Page 51 of Grave Curse

“Don’t let G get away from you, brother. Srsly. UR both so fucked up no one else would have you.”

He probably wasn’t wrong.

“Also, feed her. You ate her dinner last night and I ate her lunch today. In my defense, she wasn’t eating fast enough, so…”A shrug emoji appeared to finish that thought, something I gave a thumbs-up to. Then I took another five minutes to order what I considered to be a reasonable amount of snacks to be delivered ASAP to Vixen’s Den from a nearby store, before finally heading down the stairs, tucking my phone away as I went. My booted footsteps echoed on the hard concrete floor as I passed the locked Situation Room, continuing down the long hallway. It ended with a door where guards from Ajax’s enforcer crew stood on either side of it. The one closest to the door’s handle punched the code in and opened it for me. I nodded at them and headed inside, finding Ajax just inside the door, also standing guard.

The smell hit me first.

The room itself was square, with walls and floors two feet thick. It had once been one of the safe deposit box vaults, and I’d had it converted into temporary cells. No modern-day accommodations existed down here, like plumbing or windows. Ventilation was the only thing I did allow to avoid suffocation, but it wasn’t enough to sweep away the mingled scents of human waste, stale sex and sweat-drenched body odor. A construction bucket in the corner told me where the human waste stench came from, and the rest…

“I believe we’re just about done with you, Yoyo.”

In the corner farthest from the door, a lump stirred. Other than the construction bucket, there was no furniture in the room, just a scratchy wool blanket on the floor, along with a flat pillow picked up at Army Surplus. The only light came from the naked bulb overhead. It was a nightmare of a cell, because thanks to the thick walls no one could hear you scream even if they were standing directly above you.

Man, I loved this converted old bank.

The spy, Yoyo, had lost her boots somewhere along the way. At some point, someone had given her a stained T-shirt to wear, no doubt because her barely-there top hadn’t made it over the last twenty-four hours. The tiny miniskirt was still in place, now stained and just as useless in covering her as it had been when she’d walked into the Gravedigger Clubhouse the night before. After all, she’d come here in the hope of tempting whatever men she could, myself included.

Be careful what you wish for, Yoyo.

She lifted her head and peered up at me through her now-lank hair. It looked sticky in several places and I didn’t have to guess why.

“What…” Her voice was hoarse, unrecognizable. I looked around, saw a four-pack of bottled water at Ajax’s feet, and grabbed one up for her. “What time is it?”

“Almost three.”

“AM or PM?”

“PM.” I looked around the bare walls as I opened the bottle of water for her. “You haven’t even been here twenty-four hours.”

She shuddered. “Seems longer.”

“That’s the trouble with being in a vault—no windows. And they’re soundproof. All that screaming has ruined your voice, but no one heard you.”

A short burst of high-pitched laughter escaped her and just as abruptly stopped. “They wouldn’t have cared even if they had, this beingclub businessand all.”

“Glad you understand this is nothing personal. It is just business. More than that. It’s war.” When I closed in, she flinched, trying to become one with the wall at her back. “Easy. It’s water, yeah? Just water.” I handed her the bottle, and waited as she greedily sucked down half of it. “You look like shit, Yoyo. Anyone who wasn’t aware that you came into my house as a goddamn enemy would probably feel fucking sorry for you.”

“Not you, though.” She darted a hunted look at me through her hair. “Right?”

“I didn’t get to be where I am now by being a soft-boy Care Bear, bitch. My old man Odin taught me how to lead. But it was Uncle Hades who taught me how to punish.”

Another shudder went through her, then another, and she dropped her head onto her raised knees. “Ah… shit.”

Good. Message received. No matter how bad things were now, she understood they could always get so much worse.

I glanced at Ajax. “Your enforcers have had her a while. What do you think? Has she given us everything she’s got?”

Ajax seesawed his hand. “No one’s going to give her a prize for being the most stable bitch in the world. Girlie’s got more than a few toys in the attic, so you have to figure out what’s real and what’s bullshit with her. Personally, I don’t think even she knows the difference.”

Yoyo let out another staccato burst of high-pitched laughter that weirdly cut off once again.

Ajax pondered her a minute before looking back to me. “Feel free to ask her anything. I think she’s softened up enough to sing like a fucking canary. If not, I’ve got Buzzard and Rose waiting in the wings to crack her wide open. All my enforcers enjoytheir work, but those two are special. They can be remarkably… inventive.”

“N-no.” Yoyo was shuddering again, her entire body shaking as though suffering an internal earthquake. “No more. I’ll say anything.”

“I don’t want you to sayanything, Yoyo. I want the truth.” I hunkered down so that we were at eye level, and I could see it, the same thing I saw when she first showed up. Cunning calculation tinged with white-hot madness. She truly was a creature of Hades’s world. Just like me. “Why did you think you could come in here and hurt us? You, when Marvel and Slash failed so completely?”

“Hades.” She clutched her water bottle like she thought she could hide behind it. “Mr. Big Man himself said I could do it if I followed his plan. I fucked him, too, you know. Just to see if I could stomach looking at his shriveled-up wiener and his gray-haired balls.”

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