Mennie scowled. “Ambrose?”
“Yeah. Future me. Apparently, centuries from now, after I get pimp-slapped with a Dark-Hunter bow on my face – really wish Artemis had chosen a better location on my body to mark me with that – and I’m on the brink of morphing into the full soulless Malachai who’s bent on binge-punishing humanity, I eat a demon that has time-traveling abilities. Sad to say, they don’t last long, and I just used the last of it to come here and tell me to get the Eye, and use it to reset whatever it is we screwed up.” He glanced to Kody. “So what is this thing and where is it?”
Giddy with excitement, Simi raised her hand. “Ooo, ooo, ooo, the Simi finally knows an answer! It in that scary, scary room, in that scary temple in the lowest level of Hades’s domain. Least it used to be and I doubts anybody’s moved it ’cause that ugly, snarly dogs thing with all them heads gets really nasty whenever someone goes down there. And them dragons and snake-headed people not real happy ’bout it neither.”
Kody nodded. “Uh, yeah, that would be correct. Cerberus and the gorgons can be a little territorial whenever someone ventures into Tartarus to disturb it.”
It was her turn to be gaped at.
“What?” She blinked innocently. “I played hide-and-seek there as a kid. Uncle Hades holds great Halloween parties. But… I can’t exactly go waltzing in there right now as no one knows who I am, since I won’t be born for another few hundred years.”
Menyara sighed. “I’m definitely not welcomed there. During my tenure as the Egyptian goddess Ma’at, my pantheon was at war with the Olympians. They would know the instant I stepped foot in their realm, and attack me full-on.”
Xev crossed his arms over his chest. “The one thing my childhood taught me was how to hide my powers and pass through realms where I wasn’t wanted. It was how I was able to visit my wife undetected beneath the noses of the Sephirii, who were well trained to hunt and kill my kind.”
He locked gazes with Kody. “While I know what it is, I don’t know what it looks like. If someone can tell me what I’m looking for and where it’s located, I can retrieve it.”
Menyara scoffed at his offer. “It’s not that simple. Only a god of fate can touch it without being destroyed by it.”
Kody chewed her lip. “I share your bloodline through my mother. Can I touch it?”
“Given your father’s blood, I don’t know. Especially since he once shared a womb with Acheron. You’re also no longer in your true body… I have no idea what would happen to you should you touch it. It’s not worth the chance of finding out.”
Nick let out a nervous laugh. “Personally, I vote Girlfriend stays here with Simi to watch over my mother in the event whatever nabbed her before comes back for Round Two.”
Xev shook his head. “Either Girlfriend or Charonte will be needed to lead us both in to retrieve it, since I know nothing of Hades.” He arched a brow at Menyara. “What is this Hades, anyway?”
“The Olympians were children of the Titans, who became Greek gods after you were cursed and banished.”
Kody passed an irritated smirk to Nick. “Why can’t Simi and I both go?”
Nick gestured at the non-working lights. “Hello? Unnatural storm? We have Yrre on the loose. Memitims at the windows. Zeitj?gers in the corners. Now Tiamat. A spewing Caleb. Unconscious Mom. Zavid’s AWOL, and I don’t know what to think about Livia. Anyone else want to add anything to my growing super-sized ulcer?”
A sudden knock on the door made Nick jump with an undignifying sound he really wished Kody hadn’t heard. For that matter, he hated that anyone had witnessed it. Disgusted with himself, he glared up at the ceiling. “Hello, up there? That was not meant as a personal challenge.”
Cringing, he went to open the door, forgetting about the peephole. A mistake he realized too late when he opened the door and learned that yeah, evil did, in fact, knock politely.
And a whole lot of it stood in his hallway, engulfed by flames, glaring straight at him.
CHAPTER 9
“H
oly mother of God!” Nick staggered back and furiously crossed himself as he faced who knew what that thing was in his hallway.
It wasn’t so much that the male entity had a couple of inches on him in height – which was impressive, as few beings topped his six-foot-four stance – as it was the muscled girth of him. And the aura of absolute malevolent blood-thirst that said he was here to make Nick-McNuggets.
Long, jet-black hair was pulled back into a ponytail from sharp, perfectly chiseled features that belonged to some ancient Asian warlord who should be leading a conquering army of some kind. Bloodred eyes glared at Nick from beneath an irate glower that would make Kyrian proud.