Chapter 8 Secrets and Shadows

Elena drove through Chicago traffic like the laws did not apply to her.

Marcus gripped the door handle, watching buildings blur past. Athena sat in the back seat, silent and calculating. The tension in the car was thick enough to cut.

"Where are we going?" Marcus finally asked.

"Somewhere the pantheons cannot track us," Elena said, cutting across three lanes without signaling. "A dead zone. No divine surveillance, no magic signatures. Completely off grid."

"How does a mortal detective know about dead zones?" Athena asked, her tone sharp.

Elena met the goddess's eyes in the rearview mirror. "I am not mortal. Not completely. My father was Hephaestus. Which you already knew, or you would not be in my car right now."

Marcus turned to stare at her. "Your father was a god?"

"Was being the key word." Elena's jaw tightened. "He died six months ago. During the Crimson Night. Same night Ares supposedly died."

The car fell silent except for the engine's hum.

"I did not know Hephaestus fell that night," Athena said quietly. "The Council never announced it."

"Because they did not know," Elena replied. "My father was investigating something. He told me to stay away from downtown that night. Said something was wrong with the divine treaties. That someone was planning to break the peace." She gripped the steering wheel harder. "I ignored him. Thought he was being paranoid. By the time I got there, the city was burning."

"I am sorry," Marcus said.

"Save your sympathy." Elena turned down a narrow alley, parking behind an abandoned factory. "I spent six months thinking he died in random pantheon violence. Then you showed up. Golden light. Divine signature matching the Crimson Night. And I started wondering what if it was not random at all."

They got out of the car. Elena led them through a rusted door into the factory's depths. The interior was surprisingly clean, furnished with computer equipment, weapons racks, and maps covering every wall.

"You have been busy," Athena observed.

"I have been investigating." Elena pulled up digital files on her screens. "The Crimson Night killed seventeen gods, forty three demigods, and two hundred sixteen mortals. The official story says it was a territorial dispute gone wrong. Norse versus Greeks versus Egyptians. Chaos and bad luck."

"You do not believe that," Marcus said.

"I do not believe in coincidence." Elena brought up crime scene photos. Bodies. Destruction. Marcus recognized the street where he had found Rachel. "Look at the kill pattern. The gods did not die fighting each other. They died in specific locations, specific times. Like someone was herding them."

Athena leaned closer, studying the images. "Explain."

"Ares died at the corner of State and Madison. Hephaestus three blocks away. Both within five minutes of each other. But witnesses say they were fighting different enemies in different directions." Elena pulled up another file. "Four other gods died in a perfect circle around that intersection. All within ten minutes."

Marcus felt ice in his stomach. "A trap."

"A ritual," Athena corrected, her face pale. "Gods positioned at power points. Deaths timed to specific moments. This was not battle. This was sacrifice."

"To what?" Elena asked.

"To whom," Athena said grimly. "Someone used the Crimson Night as a mass sacrifice ritual. The question is what they gained from it."

Marcus thought about the Vesper. About her shadows and ancient power. About how she had known exactly where to find him.

"The Vesper," he said. "She admitted orchestrating Ares's death. What if she orchestrated all of it?"

"The Vesper is old," Athena said. "But not powerful enough to kill seventeen gods alone. She would need help. Allies inside the pantheons."

"Traitors," Elena said. "Gods working with her."

A noise echoed from the factory's far end. All three of them froze.

Athena drew a bronze dagger from thin air. Elena pulled a gun that hummed with divine energy. Marcus felt the mark heating up, power rising to the surface.

A figure emerged from the shadows. Tall, muscular, wearing Norse armor.

Bjorn.

"Wait," Marcus said, stepping forward. "He helped me escape."

"Did he?" Athena kept her blade ready. "Or did he deliver you exactly where Odin wanted you?"

Bjorn raised his hands, showing he was unarmed. "I come alone. With information Marcus needs."

"Talk fast," Elena said, gun aimed at his head.

"Sigrun is not the only traitor in the Norse ranks," Bjorn said. "There are others. And they are not working for the Vesper by choice. She has something that forces their loyalty."

"What?" Marcus asked.

"True names," Bjorn replied. "The Vesper collected the true names of gods during the Crimson Night. Anyone whose name she holds becomes her puppet. They cannot resist her commands."

Athena's expression turned grim. "That is why the Council has been paralyzed. Why has no one moved against her? She controls key members of every pantheon."

"How many?" Elena demanded.

"I do not know," Bjorn admitted. "But enough to manipulate events. Enough to frame Marcus and ensure his execution."

"Why would my execution matter?" Marcus asked.

Bjorn looked at him with something like pity. "Because you are becoming what no mortal has become in three thousand years. A new god. Born from death and choice rather than immortal breeding. If you complete the transformation, you break every rule the old order was built on."

"So they want me dead before I finish changing," Marcus said.

"Worse," Bjorn said. "They want you to die believing you are a murderer. Broken and hating yourself. Because if you die angry and defiant, the mark might pass to someone else. But if you die in despair, it dies with you."

The mark pulsed beneath Marcus's skin, confirming the truth.

"How do we stop her?" Elena asked.

"Find the true killer," Athena said. "Prove Marcus's innocence and expose the conspiracy. Once the pantheons know they have been manipulated, they will turn on the Vesper."

"Easier said than done," Elena muttered. "We have three days and every god in the city hunting us."

"Two days now," Bjorn corrected, checking the time. "You lost hours in the Council chamber."

Marcus felt the pressure crushing down. Two days. Forty eight hours to solve a conspiracy six months in the making.

"I know where to start," Elena said slowly. "There was one witness to the Crimson Night who never gave testimony. Someone who was there when Ares fell but disappeared before anyone could question him."

"Who?" Marcus asked.

Elena pulled up a photo on her screen. A man in his forties, unremarkable face, wearing a security guard uniform.

"David Park. Night watchman at the building where Ares died. He called 911, reported the chaos, then vanished. No one has seen him since."

"He saw what really happened," Marcus realized.

"And someone made sure he could never tell anyone," Elena said. "We find him, we find the truth."

Bjorn nodded. "I will help. Quietly. But if Odin discovers my involvement-"

"He will kill you," Athena finished. "We understand the risk."

An explosion rocked the factory. The walls shook. Alarms blared.

"They found us," Elena hissed. "How?"

Through the windows, Marcus saw shadows pouring through the streets. Dozens of them. The Vesper's hunters.

And at their center, a figure in gleaming armor.

Apollo.

"He is supposed to give us three days!" Marcus shouted.

"He gave you a head start," Athena said grimly, raising her blade. "Then he started hunting. Welcome to divine justice."

The factory doors exploded inward.

Apollo stood in the opening, holding a spear made of sunlight.

"Running was never an option," he said. "Fight or die. Choose now."