Page 72 of In Your Light

“He’ll be safe with me,” Ciaran replied.

“Hadeom’s no threat right now,” Hendrix said. “He’s drooling on the floor.”

Kellan nudged him gently. “Be nice.”

Hendrix shrugged. “Just saying. If you wanted to exact revenge, put that wooden stake through his chest like you wanted to before, now’s your chance. You know, an eye for an eye, and all that.”

Before Ciaran could wonder if that was a fair call or what the ramifications would be for killing an old god, Salem sighed and pushed his plate away.

“I suppose I should explain,” he began. “Or tell you what I know. I am old. Some thousand years or so. You all know this.”

“Cradle-robber,” Hendrix called.

Salem rolled his eyes, and Aurin chuckled as he took Salem’s hand.

“But he is much, much older than I. The man you know as Hadeom has had many names in this time, in many places, in many religions. Where I am from, in the Celtic highlands, we knew him as Arawn. King of the Otherworld. A hunter.”

“The slayer of monsters,” Sawyer whispered.

Salem swallowed hard. “My mother was not a monster.”

“No, she wasn’t,” Sawyer said. “Salem, I’m so sorry.”

Salem gave him a sad smile. “Thank you. It was a long time ago.”

“So he is Hades?” Dylan asked.

“To the Greeks, yes.” Salem nodded. “Before that, he was Hugin to the Norse.”

“Odin’s raven messenger,” Kellan said.

“Yes. He would observe and absorb all he had learned,” Salem said. “And before that, he was Horus to the Egyptians.”

“Jesus,” Ciaran whispered.

“No, that starts with a J,” Hendrix said. “All the others start with an H.”

Everyone chuckled, and even Salem smiled. Kind of.

“Then he went missing, or off the radar, or something,” Salem continued. “I went into hiding, so maybe I missed it. I tried to keep track, but—” he shrugged. “I feared if I looked too hard, he’d find me.”

“You’re not a monster,” Aurin said, his fierce eyes on Salem.

“No, you’re not,” Sawyer agreed. “He’s been tracking actual monsters. Like Lusca.”

Salem inhaled and shook his head slowly. “Who decides which of us is a monster?”

“I...,” Sawyer began. Then he sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Whether they cause harm?” Dylan supplied.

“My mother caused no harm,” Salem said. “But the people who prayed to be kept safe told their gods otherwise.”

“And Hadeom will pay for what he did,” Otis said. “The broken chair leg is around here somewhere. It’s as good a wooden stake as any.”

“Do gods need to die by wooden stake?” Dylan asked. “I mean, how does one kill a god?”

Sawyer put his hand up. “Uh, yeah, hi. Police officer, here. I have to professionally object to homicide. And also, the fact that you’re talking about it beforehand makes it premeditated, and that’s bad.”