed off at me. Seeing him calm was like meeting a different man. I studied him further.
“You wouldn't happen to know a bunch of Argentinian cannibal gods, would you?” I asked him casually.
Qaus' rainbow eyes widened in surprise.
“That answers that,” I muttered. So, I'd finally found the Gods behind the recent attacks. They had influenced Katila and the Argentinians. But why? “Is there a particular reason you're gunning for me?”
“A prophet told me you would kill me,” Qaus said as he stepped closer.
Qaus really was an attractive man; all those strong Arabic features paired well with the light eyes, or eyes of light, rather. He toned down the shifting rainbows and it became easier to look at him. I wasn't sure if he'd done it on purpose or if they had an automatic dimmer, but I was grateful. It's hard to stare down an enemy when you can't look them in the eyes.
“That's funny,” I said to him, “a prophet told me not to kill you.”
I'd managed to surprise him again. Qaus' head jerked back fractionally before he cocked it at me.
“Who told you not to kill me?” He asked softly.
“Silenus of the Greeks. He told me not to kill all three of you,” I said. That wasn't exactly what Silenus had said, but I wasn't about to tell Qaus that he had died in a false future... then again, maybe I should. “Actually, what he told me was to beware of false futures and to not let them lead me into action I shouldn't take.”
“Sounds appropriately prophetic.” Qaus grimaced. “But I fail to see how you got 'Don't kill Qaus, Gish, and Disani' from that.”
“All right, Rainbow God, I'm going to be straight with you.” I waved my hand at the couch. “Why don't you have a seat?”
Qaus sat down on the couch, and I resumed my seat on the loveseat set at a right angle to him. The other gods looked at each other in bafflement.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Narcissus asked.
“That's what I'm trying to figure out,” Qaus said. “Sit down, everyone.”
They sat. I lifted a brow at Qaus. My suspicions were confirmed; he was their leader.
“Go on, Godhunter,” Qaus said.
“A few years ago,
