A. Lee Martinez by Chasing the Moon

Author:Chasing the Moon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Humorous, Fantasy Fiction, Single Women, Contemporary, General, Fantasy, Humorous Fiction, Fiction, Monsters
ISBN: 9780316093552
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2011-05-24T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Greg stood before the small banquet. He didn’t like standing behind a podium, saying it distanced him from his audience, triggering sense memories of long, dull lectures that a lifetime had taught most people to tune out. But Greg had a message to spread, the good word, and for all his faults, for all his smarminess, all his one-dimensional eagerness, he was a believer. That was what bothered Calvin the most about Greg.

He believed.

Over the millennia Calvin had been associated with many people like Greg. The words might change, the setting might differ, but it was all the same. Where once mortals whispered the secret names of unfathomable things in shadowy temples or sacred grottos, they now did so at invitation-only brunches or casual pool parties. Most people who wanted to touch the unknown were drawn to it like moths to a bug zapper. They didn’t know why, and they weren’t usually smart enough to wonder about it until it was too late.

But Greg believed. He was that rare breed of human capable of understanding a vast universe in which he was just a mote of dust, and not being driven into a deep depression or raving lunacy by that knowledge. It helped that he had a direct pipeline to something bigger than his tiny universe, but even in this Greg wasn’t fooling himself. He didn’t believe that Fenris cared about him or that, when the time came, the monster-god chasing the moon would even notice him. He only wanted to get what he could from Fenris while he could get it, and it wasn’t greed or fear that compelled him. It was the belief that this was the best a mortal could hope for, and that it was his duty to share that information with his fellow specks of dust and help as many as he could, because he was a humanitarian. And Calvin wasn’t so certain he disagreed.

Greg’s intentions were noble, and he was merely using the tools of his time to spread the word. Calvin still didn’t like him, and he was looking forward to the cataclysm. Even if whatever waited for Calvin beyond wasn’t worth going to, at least he could avoid these brunches.

He sat at the big table in front of the audience, meaning he had to at least pretend to be listening. It was fortunate Sharon was there to prod him every time he appeared bored.

“Hey,” said Greg to his listeners, “do you want to be the best you you can be? Of course you do! We all do!”

He smiled. His teeth were so perfect and white that they made him look like an artificial being designed specifically for the purpose of smiling, like a toothpaste-pushing robot residing on the precipice of the uncanny valley.

“My friends, a change is coming. A change to this world, a primal revelation, is about to unfold, and believe me, in the new world, how much money you have won’t matter. Civilization is an illusion, a delicate gossamer fantasy that will not stand.

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