My cousin wore clothes similar to mine and Talbot’s: jeans, sturdy hiking boots, and a heavy jacket. “It’s going to be cold down there,” she said.
“Down where?” Talbot couldn’t pull off the innocent look.
“I know you’re up to something,” my cousin said. “I saw the map.”
“And if we are?” My tone didn’t discourage her, although that was the intent.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
Talbot and I exchanged a look, but she caught us. “I’m going and that’s all there is to it. Do you think Claire will just leave with you two? She doesn’t know either of you.”
Naomi had a point. I had the impression that she and Claire were close. Maybe she could coax Claire out of there.
“What makes you think Claire is there willingly?” I asked.
“You don’t know her,” she said. “No one could stop her if she wanted to leave.”
“Why do you say that?” Talbot asked.
“She’s a Fate,” Naomi said simply.
She had a point. “Fates aren’t invincible, Naomi,” I said. I regretted it as soon as her face clouded.
“What Nyx means is that we should consider all the possibilities,” Talbot said. “Even the remote ones.”
We huddled together to study the map.
“I think this is an alternate path to the gate,” Talbot said. “This tunnel is right under Hell’s Belles.”
“An underground tunnel?” Naomi didn’t sound thrilled.
“Claustrophobic?”
“A little,” she admitted. “But I can handle it. For Claire.”
“Did you remember the key?” Talbot asked me.
I snorted. “Of course.” I held it up.
“Then let’s go,” he said.
After some searching, we finally found the entrance to the underground tunnel about a block from Hell’s Belles. Talbot strapped on a helmet with a light attached and Naomi giggled.
The entrance of the tunnel was full of beer cans, used condoms, and a horrifying smell, damp and foul, like an ogre’s armpit.
“Humans are disgusting,” Naomi sniffed.
“It’s going to get worse,” I warned her. “At least you’re dressed warmly.” The tunnels would be cold and damp. And that’s if we were lucky. Who knew what had made a home down below or what was guarding the gate.
“There’s a warren of utility tunnels all over the city,” Talbot said. He led the way as we stumbled over the uneven dirt. We were heading down and it grew darker and darker, except where a dim bulb flickered, meant to show workers the way.
We walked until Talbot’s light shone upon what to the average person would look like graffiti, but to those who read the ancient language it was written in, it was meant as a guide. Or as a warning.
“Not far now,” Talbot said.
The air smelled stale, full of pungent odors I didn’t want to try to identify. I tried to breathe through my mouth, but the air was so foul it coated my tongue. I shut my jaw, deciding that smelling the stench was better than tasting it.
Hecate was a pissed-off virgin or a wrinkled old crone, depending upon who you talked to. Which meant she was probably neither of those things.
I suspected she was a border lord, guarding the gates between this world and the underworld and destroying anyone who got in her way. Why did she have Claire? Besides the fact that she hated my aunts.
Brittle bone crunched under our feet and Naomi whimpered.
I turned on her. “This is why I told you not to come,” I whispered. “Go back home where it’s safe.”
She was trembling, but she shook her head. “I’m coming with you.”
Talbot put up a hand, signaling for silence. We listened for a moment. “Did you hear that?”
“I didn’t hear anything,” I said.
“Baying dogs,” he said.
“I expected something to be guarding the gate,” I said.
Talbot’s light shone into the darkness, revealing the shadow of three canine heads.
“Cerberus,” Naomi whispered.
Instead of Cerberus, Hades’s three-headed dog, there were three dogs with one enormous head apiece.
“I wish,” I said. “Much worse. Hecate’s hounds.” Her dogs were about five hundred yards away, but approaching fast. Talbot’s headgear wouldn’t be enough to see to fight the black dogs.
“Fiat lux,” I said. Translation: “Let there be light.” When in doubt, use the Latin.
The tunnel was lit by a bright white light. They weren’t ordinary dogs. They stood almost as tall as a grown man and had muscles on their muscles. Their eyes were pale yellow and their long white fangs looked like they’d been sharpening them on the bones scattered at our feet.
The dogs, used to the dimness of the tunnels, slowed down, confused.
“Don’t hurt them,” Naomi cried.
“Great,” I said. “I’ll just pet them while they tear me to bits.”
Talbot ignored us and worked on a little spell of his own. “Obey me! Heel! Sit!”
To my stunned amazement, the dogs did as he ordered and sat on their haunches. “How did you do that?”
The biggest hound snarled at the sound of my voice and Talbot held up a hand. “Stay!” he said.
He turned to me and grinned. “Command spell combined with a few things I learned from hours of watching The Dog Whisperer.”
We walked around the dogs, who quivered when I walked by, but didn’t move from their position.
The gate looked like an ordinary barricade. There was a heavy chain around a padlock that looked like something you’d pick up at the local hardware store.
I took out my athame and held it to my arm.
“Nyx, don’t,” Naomi said.
“You know the spirits demand blood,” I said. I made a swift cut across my arm. My blood dripped to the ground as I completed the ritual.
I put the key into the lock and we stepped into another world.
Chapter Thirteen
A rough dirt path cut through a forest of ancient trees, their trunks blackened and twisted. A heavy growth of mandrake, belladonna, and dittany told me we were in Hecate’s domain.
“Dark lands, under strange moons,” Talbot said.
It took me a minute to place his reference. “Will you quit fuckin’ quoting Tolkien and haul your ass?” I snapped.
Through the trees, I could make out the outlines of a building in the distance.
“Isn’t there a saying about the road to hell and good intentions?” Talbot joked.
“I have plenty of intentions,” I replied, “and none of them are good.”
“You’re bursting with good intentions, Nyx,” he replied. “You’re a good person, no matter what anyone else says.”
I shrugged off his comment, uncomfortable with praise, even the backhanded sort.
“Let’s head that way,” I said.
But no matter how long we walked toward it, we never got any closer. The undergrowth grew thicker and the air smelled of acid.
Naomi would stop intermittently and trace a symbol in the air with her finger.
“What are you doing?” Talbot finally asked her.
“Leaving breadcrumbs,” Naomi replied. “You two want to get out of here, right?”
“Smart,” I told her. “Otherwise, we might have ended up wandering around the underworld for an eternity.”
“It could still happen,” she replied, which didn’t reassure me.
“I need a five-minute break,” Talbot finally said. He was careful to check the ground before sitting on a rock, which was shaded by plants taller than our heads.
“I have a feeling someone doesn’t want visitors,” he said.
Something splashed on the ground near him. I looked up. The plants over our head were bucket-shaped and filled with a noxious liquid. I knew now why I’d detected the smell of acid.
“You should get up very slowly,” I told Talbot.
He grinned. “You?
??re a slave driver,” he said. His smile faded when he saw my face. “What is it?”
I pointed up. “Pitcher plants full of acid.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“Run!”
Talbot moved right before the pitcher plant dumped acid, but it set off a trigger in the other plants. A splash of acid hit the leg of my jeans and ate its way into my skin.
“Are you okay?” I asked them.
“I’m fine, but there’s got to be a key to get there,” Naomi said. “Nyx, what about some sort of location spell?”
“It’s worth a try,” I said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“I think it worked,” Talbot said. “We’re actually getting closer.”
Naomi tried not to look smug as we walked along.
Hecate’s forest made it clear she didn’t welcome visitors. The path narrowed again and then forked. The one we chose was laced with enormous, sticky spiderwebs and a treacherous bog before we eventually came to an imposing structure built from shiny stone and the same black and twisted trees we’d seen earlier. It was at least seven stories high and looked like it could withstand Armageddon.
“Black as Hecate’s heart,” I said.
Heavy wooden doors opened into a room with gleaming white marble floors and dainty white furniture. The hall was illuminated by torchlight.
It looked as if we had interrupted a party. Four demons sat at a table playing chess, using the skulls of small birds as the pieces. A female demon with long flowing black hair played the harp while others stood conversing.
A woman sat at a throne carved of yew, flanked by two large male demons who took turns feeding her grapes from a golden bowl. Three more hounds, these the color of alabaster, sat at her feet.
“Pretty nice digs for a banished goddess,” I said.
“You flatter me,” the woman said. She stood, but didn’t approach us. I didn’t waste time with formalities. I was certain she knew who I was. Her next words confirmed it. “Why is a son of Fate in the underworld?”
“I’m Fortuna’s son,” I corrected. My mother had been the fourth Fate, but she wasn’t anything like her sisters.
She nodded. “Which is why I allowed you to come this far,” she said. “But my curiosity does not ensure your safe passage.”
Hecate was beautiful. She was tall and curvy, with a bit of a younger-Sophia-Loren thing going on. She had a Roman nose and a death stare. A fine Roman nose was a thing of beauty, but mortals with their knives and their doctors had almost obliterated the trait in the modern world.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Why have you wandered into my domain, son of Fortuna?” Hecate asked. Her inhuman eyes glinted.
“You know why.”
She made a dismissive motion and then her laser gaze focused on Naomi. “You’ve brought me a present.”
Talbot and I both stepped in front of Naomi and our shoulders collided painfully.
Hecate snickered like a schoolgirl.
“Keep her out of it,” I said. “We’re here for Claire.”
“Claire is here of her own volition,” Hecate replied.
I snorted. “I don’t believe you.”
She gave me a stare that would have frightened a smarter man. “I don’t care what you believe. Claire is free to leave whenever she chooses.”
“I want to see her,” I said.
Hecate’s head whipped around and her dogs snarled, but I didn’t back down. “You come here and make demands of me?”
“Please?” Naomi asked. “We just want to see her and make sure she’s okay.”
That wasn’t what we wanted, but it would do for a start.
“One of you,” Hecate finally agreed.
“I’m going,” I stated.
“Not you,” she replied. “The girl.”
“No.”
Naomi clutched my arm. “Nyx, Claire doesn’t know you anyway. Let me go.”
She had no idea what could happen to her. I stood my ground. “I said no, Naomi. We all go or none of us do.”
“I can take care of myself,” she hissed back.
“What guarantee do I have that you won’t try to keep us here?” I asked Hecate. She was stuck in the underworld, but I didn’t fool myself that meant she was powerless.
She grinned at me, which was more chilling than her worst glare. “I do like my pets.”
“I see you have a matched set,” I said. I gestured to her two blond boy toys, who looked like brothers and, judging by their enormous size, came from a long line of mutants. They also generally matched the description of the guy Claire had been seen with—tall, blond, and good-looking, but Starling had neglected to mention the demon part. She was a mortal, though. Maybe she hadn’t known.
“Hroth, where are your manners?” Hecate said. “You haven’t offered our guests any wine.”
He brought us the wine in crystal goblets. He handed the first glass to Naomi. Before I could warn her, she brought it to her lips and drank.
Talbot took it from her before she could take more than a sip. I gave her a worried glance, but she didn’t seem to be suffering from any ill effects. Talbot and I both declined the beverage anyway.
I said, “I prefer beer.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Talbot muttered.
One of the tall blond demons had no sense of personal space, at least not when it came to Naomi. I didn’t like the way pretty boy was looking at my cousin. Then he bumped up against her and grinned lasciviously.
I shoved him hard. “If you even glance at her again, I’ll carve out those blue eyes of yours.”
His smile promised me pain. His fist bunched, but Hecate’s stopped him midstrike. “Hroth, please remember these are our guests.”
She wanted something from me or she wouldn’t be telling Hroth to play nice, but what? I’d never met her before, but she was acting more like a Southern belle than an avenging goddess. I wasn’t fooled.
“Speaking of pets,” she said, “how are my little harpies?”
I had a feeling she already knew the answer, but I said it anyway, just to piss her off. “Not so great, last time I saw them.”
I wanted to go down swinging if I was going to go down. Hecate didn’t bite, though. Apparently, she wasn’t ready to pick a fight.
“You ask a favor of me, son of Fortuna, and I expect one in return,” she said. “I miss my harpies.”
The harpies were half-woman, half-bird, and all kinds of trouble. My aunts had used them to torture me and kill those I loved, back before I realized it wasn’t safe to get close to anyone. I’d killed Swift Wing, but I hadn’t seen Shadow or Fleet Foot lately.
“You want me to steal from my aunts?”
“Aren’t you already? Stealing a life that should have ended long ago?”
“Can we see her or not?”
“Hroth, show our guests to Lady Claire,” she said.
“Not him,” I insisted. “Bernie can do it.”
Bernie had been trying to hide in the background, behind a demon who looked and smelled like a trash truck, but I’d spotted her right away.
Hecate raised an eyebrow. “Bernie? Oh, you must be speaking of Bernadette. I’m afraid she has other duties.” There was undisguised contempt in her tone.
Bernie flinched at the name.
Hecate snapped her finger at Hroth’s twin. “Gar, show the little Fate the way.”
“Show us all the way,” I corrected.
“One or none,” Hecate pronounced.
“It seems like we have no other choice,” I reluctantly agreed. Naomi was pretending that she wasn’t scared, but when she thought no one was looking, terror washed over her face.
Talbot leaned over and whispered something in her ear and she giggled and kissed him lingeringly. I shot him a grateful look. A scared Fate was a dangerous one, and Naomi was inexperienced. I didn’t want her to do something stupid and get us all killed. Besides, stupidity was my specialty.
Hroth snorte
d in annoyance, which made me smile.
I pulled Naomi aside. “Be careful,” I said. “And make it quick.” I wasn’t sure how long Hecate’s good mood would last.
Turns out, not long. It wasn’t really my fault. My nerves were shot. I felt claustrophobic underground and the smells weren’t helping my mood.
Naomi had barely left the room when Hroth decided to start a pissing contest. He sidled up next to me and, careful to make sure that Hecate was out of earshot, started whispering all the nasty things he would do to my little cousin. His brother grinned evilly.
I ignored him, but unfortunately, Talbot did not. He hit Hroth hard on the jaw, but the demon only grinned before he jumped Talbot and had him flat on the ground. Hroth was on top of Talbot’s chest. Hroth’s fangs came out, which did nothing for his looks, but also told me Talbot was in danger of losing a body part. I had to pull Hroth off him before the demon chewed off an ear.
The demon snapped and snarled, straining still to reach Talbot. The muscles in my arm pulled tight as I struggled to restrain Hroth.
The rest of the demon party didn’t even look up, but then Hecate said something in a language I didn’t understand and Hroth subsided.
I helped Talbot to his feet. “Don’t ever try that again,” I scolded him in a low voice. “That demon could tear off your head and not even break a sweat.”
“And I will,” Hroth murmured.
“Big words when your boss is out of earshot,” I said.
Hecate’s gaze returned to us, but before she could say anything, Gar and Naomi returned.
Naomi’s long red braid was askew and her eyes held the look of someone who’d seen something that would haunt her for a long time.
“Did you see her?” I asked.
“I want to stay,” she said.
“What happened?” Talbot asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” she replied. “I want to stay. Please let me stay!”
Talbot and I exchanged a glance. Something in the wine, I mouthed. He nodded to let me know he understood.
“Thank you for letting Claire see her,” I said to Hecate. “We’ll be back.”
She smiled. “You will be most welcome,” she said. “If you bring me one little present.”
“Which would be?”
“My harpies.”