My husbands and I gaped at the avian display, unsure of what to do. We needed the snake alive but hurting these owls seemed wrong—we had a common enemy after all. And who the hell were they anyway? They couldn't be normal owls. First of all, I'd never heard of owls traveling in a flock. They're solitary, aren't they? Predator birds and opportunistic hunters. They'll eat anything, even snakes. And it looked as if they were starving.
The black snake let out a pitiful cry and vanished. No, not vanished. He hadn't traced, he had shrunk. I caught the movement as he scurried into the grass. So did the owls. They chased the shrunken snake but then suddenly swooped upward, their screeches sounding furious—thwarted. The owl flock ascended, then flew away as quickly as they had arrived.
I ran forward in the direction the snake had gone, heading for the spot where the owls had given up. Sure enough, there was a tunnel there. A large tunnel, though it wasn't large enough for the owls to fly through. I stared at the smooth sides of the hole—thoughts of owls and earth filling my head. My men and Austin joined me and we all stared into the earth.
“Does that strike you as odd?” I asked.
“That a giant snake caused an earthquake, spoke to you, then was attacked by a whole mess of owls?” Austin asked sarcastically. “No, nothing odd there.”
“I meant the tunnel.” I waved a hand at it, then crouched to run that same hand along the inside. “It's smooth. He didn't dig this.”
Odin crouched beside me and touched the earth too. “He shifted the soil. That's why the earth shook.”
“He's a god who can move earth,” I murmured.
“Is that important?” Austin asked.
“It helps,” I said as I stood up. “Sometimes you can find a god by knowing what his magic is. There are bound to be many earth gods but this one is also a snake.”
“You're narrowing down the suspects,” Austin said in approval. “That's what detectives do.”
“That's what god hunters do too,” I said with a smirk. “But right now, I'm hunting a different snake god—one with star magic instead of earth.”
“It's time to get Viper back,” Trevor snarled.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“There you are!” I caught Viper's scent.
Odin had traced us to the spot where he'd come out of the tunnel. Before we left his house, I took Austin to Pride Palace. It's never a good thing when a bad god knows where you live. Believe me, I've been there. I also picked up Kirill and some of the Intare to bring back with me. Odin is powerful enough that he could draw all of us through the Aether with him in one go so he didn't have to make multiple trips.
“This way,” I said as I started after Viper's trail.
Since we were all under a glamour of invisibility, my words were a little silly. We had formed a chain just like we had to trace—each of us holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of us. Except for me, of course, since I was in the lead.
We began in a wooded area just outside the little town of Elgin and went straight into a historic district. It had a distinctly old west feel despite the modern lampposts and the traffic lights that dangled from cables strung between brick buildings. I don't know if it was the architecture or the antique signs or what that made it seem as if we were on the set of a John Wayne film. Maybe it was the two-foot-high, hand-painted, white, block letters proclaiming DRY GOODS above a storefront. Whatever the case, I half expected a tumbleweed to roll by.
It was getting late and the streets were deserted. The town was a bit larger than Lexington, but we'd yet to pass a bar. There had to be one around there somewhere. I've yet to visit a town in America that didn't have at least one bar. Viper's trail led me past a smokehouse and a Mexican restaurant, both closed. I ignored the spicy odors that hung in the air and focused on the musky scent of my lover. It led me to a steel door set into the back of a brick building. There were no businesses in the building, only a sign declaring that it was available for rent. I dropped my glamour and waved toward the door.
“It's locked. Opening it will likely cause enough noise to alert them to our presence.” I stared at the empty space behind me expectantly.
The others dropped their glamours too. No sense in bothering with them at that point. I suppose we could have bought ourselves a little more time as far as sneaking up on the snakes went but once we engaged in battle, we'd have to reveal ourselves so that we didn't catch each other in the crossfire.
“Allow me.” Odin stepped forward and yanked the door open.
As I suspected, the lock screeched something fierce as it broke. We stormed inside while the echoes died down. The interior was dark, dusty, and broken up into several rooms. All of the rooms were empty but the corridor led to a storage room. The lights were on and a whirring came from the back corner. One of those freezers with the double doors that convenience stores use to store ice was the source of the sound.
Between the freezer and us stood a large group of people. They had dark skin, eyes, and hair with slim builds. I'd guess them to be either African, Haitian, or possibly Egyptian. I had a sudden image of the fire-spitting snakes that guarded the gates in Aaru and wondered if our enemies were closer to us than we knew. Could one of Re's people have betrayed him?
There were a good forty or so snake-shifters facing us, but I wasn't worried. I knew we'd win; Viper's life depended on it. It was only a question ofhowthese snakes were going to die, not if. I could use fire but in such close quarters, I could injure one of my own. Better to go with Lunacy, from my Moon magic, or simply tear them apart with my dragon claws. I opted for the hands-on approach since I was so very,verypissed.
I flung my hands down—a move that used to release blades from a pair of Atlantean gloves I appropriated from the first god I killed, but now real claws sprung from my fingertips—dragon claws. The snake-shifters transformed as the rest of my group made their battle preparations. My Intare became lions while Kirill and Trevor took their were-forms. Azrael went Death Angel, Odin's hands started to glow, and Re's whole body started to shine. I grinned at the soon-to-be-dead snakes.
Then someone broke the tall, mullioned window at the back of the room.
Every head swung toward the window. A man in a leather jacket knocked away the remaining shards of glass with a crowbar, then a bunch of owls flew through the opening.
“Who the hell are these birds?” I muttered as I launched myself forward and started killing snakes.
