31. Dionysus

C assandra was one of the nicest people I knew. She was also beautiful, so I could get why Apollo was so obsessed with her. What he did to her was uncalled for. She never asked to be a seer and when he gave her that power, she only ever tried to use it to help people. Apollo like to pretend he was different, but giving her the ability to see how people’s lives were going to be fucked up, but taking away the ability to help them was the worse thing he could have done to her. And people were cruel to her when she did try. That was what Apollo wanted.

Some of us felt like shit about what happened to her. It took a long time to convince her that we all weren’t like that, but we slowly became friends. She never gave me all the details because she was worried I’d know too much and change something. She only ever gave me enough to do what I needed to do.

Cassandra was the one who told me to visit Hephaestus and introduce myself to his new ward. She wouldn’t tell me why, but I trusted her. Hephaestus’s new ward ended up being Medusa and my mate.

Cassandra probably knew more than she told me when I asked her to help me find Medusa. She couldn’t tell me then, but she might be able to tell me now.

Cassandra, Persephone, and Medusa were good friends. They did girls’ night out a few times a year. Cassandra kept the prophecies to herself unless she could whisper them to Persephone to stop them and Medusa was self aware enough to not get mad if Cassandra told her one about herself, even if she couldn’t help not believing it.

Cassandra probably wanted to see Persephone and Medusa, but my house was currently packed with a lot of people who were never going to believe her unless they heard it from a god. Even Cassandra would have wanted me to just pass the prophecy on rather than having to convince everyone she wasn’t lying after she did it.

I usually wouldn’t have portalled myself into anyone’s living room without calling unless I was trying to start shit, but Cassandra always knew I was coming. She had wine, and she made my favorite cookies. She was sprawled on her couch sipping wine when I showed up.

“Took you long enough.”

“You know I get stupid sometimes.”

“Hrm, yes. Especially where your mate is involved. I can only control the visions when I’m asked, so I didn’t know she’d been taken until you told me. I’ve been checking in since I’m aware now. A lot of your journey needed to happen. You needed to connect with the archangels and Gabriel needed to deliver her message. It was vital that you go to Hell and fetch the angel’s boss. You should have come after, though.”

“I don’t have prophecy magic. I’m all about the orgies and madness. You could have texted.”

“No, it was supposed to happen this way. You’re just one of the few gods I can give a hard time. Persephone is just mean back.”

“That’s fair. I suppose you know what I’m going to ask?”

“There are four relics scattered across the globe that claim to be the Spear of Longinus. They stole all four of them and replaced them with fakes. One of them is real, and it felled the son of a god. It will also kill a god. When it was forged, enough people thought they needed it to, so it does.”

“Fuck,” I said, mopping my face with my hand.

There’d been a god-killing weapon sitting right under our noses in a museum for ages and none of us knew.

“Relax. They don’t know which one works. The one they think works is the wrong one. It’s a whole Raiders of the Lost Ark thing where they think the flashiest, most ornate spear is the god-killing spear and they are wrong. Romans were warriors set on expanding their empire. They made beautiful art, but their weapons were made for killing, not to impress the enemy with its beauty. Classic blunder.”

“So, we just need to destroy the one?”

“Yes, and that kind of weapon needs a special kind of fire that doesn’t exist on this realm. You’re going to need something like Hellfire or Hephaestus to use his god fire. Since Hephaestus is both the God of Fire and Blacksmithing, he’s going to be your ace at destroying the weapon.”

“Which spear are we destroying?”

“That’s the problem. I can’t show you and I can’t draw for shit. Two of the spears are ornate and those two you can avoid. The other two are traditional Roman spears and they are nearly identical because that was the style.

“Battles are my blind spot. I can see what everyone is planning and bringing to it, but with so many people involved, I can’t see the outcome. There are too many variables. One person could make a decision that changes everything.

“This particular battle is too crazy for me to see. You’ve got you and about a million factions of angels. You’ve got the good angels and the bad angels here, but you’ve also got entire choirs back in their realm that could figure out they left at any minute and crash your battle. It’s too much for me to see anything other than you need to focus on the two older Roman spears and get them out of the equation.”

“You’re a lifesaver. Any other tips you can think of?”

“Yes. They are out for blood, but they don’t want you. They can’t banish you without banishing their Father. They don’t want you there. They are trying to find a way to get rid of you, but since they haven’t decided how, I can’t see it yet. You need to get back and make your move because they could very well decide and I won’t have time to text you.”

“Thanks. Do you need anything while I’m here?”

“Yes. Pass the message on to your hybrid mate that his father is alive and well in Louisiana. He’s in a facility that isn’t exactly public. They moved some of the older ones to a compound to basically do slave labor because they’ve given up on curing them or think hard work is going to do it. Tell him I see a sign that says Fort Jackson. It’ll lead him to his father.”

“Persephone and I have both threatened Apollo to lift your curse.”

“I know. His pride is still hurt even now. He’s never going to lift it because he’ll have to admit being wrong.”

“Come to dinner and meet my mates when this is all over?”

“I’d love to. Now, shoo. You’ve got work to do.”

I grabbed a handful of cookies with no shame. She always made them for me and they were delicious. I thanked Cassandra again and got myself home.