Emboldened by the adrenaline pumping through my blood, I moved on to the second phase of my masterful impromptu plan.
“Look alive, dork.” I disengaged my sword, returning it to the Vestments, but with just the perfect twist of my body, sent my right leg careening towards the underside of the book cradled in Quilliam’s arms. My foot connected and sent the book flying far across the car’s hood. It thudded on the street – where it was promptly run over by a passing truck.
Quilliam fell to his knees. “Nooo.”
It served him right. The bastard had tried to roast my ass alive on multiple occasions. Hey, I’m a nephilim, not an angel. I’m allowed to be a bad boy every now and then, especially when it comes to getting back at people who’ve been bad to me first. The world isn’t always black or wh
ite, or even gray. Sometimes it’s about having some fun. Nothing wrong with a little sin or two, right?
My laughter misted into puffs of fog, the sigils on my skin lighting up the dark in my excitement. The boys and I raced each other to our rental car as the night filled with the music of Quilliam J. Abernathy wailing his stupid head off.
Best. Road trip. Ever.
29
Florian slapped his thigh, the clap of flesh on flesh and his uproarious laughter resounding throughout Artemis’s domicile. A nearby copse of trees rustled, flocks of birds twittering huffily as they ascended into the sky, disturbed by the ruckus.
It wasn’t just Florian laughing, of course. Sterling was sliding a finger under his eye, already in tears, and Artemis, though she had no idea who Quilliam was, seemed happy to celebrate our little victories with us. Priscilla shook her head disapprovingly as she doled out beverages, lingering as she handed Sterling a Bloody Mary, examining him with some suspicion. I sipped on a coconut half shell, amused by the whole tableau. This was my family, I thought. These were my friends.
“And then – and then he threw his head back and screamed. ‘Nooo.’” Florian wiped at his cheeks as he chortled. “God, Artemis, you should’ve been there. He was practically crying.”
It was hilarious in the moment, for sure, but thinking back to it only made me happier. So maybe slashing his tires and catapulting his precious tome into oncoming traffic was a childish thing to do. So what? Quilliam was an asshole.
“I’m impressed.” Artemis rose to her feet, running her fingers along the hilt and haft of the sword and staff we’d already collected, both stuck into the earth just outside my hut. “Now you just need to find the third and you’ll be home free.”
I nodded. “More or less. But I’m really not sure what happened there. This thing Arachne wrapped around my head was meant to show me the way. It was Quilliam. He was supposed to have Laevateinn. I was sure of it.”
Artemis rolled her eyes. “Arachne has access to a massive wealth of information, but I’m not sure that I’d trust everything that came out of her mouth a hundred percent. Then again, I’m biased, so what do I know.” The bag of Snacky Yum-Yums in her hand rustled as she stuck her hand in, searching for the last crumbs. “I’m out. Gonna go refresh.”
Sterling grinned at her. “You eat a hell of a lot of those, don’t you? Have you considered a bargain with Loki? He manufactures them. Could be to your benefit.”
She scoffed. “Hah. As if anything to do with Loki could be to anyone’s benefit. You know better than that.” Her eyes flitted up and down his body, and she smiled. “Feel free to hang out here any time you want, Sterling. It’s nice to see you enjoying the sun.”
“Thanks, Artemis.”
The goddess went off in search of more cheesy snacks, and I snuck a look at Sterling as he shut his eyes and lifted his face to the sky. It was the rarest sight, seeing Sterling’s lips curve into a smile that was completely devoid of malice or ill intent. He was happy, just genuinely delighted to be basking in the light of the sun once more.
I should have clarified. Artemis might be the goddess of the moon, but she liked to keep her domicile lit under the gaze of an artificial sun, one so realistic and convincing that you’d be correct for worrying about Sterling bursting into flames just from walking into the place.
Conversely, her brother Apollo’s domicile was plunged into near perpetual night. His home, or so I’ve been told, was located on a beach, an endless stretch of white sand. My guess was that even the entities got bored with the things that were meant to flesh out their portfolios, the symbols of their station. It was interesting to me, getting a firsthand look at how close to human the gods could be.
Yet that didn’t help for squat when it came to Arachne. Was she lying about Laevateinn? As huge an asshole that Quill was, I believed him. He didn’t mess around with weapons because his tendencies leaned towards magic.
Hell, what convinced me was the fact that he didn’t lord things over me. If Quilliam had the sword on his person, I would bet my left nut that he would have bragged and taunted me about it, shortly before attempting to detonate my skull with a fireball.
Or worse, he could have tried something on one of my friends. Sterling, for example. A lot of the myths about vampires simply weren’t true. Yes, you could kill them with a stake through the heart, and yes, sunlight would absolutely incinerate them. But Sterling lived up to his name and wore plenty of silver jewelry, and he was a huge fan of garlic.
I watched him some more, hardly realizing that I was mirroring the smile on his lips. It really was good to see old friends again. His eyes flicked open, and he nearly caught me staring. I looked away quickly, flushing.
“Well, I should go.” He brushed his hair out of his eyes, throwing the sky one last winsome grin. “It’s daytime here, but it’s early morning out in Valero. Sun should be up in a few hours, and I should be heading back to the Boneyard.”
I nodded. “That’s a sound plan.”
He smiled at me again. “You’ve really got a good thing going for you here, Mason. I promise I won’t tell the others that I found you.” His smile fell into a frown. “But you have to swear to me that you’ll take care of yourself, that you’ll at least come and say ‘Hello’ once the heat settles down around you.” He lifted a finger and stabbed it towards my face. “Call. Asher. He misses you.”
I swallowed the little lump that formed in my throat. “I will. I promise.”
Sterling sighed, pushing his fists into his waist, smiling up at the sky. “I hope Artemis wasn’t kidding. I’d love to come hang out here some more. See, I know it isn’t actually the sun, but gods, Mace. I can’t even remember the last time I walked out into the daylight. I can’t even remember the – hey, what’s that?”