“You want to know what we are, Drift witch?” It spat in that same legion of voices.

  Though the voices were still categorically one of the scariest things I’d ever heard, I was beyond reacting to them. I leveled my sword, pointing it at the floor between us but stiffening my elbow and hoping the creature realized I had more than enough strength and speed to slash his throat if necessary.

  The thing let out a laugh. It sounded like an amused frog – or an entire army of them.

  My back prickled with sweat, and my heart skipped a few beats. But that was on the inside. On the outside, I clenched my teeth even harder. “So you were looking for me? Well, you found me. Now, what the hell do you want?”

  It laughed again. I swore more voices joined in the fun until their tones swelled from 1000 to 2000, to 10,000. At this rate, there simply wouldn’t be enough space in this room for them, and the sheer force of the voices would crack the concrete and destroy the chains holding Bradley in place.

  Hey, maybe Vali did worry that was a serious possibility, because I heard him start to mutter. The soft tickle of his breath over my neck was just as exciting as it was terrifying. I couldn’t forget that while I was powerful, Vali still knew a hell of a lot more about this world than I did.

  He hadn’t called in the cavalry yet, which I hoped meant I had sufficient time… to do what?

  “You want to know what we are? What we want?” As Bradley spoke – or at least his body did – he moved. His neck seemed as if it was attached by a spring. With each syllable, it wobbled from left-to-right as if he were one of those Elvis dolls you could attach to your dash. It served to underpin just how human he wasn’t anymore.

  “We come for the cattle,” the voices said, rising in unison until they were shouting.

  It was a hell of a thing to be shouted at by that many damn voices. It felt as if my ears would burst.

  That was nothing compared to what those bastards had just said.

  “We come for the cattle,” the possessed Bradley mouthed.

  “What do you mean?” I forced myself to ask, even though the answer was obvious. The day I’d been waiting for since I’d found out about the true nature of the gods was finally upon me. Loki’s promised whisper that one day the fake gods would come for humanity was happening now.

  Vali reacted to those words, fear, anger, and anticipation vibrating off him.

  Don’t get me wrong, I trusted Vali; I knew he wasn’t like the other gods in his world. But I also appreciated that this was extremely frigging complicated for him. He was a fake god, and his position as Vali was entirely dependent on his ability to maintain the illusion. Fight his brethren, and he’d only be weakening his own position. Yet to stand by and let them destroy humanity? I knew in my heart of hearts Vali simply wouldn’t be able to do it.

  “You come for the cattle,” I repeated the creature’s words, careful not to let my voice waver. “I’m here to tell you that you’ll never get us. We’re not cattle,” I said as I deliberately and slowly raised my sword and pointed it at Bradley’s throat. “And we will fight you every step of the way.”

  I was proud of how strong my words were, proud that I uttered them with determination. But it didn’t last.

  The creature began to laugh again, and this time there was no mistaking the carefree, arrogant edge. It was an edge of victory – the unmistakable sound of somebody who was in complete control and had no fear that they could lose. “There is nothing you can do, Drift witch. You cannot stop the invasion. We are coming. We are coming,” those thousands of voices repeated like an eternal echo.

  This time there was no stopping the powerful shiver that bolted up and down my back. I was more than thankful for the hard grip Vali had on me, more than thankful as he pushed even closer, using his own strength to shore up mine.

  “The time is finally upon us. The gods are here to take the cattle to the slaughter. There will be no stopping us,” the creature said, so many voices now joining it I swore it was like an entire planet was communicating with me simultaneously.

  “We come; we come. Through the points of power, one by one, we will open the four gates, and one by one, you will fall. There will be nowhere to turn, Drift witch, nowhere to go. You will die. The traitors will die.” Bradley’s gaze ticked toward Vali, and the gods’ voices boomed. “All will die. This realm will finally be ours once more. We are coming.”

  I felt a rush of energy as something left Bradley. His body slackened as if someone had yanked his spine out, and he slumped back, his head cracking against the concrete with that same sickening thud.

  I jolted, pulling out of Vali’s grasp as I shifted hard down to my knee. Though perhaps I should have been cautious considering what I’d just faced, I pushed a hand out and pressed my stiff fingers against Bradley’s neck. There was a pulse. What’s more, I could no longer feel the unmistakable presence of all that magical power.

  Bradley was back to a semblance of normal. The world? Oh, that was going to hell.

  The invasion I’d been dreading since the moment I’d returned from the realm of the gods was upon us. And I doubted there would be anything I could do to stop it.

  3

  I stood in Vali’s office, my hands clasped hard behind my back as I stared out at the city beyond. As I watched, I understood the power of this position, the sense of command it gave you as you stared over the city like a hawk tracking prey. But what was the other side of power? Responsibility. It now weighed so heavily on my shoulders, I felt I was going to be ground into the earth like chalk.

  Vali was behind me, staring at an odd, old leather-bound book he’d plucked from his desk. The second we’d left Bradley, Vali had brought me back here, barely saying a word. I could feel his fear.

  Even before I’d become attuned to this magical world, I would have been able to detect it. It rippled off him in powerful waves. I could hear it, too. Thanks to my extended magical senses, I could pick up the exact tense movements of his muscles as they tightened to the point of snapping.

  I waited, silently staring out to the view until, with a thump, I heard the book closing. His chair rolled back, and he swore.

  I turned and arched my head over to him. “Do you know what it means yet?”

  That was a stupid question. It was obvious from the wash of cold dread marching down his cheeks that Vali had no clue about what course of action would thwart the invasion.

  My arms were behind my back. I pivoted to face Vali and tightened my hands until it felt like I was trying to wrench my fingers off.

  “We don’t have much time,” Vali said, answering a question I’d been seconds from asking.

  It was my turn to take a shaking, hard breath that wavered through my torso like a flag in a gale.

  “How long do you think we have?” I demanded. I didn’t let my voice arc high. Ever since coming into my power, I’d realized there was a hell of a lot more to command than shouting at people. True power was revealed when you were soft. Not through blustering violence, but through the gentle, judicious use of force.

  “The answer is, Lilly, I don’t know. But if we can’t find those gates in time…” he shook his head tightly as he trailed off.

  Gates.

  Ever since returning to Vali’s office, he’d been searching his books frantically for any mention of them.

  Vali roughly massaged his brow. It filled me with the desire to walk over to him, lock my hands on his shoulders, and try to eke out his tension myself. And hey, if that didn’t work, I’d try using my lips. But there was no time for passion.

  Hell, that voice in the back of my head was now louder than ever. It told me I would never truly know who Vali was until the end.

  I let out a tense breath. “So what do we do? There must be some way to find these gates. Aren’t there other resources we can call on? My grandmother had books on magic,” I offered as I took a quick, tight step toward him. “If that doesn’t work, I will personally round up every magical criminal in the city and figure out if any of them have heard of these gates. It’s worth a try.”

  Vali smiled ironically. We had an unknown timeframe to find mystical, magical gates that, if opened, would lead to a full-scale invasion of Earth; it was hardly the time for smiles.

  I made a show of letting my eyebrows scrunch down low. “What? What’s so funny?”

  He shook his head softly, his shoulder-length hair rustling over the expensive fabric of his suit. “Funny? Nothing’s funny. It’s just… you’ve changed a lot, Lilly.”

  “I know,” I said flatly. “You don’t need to keep pointing it out.”

  Ever since I’d come into my true powers, the dynamic between us had shifted. It was no longer the fact that Vali was the one in charge with all the answers and all the power. Heck, in many ways, our roles had flipped. More often than not, I caught Vali staring at me in awe.

  Now the specific way he smiled told me Vali still had his mysteries, and, oh boy, he still had his power.

  He cleared his throat.

  “I don’t think you appreciate just how much you’ve changed,” he commented in a low voice which I doubted was meant for my ears. “But as for your question, what we do now is wait.”

  “Wait?” My voice dropped down low, making it damn obvious how happy I was with that prospect. “You heard how powerful that thing was. You felt it, too. Do you honestly think we have the luxury of waiting? The fake gods are pushing through.”

  Though Vali had appeared composed seconds before, as soon as I used the term fake gods, his jaw tensed. “Do not fear that I am not taking this seriously.” His voice dropped again, but this time, it wasn’t in sultry affection. It was hard, and the look in his blazing gaze was even more so. “Trust me, Lilly, I know exactly what’s at stake. But we have no option. We must wait to see what will happen next.”

  “I have no damn intention of hanging around and doing nothing. This is the calm before the storm, Vali. If we don’t get out there, figure out where these gates are, and secure them…” I trailed off. There was no point in painting a picture. To be honest, I couldn’t if I tried. Even though the terror racing through my stomach told me that the reign of the fake gods on Earth would be worse than death, I simply didn’t have the imagination to predict just how devastating it would be. Would they kill us all at once – harvesting the power of humans in one devastating blow? Or would they keep the majority of us around? Treating us like a true herd of animals as they picked us off one-by-one?

  The exact details didn’t matter – only the determination climbing my back, promising me that I would use every ounce of my power to stop this did.

  At the truly hardened look in my eyes, Vali tilted his head down. “Trust me, Lilly.” His voice lost the hard edge, and he sounded genuine, caring even.

  “Trust you?”

  He nodded, leveling his eyes at me again. There was something about that gaze. It told me that what he was asking now pertained to more than our current situation. Maybe this was us finally having that conversation – the one where we’d figure out just how much we meant to each other and just what we would do going forward.

  But if Vali had any intention of finally discussing us, he thought better of it. He dropped his gaze, looking intently at the carpet as though seeing it for the first time. “I will use every resource at my disposal to figure out if anyone in this town knows anything. As I said, we will not be passive during this time. I will personally go out on the city streets and look for any clues. I will utilize every agent at my disposal. If something happens – if there are gods out there right now trying to activate magical points in this city and break through,” Vali raised a stiff finger and pointed it at the window, “then I will find them,” he finished with a rumbling growl.

  “And what about me?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked at him pointedly. “What do I do while you’re personally tearing this city upside down looking for clues?”

  Vali smiled.

  There was something very specific about that smile that made me cross my arms even tighter in front of my chest. “What?”

  “I suggest you return to work.”

  I tilted my head to the other side. “Sorry?”

  “To maximize our chances of finding out what’s going on, we must both assess this city. I need your power, Drift witch,” he said respectfully, “and I need your assistance.”

  The penny dropped. “You want me to go out on the beat again with the other detectives, don’t you?” I made a show of tilting my head to the side as I narrowed my eyes at him.

  He locked his gaze on me and obviously tried to assess how I was reacting. “I mean you no disrespect. I may have indentured you, Lilly White, but I now understand and respect your power.”

  My lips cracked into a grin. Though I wanted to continue this game a little longer, we really didn’t have time.

  “You’re damn straight you respect me and trust me. And that trust is well-placed. So don’t worry – I’ll hit the beat again with my friends. I’ll figure out what’s going on.”

  “You do not need to go with the lower-ranking detectives,” Vali said with a polite frown. “I think your skills are beyond them now.”

  I looked at him evenly and shrugged. “They’re my friends. I can trust them; they’ve got my back.” As I said that, I looked right at him. Heck, I put all my effort into saying the word trust, too.

  There it was again, that little voice at the back of my head that still told me after everything I’d gone through with this man, after everything I’d learned about him, there were still secrets buried right down there, deep in his soul. The kind of secrets that could get me in trouble.

  I deliberately let my gaze dart over each and every one of his muscles as I tried to assess his reaction. Vali was the king of never directly answering me, but obviously this time was different. He locked two strong hands on his desk and rose, the chair creaking behind him. He walked over to me, but just before my stomach could tell me that this was finally it, and Vali was going to make another move, he stopped. “You can trust me, Lilly.” His voice changed. The authority was gone. The playfulness was gone. Back was Vali the fake god, the confused god, and the god who set my heart pounding.

  I didn’t react.

  “You don’t need to question my loyalty, Lilly.” His voice dipped down low. “I am here for you.”

  There, that did it.

  The fire that was never too far from my heart ignited, and I felt blood pound through my neck and race high into my lips. Tension mounted through me, the kind of tension that can only be released in one way.

  I didn’t need to question what Vali was thinking, didn’t need to worry that this passion was only my own. I saw it ignite in his gaze. Maybe it was more powerful than mine, maybe he needed this even more than I did.

  Neither of us could do anything. Vali’s damn phone rang. The pitch was so insistent and the volume so surprising, I couldn’t help but jerk back.

  I’d never seen Vali looking more disappointed as he plunged a hand into his pocket, took a step back, neatened his tie pin, and answered.

  Though at first he sounded as if he wanted to get the intrusive caller off the phone, all too soon he became pale.

  All thought of my tingling lips raced from my mind. “What is it?” I hissed under my breath.

  He didn’t answer. He listened to the caller, and though I couldn’t pick up their words, I could pick up the desperate pitch of their tone.

  “I’ll come immediately,” Vali said. He terminated the call.

  I couldn’t help but take a jerked step toward him. “What’s going on?”

  “Something’s come up.”

  “What?” I demanded. This time I let my tone shake with authority so it was damn clear to Vali that I wanted answers.

  “There’s been an attack on one of my storage facilities downtown.”

  “Storage facility?” I frowned. “I didn’t know you had a storage facility.”

  He shrugged. “It houses some of my more obscure and powerful weapons.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Right. But who do you think attacked it, and has anything been stolen?”

  “All good questions. And all I will find answers to. I need to go, Lilly.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I said as I took a stiff step toward him.

  He assessed me for several seconds. Then he shook his head. “No, it makes more sense for us to split up. There’s every chance that this attack is meant solely to distract me. You need to look for those gates.”

  I gritted my teeth and nodded my head in a hard, shaking move. “You’re right. But stay in contact. If you need any help,” I began.

  Vali smiled again, and there was no mistaking the quality of it. He wasn’t amused, just surprised and pleased. “You do not know how much you have changed,” he commented under his breath.

  He didn’t give me the chance to question him. He walked toward his door, and I followed a step behind him.

  We parted ways in the corridor, wishing each other luck.

  Then, for the first time in weeks, I went back to work.

  It would be fun to see the girls again. Fun, and dangerous.

  4

  I was nervous. As I approached the second-class detective office, a knot formed in my stomach. It wasn’t because I didn’t think I was up to the job that would come – just the opposite. I was a different witch now, a goddess in fact.

  I hesitated just outside the main doors, plastered a smile on my face, and finally moved forward with resolve.

  I locked a hand on the handle, twisted it, and walked in.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and locked eyes on me.

  I was a celebrity, wasn’t I?

  It didn’t take a genius to realize I was different. Not only did Vali treat me differently, but unlike everyone else here, I was free to roam around the building as I pleased.

  I made a point of smiling and waving at everybody as I strode through, wending my way around the open-plan office, heading toward the back.