Page 46 of The Goddess is Fierce
“Please, treat us like you would anyone else. The only real difference between us and any of the ghosts here is that we aren’t dead and we have different magic. Gods trip and fall, get their hearts broken, rip their pants, and make mistakesallthe time.”
“Okay, but sometimes, I get orders mixed up and people get mad about it.”
And they got their dicks haunted by the ghost of a massive bear shifter. No thank you. Besides, my fucking parents were the type to berate the server when something was wrong, not me. Azren just shrugged.
“It happens. One time, I hosted an elaborate dinner party and completely forgot that three of the people I invited were allergic to shellfish. Which is actually way worse than you bringing us the wrong order. Someone could have died, and they were probably way less dramatic about it than some of your customers. We’ll be fine. Do you have any specials tonight?”
“Yes, actually. The ghosts made something special since that one was coming and he knows who he is now,” Pearl said, pointing at Baldur. “We’ve actually had it and it’s been aging in the back. Someone snuck through the veil and found an old Viking recipe for mead to celebrate when Baldurreallycame home. There’s enough for everyone at the table.
“Most of the food is new for us. We have lobster canapes, oyster toast, shrimp patties, and deviled eggs. We also have cheese balls if you want something to snack on. It used to be fruit cocktail for dessert, but one of the kitchen ghosts was feeling nostalgic and wanted to make something we’d actually tasted before. She made a cake that ended up more popular than the fruit, so we’ve been doing that since. I don’t know why thelobster is so popular since that’s what everyone ate in my time if they were poor or in jail, but the cake is delicious.”
“Who is the singer?” I asked. “She’s amazing.”
“Oh, that’s Morgana. She’s always loved singing, but there were limited options for women when she was younger. Some rich human had his eyes on her and her parents were terrible people. They sold her off to the human, and he brought her to the New World with the rest of us. He didn’t know she was a succubus, but he didn’t like the attention she got from other people. He beat her a lot and forbade her from singing.
“If you don’t like jazz, please don’t say anything. She clicked with it the first time she heard it. Sometimes, people ask her to sing more modern music, but most of us prefer to listen to her sing what she feels.”
We all agreed we loved jazz, and that Morgana was fantastic. We gave her our orders. Baldur said he didn’t remember drinking mead, but his dad actually told him it was his favorite drink back in the day. I was guessing the ghosts knew that and couldn’t be bothered to tell him that when they were giving him hints.
And I wasn’t going to say a damned thing because I didn’t want my dick haunted again.
baldur
. . .
Ididn’t go to the speakeasy much, even though I had a longstanding token. The ghosts were always kind to me, even if they hadn’t really given meanyinformation. It was some of the students and professors that weren’t. This was some secret exclusive club, and they always wanted to know how the maintenance guy with no magic got a token once they realized I wasn’t there to fix something.
I got tired of it and honestly, I never really even got much of a buzz from any of the drinks. I could taste that they were strong and not watered down, but they didn’t do much to me. Thissecret barrel of mead was another story. I was pretty sure I was fucked up. George and Azren were, too.
Pearl was terrified of messing up our order and how we would react, but she kept the drinks and food flowing all night. She also was a trove of information about the history of the speakeasy and the ghosts that worked there. Pearl was an amazing waitress, and she took care of us.
Ghosts didn’t really want money. They couldn’t use it. They charged for the drinks and food only to keep the speakeasy running because it cost money. They didn’t work in this speakeasy for free either. Yeah, it was set up because they were getting rowdy, but it was also considered an honor to be picked to work here as a spirit.
The ghosts didn’t need to eat or have any need for money, but if they were unable to move to the Aether, theydidhave wants. They took their payments in favors from the living. We couldn’t do the rites and get them to the Aether. The people who murdered them were long dead, so we couldn’t get revenge for them. Sometimes, they wanted us to stop a student from doing something they were incapable of doing. Other times, they just wanted a message sent to a descendent. Most of the time, they would just alert me if something structurally needed fixing that wasn’t visible to the naked eye but would become a problem later.
That mead was delicious and fairly strong. I was pretty sure I was drunk for the first time I could remember. I’d probably been drunk before I died but I didn’t exactly know what kind of drunk I was now. Everything was funny. George was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and her boyfriends were pretty sexy, too.
Fuck, I was horny.
We all promised Pearl whatever she wanted. She mostly wanted us to stop the bad man and come back to talk to her again. Before we could stumble out, my phone went off. It wasOdin telling me he didn’t want to cut into my date, but Huginn and Muninn were back at our cabin to give my memories back.
“Ah, fuck,” I mumbled. “Muninn is here with my memories. I’m too drunk for this. I was having such a good time, too.”
“I think we’re all drunk, but we can heal it out,” Azren said.
“No, I think I want to be fucked-up for this.”
I really did. I wanted my memories for a very long time, but now that I was about to get them, I just wanted five more minutes not remembering a damned thing about who I was before. I didn’t particularly like being powerless and shat on, but I liked who I was. I didn’t want to change because I got my memories back.
But I knew I needed to. I needed to face my past. The killer would know my weakness. It was plastered in every history book in this realm and a few fiction books, too. He hadn’t killed me yet, but I needed my magic and the knowledge to use it to be able to fight back. Getting mistletoe in me wouldn’t be as easy as last time if I had my magic. George could handle herself, but I was fond of her boys, too. I could help protect them.
I also knew I could haveseenthe killer during my blackouts and we needed that information. So, I asked Azren to portal me to the cabin and George would take the others.
I didn’t know what I was expecting, but as soon as my feet were settled, a very tiny goth woman dressed in black shrieked and practically tackled me. She was rubbing her face in my shirt and sniffing me. Was this weird or was I just drunk? She pressed something in my hand. When I looked down, it was a random jeweled bobby pin.
“I stole that off Ma’at’s nightstand when I heard you were back. We were doing a walkabout in Duat when we got Odin’s message.”
“Why did you steal a bobby pin?”
