Bentley Little - Dominion

"So what," she asked, gesturing around the room, "is all this?"

Holbrook looked up. "All what?"

"All this ... Greek mythological stuff."

Mr. Holbrook smiled proudly. "I knew this day was coming. I was preparing."

Kevin snorted. "Boy, you're a regular Sherlock Holmes, aren't you?"

Penelope ignored him, faced the teacher. "You knew this was coming? What made you think so?"

"Dion's last name. Semele. That's why I asked you about your name and your mothers and your wine. Semele was a Theban princess, the daughter of Cadmus, who was consumed by fire when she beheld Zeus in all his glory. Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Semele."

Penelope stared at him incredulously. "And that was what made you think this might happen? Dion's last name?"

"Your last name. 'Daneam.' It's 'maenad' spelled backward."

Penelope was silent. She obviously had not noticed that.

"So?" Kevin said.

"This didn't come out of nowhere. They've been preparing for this for centuries." He paused. "As have we."

Kevin's uneasiness increased, and he moved next to Penelope. "We?"

The teacher stood straighten "The Ovidians." He looked at them proudly.

"Mankind's protectors against the gods."

Kevin looked at Penelope, but her eyes remained fixe on Holbrook.

"Our order was originally formed to prevent gods meddling in the affairs of men. In ancient Greece, during the time of the gods, they were always raping our woe playing with us, using us to combat the boredom of imf mortality. We attempted to put a stop to that."

"Godbusters," Kevin said.

"If you like."

"Ovidians," Penelope said. "After Ovid?"

"Yes."

"I thought he was the one who wrote down the myths -j and, you know, saved them for posterity."

"He was a Latin chronicler of the gods, but he thought ^ it was all nonsense. We'd been around a few hundred* years by that time, but we didn't really have a name for j ourselves. It was Ovid's disparagement of the gods, his insistence that these were fictional tales, not factual recountings of actual events, that further weakened people's already waning belief. We named ourselves after] him. He wasn't one of us, but he furthered our cause."

Kevin looked at the teacher. "You guys wanted to get I rid of all of the gods? There weren't any of them you liked?" ;

Holbrook leaned forward. "They're evil. All of them.": He gestured around the basement, at the pictures on the walls. "People think that the ancients lived an idyllic life in a golden age, that they were enlightened, intelligent men who lived happily amidst their temples and oracles. But do you know what horrors the gods perpetrated on men? We were slaves. They were masters. And they enjoyed that They thrived on it Our order grew out of the resistance to them."

"So you're the ones who killed them off?"

Holbrook shook his head. "I wish I could say we were, but no. We tried to foster disbelief, and it was disbelief that eventually weakened them to the point that they were forced to go into hiding and protect themselves before they faded away entirely. Ovid was a big help with that. But no, it was probably the emergence of Christianity, more than anything else, that caused people to stop believing in the old gods."

"But your group kept on?" Penelope said.

"We knew they'd be back. We didn't know how, didn't know where, didn't know when, but as long as the maenads and the other believers survived, we knew the gods weren't dead."

"So was, like, your dad an Ovidian?" Kevin asked. "And his dad? All the way back?"

"No. I mean, yes, my dad was, but his dad wasn't. Being an Ovidian is not a hereditary thing. You're not born into it. Usually we recruit."

Holbrook sat down on the swivel chair in front of his computer terminal.

"We keep in touch through an online network." He reached around to the back of the machine, turned it on.

"But the phone lines are down ..."

"Yes. We can't communicate now. But I'm sure they know what's happening.

Right now I'm trying to access the Ovidian database. I knew this would happen, so last week I down loaded everything I thought I'd need."

Holbrook's smug, I-knew-this-was-going-to-happen attitude was really starting to irritate the shit out of him, and Kevin nudged Penelope. She did not turn to look at him, but nodded as though she understood why he had elbowed her.

"The other gods," Holbrook said to Penelope. "You did not say how the other gods will be revived. Or how long it would take."

Penelope cleared her throat. "My mothers said that the other gods ..."

She trailed off, redness rushing to her face. "They said the other gods are in Dion too. And that if I had sex with him, I could give birth to them."

"Dionysus is supposed to father the others?" Holbrook smiled. "We may have gotten a break here."

"Why?" Kevin asked.

"He was always something of an outcast on Olympus. The other gods loved order and symmetry. Dionysus loved chaos. He might not be so willing to bring the others back." He typed something on his keyboard. "Dion's mother is a maenad too, right?"

Penelope nodded.

"Same parents as your mothers?"

"Same father. Different mothers."

He raised his eyebrows. "Father. That's new. yob wouldn't happen to know this name, would you?"

"My mother told me, but I ... I can't remember."

"Think."

"She said ..." Penelope thought for a moment. "Harl ris," she said finally. "Harris. Son of Elsmere. Whateve that means."

"Harris," Holbrook repeated, typing. "Elsmere." He| pushed a series of keys, then leaned back to wait. Therel was a moment of clicking and humming before a fullf page of text appeared on the screen. "Harris Naxos," read, scanning the display. "He was found murdered inl his town house in New York, torn apart, along with the| bodies of four women who'd been drowned in his base-f ment. The women had been chained up and had all recently given birth, although none of the infants well&ij found. Harris' mother, Elsmere, was a known maenad^f Emigrated from Greece. We knew about her, apparently^ but since she'd given birth to a son, not a daughter, wej concentrated our efforts at that time on keeping track of the maenad Ariadne and her children in Athens.*!

Holbrook looked up from the screen. "If we'd known alf| this then, we could have killed Harris. And the babiesf too."

Kevin was chilled. He glanced at Penelope. Her facef was pale. "You would have killed the babies?"

"Maenads, as we have always advocated, need to be! eradicated. Only then will the threat of the gods' return bej ended. We haven't always been able to manage it, ofj course, but when we can ..." His attention returned to the; screen. "We got Ariadne. And her children when they grew up."

"What about me?" Penelope demanded angrily. "Do Ij need to be 'eradicated' too?" She grabbed the back of his| chair, swung it around until he was facing her.

He shook his head. "Of course not. You're more us! than them. And as long as you don't procreate--"

She backed away from him.

"No, no. I'm not saying that we would automatically have to kill your child--"

"Shut up," Kevin told him. "Just shut your fucking mouth." He put an arm around Penelope, drew her close to him. Her body was stiff, her muscles tense, but she allowed herself to be maneuvered.

They were silent for a while, Holbrook reading the information on his computer screen, Kevin holding Penelope.

"So what about your buddies?" Kevin asked. "Are they flying in to help us?"

"No."

"No? I thought you said--"

"They don't know anything's wrong. I didn't have time to warn them before communications were cut off. They may figure it out on their own, but it might take a while." He paused. "It might be too late then."

"Are there any Ovidians in Napa?" Kevin asked. "You guys are spread out all over the world, but is there anybody here in the valley besides you?"