Page 73 of Seph

“The Lotus Room, on Mirage Street. Could they be more obvious?” He folded the paper again. “We have to burn this when we get there. Maybe before. Can you remember all this stuff?”

Emily sat next to him in the car, eyes squeezed shut for a second—and then her mouth opened and words flew out. “We both have to drink Lethe’s Nectar before we head for the place.” Emily glanced nervously at the car’s interior to make sure the H Drive wasn’t engaged.

“You’re safe, Em. You can say words.”

“I do feel somewhat safer.” The vampire hunter’s hand played over the little iron pendant that was hidden under her neckline.

He patted his, too. “Protective charms activated. Should we synchronize our watches?”

“I just want to go. I want to get this over with. Too many people know.” Emily rubbed her arms and looked back toward the magic shop. “Trust no one. Dad’s top ten playlist.”

“Ah, well. He never met the folks in Pine Ridge. He wouldn’t have liked it here, where you can trust lots of people, where you’ll find someone to help more often than someone to hurt. Too many illusions to shatter. He would have killed someone’s wife and mother, all stake-happy, and realized that sometimes the monster is the human and the hero is the ‘bad guy.’ Come on. We can go get some joint therapy after Halloween, all right? My treat.”

“Oh, well, since you’re buying, I’m in,” Emily chuckled.

He loved that he could make her laugh, even while they were about to embark on the final leg of their journey. “I get to be with my girl,” he said suddenly, grabbing her hand and locking his fingers through hers. “And take you to Vegas. We might finish this quest early—”

“Why do yousaythings like that?” Emily smacked his leg with her free hand. “He didn’t mean it, God. Hades. Whoever’s in charge.”

“Fine, fine. Even if we finish just on time, we’re in Vegas. I can spoil you with Hades’ card—or even my own money if I’m feeling magnanimous. Around you, I always am.”

“Spoil me by coming back alive and coming home with me,” Emily said, her voice suddenly soft and body so still he thought she was somehow talking without breathing.

“Yeah. All right. That too. Now... Run the plays, Huntress.”

“Drink Lethe’s Nectar. Make sure protective charms remain on. Iron weapons at the ready. Go to The Lotus Room and find the one they call Circe. Your turn.”

“She loves a disreputable man. I come in and ask her to make my wife forget my affair, get myself an audience with one pissedoff witch-priestess who just can’t wait to turn a bloke into bacon, according to Zag’s informant.”

“Okay, but before you can feature on the breakfast menu, what do you do?” Emily prodded.

Simeon patted the little black case between them. “Lethe’s Dust. Sprinkle it on her, blow it in the faces of her acolytes, put in the ruddy ventilation system if I have to. You’ll be waiting outside with Hades’ phone in your hot little hand, and you will not come in. You’re a mortal. You have to breathe in. I don’t.”

“This Circe—she’s an incarnation of some ancient goddess, but she’s not the real thing, right?”

“Right. She’s mortal, or she wouldn’t be worshiping a Titan. She’ll be breathing it in or passing out—and then I’ll just poof a little on her. Once Mnemosyne loses touch with her followers—and her source of staying power on this plane, she’ll be weak and distracted. She might even come to the club, looking for answers.”

“If she doesn’t, we at least have a good idea where to find her, thanks to this.” Emily spun a crystal vial with a glowing purple strand in it. “Who did he say this was from again? Cronus?”

“Coeus. The Titan of intellect and the axis of heaven. Zeus really doesn’t like him.”

“And godly DNA works like that?”

“No,” Simeon came to a stop at the sign that thanked visitors for stopping by Pine Ridge. “Zag says six Titans are in Tartarus, one—the one Zeus swallowed up—is missing and hasn’t reformed yet, two are in other places in the underworld, one’s up in the astral plane playing at being a constellation, and two are out in the mortal world. Mnemosyne is the only one likely to be in Vegas, flaunting herself since she can boggle minds and has Big Daddy Dirtbag’s protection for the time being. The scrying crystal works to pick up a Titan since they all have the same auric resonance—whatever the hell that means.” He looked backover his shoulder. “I could drive back to the store. Ask Tess and Farrah to go over this bit again?”

“No,” Emily shook her head firmly. “I know they understand it. This guides us to a Titan—and the only Titan in Vegas has to be Mnemosyne. We’ll find her, either through her followers or this scrying crystal. You have Seph’s?”

Simeon held up a vial with a pomegranate-colored thread swirling slowly inside. Unlike its companion, it didn’t glow, its color flat and muted. “Mnemosyne’s power will slip, that’s for sure. But it’s a gamble whether or not she’ll be more afraid of fading off this mortal realm or letting down her lover. If she uses her energy to support herself, she’ll have to shunt some power away from cloaking Seph and keeping her disoriented. Seph’s thread ought to light up and help us find her—at least the general area. If we get close, it’ll give off a fiery flash of heat and light to alert us, then just stay glowing and pulsing if we’re in the right area. The worst thing would be to see it brighten and then grow dark. That means we’ve lost her, one way or another.”

“I don’t think I could stand that. I’ve lost people before, but...” Emily stopped.

“I know.” He could imagine. Her mother. Her father, useless at the job as he was. Victims she didn’t get to in time, those killed long before she even knew of her quarries. His girl still carried guilt that shouldn't belong to her.

Like the proper bloody hero she is, not the sulky little demon flexing his fangs like yours truly.

And if this fails... She loses Seph for that family.

Loses me. Minegold. The family she’s just starting to realize she has in Pine Ridge, all of us “monsters” who love her.

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