Anticipation was rising as the day of Tec's party neared. Apparently it wasn't just a small get together like Frej had described it as. Several deities with their own 'families' would attend and I was the only one who didn't know a single soul there. Well, besides the people in my 'family'.

Kissy had been shopping online and we had both found something that we thought looked good. Honestly, I just wanted Kissy to be my personal shopper because the dark green dress she had found for me was so comfy and... I think I looked good in it. It even had long sleeves. I wanted to kiss her when I opened the parcel containing the dress.

So we were all lined up in the hall, waiting to greet the guests. Frej was trying to get Tec's collar to be straight, while Dawid inched closer to me, until his hand slipped into mine. I gave it a soft squeeze.

The door opened and a large man stepped over the threshold. He kind of looked like Tec. They shared the same light brown skin colour and almost black eyes. The same black hair and the same facial features. This guy was a massive version of Tec.

"Brother!" he exclaimed with a booming voice and embraced Tec. I was afraid poor Tec's back would break, but then the large man put him down again, patting his head.

"Frej, you look well," the giant said and gave Frej a courteous nod.

"As do you," Frej replied courtly with a small smile and bowed his head.

The giant turned his attention back on Tec. "How has this year been?"

"Very fruitful," Tec replied calmly. He held his hand out towards me and I reluctantly let go of Dawid's, stepping in beside Tec. "Aura has joined us."

The giant turned his eyes down on me and I had never felt smaller in my entire life. He tipped his head to the side and then briefly glanced at Tec, before sending me a very white smile.

"Very pleased to meet you, Aura. My name's Ixtlilton. People call me Ton for short." 

I tried to scour my brain for something to say. But I came up so short. Ton just chuckled and turned back to Tec.

"My entourage will arrive in a minute. Cassandra had some wardrobe trouble and the others decided to wait for her."

"Well, let's at least get a drink while we wait, shall we?" Tec asked and slapped the back of his brother's back.

"Of course! Hey Frej, Asger will be joining us tonight too. He's new and his English isn't the best. Could you maybe...?"

"Of course," Frej replied courtly and bowed his head again.

"Thanks buddy." Ton winked at him and went with Tec into the big living room.

And we were left standing in the hall. I glanced up at Frej, probably looking like a big question mark.

"We're to wait for the rest," Frej said and clenched his jaw. He unbuttoned the sleeves of his dress shirt and rolled them up, fully displaying the tattoos. He looked down at me and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Another Dane is coming. I better show him who's the real one, right?"

I snorted and nodded. I walked backwards back to Dawid and he grabbed my hand again, pulling me closer.

It didn't take long before there was a knock on the door and Frej opened it.

"Frej! Oh my god! I love your shirt! Pulling it off baby!" a very orange girl with very white hair said and hugged Frej closely. 

"Hey Cassandra," he murmured and patted her head.

"Sorry, I totally had a problem finding something to wear!"

"More like less to wear," Kissy murmured under her breath, making both me and Iwo snort.

Cassandra, the very orange girl, was wearing a very skimpy and very glittery dress, that didn't leave anything to the imagination.

More people filed into the hall. They all greeted us a lot less friendly than Cassandra but more appropriately.

Frej was fast to pick up the other Dane and showed him into the living room Ton and Tec were sitting in.

We all followed silently and took up seats, while Tec and Ton were speaking to each other in another language.

I ended up beside a black guy who was about as large as Ton. His skin was scarred in odd patterns all over his bald head and face, his neck and even on his arms and fingers.

"What is your name?" he asked with a heavy accent and met my gaze.

I cleared my throat. "Aura."

"I am Chipu. Where are you from?"

"England. My mum was from Haiti though."

"I do know of Haiti. We were there last year. Very hot." He smiled a very white smile, the scars on his face stretching his skin.

"Unlike here," I tried. "Where are you from?"

"Ethiopia. From the Toposa tribe. Do you know it?"

I shook my head. "No, sorry. Geography was never my thing." I shrugged a little apologetically. Chipu wasn't easily discouraged and kept talking about countries. Especially African ones. I didn't know if he had chosen to sit down next to me because we were literally the only black people in the room, with Kissy not being here for some reason, or if he was just really into geography. It didn't bother me though. He was nice and polite. And it didn't seem to bother him I didn't say much.

More guests arrived and soon the big living room was filled with people. I was smart enough to not touch the blood provided this time, even though this was technically my home and I knew Tec would never drug it. But you could never know about the others.

I found Dawid leaning against the wall, watching the crowd from a distance.

"Do they scare you?" he asked, an amused smile on his lips.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked and glanced back at the crowd.

"No," he said softly. "I just always notice you."

My stomach took a tumble as I looked back up at him. He reached out for me and gently smoothed his thumb over my bottom lip.

"I don't wanna hide anymore," he said, his hand slipping down to the nape of my neck, bringing me closer. Before he could kiss me, someone appeared next to us. Someone orange.

"You're Art, aren't you?" she asked with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, what?" Did she just call me 'art'?

"You're Art. The one who likes pretty flowers in their drinks."

"What did you just say?" Dawid growled and took a step forward.

The big blonde. He had called me Art. Short for Artemis because I didn't want him. Like the virgin goddess who didn't want anyone. Or something.

She just laughed at us, whirled around and strolled back to the other guests.

"Dawid. That blonde guy. The one you saved me from. He called me Art."

Dawid's eyes widened. The blonde guy had been the one who drugged me and both Dawid and I realised that right now.

He grabbed my hand and steered me towards Iwo, who had been eyeballing Kissy while she had re-entered the living room with some guy.

He said something in Polish to his twin and Iwo looked down at me.

"We'll tell Tec tomorrow night. There's nothing we can do about it now anyway." Iwo shrugged a little.

"But that woman knows something, Iwo." Dawid nodded towards the orange one.

She kept glancing over at us and smirking. It almost looked sinister.

"Okay, how about this; I go talk to her. We have a history."

"You slept with her?" Dawid asked and got a real sour expression on his face. As if he had smelt something disgusting.

"Psh," Iwo just replied and rolled his eyes. He didn't wait for us to object to his plan, he just went directly for Cassandra and pulled her out of the room.

And I didn't wait for Dawid to object to my plan. I followed Iwo and Cassandra into one of the smaller living rooms, catching the door before it closed and slamming it behind me. Both Iwo and Cassandra looked surprised at me as I went for the orange girl. I slammed my arm against her throat, slamming her back against the wall. I was royally pissed off!

"Tell me what you know!" I growled.

"Can you control your chipmunk?" Cassandra asked and pursed her lips, looking at Iwo.

"Bitch, I swear to fucking god, I'm going to rip your throat out if you don't tell me everything you know. Right now!"

She smirked at me. "Funny how lavender didn't affect anyone else at that party. Except the very unlucky deity who accidentally took a sip from the wrong glass, don't you think? And then you."

"Cassandra, just tell us what you know already," Iwo sighed very deeply, stepping up behind me.

Her smirk stayed as she tipped her head to the side. "Why would I tell you anything? What good does that do me?"

"I won't smash your face in!" I snarled and shoved her back against the wall again.

"Do something to me and we'll see how Ton reacts."

"Let's go tell Tec how you know who drugged Aura. Let's see how well he takes that," Iwo growled and turned towards the door.

"No!" Cassandra gasped and grabbed his wrist. "Don't. Atlas did it."

"Why?" Iwo frowned.

"I don't know. I just saw him put the flower in her glass while she was looking away."

"Atlas is in Huehueteotl's brood. Why would Teo's order someone in his brood to go against one of us?"

"How would I know?" Cassandra shoved me back. "Are we done or do you wanna threaten me some more?" She giggled melodically and threw her fake hair over her shoulder. "You Brits are always so sour."

"And you Americans are always so fake," I spat back.

She just giggled again and left the room, her ugly-ass hair almost flowing in the wind.

"I don't like this," Iwo murmured under his breath.

"Who's Teo or whatever his name was?"

"Teo is kind of like Tec's cousin or something. They're both old Aztec deities, but not brothers like Ton and Tec are. Or something, I can't find heads or tails in it all. I just don't understand why one of Tec's own would drug you."

I shrugged. "Maybe he and Tec aren't friends."

"But why only drug you? Why not Frej? Wouldn't it be obvious to go for Frej, if someone wanted to hurt Tec?"

"Who wants to hurt Xipe?" Frej asked from the door. "He's looking for you both. Why did you just disappear?"

"Get in here," I said, latching onto Frej and pulling him inside, closing the door after him. I leaned against it and took a deep breath. 

Iwo filled him and Frej's already very pale complexion turned paler.He sat down on the little couch and buried his face in his hands. He shook his head and then looked up at me.

"I don't know what's going on. I honestly don't. We have to talk to Xipe about this."
I nodded. "We do. I'm just not sure now would be a good time."

Frej rose to his feet. "Believe me, if he found out we've known for more than 10 minutes and not told him about it? He'd flay us all." He sighed deeply and patted my head. "I'll take care of it from here."

It felt nice to leave this to the 'grown-ups' to be honest. I didn't know what the hell to do with this information. I had been drugged by someone close to Tec.

But why?