27. Meetings & Migraines
Chapter twenty-seven
Meetings & Migraines
ETHAN
T his has really been the longest day in history. I want to get this meeting over with, take Shasta home, and then just sleep. I should want to ravage her, and I do, but we are all so tired that I don’t even think that’s an option right now. Not to mention the massive migraine I have right now. Being the leader isn’t always my favorite thing to do.
Trying to navigate a raid when we have no idea who’s going to be there and what their powers may be is a daunting task. Fortunately, we have Shasta. She’s going to be our ace in the hole. Jessa showed up too, as well as a couple of the other witches and warlocks. Though I did notice that Jessa is sitting as far away from Joaquin and Laken as possible and studiously ignoring them. Shasta also noted it and I see her brow crease in concern.
I love my friends but they can definitely be hard headed sometimes. I also know how I was with Shasta at first too, so I don’t have any damn right to say shit to anyone about how they handle their mates.
The Devil’s Gate is a huge hotel with thirty floors. The meeting rooms are only on the bottom two floors, so that narrows down where the meeting can be, but still leaves room for error. We don’t have any choice but to send someone in to try to figure out where it’s being held. Personally I think it’s too risky. The Society isn’t full of idiots. They have been doing this for a long time and there’s a reason for that. We may not like them, but I can’t sit here and be stupid about it either.
“Okay, we need to figure out who is going in, but I’m only going to say this one time and I expect my orders to be followed. Whoever goes in, if you feel at all uncomfortable or like you think you’ve been outed, get out immediately. Don’t try to be a hero. You’ll have to rent a room for the night and inconspicuously scope out the hotel to see which room they’re holding the meeting in. So if you look too suspicious, someone will notice,” I say firmly.
Nods all around. Then, Jessa raises her hand. “I know a spell that can change what I look like so I’ll go. You all are too noticeable. You don’t fit in with regular society. Big, hulking, tattooed men aren’t people who stay at a high end hotel like that unless they are up to something.”
Joaquin and Laken immediately jump to their feet in protest.
“Sit. Down.” I’m not going to allow their bullshit to get in the way here. She’s right. As much as I hate it. Shasta is looking at me like she’s going to kill me in my sleep if I say yes. I don’t have a choice though.
“I have to make hard decisions sometimes. All of you know this. Is it ideal to send Jessa in alone? Of course not. It isn’t something I’m going to take lightly. Shasta, is there any way we can send her in with some kind of extra protection? Spells, charms, anything?” I watch her face carefully.
She thinks for a minute and then nods. Looking at her father she says, “The spell for a body barrier that’s in the Grimoire, do you think I can alter it a bit and also turn it into a defense spell to freeze someone long enough for her to get away?”
He looks at her shocked. “You just came up with that on the fly? And also you remember all of the spells in that book? It’s like six inches thick.”
Winnie laughs. “Amir, that girl has spent every single day since you’ve been gone digging through and memorizing every single thing in that book. The only thing she couldn’t read all this time was the family tree. Though that isn’t an issue anymore. I don’t think there’s many spells in there that she hasn’t tried at some point either.”
Amir looks gobsmacked. “No one in my family has ever learned all the spells in there and some of them are so dangerous that most haven’t even tried to copy any of them.”
“Remind me to tell you about the dark spider sucking later,” Winnie says with a laugh.
“Grams.” Shasta turns red with embarrassment. I wonder to myself if that has something to do with when she tried to get the spider out of me at Supe Gen. Though based on the look on Shasta’s face I don’t think I’ll ask her about it. Better to choose my battles, since I’m sending one of her best friends into the viper’s nest.
Joaquin is glaring at me and Laken has his knife out. I sigh. This meeting is going to shit really quickly. “Listen, we have to know what’s going on in there. As long as Shasta can offer a bit of protection for her it will be ok. It’s not like I don’t already know the two of you,” I say, pointing at Joaquin and Laken, “won’t defy orders and keep an eye on her anyway.”
Laken just smirks at me. I roll my eyes and see Jessa doing the same. She is over their bullshit already I see.
“Okay, so Jessa’s going to go rent a room with protections from Shasta. Laken and Joaquin are going to ignore me and stalk her while she’s there anyway, so that’s covered. Once Jessa reports back with which room the meeting will be in we can cover where everyone will be stationed. This is no different from any other raid job we’ve had to do. The main thing is that everyone needs to stay alert and prepared for anything. Alaric, as usual, will be posted wherever he can keep an eye on the most areas so that he can let everyone know what's happening. Am I missing anything?”
“Yeah, what’s my job?” Shasta looks at me expectantly. Joaquin snickers. Asshole.
“Blasting. You can blast anything that moves. But you’ll be staying beside me and Kadi while you do it. I never said I wasn’t a hypocrite.” I fold my arms across my chest.
No one wants their mate going into danger. And no matter what I just said, I know that Shasta will do whatever she thinks she needs to do to keep everyone safe, even if that means leaving our side to do it.
Everyone around the table laughs. It’s not as if they don’t all know me. I might be the leader and my word should be law, but at the end of the day, we never know how things are going to go and we can plan all we want, but things usually never work out that way. Just like what happened when we were rescuing Amir.
Winnie raises her hand. “I’ll be coming along too.” Eloise looks at her as if she’s grown another head. Well fuck, what do I do here? On one hand, that’s my mate's grandmother. On the other, she is the head of the Coven. She has every right to be there. I can only nod. I’m not going to give her a specific job. She can just help wherever she sees fit to.
“Just help out wherever you feel it’s needed most. Healing is probably going to be a top priority too, even if it’s just enough to get by.” I think we have everything covered now.
“Jessa, you and Shasta go do your thing. After that, we will get Jessa on her way to go check in. Everyone else, get some rest. Tomorrow night is going to be busy. Meet up at the Clubhouse at four.” I stand.
Everyone heads out a couple at a time. Shasta and Jessa go…somewhere. I’m sure they have rooms here for stuff like that though I haven’t explored yet. I’m still trying to get used to being around witches in general. Amir beckons me over.
“Don’t let anything happen to her. I know she is way more powerful now, but they can’t get a hold of her no matter what, Ethan.” The look on his face is so haunted. All I can do is swallow and reassure him that I won’t.
Kadi and I head back down the stairs and he stops me in the hallway. “How are we going to keep her near us? You know the minute something happens she will be gone to deal with it.”
“I know, but there isn’t anything we can do about it. I hate it as much as you do, we just have to follow her and hope for the best.”
He growls.
“I feel you, brother. I don’t fucking like it either. But she’s a Gods damned demigod. We can’t get in her way. At the end of the day, she’s the most powerful one on this mission and if anyone can fight those fucks, it’s her. That’s why I want her on blast duty. Worst case scenario, she can just blast anyone trying to get in our way.” I squeeze his shoulder and move past him in the hallway.
Shasta and Jessa are in the kitchen now putting together a potion of some sort. “What’s that?” Kadi looks over her shoulder as he asks his question.
“An extra protection. It should help ward against them putting any spiders in her if they try. Though I think the other protections should get her away from there before anything like that happens. We tested the defensive barrier and it works quite well,” she says, rubbing at her shoulder.
Well I’m glad they made sure it worked, though I don’t like that it was Shasta who tested it. “Where are Joaquin and Laken?”
“Probably lurking outside like a couple creepers waiting for me to leave. It’s been like having two shadows for the last couple of days, minus a few times when they were with you all. But I was at work then, so does it really count?” She sighs. “I get it. But I don’t know how I feel about all this. I never thought I would get mates, let alone vampire ones, or psychos.”
Shasta laughs. “Welcome to the club.”
Kadi and I both protest. Though I’m not sure why. We are psychos. Is it really being psycho though if you’re just trying to protect your mate? That's debatable.
Loki picks that moment to pop in and scares the shit out of all of us except Shasta. I’m sure she’s used to it by now.
“What kind of bullshit is she getting herself into now?”
Oh, he’s talking to me? It doesn’t look like anyone else is paying attention. Can he hear me if I answer in my head?
“I can, but I have to actively listen. I don’t just go around reading people’s thoughts.”
“We are going to raid the Society tomorrow. But Shasta has demigod powers so she isn’t going to be in too much danger, I hope.” I think at him.
He hums in my head. Then, slowly wraps himself around Shasta’s legs until she picks him up. They have a conversation and then he pops back out.
“Uh, what was that about?” Jessa asks.
“Oh yeah, I guess I haven’t told you with everything going on, but Loki is a demon,” Shasta says nonchalantly. Emmett picks just that moment to walk into the dining room and Shasta winces. She must have forgotten that Emmett was here.
“Yeah, it seems you are really good at being secretive these days.” He crosses his arms and glares at her.
“I’m sorry Em, it’s been…well, a fucking nightmare really.” She looks at him with pleading eyes. He stares back at her with a stony expression. I can’t blame him. If Kadi had done that to me, I’d be pissed too.
“Spill it. Now. All of it.” He points at me. “You, don’t move. I’m not so forgiving as Shasta and you and I are going to have a talk.”
I nod. I have it coming. But at the same time, Shasta and I have worked it out so it’s moot at this point. Shasta begins telling him what all has happened, leaving out the sex part. Thankfully. Winnie’s kitchen is the last place I want to have a conversation about the hate fuck we had at the pride property.
“What the fuck, Shas. I just don’t understand how I got left out.” He’s hurt. I can tell, and I can smell it on him.
“It’s been a lot to deal with. I’ll make it up to you I promise. I’m glad you came to help though. I need you, you know. You’re my best friend. I dropped the ball, I know. I’ll try to do better when things aren’t moving at the speed of light.” She hugs him.
He sighs and hugs her back. “I’ve been worried, and Joaquin has filled me in a bit here and there but I understand, I guess, that you had a lot happening at once. You aren’t totally off the hook though. You owe me a spa date.” He pouts at her.
She laughs and sticks out her hand for a shake. “Deal.” You can feel the agreement form with magic. Whoops. She did it again. Emmett’s eyes widen as Shasta winces.
“Yeah, that just happened. Not for the first time either. I have to be more careful. Apparently my new magic likes to make official deals.” She sighs and stomps her foot a little. Cute.
“That’s pretty insane, Shasta. I guess Shiva must get a kick out of that. Now, let me see the new tattoo.”
She pulls her sleeve up to show him the medallion. He traces it with his finger and it sparks. Both of them jump apart and I see a panther form next to the medallion. It looks like a portion of the chain is wrapped around one of its paws as if it’s binding them together. Emmett gasps and we all watch as he raises his hand and a small lotus flower forms between his thumb and finger on the fleshy part.
“What the hell?” Kadi growls out. A form starts to take shape in front of us. We all gasp as a man with blue skin appears.
“Hello, my friends. Shasta, Emmett. I’m sure you’re wondering what just happened. All Gods have humans that are special to them. We can create bonds with them that are different from the other bonds in our lives. Emmett, I understand your frustration with not knowing what was happening with Shasta. Yours is a forever bond of friendship, and as such, no matter where either of you are, if you are in trouble, the other can teleport to you at will. It doesn’t work just any time though. Only if the other is in danger. You’re about to embark on a tough battle tomorrow. You may need this. It’s my gift to you both for all the years you have stayed by each other's side. Friendships are important for us all. Long friendships like yours are rare and hard to find. Humans can be, well, rather selfish. So you don’t see this type of friendship much anymore and I wanted to give you a way to help protect each other.”
Emmett looks like he might pass out at any moment. This is a pretty monumental thing though, so I can’t say I blame him. Shasta grips Emmett and stares at Shiva.
“Thank you,” she finally says. “And thank you for taking care of my dad. If it weren’t for you…” She cuts off, clearly struggling with her emotions.
“Remember I told you that you and your father were pretty special to me?”
Shasta nods.
“My son, Kartikeya, is your grandfather. He impregnated Amir’s mother through the divine, not physically, to create a stronger demigod line. Keeping your father alive is keeping one of my actual children alive. He didn’t deserve what he was going through and I wasn’t letting him go through it alone.”
Wait. What? Shiva is Shasta’s great grandfather? Holy shit.
Shasta looks shocked. I can imagine it’s a big deal finding out you are actually directly related to Shiva. I’m a little impressed that she’s my mate. Not as if I wasn’t already, but she’s pretty badass.
“That’s a lot to take in.” She seems like she is trying to process everything. Shiva looks at her kindly.
“Just know that I am always a mere thought away if you need me, Shasta.” He cups her face gently before disappearing.
All of us stand there in silence. What do you even say to that? I watch as Emmett turns his hand this way and that, inspecting his mark. Josiah steps up beside him and looks it over as well.
Kadi walks over and takes Shasta by the hand, leading her to sit down on a stool at the island.
Jessa turns back to the potion they were making, giving it a stir, and says, “Well, I know everyone was feeling left out, not that Shasta was keeping secrets on purpose, but I guess we can’t say that will be an issue anymore.”
You could hear a pin drop in the room and then suddenly everyone burst out laughing.
“You got that right,” Shasta grumbles. “My very own best friend tracker. As if I didn’t have enough of that going on with these two,” she says, pointing to Kadi and I.
Emmett snorts and Jessa sighs. “I don’t want to hear it. It can’t possibly be as bad as the vampire duo,” she whines.
“You rang?” Laken asks as he and Joaquin enter the room.
“I thought you two left?” Jessa grumbles at them.
“Well, we were going to, but then you never came out. So we came to see what was taking so long.” Joaquin reaches to the center of the island and grabs an apple from the fruit bowl and bites into it, staring hard at Jessa.
Shasta crosses her arms over her chest and says, “I don’t know what the hell you two are doing to my friend, but you need to ease up a little. Don’t make me zap you.”
Kadi rubs his abs as if remembering the jolt she gave him earlier. “Yeah don’t make her do that. It’s not a good time.”
“I second that,” I say, laughing.
“Anyway, this potion is done, let's get some bottles and we can get it ready to go.” Jessa reaches up in the cabinet and pulls out a funnel while Shasta goes into the pantry for a few bottles. They have a pretty good system here it looks like.
I have to say, I don’t really feel as nervous here anymore either, so I guess Shasta’s immersion therapy plan is working. I’m not mad about it. I’m glad to have been wrong. Fate knew what she was doing when she made Shasta my mate, even if I didn’t like it at first.
Kadi looks at me and winks as if he can read my thoughts. Well, after all this time he probably can. We watch as they bottle the potions. They leave one uncapped and Jessa drinks it down. I watch. I don’t know if I’m thinking she’s going to turn green, but nothing happens.
They both nod though as if things went exactly as they should have. I guess it’s a witch thing. They box the rest up and Shasta walks Jessa to the door, hugging her tightly. Joaquin and Laken follow her out the door like the shadows they are.