The Crying Limey was just as pirate-y and awesome as ever. Arriving back outside the place reminded me of that time that felt so long ago when I'd first come here and met Dalton. I'd been a much different person, less powerful and influential but...still me, still the same man. Now at nineteen I'd grown and changed so much but I could still remember my roots. Remember how much I loved my friends and my girls.

I stepped into the bar and Charles greeted me on entry. He and his pals spent all their time at this place. He took me to the back, where I'd first met Hana and played that game of poker. I sat down across from Dalton with a nod, Raven and Cinder taking their seats on either side of me. I gave him a serious look. "If you were screwing with me man I'm going to be pissed. Remus and Romulus? How the hell would they even still be alive?" I'd heard of the ancestral founders of Rome of course, Hell the word Rome came from Romulus' name so technically everyone had.

Like anyone who knew any history or mythology I knew they had been literally raised by a wolf. Lupa, who was considered the mother of Rome. Of course that was back in my world so who knew how the story went here. Apparently it was pretty similar because Dalton shrugged "Don't ask me. I know they have some wolf mojo going on but as for how they've lived so long it's a bit of a secret. They spend most of their time traveling or in the Roman parts of the nevernever, so people don't know much about them. But they're here. And not just them either." He glanced around subtly as if checking to make sure we were alone. "Fenrir is here."

My eyes widened. That...was bad. Fenrir was the wolf that was supposed to kill Odin when the world ended. Odin who was tough enough that fucking Ethniu respected him. But that wasn't even the craziest part "What the actual fuck is going on? Remus, Romulus, The Beast and now Fenrir? Is there some kind of wolf based supernatural social club having a meeting in town? What could they possibly want with Conner? Assuming they're even here for him." These were people on a much higher level than some random Loup-Garou even a special one like Conner.

Dalton scowled "I looked into that. Apparently there's a prophecy." I groaned, slamming my head down on the table. Dalton chuckled a bit despite the seriousness of the moment. "Oh good you know how they work." I raised my head, glaring drolly at him, but he just shrugged. "I couldn't get all the details, I had to cash in more than a few favors for the scraps I got but the long and short of it is that Conner is some kind of werewolf messiah. Something about a wolf cub bringing the world under the sway of the moon. No clue what it means but all the big wolfy players want the kid, and they aren't picky how they get him."

I cursed, this was insane. Even Harry never had to deal with fucking prophecies. I was going to have to figure out a counter for all these fucking wolves. Not just The Beast but now Fenrir and Remus and Romulus too. No way was I going to let them take Conner, the kid was basically family and it would be a cold day in hell before I let a fucking french serial killer raise him instead of his mom. I was pretty sure with all the girls and the new magic I'd been learning and refining over the last year not to mention the insane growth of my Aura we could figure things out, but it was going to be rough.

I raised an eyebrow at Dalton "How did you even find out about something like that? Don't tell me you used to smuggle whiskey to the oracle at Delphi or something?" Dalton had plenty of sources and friends, as evidence by his disposal of the song clan, but finding out about an obscure prophecy was impressive even by his admittedly high standards. "Oh, and seriously man, thank you for getting this info to me so fast. If those guy's had blindsided me I would have been screwed. No way would I survive someone like Fenrir without a ton of prep."

Even if Kara was with me Fenrir was the kind of opponent we would need backup for. Being tough enough to go toe to toe with Odin himself and theoretically kill him with pure physical force would put him on a level I couldn't imagine. Kara might be able to hang with him if we could finish up her scale mail. I was suddenly incredibly glad I'd spent all that time on the stuff. I'd have to call a meeting with the girls to figure out what to do. Just making a lineup and going after them all seemed like a good way to wreck the city if we could even win.

That wasn't even taking into account the fact that we had no clue what Remus and Romulus could do. If there were on a level with Fenrir or even just The Beast we were in a world of trouble. I looked back to Dalton, snapping out of my reverie in time to hear him answer my question. "Nah, the twins put the prophecy thing out there to warn people off. They figured most wolfkin wouldn't be willing to fall out with them over some kid. Which to be fair they were right about based on the reactions of the majority. Fenrir gives no fucks about anyone though, and The Beast is a sneaky fuck even they would have trouble pinning down."

I nodded "We might actually owe them a bit of a favor then. I have a feeling this would be much worse if every wolf based supernatural from here to Timbuktu had decided to show up." He waved a hand in acknowledgement of the point. We were pretty much feeling around in the dark here, we needed more information. "You have any leads on where any of them might be? I'm assuming Fenrir is in human form, since I would have noticed a four story god wolf running around Chicago, what about the twins? Pictures? Habits?"

The grimace he gave me in response was almost enough of an answer but he responded anyway. "Nothing on the twins. I've had my feelers out since I got the news but they don't really spend time in places where people take pictures. The description I got was young looking and blonde with hazel eyes, but as for where they might be I have no idea. Fenrir is definitely in human form, he flew in yesterday apparently. Every local practitioner I know of with any sort of divination ability has been having fits just from being around him, they're all on edge."

That sounded promising "Does that mean they can sense him? Because if they can feel his power we might be able to use that to track him down. Granted that's not really a fight we can have in the city but at the very least we can figure out where to stay away from to avoid him." Luckily while he was a problem he had issues of his own, he would need to step foot on Demonreach to get Conner and big evil supernatural entities weren't exactly playing with an advantage there. If he wasn't careful he might get locked up under the island, maybe I could even get a favor out of Odin for that one.

Rather than happy though Dalton looked even more worried "No. His presence is so fucking massive they can't distinguish where he is at all. The aura he gives off has been described to me as feeling like a giant feral wolf crouched over the entire city. It's so huge and terrifying even the weakest sensitives can feel it from everywhere in the city like he's standing right behind them." That was not a particularly comforting piece of imagery, but from what I knew of Fenrir it sounded accurate.

I wondered if Odin would let me borrow that chain he used on the wolf in the myths. Gleipnir had to be a high quality magic item but getting that furry bastard off the board was as a big of a benefit to him as anyone. Of course I didn't know how to even contact Odin, aside from maybe asking Gard to pass him a note. Still at the very least he should know the worlds least goodest boy was around town. Odin had been coming to town recently to see me and I didn't want him to get eaten or something because I didn't bother to reach out.

I sighed and slumped back in my chair and Cinder finally spoke up. "Forgive my ignorance here, but who or what is a Fenrir, and who are the twins? You speak of them as if they're all famous figures so I thought I should at least check in." She flushed slightly as we looked at her, still off balance with her new place in our relationship. I reached out to grab her hand, threading my fingers through hers to reassure her. It was a decent point too, I kind of forgot Yang and Cinder were from a world that didn't have the same history as the other girls and I.

Dalton looked a bit confused but I just shook my head "That's not ignorant, you aren't from around here. It's only natural you wouldn't know about local figures. Fenrir is a powerful wolf from legend, his father is Norse god Loki, the god of mischief. In the myths he's said to be destined to be the one to kill Odin, the All-Father, in Ragnarok. Odin is crazy powerful and absolutely brilliant so that's a scary thing to think about. Odin was Merlin's teacher the man who founded the White Council and is so powerful the leaders still use his name as a ceremonial title." I neglected to mention knowing him in person in front of Dalton.

Dalton for his part looked confused at how Cinder wouldn't know this but was too polite to say so, so I kept going with my explanation " Remus and Romulus are the founders of a country that went on to become one of the largest and most prominent Empires in earths history. They were supposedly raised by a powerful female wolf spirit named Lupa. We don't know their abilities sadly, but the Greek and Roman gods are massively scary so anything related to them should be treated with respect."

She nodded seriously "Ah, that makes sense. Well it sounds like information gathering should be our first step. Wouldn't it be a good idea to contact Odin and see if he has any information about Remus and Romulus? If he's so old and wise I'm sure he knows who they are and what they can do, and since Fenrir is here and is our problem now...well the enemy of my enemy is my friend." That was a damn good point actually. Odin would probably be a huge help with this mess.
I squeezed her hand and smiled at her in gratitude and she flushed a bit, having become much more shy since she became part of our relationship, not that I disliked it.

We said goodbye to Dalton and thanked him for all the help and headed home to consult with the others. As we climbed in the car and Raven pulled out I slipped out my phone and called a number. A man picked up and I asked for a meeting to which he agreed immediately. After all, John Marcone and I had worked together before, and he wasn't the kind of man to turn down something that could be to his benefit. I knew he would be bringing Gard. It was time to talk to a Valkyrie.

We had decided when we first got the car that it wasn't sturdy enough for our uses. We ran into so many crazy things and had such bad luck in terms of enemies that it seemed wise to reinforce the thing. Raven and Cinder had both worked it over with their magic to create a series of powerful enchantments on it. They toughened the glass of the windshield, they strengthened the metal of the body and frame. They even put a few utility spells on the thing to absorb some of the force in the event of a car accident to reinforce the shields. That way even if one of use got in a wreck the shock of the crash would actually make us safer.

It had been the work of weeks if not months of powerful and careful spell work to create the defenses on our car, and that was aside from how sturdy the damn thing already was. So when I say that the angry werewolf spider webbed the glass with cracks on impact that should tell you something about how hard the bastard hit us. The cracks grew when the second one hit us, and Raven barely had time to grab both of us and shadow port us out of the car before the third impact shattered the windshield and showered the inside of the now empty car with shards of razor sharp magically enhanced glass.

The magically enhanced glass did not, sadly seem to bother the werewolves, nor did the crunch of the car smashing into a nearby light post and uprooting it before smashing into the brick wall behind it. Honestly the wall took more damage than the car did but it did stop. The werewolves on the other hand, did not. The three of them climbed out of the car and howled, a sound which was answered soon after by a bloodcurdling baying response from at least a dozen more. Of the things that were very obviously surrounding us.

Cinder stepped defensively in front of me, which was really touching but kind of redundant what with me having bones and skin reinforced with divine metal. She glanced around in worry "What are these things? There are only supposed to be three werewolves in town right? Aside from the alphas but you said they turn into normal wolves not...these." That was a valid concern, the monsters in front of us were really odd. They looked like anthropomorphic wolves obviously but they were spindly and long limbed. Their fur was thick and ragged around their hands and torsos but patchy and thin along the length of their arms. They looked weirdly sick.

Raven was the one with the answers this time, she had been researching the lore and creatures of the world recently along with working on her own casting since she couldn't learn the magic that we used. "They're vukodlak. Kind of a combination of werewolves and zombies. The one who lays the curse on them feels like a pack leader to them and they obey their commands fanatically. They have pretty limited mental faculties and they're much stronger than most kinds of werewolf because they're consumable after a fashion. The curse drains the vitality of the victim to fuel their power making them incredibly strong and fast until they run out and then they die."

I blanched at the fact that someone was sending fucking zombie werewolf suicide bombers at us. I glanced worriedly at Raven "Who the hell would send something like that at us? Not to mention how to kill them? Do they have a weakness or something that could help us put them down fast? Or is there a way to reverse the curse and save the victims?" I didn't feel great about the idea of killing a bunch of random people in rabid wolf cosplay but I was pretty sure we weren't going to have the option to use diplomacy since they appeared to only be letting us talk this long so they could surround us.

Her violet eyes were angry and guilty as she shook her head sadly. "The only way to lift the curse is to have the original caster remove it, kill the caster, or to kill them yourself. Which since we have no clue who cast it could be something of an issue in this case. As for weaknesses unfortunately no. The reason werewolves traditionally have a weakness to silver is that adding a vulnerability allows you to lower the cost and complexity of the spell to create them. The fewer drawbacks a type of magic has the more complex it is to make it function. "

I groaned in understanding "Unfortunately in this case the drawback is that they're rabid self destructive monsters who burn out in a few hours. Which is a pretty huge downside but is actually worse for us because we're fighting basically fighting werewolves on angel dust and they aren't even weak to the one thing werewolves are supposed to be afraid of. Fuck. The question is why the hell are they targeting us, they're supposed to be after Connor right? We sent him and Tera home the other day. How do they know we're connected to them."

Raven's annoyed frown was actually kind of cute but now really wasn't the time. She was in a bit of a huff as she answered "I'm guessing they smelled them. Whoever made them probably made a bunch of them and let them loose on the city to track down Tera and Connor by scent. Not sure where they got their scent but sadly showering and changing clothes won't be enough to throw off the senses of something like a vukodlak." She was so irritated by the swarm of werewolves I couldn't help but smile. My girlfriend had an iron spine, she was more upset at the inconvenience than the slavering monsters about to eat our faces.

I triggered my lightning aspect and my aspect of flame. Fire magic was one of my more recent spell types, Harry had taught it to me a few months ago and it paired insanely well with my lightning's speed aspect. The flame aspect created actual fire from any friction my body caused including air friction. It was a brilliant power when mixed with the speed of the lightning aspect because it basically turned me into a flaming cannonball. My timing was pretty good because shortly after I activated my aspects the werewolves shifted their behavior in a way that made it clear their massing was now complete and all...fuck, all twenty six of them were going to attack.

I poured a force spell into my aura to multiply the impact and before they had a chance to attack i took the fight to them. In a blink I was among them, an explosion of fire followed by dozens of smaller ones as I rained down flaming super speed force augmented punches. My metal arm was punching holes in the things every swing, but sadly they were fucking dog piling on me, pun intended, and their enhanced healing was allowing them to regenerate from the damage. I was surrounded by a whirling cloud of claws and fangs and fur.

Cinder was raining down white tinged fire from the sky as she floated in her now fully restored fall maiden glory, but that didn't help too much sadly, it just meant the angry meth head werewolves I was fighting were on fire. Luckily I had my Aura up so the flames themselves didn't really mess with me, but the damn thing was dimming pretty fast as a storm of teeth and claws rained down on me. Between the crazy meth strength and the numbers even my lightning aspect wasn't enough to catch or avoid all the blows.

Raven was floating next to Cinder, she'd put up a bubble around us to prevent any civilians from noticing and heading this way but sadly keeping the uninformed masses out of my zombie werewolf blended was preventing her from actually helping. Cinder changed her tactics, manifesting a smaller version of that giant flaming sword she'd called up in her fight with Raven last year and started hacking into the wolves furthest from me. Between us we managed to actually start whittling them down as we went. Between Cinder lopping off their heads with a sword that cauterized the wound automatically and me switching from punching to just tearing them apart the numbers started to drop.

Of course given the whirlwind we were reaping the number dropped at an incredibly slow pace. Still, I had plenty of soul power after a year of training and my magic reserves were full, I could pretty much do this all day. Not to mention with klurkor boosting my body refinement I was physically on par with a low level red court vampire at this point it only took us about fifteen minutes to wade through them all. Once we finished them off Raven dropped her bubble and began helping Cinder dispose of the bodies while I healed up.

My Aura had dropped during the fight and even with my godsteel weave to interrupt the damage I had a ton of surface level scrapes and claw marks. I dropped the aspects, mostly because experiencing agonizing pain at super enhanced levels of perception makes it feel like it last forever. My flesh was refined with the fires of creation so my healing was pretty decent. Still all this damage would take a few minutes to heal and I would prefer not to experience those minutes as hours of horrifying pain.

I used a bit of soulfire to torch the puddle of my blood left behind when I got slashed up. The downside of being more well known was that we had to be careful about things like that now. Raven floated down to the ground to come check on me as Cinder worked on levering the car out of the brick wall. She placed a hand on my shoulder in a spot with no claw marks. "Hey, you ok? You got marked up pretty bad there. We're lucky you were the one here, with that many of them any one of us would have had trouble keeping from getting mauled by one of them. When it comes to magic you're the toughest of all of us now I guess."

I hadn't even thought of that, but it made me even more driven to finish Kara's armor. Thinking of one of those things getting a lucky slaw swipe into her guts or something filled me with icy dread. I shook off the momentary panic though and smiled at Raven who was looking a bit concerned "Sorry, spaced out for a second, yeah I'm fine. It was all surface level stuff and werewolves can't turn you with a bite or scratch like in the movies. I'm already healing, no need to worry about me." I threw an arm around her shoulder as she sat down next to me.

She was watching Cinder try to get the car free "You think she knows that we won't be able to drive it since its full of razor sharp magic glass and we could have just called a tow truck?" I burst into laughter, the adrenaline turning to giggles as it so often did. She winked at me, clearly having been trying to cheer me up. She certainly knew how, Raven knew me best out of everyone in the house and not just because of her empathy. I leaned in for a soft kiss and I felt her smile against my lips before she put her hand to my forehead and pushed.

The smile was soft and warm and her voice matched as she continued in a tone still full off laughter "In all seriousness I should go help her. I can remove the glass too, we'll be driving home without a windshield but letting a towing service get their hands on that car might raise some uncomfortable questions about it's durability." She gave me another wink and walked away, satisfied I was ok, though I have to say even if I hadn't been the swing she put in those gorgeous hips of hers as she walked off would have definitely helped.

The distraction from watching her walk was interrupted by a voice from behind me. "Ah, I was wondering where the servants went. I suppose you should be congratulated for managing them all on your own." I froze in place and turned. Behind me stood a guy who looked about my age. His hair was blonde and his eyes were the ice blue of an arctic wolf. I hadn't sensed him literally at all, which couldn't possibly bode well. He turned his head to regard an almost identical guy with brown hair and amber wolf eyes who i also hadn't noticed until he drew my attention "What do you think brother?"

Brown haired wolf guy shrugged. "It's certainly an impressive feat Remus, but it's a bit inconvenient. Finding so many compatible subjects for our curse was time consuming. Now we have to source more of them or we'll be without any servants at all." He sounded at worst mildly irritated by my wholesale slaughter of the super werewolves, which was really not good. These guys had seen the fight and considered me zero threat to them, though at least I knew who they actually were now. The twins had officially made their move.

The twins felt weirdly massive for their size. Like they had this palpable aura of violence that just rolled off of them, something about them spoke of an unnatural animality even without the eyes. The way they cocked their heads, the way they stood, their intense focus. I felt like a gazelle being watched by a pair of lions. I decided to try polite, no reason to get into a fight with unknowably powerful legendary enemies if it could be avoided. "So, Remus and Romulus huh? It's an honor. I'm a big fan of...western civilization in it's current form."

I kind of lost my momentum there at the end because considering Roma was one the major forces behind the current form of society as a whole I was standing in front of a pair of people who literally shaped the world. Though I used the term people fairly smiled...wolfishly "You are welcome. We seek the child, no need to fear for his safety, we only wish to help him fulfill his destiny." He said that like just stating it should immediately put an end to any worries, because he had said it so it should happen.

I noticed a fairly big gap in that particular promise of safety though. "What about Tera? She's his mother, I would think the two of you would understand if anyone did how important that is to a young boy. Will she be safe too?" Honestly none of this was even my call, but if Jean Chastel and fucking Fenrir were the other choices I would take a message to Tera if theses guys were willing to protect them without separating them. From their cold expressions though I was guessing this was going to end less than stellarly.

Remus shook his head "A wolf is a fine mother for a small child, but there comes a point where boys must go out on their own. We left our own mother behind when we were the boys age to make our way. We won't kill her so long as she hands over the child, this is our sincerity. Should she stand in our path...well, all children, save one, grow up." That had been a bit of a gear shift, also I was fairly sure that had been a Peter Pan reference, which was both interesting and fairly disturbing in the current context.

I quickly realized that even if I gave that offer to Tera (which I wasn't going to bother doing because what was even the point) she would end up fighting to the death with the two of them. This was going to become a fight no matter what happened, so I decided to take it into my own hands. I triggered my aspects again and rushed forward, using my old fall backs of lightning and force this time. I rushed at the closest brother, Remus, expecting to take him off guard with the attack. I was moving so fast the gravel spray from pushing off was sitting in the air like it was frozen in time.

I was about a second away from pulping his smug roman face. However thing's didn't go as I'd hoped, as I approached Remus turned his head to regard my fist and then stepped out of the way. It was deeply unsettling to watch. He wasn't using super speed, he was interacting with time differently, he stepped casually out of the way of my full speed charge and despite dodging me at full speed he was going slow. He reached out with a balled fist and casually smashed it into my ribs.

Despite looking like he was giving my torso a light fist bump all of my built up force redirected itself into my ribs, smashing me backwards and sliding my body along the already pretty messed up street, tearing furrows in the ground. Remus just shook his head "Imagine living life in three dimensions. How gauche." He strolled calmly up to me. "We're kings boy, speed, strength, they're all meaningless against divine providence. Not matter how quickly you move we will always swat you like the fly you are. You should have taken the favor of allowing you to lead us to the child."

Romulus smiled ruefully "The youth today is so unruly." He walked over to stand next to his brother, and despite being in bullet time from my aspect he seemed to be moving completely normally, stepping around the cloud of barely moving gravel. "So, will we have to torture you for the information or will you simply bow to the inevitable? Because I detest getting blood on my clothes. We might even offer a reward if that sways you. After all, you did defeat so many of our servants, you aren't undeserving of our praise."

This was a problem. Apparently my speed wasn't going to work on them because these assholes were powerful enough to perceive the world in four dimensions. Fucking time dilation bullshit meant moving fast wouldn't work. Luckily there was more than one way to skin a cat. Or a wold in this case, I flicked my hand out and muttered a spell, casting a wave of soulfire empowered flame at the twins. I might exist in three dimensions but somehow I suspected soulfire didn't I didn't think their little time trick would work so well on the fires of creation.

I was actually right, they didn't just dodge. I was guessing that little time shift trick was some kind of reactionary thing since they didn't use it to just kick my ass to start with and they couldn't use it right now. Remus sneered at the incoming flames and snarled a word though and his shadow leapt off the ground. As it came free it changed shape and began to grow until there was a wold the size of a school bus crouched above him. It opened it's jaws and swallowed the wave of soulfire whole.

It barely even seemed to twitch at the attack and I winced. The hulking shadow turned slowly to glare at me. Which is why it missed the massive blade of fall maiden flames infused with soulfire that hacked down at it's neck, severing it's head. As the shadow wolf collapsed the darkness that made it up began to glow with a familiar black light and reshaped itself into a massive shadowy cobra that lashed out at the twins. My girls had been tipped off by the magic and come to help.

Unfortunately it was two on two not two on one, another massive wold construct, this one made of silvery light, intercepted the shadows snake and engaged it in battle. While the twins were distracted with combat Raven appeared at my side with Cinder and with a massive effort of will her soul self swallowed us both as she shadow ported us away. The further the shadow port the longer we had to stay inside the dark magic. It wasn't really that bad in there, just really really cold. But when you were stuck inside for like three full minutes it became uncomfortable.

No air existed with us in there, just icy vapor that really sucked even in lungs reinforced with magical god metal. Finally we came spilling out into our back yard, Cinder and I both gasping for air as we twitched on the ground. Raven was leaning bonelessly against the wall of the house, clearly having drained herself dry of magic in the confrontation and ensuing teleport. My reserves had been tapped pretty heavily by that wave of fire magic too. Combined with unpleasantness of the shadow port I decided to just lay there and gasp for a minute.

Clearly Raven and Cinder both agreed, but we weren't alone for very long Kara, Barb and Yang were out the door within a minute of us landing. Yang grabbed me and pulled me up to check me over frantically "Cam!? What happened to you? Your clothes are all torn and bloody and you look exhausted. Are you guys alright? Where's the car?" She looked incredibly disturbed by the circumstances of our reappearance, clearly drawing parallels to her mother going out on a mission and never coming back.

Kara stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "They're ok Yang, no serious injuries or broken bones, lets just give them a minute to catch their breaths and they can tell us all about it alright?" She pulled the larger blonde away from me a bit to give me space and looped her arm in Yangs. She looked over at Cinder "Seems like you're the one who looks least exhausted Cinder, can you tell us what happened when you're ready?" Cinder was taking great big gulps of air still to try to get her lungs working but nodded as she did.

After a minute of that she managed to get her breath back to normal and responded, lucky her, I was still gasping. "We were meeting with Dalton for information about who's in town searching for Connor. We left to come home after he told us who was here and why and the car was attacked by a horde of crazed werewolves. We managed to fight them off but apparently they were sent by two very powerful...what exactly are the twins?" She looked at me "Being raised by wolves doesn't give you that kind of power, did you figure out what they are?"

I winced finally managing to get my own lungs working right and draw in breath "If I had to guess they're demigods. I've heard they have some connection to the Roman god of war, though I don't know what it is, but that time stream trick they used to counter my speed is something I think gods can do. Seeing the world in multiple dimensions and all. If demigods are that scary I don't know how the hell we're going to deal with Fenrir. Hopefully Sigrun can help us out and put us in touch with Odin."

Raven had taken a seat, the good news is I suspect that Kara would be able to deal with them if they show up again, or at least one of them. There have to be limits to that temporal shifting and she moves much faster than you do. At best she would be fighting on even footing with them. We might want to ask Harry to try to hurry with that scale mail though. If her speed is neutralized then she's going to need it to soak up whatever magic they throw." I nodded, making a note to head to his place tomorrow after a night sleeping this off in the medical tub. When it rains it pours huh?

Getting in touch with Sigrun and setting up a meeting with Odin was easier than expected. With the way our rep had increased over the last year from our constant activity with Harry and the various big bads we had stomped there was an actual legit reason for us to get face time with him. He was still shielding us from some of the fallout of our temporal shenanigans so we hadn't really met up since that initial run in.

Still now we could talk in person without arousing suspicion and after finishing that set up I was ready to do...nothing. At all. I was exhausted. Even the twins couldn't attack us at home should they manage to track us down which given our shadowy escape they probably wouldn't. With no meetings or investigation to do until tomorrow I just wanted to relax and unwind. I had my soak in the medical tub to get done but I would do that later. For now I just collapsed into bed with a groan. I had a serious problem with finding down time.

Raven slumped down into bed with me, exhausted from her magic workout tonight and groaned, curling against me. "Gods I'm so exhausted. I feel like we haven't had a second of downtime in weeks. Even sex is starting to feel like work." I raised and eyebrow at that and she laughed "Not that I don't love our time together, it just seems like every second we have has been scheduled. When we do manage to fit sex into the schedule it feels like a chore. I miss being able to just enjoy each others company." She nuzzled against me and i inhaled the scent of the new blueberry shampoo I'd just bought her.

I couldn't argue her point. "You aren't wrong. I'm sorry love, between the magic training, work, klurkor practice, helping with the baby, dinners at Charity's, visiting Tera and Connor, the company, and now this thing with Kirby I feel like I'm underwater. Everything is so damn important so I can't just ditch some things to make room but it's starting to get to me. I mean hell, I'm only human." The giggling that erupted from my normally taciturn girlfriend did not help my mood. I glared at the purple haired goth curled against me "Wow thanks for the support."

She got her giggles under control "No babe it's not that. It's just that you spent such a large part of last year worried about not being human enough. With the soulfire and klurkor and the godsteel and even your arm. Now your problem is that you're human after all. It's very be careful what you wish for.' She leaned up and kissed me "In the end human on other doesn't matter. You don't care that I'm only half human why should it matter to you what you are? We love each other and we're all here for you, that's what matters."

I felt my brow furrow "When I was worrying about this last year, was that what you were feeling? That me being upset about being less human somehow meant I love you less? Because I can assure you that's not the case at all." I pulled her tight against me. "No matter what's going on with me or what changes in my head that doesn't effect how I feel about you, Rae. You or Barb, or I guess Cinder now." I laughed "I might be biting off more than I can chew. Three girls? That's just insane."

I slumped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and enjoying her warmth against me. "But I love you guys. All three of you. Cinder was already basically part of our relationship she was just being held at arms length as a formality and that seemed wrong. I know you guys already said it was fine I just feel...torn. Like if I don't return her feelings I'm disrespecting her but if I do I'm disrespecting you two." I exhaled loudly. "If you ever felt like I was letting you down you'd tell me right? Like if I wasn't paying enough attention to you or taking you for granted."

She rolled over on top of me and slowly lowered herself down, kissing me and molding the entire length of her body against mine. Her eyes bored into mine as she stared into them "You are the one person in my life that makes me feel like I'm good enough. The only person who has ever made me feel really loved and cared for. You would no more be capable of taking me for granted than you would be of deciding you wanted to breathe water. I know you get busy, I know you have problems managing your time. But you make me feel loved twenty four seven not just when you're with me."

She nestled her head in the crook of my shoulder, still lying on top of me. "As for Cinder neither of us feel like we get less of your heart because she's in it too. She cares about you a great deal and has changed immensely in her time with us and with River. She deserves to feel loved just like we do, and we know you're capable of giving that to her, but more importantly WE are capable of giving that to her. Your problem my love, is you forget not everything is about you. Our relationship with Cinder is part of this too."

I blinked "That...wow I can't believe I missed that. I've been so wrapped up in how I feel about how you feel about Cinder I wasn't paying any actual attention to how you felt about Cinder." I shot her a guilty look "I'm kind of a pompous ass aren't I?" I'd been thinking of their feelings about their relationship with me and their relationship with Cinder but not their relationship with each other. Both girls were close to Cinder and really cared about her. It was pretty condescending to think they agreed to this just because they knew I wanted it.

Raven chuckled against me, her laugh vibrating my chest. "Sometimes. But it's sweet that you care so much. But that isn't the real issue. You take too much on yourself. You think of everyone as your responsibility and feel like you have to fix everything, and the more you grow in power the more sure of that you become. But the rest of us are growing too, we get stronger every day as well and we love you just like you love us. You know we're powerful but you love us too much to see us hurt, but you don't acknowledge that we feel the same way." Her tone was gentle, but it was firm, she was leading me somewhere with this.

I knew where, even if I didn't want to admit it. "It's selfish. I prioritize your safety over the good you could do for others and you want me to realize that. But even if I know that I couldn't do anything else. Protecting you is the most important thing in the world to me. All of you. You're my family here, not just you and Barb and Cinder but Yang and Kara and Inari and Morgan and Sam and Harry and god knows how many others. I love you Rae, but you can't ask me to just sit back and let you risk your lives for strangers without trying to keep you safe."

She laughed at that, a fond sound that made me feel like an idiot "I'm not aski9ng that Cam, I know you never could and I love you for that. I'm not asking you to step back and let us protect you any more than I'd step back and let you protect me. I'm saying you need to realize you aren't alone. You know it intellectually but emotionally you treat us like treasures you need to keep safe. Part of being with us is recognizing that we shouldn't be behind or in front of you, we should be beside you."

I...had no response to that. She smiled "Oh good. He shuts up and listens. I guess you can be taught. You're the most important person in the world to me, but at some point between the foreknowledge and Odin showing you you could actually help us, and your growing power you forgot that we're a team. You've been running yourself ragged because you don't want to push the work onto us, because doing it makes you feel important and useful. But if you don't slow down and let us help some you're going to crack and we'll just end up doing everything behind your back."

She was right of course. I'd felt so helpless when I got here that I'd overcompensated once I got some power. I'd put so much effort into becoming stronger to protect my girls I wasn't paying attention to their growth as much or giving them what they needed. I sighed "Well what should I do? Somehow I think a household chore list isn't going to solve the problem here. Saying I need to learn to let go and accept help is a lot easier than doing it. I can't think of any of the things I do that I can just bail on, hell most of them I don't want to bail on."

The pensive noise that vibrated my chest told me she was giving it some real thought. "Well first off the business. Let Kara handle that. She might need some hand holding to start with but she has a super calculating alien mega brain. She'll pick it up quick. Secondly the cases. Have Barb work them most of the time. If you're worried about her safety send Cinder with her. In the short term once we get our answer from Odin about the help we're getting it means calling a family meeting of sorts and making sure we're all prepared for whats coming."

As she listed the manageable steps off I felt something in my chest unclench. She was right. That would help. Ever since I'd got here I'd been on my grind. Get more power, get more safety, get more money. I'd spent so much time charging ahead I hadn't noticed I was running my feet ragged down to the bone. I was exhausted, and I must have been closer to breaking than I thought for Raven to actually confront me about it like this. She wasn't shy about pointing out mistakes when I made them but challenging my entire direction in life was more assertive than she usually liked to be in our relationship.

I smiled down at her and kissed her head. "Thank you." She raised a questioning brow. "This couldn't have been easy for you. I know that you aren't always comfortable challenging Barb and I. You prefer a gentler style of guidance. It must have been an uncomfortable thing for you to just come out and tell me what I was doing wrong, but you did it because you were worried about me." I leaned down to give her a soft kiss. "I love you, and I'm lucky to have you taking care of me, even when I don't always take care of myself. Thank you, for being amazing."

She kissed me back slowly and happily and then we just laid there, staring at the ceiling and not needing to speak. I found one of the best parts of being in love was a lack of a need to fill the air with noise. When you really loved someone you could just be together and it felt right. Even silence sounded sweet when it was filled with the breath of a person you cared about. I let that same even breathing lull me to sleep. As I drifted off I thought about how much more relaxed I felt after just one conversation. The perks of dating an empath I suppose.

The next morning found me more relaxed than I had been in a very long time. Even after sex I wasn't this carefree. Sometimes we need our patterns pointed out to us before we can really see them for what they are. Raven had called me on my bullshit and even admitting it to myself made me feel lighter, freer even, than I had in a very long time. I rolled over to snuggle my sorceress, feeling our redhead pressed against my back. Apparently she felt Andi was ok to leave alone and had missed us because I would recognize Barb's toned body pressed against me anywhere.

Cinder was laying just past Raven, with the bustier girl squeezing the fall maiden against her like a sexy long legged teddy bear. I heard a giggle in my ear and looked over my shoulder. Barb had her head on her palm and her elbow on the bed, watching with a soft smile as our girlfriend cuddled her new stuffed animal. I rolled over in bed carefully, making sure to move slowly so as not to wake them and leaned up to place a chaste kiss on Barb's lips. She grimaced at me, her voice came out in a low whisper as she muttered "Morning breath apparently isn't one of those things godsteel can fix. How did I never notice that."

I smirked at her and deliberately leaned forward slowly to kiss her again. She giggled and pushed my face away. "Go brush your teeth, we have a meeting with a Norse god today and I doubt he would find your morning breath as charming as I somehow do." I grinned at the thought of Odin commenting on my morning breath but rolled my eyes and popped up out of bed in only my boxers. Barb arched an imperious brow "See, you obey my every whim. Walk slower, I like to look at your butt." The last thing I saw before closing the door was her putting both her hands behind her head to enjoy the show.

My shower was scalding hot and long, just like I liked them, I let my arms go limp under the hot water and tried to get my muscles to completely relax, or at least to relax as much as possible without the result being me just falling over. I know this great mood might not last, I still had so much to deal with in my life but I was determined to hold onto this new point of view. I would consider every action I took and whether it was something someone else could do better. Raven was right, my insecurity and insistence on pulling my weight had turned into a constant need to micromanage and it needed to stop.

I enjoyed my hot shower and soaked in the steam for a bit longer before stepping out to towel off. I wiped away the steam on the mirror, staring at my reflection as it fogged back up. I looked so damn different now. My features had been refined and sharpened, not just by whatever I should call the process that infused my body with godsteel but by the constant training and working out. I looked fantastic, better than I ever had before, but less like me. Or maybe more like me? More like the person I had always felt like I was.

Introspection was all well and good but now wasn't the time for deep philosophical questions. I headed to my room, getting a low whistle from Barb as I came in naked which drew a smile from me, and then I got ready in my most formal clothes, namely the suit I got in Colorado. If I was meeting a god I might as well do it in style. Barb and Raven were coming with me on this little excursion, Raven for backup and Barb to both advise me and drool over Gard, her crush on whom she had somehow convinced herself she had kept a secret from us when her staring was as subtle as a bull in a china shop.

Rae was up and ready within minutes, perks of being a magical badass. Cinder decided to sleep in, or at least that was what we got from the violent groaning and rapid dismissing hand motions while she shoved her head further under the pillow. We had to call a car sadly because ours was missing a windshield still. As we climbed in I turned to the girls, meeting Raven's eyes. "Well, new team player Cameron reporting for duty, what's our plan here. What do want to get from Odin in our meeting? Information on the twins of course, and if possible help with Fenrir but which is the priority?"

Raven smiled and took my hand nodding approvingly "Well I have to say Fenrir does sound scary but in the same way as the Skinwalker. Maybe a bit more so but the twins are the ones whose powers we don't understand. Fenrir from all accounts is just a complete beast who wrecks everything, we can handle that." She looked to Barb "What do you think?" Barb's earlier playful demeanor had faded when we climbed into the black sedan and her face had taken on a pensive air. She played with the end of her ponytail as she considered the question.

She sat there in silence for a minute or two, looking surprisingly thoughtful and introspective for a girl in a neon green spaghetti strap top and capri pants. Finally she shrugged. "Can't say. We don't know enough about either threat. I say we push him for information on both and after he spills we reassess what we need help with. Worst he can do is say no." I raised an eyebrow at her "Ok, no he can do way worse than say no but I'm being optimistic today. Fenrir is a problem for him and we might be able to take care of it. That'll buy us some good will I bet. The rest...well we'll have to see."

The conversation was cut off as the car pulled up outside a familiar bar. I grimaced. "Ok, I love Mac's sandwiches and his root beer but I think we need to find an alternate meeting spot if we're going to be having these so often. Unlike Harry, I can only eat at the same place so many times no matter how good the food is. No offense to Mac of course, but steak sandwiches are a sometimes snack." Raven just shrugged but Barb nodded to concede my point. Sometimes you need a little variety in your diet.

Unlike the other times we had come to visit the place however when we entered Mac's wasn't busy, not even mildly, the restaurant was completely deserted, clearly having closed. There was only on table occupied. In the center of the room, smiling jovially at us in greeting, was old one eye himself. Odin, the allfather. Ms. Gard sat beside him, looking tense. If I had to guess she hadn't liked the idea of me calling up her god for a sit down but had been honor bound as his retainer to pass on the message. Luckily she didn't look angry, just cautious.

As I drew closer the one eyed god used a boot to push out the chair across from him. With a nod of gratitude I sat down in the offered seat. "Good to see you, your...uh...godliness? Sir? I don't know what the formal method of address for a skyfather level deity is, and calling you by name seems overly formal. You're a big fan of pseudonyms right? Maybe Dino? It's an anagram of your name after all."

I was babbling, mostly because without the godsteel enhancing me I hadn't been able to sense as much of his nature before. I was about one small startle away from pissing myself. Last time I had seen Odin I had been impressed by his rep sure, but I hadn't had the senses I did now. With literal divine metal threaded through my brain stem I could perceive so much i hadn't before. I felt like a cartoon character who saw the small tip of a dorsal fin and hooked it with a fishing line only to reel in a great white shark that had been submerged a bit too deep.

Gard look incensed but Odin burst out laughing. "Dino. I like that. I think I'll let you use it. Though not in public, it's a bit too greek to be a mainstream alias of mine. That should solve your formality problem as well. Ah, and this must be Miss. Roth." The big god reached out to take ravens hand and gently kiss her knuckles. "Truly your fortune knows no limits to be loved by such a breathtaking woman. I trust he's treating you well my dear?" I raised an eyebrow at that, Odin wasn't Zeus but he wasn't exactly a monk either.

Raven giggled at him, making my frown deepen, but she nodded happily. "Always, I couldn't ask for anyone better, thank you. We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us Lord Odin, we've had some rather disturbing news that may be of interest to you as well. Pardon me for skipping the pleasantries but we're beset by enemies on all sides. Currently a prophecy has surfaced regarding the child of a friend of ours and it has drawn certain...elements, to our humble city. The Beast of Gevaudan, Remus and Romulus, and Fenrir the god wolf to name a few. We've faced the twins and done our research on The Beast but we thought you would be able to shed some light on Fenrir for us."

Odin looked completely unsurprised by the revelation which made sense because he was fucking Odin, but Gard actually paled as her eyes widened in fear. I was really hoping that reaction was just to Fenrir. The old god made a pensive sound. "I have information for you of course, your group is shockingly effective at disposing of things that should be beyond your means. Your efforts in destroying Fenrir would be of great use to me. However, I suspect you were looking for more information than just that. I would be willing to pass along what I know of the twins for your word that you will do your utmost to rid me of the mutt."

I winced. That was a bit more blunt than I expected. The issue wasn't in taking care of Fenrir, it was in the difference between self defense and premeditation. If he came after us and we killed him that was one thing, but by committing to wiping him out we were effectively choosing a side in Odin's battle with Loki. Sadly we didn't have much of a choice here. Loki or no Loki we absolutely could not take the twins without some info and possible some back up. But just because our backs were against a wall didn't mean there was no room for negotiation here.

I raised an eyebrow "We aren't against committing to that. But action for information seems a bit lopsided. We aren't worried about helping you with your problem if you can help us with ours." I put the shoe back on the other foot there. Committing to attacking the twins with us would most likely put him at odds with Mars, assuming their relation to him wasn't just a story. They certainly seemed like demigods though. Plus the whole raised by a wolf thing made way more sense if a god gave them to her.

Speaking of wolves, that wolfish smile was back on Odin's face. "A reasonable point, but it seems a bit hasty." He waved a hand and Mac came over setting down a mug of cold amber beer in front of each of us. "It seems like we may be here a while negotiating. The ale that Mac makes is superb and I can't think of a better libation for our talks." He raised his glass in a toast and then took a long deep pull of his beer. I sighed and toasted back, looked like I was going to be drinking with a viking god.

Coming up we have some exciting news about the next arc and a meeting with the dark elves! Check out the advance chapters on my pat-reon at that site /malcolmtent