Mithra didn’t like being defied.But then, I’d never met a god who did.
“I don’t offer this to you lightly,” he warned.
“Light, heavy,” I said, “the answer is still no.”
He pulled his shoulders back and scowled.
“Perhaps you didn’t hear me.”Every word fell like a hammer striking concrete.“I have watched Atë manipulate you.I have watched her break and mold you into the instruments she needs to control the power in the spell book.She hasnoright to that power.”
Lula’s expression was fierce, but her voice was steady.“We agree.The book should not be in Atë’s control.”
He nodded like we were on our way to finally signing our lives over to him.
A pen appeared in his hand.It glinted with rare metals and stones bound with ribbons of stars.
“Give your lives to me,” he ordered.“Relinquish the spell book into my care.You will be at my summoning if the book is to be accessed.You will cast the spells within it at my demand.
“In return, I will break the bonds Atë has placed upon you.I will break the contracts Cupid forced you into.I will put an end to the agreements, promises, and deals you have made with all monsters, devils, and demons.
“Give your souls to me and bow to my grace and rule.”
Paper shimmered into existence, glowing on the table between us.
The city and people all seemed more distant as if we were leaving a dream behind us.
Birdsong silenced.The wind died.Colors drained to gray.
Mithra changed too.He was taller, grander, and unsettlingly alien in a way a human could never achieve.His power radiated a tempting perfume that I knew only masked endless corruption.
The look of determination on Lula’s face was the same as mine.
We were going to fight another god, this god.
Again.
We had escaped him once, but I’d been a spirit and had more power to help Lula get away from him.
I wasn’t a spirit now.We didn’t have god-killing weapons.What did we have?
Lu had her knives hidden on her, because she always had her knives hidden on her.
I still had the vampire-killing knife Ricky had given me.
None of our knives would kill a god.
But we were about to find out if they would slow a god down.
I readied myself to hit him with everything I had, to give Lu and Abbi and Lorde as much time as possible to run.
To get free.
“We understand your offer,” I said, leaning forward to rise, one hand reaching toward the pen (which I absolutely was not going to touch), the other curling around the hilt of the knife at my hip.“And our answer is no.”
Mithra towered over us before I could register the motion.His power crackled with lightning.
“You dare…” he bellowed.
But I was moving, ignoring my instinct screaming that this was my death, this was my end.
