“I know of her.”
“She explained this bit of fortune telling once. Apparently I drew the High Priestess with the left hand. I have to be careful about who I gather around me, or it’ll be disastrous.”
“You’re talking about me?”
I stopped in my tracks.
Maenads. The High Priest’s bloodstained, drunk murderesses. Their hair was disheveled, as were their winter clothes, and they had the eyes of animals. One was perched on the corner of one roof, the other stood between the two houses.
“Shit,” I said. “Now I’m doing it.”
“Doing it?”
“Talking about stuff in the middle of a crisis.”
“What were you saying?”
The Maenad on the corner of the roof leaped. A lump of snow the size of her dropped off the roof.
I lurched to one side, thinking she was going to leap onto me, but she didn’t. She dodged off to one side, and circled around.
Putting me and Green Eyes in the middle of the two.
“We each take one,” Green Eyes said.
I expected her to leap, saying that, but she didn’t.
“Y-” I started
Green Eyes leaped.
“-es.” I finished.
The Maenad took her head on, fingernails extended like claws, teeth bared.
I didn’t have a chance to see the catfight, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. My focus was on the other one.
She moved quickly, and not in a straight line. Her feet touched the wall of the one house, where siding stopped and concrete began, and she propelled herself over to the railing surrounding one house’s porch. The entire railing wobbled with the sudden weight, snow flying, as she ran along the top, the toes of her boots scraping ice beneath the lighter snow.
As graceful as a jungle cat. About as violent, I imagined. She reached the end of the railing and leaped.
I swung the Hyena for center mass.
One boot settled on my knee, the other hit the knuckles of my hand. I could see her muscles flex beneath the tight-fitting, unbuttoned jeans she wore.
She was like that for a fraction of a second. I saw her nostrils flare. Even as her face screwed up in disgust, smelling something on the Hyena, she kicked herself away, landing on all fours, elbow and knee deep in snow.
These are his god’s warriors.
One hand reached into her coat pocket. I tensed, ready to throw the Hyena if I had to.
A handful of cigarettes and joints.
She raised them to her mouth, bit, and let them fall, scattered, onto the snow.
She was still biting an old fashioned lighter that had been in the jumble.
Fire?
Her hand disappeared into her jacket again.
I charged, forcing my way through the snow.
She leaped back to maintain distance between us, and stumbled on something in the snow, and caught her balance, hands going wide to her side.
A flask.
Aw hell no.
Teeth pulled the stopper from the flask. She tossed back a swig.
Bad.
She hit the lighter with a practiced flick, producing flame.
Still moving forward, I bent low, grabbing at the snow. Scooping it in one hand, and hurling the handful of snow at her face.
Just a little too powdery.
She spat alcohol through the open flame, letting it ignite.
I had to let myself fall in deep snow that hadn’t been shoveled all winter, to avoid getting ignited.
She took another swig.
I was only halfway to my feet. I dove into the snow.
I felt heat roll over my back.
Okay. Snow was a good enough shield. How much alcohol could she have?
Stupid question.
It was just me and Green Eyes, here.
Right. Switch things up.
Trust. Keep my friends close.
I twisted around, rising, my back to my opponent, my eyes on Green Eyes’ continued struggle with the other Maenad.
The Maenad was on top, pinning the tail down with one foot. Green Eyes had a grip on one wrist, but one of her own wrists was being gripped, fingernails digging in past scale and skin to the meat below. There was a trail of blood on one lip and a bite mark on her collarbone that was bleeding a lot.
I didn’t think. I only threw.
Hurling the Hyena.
The Maenad I was fighting sputtered, losing whatever alcohol she’d just taken into her mouth, and screeched out a belated warning in Greek.
The Hyena embedded itself in her sister’s back.
The screech of rage, oh man.
Green Eyes pulled the Hyena free, tossing it to me. I caught it in both hands, to avoid catching the blade. She had descended into the snow before I had it in my grip. Swimming in it.
I saw the remaining Maenad’s eyes widen. Yes, she could get me, with another swig and a breath of fire, but doing so came at the cost of Green Eyes maybe getting her.
She leaped back to the point between the houses, then backed away more.
She howled, wordlessly. A mad scream that joined the noises in the background.
Calling for help.
Fuck.
“Green Eyes!” I shouted.
She didn’t pop her head up.
It didn’t take five seconds for the help to arrive. More Maenads, Bacchae, and Satyrs.
Clambering over the houses, with roofs so easy to reach now that the snow was as high as it was. Over the porches.
I backed away, but it was slow going, mired in snow.
The High Priest of Dionysus approached down the length of the alley, where the snow wasn’t as high, due to the two adjacent buildings and the overhang of the roofs. He stopped at the end of the so-called path, so he wasn’t wading in mermaid-infested snow. His Maenads flanked him.
“Blake,” he said. “You’ve managed to be an ungodly nuisance.”
“Going by the fear I can feel from that group of people, I’ve been more than a nuisance.”
“Yes. You’ve been other things, but that doesn’t change that you’ve been a nuisance.”
“Point conceded.”
“Any last words?” he asked.
“Why would I need last words?” I asked. “I’m not planning on dying anytime in the immediate future.”
“It’s a courtesy. I only need to say a word to my deity to lay you out flat.”
The Maenad said something in Greek.
“Your mermaid, as well.”
“Sure,” I said.
“You’re not going to escape. You weren’t going to escape the moment they caught your scent, without that damnable bird around to shake it.”
I didn’t have a response for that.
“Just so you know,” he said. “I have no intention of attacking your friends. You’re removed, we have plans for Rose. I fully intend to talk to Sandra and urge her to banish your friends from Jacob’s Bell. This isn’t their town, and it’s not good for them. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s better for them if they’re not here.”
“I don’t disagree,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Despite everything I’ve done,” he said, “I did want to be a good Lord.”
“Despite what I’ve done here, tonight, I only intended to remove the most problematic men from the Duchamp’s roster. I hoped it would shatter the family’s power base, done right. Make people think twice about maintaining their alliance with the family.”
“What does that achieve? They’re still obligated to stay, to help, by compacts made months, years, or decades ago. Fight in service to the family in a qualifying situation.”
“I needed the Enchantresses alive, if we were going to collectively rally against Johannes,” I said. “But at the same time, I needed the family broken. Maybe the husbands will stay and help take the Lordship, but if they know that this is a bum deal, if they’re going to get killed off while the Duchamps walk off frazzled but okay? If they’re wondering if they’ll get murdered at the request of other Duchamps… can the Duchamps keep what they’ve taken?”