For the Birds

by Angela Roquet

  I was halfway down Market Street when two nephilim guards approached me. I didn’t recognize either of them. They were male, fair-haired, and full of some superior arrogance that most of the guards I had encountered up until this point hadn’t possessed. They loomed in my path, taking wide stances so as make sure I knew they were there for me.

  “Captain Harvey, the Fates require a meeting,” said the shorter of the two.

  My shoulders dropped and I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my robe. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do. Their spears slanted in unison as they crossed them over the breastplates of their armor.

  I pulled my hands back out of my pockets, slowly lifting them in the air. “Whoa, there. Look, I’m kinda busy tonight. Maybe they could just call me and set up an appointment?”

  “We’re not here to deliver a message. We’ve been sent to retrieve you.” The taller one dipped his spear, pointing towards the factory, silently ordering me to lead the way.

  It really wasn’t a good idea to deny the Fates, but I wanted to anyway. I did not want to go back to the factory, and I had a date to get ready for and plenty of unsettling thoughts to mull over while I primped. I didn’t have the time or the nerve to face the sisters, but it looked like I didn’t have much of a choice.

  I glared at the guards. “Fine. Just watch where you’re pointing those things.”

  We paraded back up Market Street, stopping briefly to take the travel booth near the harbor. It spit us out into the booth across the street from the factory. It was still an hour until the souls would be lining up to head home for the night, and I really hoped I would be able to get out of there before then.

  The guards led me right past the receptionists’ desk and Atropos’ personal office, all the way down to a set of double doors that opened into another passage. It was narrower and darker than the main hall. I was led through a plain, nameless door, into a room with nothing but a couple of metal chairs and a table.

  “Wait here,” one of the guards said before closing me into the small space.

  The concrete walls were bare, and I noticed a wide mirror along the far side of the room. I glanced back at the door, half tempted to try it, but I was almost certain that it was locked. This was not looking good.

  Clotho was the first to come into the room. Her toga was wrinkled and her eyes were wide and tired, like she had stayed up one too many nights on a coffee binge. She was all smiles as she sat down across from me and folded her small hands over the table. “Lana, how are you doing?”

  I frowned at her. “I’d be doing a hell of a lot better if I knew what this was all about.”

  “Of course.” Her smile faltered. She tucked a chestnut coil of hair that had fallen loose from her bun behind her ear. “After your visit yesterday, something turned up missing.” She paused, watching my face intently for any trace of guilt.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “I said, something turned up missing after—”

  “I heard you. I meant what turned up missing?”

  “Oh.” She sat up taller and pulled her hands off the table.

  I should have probably been minding my manners, but I hadn’t sent a pair of guards out to force her into an interrogation room to make groundless accusations.

  Clotho mirrored my frown and cleared her throat. “I’d rather not say just yet.”

  I sighed and folded my arms over the table. “Look, I’m no thief. I wasn’t even here that long. What makes you think I took whatever you’re missing?”

  It was at that moment that Lachesis chose to come blazing into the room. “Because I caught you snooping around in the records room unattended! That’s why,” she snapped, throwing her arms around like she had just come from a Jerry Springer set.

  I leaned away from her, a little taken back by the outburst. “Yeah, but I didn’t take anything. I was only looking.”

  “You could have done it before I found you.” She leaned over the table, putting her face right in front of mine. I could smell the coffee on her breath. Her hair was in worse shape than Clotho’s. Frizzy strawberry curls shook with every word she spat at me.

  The fury of the goddess had me trembling now. “Ask the receptionists. They saw me go into the restroom. I was only gone for a minute.”

  “We know,” Clotho sighed. She put a calm hand on her sister’s arm. “Lachesis, we’re wasting time. Please, let me finish here.”

  “Fine.” She jerked herself away from the table to go pace in a corner.

  Clotho turned back to me and tried to smile again. “We’re not laying blame on you—”

  “Yet, anyway,” Lachesis sneered from her corner.

  Clotho shot her a look and she fell silent again.

  “We were hoping that maybe you saw something that might help us. Was there anything that seemed unusual to you? Anyone you saw who seemed out of place?”

  I took a moment to really consider my short visit, and then I shook my head. “I’m sorry, nothing is coming to mind. Honestly, I didn’t think going into the records room would be such a big deal. The door was unlocked.”

  “Liar!” Lachesis hissed.

  “Please, sister,” Clotho sighed, closing her eyes. “Lana, are you sure that you didn’t see anyone else in passing?”

  “No one besides her,” I said, nodding at the grumbling goddess.

  “Maybe it was Meng,” Lachesis said.

  I rolled my eyes. “She was with Atropos the whole time.”

  “Maybe she put you up to it,” she snarled.

  I held my breath as the door flung open yet again, slamming into the concrete wall. Atropos threw herself into the room, knocking me right out of the chair. Her lipstick was smeared, and her black pupils filled her eyes completely as she took me by the throat, pressing the back of my head into the concrete floor. “Just tell us where it is. Just tell us. It doesn’t have to end this way for you,” she said, in a neutral whisper that freaked me out way more than Lachesis’ ranting had.

  The other two sisters sprang on her, each latching onto an arm in an attempt to keep her from crushing my windpipe. I gurgled against her grasp, crying out when her nails scored my throat as they pulled her off of me.

  Atropos’ voice was still eerie calm as she tried to reason with her sisters. “She has to know. She has to. We just need to be firmer. I can make her talk. I can reach into her chest and squeeze her heart until she spills every secret she’s ever known.”

  My stomach tuned at the suggestion. I had a lot of secrets to hide, and I really didn’t want to know how effective her techniques were.

  “Is everything alright here?” Asmodeus stood in the open doorway, looking confused at the lot of us sprawled across the floor. I almost cried, I was so happy to see him.

  The demon was Bub’s best friend, and I never really had much of an opinion about him before. Now I thought he was just dandy. He was a peach. He was my ticket the hell out of there.

  The goddesses froze, shame washing over them due to their graceless state. Well, except for Atropos. She had stopped her rambling and now hummed, gazing wide-eyed at the ceiling like a loon.

  On a better day, they would have rushed to fawn over Asmodeus, like most warm-blooded ladies did. He was sex incarnate, all firm-bodied and carefree charm. He didn’t even have to try. He wore loose fitting slacks and an orange tee shirt with the logo of a demon rock band splashed across the front. A faded blue fedora rested on his head, an accessory that Bub relentlessly teased him for, but it looked right on him.

  “I was just leaving,” I said, standing up and inching away from the goddesses. “Think you could walk me home?”

  “Not a problem. I’m just waiting for the receptionist to finish up some paperwork for a lot of souls I delivered for reinsertion. Thought I’d drop in and say hi to the ladies in charge, but it looks like you all have your hands full tonight.” He chuckled nervously at the pile of goddesses and held his hand out to help me step around them.

  Lachesis look
ed like she might protest, but Clotho cut her off. “Thank you for coming, Lana. We appreciate your help,” she said tightly, still clinging to her possessed sister.

  “Yeah,” I said, not looking back as we left. My heart didn’t slow down until we had stepped out of the travel booth on the opposite end of town.

  Asmodeus put a hand on my shoulder as we walked. “That was dumb luck. If that secretary had been more organized and ready for me, you’d still be back there with those crazy broads.” He gave a short laugh. “So what’d you do to light the fire under their asses?”

  I shook my head. “They’re missing something. I don’t know what, but they either think I’m the thief or that I know who is. They can’t quite seem to make up their minds.”

  Asmodeus took off his hat and ran a hand through his scruffy short hair before plopping it back on his head. “Well, I suggest you steer clear of them for a while.”

  “They sent guards to escort me to the factory,” I groaned. “Trust me, I don’t want to be anywhere near that place.”

  We stopped in front of Holly House, and I turned to face him. “Thanks for the rescue. I doubt any other friend of Bub’s would have helped me out.”

  “Yeah.” He grinned. “You’re the fly in every demon’s ointment these days. You’ve taken the golden boy of Hell off the market. And here I thought that would just mean more ladies for me.”

  “You mean you don’t have enough?”

  He wagged his eyebrows.

  Asmodeus was the demonic prince of lust. He saw after the souls of adulterers and prostitutes in the second level of Hell. I think the overabundance struck him bored after so long. While he was still desirable to many, he himself seemed to lack desire. I didn’t see him out with women often, but I’d heard stories of his illicit love affairs, centuries past. Maybe he was just taking a break, hoping to rediscover his flame eventually. I knew enough reapers who had done the same.

  He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder and tipped his hat. “Stay out of trouble, ya hear?”

  “Sure.” I smiled. “Have a nice night.”

  “You too, doll. You too.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed in the direction of the travel booth we had just come from. I watched him go, wondering why Bub didn’t invite him to more parties. It might be nice to see more friendly faces for a change.

  Chapter 11

  “You sleep with a guy once and before you know it

  he wants to take you to dinner.”

  -Myers Yori

  The interrogation session with the Fates had shaken me, not to mention the run-in with the siren earlier. I was half-tempted to cancel my date with Bub, but I knew how busy his schedule was. He prided himself on the fact that he made time for us. He would be crushed, and rightly so. I couldn’t do that to him, even if he did have ulterior motives. I still managed to enjoy myself most of the time, even when I knew we were essentially on a business outing.

  The Hearth was on Market Street, just off Council Street and to the north of the harbor. The restaurant’s dining area was set up on the second and topmost floor of the circular building, with a spectacular view of the Sea of Eternity. The kitchen was on the floor below, and the waiters accessed it through a pair of see-through elevators along the side of the restaurant that faced the parking lot. A ramp curled up to the other side, where a set of polished marble steps led up to the front doors.

  The driver of the limo Bub had sent to collect me opened my door and held out his hand. I let him help me stand and thanked him before carefully making my way up the steps in my white skyscraper heels. Besides the questionable footwear, I had chosen a matching white sheath dress. It was strapless with a knee-high slit up one side of the fitted, ankle-length skirt. The Hearth had a strictly formal dress code, and it was ungodly expensive. I had only dined there a handful of times, and only for the most special of occasions. It felt strange not having any real reason to be there other than a spur-of-the-moment date with Bub. Two attendants opened the doors, and I stepped inside.

  The reason for the kitchen being on the lower level was so that the beautiful panoramic view would be entirely unobstructed. A low-rise stage opened in the middle of the room where a nephilim sat behind a baby grand, playing subtle mellow tunes. Droplights hung in a random pattern from the dark ceiling, giving the illusion of a starry night sky. A hostess led me over to a table on the seaside of the dining floor where a tuxedoed Bub stood to greet me.

  “Gorgeous as ever,” he sighed, pulling me for a peck on the cheek.

  “You’re not looking too bad yourself.” I grinned and gave him a mock kiss to keep from smearing my burgundy lip gloss across his face. My makeup was a little heavy tonight, in an attempt to draw eyes away from the pretty little scratches Atropos had left along my neck.

  Bub pulled out a chair for me. No sooner had we gotten comfortable, than a demon waiter appeared with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

  Bub raised a brow. “Shall I order, or do you have a preference?”

  “Go ahead.” Surely he knew that I wasn’t a regular here.

  He ordered our dinner in Latin. I had a hard time translating, but it sounded like some kind of fish maybe. When the waiter left, Bub reached across the table and took my hand. His smile was still in place for our gawking fellow diners, but his eyes were anxious. “Asmodeus told me about the Fates. Why on Earth would they suspect you of stealing from them?”

  “Well, cut right to it, why don’t you.” I frowned. “I took Meng to the factory to meet with them yesterday, and Lachesis caught me snooping around in the records room.”

  His brow dropped into a humorless line. “And what were we snooping for exactly?”

  “Next week’s schedule.” I shrugged, and took a sip of my wine. “Turns out, it’s all I’ve got for an alibi. I’m fairly certain that Asmodeus is the only reason I made it out of there in one piece tonight.”

  Bub shook his head and laughed. “You are a ballsy one, aren’t you?”

  I rolled my eyes, trying to dismiss the whole incident.

  Winston was the only one who needed to know what I had really been doing in the Fates’ records room. I had a feeling Horus had probably figured it out by now, too. It’s not that I didn’t trust Bub. I just didn’t like the way I felt about the situation. I didn’t like thinking about it, and I didn’t like talking about it. When people know all about the muck you’re in, that seems to be all they want to talk about.

  Bub knew about Wosyet, and to his credit, he hadn’t mentioned her name again since he’d found out. I was sure he had some inkling about my uniqueness, but he kept that to himself too. Come to think of it, Bub was pretty exceptional at avoiding the subjects I was uncomfortable with altogether. Most of the time, I liked that about him. The rest of the time, I pondered over what his opinions might be, though I wasn’t quite brave enough to ask.

  “Well, I have some news,” Bub said. “I don’t know that it’s good news, but it might be useful. Hades and Persephone finally finished inventorying what was stolen, and the item of most concern happens to be the Helm of Hades.”

  “The cap of invisibility?”

  “One and the same.”

  “Well, that might come in handy for a thief.”

  Bub leaned in closer over the table. “Especially for a thief who’s been to the factory recently, hmm?”

  My jaw dropped in surprise. Of course, that made perfect sense. I felt a little dim for not catching his drift sooner.

  I dropped my voice to a whisper. “So that should clear my name then, right?”

  “Eventually.” Bub winced at my frown. “Give it a day or two. We have Anubis coming in this weekend with his jackals to do a little tracking, and we don’t want to scare the culprit off by announcing the discovery just yet.”

  We both gave the room a quick glance, taking inventory of the ears in range. A demon couple was busy eyeballing us from the dance floor that circled around the nephilim piano man. They turned their noses up as I paused on them,
pointing their tango in the other direction.

  Our food arrived. I had been right. Raw fish fillets were laid out over a bed of tangled herbs on my plate. I curled my nose up at Bub.

  “Try it,” he said. “It’s to die for.”

  “What is it?” I picked up my salad fork, not really sure where to go with it.

  “Yellowfin cutthroat trout. It’s been extinct in the mortal realm for nearly a hundred years, but there’s a little fishery in Summerland that keeps them thriving for the price they demand here.”

  I nudged a fillet around my plate until I noticed the bowl of caviar that had come with it. There was a little pearl spoon dipped down in the bowl of black fish eggs. Caviar wasn’t my favorite, but I’d come to appreciate it since Bub had come along. I picked up the spoon and gave them a taste. They were different than the variety Bub served at his parties. They were larger too, with tinges of gold in them.

  “What kind are these?”

  Bub looked up. “Hmm? Oh, those are mermaid eggs.”

  I choked mid swallow and spit the rest into my napkin before reaching for my wine. Bub was almost in tears he was struggling so hard not to laugh when I looked up.

  “Oh, you are evil.” I glared over the table.

  “And this is news to you?” he chuckled.

  I shook my head with a laugh and took another drink of wine. Every now and then, he pulled a good one on me. I never saw it coming. Eventually, I would get him back.

  “So, do you still think sticky-fingers is one of Persephone’s sirens?” I asked.

  Bub’s brow furrowed as he swallowed a bite of trout. “I don’t know. If it is a siren, I don’t think she’s affiliated with Eurynome anyhow.”

  “Really?”

  “If the theft had been at Eurynome’s request, she would have been more inclined to take credit for a job well-done. She’s no chicken of the sea.”