Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) by A.L. Bridges

and are dressed in slightly nicer kimonos than their fellow gods. I feel insanely underdressed as Saraswati takes a seat on the left side of the room, leaving the three of us to follow suit.
    “Now that Benzaiten is here, can we get this started now, Amaterasu?” a man wearing a white and blue kimono on the left side of the large table asks while pouring clear liquid from a bottle into a sake cup.
    Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun in Shinto lore and was also tied to the Emperor of Japan; I believe she might be the lead head of the Shinto pantheon, but I don’t remember Sara mentioning her as such.
    “Yes brother Susanoo, we can.” The woman wearing a golden-yellow kimono in the center of the head table replies. I remember Susanoo being the god of the sea and storms in the Shinto pantheon.
    I see Natasha and Cheza looking lost out of the corner of my eye.
    “Airi, can you connect both of them to my hearing?”
    (It shall be done, Master)
    “This meeting is to discuss what action, if any, we should take against Feros in light of the fate of the Slavic pantheon two weeks ago.” Amaterasu announces. I see Cheza and Natasha flinch once when they hear the English translation, but they don’t freak out.
    “I say we take him out.” One god suggests.
    “Now, now, is violence really necessary? We could simply threaten him. I heard that he has a daughter; we could always give the implication that we would harm her if he threatens us.” A goddess suggests.
    “That’s no good ; his daughter was killed three weeks ago. I heard that her death was the reason he killed Horus. Have you seen the photographs of Horus’s body? I don’t know how Feros did it, but Horus’s torso is a husk; it isn’t decaying, it’s just frozen in a state of horror. Whatever Feros did to him, I don’t wish to know so I say that we just avoid him; he has no cause to come after us anyway.” A god proclaims.
    “He had no cause to go after the Slavic pantheon either besides their connection to Loki.” Another god suggests. There are murmurs of agreement from the room when the androgynous god speaks up.
    “I do not believe we have reason to fear him. Yui, can you come in here please?” the androgynous god asks in a pitch that gives me zero clues as to his/her sex.
    A partition along the right wall slides open and a fox-girl walks into the room, the same fox-girl that I saved from Templars in the park in Tempe back in September.
    “Please recant the events that took place in the park this last September, Yui.” The androgynous god kindly orders.
    “Yes, Lord Inari. ” Yui says with a bow before turning to address the room. So the androgynous god is Inari, god of industry, rice, fertility, and of course, foxes.
    “ Two months ago, I was delivering a message for my Lord Inari when I was surrounded by a group of humans. Something about these humans smelled wrong and their movements seemed indicative of supernaturals, but I am certain they were human. They held me at gunpoint and as they were about to execute me, a young man ran towards them, shouting for them to leave me alone. They opened fire on him as he ran around them, giving me the opportunity to release a blast of fire, distracting them enough for the young man to eliminate the humans. That young man turned out to be Feros, and he helped me for no reason other than the fact that I needed help.” Yui finishes, getting several murmurs of disbelief.
    “If you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself.” Yui adds while gesturing to me .
    All of the gods in the room turn their attention to wards me so I stand up to address them.
    “ Konichi wa… uh… onamae wa Feros desu… eiga hanashimasu… ka?” I struggle to say and then I hear that I made a mistake; it is a little strange having my own terrible Japanese translated back to me, but it was useful in this case.
    What I meant to say was something along the lines of “ Good afternoon, my name is Feros. Do you speak English?”