Page 111 of Bonds of Hercules

---

Sighing, feeling like I was twenty going on one hundred years old, I slid under pink silk sheets.

Almost instantly I dreamed of the grim reaper standing over me.

He caressed my cheek. “I’ll be back,” he promised darkly. “Don’t worry—I’llalwaysreturn.”

My eyes opened and I sat up with a gasp.

Death was gone.

Did the door just close? Was there a shadow moving? Was there—

The bed dipped as a fluffy gray creature waddled across it. Poco climbed toward me until his whiskers tickled my face.

“I told you that we can’t keep doing this,” I whispered.

He patted his tiny hand against my cheek as if telling me not to worry, then he curled up into a furry ball, his back pressed against mine.

I pulled the covers up over him, so he was fully covered with his ears sticking out, just how he liked.

His gentle purrs vibrated through me.

I closed my eyes.

For the first time in weeks, nightmares didn’t plague me.

The grim reaper was gone.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

For the second time, I jolted awake.

From the moonlight, only a few hours had passed. The soft raps continued. Poco purred. Helen and Charlie shifted in their sleep.

“Alexis—are you up?” Patro whispered through the door. “We need to talk.”

19

DEMONS IN THE DARK

ALEXIS

My heart dropped.

I hadn’t spoken to Patro and Achilles for a reason—the reason beingbetrayalof the highest order.

Lingering childhood abandonment issues aside, leaving a person alone with mutated monsters was simply unprofessional, even for cult members.No one has any class these days.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Charlie huffed on the floor, turning over in his pile of pink bedding.

---