Chapter 17

Cole

Central Business District, New Orleans, Louisiana

C ole checked his watch again, barely suppressing his frustrated scowl when he saw that less than thirty seconds had passed since his last check. He had made it through court, only just stopping himself from turning the judge into a pile of ash, before being guilted back into the office by his best friend and business partner, Hayden Sopor. Upon his arrival, he realized it was actually a business ambush only after Hayden corralled him into a conference room with the firm’s accounting team to review the quarter’s financials, a topic that he couldn’t give less of a shit about on a good day, much less a day when he had somewhere else to be. Apparently—or so his CFO told him—the meeting was on his calendar. Who the fuck cares? He would happily torch his calendar, the computer housing it, and, if he was being honest, the whole damn building down around their heads if it meant he could get back to Evie now.

From his seat across the conference room table, Hayden cleared his throat. “Hey, man.”

Cole glanced up at him then frowned in confusion. Not five minutes before, eight accountants were fanned around the table, all fidgeting uncomfortably as he reviewed their work. Now, however, it was just him and Hayden separated by six hefty binders and a mostly empty carafe of coffee. “The fuck did everybody go? You dragged me back here just for this. I’m here. Where’s everyone else?”

“Well,” Hayden drawled, tapping a finger carelessly on the bound stack of papers in front of him. “Around your twentieth watch check and your ninth muttered ‘this is a fucking waste of time,’ I figured it might be best to excuse the accountants before either you fired them or they collectively quit. We need the money guys, buddy; they tell us whether we can afford to do anything around here, including keeping the lights on and paying our staff. They’re all already scared of you. Seems like a good idea we don’t make it worse.” He closed the binder in front of him before fixing Cole with a pointed stare. “Now, I’m used to how much of an asshole you are, but this is extreme even for you. What’s going on, man?”

At Cole’s head shake, Hayden sighed. “You’re going to play it like that? Really? The court clerk called over and mentioned that you called the judge a pompous ass. And not in your head or to me like you usually do but to his face . As if that weren’t bad enough, Nyx, y’know, the highly qualified law clerk we spent months finding and weeks vetting, called me this morning in tears wanting to quit because you’re a, and this is a quote, mind you, ‘sanctimonious jackass who has the personality of cocaine bear and needs to learn how to not be a dick.’ You set one of our computers on fire in front of your executive assistant, and we’ll talk about you using magic in front of the humans later. Not to mention you look like you got dressed in the dark—I’m pretty sure you’re wearing two different shoes.”

Cole looked down and groaned internally; he was definitely wearing two different shoes, one of which was light brown, the other black.

“So I’m going to ask you again. What the fuck is going on with you today?”

Sighing, Cole met his friend’s glacial blue eyes. With his sins of the last several hours laid bare, he really couldn’t argue with any of it. Time to come at least a little clean. Of the many people in Cole’s life, only a few knew of his prophesied role as Hades reincarnate and future god of the underworld. Hayden, better known as Hypnos, the immortal god of sleep and dreams, had stayed close to the Aidoneus family since the original Hades’ untimely death. Unlike Hades, Hypnos had attained his immortality during the initial devastation and, at the Moirai’s urging, remained with Aidoneus and Kore’s child to ensure that, when his’ memories and powers returned to a then-future descendant, the male had a knowledgeable guide. Of his friends and relatives, none would better understand the implications of Cole finding his fated wife then Hayden, who had been with Aidoneus when he first found his Kore all those generations before. Cole drew in a breath. Released it before tilting his head against the chair back. “I found her.”

Hayden looked blank for a second before his expression lit with recognition. “Her? You mean… her her? You found the reincarnate?” Cole nodded, and Hayden practically beamed.

“Evie,” Cole corrected absently. “Her name is Evie now.”

“When did you find her?” Hayden rose to lock the door. “Where was she? Who is she?”

“I’m almost positive that she’s Evangeline Dyeus.”

“Dyeus,” Hayden repeated, blinking at him. “Dyeus as in the Dyeus case from the ’90’s?”

Cole inclined his head. “The very same.”

“Luanne was the wife. Wasn’t Evangeline the—”

“The daughter?” Cole interrupted him. “Yeah, Evangeline was the daughter who got dumped in the preserve and nobody ever saw again.”

Hayden’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. “Everyone was positive she was a critter's dinner. You sure it’s the Dyeus girl, man?”

“Pretty damn.” Cole shoved his hand through his hair, his foot tapping a quick beat on the conference room floor. "Charlie brought me a file on her yesterday and said that the Moirai thought it was the Dyeus girl but couldn’t read her lifelines. I told him I would check the preserve and see if there was any sign that anybody, including the daughter, was there. When I got there this morning, there was a woman there.” His heart almost stopped in his chest as he remembered the vision she had made in that barely there white dress. “This fucking goddess just standing in a construction site in the middle of the night.”

“Why was she at a construction site that late?” Hayden chuckled. “What, is she a serial killer?”

Cole stayed quiet.

“Is she a serial killer?” Hayden asked, his voice no longer teasing. “Not that that’s a dealbreaker or anything, but it’s probably something you should know before you tie your lives together.”

“No, she’s not a serial killer, you jackass,” Cole snapped.

“Then what’s the problem?” Hayden demanded. “What, is she ugly? Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to have consorts—”

A low snarl poured out of Cole’s mouth at even the hint that he would cheat on the auburn-haired beauty hopefully in his bed right now. When his words emerged, they were guttural and threatening. “I would never screw around with someone else. She’s fucking perfect.”

Hayden’s eyebrows rose. “So she’s got you turned upside down then, huh?” Cole dipped his head, and Hayden paused before asking, “Then what’s the problem, man, if you find her attractive and you don’t want anybody else?”

No escaping the Spanish inquisition . “Well, she’s a witch.”

Hayden flinched like he had been slapped. “I’m sorry. I must have misheard you. Did you just say that the reincarnation of Persephone—queen of the underworld, wife of Hades, and goddess of spring—is a witch?”

“Yup.” Cole popped the ‘p’ on his response. “You heard it here first, folks.”

“Fuck, man.” Hayden’s playful smile slipped, and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “You know the witches have their own prophecy that I'm pretty sure doesn’t play well with the Moirai’s.”

Cole snorted. “Yeah, I know, I just can’t remember the differences between the two. I was going to look them up, but Evie and I… well, we got distracted before I could find the old texts. I figured I would talk to Charlie, see if he could tell me.”

“Oh, I bet you got distracted.” A lecherous smirk slid across Hayden’s face, and Cole chucked the water bottle sitting by his elbow at his best friend, who ducked. The mostly full bottle struck the door and fell to the floor, rolling under the table. “The good news for you is that I was around when the Pythia originally issued the witches’ prophecy at Delphi. The bad news is that, if I remember correctly, it isn’t great for you and your girl. The witches might be the harbingers of the apocalypse when the old gods return. Although the whole thing was in verse and about as clear as oracle predictions usually got. Which means it wasn’t clear, y’know, at all. But a lot of the witches I’ve met over the years believe that they’re supposed to roll out the red carpet for the end of humanity. So your girl may not want to stop the apocalypse caused by an unsettled Underworld and a shade-devastated earth. And if she’s actually the reincarnate, she’ll be in a crazy unique position to bring about the downfall of humanity.” He paused, sighing. “Are you sure it’s her?”

Cole’s mind raced. Was he sure it was her? Given that he had dreamed about her all his life, felt like his skin was electrified when he was around her, and was prepared to murder anybody and everybody in this building just to get back to her? Yeah. Pretty damn sure. “Without a fucking doubt. And I need to get back to her. Like, now. Are we done?” He pushed his chair back from the table, starting to stand, but Hayden stopped him.

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘get back to her now?’” His best friend asked, squinting at him suspiciously. “You’re going back to the preserve?” For a split second, Cole froze, but he recovered quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough for Hayden to overlook the misstep. “Where is your Evie?”

Cole cleared his throat, his fingers drumming against his thigh as he tried to figure out a way around admitting what had actually happened. “Uh. She’s at the, um, she’s at the house.” He was stammering badly enough that he sounded like a bad Jeff Goldblum impersonator. Jesus, he didn’t even convince himself that everything was above board with that stumbling response.

“Your house?” At Cole’s nod, Hayden stood, walking to block the only door out of the room. “Cole, man, what did you do?”

Cole scowled as he realized there was no way out of the conference room without going through Hayden. “I brought her home with me,” he responded coolly. There. No way Hayden could find fault with that perfectly chill response.

“And she came home with you, a man she didn’t know, willingly?” Hayden huffed out a disbelieving grunt as he stared at Cole, whose only reaction to the question was to narrow his eyes at the other man. “Holy shit, you kidnapped her, didn’t you? You found your girl at a construction site, she wouldn’t come with you, and you kidnapped her, didn’t you?” He was chewing on his lips, the corners of his mouth tilting up, right before laughter burst from him, his body shaking at its intensity. “Holy shit, you pulled an Aidoneus!” Cole glared at his best friend, now fully bent at the waist, slapping his knee like this was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “That’s fucking hysterical, man. I never would have thought the legendary bachelor of New Orleans had it in him.”

Cole glowered. “Fuck off, man.” Hayden was laughing so hard he was officially wheezing. “It was about her safety.”

“No, it wasn’t, man.” Hayden’s laughter was slowing, but a big shit-eating grin still sat on his face. “You wanted your girl, so you took her. Bold move. Pretty classic Aidoneus move if we’re being honest. I didn’t think you had it in you.” He stepped aside, gesturing at the door. “I’m assuming she hated that, didn’t she?”

Cole rolled his eyes, making sure the expression was overexaggerated enough that Hayden maybe wouldn’t second guess that he hadn’t answered the question as he strolled towards the other man.

Hayden’s gaze was knowing as Cole passed by him. “You have her locked in your house, don’t you?”

“I won’t dignify that with a response.” Cole unlocked the door and walked out of the room, but Hayden’s raised voice followed him down the hall as he walked to the elevators.

“Don’t do anything you can’t fix, man!” Hayden called. “You’ll never forgive yourself if you do.”

Shaking his head, Cole jabbed at the down button for the elevator, tapping his foot impatiently and checking his watch. Assuming traffic was fine, which was a huge assumption, really, he could get home in about fifteen minutes. He had just stepped into the elevator, pushing the button for the garage when an alarming realization hit him. Pretty much the only food he had in his house was coffee and bourbon. Possibly some very stale cereal. He winced. They would definitely need to pick up groceries; he was horrible about eating regularly, and he certainly didn’t want to accidentally starve both of them. But that could definitely wait until after he got home tonight—being away from Evie this long had already been hard enough. He wouldn’t stay away longer to go to the store when he could easily pick up dinner on the way home and have groceries delivered in the morning.

With a smile on his face, he walked off the elevator, crossing the garage to where he had angrily parked his car only—he checked his watch—fuck, six hours ago. He slid in to the driver's seat, slamming the car door a bit harder than necessary in his irritation, but the minute he was ensconced in the small space, the residual scent of Evie found its way into his lungs. His irritation vanished as quickly as it arrived, and it was with excitement flooding his veins that he started the car and drove off towards Evie. As he drove home, his mind wandered back to the first time he dreamed of the little redheaded girl with the stormy eyes . . .

He sat among trees that were as wide around as his little twelve-year-old body. The light filtered in through the leaves and branches above him, the dust in the air sparkling in the sunbeams that made their way to the ground. It was quiet but peaceful, soothing in a way that the pervasive silence of the palatial house he shared with his uncle wasn’t.

He was alone, not that that was too different from his normal life. He was good at being alone after both of his parents died. At least in the forest nobody was around to pity him for being a little orphan boy.

At least he thought nobody was there until he heard tuneless singing coming from just beyond the trees in front of him.

“Hello?” he called out. “Is somebody there?”

The singing stopped suddenly.

“Who are you?” His voice trembled with nerves. “I know karate.”

“Do you really?” A pale face with a button nose and massive grey eyes popped out from behind the massive felled log lying beside him.

He shrieked and tumbled backward, crawling away from the stranger.

“No, no, no, it’s okay!” The owner of the face stood up, and he stopped moving. It was only a girl, maybe about his age, her delicate skin and stormy grey eyes surrounded by curly red hair. She squirmed over the top of the log towards him, her gaze never leaving his. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I wasn’t scared,” he denied, even though his heart was still racing. Although that may also be because she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Cindie, the girl he had a crush on at school, had nothing on this girl.

The girl sent him a teasing grin. “You were,” she corrected. “But it’s fine. Everyone gets scared. I won’t tell if you don’t.”

Although he felt like he should argue the point, he was too curious about her to care she thought he was scared or not. “Where did you come from?” he demanded.

She giggled. “I live here. This is my home.” Her hands waved around her, gesturing around them.

“You can’t live in the forest,” he argued. “You’re just a kid!”

“So are you,” she snapped, her eyes flashing at him. “And I live here with my sisters.”

“Don’t lie to me. I know that kids have to live with an adult.” He couldn’t look away from her, this cute girl whose nose was scrunched, her hands balled at her sides. “What are you really doing here?”

Her eyes flashed molten gold, a sparkling gold hue forming around her hands. The trees behind her seemed to lean towards her, the limbs drawing closer to surround her. “I already told you. I live here. And if you’re going to be rude, then I’m leaving.” A scowl on her pretty face, she twisted around, stomping away from him.

She was almost twenty feet away from him when he called out, “No! You don’t have to go. Please. Please don’t leave. I’ll be nicer.”

She paused but didn’t come back.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude,” he said. He wanted her to stay. She was weird and probably a little bit crazy, but that was okay. He was too. They could be weird together. “Please stay. I want you to stay.”

She turned with a brilliant smile on her face that sent his heart stumbling in his chest. He would do anything to keep her smiling at him like that…

That had been the first of many dreams about the girl he now knew to be Evie. With each night, he learned more about her, became a little bit more obsessed with her. By the time they aged into their late teens, she was a knockout, all mouthwatering curves and luminescent skin that made him want to lick her from head to toe and back again.

Cole pulled into the parking lot of Lagniappe , a small dive bar that made some of the best burgers in the area, and went in, ordering enough to feed a small army, including a vegetarian meal just in case Evie didn’t eat meat. Dauphine—the old Cajun owner who had known him since he was born—came out fifteen minutes later, her arms laden with two bulging paper bags filled with food.

“ Chèr !” she cried, dropping the bags on the bar before darting around it, her wrinkled face crinkled in happiness as she threw her arms around his neck in a bruising hug. “It’s been too long since you came to see me.”

“Sorry, Dauphine,” he responded, returning her embrace. His mother had loved Dauphine and her cooking, so much so that she made a point to bring the entire family for dinner at Lagniappe at least once a week. He had tried to keep up the tradition, but, as his work days grew longer and traveling became a more regular part of his professional life, the time between each visit grew longer. “I’ve been meaning to swing by.”

“I know, baby, you’re a very important man.” She drew away, pinching his cheek. “And yet you still manage to make time for little ol’ me.”

“I could never forget you, Dauphine.” He smiled widely at her. “You’re etched in my memory, belle .”

“Oh, you charmer you,” she chuckled, walking back towards the bar and the grease-stained bags containing dinner. “That’s a lot of food for just you… ” Her voice trailed off, and she raised and lowered her eyebrows suggestively.

Cole shook his head at the old woman’s digging. “You got a question, ask it, Dauphine.”

“Well, I don’t want to pry.”

“I believe that about as much as I believe that ‘A’ inspection score on your window," he retorted, eyeballing a dead cockroach on the bar. "What, did you bribe the inspector?”

“Still a cheeky little thing, aren’t you?” Dauphine responded, pinching his cheek again before swiping the bug off the bar top casually. “Fine. Does our little Cole have a special friend that he’s taking dinner to?”

“A gentleman doesn’t dine and tell,” he taunted.

“Oh, baby, I see the gossip pages. You’re no gentleman.” Her voice was gentle but chiding.

Ouch . He knew he had a well-earned reputation around town—and everywhere else if he was being honest—but he hadn't thought it was so bad that even Dauphine knew about it. Under her scrutiny, though, he found himself telling the truth. Maybe the truth would make him seem a little less tarnished—not so much a man-whore—in his mother’s friend’s eyes. “ Ouais ,” he responded, confirming the existence of his special friend in French. “I’ve known her for a while, but we finally connected. She’s, uh—” He rubbed his palm along the back of his neck. How the hell do people talk about their feelings? This is excruciating. “She’s someone really special to me.”

“Oh!” Dauphine bounced a bit on her toes. “Oh, that’s wonderful. All your parents ever wanted was for you to be happy. She must be a very special lady to be worthy of you.” Seizing his arms, Dauphine dragged him back into a smothering embrace before releasing him and pressing a finger into his chest.. “You’ll bring her here to meet me.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” He knew how the old lady operated. “It’s either bring her here or you show up at my house. I know how this works.” His hands closed around the bags of food. “Now I need to get home to her. I got held up at work so I’m already running late.”

“I’m honored that you took the time to chat up little old me when you have someone waiting on you, but you best get out of here, chèr , before you make your petite amie angry.” She wrapped a strong hand around his arm before he left. “I hope she's the right woman for you.”

Cole dipped his head, kissing her on the cheek. “She is.” With a passing wave at the bartender—a long-haired stoner he had gone to high school with—he strode out the door, food in hand.