The Immortals (41 page)

“That’s that, then,” Dennis said, yawning. “Sorry, Orion. Guess your plan didn’t work. Seems we’re not quite as desperate as you thought. Maybe try again in another hundred years or so.”

“Now can we kill him?” Dash asked, spinning his pistols like a gunslinger.

“He doesn’t look very dangerous,” Theo interjected. “Shouldn’t we just turn him over to the police?”

Selene looked at him incredulously. “You would spare the man who ordered your death? Who killed Helen?”

“He’s unarmed. Helpless. I don’t believe in vengeance killing.”

“What do you say about that, Orion?” asked the Smith, tearing the tape from the Hunter’s mouth. “This man would show you mercy, even now.”

But Orion just spat at the ground before Theo’s feet. “Don’t do me any favors, Makarites. I’m one god you don’t understand.” With a cry of pain and fury, he twisted free of the wall, the arrows’ fletching tearing great wounds in his wrists. He stumbled forward, drenched in blood, and dove toward the cave’s mouth. Moving with surprising speed, Dennis swung his thyrsus at Orion’s head, just as the Smith launched his hammer through the air. With a hollow thud, the heavy wooden staff connected with his skull, sending Orion sprawling on the ground, while the hammer struck him in the chest with an audible crack of breaking ribs. Orion fell with one arm flung behind him and the other trapped beneath his body. He lifted his head, his eyes unfocused, and let out a low moan. Dennis lowered his thyrsus with a smug smile.

Orion’s face remained slack, but his left arm whipped out suddenly, reaching for his fallen sword. “Watch out!” Theo cried. He grabbed Selene’s bow off the ground while she yanked an arrow from Bill Webb’s fallen body. Just as the Hunter rose to his feet, Theo tossed her the weapon, his green eyes bright with urgency. Whatever hesitation he’d shown before had vanished. He might not believe in killing for revenge, but he would do anything to protect the people he loved.

Once before, Selene had killed Orion in a wild rage, only to regret it for the rest of her life. This time, as she nocked the
divine arrow to her bowstring, her heart was stone within her breast. There would be no coming back for the Hunter, not with his father Poseidon out of reach. The thought gave her only comfort. She sent a golden shaft straight through his heart.

He blinked once, twice, and the sword slid from his fingers to clatter upon the stone. He swayed on his feet and looked up at her—his immortal love, his eternal Huntress. His face softened. His hate dissolved. Only anguish remained.

He sank to the ground, his dark eyes still glued on Selene, even as they clouded over. She knelt by his side and took his hand in hers. The gleaming gold and silver arrows jutted from his flesh in a parody of divine radiance. For a last few breaths, his mouth moved with a dry clacking sound, unable to form words of entreaty or accusation. Selene fought the grief that nipped at the edges of her composure as she watched an old dream die.

“I know,” she said softly. “You killed for love. So did I.” With a last, choking breath, he was gone.
I forgive you,
she admitted.
And I forgive myself.
Gently, she touched his eyelids, closing forever the gaze that had once captured her heart.

Theo sat with his back against a tree for the next two hours, watching five mostly immortal Olympian gods cover up a crime scene. First Hermes had dashed off into the woods. Minutes later, he returned, his body blurring with speed before he came to an easy halt, casually brushing a few leaves from his impeccable linen suit and holding a shovel no doubt illegally procured from a park ranger’s storage shed. Dionysus gave him a sardonic golf clap upon his return. Theo was finding it surprisingly easy to think of his old roommate as the Wine Giver. It made more sense than many of Dennis’s other exploits.

Between the shovel and Hippolyta’s strong claws, it didn’t take them long to dig a ditch deep in the woods. They laid Everett’s body—
Orion’s
body—carefully inside. Hephaestus the Smith did something uncanny with a match and a jar of black goo that made the corpse burn nearly smokelessly. At Selene’s direction—and with a little help from Dionysus, God of Wild Vines—they made the entire area look untouched and natural once again. Hermes and Selene, with their experience on the police force, inspected the cave and wiped any prints that would indicate someone other than the professors and Everett had been
there. They removed the gold and silver arrows and Orion’s bronze sword, but left the professors’ knives. Before they burned the corpse, they pressed Orion’s fingers against the knives’ handles. Theo would explain that the professors had taken him to the cave, but he’d managed to escape before the ritual began. The cops would blame Everett Halloran, the mysteriously missing classicist, for killing his colleagues as part of their cult.
That much is true, anyway,
Theo thought.
Everett’s the one who really killed them, with his flattery and his promises. They were decent men once. Or at least, they weren’t evil. Soon, I’ll mourn them all. But right now, I’m just glad it’s over.

Theo felt a little lame for not helping with all the burning and digging, but he
had
just died and been brought back to life. And they were gods, after all.

Finally, as the Olympians placed the final shrubs and branches on Orion’s grave, the sky grew light. Now Selene sat beside him, a scant two feet away, her head thrown back against the trunk of a neighboring tree, her eyes ringed in dark circles. New lines creased her forehead. She wouldn’t look at Theo.

“It’s almost dawn,” Theo said quietly. “The park crew will be here soon.”

She nodded wearily.

“Artemis?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?” he asked a little giddily. “Isn’t that your name?” It wasn’t every day that Olympians stepped out of myth to stand beside him. It would mean reworking all his lectures on the “real” meaning of myths, but he’d deal with the philosophical ramifications later. For now, he might as well just enjoy it.

“That’s the name of a goddess,” Selene murmured. “I haven’t been a goddess in a long time. Right now, I barely feel human.” She raised a hand to the new streak of white in her black hair.

“You feel exhausted, and overwhelmed, and like you can barely stand?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s exactly what being human feels like most of the time,” he said with a laugh.

“I hate it.”

“You’d rather have let Orion turn you back into a goddess?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

She finally met his eyes. “No. You knew, didn’t you, that I hadn’t really gone back to him?”

“I knew you weren’t the type of woman to forgive someone who’d killed so many innocent people. And I’d begun to suspect, although I still couldn’t believe it, that you weren’t really an ordinary woman at all.”

“What gave me away?” A hint of a smile brushed her lips.

“Hmmm. The talking to mice? Breaking steel handcuffs? Bringing me back from the dead? Something like that.”

“I don’t think I’ll be performing many supernatural feats again anytime soon. That was my last hurrah for a while. Maybe forever.”

He looked again at the white in her hair, the new creases around her mouth. “It weakened you to bring me back, didn’t it? Without the sacrifice…”

“You died. I think we’re even.”

He laughed at her rueful smirk.
If she can smile, even when her entire future is in doubt, then I may have finally met my match.

“In the cave…” he began. She looked away from him, but he pressed on. “You said you wanted me to kiss you.”

“I kissed you before, don’t you remember?”

“Doesn’t count. I was almost dead, so I couldn’t really enjoy it.”

Her hands were shaking. “I’ve been lying to you all this time.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have believed the truth, so I can’t blame you.”

“I don’t even know what the truth
is
anymore. I’m not a goddess. I’m not quite human. I’ve lived forever and sometimes still feel like a child.”

“I know enough. I know you’d do anything to help a friend. I know you’re brave and wild and lovely, and that you saw things in me I didn’t know were there.”

“Don’t you see how dangerous I am?” She gestured to the cave. “Look what happened to the last man I was with.”

“I think I can learn from his mistakes. You know… don’t become a serial killer. Don’t piss off your twin brother. Don’t try to become immortal. I’m a quick study.”

Selene started laughing. That beautiful, embarrassing honk, mixed with equal parts tears.

“Hey, Relentless One, you haven’t answered my question.”

She turned and gazed at him. Her silver eyes could still strike him speechless. Taking his face in her hands, she ran a thumb across his lips. Then she kissed him very lightly. “How’s that for an answer?”

“Almost perfect.”

“Almost?” She frowned.

He wrapped her in his arms and drew her close, ignoring the dull ache of the wound in his chest, and kissed her with all the passion and relief of a hero finally returned home.

Day Ten.
Plemochoai.
Libations.

Sunset gilded the cross streets. New York glowed pink and orange, the buildings bathed in light. A crisp autumn wind stirred the trash into graceful pirouettes above the sidewalks. Passersby lifted their noses to sniff at the smoky air, dreaming of Halloween and Thanksgiving, then turned their faces back to the traffic and the crowds and barreled forth into the gloaming.

On the corner of West Ninety-seventh Street and Riverside Drive, the Delian twins stood side by side, watching the sun go down and the moon arise.

Under one arm, Selene carried a small white box. Paul held a bottle of wine. If it weren’t for the solemnity of their expressions, you might have thought they planned on a picnic.

“You sure you want him here for this?” asked Paul. “He didn’t even know her.”

“But she would’ve wanted to know him.”

Theo appeared across the street, Hippo nearly dragging him up the sidewalk. He finally let her run unhindered to her
mistress, whom she greeted with a series of slobbering licks and bruising tail thwacks.

“Did she give you too much trouble?” Selene asked.

“Nope. We’re old friends, right, girl?” Hippo looked at him balefully then returned to licking Selene’s hand. “How was the funeral home? Everything go okay?” Selene raised the white box in answer. He turned to the other twin. “Hey… Paul. Good to see you again.”

The Bright One hesitated for a moment, then shook Theo’s proffered hand.

Dusk had already settled beneath the trees of Riverside Park. Selene led the way past the playgrounds and park benches, down the sloping path to the Hudson waterfront. They stopped at the boulders, not far from where she’d found Helen’s body. Hippo splashed in happily. “No, girl, come on out. Not tonight.” Panting, the dog scrambled back onto the rocks and shook a fountain of water and hair into the breeze. It took a moment for them all to regain the proper degree of gravity. But finally, Selene took a deep breath to steady herself and stepped forward to the water’s edge.

She turned to her twin. “Come on, Sunbeam,” she urged softly.

Paul uncorked the bottle. In a flashing ruby arc, the wine tumbled into the river.
“Sponde Letoi,”
the Bright One sang in the ancient tongue.
A libation for Leto.
“A libation for the mildest goddess. For the gentle Titan. For the mother of twins.”

Selene took up the chant. “
Sponde Letoi.
For the goddess of Delos. For the consort of mighty Zeus. For the daughter of Phoibe, who lends her light to the stars and moon.”

Then it was Theo’s turn.

“Sponde Letoi.”
His Ancient Greek was as flawless as it had been the first time she’d heard him speak, on this very shore, at another memorial for another loved one lost. “For the mother of Paul and Selene. For the Titan who birthed two gods to shed light on the world, but who died as happily as any mortal mother might, in the arms of the children she loved.”

Selene opened the box and tipped it toward the water. She’d changed her mind about bringing the ashes to Delos. Leto would want to be here, where her children lived and laughed and loved. A plume of ash swirled forth, curling and dancing on Zephyrus’s breath. It flew high above their heads, falling and rising as gracefully as Leto’s veil had floated on the breeze. Then, with a puff of wind, the ash dispersed, scattered to the water, to the trees, to the earth, to the sky.

Theo slipped his hand into Selene’s and she slipped hers into Paul’s. The three mourners stood in silence for a long time. Even Hippo sat quietly, her eyes fixed on the water, as the last of Leto disappeared from view.

I have never been so sad,
Selene prayed to her mother.
Or so happy.

Theo picked up Hippo’s leash. “I’ll let you two be alone, okay? I’ll be under the trees near the exit whenever you’re ready to go.”

Selene watched him walk off down the path, Hippo trotting gamely at his side, until he was swallowed by the shadows of the woods.

“He’s good to you,” Paul said suddenly.

“He’s good
for
me.”

She reached for the bottle and poured the last of the wine into the river. “
Sponde Orioni.
A libation for Orion, the Hunter,” she murmured. “Tortured by love, tortured by hate. May he rest now among the stars, finally at peace. And may he forgive me once more.”

“Are you sorry he’s gone?” Paul asked softly.

She shook her head. “I don’t need a god.” Handing the bottle back to Paul, she smiled ruefully. “I’ve got someone better waiting for me.”

Her brother nodded. “You know, don’t you, that this isn’t the end of it. Dash is the Messenger, after all. Word of the Mystery’s power will get out. Rumors will spread. Soon all the fading
Athanatoi will be clamoring for a chance at rebirth. And most will have no qualms about massacring mortals to get what they want.”

“Then they’ll have me to deal with.”

“Protector of the Innocent, huh?”

“Always.”

“Then you’re going to have quite a fight ahead of you.”

“And will you be there beside me?”

“Always.”

Selene found Theo sitting on the grass beneath a towering elm, right on the border between the city and the park. Beside him, Hippo kept her eyes glued on a flock of geese, ready to pounce.

She slipped off her backpack and settled next to him on the ground. For once, Theo didn’t speak, only took her hand in his.

Selene looked west, where the faintest traces of purple and orange still streamed above the horizon. The lights on the Jersey shoreline flickered like constellations across the river. Above her, the moon, a waxing crescent, began its ascent through a deep blue sky. Then she looked east, toward her city. Dog walkers and late commuters strolled the twilit sidewalks, heading home after a long day. Across the street, Selene could see the illuminated windows of apartment buildings. Inside, friends and families gathered to eat. Children played with their parents. Lovers flew to each other’s arms.

“After I met you, I dreamt of lying with you in a moonbeam,” Theo finally murmured.

Selene’s insides clenched—pleasant and painful all at once—as he went on. “I didn’t know it was you at the time. You were just a faceless dream woman. But sitting here with you, it’s like déjà vu.” His thumb brushed gentle circles across her palm. He laughed lightly before her embarrassment could make her pull away. “Sorry. I know you don’t have a lot of time for sitting in moonbeams.
You’ve got to get back on the streets and find another crime to solve, another woman to protect, right?”

“Captain Hansen said I should be a cop again. For the third time.”

“The
third
time?”

“Long story.”

Theo just laughed. All day, she’d been saying the same thing. Some stories he’d demanded to hear right away. Others he’d consented to wait for. “Well, forget the badge. I like you better as a vigilante. It’ll be easier for us to fight crime if we play by our own rules.”

“Us? You want to help?”

“Just try to stop me.”

“You realize I’m going to be confronting more bloodthirsty immortals in the future?”

“I’m a Makarites, remember? I’ve got a special connection to the gods. Might come in handy. Trust me, this is a dream come true.”

“Is it?” Selene pulled her hand from his and turned to face him. “Am I just a dream to you?”

A dimple appeared on one cheek. “Moon Goddess. Huntress. Far Shooter. They’re the dreams. I know my mythology. If I were to see you in all your glory, I’d be consumed by flame, left a charred husk of a man, blown to ashes by the wind. When you started glowing in the cave, I thought I was a goner for sure.” He covered her hand with his own, his gaze suddenly serious. “I don’t want the dream. I want Selene. With all her warmth and laughter.” He threaded his fingers through hers. “And her ice and anger, too.”

She settled back against the tree, her shoulder brushing his. With a sigh, Hippo rolled over to rest her head on Selene’s lap.

“Did you really dream of lying with me in a moonbeam?” she asked finally.

Theo paused a moment. “Actually, I dreamt of making love to you in a moonbeam.”

“Oh.”

She could feel the heat of his skin through her shirt where their shoulders met. Finally, she answered his unspoken question with a kiss. Long and slow and full of hunger.

“Fierce.” He smiled breathlessly. “I always said the Moon was fierce.”

“Fierce and lonely. That’s what you said.” She kissed him again, softer this time. Theo’s hands tangled in her hair as he pulled her closer.

“Not so lonely anymore,” he said quietly when they finally drew apart.

“Come, Theodore.” She stood and held out a hand to haul him to his feet. “I’ve been waiting for you for almost three thousand years. Would you ask me to wait any longer?”

“I wouldn’t dare. You might get angry and turn me into a stag.”

She took a step back, alarmed. Only then did she realize he was teasing her.

“You? More like a mockingbird. You’ve certainly got the tongue for it.”

Theo chuckled briefly, but then cast her a nervous glance. “Wait… you’re not serious, are you?”

Selene laughed, so loudly the passersby shot her worried looks. She didn’t care. “Don’t worry. I rather like you as a human.” With a sly grin, she raised Theo’s hand to her lips and pressed a kiss on his knuckles. “At least for now.”