Chapter Thirty-Three

Lilith invited her daughter, Gello, who brought her husband, Anubis. Re approved and not just because he was Anubiss doubly great grandpa (Res term, not mine). Anubis was the Egyptian God of the Dead, and the Pasha had been a tool of Yama originally, another Death deity. It was looking more and more as if it was a member of the Death Club behind this.

It was a good thing we had a few of them on our side.

Samael, Anubis, Azrael, Odin, and Kirill were all Gods of Death. You could even count Hades and Hekate among them if you stretched the requirements a bit. Hekate was the Goddess of Ghosts and Necromancy, both deathly things. And Hades was, well, Hades.

Jesus had shown up as well, and he was a God of Resurrection. So I guess he could be a member of the Death Club. But it was really hard to look at his peaceful face and think of death. Although death is about as peaceful as you can get. And there was that whole cross thing. Huh. I guess humans think about his death more than his life. Weird.

“There is something here, right under our noses,” Thor said.

We were in one of the Golden Citadels meeting rooms. The design was simple, but in the way of the Fey. Which means it was beautiful to the point of distraction. I kinda wished I had insisted on having the meeting at Pride Palace.

The Golden Citadel had a theme for its décor, but it was a loose one—the elements. Each element was represented throughout the citadel. The only one left unseen was Spirit, which was kinda everywhere. As one of the simpler rooms, there was little decoration in the meeting room. But because it was a place for business, all the elements were acknowledged there. Unlike some of the rooms that focused on one or two.

The floor was green marble tiles, patterned subtly with leaves so that it mimicked a forest floor; the table was sturdy oak, inlaid with dizzying gold designs of more leaves; the chandeliers above were old-school fire braziers; huge windows opened to the air, giving a spectacular view of the Wild Forest since we were several floors up (although it was currently dark since it was three AM there); and one of the walls was an aquarium full of fey fish. It reminded me of the dining room in Castle Deuraich of the Water Kingdom. Not the entire room, just the aquarium.

And yes, this was a simple room.

“Just tell me who to kill,” Machar said.

Arach turned to look at Machar.

Machar went still.

No words were said. None were needed. One predator faced another, but there was never any doubt as to who the apex beast was. Arach was Machars king, no matter where they were. And Machar had seemed to forget that. Momentarily.

Looking as if he might pee himself, Machar cleared his throat and said, “Beggin your pardon, King Arach. Ill just wait for your command.”

Arach nodded curtly then looked at Thor. “Proceed.”

Thor blinked and looked at me.

I shrugged.

“As I was saying,” Thor started again. “There are clues here, but we must set them in order and distinguish which are real and which are planted to mislead us.”

“They used bleach,” Finn murmured.

Everyone looked at the swan-shifter.

“Oh, sorry!” Finn said. “Just thinking aloud.”

“Care to continue the thought?” Anubis, sitting with his wife, Gello (and yes, her name was pronounced like the dessert and suited her in its jigglyness), asked.

They made a stunning couple, both sultry in their own ways. Gello was more in-your-face about it (she got that from her mommy), but Anubiss sleek, male model looks were not to be ignored.

“Well, I was just trying to make a timeline in my head,” Finn said. “It sounds as if the trickster started with the bleach, then stopped. And going by the strength of the smell—you said it was very strong in Heaven, Vervain—Im guessing the Pasha was taken first.”

“Yes, weve already determined that,” Samael said.

“No, you thought the theft of the Ark was a distraction,” Odin corrected. “But the scent of bleach in Araboth was strong, and that was just a few days ago. If we go by the strength of the bleach, Finn is right. The Pasha was stolen first. It wasnt a distraction.”

Samael grunted. I suppose that was his way of conceding.

“Why start with the Pasha, leaving no clues behind, then conduct this bizarre game?” Brahma asked.

“Why indeed,” Thor said. “The Pasha was a tool used by a psychopomp. It carried the souls of the dead, but only dead humans. Katila, through his strange magic and his inheritance of the Pasha, was able to use it to harvest souls and siphon them out of the Pasha to consume their power.”

“Demon souls,” Lilith said without any of her usual sass.

“Yes, that was part of the loophole,” Thor said. “The Demons were possessing humans, their souls vulnerable outside their god bodies. I believe that helped Katila to use the Pasha to withdraw them from the human bodies, bypassing the repelling qualities of god magic that keep us from killing each other, and then, take the magic for himself by offering it a new host.”

“It doesnt matter how Katila did it,” Samael said. “That bastard is dead. What we need to determine is why a living god would want the Pasha. How they could use it.”

“Im trying to do that,” Thor growled at Samael. “Stories of Katila using the Pasha must have gotten around. Someone knows the possibility it possesses.”

“Not much of one,” Blue said. “Theyd have to recreate the same circumstances to steal god souls. And youve already warned the Demons.”

“Yes,” Lilith said. “They wont be possessing anyone until this is over.”

“I dont understand while they still do that,” Anubis said.

“They have to. If they dont, human belief will pull them into bodies and force them to possess people,” Lilith said. “At least this way, they have some control over it. They can choose their host.”

“Ive warned my father as well,” Azrael said. “Hes got Hell on lockdown.”

“And just to be safe, Ive alerted the Heavenly Host,” Jesus said.

“The trickster must have known youd do that.” Anubis tapped the table pensively with an elegant finger. “Are all the Angels and Demons accounted for?”

“All the Demons are,” Lilith said. She looked at Az.

Azrael looked at Jesus.

Jesus scratched his chin.

“Brother!” Azrael growled.

“Im just messin with you,” Jesus said. “Mellow out, Az. Id know the moment one of my Angels was killed. Im bound to them all now, remember? You were at the ceremony.”

Azrael sighed. “Yes, I remember. Sorry.”

“Its all good.”

“So, the trickster hasnt taken any souls,” Anubis said. “They took the Pasha but arent using it. At least, not in that way or not with those gods. And they started off using bleach to cover their tracks but now have developed a scent-proof suit.”

“A ninja suit,” Lilith said.

Gello chuckled. “I dont know why, but when you add the word ninja to something, it makes it funny.”

“A ninja suit,” Anubis said with a nod at his mother-in-law. “Could the Pasha have helped in the creation of such a suit?”

“Youre a death god, you tell us,” Trevor, who was still and would always be anti-Anubis, snapped.

I mean, Trevor had cause. I had the most cause, but Id gotten over it. Anubis did save my life and gave sanctuary to the souls of a few of my lions. I had long since forgiven him for what hed done to me when hed been a bad god.

Anubis, who had cleansed himself of that badness in a magical fountain that may or may not be the Fountain of Youth, was accepting of anything my men threw at him. I think he was eager to pay penance. So he didnt snap back at Trevor. Instead, he calmly said, “I know of no spell that could use the Pasha in such a way. What of you, Odin?”

Odin shook his head. “I dont see how it could be done.”

“And weve already established that the Pasha wouldnt have enough of Katilas magic in it to be used as an odor eliminator,” I said.

Gello snorted. “Sounds like a cleaning product.”

“Hold on,” Anubis said. “What does that mean?”

“Katila had a magic that made him unnoticeable,” Odin said. “He could be standing right next to you, and you wouldnt see him. That magic extended to his scent.”

“As in, he didnt have one,” I said. “I called it a non-scent. The absence of scent. I could find him by looking for places where there was no scent at all.”

“Fascinating,” Anubis murmured. “And after stealing the Pasha—an item last used by Katila, this trickster doesnt leave a scent either. Have you analyzed their trail? Ill bet its the same non-scent as Katilas.”

“No, I havent.” I looked at Arach. “Id have to use my ring to go back to Faerie so I dont lose time with the kids.”

“Or just go to Moonshine,” Trevor said. “You tracked them there.”

“Thats right,” I said with some relief. “I can do that. But the Pasha doesnt hold Katilas magic. Not enough to transfer to another god. This will be a waste of time.”

“With the amount of energy and magic Katila was pulling through the Pasha and the way he was using it, it might contain more of his magic than you think,” Anubis said.

“Tools absorb the magic of the user,” I murmured.

“Yes. A known fact,” Anubis said.

“No, Im getting to another point.” I waved his comment off. “The trickster took the Pasha, but they also took the Ark, then the stuff inside it, and then Lukes pitchfork. Thats a lot of tools that hold some serious god magic. They had to abandon the pitchfork, we assume they ate the manna, and they left us Aarons rod, but we havent recovered the tablets yet.”

“The Tablets,” Jesus whispered. “Thats a bummer. But honestly, I can do without the word of the Man etched in stone.”

“What do the Tablets do?” Anubis asked.

“Nothing,” Samael said. “They are a holy item, not a weapon. They only became a weapon when they were put in that damn box and enchanted by Jehovah.”

“Then they would have a piece of that enchantment,” Anubis said.

Samael blinked. He looked at Azrael. Az cursed and looked at Jesus. The J-Man pulled a joint out of his pocket and lit up.

“What?” Jesus said in a just-inhaled tone. He exhaled and said, “You guys want a puff?”

“Sure!” Pan reached across the table and took the joint. He puffed on it and offered it to Horus.

Horus glared at Pan.

“Trust me, buddy. Out of everyone at this table, you need this the most.”

Re snickered.

“Vervain, could you and Arach go to Moonshine and take a sniff around, please?” Thor asked.

I wrinkled my nose at the scent of weed and got up. “Gladly.”

Arach stood as well. “This shouldnt take long.”

“Hopefully, we can come up with something while youre gone.” Thor gave me a look that said his hope was slim.

My hopes were pretty skinny too. I was certain I wouldnt find anything at Moonshine.