Page 43 of Winners, Losers, and Champagne Kisses
Pax transfigured the silver and then all Hell broke loose. Michael decided to work through some shit by flying over the prison and bombing the hell out of the roof. That was one way to take the diffusion system out. The gods couldn’t even see the building and the rest of us couldn’t go inside without losing our magic.
It was too dangerous to send Michael. The humans were onto the divide among the angels and the supernaturals wouldn’t know he was on their side. This worked, too.
The rest of my squad realized it was on and joined us. The humans realize they were under attack and started spilling out of the doors. These weren’t fake priests and nuns. These were more like prison guards and they were armed. Bullets wouldn’t do much, but I was guessing those guns shot whatever completely knocked us out and let them transport us several states to wake up with no memories.
But we all knew that and were prepared for it. Cas was already shifted and going human bowling. The furies were invading minds, and the humans were turning on each other. Myglorious mate had her snakes out. She was fucking up mindsandturning people to stone. Total boner there.
But I was trying not to tear up. My mom and I were poofing behind the enemy and snapping their necks together for the first time ever. Total bonding moment. Hopefully, we’d get to make more memories like this for me to treasure forever.
I caught a look at Medusa over the shoulder of some asshole whose head I was about to rip off. I knew she could handle hand to hand combat, but she was using her long-range gifts right now. And taking photos of me and my mom going on a killing spree so I could make a scrap book.
My baby pictures were probably lost, and I’d missed so many memories, but this scrap book would mean a lot to both of us. Medusa was making sure it happened.
The supernaturals inside realized all the shit was going down outside. Maybe they realized it was a rescue, or they knew this was illegal all along, but they started peeking their heads out. They didn’t have their magic, but they could sense that we did and that we were winning.
It might take a while for them to get their magic back, but they weren’t totally helpless. Most of them were bigger than the average human and they had them doing manual labor, so their bodies were stronger than the average Coalition victim.
They joined the fight, and that’s when I heard my dad roar my mom’s name. I guess he realized we were here. My mom poofed her way to him immediately, and I joined her.
“Hey, Dad. Fancy killing people with us?” I asked, snapping a neck.
“Benji?”
“The family is back together,” Mom said, ripping some dude’s head off.
I hoped Medusa got one of all of us killing together for the scrapbook. All the guards were dead, and I didn’t feel bad aboutthat in the slightest. Cas shifted back and no one here was going to get all prudish about a naked bear shifter covered in blood. That was just Tuesday for a supernatural.
“Is there anyone else inside who needs help? If we can air the place out, the rest of us can follow to help you get them out. Oh, and that angel up there is on our side. The angels who set the Coalition in motion are dead and he also helped with that. Any angel you see on Earth from now on had nothing to do with the Coalition and are trying to help us. Understood?”
“Anyone who’s still inside was being treated for exhaustion,” Dad said. “They found out there was a vein of Lithium on this land and they moved us here to mine it for free. They feed us awful food that’s just enough to keep us going, but it’s never what we need for our race.
“We’re given one bottle of water to last for a ten-hour shift and it’s not enough for the Louisiana heat. People get dehydrated all the time. They stick them in a bed, hook them up to an IV, and put them back to work immediately. We’ll get them. No sense for the people who rescued us to lose their magic. Ours is going to come back, right?”
“In about two days,” Pax swore.
My dad and my mom had always been my heroes. The fact that my dad was willing to go back in there to save people just elevated that. He didn’t go back in right away. He stopped and gave my mom a scorching kiss and then hugged me so tight, I could barely breathe.
Cas was already in daddy mode and looking to take care of everyone. He was offering his resources and Hera’s to get people back where they needed to be. Hera at least acknowledged that Dionysus wanted nothing to do with her, so Athena was the point of contact for her organization.
Several people didn’t know they were in Louisiana. They didn’t really know where they were and the guards refused totell them. My dad would have known and told them, but I guess I could see why they wouldn’t believe him. He once told me if I was bad in December, Krampus was going to put me in a sack and beat me with a stick, so he did lie sometimes. Shit, did someone self actualize fucking Krampus?
“Come home with me, Mom. We live in an isolated supernatural community, but it’s close enough to civilization that we can get anything we want. There are tons of space for shifters to run and it’s beautiful.”
“You don’t have to sell us, Benji. We want to be where you are. We missed so much. We aren’t going to be helicopter parents, but I want you where I can see you. I don’t have to ask your father. We’ve always been on the same page and been able to finish each other’s sentences.”
They had. That feeling that was always in the pit of my stomach was finally gone. I’d met our center, my parents were alive, and I guess I’d finally killed the right people because I feltloadsbetter.
Alot of the people we busted out of the secret lithium mine chose to leave with Athena and use Hera’s resources to find their families. The rest came home with us. Cas must have sent a text in secret because when we portalled back, there was a welcoming committee to show everyone to their new homes and the rest of the town was throwing this massive celebration that the Coalition was finally gone.
Michael looked wholly uncomfortable but Cas just clapped him on the back.
“Go get Yahweh and the rest of the angels. Everyone knows you helped, and that you had nothing to do with what happened to us. You deserve to celebrate part of your mess being over, too.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. You need it and so do we. You need to relax and have fun. Everyone needs to learn that not all of you are bad. I cantellthem that it was one faction of angels that did all of this, but it would be better if they could meet you and put a face to the resistance.”
“Gotcha. I’ll be back.”
