Deep Water (35 page)

His consort glanced at him in surprise.
“She didn’t bite me, beloved.”

“Yes, but you’re wounded. At the very
least Nicholas should be able to ease your pain.”

“You’re just as wounded as I am—”

“What the hell, guys?” Nick said, slightly
breathless as he reached them. He was careful to keep the flashlight beam out
of their faces, but there was enough backlight to see his tense expression. “I
just had Aidan charging in saying you three were in a fight with Thetis?”

“Yes.” Poseidon raised his arm slightly,
making a face at the pain. “We could do with your services, doctor.”

Nick’s expression changed to concern.
“Services. Right. Are all three of you hurt?”

“Amphitrite and myself. Bruising and
cracked ribs, mainly.”

“I’m ace,” Griffin said, guiding Poseidon
and Amphitrite towards their own cottage. “But these two could do with
painkillers and some ice packs.”

Nick nodded. “I can do that. Come on.”

****

Griffin hovered on the outskirts of the
bedroom. Changing back and forth from octopus form had caused his armor to
disappear, and he took the chance to pull on a pair of sun-bleached shorts
while Nick chivvied his mates into the bedroom for a short but thorough
examination, then into bed.

According to the doctor Amphitrite had a
torn rotator cuff, Poseidon had at least two cracked ribs and possibly more,
and both of them had a fair share of bruises and contusions that were already
starting to heal. After Nick wrapped Poseidon’s ribs and got him to lie down,
ignoring the sea god’s protests that he would be fine by morning, he gestured
Griffin to follow him into the hallway.

“Okay,” Nick said, folding his arms and
donning a no-nonsense look, “what the hell happened down there?”

Griffin gave the doctor a recap of the
battle with the whales, the
kētos
, and Thetis. “She’s not just mutating things
anymore. She’s making her own sea monsters.”

Nick rubbed the back of his neck,
scowling. “Shit. We really need a sample of her venom. Maybe Bythos can reverse
engineer the nanotech in it, find a way to shut it down at the source.”

Griffin grinned humorlessly. “That I can
help you with. Come on.”

He headed to the kitchen, the puzzled
doctor following. After hunting around, he found a clean plastic storage
container in the cabinet, putting it on the counter and holding his hand over
it. With some concentration, he shifted just his right hand into the tip of a
tentacle.

“What the fuck?” Nick yelped, jumping
back.

“Calm down. I’m still not that good at
this.” Catching his lower lip between his teeth, Griffin opened up a sucker
he’d been holding closed since the
kētos
died. A glowing bubble popped out of it and
dropped into the container, breaking and releasing a thick, oily-looking
liquid. “That’s a sample of dead sea monster. I don’t know if it’s got any of
those
nano
things in it, but I’m betting you can find
something.”

Giving him a wary look, Nick pulled what
looked like a novelty pen out of his jeans pocket. “Pythia?”

The tiny golden snake wound around the
shaft of the “pen” lifted its head and peered at the fluid. After a moment it
nodded at Nick.

The doctor blew out a breath. “Pythia says
it has functional nanotech. How the hell did you do that?”

Griffin shook the tentacle until it turned
back into a hand. “Gaia showed me how to create these energy containers. When
we killed the
kētos
it dissolved into sludge, and I sucked up a bit of it into one of the
containers.” He flexed his fingers. “Ached like hell to hold it that long.”

“Gaia?” Nick’s eyes went wide. “You met
Gaia
?”

“Well, she looked like the bird who rented
me this place, but yeah, it was definitely Gaia.” Griffin repressed a shiver,
remembering the overpowering presence of the earth goddess. “Thetis chucked a
spear straight through my chest. As you can guess, I died. Gaia gave me the
choice of going on or staying here as a god.”

“Whoa,” Nick said slowly. “That’s a little
more involved than when I met her.” He glanced at Griffin’s body. “So you’re a
god now?”

“Yeah,” Griffin said. “I can change into a
Giant Pacific octopus, too. It’s pretty cool.”

“Of course it is,” Nick said half to
himself. “Spear to the heart. Do I need to check you out?”

“Don’t really see the need.” Griffin
tapped his bare chest and its intact sternum. “I’m good, apart from the whole
‘not quite human anymore’ thing. What about Mr. and Mrs. Smith in there?”

“They’re
gods
,” Nick said, as if Griffin had just asked what color the sky
was. “They should be fine in a day or two. Chiron cleared Vicodin for non-human
use so I gave it to them for pain, but they’re already healing on their own. If
either of them has any problems, call me and I’ll come over. You still have my
number?”

“It’s on the refrigerator.”

“Okay.” Nick picked up the container lid
and gingerly snapped it onto the container. “I’ll get this over to Bythos.
Hopefully he’s got the divine equivalent of a Level Four biohazard containment
system set up.”

“Fingers crossed.” A jaw-cracking yawn hit
Griffin, and he gave into it. “I need a shower and some sleep. I’ll talk to you
tomorrow, all right? And thanks for everything.”

“All part of the job, dude. Just don’t
expect me to genuflect.” Holding the container like it contained something
radioactive, Nick left.

Griffin went quietly to the bedroom. As
he’d hoped, Poseidon and Amphitrite were already under the covers and asleep.
Poseidon’s left hand was securely wrapped around Amphitrite’s right, as if the
God of the Seas couldn’t sleep unless he was touching his consort.

“That’s all right, then,” Griffin
murmured, turning off the light and closing the bedroom door. After a quick
shower, he toweled off and walked naked to the living room, flopping down on
the couch.

Within moments he was asleep.

****

Something tickled his nose. Bleary, Griffin
opened his eyes to the mid-morning sunlight and saw something long and feathery
hanging in front of his face.

It resolved into a lock of dark hair, but
the person holding it wasn’t the one he expected. “Took you long enough,” Lisa
said cheerfully, sitting back on her heels. “I thought you were going to sleep
the morning away.”

It took his neurons a few moments to kick
in. When they did, he remembered he was naked. “Are you supposed to be here?”
he said, fumbling for a throw pillow and holding it over his groin.

Lisa eyed the pillow. “Don’t feel like you
have to cover up on my account,” she said, giving him a sultry grin. “You’re
family now, after all.”

“Which is exactly why I’m covering up.”
Griffin struggled to sit up without flashing more of his bits. “And you didn’t
answer my question.”

The lovely Nereid rolled her eyes. “Oh,
feh
. You’re my sister’s mate, which makes this my sister’s
house. I just wanted to check on her.”

More neurons fired in the right sequence,
jogging a memory loose. “Didn’t Poseidon send you somewhere?”

Now Lisa grimaced. “New Zealand. Which
would be lovely under normal circumstances—all those hunky Maori men, you
know—but it’s a pain in the ass to get out of there without passports or money.
If Hyacinth hadn’t sent those nice Royal Navy boys to pick us up, we’d probably
still be out there.”

Griffin tried to imagine three Nereids
loose on a Royal Navy ship.
Poor
bastards. They never had a chance.

Lisa batted her eyelashes at him. “My
sister?” she prompted.

“I think
Ammie’s
still asleep. Yesterday was one hell of a bad day.”

“Thetis. I know.” Now the Nereid looked wistful.
“We all felt it. I wish there was some way we could help her, but…” She trailed
off, biting her lip. “She won’t talk to any of us. All any of us can get from
her is this horrible rage and grief.”

Griffin couldn’t imagine what was worse,
having a sibling who was trying to destroy the planet, or feeling the emotions
driving that urge. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I. But at least
Ammie’s
been able to find some happiness for once.” Lisa’s expression flickered, and
she gave him a look that somehow combined approval with sizing him up for a
coffin. “I’m happy for the three of you, truly. But if you ever hurt her you’re
going to have forty-eight vengeful sea nymphs on your ass. And Jen, Patti, and
I are the
nice
ones.”

Griffin hunched deeper into the couch,
wondering just how much of their activities over the past few days had been
noticed by—
oh dear Jesus they’re my
sisters-in-law, now, aren’t they?

Lisa grinned. “You’re cute when you panic.
Don’t worry, we don’t get any of the intimate stuff.” She gave him a completely
different look now, eyebrow rising into a considering arch. “Although if I’m
being totally honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing you in action.”

He clutched the pillow closer to his
groin. “Not going to happen,” he said firmly.

“Oh, you’re no fun.” Pouting, the Nereid
checked her watch. “Well, I’ll leave
Ammie
to her
beauty rest. I have a date with a self-absorbed sun god, and I need to put on my
battle dress.” She stood, straightening her dress in a gesture that tightened
the fabric over her breasts.

Griffin ignored it, keeping his gaze focused
above her collarbones.

She sighed. “Oh, well. It was worth a try.
Take care of my sister,
Griff
, and give Poseidon a
kick in the ass for me.” Then she winked. “Or plow it, either way.”

With that, the Nereid strolled out of the
cottage, soft laughter trailing after her.

****

Nick’s prediction turned out to be
correct. Poseidon and Amphitrite got up around noon, most of the bruising and
other evidence of their battle with Thetis gone. Griffin heard them moving
around and had time to get a pot of tea mashed when they finally emerged.

Poseidon accepted a mug from him, then
sniffed the air and scowled. “
Ligea’s
been here,
hasn’t she?”

“Oh, be nice,” Amphitrite said, kissing
his shoulder and winking at Griffin. “I take it she didn’t seduce you,
beloved?”

“She tried, but it was more a reflex than
anything,” Griffin said, sipping his tea. “I think she was just getting warmed
up for Apollo.”

“Oh, that’ll be a clash of the titans. But
that reminds me.” She’d gotten dressed in a simple cotton top and comfortable
capris, and now she pulled something silvery out of her pants pocket.
“Technically I’m supposed to give this to my husband to warn the rest of my
sisters off him, but I don’t think you need that protection, darling,” she said
to Poseidon.

“No, I most certainly don’t,” Poseidon
said drily. “Griffin should wear it.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Amphitrite smiled
at him. “Hold out your wrist.”

Griffin did, and she fastened an elegantly
chunky silver bracelet around his wrist. “It’s a Nereid’s Band,” she explained.
“When we were all young we used to make a game of stealing each other’s lovers,
so Father made these for us as a sort of ‘keep off’ sign. If you wear that, my
sisters are required to behave with you or risk Father’s wrath.”

“Could’ve used this a couple of hours
ago,” Griffin said, examining the band and the dolphin-shaped clasp. “Um,
Father?”

“
Nereus
, one of
the elder sea gods and a good friend,” Poseidon said. “He and Doris are pretty
much retired now. I believe they spend the bulk of their time sailing around
the Mediterranean.”

“We’ll have to visit them at some point
and introduce them to Griffin,” Amphitrite said, giving Griffin’s hand a
squeeze. “You’ll like them, darling—Father’s a jolly old sort, and Mother will
think you’re absolutely charming.”

“Looking forward to it,” Griffin said.
“So, are you two ready for lunch?”

Poseidon put his now-empty mug down on the
counter, then came over to Griffin. “Yes, but I have something to give you as
well.” The god’s bearing changed, turning solemn. “Griffin Moore, you have
joined the ranks of the gods by the grace of Gaia. As a member of my demesnes,
are you ready to swear fealty to me?”

Griffin found himself coming to respectful
attention. “I am.”

“Good. Then kneel.”

He obeyed, sinking to one knee as Poseidon
held out a palm. “Give me your hand.”

Griffin did, enjoying the spark that
danced between them as they touched. Judging by the amused gleam in sea-blue
eyes, Poseidon did as well.

“Repeat after me—I, Griffin, God of
Temperate Waters, do swear to give my complete loyalty to Poseidon, Lord of the
Waves, and to serve his domain with honor and integrity befitting the Gods of
Olympus,” Poseidon said.

Griffin repeated the oath, and stood at
his mate’s nod. “Temperate Waters?” he asked.