“Unless you’ve drunk it all,” he said.
I guess he did know me, after all. I handed him a bottle of vodka, thinking he was going to sterilize the bandages or something, but instead, he took a swig.
Rebecca stirred. “Steady, now,” Doc said. “You’ve been injured.”
“Where am I?”
“Nyx’s apartment,” Doc replied.
She tried to sit up and winced. “I remember now.”
“What happened to you?” I asked.
“A couple of demons jumped me,” she said.
“Was Hecate there?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“You said something about my ex, and since she’s currently possessing Willow, I thought…”
Rebecca shook her head. “You thought wrong. I was talking about the redhead. Naomi’s sister.”
“Wren jumped you?”
Rebecca grinned weakly. “That’s what I thought,” she said. “She looks like an angel, doesn’t she?” She touched her nose gently. “But I gave as good as I got.”
“Your arm is broken,” Doc told her. “You should rest.”
“We need to warn the others,” I said. I grabbed my cell and dialed Naomi’s number. When she picked up, I explained what happened.
“I’m coming over,” she said.
“Don’t go anywhere,” I replied. “It’s not safe.”
“I’m right next door, at Talbot’s,” she said. “I’ll call Claire and the aunties and then I’ll be right over.”
I started to say something, but she hung up on me.
Talbot and Naomi entered the apartment hand in hand, which was one bright note in an otherwise dismal evening.
Doc was glancing at the clock. I checked it, too. It was just after eleven—still plenty of time to make the elixir.
I filled Talbot in while Naomi checked on her cousin. She wet a kitchen towel and used it to clean the dried blood from Rebecca’s face.
“Everyone has to be very careful,” I said. “Wren is dangerous.”
Naomi overheard me.
“Wren won’t hurt me,” Naomi said. “Despite everything, she’s my sister.”
“It’s the rest of us I’m worried about,” I said. I slammed my beer down. “You still think Wren is going to come back and say sorry? That’s not going to happen.”
“So what’s the story?” Rebecca said. “Exactly how many of your exes want to kill you?”
“All of them,” Talbot quipped.
“Only Wren,” I clarified. “And she actually did kill me.”
“I need to go home,” Rebecca said. “Gotta feed my cat.”
“You don’t have a cat,” Naomi said. “What did you give her?” she asked Doc.
“A mild sedative,” he replied. “She shouldn’t be moved.”
“She’s out of it anyway,” Naomi said. “And it’s safer for her here.”
A soft snoring came from the couch.
My sister looked smaller, gentler when she slept. “Probably all the drugs Doc gave her,” I muttered. I grabbed a spare blanket from the closet and covered her up.
I’d wring Wren’s neck the next time I saw her.
“It’s time, Nyx,” Doc said reluctantly.
“Time for what?” Naomi asked curiously.
“Cooking lesson,” I said. “While Doc and I do that, why don’t you two go through the books on that shelf and see if you can find anything to kill a shitload of demons in one fell swoop.”
Doc was already in the kitchen.
I got out a beat-up old stockpot I’d found at Eternity Road. “Will this work?”
“I’d prefer to do this without witnesses,” he said in a low voice.
I shrugged. “Rebecca’s sound asleep and Talbot and Naomi are trying to find a spell.”
He frowned, but started to get out the ingredients.
“Hecate knows you’re alive,” I said. “Won’t she come after you?”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I said. “Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” We had to do something. I would deal with Wren, too, when the time came.
“You don’t have a choice,” Doc said. “Hecate needs to be contained either way.”
“What if the elixir doesn’t work?”
He looked grave. “You know Willow better than I do. Would she want to suffer, knowing Hecate is controlling her body? Knowing others are suffering?”
“No,” I said. “She’d want me to end it.”
“Then that is what you must do,” he replied. “One way or the other.”
I turned my attention back to the elixir. “How does it work?”
“The spell forms a giant magical spiderweb,” he explained. “Or a net. It’ll trap Hecate, but free Willow.”
“You’re sure it will do the job?” I asked.
“Yes. It takes a lot of magic to possess a mortal,” he explained. “Once Hecate enters the trap, it will drain her powers and Willow will be able to break free.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because it worked on me,” he said.
“Someone drained you of your powers?”
“It won’t happen again,” he said. I believed him. “We’re going to trap her.”
“How do you know she’ll show up?”
“Because her body will be the bait.”
“Hecate knows we might try to take her body,” I said. “She doesn’t seem to care. She won’t let go of Willow.”
“You just haven’t given her the right incentive.”
My father’s plan was to find Hecate’s physical body and steal it. She’d be so pissed that she’d either give up her hold on Willow’s body to get her own back or she’d come looking for us.
“And how do you expect me to find Hecate’s body?” I asked. “I’m sure she didn’t leave it lying around unprotected.”
“But you found a chimera guarding the underworld,” he pointed out. “My guess is the body is there.”
“Seems reasonable that she’d leave her body where she felt safe,” I acknowledged. “Or because she hasn’t figured out how to use the bead yet. But that’s the first place I looked.”
“If she could leave the underworld on her own, she would,” Doc said. “It’s there somewhere.”
“Anywhere else you can think of?” I asked. “The cave where Wren was born was empty, too.”
He shook his head. “She probably has some nasty booby trap waiting for anyone dumb enough to touch her body,” he warned.
“Or maybe she wants us to take the body out of the underworld,” I said. “Maybe it’s a trick.”
“It could be,” he admitted. “But it seems to be your only chance. Otherwise, she’ll just keep sending demons until one of them manages to take you out.”
“According to the Fates, Hecate already has everything she needs to end her banishment in the underworld.”
“The Fates have been wrong before,” he said.
“So now that you’ve met Rebecca, what do you think?”
“I always knew about Rebecca,” he said.
“That’s a comfort,” I said. In a strange way it was. He’d abandoned her, too. No wonder Deci had hated my father. I hated him, too, sometimes. When I wasn’t feeling sorry for him.
“Nyx, this must be difficult for you, finding out you had a sister,” he said. “I wanted to tell you, but…”
Difficult?
“Try disappointing, infuriating, amazing,” I said. “And you kept it from me.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied.
“Let’s just make the elixir and get this over with,” I snapped.
He gave me a long look. “Where’s the vodka?” he asked.
I grabbed the bottle off the antique tea cart that served as a makeshift bar.
Doc took it from me and then poured a healthy amount into two glasses. He handed me one and then tilted his in my direction. “Cheers.”
He poured the rest o
f the vodka into the stockpot he’d brought with him and then sprinkled the black asphodel in.
“That’s it?”
“Not exactly,” he said. “May I borrow your athame?”
I handed it to him and he made a tiny cut along the thumb of his left hand. He held it over the pot and blood dripped onto the flowers. He turned on the burner. “It has to cook on low for exactly one hour.”
The air turned noxious, but my father continued to stir the elixir, seemingly impervious to the smell.
“The second Hecate tries to take possession of her own form, the elixir will start to work,” he said. “Now all we need is the bait.”
“What’s the one thing that will bring Hecate to our doorstep?” Talbot asked.
That was my cue. Time to go snatch a body.
Chapter Sixteen
Talbot and I took the Hell’s Belles entrance to the underworld. Hidden in the basement storage room were an altar and an express entrance to the underworld. It was quicker, but was also more likely to be heavily guarded by demons.
“Did you and Naomi find a way to kill the demons en masse?” I asked as we cut through the kitchen to the basement altar that was the shortcut to the underworld.
“I may have found something,” he said. “But I’m not sure it’ll work.”
There was no sign of Hecate’s hounds. I didn’t even hear a bark. I assumed they were guarding their goddess’s body.
We crossed over, not far from Hecate’s castle. A purple haze masked a moon the color of blood. Twisted black trees lined the path. The wolfsbane, mandrake, belladonna, and dittany had flourished since my last visit and threatened to overrun the path.
It was easy to get lost on the path, but Naomi had left a few magical bread crumbs the last time we were here.
“There was a mention of demons unable to stand silver and salt,” Talbot said, “so Naomi made me something special for them. Silver, salt, and a nasty little spell. It should melt the skin off their bones.”
“I hope she’s right,” I said.
Hecate’s palace seemed to be empty, but I caught a glimpse of a skittering thing, black and thin as a shadow.
Another of the insectlike creatures joined its friend, and then another. The marble floor echoed with the sound of hundreds of the insects.
“Got any bug spray?” I whispered.
“What do you think they eat?” he whispered back.
“Let’s not find out.” I sent a fire bolt into the middle of the creatures. The flame spread until the smell of roasting insect filled the room. They let out high-pitched squeaks as they burned.
The sound brought a horde of demons running. Talbot lobbed the ball of silver and salt into the middle of the throng. It exploded. The demons shrieked as their skin bubbled.
We raced through the castle, checking each room for Hecate’s physical form. I found the locked door where I’d first encountered the chimera.
I tried every unlocking spell I knew, but the door wouldn’t budge. I sliced open my palm and held it over the knob. “Open,” I commanded.
The door creaked open and we stepped into the room.
Hecate’s body was in a white aspen bed carved with Tria Prima symbols. She was dressed in a simple white gown, but the bottom was festooned with more of the Tria Prima symbols. Her long dark hair fanned out on her pillow and her skin was as pale as her dress.
“She looks dead,” Talbot said.
“I wish.”
We stood there staring at the body of the goddess. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Maybe she’s booby-trapped,” Talbot said. He pointed upward. There was another of the skittering black insects hanging above the bed. The thing looked at us with its tiny red eyes.
I sent a bolt of flame toward it. It dodged the fire. Instead of running, it jumped, landing on my face. It felt like I was being stabbed by hundreds of tiny knives. Talbot managed to pull it off me. He threw it on the floor and stamped on it, but the insect still twitched. I threw my athame and skewered it.
“What are those things?” Talbot asked.
I shrugged. “An underworld bedbug?”
I checked, but didn’t spot any more of the insects.
I grabbed one of Hecate’s arms and her eyes opened. They were opaque and unseeing. I dropped her arm and took a step back.
“Think she knows we’re here?”
Talbot shrugged. “I think we should hurry. One or two demons might have escaped and rushed to tattle.”
I repressed a shudder and picked up Hecate at the knees. I slung her over my shoulder and we started the long hike back home.
We didn’t spot any demons, unless you counted Bernie, who was in the kitchen when we came topside, dragging Hecate’s body with us.
“Son of Fortuna,” Bernie said. “Please use the back door when you leave.” Which I took to mean there were demons waiting for us at the front entrance.
We took the rear exit when we hauled Hecate’s body out of the restaurant and into the back of the Eternity Road van. Doc was in the driver’s seat, and he started the vehicle when he saw us.
“I’ve literally become a body snatcher.” I grunted as we set our burden down. “Not my highest point, career-wise.”
Talbot laughed, but then sobered quickly. “She’s going to come after you with everything she has.” He closed the back doors and Doc floored it.
“Let her,” I said. “This is the only way Willow is going to be free. She wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for me.”
“You don’t know that,” he replied. “Hecate was looking for a way out of the underworld. You had nothing to do with putting her there.”
“She has a grudge against my entire family,” I said.
“You know you’re giving her what she wants,” Talbot said. “By taking her body out of the underworld, all Hecate has to do is climb back in and she’s truly free. She won’t need Willow anymore.”
“I have something planned,” I said.
“What are we going to do with the body?” Talbot asked. “We need it close so Hecate has another container.”
“We’re taking the body to Parsi. They have the perfect spot to stash someone.”
“Dungeon?” Talbot guessed.
“Zoo,” I told him.
My aunt Morta was there waiting for us. She’d even brought a body-size dolly with her. Talbot and I heaved Hecate’s prone form onto it and followed Morta. Doc trailed behind us and kept his distance from Morta. She didn’t even acknowledge him. Maybe she didn’t realize he was there. Doc had the ability to fade into the background when he wanted to.
“You are surprisingly resourceful, son of Fortuna,” Morta said.
“So you think it will work?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Stranger things have happened.”
It didn’t take long for us to relocate Hecate’s body to her new prison. It was decidedly less luxurious than her palace in the underworld. The rest of Morta’s “guests” went silent when we entered the corridor with the body of the goddess.
The plan was to free Willow and to trap Hecate, this time so she couldn’t possess anyone ever again. Hecate’s body was the bait.
“What now?” Talbot asked.
“We wait for Hecate to realize her body is missing.” It shouldn’t take long. We’d killed a dozen of her strongest demons.
Aunt Morta’s lackeys provided a couple of folding chairs. We sat in front of the warded room and waited.
Chapter Seventeen
I spent an uncomfortable night, dozing on a folding chair in the basement of Parsi Enterprises. I waited for Hecate to show, but she never made an appearance.
At around 9 a.m., Nona wandered down. “Why don’t you take a break?” she suggested.
I hesitated and she gave me an exasperated look. “You don’t think I can handle anyone who shows up?”
I’d unintentionally hurt her pride. Nona was still raw from Sawyer’s death. “Of course you can take care of things,” I said. “M
aybe I’ll check in on Rebecca.”
“She’s here,” Nona replied. “Why don’t you take her across the street for some tea? She looks terrible.”
I found Rebecca in Morta’s office, sitting in Morta’s chair.
“She hates it when you sit in her chair,” I said.
Rebecca grinned. “I know.”
Nona was right. Rebecca did look terrible.
“Shouldn’t you be resting?” The bruises had faded, but there were dark rings under her eyes. “It looks like someone used a Sharpie on your eyes.”
Rebecca put her feet up on Mona’s desk. “Nona send you up here to babysit me?”
“Probably,” I said. “I’ve been sleeping on a folding chair all night. Want to grab a cup of coffee?”
“Don’t tell me you want to bond?”
“I want to ask you something,” I said.
“Okay,” she said. She moved slowly, but I was amazed at how fast she’d already healed.
Across the street, I ordered two red-eyes for me and a hot tea for Rebecca.
Rebecca took a sip of her tea and then added a dollop of honey.“What did you want to ask me?”
“We’re going to trap Hecate,” I said. “But if it doesn’t work, if I can’t get her out of Willow’s body, I want you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Kill Willow.”
She gaped at me. “Fuck, Nyx,” she said. “You’ve threatened the life of anyone who looked at the naiad wrong. Why’d you change your mind?”
“I was in Asphodel,” I said. “A bunch of spirits milling around. It’s quiet. Serene. Better than sharing a body with Hecate.”
She met my eyes. “Why me? Why not one of the other Fates?”
“Naomi is too softhearted,” I said. “And I don’t know if Claire has what it takes to kill someone.”
“But I do?”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “I’ll do it. But only if there are no other options.”
On our way back to Parsi, I spotted one of Hecate’s demons watching us from the shadow of a building.
“Snooping for your boss?” I asked the demon.
He sneered at me. “You pissed her off.”
“I thought she was already pissed off.”
“She was only playing before,” he said. “She wanted me to let you know she’s getting rid of the naiad.”
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