Steven smirked, “I always thought it was strange those four were so far up his ass they had to taste crap juice to breathe. All things being equal, I don’t think I’ll get involved,” he turned to us, “Unless you two plan to rule?”

  I snorted, “No. The five of us are forming a watchdog council, whose sole responsibility is reviewing Nate’s disciplinary actions, be they against one of his enemies or merely an illegal act of convenience or to control another. It will not be allowed anymore,” I turned to Nate, “You will be held accountable to the laws from this point on, Nate, and you will submit to a judicial review of your actions by this council. I would advise you run everything you do through your justice mantel instead of ignoring it, but we’re only here to ensure you don’t break the laws or abuse your mantel of rule.

  “Any false rulings made against innocent enemies or for leverage will be overturned. We also demand Tartarus be named the official and only form of jailing, so we can be sure all your decisions are run by the council.”

  He sneered, “You have no proof, because I’ve done nothing wrong, and your whole plan is absurd, I will not be dictated to, I am king. Unless of course, you’d like to submit to a memory scan by all the gods here?”

  I snorted, like I would trust any of them to be in my mind, and at their mercy? Only the four goddesses around me got that trust, and they would never ask or demand it.

  “Of course not, but that’s what Brandon is for. I suspect the only option for him is termination and rebirth, he’s entirely insane.”

  Darkness billowed, and I returned Brandon as well as stuck him back in the cuffs in transit, or who knows what the god would do. He was also bound, just in case he decided jumping at someone and biting them was a good idea.

  I motioned to the other gods to be my guest, to read the truth of Brandon’s mind which would hold all of Nate’s misdeeds and spoken words the last two years, and that’s when Nate made his move.

  Lightning blasted from the sky, but a billowing globe of darkness surrounded Brandon and swallowed it whole.

  I turned my will to defense as a potent storm swirled into existence and several more lightning bolts attacked both Brandon and our group, while both Aria and Gregory broke into action.

  Natasha waved almost negligently, and both Aria and Gregory disappeared in a flash of golden light. They’d be back of course, but first they’d have to teleport back past our blocks and close the distance. By then this would be over.

  Darkness swelled at my command and then raced for Nate, and Nate raised his hands and smote it with a continual blast of rope lightning that would’ve blinded anyone but a god instantly. It was horribly bright, but even we were only getting the edges of that scintillating and coruscating light with my darkness billowing between us and the attack.

  We were locked in a titanic struggle, and close enough to easily matched that we were in a temporary standoff. I won’t lie, it was hard, and my forehead began to sweat as I put everything into the attack that was holding Nate’s power hostage in his own attack.

  Then Natasha acted, her golden light hitting him in a beam, and he had no power left to deflect it, as he was using every bit of it to block me.

  Nate screamed, very loudly and very shortly, before he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

  I smirked, as my darkness enveloped him, and when it faded, he was cuffed and literally helpless, his own great power feeding that enchantment. He could’ve blocked it and overloaded the enchantment while it was being put on, but not when he was unconscious, and now it was too late.

  By then Gregory and Aria were back, rushing at us from several hundred feet away. Aria was a lot faster than Gregory, but the godly artificer was no slouch.

  Natasha asked, “Hold them still for me?”

  “Of course, baby.”

  Darkness flowed out, wrapped around their bodies and arrested their forward movement. All but their heads were enveloped.

  Natasha broke out that hot as hell seductive voice she used for her compulsion.

  “My will is Nate’s will, my words are Nate’s words,” then after a short pause, she said, “You are no longer compelled or under any orders.”

  Several of the other tier-one gods were looking speculatively at Nate’s precarious situation, and perhaps at his helplessness being unconscious with his powers bound. I used my own power to pull him closer to our group, just in case we had to defend the idiot.

  Aria’s and Gregory’s glare was potent as well, and the former announced, “I can list all his indiscretions, and I will gladly do so under truth spell, but I will not willingly share my memories. This piece of shit raped me, repeatedly, and the bastard commanded me to like it. He’s guilty of far more than that, though only Gary, Brandon, Gregory and myself has been a victim of him breaking the highest laws. Mostly because there are no laws against sentencing someone innocent, outside of common decency and common sense,” she looked at us, “Until now.”

  The other high gods cast a memory spell at Brandon, and all of them winced in disgust as they read the truth, probably at his deranged and bloodthirsty mind.

  Tatiana said, “There is no need, where I am concerned. Brandon’s mind is a sewer, but it had all I needed to see in order to bless this change to our laws and the new council to keep Nate following the ideals of Justice. I will not assist them, but I do wish them well.”

  Steven snickered, “Me too.”

  Bruce smirked, “Me three.”

  Freda said, “I’d wish him punished for his crimes, despite the technicality he was immune to the laws until this moment. However, I will settle for watching his misery as you take that power from him and force him to deal with honor.”

  Teresa made it unanimous, “The new council has my approval as well, but I will be watching for abuses, both from Nate and the council.”

  “That’s clear enough. Aria, would you type up a report of his convictions? I think I’ve spared all the innocent ones already, but we’d like to be sure.”

  Aria said, “It will be my pleasure, I’ll be in touch soon,” then she looked at Nate in disgust, “I do not wish to witness this or see him any longer, I will know when it is done,” then she disappeared in a flash of light.

  Gregory nodded, “I too will make a report of what I know of his misdeeds, and the unforgivable requests he demanded of me,” and he too disappeared in a flashing bubble of golden light, eager to be away from his captor and enslaver.

  I said, “Let’s wake this asshole and finish this.”

  Natasha sighed, and then cast a witch spell to restore his consciousness.

  I wondered what she’d done to him, it hadn’t been a witchcraft spell after all, that had laid him low.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Natasha

  The human body has a threshold where pain turns to pleasure, pleasure to pain, and the two can even be indistinguishable. Which is why I felt incredibly dirty and a little freaked out in the moment as I watched Nate start to stir. It’d seemed like a good enough idea at the time, hit him with so much pleasure his mind shutdown in self-preservation, and it did work.

  I just hadn’t accounted for how it would make me feel. Dirty, wrong even, and I was pretty sure I’d twisted my mantel’s purpose. Regardless, I regretted it and would never use my mantel’s power that way again, next time I’d just overpower witchcraft to get the job done. If I had to kill, I could use teleportation to do it like Mandy suggested, but if I had to knock someone out it’d be a spell.

  The sky had cleared, the unnatural storm reversing without Nate’s power to support it, the clouds swirling and folding in on themselves.

  Nate looked furious, humiliated, and if looks could kill we’d all be six feet under. None of us were all that surprised though.

  Gary said, “You know what we want. Tartarus as the only prison, and all judgements made and punishments handed out will be reviewed by us against the laws. You are also subject to our laws. It is our hope you’re not so far gone you can’t straighten up by embracing your justice mantel. Agree, and I will let you free.”

  Nate snickered, “You would take my word?”

  I said coldly, “You’re a slaver, a rapist, and punish people for opinions, of course not you idiot. We have you under truth spell, however. So yes. As far as we know you’ve never gone back on your word as ruler once given. Say it, mean it, and we will see what comes.”

  Nate growled, “You have no idea what it is to rule a race of intractable, arrogant, and corrupted by power individuals. Sometimes it’s necessary…”

  “To rape, to steal someone’s will, to put them in Tartarus twenty-two damned years for backtalk. Try that with me asshole, and I will bury you. I’m sure it is hard, but that’s what your mantels are for. You broke the laws out of expedience and spite because you’re an arrogant dick that wants to destroy or control anyone that disagrees with your opinions. This isn’t the Middle Ages.

  “Accept the slight loss of power and control, for checks and balances against your abuses. Don’t blame us for your screwups. That is the price of your corruption the last twenty-two years and for your sins.”

  Nate roared back, “No, I am king, and I will never be lessened!”

  Gary sighed, “We’ll have to use influence to make him accept how twisted he’s become and allow us to judge his punishments. Any objections?”

  The five of us looked around at the other five tier-one gods.

  I frowned, and warned, “Witchcraft.”

  It was subtle, and I didn’t see anything change, not for a long moment.

  Brandon jumped up with a loud cry, someone had removed his power suppression cuffs with magic.

  I wasn’t too alarmed at first, as the second-tier god rushed at us. Witchcraft was weaker than power, but I could make my spells almost as strong as a tier-ones if I put all my power into casting it, so it was stronger than a tier-two gods by a long way. My active protection spell and shield would keep us safe enough.

  He lunged at us, and Gary lifted his hand to deal with it, but as darkness billowed and rushed toward Brandon, Brandon changed his direction just slightly. I saw what was about to happen, but there was no time to react to it. He was just too fast, and too close. The darkness wouldn’t get there in time either, the god of war would not be denied his insane vengeance.

  The sword swung around with a roar, and Nate’s head was separated from his shoulders and soared through the air to land and roll a full twenty feet away.

  Gary’s shadows reached him, but so did Bruce’s power, and Brandon was torn apart by the water in his own body. Just, exploded apart.

  I was shocked, what the hell were we supposed to do now?

  Steven sneered and a wave of power went through the earth, then he turned slightly and raised a hand, and a female voice cried out in pain as a tree wavered and disappeared. A lesser god, hiding in an illusion from all of us until that moment, and she’d been the one to free Brandon.

  I recognized her, long dark brown hair and dark gray eyes, five eight with an athletic body. Beautiful face. Nancy Gregorio, the rebirth of Discord. She screamed louder, her body arching and her hands clawing, then her body gave out and she fell back to the ground, dead.

  Tatiana snorted, “We should’ve questioned her to find out who she was spying on Nate for, now we have no idea which one of us just had him killed. Which is a little too convenient for Steven, isn’t it?”

  They all looked at Steven suspiciously.

  Steven chuckled, “Didn’t think of that, I was just pissed Nate was killed under our noses and against our will.”

  No one bought it, but who was to say it wasn’t Tatiana’s spy, and her little speech had been the true misdirect. I trusted Gary, and I might trust Freda anywhere but at my back, but the rest of them were power mad opportunists.

  The plan had gone off the rails, which was a bit of a surprise, actually.

  “So, what now. Gary and I have no interest in ruling, but we must do something.”

  Tatiana said, “I am the queen of the gods, and the logical choice to rule in the interim, while a less corrupted Nate can be reborn and grow up, and then be forced to accept your council before he becomes twisted by his power.”

  Bruce snorted, “Steven and I were born to rule as well, mother.”

  Tatiana made a disgusted face, “Don’t call me that.”

  Bruce snickered, “Point being, the three of us may be born to rule, but of the three of us you are least suited without an offensive power. Your mantel is family.”

  Tatiana shrugged condescendingly, “I could keep them all in line with witchcraft, as you well know, save the six of you.”

  Steven sneered, “I see, and what happens when Gary’s long-lost sister comes back in a month? The goddess of darkness. How will you deal with her, if she needs to be, that is,” he winked at Gary.

  That was true enough, the new Nix was killed a month after Clarissa, my last incarnation, was.

  Mandy looked like she might explode, I could tell she was dying to start make suggestions, but she didn’t dare. They wouldn’t listen to her ideas on a modern government any more than Nate had. I still couldn’t believe he was dead, even though a part of me knew he definitely deserved it. Corruption and ruling as a tyrant had been bad enough, but to find out he’d been raping Aria.

  Deserved or not, it was about to unleash a shitstorm. Which was worrying, as bad as Nate was he did shield the gods useful to him, none of them would’ve dared to hurt my father for instance. Now he might very well become a target, both for one of them to recruit, or worse, one of them to kill to deny the asset to another. I wasn’t sure how bad it was going to get, but this was exactly the scenario we were trying to avoid by bringing Nate to task. Did we even need a council anymore?

  I didn’t think Teresa or Freda wanted to rule any more than Gary or I did, which meant the pantheon was probably going to split three ways while Tatiana, Bruce, and Steven vied for the throne.

  Freda said, “Tensions are a little high right now with all that’s happened. How about we all meet in three days. I’ll reserve a meeting room at a hotel in downtown Manhattan, and text the details.”

  Bruce scowled, “In the middle of a human city?”

  Freda nodded, “None of us trusts each other, but none of us are foolish enough to start a fight surrounded by tens of thousands of humans either, or cause billions in property damage. It will ensure we at least don’t feel our lives are under threat to meet in such a place.”

  Tatiana said airily, “I agree. Three days,” then she disappeared in an exploding globe of light.

  Steven scowled, likely because she’d just forced the decision on everyone by agreeing and leaving, he couldn’t afford not to show up and be left out of the loop.

  “I will be there as well,” and the earth swallowed him whole.

  Bruce sighed, and waved as if to say whatever, then said, “A good suggestion, Freda. If we’d all killed each other here, the lesser gods would tear the world apart without being yoked by our firm rule.”

  He disappeared in a flashing bubble of golden light.

  Freda and Teresa disappeared as well, leaving us alone.

  Gary opened his mouth, and I shook my head and waved everyone in close.

  Then I teleported us all to my living room.

  “Welcome to my home, one moment,” I cast a spell, and keyed all four of them to the wards, so they could use farseeing and teleport directly into the house on their own, “You’re all keyed to the wards. Sorry, Gary, but Nancy was just a spy for one of them. I suspect there were still many spies in earshot, and I wasn’t sure if you were going to start planning or not.”

  Gary winked, “Got it, baby. This is… bad.”

  I giggled, “Little bit, like civil war bad, in potential anyway. But our goddess of wisdom has some ideas, don’t you, cuteness?”

  Mandy said really fast, “I do, and it was killing me to keep my mouth shut, but I knew they wouldn’t listen to an idea from me, but maybe they will from you two in three days. Crisis is opportunity as they say.”

  Amelia asked, “What are you thinking?”

  Mandy said cheerily, “We take all his power, the seven of you tier ones. Instead of us being the watchdog, the next king of the gods will be the watchdog for us. Does that still appeal to you Amelia?”

  Amelia tilted her head in confusion, “You haven’t explained yet.”

  Mandy blinked, “Right. So our council would become the court and tribunal of the government. We would determine guilt or innocence of gods taken into custody, and we’ll allow Amelia alone to decide the sentence through her mantel, so it is just retribution for their crimes. Gary of course would be the one to enforce the sentence by putting them in Tartarus, should death not be the penalty.”

  Amelia blinked, “That does still appeal, and it’d be a challenge.”

  Mandy said, “The others will split the government up into five more parts. I think Steven would be perfect in running our governments spy agency, that keeps an eye on the humans. Bruce could take the war gods in hand and turn them into an internal police force. Freda would make a kick ass ambassador with her mantel, and make sure the humans have warm and fuzzies about how great us gods are. I mean, I don’t have it all worked out yet, but I think Demeter would enjoy working with pestilence and famine to help the humans manage diseases and food issues. So in a way Demeter and Freda would be cooperating in keeping the humans happy and finding us useful. Tatiana has that whole family thing, so she could run internal social programs for gods, teach them how to use their mantels in a positive way, or failing that report the problem to Bruce so his enforcers can arrest them.

  “Anyway, we’ll have a modern government, none of us will have too much power, and when the king returns in twenty-two years he can preside over it all. In the sense of a watchdog, he’ll be our check and balance instead of the other way around.

  “We’ll have to come up with an interim setup for that, if any abuses are suspected by any of us, or a power grab of some kind, we’ll convene a council of all seven and vote on the issue, and decide if the god or goddess responsible needs to be taken to task. At least, until the new Nate arrives, then he can censure any of us, and if we object to his judgement as being unfair, then we can pull together the council of tier-ones for an appeal vote.”