Page 21 of Seph

But that would ruin the—thewhateverthey tentatively had.

Since that night, their truce sometimes seemed to strengthen into something like friendship, but other times it seemed to devolve into barely concealed hatred and suspicion. Simeon suspected that part of her hatred was directed toward herself. She was trying to learn to live among monsters and slay her own prejudices.

It had to be hard on her.

Speaking of hard... Thinking of Emily and the way her body hit his as they sparred...

He dropped the chocolate and headed to his bedroom, tired of fighting the longing that had been building for over a week. Simeon was ready to concentrate on a different sort of cream-filled treat.

But when he turned around, there was already somebody on the edge of his bed.

“ARGH! Bloody fuckin’ hell, mate, what are you doing in here?” Simeon demanded, hand to his chest. A tall, regal man in black gauntlets, ancient-looking armor, a flowing cape, and a crown of bones was sitting in front of him. Mr. Black and Bony was staring at him with bottomless black eyes. Simeon felt that his gaze might not just sear right through him, but it also might stop in the middle, burn his guts to ashes, and then go on for another mile or two.

“Youngest spawn of Lilith, at midnight, it will be one week from Lemuria. I have come to check on your progress. Be quick. I can’t spare more than a moment.”

“I... Who are you? Lilith? That’s the old Sire’s name, but I’m just Simeon. Well, Simeon Crow, and I’m not doing any vampire business. You’ll want to see one of Lilith’s other spawn. Check somewhere in Europe, I reckon.”

The eyes blinked, and Simeon suddenly found himself on the bed, plastered and shackled to it by burning bands of blue fire, a voice echoing in his head and bouncing off the walls of the apartment.

“I am Hades, Lord of the Underworld. One thousand years ago, I granted the demon Lilith passage to this world with the mission to reap souls and return Persephone, my missing queen! The bargain was clear. If her time on this mortal plane ended, then her youngest direct descendant would take up the task—you, Simeon Crow, are the only remaining direct spawn of Lilith. The others are dead at the hands of the Van Helsing clan. If you fail to keep your end of the bargain,allvampires will be condemned to the lowest level of Tartarus for all eternity.”

“Oh! Oh,thatmission! Why didn’t you say so? Uh... How long until you need your queen? And where did you last see her?” Simeon asked over the booming and roaring inside his head. If he got out of this alive, he made a mental note to give Van Helsing the bawling out of her life, in a very creative manner, with lots of carefully harvested vocabulary from various languages. Lilith hadn’t mentioned any secret ancient pacts, not that he’d really given her any time to do so. And what the hell was a Lemuria?

“One week, blood-drinker. One week until you must meet me at the mortal side of the River Styx.”

“Where’s that then, mate?”

The figure narrowed his eyes dubiously. “Your insolence is much like your forebears.’ Here, of course. The triple intersection of Ley Lines in Pine Ridge creates a doorway ofpower that will allow access to one of my domains. Naturally, this is why you chose to dwell here.”

“Oh, naturally. Right. Location, location, location.” Simeon nodded. He’d known about the Ley Lines and how the rare intersection of three created supernatural energy, the kind that could draw creatures of good and evil to Pine Ridge—but he didn’t know it would open up a door to the Underworld!

“Look, I’m going to level with you. This is news to me. My sire was all about impartingcarnalwisdom, and then she mucked about with the wrong thing and ended up being staked by yours truly. She never got ‘round to mentioning this little scavenger hunt.”

“You? You vanquished Lilith?”

“Yep.”

“I must’ve missed that. She’s gone to Hell, not Hades. I wanted her out of earshot. Well done.” Tall, Dark, and Bony smiled a little. “She was annoying, and she kept me waiting, as well. You will not make the same mistake.”

“She did like to talk, from what little I knew of her. But like I said, I don’t know what you expect me to do that Lilith couldn’t. She was ancient and powerful, and I’m just in my 140s—in vampire years, that is. Also, don’t know if this matters, but I’m retired. I don’t kill, and don’t mix with Lilith’s sort anymore. I guess you knew that?”

Hades frowned. “No. I... I haven’t been able to focus much on small matters.”

“Small matters, he says.” Simeon snorted and then coughed, deciding one does not snort at a bloke who can pin you with his thoughts, ala Darth Vader.

“I have not been idle!” Hades thundered, but then his voice faded, sounding stretched and strained. “I can’t ever spare morethan an hour or so of mortal time to look for her. Even then, the gates of the Underworld swell and Charon’s ferry is triple booked. It’s a disaster. Souls falling over the sides, a clog in the Styx, people saying they died first and were waiting the longest... Persephone always kept people so calm and patient. She had a gardener’s soul, you know. ‘Things take time,’ she’d say. But a thousand years?”

Simeon tilted his head. Mr. Nightmare Voice suddenly sounded like a harassed, mourning businessman trying to manage his marriage and his business and failing at both. “So, any leads? Hot tips?”

Hades visibly perked up, which was in itself comical, the grim, pale king in his armor and bones suddenly nodding like a schoolboy who knew the answer to a hard question. As Simeon watched, a shadowy mass emerged at his feet. A shadowy mass that looked like a cross between a three-headed Corgi and a black fox. Simeon wondered if Cerberus had had puppies or if the original model was always this adorable and travel-sized.

“I suppose so! She went to visit her mother. She visits her for half of the year, every year. When she’s in the mortal world, it passes quickly—although it is still far too long for my liking.” Hades gave him a gloomy glare, hope vanishing. “But Demeter, that’s my mother-in-law... and my sister—don’t ask—said Seph left as usual, right after helping the locals with the harvest.”

“Ah. I see.”Mythology is real. Ergh.Simeon recalled the bit about people baking their children into pies and the bit about how the Minotaur was brought into the world. He wondered if all of that was real. And this bit about Lilith being given a task... How could he have told you the scores of every Tottenham Hotspurs game from the present back to the start of the club, but not knowthatun-life-altering bit of news? “So, where was this harvest? Did you talk to the locals? The police?”

“A thousand years ago, the harvest was in Athens, near Demeter’s sanctuary at Eleusis. Now, I believe she lives an hour from Boise.”

“Boise?” Simeon’s eyes popped, and he fought down the urge to laugh. “Idaho? In the States?”

---