5. Medusa

T here was a lot Dionysus wasn’t saying about Melina. Back in the day, she was one of his most devout followers. She was like I was when I was a priestess, but to the extreme. There was something we all needed in our lives and a god usually filled that. It was Athena for me and Dionysus for her.

I had my falling out with Athena. Most of the maenads couldn’t handle it when Dionysus and the rest of that pantheon fell out of fashion. They stayed devoted and followed him around. Melina was always the most devoted. She eventually channeled that into computers.

We never knew where she was anymore. She had to keep moving because I think she was technically wanted in literally every country, including this one. Melina could be anywhere, but thankfully, we had several options to get her now.

Dionysus was staring at his phone with his mouth open.

“How the fuck has a maenad been hiding in Bumfuck, Nebraska, without getting arrested for something?”

“Very carefully?” Benji asked.

Some of the younger people in the room really had no idea how crazy things got around Dionysus back in the day. Dionysus still kept up with the actual maenads as much as he did his followers that called themselves that. Most of them had a pretty lengthy rap sheet. They avoided Coalition facilities for the most part because they weren’t using magic when they were arrested. They were fucking shit up the good old-fashioned way.

Basically, it was a lot of vandalism, indecent exposure, solicitation, and public fornication charges. I think one time, they all got together and threw purple dildos at a politician they hated and a few of them got rounded up before they could all scatter. Dionysus had the connections to keep them from spending longer than a night in jail. Most of their rap sheets mysteriously disappeared, courtesy of Melina, which is how Dionysus was able to spring them when they got in trouble again.

“Get comfortable while I go get Melina. She’s wanted by practically every government, a lot of bad guys, and multiple misbehaving stupid rich people. She doesn’t feel safe on planes and sometimes, cars are out, so she calls me if she needs to move again. You’ll probably want to go to the wine cellar and grab a bottle that looks really old because Melina is going to want it. Medusa, you know what she likes.”

We honestly didn’t need to be getting drunk right now, but Dionysus’s lizard brain worked better lubricated, and so did Melina’s. Persephone was a bit of a violent drunk, but frankly, she also would have gotten violent if I told her she couldn’t help raid Dionysus’s extensive wine collection.

It was why she was my bestie.

Persephone wrapped her arm around my shoulder and started leading me away from everyone.

“Dionysus can be annoying sometimes, but he’s always my favorite person when he lets me drink his wine.”

“Hello, Dionysus’s wine? I hope you don’t think you’re leaving us behind,” Alecto said.

“Wouldn’t think of it.”

I opened the door to the wine cellar and led them down. Persephone knew what to expect, but I stood back to watch Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto’s reaction. Dionysus was going to be sad he missed it. Next to making people guess he was a god and which one, the big wine cellar reveal was one of his favorite games.

“Oh, holy shit,” Megaera said.

“I had some expectations about The God of Wine’s cellar, but I wasn’t prepared,” Tisiphone said.

“What’s the vintage on some of this stuff?” Alecto asked.

“Enough that he could sell a few bottles and buy another house like this.”

“Fuck. And he has no problem if we just break it open and drink it?” Alecto asked.

“He didn’t amass his collection to hoard it and think about the vintage. Everything in here is to drink and share. And to show off. He loves showing off his wine collection. Grab several bottles. We’re dealing with the God of Wine and a maenad. There’s always wine when any of them get together and their bodies don’t handle it like the rest of us.”

“Melina sounds like she’d fit in with the furies just fine,” Megaera said.

“Never tell her that. Melina would probably respect the fuck out of everything the furies do once it’s explained to her, but she considers herself a maenad through and through. It would be like someone suggesting you were like the maenads.”

“Are you kidding? I’d kill to have as much fun as the maenads. I did once, and he ruined it,” Alecto said.

I needed more information when she was ready to give it. Alecto seemed a little unhappy that Tisiphone was mated to Kat, Jezebel, and Calamity, and that Lucky and Megaera had a moment. I was going to get her to spill, eventually.

Right now, we needed to focus on the angels.

“Grab as many bottles as you can carry. I have a feeling we’re all going to need it.”