Chapter 34

A loud knocking at my front door startled me and when I lost my concentration, my magic surged. It proved to be just the thing I needed, though; blowing open the box I'd been working on trying to open for hours.
"Yes!"I held up my gloves and kodachi triumphantly while I kicked the box that had previously held them hostage. Then I did a little victory dance; waving my weapons in the air with glee before laying them down. "Who is it?"I called as I continued my dance down the hallway and to the front door.
"Ull,"came the reply. "You okay in there?"
"Yeah, I'm fantastic."I opened the door to Ull's smiling face. "What are you doing here?"
"Dad was getting impatient,"he said. "He was about to come down here and get you himself, but I talked him into being more subtle and sending me. You gonna ask me in or what?"
"Enter and be welcome, Ull."I stood aside; Nick peering around my feet and adding his meow to the welcome.
"Thanks."Ull reached down to scratch the cat's head before coming in. "Nice place."He looked around curiously. "So, what are you doing in here that's got you so excited?"
"Huitzilopochtli sealed my gloves and sword in a box, and I've been trying to find a spell to get them out. I finally succeeded."I headed back to my altar room, waving for him to follow.
"Your Wolverine gloves?"Ull was a fan of the X-men too.
"No, my opera gloves, I'm just dying to see La Bohéme."I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him as I sat back down in the white outline of a circle which was painted on the floorboards in front of my altar.
Ull whistled sharply as he looked around at the shelves of books, bottles, and assorted witchcraft paraphernalia. He picked up a piece of mammoth ivory carved into an offering bowl with intricate knotwork along the sides. His fingers traced the delicate carvings before putting it down and moving to my altar. I was about to tell him not to touch anything when I noticed that his hands only hovered. I watched him a bit more; observing how his fingers wavered over my tools as if they were dancing in a breeze before I pulled my discarded book into my lap.
As soon as I reached to close the book I'd been using, Ull turned sharply to point at it. "Where did you get that?"
"It belonged to Ku. Technically, I stole it."
"Oh."Ull sat down next to me and ran a finger along the edge of the cover. "You killed him right?"
"Yeah, I was trying to prevent myself from becoming his next sacrifice at the time."
"Hey"-he held up his hands in surrender—"I don't have a problem with you taking out the competition."
"Hmm."I closed the book. "Speaking of competition, I met your mother."
"You think of my mother as competition?"His mouth twisted in mirth.
"More importantly"-I pushed him playfully—"she thinks of me as competition. She would've decapitated me while I slept if Blue hadn't told her to back off."
"Blue?"
"Sorry."My face burned red. "I mean Huitzilopochtli."
"You have a pet name for the big bad vampire god who kidnapped you? What is this, Stockholm syndrome?"He had entirely sidestepped the part where his mother had tried to kill me.
"It's not a pet name."I rolled my eyes. "He thought the same thing. Do they give you guys the same script or what? I was getting tired of his long-ass name so I shortened it, that's all."
"How is Blue short for Huitzilopochtli?"Ull narrowed his eyes.
"It's not; it's short for Blue Hummingbird on the left, which is the English translation of Huitzilopochtli."
"I bet he liked that."Ull chuckled; sharing my delight in Blue's irritation.
"He was thrilled,"sarcasm dripped from my words. "Especially when I told him how apt a description it was going to be of particular parts of his body if he continued to chase me."
"You said you'd give him blue balls?"Ull roared; smacking the floor beneath him with his palm. "Holy shit, woman, talk about balls, you've got brass ones."
"Why, Ull"-I batted my lashes at him and slid into my southern belle accent—"you say the sweetest things."
Ull picked up the remnants of Blue's wooden box; still laughing a little as he looked it over. "What did you use, a sledgehammer?"
"Ha ha."I smirked. "I needed to use god magic."
"Oh, hey."He dropped the box and moved backward in the conversation. "So, you met Mom?"
"Uh, well, no-o-o, not exactly,"I extended the no to convey my annoyance. "I got to listen to the dulcet tones of Sif's voice, but I never had the pleasure of actually meeting her. She woke me up by screaming at Blue to let her in so she could chop my head off for bewitching her husband."
Ull snorted. "She said she was going to kill you for bewitching Dad?"
"Yeppers."
"Whoa, Mom needs to move on."Ull shook his head sadly.
"How long has it been since they, um, divorced?"I wasn't sure if god unions worked the same as human ones. I mean; it wasn't as if they had to file paperwork.
"About five hundred years, give or take."Ull shrugged, and when I gaped at him, he laughed. "Some of us hold grudges a long time."
"Grudges sure."I snorted. "But Sif's just plain in denial. How can she possibly think that Thor's still her husband?"
"She can think whatever she likes"-Ull grimaced—"she's a goddess."
"She's an Atlantean and so are you, but I'm not going to argue semantics,"I huffed. "Either way, she would've killed me for nothing because I'm not sleeping with Thor."
"You're not?"Ull waggled his brows at me. "So, you're available?"
"What she meant to say,"Thor's booming voice cut in, "was that she's not sleeping with me yet, but she will be… soon."
"Holy shish kebabs!"I flinched and turned to see Thor standing in the doorway. "How'd you get in here?"
"You invited me, remember?"He frowned as if I were daft.
"Once."I glared at him. "That doesn't mean you can just waltz on in whenever you like."
"You want me to knock?"His brow furrowed.
"It would have been polite, yeah."I got to my feet. "I could've been doing something."
"Yeah, like me,"Ull just had to pipe up.
"Stay away from her, Ull,"Thor growled, and Ull just smiled bigger.
"Fine, whatever."I pushed Thor back out the door. "Let me get my purse, and then we can go."
"Good."Thor calmed a little. "Teharon is waiting. He thought you'd be there already since it was you who was so eager to get into Huitzilopochtli's head."
"Blue,"Ull corrected, and I shot a glare over my shoulder at him.
"What?"Thor started to look confused again.
"Blue."Ull was all smiles. I guess he figured if he wasn't going to get to screw me, he'd just screw with me. "It's what Vervain calls Huitzilopochtli. It's her little pet name for him."
We were losing Thor to his storm eyes again. Great.
"It's not a pet name, and I will make you pay for that, Ull."I pointed viciously at him.
"So, what is it then?"Thor's voice was tight with irritation, and I was getting irritated about defending myself to a man I wasn't even technically dating.
"It's a simple shortening of his English name, and I intended it to be insulting."Okay, that was a stretch, but I didn't think Thor would like the idea of me teasing the bad guy.
"You were trying to insult him by calling him Blue?"Thor narrowed his eyes. "I can think of several things more insulting right off the top of my head."
"She told him it would be the color of his balls if he kept trying to boff her,"Ull's voice inserted helpfully.
"You what?"I didn't know if Thor was going to laugh or choke.
"Well, not in those precise words,"I mumbled.
Thor settled on laughing. He laughed and laughed and laughed. The shelves shook, the windows rattled, and Nicholas went zipping through the hallway to hide in my bedroom. I may have cringed a little.
"You are lovely."Thor grabbed my face and planted a kiss on my nose.
"For telling some dude that I'll give him blue balls?"I couldn't see the lovely in that.
"For defying him with humor when most women would have cried, laid down, and..."
"Closed their eyes and thought of Mother England?"I asked. They both raised their brows at me. "What?"
"Nothing, darling."Thor squeezed me against him, and I remembered the dream with him on the beach. So, he had called me darling. Then he whispered in my ear, "You just have a way with words."
Sweet tingles spread out from the spots his warm breath hit. I pushed him a little and rubbed at my ear as he laughed. I was doomed, so doomed.