“I figured that out from the vanity plate. Ku Ku K'chu; very cute.” He chuckled.
“He wasn't so cute when he tried to kill me,” I muttered as I opened the door and stepped inside.
I breathed in deeply as I crossed the threshold. The scent of incense and papery, dead orchids hit me. I stared around myself and let the peace of home seep into my bones. This place was all mine. No lions or gods shared it with me. I hadn't taken it as spoils from a dead goddess. I had paid for it with hard-earned cash and decorated it all by hand, no magic involved. I'd hung the white gauze across the ceiling myself and draped it to make the living room look like a tent. I'd scoured flea markets and antique shops for the Moroccan furnishings and knickknacks. I'd saved up my pennies for the Chinese, hand-carved dining table and the Chinese wedding bed, back in the master bedroom. I'd even grown the orchid that now lay sad and dry in its ceramic pot in the center of the dining table. I loved every inch of this place; from the kimonos hanging on the dining room walls to the slight smell of oil paint that drifted down the hallway from my art room. One story of thin wooden walls and tiny rooms with creaking, hardwood floors and old jalousie windows. A shack compared to what I'd been living in, but it was all mine; no one had taken it from me.
“Um, Vervain?” Sin stood just outside the front door.
“Yeah?” I turned to look at him.
“I can't come in.” He squished up his face. “You have a ward.”
“Oh! Enter, Sin, and be welcome.” I said the releasing chant as I waved my hand toward the door.
Nothing happened.
Sin's expression went surprised and then apologetic.
“Jiminy Cricket!” I cursed. “I can't even let you past my wards?”
“Hey, it's okay. I'll just wait here. You take your time.”
“Sin, I... uh, I kinda wanted to stay.”
“Here?” His thick eyebrows lifted. “Without any protection?”
“My ward seems to be doing the trick.” I waved at him pointedly.
“But, I thought we were going to—”
Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a wave. As in a massive amount of water. Sin went tumbling over the railing to the right and into my front yard. As I gaped at the over-spray splattering my entryway, footsteps alerted me to someone's approach. I looked up in time to see Cephissus try to cross my threshold. A flash of light shoved him back into the bushes.
“Cephissus?” I asked in shock.
The River God was Narcissus' father. I hadn't seen him since I'd gone into his territory to look for a missing goddess. Cephissus had given a portion of his territory to his son, and Narcissus had used that portion to trap and kill other gods, including Nemesis, the goddess I'd been searching for. Narcissus probably would have killed me too, but Qaus saved me; right before Narcissus raped me. Seconds before. And by “saved” I mean; Qaus killed Narcissus.
“Little pig, little pig, let me in,” Cephissus growled.
“Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin,” I replied automatically. Then I grimaced and snapped, “What the hell do you want, Cephissus?”
Sunlight brightened his blond waves and cast shadows over his blue eyes. Cephissus is a pretty god, but he had a greedy twist to his lips, and I happened to know that he was a rapist; it was how Narcissus had been conceived. Huh. I guess that's where Narcissus got it from.
“I want my son back, you horrid bitch!”
“Why does everyone keep calling me a bitch?” I asked hypothetically.
Of course, Cephissus answered anyway, “Because you're a murdering, magic-stealing harlot.”
“A harlot is something completely different, and I didn't kill Narcissus,” I said calmly. “I probably would have if I could have, but I didn't.”
“Bullshit,” he hissed.
“It's true.”
“Then who killed him?” Cephissus narrowed his eyes at me. “Tell me who killed my son and you just might live.”
I hesitated. Qaus had killed Narcissus to save me. How honorable would it be for me to send Cephissus after him now? Not very.
“I can't tell you. That man saved my life, and I won't betray him.”
“Bullshit,” Cephissus scoffed with a sneering look. “You're just trying to save your ass now that your ass is human.”
“How the hell do you know that?” I whispered then gaped at him.
Cephissus grinned maliciously and pulled a rolled-up newspaper out of his back pocket. He smoothed it out and held it up to show me, taking great joy in watching my reaction... which was impressive, I'm sure. The paper was a copy of the Hermes Herald—one of the few newspapers printed exclusively for Gods—and its front-page headline read: The Godhunter Has Fallen.
“What the farfegnugen?” I muttered.
Then it dawned on me. Hermes and I had a shaky truce going and now that his son undoubtedly hated me, that truce was most likely broken. Which meant that Hermes was back to wanting me to pay for the death of his girlfriend, Aphrodite. How strange it was that everything was cycling back to the beginning.
“You have to come out sometime, bitch,” Cephissus snarled.
“And he's back to calling me a bitch,” I grumbled.
“And the longer you wait,” he went on, undisturbed, “the more gods there will be out here, waiting with me. You—”
A blast of soft, shimmering light hit Cephissus before he could call me a bitch again. He stuttered into silence. His eyes went wide and started blinking rapidly. His whole body began to shake.
“I'm a little teapot, short and stout,” Cephissus started to sing.
I gaped at him. What the hell? As I watched Cephissus start dancing with a maniacal grin—one hand on his hip and the other extended in a spout—Sin strode up the steps on my left and stopped directly behind him. His silver eyes glowed with moonlight and his expression became murderous. He lifted a pair of hedge trimmers and opened them around Cephissus'
