“Tell your bodyguards to back down, and I’ll let you stop licking my shoes. Then, you’re going to burn all the contracts that hold your employees hostage while we ask you a few questions.”
“Okay,” Hermes says. “Okay.” His eyes flick to his guards. “Get me the contracts from the vault and then get out of here. Go wherever Mac is taking the rest of them.” Uneasily they back out the door. A minute later they return with a thick stack of scrolls. They set them down in front of Hermes. I nod in approval.
“Now get out of here,” I tell them.
“Tina,” I say. “Go out to the van and get me that lighter fluid. And check on the others.”
Tina makes a quick sweep of the room, seems to decide that Tamika and I have it under control, and makes an exit.
“Sweetheart, you really do seem stressed,” Hermes says. “You know, some of my girls give really excellent massages…”
“I’m fine,” I snap at Hermes, very aware that my tone is anything less than calm. Tamika widens her eyes at me and I move over to her.
“What?” I ask.
“Just FYI, I can only control him as long as this blood is fresh,” she says. “Once it dries, I won’t have power over him anymore.”
I look down at the symbol she’s drawn in Hermes blood. It’s still shiny and wet, but it looks like our plan has a countdown clock.
“Okay, good to know,” I tell her, and take a seat across from Hermes. “Alright, Dad,” I say, laying on the sarcasm. “Since you’re so worried about my stress levels, why don’t you help me out by relieving me of my biggest worry.” I lean forward, elbows on the desk. “Where is my sister?”
“Your sister?” His brows come together in mock confusion. “Oh, you mean the dragon shifter that isn’t actually related to you in any way? Her?”
“Yes,” I hiss, and give Tamika a sign. She brings her head forward violently, and Hermes smashes his face into his desk. There’s a general outcry in the room behind us, and I wince. Why the hell hasn’t Mac gotten them out of here yet?
“Hey!” Griff barges into the office, dragging White Tail along beside him. “Stop!”
“I’m sorry,” White Tail tells me. “He saw I was bleeding and just lost it!”
“Uh, she’s not the only employee,” I tell Griff, alarmed at the little fire of jealousy that just flares up in my gut.
Griff eyes the pile of scrolls on the desk. “What you waiting for?”
“This,” Tina says, pushing past him with the lighter fluid in her hand, matches in the other. “Now get back out there, big boy, and explain to everyone what we’re trying to do. Keep them calm. And get Cassie loaded into the van.”
I don’t know if Griff is the most qualified of us to keep people calm, but he nods gruffly and leaves, pulling White Tail with him once more. Tina sidles up next to me.
“Mac’s having a hard time getting the employees to leave. Hermes is right. They like working here, the tips are great, etcetera. They’ve been told in an emergency that anyone who runs out is automatically fired.”
“I told you,” Hermes laughs. “My people love me. I didn’t force them to sign.”
“Yeah, well, we’re still forcing you to burn the contracts,” I tell him.
Tina smiles at Hermes. “And then I’m going to make you scream.” She turns back to me and without missing a beat switches from deadly promises to finishing catching me up. “Also, Shauna’s still looking for the drugs he’s got Cassie hooked on. Whatever it is, it must not be laced with sugar, after all. Trevor is looking too. I mean, it’s kind of cool, he can just stick his head in the safe.”
“But he wouldn’t be able to pull anything out,” Hermes says, his face still planted in the desk. “He’s a ghost. He can’t interact with physical objects.”
I resist the urge to have Tamika smash his face again. Not before we take care of those contracts. Then answers about my sister and Val. Then Cassie and her drugs. Tina puts the lighter fluid and matches on the desk along with the metal garbage bin from the side of his desk. Tamika raises her head, then makes Hermes go through the motions of opening the first contract.
“Oh, Dinnalla,” he says, eyes glazing over. “I have never seen an ass like that. I mean, top notch. I can’t even tell you how great it was having power over—”
“Annnnnd burning it,” Tina says, and Tamika makes Hermes drip lighter fluid onto the scroll. There are tears in his eyes as it burns to ash and he drops the fiery mess in the garbage bin.
“Next,” I say, and Hermes goes through the motions of unrolling the next contract.
“Barnabus. Let me tell you, he has the nicest—”
“Where is my sister?” I ask again, leaning closer even as the second contract goes up in flames and Hermes opens another one.
“That’s a tough question,” he hedges as another contract goes up in smoke. “I mean, I can give you a rough estimate of where she ended up when she went through the portal. But as far as exact coordinates, that’s tough. I mean, that was days ago. She could have moved anywhere inside of—”
He yips as the edge of the scroll burns his fingers, and there are some accompanying yells on the other side of the wall—but not as many. Mac must be finally getting people far enough away that they no longer are under the contracts’ power.
“Stop stalling!” I demand, smacking my hands onto the desk and coming to my feet. “Tell me where my sister is!”
“And my brother!” Tina interjects, coming across the desk at Hermes. “Because I give less than two shits about those people out there. I’ll tear your throat out and dance in everyone’s blood if that’s what it takes to rescue Val.”
“Rescue him?” Hermes says, looking shocked. “Who do you think you are, Sisyphus?”
“What?” Tina goes pale, and that takes one hell of a shock for a vampire. “You can’t be serious,” she says.
“Why do you think I’m trying so hard not to tell you where your loved ones are?” Hermes says, in a wheedling tone. “You’re never going to get them back. I’m trying to save you from knowing that pain.”
“What pain? What’s he talking about? Isn’t that the rolling rock guy?” I ask Tina.
I sorta recognize the name that sent Tina into shock—Sisyphus. But unlike the rest of my fellow supes, I wasn’t raised in the supernatural world. I grew up disguised as a human in the real world, and don’t have all the background knowledge they do.
“Can I get a quick Sisyphus refresher?” I ask Tina, keeping my glare directed at Hermes.
“He’s one of the most famous prisoners in Tartarus,” Tina says, her voice suddenly weak. “It’s worse than the underworld. It’s like hell for the gods.”
“It sure is,” Hermes says, woefully. “And boy were we glad to get out of there. I can’t even imagine how a couple of supes are coping—”
I smack him across the face, not even bothering to wait for Tamika to hurt him. There are cries from the front room, but it’s much quieter. There are only a few scrolls left in front of Hermes.
“Pandora’s Box can open a portal to Tartarus?” I ask in disbelief. “Why would you ever want to do that?”
“Beats me,” Hermes says, as another contract turns to ash. “Dionysus showed up with the damn thing, and Pan…well, Pan has a drinking problem. I hate to speak badly of my fellow gods, but that guy can’t go an hour without—”
“So Pan was drinking and…” I prompt him.
“Drinking,” Tamika repeats. “That sounds pretty good. I’m getting a little dry in here.”
I take her point; the blood on her arm must be drying. We don’t have a lot of time left with Hermes under her control.
“Yes, he was drinking and, well, I don’t know how much ambrosia you’ve had in your lifetime, daughter, but that stuff can mess you up. So, Pan thinks it might be neat to take a little peek onto the other side and BAM!”
Hermes’ hands clap together loudly, and we all jump. I notice that he made the motion on his own—Tamika didn’t
make him do it. There’s only one contract scroll left, and I hope that Hermes is too lost in his story to realize that he just moved on his own.
My eyes just caught the name on that contract—White Tail. I relax a little. Griff would make sure that she was one of the first to leave with Mac. She’s gotta be well out of the area of influence.
“The portal opened up and Pan, well, we lost him.”
“Wait,” Tina says, shaking her head. “You lost him? Like he got sucked through the portal?”
“No,” Hermes shakes his head, and once again I notice that Tamika isn’t controlling him anymore. “No, I mean something from Tartarus killed him.”
“Killed a god?” I repeat, shocked. “But how is that even possible?”
I try to remember; when Mac told me the whole story he mentioned that one of Hermes’ friends was killed. What he didn’t say was that the friend was a god. Did Mac not know? Was he hiding the information? Or is Hermes bullshitting us now?
“Tartarus is a place designed to punish the gods,” Hermes explains. “Of course there are beings there that can hurt us. I just hope that Dionysus knows what he’s doing with Pandora’s Box.”
“Wait, back up,” I say, eyes still on White Tail’s contract. “What does Dionysus have to do with it?”
“Once your sister and brother disappeared into the portal, Dionysus closed it and took Pandora’s Box with him. I have no idea where it is, Mavis. I’m sorry.”
He doesn’t sound sorry, though. He sounds downright amused, and I catch the shift in his tone a second too late.
Hermes moves fast, dousing himself in lighter fluid and striking a match.
“No!” I scream, just as the guards realizing Hermes is no longer under our control, leap back into the room. One of them dives for Tamika, the other for me.
But Hermes goes up in a sheet of flame, sending us all flailing backwards as an ear-splitting shriek erupts from the other side of the wall.
No no no no no. It can’t be. Please don’t let it be what I think it is.
But I already know.
Even before Griff’s roar of anger.
Even before Hermes starts to laugh while he burns.
Even before seeing it with my own eyes.
White Tail is burning alive.
17
Tina and I run out into the stage area.
It’s utter insanity.
Griff is completely naked. He’s torn off his clothes and is trying to beat out the flames that engulf White Tail, but it’s useless. Not only because his clothes are no match for the fire, but also because anybody not blinded by emotion can see that she’s already dead.
Spinning abruptly, I dash back into Hermes’ office.
He’s not laughing anymore. Yeah, he got his revenge, hurting himself to hurt White Tail. But he didn’t think it through. She died quickly. But Hermes is a god. He could burn forever and never die.
“Help me, someone help me!” he screams.
I grab the rest of the lighter fluid before the thought has even finished forming. Pointing it at Hermes, I squeeze.
The flames that had been dying flare up once more.
He pinwheels and screams, arms flailing as he busts through the wall with his god-strength. He disappears into the Florida night, just as a nasty smell floats through the air.
Singed hair. Burnt flesh.
I hope he burns forever. Dropping the lighter fluid, I go back out into the main room.
A couple of strippers are hugging each other, crying, and the bartender is holding Cassie as she quivers and screams into his shoulder.
“I told Griff to get her into the van!” I yell at no one in particular, but Trevor appears by my side.
“I’m on it,” he says, and glides over to where Cassie is crying behind the bar. But she shakes her head and leans into the bartender, clearly not willing to go anywhere with Trevor.
“Tina,” I say, “get Griff under control.”
“Me?” she asks. “So the choices are the naked, screaming, bear shifter or the crying trashed seer and you’re having me—oh, okay. Never mind. I get it. Cassie will need someone with like, empathy.”
“Right,” I say, and then realize she means that this job falls to me. The girl who just set her father on fire. Or more on fire. The girl who right now feels a little dead inside, because everything is just too surreal and awful right now.
I head over to the bar. Alarms are going off and the laser lights from the stage flash while the fire alarms spin red. Half the stage has caught by now and we’ve got to move— fast.
The fire will bring police, and since ChiXXX and DiXXX is a known gathering place for supes, the First Brood won’t be far behind them. I’m not going to wind up back at UWR…if I ever do go back, I expect I’ll be the one behind bars.
“Cassie,” I say, holding out my hand to her. “It’s me, Mavis.”
“Mavish?” She hiccups, glancing up from the bartender’s shoulder. “What are you doing here? Wait, weren’t you just here, like…I don’t know? An hour or so ago?”
“A few days, yeah,” I nod. “I tried to get you to come with me, but you wouldn’t. We were worried about you, so we came back.”
“And set the place on fire?” she asks, looking around, bewildered.
“That was unintentional,” I say, just trying to keep things agreeable. “The important thing is, Hermes is gone now, and all of his employees are free.”
“Except White Tail,” a tiny voice says in my ear, and I see Shauna in pixie form, zipping back and forth. “Or I guess it could be argued that she’s more free than any of us now. Ahhhhhh….death.” She flips over and does a backstroke in midair, settling onto my shoulder, a small, warm weight.
“Are you high again?” I ask her.
“Actually no,” she snaps back into her regular size. “I couldn’t find the drugs. And I can’t get a bead on BJ. I think the bitch might’ve actually figured out a way to block me.”
“If he keeps them here, they’re well hidden,” Trevor agrees.
The bartender leans in. “You saved us, so you should know. Cassie’s not on anything special, just booze and barbiturates. She’s going to be hurting for the next few days, but after that she should be fine.”
Behind me, Griff lets out a roar of grief and pain. It’s quickly followed by the sound of a smack, and Tina telling him to get his shit together.
“Go to the van,” I tell Shauna and Trevor, who surprisingly quickly turn and do as they’re told. Tamika looks to me and I pull her toward me, whispering in her ear. “Do you think you can get close enough to Griff to draw blood?”
Her eyes narrow. “You want me to walk him to the van?”
“Yes,” I say. “He’s not going to calm down, and we’ve got to get out of here.”
“Sure thing,” she says, showing no hesitancy whatsoever about using her blood magic against a fellow teammate. I’ll have to remember that.
“Except,” she adds, “once the blood dries if he tries to kill me, that’s on you.”
I sigh, eyeing a tear-faced Cassie as she looks hesitantly between me and this strange witch she doesn’t know. “I think it’s all on me, Tamika,” I say.
She nods and spins on her heel. A moment later I hear Griff cry out and then go silent, except for the sound of his heavy tread as he obediently follows Tamika’s movements out the door and to the van. Tina steps over the smoldering remnants of White Tail.
“Cassie,” she says, folding her arms. “Here’s the deal. You’re going to come with us. You’re going to go through withdrawal, and it’s really going to suck. But you’re going to be okay with that, and you know why?”
Cassie shakes her head.
“Because a shifter died here tonight, and we didn’t accomplish a damn thing,” Tina snaps. “Hermes will heal himself and recover. We don’t know where Pandora’s Box is, and we’re no closer to saving my brother and Edie. So get your ditzy ass in the van, and at least then we can say we saved it.”
“That’s mean,” Cassie tells Tina. “You’re still mean.”
“What happened to empathy?” I ask.
“That didn’t seem to be working, so I decided to try some tough love instead,” Tina says, just as the first sirens pierce the night.
“Time to move,” I agree, and grab Cassie’s hand. “Look,” I tell her. “Either you get into the van and come with us, or Tina makes you get into the van and come with us.”
It’s not an empty threat. Tina’s freakish vampire strength is not something to mess with. And while Cassie and Tina were never friends, at least a familiar threat gets the seer moving. We pile into the van and I toss the keys to Tina.
“Get us to the portal,” I tell her. I’ve got a bigger job to do than driving.
I climb into the backseat where Griff is sitting with Tamika. She’s thrown a blanket across his lap so at least he’s not completely naked. He’s sitting stock still, his back rigid.
“You can let him go,” I say to Tamika as I activate his collar again.
“I’m not holding him.” She shakes her head. “His blood got rubbed off when I climbed over the seat. I think he’s in shock.”
I put Griff’s collar on a setting that delivers a constant low dose of relaxant. It glows blue, and his eyelids slip a little.
“Not shock,” he mutters, followed by something else.
“What?” I ask leaning in more closely as his chin dips toward his chest. “What did you say, Griff?”
His eyelids flicker, and he keeps them open long enough to hold my gaze. “When I wake up,” he says, “going to kill you.”
“Rah, rah, go team,” Tina mutters, just as Cassie breaks into uncontrollable sobs.
The police and fire sirens flicker as they fly past us in the other lane, and my squad ducks in their seats as a fleet of harpies follows close behind. They pass right by us, intent on the strip club and the smoke still billowing from it.
“Okay so…a success?” Trevor asks.
I glance from rigid Griff, to sobbing Cassie, to Shauna, now climbing over us into the very back of the van, transfixed by the flashing lights from the emergency vehicles.
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