Chapter 21

Bobby stopped aiming at me as soon as he recognized my non-Philim face. He calmly walked over, shook my hand, and took his son. And for some reason, he didn't say a word. But Ellen...

I'll remember for the rest of my life that scaring a woman with a sawed-off shotgun in her hands while holding her child was not the brightest idea. She did something that made me have to change my clothes.

And no, I wasn't scared, not in time.

From the duplicate shot, my long-suffering carcass was simply and uncomplicatedly blown away. Man, I had just done an overhaul. Just two somersaults, three feet on the ground, and my unexpected journey was over.

- Idiot. - Ellen said, walking back toward the house. One word, but so much sense that it was beyond me to disagree.

It didn't work to shoot me, but Ellen didn't stop it.

Oh, what I had to listen to is a separate and very long story. But the joke was worth it. Yeah, they went out and had a couple of days off, and here's their son, like a superman larva, flying around an obscure character. And their daughter's nowhere to be seen, which doesn't add to the peace of mind.

- Adam, we're so glad you're okay, where have you been for almost six months? - Ellen finally asked, after eating my brains.

- I guess you could say I've been evolving and getting stronger. - and told me what had happened to me, but without any details. - And what was your news?

There was enough news, the number of missing people was starting to go down. So my demons aren't mine anymore and they don't work. I'll have to do it again at my leisure.

The Winchesters continue to hunt, and quite successfully. Bella popped up and she's already managed to throw them a couple of times.

Bobby has completely bailed on the hunt, he's got a family so he hasn't been told a crooked word. Sometimes he can give advice no more than that. She and Ellen are inclined to make the same decision with Jo.

But she sticks her neck out and won't listen to anybody, silly. One little huntress like her doesn't decide anything. That's what I told her. Maybe she'll think about it.

But she wouldn't even listen.

- Ellen, why don't I give her, like, 20 years off? She'll be almost the same age as Adam. - I suggested a brilliant solution in its simplicity - maybe the second attempt to bring up a daughter, will be more successful. - I continued to think out loud, tactfully ignoring Jo's pale expression.

- Hmm..." she looked thoughtfully at her daughter, "I'll give her a little more time to think. You will think about it, won't you, daughter?

- I will! - angered the little girl - and tell me mom, where's your gun?

It's time to go, to stay with them for a week, as I planned before, now will not work, so I moved on to their business.

I thought for a long time about what to do. I thought about what happened on the show, maybe something else would come up. But I was distracted.

Artemis fell out of the air next to me, and she was wounded. Man, how does she find me, even angels can't track me.

And I was in Central Park in New York City, in a quiet corner where people don't even come. Magic.

I picked her up in my arms, put her gently on a bench, and began to heal her.

It was hard to heal the Goddess, but I got through it.

She woke up almost immediately.

- Hey, Sleeping Beauty, how did you end up like this? - I wondered.

She shook her head and realized that so far she was relatively safe. She checked the wounded area, I saw that she was surprised, but did not ask questions. And only then decided to answer.

- After the death of Zeus, the gods of other pantheons began to creep into the territory of Olympus, I shot them down as I could, but now four gods attacked me at once, and two of them are very strong.

So much for the consequences of rash decisions. It's a good thing it wasn't mine this time. She wanted to say something else, but by the looks of it her adversaries appeared.

- They? - I looked at the uninvited guests. And all familiar.

- Can you help me? - I was getting ready to fight, and Artemis asked me why.

- Of course, I couldn't bear to see such a pretty girl get killed.

But there's a little problem: if Baldur, Ganesha, and Mercury don't matter to me, Kali does.

I don't need an offended archangel on my tail. I'll have to talk to him, and it's urgent. I'll just ask him about my miracle knife.

- You think you can get away from us, bitch? - Mercury spoke, he must have been offended by what we did to him the last time we met. - Especially from me, the fastest God. - He's not much of a pathos guy, not much of a face.

- Hey, speed gun, did you become immortal and I don't know? - That was me talking.

And now he looked at me, already wanted to say something, but his face reflected recognition. His eyes widened, his face went pale, a moment, and he ran. And I, for greater effect, at the same speed, saw him off, that he noticed and seemed to run even faster.

Let him run, he's cool, so I won't kill him, not yet.

Three to go. I wish it were always like this.

- What a reputation you have, Adam, he's not so afraid of me. - Artemis grumbled with a touch of envy.

- As they say: "First you work for the reputation, then it works for you. - I nodded with an important look.

- Are you the Adam who kills the Gods? - Kali intervened in our dialogue, glancing at me with interest.

I'm not a fortune teller, she wants my blood. I was not sure if I could "bind" the Archangel, no matter what that meant, so I could be careful.

- No." I admitted honestly. That's it, I'm safe now. But that's not enough, the best defense is an attack - why are you hurting my friend?

- Stay out of Gods' business if you value your life. - Baldur spoke menacingly and moved towards us. His fat sidekick was only half a step behind. Kali didn't interfere, preferring to just watch.

- Wait, hot guy, I have a couple of questions. - Strangely enough, he stopped. Probably thought the questions would be asked to him.

But I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Loki's number, also the one he had painted pink on my apartment wall. That kind of chutzpah made everyone cringe. Even Artemis looked at me with such a look that I began to doubt my own adequacy again.

I must have imagined it.

- Hey Loki, it's Adam... yikes, that's rude, I'm on business... ah fuck my business. Ok, but no hard feelings later.... I hope you have a spare girlfriend in india... oh where are we? You look for it, you lazy ass. - and hung up on me. - Sorry, we can keep going.

- You'll pay for your disrespect, mortal, I'll...

- Shut up, Baldur, he'll smear you without even noticing. - Loki interrupted him. - What the hell's going on here? - Everyone stared at me.

- As I understand it, Mercury's getting his revenge at the hands of others. We had some business with him, and from the looks of it, he wasn't too happy. And now your girlfriend's going after my girlfriend, and I wouldn't have cared, but your girlfriend called a couple more of her girlfriends, so I had to intervene. I was about to swat them, but I remembered you. I don't need a sobbing, inconsolable god behind me.

And if that god is a latent archangel, all the more so. Hmm, did my sense of self-preservation come out of my coma? Let's hope so.

- Isn't that a lot to take on, Adam? - Gee, that could have been interesting, but he gave me the signal and I had to play along.

- Just right. You never did find out what I got in the end, you got the information you needed, you paid me, and you took off, didn't you? - I grinned.

- So? I'm a God of deception, a trickster. You are not my equal! - The copy spoke up, and he lurched away.

- Shall we test it?

I had to stop time, for all but two of us, hard but I did it. Then Gabriel did something else and I felt better.

Now we could talk normally.

- Are you hiding behind your back again? - I asked mockingly, turning to him.

- It is a habit. It has been a long time, how are your experiments going? - He asked, which meant it was time to brag.

- Check out what I've got now. - And I called out my blade. The shock on his face was a balm to my Nephilim soul.

- How? - I didn't think it was possible to shock such an ancient creature, to surprise him at most. But no, I did it.

- You tell me, this, - I waved the "knife". - I got it after the princes and your grace. Originally, it was Gregory's blade.

- Stop breaking my picture of the world. - he grumbled. - Give it to me.

It took him about five minutes to examine the blade. He took about five minutes to examine it. He drew his own, this time a real one, not the one he'd used to "kill me" in the desert.

- Look. - He threw it at me.

- I couldn't tell the difference. - I confessed after a short examination.

- Exactly! What the hell is the matter with you? - It was said in a low voice, but I heard it.

- Most likely it's your grace, or rather the amount of it. And if Azazel is my demon daddy, then you're the feathery one, my Archangel mom. - And all that with a pensive-serious face.

- I'm gonna punch you in the face. - He snorted, backing up the threat with a glowing fist.

- You shouldn't hit children, much less your own. - I shared my wisdom, and why he growled.

- There was one last check to be made. - As if reading my thoughts, the archangel spoke thoughtfully.

It's a good thing he came to this on his own. I'm afraid my offer to poke him with my sword might not have been taken lightly.

And then I cut myself with his blade, and it hurt like hell. I was wounded with my own, which makes sense. He wounded me with his, which meant the Archangel could kill me, badly. With mine, he couldn't kill me. And the last thing I did was wound Gabriel, which is good news.

- Why didn't I kill you right away? - He asked me at the end, and yes, it was my boundless kindness and all-encompassing pity.

- Mom, don't say that. - I answered, for which I almost got stabbed - okay, do not be nervous, how to make up with our ladies?

- I'll just take them all, and tell them not to get on Olympus, but in a pinch you can kill everyone except Kali, okay?

- Fine.

Having freed the others from the time trap, Loki quickly took them away.

He can take it from here, he can't live without it.

After standing in silence for a while and realizing that the problems have passed Artemis said.

- Wow, you've noticeably grown in strength since our last meeting.

- I have some, if you have any problems come to me. - I was about to take off, but I was stopped by a kiss.

- Thank you. - I whispered to the Goddess. How about we go hunting together?

Why? I was just thinking about what to do, I had an idea, but I didn't know exactly how to do it. And here's a gift, a "divine" gift.

- Um, monsters have alphas, did you know that?

- Of course they do.

- Can you track them down?

Well, I can't yet, just the old-fashioned way. But it's long and ineffective.

- Which one? - She asked thoughtfully.

- All of them. - The answer was a predatory grin.

And while Artemis takes the trail. I decided to find out what was going on in hell. I called Crowley, but for some reason the rascal thought he could ignore my humble persona.

I'm not a proud Nephilim, I can wait. Not long, just long enough to get to my vault. Take the pelvic bone, one not-so-punctual demon, go back to where I usually meet him, and light it on fire. Light it, put it out, light it, put it out. I hope he knows morse code.

- Are you out of your mind? - he shouted, appearing in a cloud of mist, nice and pathetic, and no - it's smoke.

- Hmmm, - I thought seriously, if you take all the crap I've been doing since I came into this world, then... - You know, there's a little bit.

- I'm the King of Deals, and I can't run to you on every call, I've got my own things to do, and not a few.

- Is that all? - It's interesting to me to watch him, how much expression.

- Not everything, to hell with time, but reputation.

- What about it? - I don't get it. No one's supposed to know what we do.

- What would my demons think if during the meeting their chief suddenly jumped up and ran somewhere because his ass was on fire.

At this point I couldn't stand it and laughed, though it was more of an obscene laugh.

I couldn't stop laughing for about five minutes.

- Huh, it's been a long time since I laughed like that. - I took a breath and told him.

- Good for you, what did you want?

- Bought the contract? - It's not very important, it worked out and that's all right. No, then it's not fate, I'm not a nun to help everyone for free.

- Yeah. And relatively cheap, just before their whole Gate thing went south. She was in good spirits, not like she is now. - I can imagine.

- What are we waiting for? - Give me the contract and I'll give you your ass back.

Fortunately we did not have to kiss. Everyone signed the paper and got his own. The only news is that even after all this time, all hell is breaking loose. The Gates haven't opened, and their King is missing.

Lilith rules now, and she's furious, because without leaving Hell, she can't break the last seal. Good news.

A few days later, Artemis appeared and tracked down her first victim.

The first Alpha was a genie. The freak had an entire blood farm. People of all ages, from children to the elderly. Fucking gourmet. He wasn't there alone, but with his kids, who didn't cause any trouble.

The main villain was killed by Artemis, for the Goddess of the Hunt it was a pleasant addition to the work already done. A logical finale, so to speak.

I only asked her for one thing...

***

Strange things were now happening in a large warehouse on the outskirts of a small town, where the main source of light was a few old lamps and the moonlight from the broken windows.

The silence and tranquility of the place was interrupted by the whistle of an arrow. It was followed by a pained shriek, indicating that it had found its target. At intervals of a few seconds, it happened again, and then again and again.

For the first time, the monsters that inhabited this place felt like victims, not hunters. There was nothing they could do. The invisible enemy shot without a miss and killed without mercy.

Just a few minutes and the room was silent again. This could only mean one thing, the hunter had finished what he had started and there were no more monsters left. Except for the last one.

A tall bald man with tattoos on his face and glowing blue eyes.

There, before him, as if woven out of the darkness, appeared a female figure in a tight dark green suit, which emphasized all her advantages. Her face was concealed by a deep hood, and she held a bow in her hands.

- Who are you?" the bald man asked. But the last thing he heard in his life was no answer.

- Alpha of the jinn - you have failed this city!

***

The fem version of ZS turned out great, and I made the costume myself.

I took my mind off the pleasant scene and got busy helping the survivors.

Heal them, psychologically fix them up with telepathy, wipe their memories, and get them home. The latter mostly with children. And so nearly sixty people served as fodder for one monster and his children. It's a shitty world.

A gin soul added to my collection in the bunker. And took a place next to Metatron's essence and his grace.

Couldn't deny myself the pleasure of making a soul trap out of a gilded lamp. Genie, after all.

Just in case the leviathans leave Purgatory, and I am so ill-advised to kill all the carriers of one of the most important components of the weapon