Page 34 of Charmed By Apollo

“Cool it with the formal talk,” he said with a chuckle. “Marley’s just fine. Well, I go by Marley Rainbow these days, but that’s not really a last name or anything.”

“Er, Marley,” Apollo began. “Could you give me and Geri a moment alone?”

“Sure, man.” He winked at them. “Just walk in and join us in the dining room, down the hallway on the left, third room on the right. I promise, we’re a welcoming bunch.”

Once they were alone, Apollo said, “We should leave. Maybe we can find?—”

“Leave? What are you talking about?”

“There’s this shaman in—wait, what?” Apollo’s jaw looked ready to unhinge itself. “Are you…seriously thinking of joining them for breakfast?”

“To get the information we need? Of course?”

“But they’re vampires!” He raised his hands up high. “What if we’re breakfast?”

Geri snorted. “Oh, don’t be an idiot. He said he wasn’t going to eat us.”

“Well of course he said that, so he can lull us into a false sense of security before he eats us.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And I don’t buy that hippie bullshit act.”

“He can’t eat you, can he? You’re immortal.”

“Technically, yes. I don’t grow old or get diseases and can heal myself, and bullets or stab wounds won’t kill me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be hurt or tortured. You could technically tie me down and start chopping me up into tiny pieces. Or, say, drain my blood quickly before my body has a chance to replenish it. You could even burn?—”

“Ugh, stop.” She held up a hand. “I get it.”

“And you still want to go inside this castle with a whole coven of vampires?”

Geri paused, thinking of what to say. She couldn’t quite describe it, but she knew they were in the right place. Or, at the very least, they could trust Marley. “I have to know if they have the magic to bring Grannie back or not. And we came all the way here…Look, you’re a powerful god. It probably takes a lot to incapacitate you, right?”

“Hmm…true. Only the power of another god could take down another god.”

“So, if anything happens, you can quickly get us out of here,” she said. “And don’t forget, I’m a shifter. I can fight, I’m fast, and I heal faster than a human.”

He blew out a breath. “You’re determined to go in there, then?”

“Yes,” she said, resolute.

“Alright. But make sure you stick next to me at all times.”

“Fine, fine.”

“I’m serious.” He took a step forward, crowding her against the wall of the castle. “If anything happened to you…”

She inhaled a sharp breath, and her stomach fluttered at the closeness. This near, she could get a strong whiff of his masculine scent, and that primal urge tugged at her chest once more. Her lashes lowered as he leaned down.

Was he going to kiss her?

“…Hades will kill me.”

The spell broke. “Excuse me?”

“Actually, Persephone will kill me if you get hurt.” He took a step back. “Then she’ll hunt me down in the Underworld and then kill me again.”

“No, she won’t.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Alright, she probably will.” Geri would do the same to anyone who hurt her best friend, after all. “But I think between the two of us, we can get out of any scrape.”

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