10. Cas

M edusa had never been sexier than when she faced down all those angels and gave them a cheeky hello, boys. I could tell they thought they’d be dealing with regular supernaturals now that the gods were gone. Which was weird because they shouldn’t have known the gorgeous woman with long, brown hair and green eyes was Medusa, but we’d been pretty clear the furies were with us.

I guess they didn’t like the idea of dealing with the furies and us while keeping their eyes closed because of Medusa. It was disappointing that we couldn’t keep Hannibal and Saul out of their hands, but if we could figure out how to contain one of the angels Medusa turned to stone, then we could find out why they started all of this and what their end goal was.

We weren’t dealing with dumb angels. They knew exactly how to get Dionysus and the rest of the gods out of their way and they knew how to banish Benji. Literally, as soon as Medusa disrupted the sigil, our god friends were back.

The prison guards who hadn’t run came running back in to take in the damage. They looked horrified.

“Fuck. They can transfer the prisoners, but they might not have jobs for us due to space. If they do, we might have to go out of state. Some of us need to be close to family and we like the schools our kids are in.”

Persephone liked to show up to battle in pink sundresses with some pretty deranged patterns. Like, today, it appeared to be a bunch of pixies with their wings out having an orgy and there was glitter in the print. I would never ask because she was Medusa’s bestie and frankly, she scared me a little.

“Hi, I’m actually a God of Rebirth. We’ve got a siren, a vampire, and an imp outside who took care of the escapees. They won’t wake for a while. If you all step outside, I can repair the prison like it was new. I can also add a few additions you’re probably waiting for red tape and budget cuts to come through on.”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear.”

We all turned and a very stern, well-dressed woman was picking through the rubble. She introduced herself as the warden.

“This is a shit show. I met your women outside. They subdued every prisoner that was trying to escape. I want a siren, vampire, and imp in every prison. Are they looking for jobs? I want to hire them. They are highly effective. The press is out there and it’s already going to be godawful those two assholes escaped. Pick someone. I want a guard and someone from the supernatural group to give a speech on how you worked together to stop this mess. I don’t give a shit who, but if you fuck this up for me, you’re fired, even if you don’t work for me.”

“I’ll do it,” Medusa said.

Good for her. There was nothing sexier than a woman taking charge. The guards looked like they were about to draw straws because they were terrified of the warden. She looked like she knew this, too. She just rolled her eyes.

“Lewis Turner, your daddy was a preacher and I know you do open mic at the coffee shop. You can do this.”

Lewis looked like he was shocked she bothered learning that about him, but the vote of confidence squared his shoulders and he was ready.

“I won’t let you down, Warden Doyle.”

“I know you won’t. I’ve seen your set. You, I don’t know. Are you going to fuck this up for me?”

“Medusa. That Medusa. Former priestess to Athena. I’ve heard all the great Greek philosophers speak and plenty that came after.”

“I’d ask you to prove it, but the statues speak for themselves. Is someone going to do something about that? They creep me out and I don’t want them in my jail.”

“We’ll be taking them for questioning,” Pax said.

“That’s fucked up and I don’t want to know,” Warden Doyle said. “The longer you leave the press waiting, the more time they have to think up questions to throw you off your game. You’ll want the big god show fixing the prison after. We were waiting on funding for a track for the prisoners to run on and a library.

“If you could, slip in that I made that happen via god magic because the bureaucrats treat prisoners worse than hamsters and don’t think they need any kind of enrichment. It cuts down on the violence. Fucking idiots. Anyway, we can exit out of the gigantic hole in my prison.”

Warden Doyle was a hell of a woman and our little monster was up to something. She’d been getting kicked down and getting right back up again for thousands of years. Most people would have let themselves fade by now, but our center was a fighter.

The Fates had been preparing her for this and Medusa was out swinging. I knew that look on her face. She’d been plotting.

Whatever she intended to say was going to be glorious.