Page 35 of All Good Dogs Go to Hades (The Hounds of Hades #5)

“Are you okay?” Lex took my hand as we strolled through the French Quarter.

“Yeah, actually. I always thought that talking through your issues was a bunch of crap, but it helped to get it out.”

“You wanna talk about the nuns again?” Cyrus asked.

“Nuns?” Lex looked from Cy to me.

“The nuns are nothing.” I blinked, processing what I'd just said. “Nun-thing. I handled them.”

“What did you do to the nuns?”

I laughed at Lex's expression. “I started rumors about vampires to scare them.”

“Why?”

“Cause they were being bitches, of course.” I grimaced. “I hate nuns. No nuns for me! None!” I pointed at him.

Lex snorted a laugh.

“What other lives do you remember?” Cyrus asked.

The minute I thought about it, memories tumbled through my mind.

I stopped abruptly and pressed my hands against my temples.

It was too much. I couldn't sort through them fast enough.

All those people. All that pain. Had I ever been happy?

Fuck me. Why did I want to remember all of this?

Oh, right. Wren. Forgetting that meant forgetting her. She was worth not forgetting.

“Salina?” Three voices came at once and three men surrounded me, their scents mingling to create an intoxicating aroma.

The heat from their bodies radiated into me.

That, combined with their scent and the memory of Wren, calmed me enough to conquer my rampant memories.

Just because you have a ton of memories floating around your head, it doesn't mean that you need to see them all at once.

But this was a new head. It had to get used to memories that didn't belong to it.

Form a filing system of sorts. Folders for the hard drive of my mind.

I took a breath and lifted my head. “I'm fine.” Then I eased the men back. “It was just a lot of memories hitting me at once. I think I've got them cataloged now.”

Jake grunted and took my hand. We started walking. The other two formed a guard—Cyrus in front and Lex in back.

“I used to want my memories.” Cyrus glanced back at me. “I'm rethinking that.”

“I wouldn't care about them so much if I didn't need to remember Wren.” I shrugged.

“What about Ace?” Lex asked.

“I didn't know about Ace until after we met.”

“And now?”

“Now, yes, I need to remember Ace too.”

Jake's hand tightened around mine.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You wanted to be bait.” Cyrus shrugged. “Your boy has probably reported to his master by now. Silas will make his move soon.”

A shiver ran down my spine. “Oh.”

Jake's sharp gaze slid over to me.

“I'm fine,” I said to him.

He grunted. Nope, he didn't buy it.

So, I tried to lighten the mood. “You don't seem all that busy.”

“What do you mean?” Lex asked.

“This is supposed to be the most haunted city in America. But I've yet to see you chase a ghost.”

“Actually, humans say that Savannah is the most haunted city in America.” Cyrus glanced back. “But you know as well as we do that it's all myth. The Savannah Cerberus is no more busy than any other.”

“I could have sworn it was New Orleans.”

“Nawlins has a reputation that's been fostered by some very creative individuals.” Cyrus smirked at me. “Like the clever girl who started the vampire myth.”

I chuckled. “I didn't make up the monsters. I just brought them here.”

“Exactly. As every other ethnic group of immigrants brought their monsters and myths to add to the gumbo.”

“This city is full of exciting people, but they're all alive,” Lex added.

“Ironically, most of the people who die here pass on smoothly. We rarely get hauntings or confused souls.” Cyrus motioned at a park, and we veered into it. “I think it's because of all the superstition. They believe strongly in the afterlife here.”

“But not the right one,” I said.

“It doesn't matter. You just have to believe that there's somewhere for you to go and you'll go. If you don't, you stay here.” Cyrus found a bench and waved me to it.

I shook my head. “I'd rather keep walking. I want ice cream.”

“You just had breakfast,” Lex said.

“It didn't include ice cream.”

Jake chuckled.

Lex and Cyrus gaped at him.

Jake cleared his throat and tugged on my hand, leading me to an ice cream cart.

As I perused the selection, the men kept watch, but they did so subtly.

Now that I was past my initial fear, I wasn't worried.

Not because I had faith in the hounds. They were amazing fighters, I was sure, but this was a god and he'd gotten away from several teams already.

No, I wasn't worried because I didn't think he'd show.

Silas was smarter than that. We had just run into Ace. Silas would assume we'd be on guard. And that made this the worst time to attack. He'd wait until we were relaxed, and then he'd strike. That's what I'd do.

“So why aren't I doing it?” I whispered.

“What's that, sugah?” the ice cream lady asked.

“Oh, I'll have a cup of the mocha fudge, please.”

“Sure thing.”

The guys got ice cream too, despite that whole thing about us just having breakfast. I waited until we had some distance between us and the other people in the park before I told them what I was thinking.

“Why are we waiting for Silas to come to us?” I asked. “We need to follow Ace to him. We know where Ace is.”

Lex closed his eyes and grimaced.

“What?” I asked.

“We should have thought of that,” Cyrus answered. “We've been so distracted by you that the obvious didn't occur to us.” He looked at Lex. “Do we have a visual on Ace?”

“Yes, we do.”

“You're already watching him?” I lowered my spoon. “Why?”

“You,” Jake said.

I took a breath, got over that (because it wasn't all that surprising), and said, “Well? Have you seen him go anywhere other than work?”

“To you,” Jake growled.

“Or to me?”

“No. But we haven't been watching him as closely as we have you,” Lex said. “Now, we will.” He handed Cyrus his ice cream and pulled out his phone. After messing with it for a while, he nodded. “Ace is home. We only have a view of the front, but his car is there.”

“That doesn't mean he's there.” Cyrus handed Lex his ice cream back. “We need to rectify this.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means setting up more cameras around Ace's house and anywhere else he frequents. Hopefully, we'll get lucky and Silas hasn't warded Ace's home. Then we can bug his house too.”

“Be careful of Bruno.”

“We're good with dogs.” Lex winked at me.

I took a bite of ice cream, enjoying the cool sweetness with the beautiful view of Lex's eyes, the irises made molten by the sun.

I was so against these men just a short time ago, but now, I couldn't remember why.

And it was that thought that shook me out of my Lex reverie.

They were getting to me. Their damn abduction plan was working. I was becoming a statistic!

A traitorous part of my mind whispered, But are you a statistic if this is your destiny?

Then the image of a tarot card came to me—a dog howling at the moon.

It didn't seem so desperate or ferocious anymore.

Now, the dog seemed sad—as mournful as his cries.

And with that thought came the memory of howling hounds outside my house.

Terrifying but also heartbreaking. The hair on my arms rose and shivers ran down my spine.

I had the strangest urge to throw away my ice cream and hug Lex.

Just hold him and tell him everything would be all right.

Shine my light on him and stop the howling.

“Salina?” Lex broke into my thoughts.

“Do what you have to do,” I said and walked away. “So will I.”