Page 43 of Battle of Witches
Now, at this point in the story, Stewart finally realized he was well and truly fucked. Gryphons were strong enough to carry a full-sized statue on their backs, but why would he at this point? If she was still alive in there, only another god could turn her back, and Loki probably had them all on speed dial.
Stewart bucked her off, and Loki released him to fly off. I was surprised when Loki caught the statue and let it hover above the ground. The grass under my feet was disturbed, but Loki stepped in.
“Okay, so this bitch stressed out my girlfriend and cursed my boyfriend. So, take your vengeance and do what you will.”
Oh, damn. I loved this man. He turned her to stone, but he still saved Killian and me some. We could communicate telepathically when he was a bat. We still could, but now that he had his body back, we could do it with just a look. He slipped his hand in mine, and I knew exactly what spell we were going to use. He taught it to me when I learned better control over my magic after it came to me.
I’d actually never gotten to use this spell before when it counted. It was a killing spell, so I only ever practiced it on empty cans and bags of flour. I hadexcellentaim. Red magic blew out of our hands and hit the statue in the chest. Asfrid shattered, and only then did Loki let the pieces drop.
He walked over and picked up a piece of the statue. Loki knelt before me with a smirk.
“My queen, I give you one Viking-hybrid head for your museum.”
I was totally fucking him for that when we got home. As far as gifts went, I didn’t have one of those, and it was perfect.
Kaine came charging to the front of the house alone. The rest of his agents must have been dealing with the shitshow in the back.
“I’m guessing you had no other option thanthat?And who did you blow up in the basement?”
“She was two seconds away from permanently wrecking the ley lines here. If she had gotten away, Stewart probably would have taken her to New Orleans where the ley lines are similar.”
“Who the fuck is Stewart?”
“I think Asfrid called him Duke?” Bjorn said.
“Duke, I know. He’s probably the sanest out of this group and the most likely to be saved. He and his mate were in the service. They had four months before they got out when she died in combat. Duke was wrecked after that and took up with Scooter when he got home. I always thought he'd eventually see the light. You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“Nah, but I’m not going to post this video I took. No one should lose their mate,” Loki said. “Ididblow up Scooter, though. He came down to the basement instead of Asfrid. He was going to force Wyatt’s mates to take her potion by threatening to give it to the toddler. I saw the look on his face. I wouldn’t have put it past him to drug a baby. Honestly, I probably did you a favor.”
He probably did. I couldn’t understand why the gryphon was acting the way he did until Kaine gave me the context, but if Loki said he saw something in Scooter’s eyes, I trusted him.
“Fine. This is the story, and if anyone asks, Scooter surprised you when you were disposing of the last bomb, and it accidentally went off. I mean it, Loki.”
Before Loki could protest or agree, a big cloud of black smoke appeared next to him and eventually settled itself into the form of a seven-foot-tall god. This one was tall and slim and a bit androgynous. Their hair was inky black and shaved on the sides, but long on top. They had this whole goth vibe going on with black-leather trousers and a black trench coat. Their eyeliner game was on par with Balthazar. Loki shrieked and tackled them.
“Death!”
So, this was Death. I adored their whole vibe.
“Hi, Loki. I’m going by Ezra now, and my pronouns are they/them.”
Loki helped Ezra up, and Reyson pulled them into a giant bear hug. As much as they always brought up the money Ezra owed them, they didn’t bring it up now.
“What are you doing here, old friend?”
“I came for her,” Ezra said, pointing to the bushes. “Your creation’s ghost is hiding over there, trying to figure out a way to come back again. You need to do the rites so I can take her where she belongs. This particular essence is nasty every time it gets reborn. If they can’t learn and be better when they enter a new body, I take them out of the equation. This one has a special jar with her name on it in my realm. So, do the rites, Loki.”
“You can’t just take her?”
“Long story, little witch.”
“I’ll do the rites. Come back and eat dinner with us. You can explain all that to my girlfriend. She loves that kind of stuff. And I want to see my kids.”
“So, Freya finally told you. Invite her, too. She can’t pull off this little body-hopping thing without me, so I’ve been quietly finding her bodies and moving her essence until she decides she doesn’t want to do that anymore. We haven’t actually spoken in ages, and I miss her.”
“How many of you assholes are there here, anyway?” Kaine growled.
Ezra bowed his head to Kaine.
