Page 71 of Painless
“I didn’t mean—”
He flinched with a hiss, then stilled. I had most likely probed closed to a nerve with my tweezers. It was impossible for the local anesthesia to reach absolutely everywhere. His back was such a mess regardless, I no longer could tell where I had numbed him or not.
“You’re right,” he finally voiced softly. “That was messed up of me to say. Sorry, babe. My head’s all messed up.” He leaned forward, placing his head in his hands. “I keep thinking I saw, or ratherheard,Hades.”
“He was barking his head off for a while,” I mumbled absently, steadfast on my task. The stainless steel pan nearby was quickly filling up with dead chunks of Jandro.
“No, I mean like,speakingto me. As a person.”
I froze, my tweezers hovering in midair. The memory of a man-shaped apparition sitting at the end of the bed came to the forefront of my mind.
“What did he say?”
“That it wasn’t my time yet.” Jandro raised his head, resting his chin on his hands. “He told me I had a choice—let go or fight. He would open the gates for me if I let go, but it would be too early.” My highly-medicated lover turned to look at me over his shoulder, pupils wide. “Then Freyja shows up and agrees with him. How much oxygen did I have to lose to see that shit?”
“Freyja?” I squeaked. “MyFreyja talked to you?”
“Well, not your cat. It was some lady. But all I could see was a rough outline, like through fog.”
“What did she say?” I demanded, moving in front of him. “Whatexactlydid she say, Jandro?”
“Um,” he scratched his head. “I had a lot of love to give and beautiful kids to make, so I couldn’t die yet. Something along those lines.”
“Love and fertility,” I realized, muttering the words under my breath.
Reaper had to know about this. I knew he went to see if Shadow had any books on the gods who seemed to present themselves to us. It was right before the attack and I didn’t have the chance to ask if he found out anything. Even without knowing, I had no doubt that Jandro really did communicate with Hades and Freyja on the brink of death. I suspected it for weeks, and this confirmed it.
Gods were talking to us. And protecting us.
“Mariposita,”Jandro cooed, reaching for my hands. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I let out a sheepish laugh, closing my fingers around his. “I don’t even know how to begin to explain this to you—”
“Something’s watching out for us, huh?” he whispered. “Something bigger than us. And they came to us through those animals following you all around.”
I blinked at him. “How did you—”
“Reaper doesn’t keep anything from me. I’ve noticed the strange things here and there. Plus,” he smirked, “I talked to the source myself. How many guys can say that?”
“Reaper and I have heard Hades,” I admitted. “I’ve heard Freyja only once. Guess I’m just waiting for Horus to say hello now.”
“Yeah, he was strangely absent from the conversation,” Jandro mused. “But yeah, don’t askhowI know, but they were real, Mari. I joke about losing oxygen, but they were as real as you or me.”
“And if it weren’t for them,” I leaned in close, “you might not be here now to hear how pissed off I am.”
“Still, huh?” he chuckled. “I take it you don’t want to practice making some beautiful kids right now?”
“No.” I moved to his back and picked up my tweezers, resuming my cleaning of his burn.
“No? Your goddess said we should!”
“Don’t care. Still mad.”
“That’s alright, babe.” He turned, aiming a kiss at me. “You can hate-fuck me later.”
Twenty-Three
GUNNER
