Page 25

Lex shrugged. “You're here now. Safe. That's all that matters to me. I can wait for the rest. Despite what you think and the mistakes we've made with you, we're good men too, Salina. I know you'll see that eventually.”

“And until then, you'll just hold me captive.” I smacked his chest as I would a buddy. “Good plan, good man.” I walked away.

Lex sighed, then came up beside me. “Could you give us a little slack?”

“Could you drive me back to my place?”

“Salina, Silas is out there. I know you saw us fighting off his soldiers. They aren't normal humans. He's enhanced them.”

“Yeah, I saw you guys. You took out those 'enhanced' humans pretty quickly. And they didn't seem interested in me. I think they followed you, and I just happened to be who you were following.”

“I don't agree. Silas has targeted Cerberus mates in the past. It's kind of his MO. You're not just here because we want to seduce you to the dog-side. We brought you here to keep you safe. A ward protects our property. This is the only place in New Orleans that Silas and his soldiers can't enter.”

I thought about Wren. We never had a chance to catch up when I saw her in the Underworld, but she had told me her man was down there because he'd been in Cerberus form with his packmates and had been killed.

Cerberus form as in their merged form—a giant three-headed dog.

With the three of them unified in that body, death would have pulled the other two down with him if Wren hadn't gone to the Blessed Isles and brought him back.

I assumed she was successful since Hades suggested I could help her by finding Silas.

Except I didn't know much about my enemy. It was time to change that.

“Tell me about Silas.”

“Let's go into the office. We have visual aids there.” Lex headed for the grand staircase.

“Visual aids?” I followed him.

We went up to the landing, and then down a corridor. The office was at the front of the house, with a view of the tree-lined driveway—a driveway that extended several hundred feet to an iron gate. That front yard alone was like gold in New Orleans. But I wasn't there to admire the view.

I followed Lex to a massive desk—the sort made for both sides to be used.

I think they call it a partner desk, but this was for someone with multiple partners.

It extended the length of two normal executive desks, with four chairs pulled up to four leg holes (I don't know what you call those spaces under desks).

A double line of monitors ran down the center of the desk with the monitors back to back.

The regular accouterments gathered around them—blotters, canisters of pens, and pads of paper.

But there were also devices that I didn't recognize.

“Have a seat.” Lex rolled one chair close to another, then sat down in the one behind a keyboard.

I sat down and set my snack on the desk. Sipping my Coke, I watched Lex bring up several camera feeds on two of the monitors.

“We've been watching for the Host, so we discovered them shortly after they started to gather here,” Lex said.

“The Host?”

He looked at me. “What did Hades tell you about Silas?”

“He said he didn't know much. Just that Silas was out to get you guys and was amassing an army to help him.”

“Silas actually wasn't the one to start all this. It was a soul who called himself Michael. He could jump bodies.”

“Not possible.”

“That's what we thought. Until he did it.”

“Lucky guy,” I muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind. Go on.”

“Michael knew he'd have to face a Cerberus eventually. So instead of waiting for one to attach him, he recruited humans to go on the defensive.”

“What do you mean? How did he recruit humans?”

“By posing as an angel. He told them he was fighting a holy war against all Cerberuses—hounds from hell.”

I snorted a laugh.

“Yeah, there's just enough truth in that for it to be damning.”

“Literally.”

Lex rolled his eyes. “Since Michael told everyone he was an angel—a fact he proved by jumping into the bodies of his recruits—he named his cult the Host.”

“Catchy.”

“We're not sure when the partnership between Silas and Michael began or if Michael even wanted a partner. But at some point, Silas stepped in and took over. He posed as God.”

“The Christian God?”

“Yes, and Silas used his magic to prove it—by killing his followers and bringing them back from the dead.”

“Wait. What?” I gaped at Lex. Then I remembered what Hades had said—that Silas had the power to bring back the dead and that he was raising armies to fight the Hounds. Raising them. “Why doesn't he just reanimate corpses?”

“He'd have to bring back their souls, and I imagine that would be more difficult with older bodies. The souls may be in new bodies by then. Plus, there's a lot more to heal.”

“Oh. Right. So, he kills people and immediately brings them back. Does he make them immortal?”

“No, just stronger. That's what I meant when I called them enhanced. There are very few gods who can grant immortality.”

“I see.” I mulled this over. “Hades said Silas has an Olympian backing . . .” I trailed off.

“Salina?” Lex called to me.

I didn't hear him at first. I was too busy staring at the monitor.

As I said, there were several camera feeds playing on two monitors.

One feed caught my eye. In it, a man stood on a balcony, leaning on an ornate iron railing while talking to a few other people.

Nothing shocking there. Except that I knew that man. He was my first stalker. Mr. Average.

“Salina?”

“Huh?” I looked at Lex.

“What is it?” He peered at the screen. “Oh, shit! There he is.”

I wasn't surprised when Lex tapped the image of Mr. Average.

“That's Silas.” Lex hit a button on a device nearby and spoke into it. “Got him at the French Quarter house.”

“We're on it!” Cyrus's voice came through the little speaker on the device.

Lex looked at me, then at the speaker. He pushed the button again. “I'll stay here with Salina and monitor you guys.”

“Copy that.”

From somewhere outside came the sound of an engine starting, then of a car leaving.

“They're going after him?” I asked. “Just like that?”

“Of course.” Lex started typing. Several feeds changed.

They were all different angles of the same property—the French Quarter house, evidently.

It was a nice property. One of the two-story houses done in the traditional style the French Quarter was known for—with all the pretty iron stuff and a wrap-around balcony, since it was also a corner house.

Quite a score. But then, gods didn't have to worry about money.

Gods. Mr. Average was a god. Silas himself.

And there I was, thinking he was an ex from a past life.

What was that odd feeling between us? Was he someone from my past?

Maybe he was. That would explain why I was the one destined to figure out who the hell he was.

Had Silas felt that connection too? Or had he just recognized me as a potential Cerberus mate?

That seemed more likely to me. But how had he known I was destined to mate a Cerberus?

Did potential mates ooze mate magic? I would have asked Lex, but that would mean confessing to having Silas stalking me.

If I did that, they'd never leave me alone again.

I'd forever have a hound tail—and I don't mean the wagging sort.

So, I kept my mouth shut and watched Lex work.

He knew his stuff. But he'd been around when computers were first invented.

If he had followed the progress of human technology, he could easily become proficient.

Probably more than that. As I watched his fingers fly over the keyboard, I concluded that Lex was a hacker.

The techie of the group. It explained why he hadn't developed the local accent.

He probably spent more time online than IRL—that's “in real life” for all of you non-nerds out there.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a closet nerd. I used to play a lot of video games when I was inhabiting Wren.

There wasn't much to do in between shopping and seducing our benefactors.

Plus, gaming felt a lot like possessing someone.

You were in charge of a body that wasn't really yours, making it do things for your amusement.

“He's leaving,” Lex said. “Heading east. I'm following him with traffic cams.”

The feed changed rapidly, Lex trying to guess in what direction Silas would head and then hack into the cameras monitoring that area. He did well. It was impressive. But then Silas went into a cafe and never came out.

“We just parked. Is he still inside?”

“Yeah,” Lex said. “I've been monitoring all the exits. He hasn't left.”

Cyrus and Jake appeared on one of the feeds. They entered the cafe. A few minutes passed.

“He's not here,” Cyrus finally said.

“Damn it!” Lex growled. “He must have teleported away.”

“Teleported,” I murmured, slowly comprehending what kind of danger I'd been in.

Silas could have just popped into my house and grabbed me.

So, why hadn't he? Maybe he wasn't sure of who I was.

Oh! Maybe he had noticed Hades setting up that house for me and that's why he was watching me.

He was waiting to see if I was a sidepiece for Hades or a mate for his hounds.

Except if that was the case, why had he looked so surprised to see me that first day?

Lex kept typing, the camera feeds changing over and over, but there was no sign of Silas. There was, however, someone else I recognized.

“Ace?” I whispered and leaned closer.

Lex froze. He followed my stare to the screen. Ace was getting out of his car, looking as handsome as ever. The sun hit him and set his hair to shining. Women passing by stopped to stare at him.

“Where is that?” I asked.

Lex narrowed his stare at me, his jaw clenching, then said, “The other side of town. I was widening the search circle just in case.”

“He's got Bruno with him.”