Chapter 9

I woke in Shauna's office; at some point in the night I had been covered by a blanket. The door to the office was closed, and the lights had been turned down. I shifted into a sitting position, and was surprised to discover I was clad in boxer shorts and a rather fancy suit jacket. More alarmingly, my wrists were tied together. I liked Shauna, but bondage games weren't exactly something we had been involved in. The room spun slightly around me, and I wondered briefly how much I had had to drink the night before. I put my head between my knees, and waited for the room to stabilize. I crossed to the door, and pulled it open slightly, hiding my near nakedness behind the door.

Shauna was sitting at a table towards the front doors with -- of all things -- a shotgun across her lap. The bar was otherwise empty, and looked somewhat unnatural. After a few moments, I realized the neon Open sign was turned off. I had never seen it off before. I slipped out of the office, and startled Shauna.

I had never seen Shauna riled before; it was a scary sight. The shotgun was pumped and aimed at me before I took two steps. "Geez, Shauna, what the hell! Where are my clothes?"

"Stay put, William." Her voice was colder than I had ever heard before. The words wouldn't have stopped me, but the tone -- and the shotgun -- left me to stop stock still.

"Okay, Shauna, I don't know what's going on, but my hands are tied -- literally -- and a dear friend is pointing a shot gun at me, so can you please tell me what I've done wrong?" I pleaded. I held my hands up in what I hoped was a non- threatening gesture, displaying the rope binding my wrists together. "What happened? Where's Marcus?"

"I don't know what happened, William."

"What's with this 'William' thing. I'm Will!" I was growing exasperated and increasingly confused. The shotgun was holding steady pointed at me; no sawed- off job, Shauna's gun was full length, with shadows disguising whatever the load might be. It had all the smooth and clean lines indicating a well- loved and cared- for weapon, and I knew Shauna had too much determination for me to intercept. That gun would fire if she wanted it to, and unless it was pointed elsewhere, it would kill me.

"You came in here, caused Marcus to have a seizure, and then tried to take my pot. I want to know what happened before that."

I stared at her, slack jawed. "What?"

She gestured at the table closest to me. "Those two business cards were the only things on you. Ring any bells?"

I hesitantly took a step, and when not shot, took another, ending close enough to pick up the two cards. The one had a hand written name on it, Johnny Mustafa, and an address. I didn't even recognize the language the address was written in. The other was the simplest business card I had ever seen; a name, an address, a phone number. It had the understated elegance of someone who was so utterly certain of his position in life that he felt no need to tell anyone who he was. The phone number was New York's 212, but the address was local. The name was familiar, and I felt a growing sense of unease. I dropped myself into a chair still alongside the table, and looked up at Shauna. "Shauna, why do I have Aaron Maris's business card?"

Shauna frowned, but apparently she believed my reaction. The shotgun wavered, then was lowered. She didn't clear the chamber, but did leave it pointed only in my general direction. "The name is familiar. Who is he?" She stood and took a few steps towards me, leaving five tables still between us.

"Aaron Maris would be the name of the current incarnation of Ares."

"God of War, Mars, et cetera?" Shauna asked, skeptically.

"That would be the one." I dropped the card back to the table and buried my head in my hands. "Okay, so you tell me what you know, I'll tell you what I know, and try to figure out the missing pieces."

Shauna looked at me measuredly, then cleared the chambers of her shotgun, and placed it carefully down. She walked over to me, and untied my hands. "You came into the bar around four in the morning, wearing what you have on now, and triggered a seizure in Marcus." I looked at her with my brow crinkled. "Then you walked into my office after ordering me to get you a drink, and when I came back after sending Marcus off the hospital, you tried to steal my pot."

I replied in shock, "Shauna, I would never! I know how valuable it is!" She waved off my excuses. "Did I say anything?"

"You said you were going to borrow my gold to take a trip to Egypt."

"Borrow a leprechaun's pot of gold? There are less painful ways to die..." I glanced down, somewhat embarassed, and caught sight of the hand written address. "Wait, Egypt?" I held up the card. "Apparently I was planning on going to Egypt to meet this Johnny person. So we had the what, I was the who, someone pretending to me was going to use your gold was the how, when was soon..."

"We're just missing the why," Shauna said, apparently willing to ignore the gold issue for the moment. I was thankful for the brief respite; messing with a leprechaun's gave me reason to believe I may have briefly had a death wish.

I tapped Maris's business card, and said, "I'm not entirely sure I want to know the why.

"I remember having breakfast with you, then going to the roulette wheel. I hit a few other casinos..."

"Were you winning?"

"Of course!" My pride stung a bit, but I'm sure Shauna was more than slightly pissed at me at the moment.

"Fairly?" A slight smile played on her lips.

"For me, yes. I did a circuit, and returned to the Bellagio. Did you know you can get Johny Walker Blue in the high roller's room in the Bellagio?"

Shauna gestured towards the liquor shelves behind the bar. "You can get Johnny Blue here, as well."

"Ah, but I didn't have to pay for it."

"You haven't paid for drinks half the time you're in here!" Shauna's indignation caused her cheeks to blush slightly in anger.

"Ah, but I always drink cheap drinks." Shauna shook her head, but left the familiar conversation tabled. "I was winning, and..." I paused as I tried to remember the blurry parts of my night. "I remember having a terrible headache... I lost." My head came up, and Shauna looked at me quizzically.

"You never lose. At roulette, at least."

"Someone cheated."

"Other than you, you mean," Shauna positively smirked, secure in her value as a business owner.

"Someone changed where the ball was going to land." I ignored her implications of impropriety. "I lost after Seeing."

Shauna said, "That takes one hell of a lot of power."

I nodded. "I can't do it; I don't know any half- blood who could."

This time Shauna tapped Maris's business card. "Well, there's at least one god in town, and we know he was in the picture."

I thought for a while, looking down at the table. Something on the arm of the jacket caught my attention, and I stared at it, trying to unravel the hidden pattern. It was a splotch of something dark; it looked like someone had spilled red wine, or maybe ketchup, on my sleeve. I lifted it, and took a sniff. The smell took me back, and I remembered.

I made it to the bathroom before retching; I threw up in the toilet.

"Tony Saccardi tried to kill me," I said, looking up from kneeling by the toilet. "I made the money, then tried to earn back my initial bank roll. I lost almost two hundred and fifty thousand due to interference, and that gorilla of his grabbed me as I went to leave the casino. Tony and George beat me into a bloody pulp, but my debt was bought just before they killed me." I tapped the business card, and Shauna's pale skin went white.

"You owe an Obligation to Ares?" Shauna said, her eyes nearly saucers. Momentarily she forgot how pissed she was at me as she pondered how screwed I was.

"It's a doozy," I said. "I have to destroy my Mother."

"I like your mom!" Shauna objected. "She sent me a wine opener when I first opened this bar!"

"I like my mom, too. I'm supposed to kill my Mother," I said, clearly enunciating the capital M.

"Oh. Wait. The God of War wants you to kill the Goddess of Strife? That's sick politics for you."

I nodded. "Unfortunately, it's not purely political. He threatened... well, a friend." I nodded in Shauna's direction, and this time I appreciated the blush across her freckled cheeks. "I tapped Johnny Mustafa's card. "Apparently, he can facilitate the operation. I can see why gods are gods, and we're left with pickings; I vaguely remember Maris touching me, and all I can remember before waking up here was feeling like, well... a god."

"That explains your eyes. They were almost glowing, even after you attacked Marcus," Shauna leaned back; her posture was relaxing as she began to understand what had happened.

"I'll have to do something to make it up to him," I said, wincing. "I rather like him."

"At least you're not using past tense, or referring to him as 'human,' like you were last night." Shauna frowned. "You're not really going to do it, are you?"

"Well, apparently I can't kill Mother, but I can destroy her; something about needing time for her power to reform in another incarnation." I shrugged. "If I don't, you're in trouble, as am I. At the very least, I have to try; that entire Obligation nonsense."

"I'm coming with you."

I looked at Shauna, and told her, "No. I'm screwed, but I'm not dragging you into this."

"Will, my safety and by extension that of all my cousins were threatened by someone who is currently the most likely culprit for setting you up to be killed by the Mafia. I'm Irish, and remarkedly stubborn." Shauna frowned. "Besides, you've never been out of the country. You need all the help you can get."

I started to argue, then realized I'd rather have a second pair of eyes watching my back, particularly a pair I could trust. "Okay. I can probably trade you in Egypt for a camel, in any case."