Into the Void (The Godhunter, Book 10) (31 page)

“
Fill ar ais chun na beatha,” I said as I handed Odin the glowing cord.

As soon as Odin took the cord, he went zipping back to his new body like the coyote on an episode of Bugs Bunny. I was surprised there wasn't a smoke outline of him left behind.

I grinned and sped off after him, flying through the Aether and then into the God Realm at top speed. I came back to the circle and hovered above it all, seeing that Luke was already sitting up on his pallet, waiting for us, but Mrs. E was still gone. I wasn't worried, I hoped she found Mr. T and had the peace of knowing where he was.

I went to the golden cord above my body and used it to pull myself down. Then I was coming up through the vibrations and opening my eyes to the real world once again. I rolled from the pallet and crawled over the few inches that separated Griffin from me.
Odin
, I mean.

He was there, I could already feel the difference, and when I glanced up at Teharon, he gave me a soft smile and a nod. Things had gone smoothly. I laid my hands on Odin's chest and then trailed one up to his cheek. His eyelids fluttered and then opened to reveal a pair of peacock-blue eyes. I inhaled sharply, my eyes filling with tears to see the evidence that my magic had worked. He was back.

“Odin?” I asked as those eyes focused on me.

A little frown appeared between those beautiful eyes. He cocked his head a little and then finally spoke.

“Who are you?”

Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in the Godhunter Series:

Out of the Darkness

Sometimes having multiple lovers was like living in an erotic novel but most of the time it was a juggling act that had no sexual connotations at all. It could get a bit annoying actually.

“
You smell like feathers,” Arach said as I reappeared in our bedroom at Castle Aithinne. “Dark feathers.”

“
Now that's just ridiculous,” I shook my head at him. “You can't smell colors.”

“
Sure I can,” he lifted his elegant nose into the air, “dark feathers are more musky.”

“
Musky?” I narrowed my eyes on him. “Musk is a scent limited to furred animals, it doesn't lend itself to feathers. You're full of it.”

“
Were you with the angel or not?” He huffed and leaned back against the wall with crossed arms.

“
Yes, I was just with Azrael,” I poked him in the chest. “Stop that, you've got the best end of this deal, remember?”

“
Yes, I remember,” his hand shot out and he pulled me up against his chest. “So how's our feathered friend doing?”

“
Well, I just found out his father is Lucifer,” I shrugged. “I got to meet him, he looks just like Az.”

“
Lucifer? The one whose book you told me about?”

“
That's him,” I bit Arach's bottom lip because it was still sticking out in a pout. “He's going to help me get into the Void.”

“
Are you sure it's safe?”

“
I'll need to do some training,” I nodded. “I have to learn how to manipulate energy and then astral project but then it should be perfectly safe.”

“
Which means
not at all
,” he sighed. “What does he want in return?”

“
In return for what?”

“
For teaching you how to reach the Void,” Arach frowned at me. “He must want something for the knowledge.”

“
He didn't ask for anything,” I thought about it. “All he asked was to be allowed to see me manipulate my territory when I got good enough to do so and if that's payment, then so be it.”

“
Hmm, well be wary of him too,” Arach brushed back the strands of my hair that had wandered between us. “He may be Azrael's father but he's still the Devil.”

“
I promise I'll be careful around Satan, okay?”

“
Okay,” he laughed and let me go.

“
Now, what would you say to having a dragon visit us?”

“
A what?” His dragon eyes went wide.

“
A dragon, not a dragon-sidhe, just a regular old dragon,” I shrugged. “His name is Salem and he guards the gate to Hell. Luke said he could take a vacation and I suggested he come to Faerie and go flying with us. What do you think? You think the High King will mind?”

“
I... who's Luke?”

“
Oh, Luke as in short for Lucifer.”

“
Ah,” he shook his head. “A dragon, really? I would love to meet him and I don't think King Cian would have a problem with it. I thought they'd died out, back when we almost did.”

“
The gods offered sanctuary to the survivors,” I went to the table near our bedroom window and sat down. The view of Faerie never got old for me. A living forest of massive trees the size of skyscrapers, surrounded by four elemental kingdoms. It was breathtaking. “I've met two already. One was in Niflheim, he was guarding Hvergelmir, the Well of Souls. I met him before I met you. Then I met Salem today. He's a very pretty green.”

“
The other kingdoms will quake in fear to see three dragons in the sky above them,” Arach looked positively gleeful. “When shall we expect him?”

“
I have no idea,” I laughed. “You know that time thing. He's just left the God Realm, so sometime in the future, but I thought I'd better come back and get approval before he actually arrives.”

“
Well, if he's just left, we should probably see him in about ten years or so.”

“
Excuse me?” I gaped at him.

“
I've been trying to keep track of your visits and if my calculations are correct, we are at the equivalent of your July twenty-seventh, and now I'm assuming you stayed your usual two months this last time?”

“
Three,” I whispered.

“
Okay, three,” he shook his head. “Then if you keep to your schedule of staying a couple of months here as well as there, you gain only two days in the God Realm with the two months you stay here and so... yes in about ten years fey time we shall expect his arrival.”

“
I guess I needn't have rushed,” I huffed a laugh. “I had no idea the time had gotten so skewed with my using the ring.”

“
Magic has a way of extracting payment,” Arach shrugged. “It makes no difference. Ten years is a blink of the eye.”

“
I guess.”

“
However, you still should have asked permission of the High King before telling Salem he could come.”

“
I am asking permission first,” I grinned. “Technically.”

“
Let's just mirror the High King,” he sighed and turned toward the dressing table along the wall.

Author's Note

Nelson Mandela passed away while I was writing this book. I debated with myself, over and over on whether to include his funeral in my story. I didn't want to be yet another person profiting from a good man's name. A man with such courage and resilience that I could only aspire to it within my fiction. No matter how good my imagination is, it's no match for such profound reality.

In the end, I found it impossible to exclude a tribute to him from my novel, as one of my favorite characters, Fallon, would have obviously been affected by Mandela's death. I felt the loss keenly through him and I hope that you did as well, that you took it for the respectful nod it was intended to be and not an unfeeling dramatic ploy. May Mandela find the peace that he so richly deserves.

About the Author

Amy Sumida lives on an island in the Pacific Ocean where gods can still be found. She sleeps in a fairy bed, high in the air, with two gravity-defying felines and upon waking, enjoys stabbing people with little needles, over and over, under the guise of making pretty pictures on their skin. She, like Vervain, has no filter but has been fortunate enough to find friends who appreciate this... or at least tell her they do. She aspires to someday become a crazy cat lady, sitting on her rocker on her front porch and guarding her precious kitties with a shotgun loaded with rock salt. She bellydances and paints pictures on her walls but is happiest with her nose stuck in a book, her mind in a different world than this one, filled with fantastical men who unfortunately don't exist in our mundane reality. Thank the gods for fantasy.

You can find her on facebook under “The Godhunter Series”, on twitter under her name(though she admits that she doesn't tweet a lot), on Goodreads.com where you can read her blog, on her Author Page at Amazon(her goodreads blog posts here as well, at her website:

https://sites.google.com/site/authoramysumida/home?pli=1

and you can find her entire collection of books, along with some personal recommendations, at her Amazon store:

https://sites.google.com/site/authoramysumida/home?pli=1