“Why don’t you let me go talk to the other godslayers alone,” I say.
“Why?” Van says, but it sounds like he wants to say, no way in hell. “Don’t trust my approach?”
“I think it’s the best way to save her.” My gaze locks with his. “Please. Trust me that I can do this.”
“She’s right that whenever we all go toe-to-toe, there’s more testosterone than talking,” Reid admits. “But I don’t like those guys being anywhere near Izzy.”
“How about you go talk to them, but we’ll be watching over you?” Wilder says, frowning.
Very slowly, Van nods. And the other guys get that look on their faces, the one that says they aren’t happy with this idea, but they’ll do it. For me.
The guys spring into action, getting ready, and once I get dressed, I head down to the godslayers’ apartment, the guys following at a distance, and knock on the door.
The door opens to their angry faces.
“I think the vamps have your friends,” I say. “Are you going to help us rescue them, or give the gods all the glory?”
I know they don’t trust me. I’m trying to speak their language--even if it makes me sound like a jerk. I wince internally.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lucas crosses his arms over his chest, sounding lost.
“Your friends,” I say. “Jessica. Clancy. Finn. When’s the last time you saw them?”
“They went to try to help your asses after hearing you were in trouble with the vamps,” he says. “Fucking idiots.”
“Well, they never found us,” I say. “Call them. I think they’re in trouble.”
He scoffs. “They’re godslayers. Vamps aren’t any trouble for them.”
One of the other guys pulls out his phone and calls. From his face, no one picks up but he shrugs. “They’re probably sleeping together. Again.”
“We were warned that some vamps had kidnapped some people described as godslayers. I really think they’re in trouble,” I say, emphasizing each word.
“Let me make this clear.” Trevor, the giant blond with a manbun, shoulders past the other guys to face me. “I hate the bloodsuckers, but I trust them a whole lot more than I trust some damn gods. So we’ll go find our friends if they need help but we aren’t going to do a damn thing for you.”
My jaw tenses. But these dicks are never going to see sense.
“Fine,” I say. “Keep telling yourselves you’re the good guys. You’re just a bunch of arrogant dickheads who can’t even step up and protect your own kind.”
As soon as I think it, Loki does it; little dicks sprout from the foreheads of all the guys. I take a step back, staring at the guys with a mix of horror and amusement, as they frown and begin to turn toward each other, sensing something wrong. When they turn their heads, the miniscule little dicks--the size of vienna sausages--flop around.
I turn on my heel and head for my guys as I hear them roar in anger behind me. I raise my hand, turning off Loki’s magic, even though I think those guys deserve to be permanently emblazoned with their true identities. I don’t need to leave even angrier godslayers behind me.
Within a few steps, I start running. Layla. I tried, but there’s no time to waste. We’ve got to get to Layla and find out how she’s doing, and then we have to rescue Jessica and the others. Us against the vamp hive.
Wilder and Reid are waiting for me.
“We could tell that wasn’t going to happen,” Reid says, the three of us moving swiftly together. “Van and Aiden went to get the car.”
When we head outside, we find Beth arguing with the guys.
“You can’t leave,” she warns them. “The rules--you are already on thin ice after what happened with the buildings--”
“It was my fault,” Wilder tells her. “I let the god take me over.”
“Noah!” Van scolds him. We were supposed to keep that to ourselves so no one would target him.
Wilder shrugs like it doesn’t even matter. “I’m better now,” he promises her. “But if someone’s got to burn for it, then let it be me. They’re all innocent. Something happened to Aiden and Reid’s sister, and we think it’s the same vamps who took Jessica and some of the other godslayers. We've got to help them--whatever it costs any of us.”
Beth hesitates, staring at him.
Then suddenly, she says, “All right. We can take my car since it’s right here on campus. But I’m driving.”
The five of us all stare at her.
“But you’re--we’re not bringing you into danger,” Reid says.
We’ve got our car stashed off campus. That’s what we need to get to, even though it will take us time.
Which makes it tempting when Beth pulls her keys out of her pocket and tosses them in the air.
“You think I’m just a little old lady who can bake cookies, don’t you?” she demands. “You think they’d let just anyone watch over the five of you?”
“You’ve been spying on us all along,” Wilder says.
She just flashes him a smile. “Such a bright boy. You coming or not?”
The five of us trade glances, but she’s already heading toward the SUV parked at the side of the house. It’ll take us a hell of a lot longer to escape campus and hike on back to where our car is hidden.
Here goes nothing.
The five of us follow her.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Van
We’re heading down the road, hoping to get ahead of the vamps, when we see two men casually standing on the side of the road. In an instant, I know they aren’t human. I open my mouth to tell Beth, but before I can, she slams on her brakes. We’re all suddenly sitting in the car, hearts pounding, knowing we’re about to walk into a trap.
“Aiden should come with me. You guys go down the next road and try to come at them from behind.”
Reid frowns in the seat behind me. “We should all just take them down.”
I shake my head, a knowing feeling in my gut. “Hel doesn’t understand strategy. She’s never had to be afraid. But Tyr knows there’s more to this situation. Probably more vamps. Maybe worse things.”
Reid’s frown deepens.
“The boy’s right,” Beth says, then lifts a brow. “So you guys going to get out before another car rear-ends me?”
I motion to Aiden, but he’s already opening his door.
“Be careful,” Izzy tells us.
“Aren’t we always?” I say, but even I can hear the anger in my voice.
She gives me that look of hers. “Remember, this is about making sure everyone is safe, not revenge.”
That’s true for her, but I imagine the dozen faces of the people who ran my home, who were more a family to me than my own parents. Maybe I do want revenge, but I also want justice.
Most of the time in this world I’ve realized that justice is just a pipe-dream. Bad guys get a slap on the wrist, if the families of the victims fight day after day, and then all the living have left is the emptiness losing their loved ones has left.
But as a god, I can have more.