Stronger Together chapter 191

Weirdly, the scariest thing about Drakul was how non threatening he  was. I knew he was a monster, a nightwalker who had swum through oceans  of blood, and a starborn which considering I was from another universe  might make him more of a threat to me than most. I knew he'd killed more  people than I had ever met, that he was, if not a threat on the same  level as Fenrir, then at least as powerful as Lycaon. I knew all of  this, but I felt none of it.

There  was no predatory aura, no deep sense of unease. No feeling of unreality  and threat. He was just a good looking flashy dresser who moved a  little gracefully and had a noble bearing. It was like seeing a goldfish  I knew could swallow a whale. The presentation did not match what I  knew to be his capabilities and it was creepy. Not to mention he managed  to appear right the fuck behind me and not only did I not notice, none  of my instincts picked up on his presence. If I closed my eyes I  wouldn't even be able to tell he was there.

That  would have been irrelevant even a few months ago, but as my mortality  was purified and the godsteel in my body became more integrated my sense  expanded. More than having enhanced sensing capabilities, I had new  senses that, though subtle, I had grown accustomed to perceiving the  world through and they were being made abundantly clear through their  absence. That said, I wasn't afraid of this bloodsucking fuck in a  straight fight and even if he was sneaky, I had my eye on him now so it  didn't matter.

That  said I decided to keep my eye on the dark starborn and make sure he  didn't break line of sight. It would be pretty shitty to get backstabbed  by the king of the vampires. I was about to speak up and confront him,  but then I realized doing that was pointless and stupid. Drakul was in  the middle of talking shit with the First Emperor and drawing either of  their attention if I didn't need to was just asking for trouble. Qin Shi  Huang's beaten gold irises were fastened on Drakul's face, clearly  deciding what he should do next.

The  look in his eyes wasn't hatred, hatred implied some sort of recognition  of the other parties merit. The First Emperor was looking at Drakul  like someone might look at a very large spider. It was potentially  dangerous and intimidating in it's own way but mostly just disgusting  and in need of a good stepping on. The Jade King sneered at the undead  powerhouse and spoke, his voice deep an resonant but without a hint of  any accent "Scavenger. To think you would show yourself in this place  after your recent humiliation."

Drakul's  polished and carefree smile never changed but the hand I hadn't noticed  him placing on the chair behind me clenched subtle, causing the wood of  the chair to groan under the strain. For someone as old and scary as  daddy Drak to show even that much anger he must have seriously hated  Emperor Qin. Despite that obvious hatred, his eyes were clear as black  mirrors and his smile was guileless as he responded to the Jade King  "Qin, you know I don't take things like that to heart. What's life  without some risk I say. I never bet anything I'm not willing to lose."

Though  he was across the room I was pretty sure Qin caught the chair creak. I  expected him to twist the knife a bit but he just smiled and turned to  glance at the end of the table. I followed his gaze and was absolutely  shocked to see Odin sitting there, sipping a tall frosty mug of beer.  Apparently the all-father took advantage of the spectacle to make his  own entrance. Being incredibly eye catching because of how low key he  was was pretty classic Odin from what I'd seen. He nodded genially to  both of them.

Odin's  mere presence seemed to be enough to quell hostilities for the moment,  and Drakul released the back of my chair and gave the old god that same  urbane smile he'd been putting on all night before leaving for his own  spot. He took a seat next to an absolutely breathtaking blonde woman,  engaging her in conversation as he did and very pointedly ignoring  Emperor Qin. River breathed a sigh of relief as the old bastard walked  away, of all of us I think he was the only one with the senses to notice  the problem.

When  he saw my gaze he gave a small nod, and spoke in a low voice "Yes. I  noticed it too." The others mostly just seemed confused so he  illuminated them on what was happening. "Drakul was standing right  behind us but neither of us noticed him. Like myself Cameron has senses  beyond the physical means of detection you all employ, but unless I was  looking right at him, that old monster might as well not have existed."  He kept his voice low enough to be seen as making an effort but I could  tell he didn't actually care if anyone heard, in this scenario even  making a token attempt was polite enough.

Raven  nodded "He wasn't detectable by my empathy either. It was as if I was  standing next to empty space. I tried some of my other moves for picking  up nearby threats and none of them came back with anything." Left  unsaid was Raven's awareness that Drakul was strong enough to fight  Listens-to-Wind, Harry, and River to a standstill all at once with  enough ease that I'd been pretty sure while I was reading the scene that  he was actively fucking with them for fun. I'd briefed everyone on all  the need to know stuff I was aware of quite some time ago and I knew  Drakul being here was one of Raven's main reasons for taking this so  seriously.

We  didn't have time to dissect the minute details of every interaction  we'd had with the vampire king so far for hiiden plots though. Before we  could go into our observations a loud ringing sound rolled over the  room, bringing a hush to the crowd. Sure enough, Odin was the one  raising his frosty mug, which he was tapping against the spear he had  standing upright next to his chair, the old show off. Every being in the  room had their eyes dragged to the elder god sitting at the head of our  table.

The  older mans long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his beard was  braided into small tails like I'd seen in viking dramas. When he felt  everyone focus their gazes on his face his remaining blue eye crinkled  in amiable greeting. Despite being in a different mantle I briefly got a  glimpse of the demeanor he probably had when he was Santa Claus.  "Friends. Thank you for responding to my invitation, it is good to be  among my own once again even if our time together is far too short. We  are here tonight, of course, to welcome another member of the worthy to  our esteemed number."

He  smiled and gestured down the length of the table at where I sat with  the girls. "Cameron is a talented and powerful magic user on an order  not seen since the days of my own disciple. A man who participated in  the hunt of one of the corrupted messengers, who single handedly slew  The Beast of Gevaudan, toppled the twin tyrants of Rome, and even ended  the life of the God Wolf himself!" His voice boomed across the chamber,  and I had to applaud the gravitas and force behind the exclamation. Odin  was nothing if not a showman.

He  gave me that signature wolfish smile "Any one of these actions would be  a feat worthy of song and story but to accomplish them all. I can think  of no one more worthy to join our number than such a legend in the  making." His tone and bearing were both completely serious, and somehow  all the shameless bragging and propaganda felt totally natural coming  from him. Odin was a god of storytellers after all, and he was damn good  at pushing the narrative he wanted. Of course everyone here knew that  already, but the fact that I had someone like him as my hype man was a  statement in and of itself.

Despite  all of us knowing what he was doing, it was still hard not to get swept  up in Odin's pace anyway. The more he talked the better I sounded, hell  I was starting to get impressed with myself, and I was there when all  that stuff happened.  Odin's speech was winding down now "As a founding  member of these accords I welcome this brilliant addition to our ranks,  and I cannot wait to see what he accomplishes next. Welcome!" And with  that he raised his cup and then quaffed the whole fucking mug in a  single swallow. Magnificent bastard.

Everyone  around us followed suit, raising and draining their drinks. Even we did  it, though since we all had expensive ass wine we mostly sipped rather  than chugging it like some bad ass viking lords I might have named. I  almost expected to have to give a speech, but contrary to my assumptions  after the toast everyone just dug into their food. The steak Raven  ordered me had just appeared on my plate while I was looking at Odin. I  took a huge bite and of course it was amazing, perfectly seared and red  in the middle just like I liked it.

Harry  got the steak like I had, and River went with the lobster. Sam and  Raven both got the duck and Cinder was eating a ribeye like I was. The  mashed potatoes were buttery and garlicky and amazing, and I could taste  the cream they used to make them. They had no gravy but just the juices  from the steak were more than enough to compliment them perfectly. Even  the salad was amazing, with crisp iceberg lettuce and a delicious  homemade buttermilk ranch dressing that I would have asked Lara for the  recipe for if she didn't sort of hate me still.

We  enjoyed the meal, making conversation among ourselves and we even saw a  familiar face. Ebenezar made his way over with Listens-to-Wind, having  apparently finished their own food. They actually dragged their own  chairs over and I had to try not to laugh at the informal atmosphere of  the two old men parking their seats behind us to catch up. Ebenezar  grinned at me "Well, seems like you've come up in the world now haven't  you boy? To think that little beginner I gave lessons to just a year ago  beat down the god wolf himself."

My  surprise must have shown on my face because he chuckled "Oh aye, I knew  the old dog. We crossed paths a time or two. Left a hell of an  impression I'll tell you that. I thought he would outlive us all truth  be told, but to tell you true, I don't think he wanted to. If anything I  suspect he would have like going out this way better. He was never the  type to begrudge someone a bit of reputation at his expense if they  earned it." He smiled wistfully "Hard man to hate, and an even harder  man to like."

That  sounded just like my experience with him and I smiled and raised my  glass, offering a toast to the fallen warrior. It was strange how much  of an impact he made on me after such a short time knowing each other.  But then I suppose some people were like that, in your life for a minute  but in your world for life. I got the impression Fenrir would have been  a main character in most stories, he had that main character charisma. I  shook of the thought and turned back to the two old men, I had friends  to catch up with.