Page 57 of Painless
So this was my first hug.
I closed my eyes and willed my body not to shake from everything running through me.
Nineteen
REAPER
Irapped my knuckles on Jandro's door while Hades sat like a good pup at my side. It was hard to look at him lately and remember that he wasn't just my dog, my most loyal companion and friend. There was some higher power at work here, using me for some divine purpose. Was that toothy smile mocking me or was this being in a dog's body truly happy to follow me around and guard my loved ones?
I questioned everything now. How he seemed to understand everything I said. The way he guarded Mari so fiercely, and even the circumstances of how I found him. After Mari told me what happened as Tessa was in labor, I couldn't bury my head in the sand any longer. I needed answers now.
"Shadow," I greeted the large man who pulled the door open. "Just the person I wanted to see."
His dark eye, uncovered by his hair, blinked at me in confusion. "Me, president? I...wasn't expecting you. Did I forget about something?"
"No. I apologize for dropping by unannounced, but I would like your help with something. May I come in?"
He pulled the rest of the door open and stood aside for Hades and me. The dog wandered in first, giving Shadow a cursory sniff and huff of approval before moving on.
The first thing I noticed upon walking inside, aside from all of Jandro’s mechanic shit, was Shadow’s desk with a sketchbook and his disassembled tattoo machine.
“Oh, hey, thanks for doing such a badass tattoo on Mari. It looks fucking great on her and she’s already talking about wanting more.”
Shadow cleared his throat and, unless my eyes were tricking me, even seemed to blush. My old lady had that effect on people, so it didn’t concern me. If anything, I was pleasantly surprised she was able to have a positive effect on him at all.
"Of course,” he muttered, closing the door behind us. “She’s a good client. I’m glad you’re pleased with it too. So what can I help you with?"
"You still have all those old books?” I asked. “There's some...ancient knowledge I want to look into."
That piqued his curiosity. "How ancient do you mean?"
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "Possibly thousands of years. I want to know about gods. Pre-Christian, all that pagan shit."
Shadow nodded and led me through his side of the house. "I may have some old books that used to teach about this kind of subject matter. Any particular pantheon?"
"Pardon?"
"Pantheon," he repeated. "Different cultures used to worship multiple gods. A grouping of gods worshipped by a single society is called a pantheon."
I stared at him as we walked into a small room lined with bookshelves. Each shelf was near-bursting full of books.
"How do you know all this shit?" I asked him.
Shadow scanned the titles on the shelves. "After we settled here, I asked Gunner to find me books on every subject that used to be taught in schools." He glanced at me over his shoulder. "I was never truly educated, as you know. I figured this way, I could learn some of the things I missed."
"It's an impressive collection," I mused, eying one shelf that was all about US military history. "Maybe we can use these to educate the kids when they're old enough."
Shadow coughed with surprise. "If you think they'll be useful, I'll be happy to loan them out. I have multiple copies of a few things."
"I'll talk to Andrea. She homeschools their little ones now. I bet she can make a curriculum for when they're older, too." I scratched my jaw. "But to answer your original question, no. I don't know what pantheon I'm looking for."
"What about names of gods? Any in particular?" Shadow began pulling books from shelves and setting them on a side table.
I swallowed, meeting the bright eyes of my dog. "Hades, Horus, and Freyja."
Shadow looked at me again with surprise. "You all named your animals after gods without knowing their origins?"
"We didn't name them. They told us their names."
