Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Riley
I squeeze Kit to me, relieved to have her back.
Not just because she’s my eyes, but because she gives me a sense of calm that I’ve needed ever since I lost my sight.
She’s been what has kept me going and feeling like my old self.
My fingers ache and I can’t get them to stop shaking, but holding her makes me feel more at ease while I play dead when Imani walks up.
“Riley! Riley, are you okay?” she asks, sounding concerned, which makes me feel a tad bit guilty. I really think the god should do me a favor and just drag me home.
Even though my eyes are closed, I can see her worried face through Kit’s eyes. I can see everything Kit does, which can be a blessing or a curse since the familiar is easily distracted.
“He’s playing dead,” Torin says in perfect English. I’m starting to question whether he actually already knows our language and is just yanking us around.
Like where in my graphic novels did he pick up on that saying and decipher its meaning?
Asshole.
I open my eyes and sit up with a sigh.
All signs of worry are immediately gone from Imani’s expression as her vibrant green eyes narrow. “You leveled the entire building. And we didn’t even get a barrier up first!”
“I didn’t do that,” I say, looking around like I’m seeing it for the first time and had no part in it. “Well… I think it’s lunchtime. I’m going to be on my way.”
“You’re not going anywhere!” she insists.
“Food?” Torin asks in English. He sure seems to know the terms he wants to know.
Imani isn’t distracted and is maybe even a little invigorated by our bullshitting. “Explain what the hell happened. You just like… disappeared,” she says. “And whatever you did, you closed the Door.”
“Door?” The word perks me up because it’s the very last thing I thought she’d say.
“There was an influx of magic that told us a Door had been opened between here and another realm… but there was something… wrong about it,” she explains. “Something we couldn’t decipher without seeing the Door ourselves.”
“When’s the last time a Door to another realm has been opened?
” I ask. Doors between realms are seldom opened.
Honestly, it’s rare for anyone to have the power to do so.
So while we know people can hop from realm to realm, we haven’t come across anyone who has.
That doesn’t mean gods and other high-powered magical beings haven’t; it means that we don’t know about them.
She points at Torin. “Besides him? Three hundred years ago.”
I tell Torin what she said, even though he’s probably already figured everything out, and he explains to me what happened inside the building since he knows I wasn’t able to see it.
I listen intently before telling Imani and the other members of the Magical Interference Unit who have gathered around us.
The rest are trying to keep onlookers back since we’re uncertain whether the area is safe.
“So this man who was inside the building… do you know what happened to him?” Imani asks. “My guess is he’s the one who opened the Door.”
“She wants to know what happened to him,” I tell Torin in his tongue.
He shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine. The world inside that building was fractured. If it was a Door that was opening, either it wasn’t fully complete or something was wrong with it.
I… truly don’t know what it was, though I do know that you destroying the building seemed to get rid of the man.
But you still seem to have the magic inside you. ”
“I don’t want it,” I say as I reach out to Vinny and touch his arm. His magic doesn’t immediately cancel the other one out, and I hesitate. It’s like I still have that magic and Vinny’s.
Imani seems to notice my expression.
“What’s wrong?”
I grab Vinny’s arm, wrapping my fingers around his wrist, and suddenly the foreign magic leaves.
I can’t quite tell whether it left because of Vinny’s magic or for some other reason.
“N-Nothing. Just took me a second to borrow Vinny’s magic.
Odd. Well, I’ve brought you the god back.
I destroyed this building for you. My job is done. ”
Imani doesn’t look impressed. “You’re still in charge of the god and you weren’t supposed to destroy the building.”
“Was that in the fine print?”
“Yes.”
“I never read that shit.”
“Nah, you only read porn,” Vinny says with a grin.
I sigh and turn to head off, but Imani blocks me.
“If you think of anything else, let us know. And keep an eye on him.”
“Got two eyes on him,” I assure her. She just doesn’t know that it’s Kit’s eyes. With my connection to Kit, she knows where I want to look most of the time. The problem is when she gets bored of where I want to look… or takes a nap.
It’s quite apparent the Magical Interference Unit doesn’t know what to do with the strange god of war and love, and somehow, he’s become my problem.
I fear they believe that I’m still powerful enough to deal with him on my own.
Maybe I used to be that strong, but not anymore.
Not now that my whole world falls apart when Kit merely looks away during a fight.
I walk up to the god and assess his bleeding, which is probably pretty concerning when you’re a god.
“Aren’t you indestructible?”
“Just my penis is.”
“Ah, interesting,” I say as I decide that if he can say shit like that, then he’s perfectly fine.
I reach the road and stare down at the spot where my bike sat earlier.
Not that anything sits here anymore. The cars that were parked along the road have been shoved out into the street and are crushed by debris, and when Torin points, I realize that my bike must have become a projectile because it’s now embedded in the brick of the building across the road… about twenty feet up.
“Let’s pretend we didn’t notice that. We’ll ride the subway,” I tell Torin.
“Please, not the subway.”
I love how he sounds more horrified about riding the subway than dealing with the man inside that building. “Subway it is. And learn English words that don’t revolve around sex.”
“You are a very demanding man.” He walks beside me while I contemplate how surprised I am that Imani is actually letting me go.
I guess when I left the Magical Interference Unit, it became known that I really wasn’t supposed to engage with them any longer.
The unit itself is a prestigious special ops unit that takes a lot of time, dedication, and training to be involved in.
And those who aren’t currently in it aren’t allowed to know what’s happening.
I think they just play favorites when it comes to me. Not my personality, god no, but the fact that they like my magic.
“Are you hurt?” Torin asks.
“No, I look significantly better than you. You look like you went through a blender.”
“Do you think that you purposely aimed the sharpest pieces at me when you exploded the entire building? Do you think that’s why I look like this and you just have some tousled hair?”
“It’s a strong possibility,” I say.
“You claim you’re not hurt but your hands won’t stop shaking.”
I slide my hands into my pockets, positive he doesn’t need to know everything about me. “Just from the amount of magic I used,” I lie as I zip into the subway station.
He stares at the opening to the station like I’ve just walked into a lion’s den. “Why can’t we walk back to your home?”
“It’s illegal to walk too much in this country.”
“Then we should get a horse.”
“I like this beast better,” I say, pulling him into a bathroom just inside the station. I grab a paper towel and wet it before turning to face him. “You don’t have any healing magic?”
“Doesn’t look like it, does it?” he asks as he looks down at himself.
“So you usually do?”
“I’m usually even more magnificent than I currently am.”
“Ah, of course. I apologize for thinking otherwise.”
“Good,” he says while I start wiping the blood off him so he at least looks semi-presentable when we get on the subway.
I kind of think there’s something about him that will just make people accept him no matter what he looks like. It’s some strange godly effect that makes you go, “Oh, he might be covered in blood, but I would still do him.”
Not that I would.
Hell no.
I’m going to die a cynical, shriveled-up old man who is all alone.
“The way you look at me is both the way my lovers look at me as well as the people who want to kill me. I can’t quite tell which way you’re leaning.”
“Good,” I say as I wipe his face.
“The water is cold,” Torin whines.
I grab a handful of his hair and force him to stay still. “Don’t be a child.”
“You’re getting your gloves wet. Why do you wear them all the time?”
“So people think I look weird and don’t engage with me.”
“It kind of just makes me want to take them off and not stop there.”
For that, I smack the paper towel in his hand and leave him to clean himself up while I glower at him.
“I am a god of love, baby. You can’t stop this ecstasy… well, the look on your face can,” he says as he tosses the paper towel like he deems it good enough and waves me to the door.
I head through it while Kit tries to reassure me that everything is fine by rubbing her face against me. “Let us go, Torin, God of Bullshit and Nonsense.”
“I feel like you want me and… what the fuck is this?” he asks.
“It’s called an escalator.”
“Magic that moves stairs… how fascinating.”
“It’s electricity, not magic.”
“I’ve never witnessed this electric magic.”
“Just electricity. No magic.”
“What keeps it from eating people?”
“We feed one virgin to it a month, which satisfies its bloodlust.”
“I’m definitely not a virgin, so I should be safe. You, on the other hand… have you managed to bed anyone with that attitude?”
“I just wear a gag and spread my legs; it’s the only way I can get laid.”
“Understandable.”