14. Hermes
14
HERMES
B eing a shapeshifter made sneaking around a lot easier.
There were so many people in this camp that no one paid much attention anyway. I was just another person going about their business, a faceless automaton who was doing their job or going to their post like everyone else. There were too many of us to know everyone’s name or face. That should scare all of us magical beings. The Truth’s numbers had grown. They were recruiting, and I had no idea how.
Loki probably did. He seemed to know more than he let on.
He always had.
I really needed to find better friends.
Once this was over and I could be with Sam, I would make sure of it.
I hope he wasn’t scared. I was sure he was.
Humans, even magical ones, were very frail. It was just the way it was, and I could do nothing about it except protect him. I would. I would never leave his side if I had to. I couldn't wait to watch our children grow up together.
I had never wanted kids. I was the first Greek phallic god, and I took my job seriously. I was a real slut. I mean, most of us were, except for Hera. That was her own thing – fidelity. It was not mine, and I bed anyone and everyone that caught my eye.
People think that the god Pan was one of my kids. He was definitely not. I did not give birth to a goat, even if I was also the god of shepherds. Pan was around before me. He came from the Earth herself, Gaea. He’s the god of the wild, not the god of speedy delivery.
Did I have kids? Well… We all had kids. How do you think the demigods existed? But they were human, and they died. Most of the time without ever knowing us. I did say that we used to be real assholes, remember?
But to actually fall in love – to be bound by fate’s cord to someone else – that changed everything. I would be a great dad! I knew it with all my heart.
But there was the little matter of the end of the world to deal with first, and my chances of surviving this were getting slimmer with every bad decision I made.
The other guys went off to their tents or bunks, possibly cabins, for a few of them to change clothes and to eat. The ground was already covered with snow, so I would have to be careful with my tracks.
No. Fuck that. There was no time to be careful. I had to hurry, and that meant I had to change.
Mid-stride, I morphed into Andre or Agassi, whatever his name was. I didn’t have time to find any of the stupid black jumpsuits they wore, so I hoped my skin suit would suffice. Andre or Andrew was a bit of a wild card at camp. He was temperamental and always a little angry at something. I loved that guy. He could tell dirty jokes and drink whiskey with the best of them.
I walked around to the back of the one underground bunker we had and got into character by slapping my face. Andre or Amy liked to hit themselves to show how Alpha they were. It was annoying. I really hated that guy.
I took a deep breath and walked back to the entrance. The guard at the door didn’t even look at my very angry and contorted face.
“I'm supposed to be fucking off tonight.” I bellowed, hoping that, indeed, Andre or Albert wasn’t sitting down here talking about his manhood. He liked to do that. He was a guy after my own frat boy heart.
“Thought you were going into town?” A guy with no name said. Like I said earlier, we didn’t know everyone.
“Tried. Got asked to cover for the stupid art fair in the field. I really wanted to get laid tonight.”
“Thought you were fucking that cook, Robert?”
“By someone else. This dick doesn’t suck itself, man. Fuck…” I slapped my face. “Cock sucking assholes. One night, man. Fuck!”
I grabbed a rifle and pretended to tie my shoe by a crate in the corner. I quickly grabbed a couple of explosives and stuffed them in my pocket. How the hell did they have this kind of weaponry? These were military grade and brand new. You could tell by the pins. They bulged in my already tight pants. Andre or Axel was a lot taller than Denny, and I hoped that the dude wouldn’t notice. It would be hard to explain.
“Fuck you, I’ll see you later,” I walked towards the door.
I heard the sound of the metal hitting the concrete and watched as the grenade rolled over to the no-name dude’s shoe. Fuck… I hadn’t gotten it down all the way in my pocket!
“What the hell, man? Why do you have one of those?” He lifted his pistol.
As the special delivery god, I move very fast. Before he could get it up in the air, his face met my godly fist. It did not end well for him.
Fuck… Now I had to hide a body.
I grabbed him and stuffed him over in the corner like he had fallen asleep. It wouldn’t be the first time, and the guard's shift shouldn’t end for another few hours. I planned to have Sam in my arms by then if I was lucky.
I glanced around the small armament and didn’t see any cameras, which was weird. But maybe it was my lucky day. Maybe they didn’t want to broadcast the fact that The Truth was armed to the fucking teeth. It might make recruitment difficult.
I walked out of the underground bunker and twisted the handle on the door. It bent and wouldn’t turn. That would slow anyone else down and hopefully give me time in case someone did notice. I walked back through the camp and tried to stay in the shadows. When I felt like it was safe enough, I morphed back into Denny, just in case Andre or Anakin didn’t go to town. It would suck to run right into him in the middle of camp wearing his face and bad attitude.
The grenades pushed against my leg, and I felt to make sure they were out of sight and not able to fall out again. I mean, it might clear out the camp, but that was not my mission today.
The snow was really falling. This was going to be a blizzard. Medea hadn’t seemed to mind that. She was even excited about it snowing during the cold moon, and that made sense. It might make the moon more powerful for her to accomplish even more than she hoped. Magic was tricky and weird, and I hated it.
I walked past the camp and down to the coliseum. No one had been here, and the tracks we left on our way back to camp were already covered over. That might help me if anyone notices the armory door. They wouldn’t be able to tell where I had gone. Of course, the cameras might have picked me up. But in this blizzard, they would have a hard time seeing anything. I ran through the grove of trees and into the clearing where Medea’s college art piece was still unsold.
I glanced around and slowly crossed onto the concrete platform. The metal was untouched by the snow. Magic… duh.
I grabbed the grenades and placed them at the foot of the far left side where I had pulled the supports. There was no time like the present – I pulled the pins out of the grenades and got the fuck back.
The air hardened around the structure, and I glanced around. I saw no one. Medea’s magic was at play protecting the structure, but the explosion would be epic. I was sure of it. The metal would rip apart. Gold, silver, and bronze would not be able to survive the explosion.
The sound was mighty, and as the smoke cleared – the structure still stood untouched.
“Nice try.” Medea cackled from everywhere and nowhere. Her voice rang through my head.
“Medea?” I glanced around.
“Fool… How you have struggled to find a way to stop this occult masterpiece from being created. You think I didn’t know?” She materialized before me, a few feet between me and the ugly sculpture.
I glanced towards the camp. People should be running down here from the explosion.
“They didn’t hear it. Nor are they on their way. They’re all sleeping for just a few minutes. I thought we should have a moment together as it shall be our last.” She looked way too happy. I should have left when I had the chance.
“What do you want?” I tried to teleport, but I couldn’t. The rippling and hardening of the air wasn’t a protection spell for the machine. It was an entrapment spell to keep me here.
“Your blood. You seem a little stuck,” she snickered.
“My blood is not strong enough to power your machine,” I scoffed. Maybe I could throw a rock at her. Break the spell and get the fuck out of here.
“Oh, I don’t need your blood for that. I have a goddess that is much stronger than you.”
“Who?” My feet were frozen in place.
“That is none of your business.”
“How did you know it was me?” I was stalling. I had to come up with some sort of backup plan on the fly. I had to find a way out. Maybe the rock was a good idea.
“I had a little birdie tell me, didn’t I, Nepthys?”
Nepthys, the Dark Raven, appeared out of the shadow. “I’m sorry, Hermes, but I am a child of magic. It was my life or…”
“Everyone else’s,” I spat.
“So noble.” Medea clapped. “Always a heroic god, Hermes. Your compassion speaks volumes for the idiot you really are.”
I bent down and picked up a rock, and hid it behind my back.
“What do you have there?” Medea snorted. “A rock? Are you going to…”
I charged it with my power – what little magic I had and held it tightly. “My shoe was untied.”
“Your what?” She looked at me dumbfounded. “What the fuck is that?” I ducked, and Medea turned around quickly to see what was happening.
I let the rock fly with all my might, and it struck her hard on the back of the head.
Score one for me because she actually fell to her knees, and the air wobbled.
I ran as fast as I could, and as soon as I felt the air cool, I called upon my power of teleportation and…
A red light caught me in its snare, and I was pulled off my feet.
“That was… fucking trickster. If I didn’t need you, I’d…”
“Medea… Remember what I said,” Nepthys whispered.
“Fine, bird.” She spat. She looked up into the sky. “A blizzard is the perfect way to end the world, isn’t it? It’s a shame that you’ll never see how wonderful the world can be without your kind.”
Her magic was like a vice. My last thought was of how I had failed my Sam.