Chapter Twenty-One

“Tomorrow is Halloween,” Emily said the words in a flat voice. It was the wee hours of the morning. They would have all day, all night, and all of the next day, until midnight flipped the switch and ushered in their deadline on November 1st. “We should work around the clock.” Emily applied siren red lipstick to her puffy bottom lip. Swollen from kissing. Swollen from a fang slicing through it.

“I’m game if you are. A toast. To adrenaline and the ability to stay awake for forty-eight hours if we have to.” Simeon entered the bedroom, now dressed in a crisp black shirt with open collar and cuffs, red satin threads weaving through the interior of the shirt to catch the light where his white skin was revealed. His dark, wavy hair was perfectly mussed to give the look of ease and riches.

And I? I look like his perfect plaything. A lady in red tonight. Bare back. Low neckline, high hemline, full red lips, and black cat eyes. “A toast to blending in and playing all the parts.” She took the glass of complimentary champagne the swanky high-rise hotel left in their room.

Simeon swirled his glass, pointing to the silvery bubbles with a ruby tint that seemed to fight the smaller golden bubbles as they danced their way to the surface. “Lethe’s Nectar. Drink up, Em. We should have taken it earlier, but...”

“Distraction.” She smiled and sipped, recalling said distraction, a moment of pure, raw passion like she had never felt. “I’ve got more left. Do another toast.”

“A toast to happily ever afters. Here’s hoping the good guys get theirs.” Simeon drank, draining his glass and making a face. “They weren’t kidding. Burns like hell.”

She didn’t seem to notice any pain. Maybe mortals experience it differently, she thought, or maybe he’d taken enough to feel the burn. Zag said an immortal would need more.

And that toast? The good guys get their happy endings? Would people consider Hades and a vampire good? What about her? A robotic machine for most of her life. She had killed in the name of good. Was that the same thing? “Let’s go out.” Out was easier than in, where her thoughts could get her more easily. “There’s a little time before dawn.” And time is moving so fast. Would Hades give us an extension when we’re this close?

Probably not. To him, a thousand years of mortal time is enough of an extension.

“We’re as ready as we can be. Protected, charmed, embalmed with liquor and lush clothes. Let’s hit the strip for a few hours and hope to God we can find a productive place to hole up once daylight hits.”

“The Lotus Room, here we come.”

“You know... the word ‘room’ is very deceptive in this case,” Simeon tried to act blasé. London was no slouch when it came to glittering lights and big buildings—but Las Vegas seemed to want to drown itself in neon and glitz. The Lotus Room was no exception, nor was it one square little bundle of bricks like he’d been expecting. The building was five stories high and stretched back between its more sprawling, heftier neighbors. A pink and white flower that appeared to open and close thanks to the strategic use of alternating flashing lights adorned the front of the building, sitting like a crown above the grand, glassy entrance.

“I’m lightheaded just from watching that damn flower flicker.” Emily ducked her head into his shoulder.

“I think that’s step one. Look.” Simeon nudged his elbow into her ribs to direct her gaze. A few yards away, a couple was staring at the flashing lotus, their faces becoming increasingly slack.

“Watch it,” Emily hissed and suddenly pulled him into a kiss.

The old kissing as a cover ploy, Simeon thought, keeping his eyes open just a fraction as he forced his attention from the amazing sensation of Emily’s hands on his collar, digging into his neck, teasing the sensitive spot where Lilith had made him long ago.

Up and down the strip, people laughed, shouted, and swayed, coming in and out of their respective venues. The couple beside them remained rooted, staring with their mouths slightly open, until a beautifully dressed woman emerged from the interior of The Lotus Club and welcomed them, leading them inside.

“Ow!” Emily broke off their kiss with a wince.

“Sorry, love. Your lip?”

“My vial.” Emily patted her hip where her evening bag dangled. “Suddenly felt really hot.” Her eyebrows rose, a silent hint.

“Mm. Come here, gorgeous.” Simeon said loudly, kissing her again, pawing her like an impatient, drunken lover, and pushing her into the shadows of the adjoining Caesar’s Magic Parlor. Once hidden, Emily’s hand slid into the shimmering red evening bag that hung from a narrow gold chain.

Simeon instantly threw his jacket open to cloak the blinding light coming from one vial.

“It’s not Seph’s. Here, you’d better hold hers again in case something happens. Not good to have all the eggs in one basket.” Emily brushed the vial with a golden glow emanating from it and immediately winced. “It’s dimming and cooling off, but that thing could have set my purse on fire!”

“Then we must be bloody close to her.” Simeon looked up at the building. Lights were on in various windows of The Lotus Room but off in others. “What did the website say?”

“No website, no reviews, just a generic sort of description on a city tourism site. Something like ‘discreet and upscale dining, entertainment, and accommodations.’ Established in 1959, I think?”

“The heyday of the city. All the gangsters, the Rat Pack, the glitz and glamor...” Simeon nodded. “Wasn’t in the States then, but even in London, they talked about it.”

“I wonder if this ‘temple’ just sort of popped up, or did her priestesses and their followers build it?”

“Maybe we can ask someone when this is all over.” He didn’t dare say the names of Hades or his children this close to their target, just in case.

Emily hissed, closing her bag as the light began to pulse, soft and steady. “That’s what happens once we’ve seen it, right?”

“Think so. The alert, then the pulse. As long as it doesn’t go dark, we’re good.” He looked up at the building, hands in his pockets, head tipped to neon blotting out the sky. “Shall we check in and see what happens next?”

“Welcome, weary travelers. Come to dine?”

Emily didn’t bother trying to hide her frown as a buxom blonde in a skimpy Grecian dress and golden sandals pawed at Simeon’s arm and led him inside.

Apparently, I’m an afterthought.

Hm. That might work.

“Wining and dining. Maybe a little flutter?” Simeon leaned affectionately against the girl, fumbling behind him to grasp Emily’s hand and drag her along.

“We have many games of chance.”

“I hear you have quite the magic act, too?”

“Our chanteuse? She is very magical indeed, but there are no feats of illusion here.”

Emily wondered if Simeon’s ears could pick up the false notes in the woman’s voice. She’s lying. Everything here is an illusion. Vegas itself might as well be a mirage.

“Can’t wait to see her performance,” Simeon slipped several folded bills into the woman’s hand with vampiric stealth and speed. Her eyes widened, and she tucked the money into the white, flowing folds of her skimpy dress. “Get us a good table, will you, precious?”

“Of course. But Circe won’t perform again tonight. Tomorrow, she’ll do a matinee, and then she’ll have something extra special on Halloween.”

“Oooh, intriguing. Do you offer rooms? And do you come with them?”

I’m going to stake him just for being that good at flirting. What am I, chopped liver?

Oh, wait. I would have killed him if he flirted like that with me.

“You can get many amenities here, sir. Dinner? The chef does an amazing loin of pork with rosemary and roasted apples and root vegetables.”

“Not kosher, love. What have you got in the way of a nice, rare steak?” Simeon slipped away from their hostess and wrapped his arm around Emily’s waist.

“Your waitress will be with you shortly,” Blonde and Buxom slid away with a wink after depositing them at a stage-side table in a dark, dimly lit dining room that oozed atmosphere and hypnotic jazz.

“Pork!” Emily hissed, sitting in the chair Simeon held out for her.

“I know. Poor devils. Maybe you ought to get something vegetarian.” He pulled his wallet out and extracted cash. “Won’t use the card here.”

“Smart.” Emily shivered, looking around with studied nonchalance. She couldn’t panic, even though she knew that the specialty pork had likely been human in the recent past. They had to get the Lethe’s Dust circulating among Mnemosyne’s priestesses. Another shiver.

Emily turned. “We’re under a vent. The AC is blowing right on me.”

“Want to switch?”

“No. I want you to step outside for a smoke.”

“I gave it up, Em.”

She rolled her eyes. “Go to the parking garage and get our bags. Let’s skip dinner and get a room.”

“If we skip the meal after we get a table, they’ll know something is off. Look.” Simeon watched a couple at a nearby table leave a pile of cash and traipse back to the main entrance. “Some people have to leave. If they didn’t—the police would eventually find out. They can’t whammy the whole LVPD—too much attention if a whole bunch of cops start disappearing or losing their marbles, too. Order dessert. We’ll get a room after.”

The main goal of getting inside the building was to get access to the people inside of it—and the ventilation system. “This is an old building.” Emily stepped out of her heels and stood on a chair.

“From the fifties. But I’m sure it’s been updated here and there.”

“Definitely. For instance, air conditioning, like a whole building HVAC system with a central location that controlled it? That wasn’t around.” Emily hopped back from the vent with a satisfied smile. “This is a central system, put it more recently. You can tell by the type of steel.”

“How the bloody fuck—”

“Common sense, and my father hammering it into me that people do not actually crawl through ventilation shafts in real life. Hide in one, yes. Get from point A to point B? Rarely. And certain types are sturdier than others. This is a central air system, and it’s still cranking because Las Vegas is still hot at the end of October.”

“Hurrah for building a gambling den in the middle of the desert.”

“If we can get Lethe’s Dust into the right vents, we’ll get it pumped out to a lot of people at once. But we need to wait until that matinee. Circe will be performing. Almost everyone will be packed into the dining room and near the stage.” Emily looked at the door of their room, where the hotel floor plan rested behind its plexiglass cover. A line was marked in red and another in blue to show the emergency routes from the building. “Let me look at this for a bit. I’m sure I can figure out where to dump most of the dust to get it to blow through the ground floor, particularly the dining room.”

“You find the place, I’ll get it in.” Simeon moved with vampire speed, back and forth from the door to the window by the time she blinked.

“Deal. Shall we explore? Say we’re looking for the pool?”

“They don’t have a pool,” Simeon pointed out.

Emily gave a “drunken” giggle. “They don’t? Oh my God! That’s so silly of me. Can I swim in the big fountain, then?” She flopped her arm toward the window where lighted fountains lit up the wee hours of the Vegas night.

Simeon clapped, eyes wide at her complete transformation from competent hunter to drunken damsel. “You’re amazing. You fall over old Mr. Z like that, and you’ll be able to slice his nads right off. Use ‘em for stress balls.”

Emily pulled a face. “The first part? Yes, effective. The second part? No. Frivolous. And they might disappear or something. But...” she suddenly frowned. “Do you think he knows?”

“Knows what?”

“About the deal that Lilith made?” She chose her words carefully, even though she knew that if a god or goddess wanted to spy on them, there was little she could do about it. She hoped all the charms and enchantments cast by the coven in Pine Ridge were still in place.

A warm glow centered in her chest, almost as if in answer. They’ll take it in shifts. The witches, the warlocks, the people like Jakob Minegold who know how to use magic without having it in their blood... They’ll keep going around the clock until we’re home. She could picture them taking it in turns, casting their spells, making their potions, vampires donating blood, Calder plucking scales, werewolf parents bringing in their pups’ teeth.

“Emily? You zoned out. I hope that dessert wasn’t laced.” Simeon was suddenly in front of her, snapping his fingers directly before her eyes.

“If he knows about the deal with Lilith. Big Z knows today and tomorrow would be his last chance to make things work if Lilith was going to meet her deadline.”

“It’s been a long time, mortally speaking. He must know—but maybe he thinks that after so long, if no one’s been successful yet, no one will be.” Simeon paced around their room, this one not so luxurious. He hadn’t wanted to call too much attention to themselves, and he’d paid in cash. “All for what? What’s one girl he couldn’t bed?”

Emily paced with him, clockwise to his counter, circling, lost in thought, alone, then speaking, and suddenly, the echoing worry inside her head was shared.

She was glad he was here. Glad he’d become her friend. And more.

“He’s a monster. A monster has something it wants. Something it has to have, to destroy, to prove that it can, to feed the darkness,” Emily whispered.

Simeon was silent. She saw his jaw flex as he nodded, and there was something red in the gleam of his eyes when he looked back toward the cityscape outside their window.

“Owning her. She was supposed to be his, one of his conquests, and his brother stole her. In a way, it’s good that Seph hasn’t returned yet. I think once Z was done with her, he’d let her go—and he’d make sure everyone knew exactly what he’d done. Humiliation and ownership of others? He loves that. The fact that people who’ve done it before end up in a pit in Hell? That he’s too powerful for people to fight against, even when he hurts them like this? That’s the darkness he likes to stroke.”

“You’re so smart. And the reason why breaks my heart,” Simeon suddenly whispered, reaching for her. “You’re right. You’re right. If Zeus,” he mouthed the word, “had her, he’d cast her out and brag about it, rub Mr. H’s face in it—that his wife, his only love, finally wanted him . Would have had to be willingly, thanks to that vow on that particular river.”

“You’re right. And if he believes, even suspects, that this might be his last chance... He’ll definitely be here soon if he isn’t already.”

Simeon nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. “C’mere.”

“Sleep?”

“No. City planning permissions. Floor plans have to be filed. If we can’t get in, the Head of the Computer Science Department at NYU Pine Ridge will let us in. Genie can hack anything.”

“There’s a genie?”

“No, that’s her name. Short for Eugenia. Well, there is a genie, but he prefers the term djinn. He works at the college, too, but I think he’s head of student services or something, and he can’t hack like Genie can.”

“How do you know that she can—never mind. You want to see the ventilation plans?”

“And what’s on the other floors according to the plans.” Simeon brought out his cell phone and started to tap the screen. “If you had to hide someone, where would you keep her?”

“Least accessible point.”

As one, they looked up.

“Wanna bet the fifth floor is a penthouse?” Simeon asked, leaning his shoulder heavily into hers.

“Wanna bet the elevators in the halls don’t go to the fifth floor?” She rocked back into him.

“C’mon, drunken love of mine. Let’s go try to breach security and find a private elevator.”

“It’ll need a key or keycard,” Emily pointed out.

“You know bloody well I didn’t survive for over a century without learning how to get into someone’s pockets, love.”

Emily tapped her chin, pretending to look thoughtful. When she leaned back, she was holding his wallet in her hand, smirking. “You know I learned it in twenty years to your century, right?”

“Show off.”

“I want her autograph! Baby! Baby, I want her autograph!”

Simeon struggled to keep from laughing. His stern, serious, never-smiling Emily was whining and hanging on him, practically climbing over his shoulder to get to a woman in a longer, more substantial Grecian dress. From his knowledge of history, he judged her dress to be more authentic, and he wondered if the staff downstairs were all dupes, juniors in the order of Mnemosyne, or a mix.

This woman, a raven-haired beauty with a soft gray streak in her hair and a glacial expression on her face, turned to look at them, sharpness in her eyes.

No funny business with her memory, Simeon thought. “Sorry, ma’am. My lady here knows I want a private audience with Circe on a little matter.”

“I want her autograph!” Emily wailed, flailing.

“You can get an autograph tomorrow afternoon, after the show,” the woman said, her frosty smile thawing slightly. “If you want to book Circe for a private event, she usually suggests you book the dining room. The front desk can help you with that. They handle the entertainment and the accommodations.”

“But she lives in the hotel! I wanna see her now !” Emily squirmed forward, knocking him into the wall and brushing against the older woman.

“Can you tell us where the pool is? A swim will clear her head.”

“There’s no pool here, sir, and Circe’s quarters are off-limits.”

Emily pouted and flopped against the wall. “Fi-ine! But then I want you to take me to the roof, baby. I want to watch the sun come up over Vegas with you for our anniversary!”

The words sent a little pang through him. Never watch the sun with her. Never have an anniversary if we don’t get this right .

“Right, darling. Come on, up to the roof. Excuse me—” Simeon gathered Emily in one arm and made as if to reach past the assumed priestess to get toward the elevator.

“I’m sorry. Safety reasons. No guests can have rooftop access.” She stepped firmly in front of the metal doors.

“ Circe gets the roof,” Emily pouted petulantly.

“She owns the hotel—well—in trust. Please make sure you stick to the ground floor and guest floors. There’s an exercise room on the second floor if you’d like. Excuse me.”

“Come on, baby. Let’s sleep it off. Get you to bed.” Simeon herded Emily away as the woman moved in the opposite direction.

Back in their room, Emily pulled out a thin white and pink card with a black border. “Look what I got.”

Simeon pulled out their room key. Pink and white. No edging. “That’s some sort of restricted access card.”

“And the fifth floor is listed as one penthouse—but the city plans Genie sent show there are multiple structures and divisions.”

“Like a private temple room.”

“A VIP lounge where a certain power-mad creep can try to hit on a certain obsession without letting her reach the ground floor and have a chance to escape.”

“God. That’s horrible. She must be so lonely.” Emily opened her purse. “Mem’s scrying crystal is still pulsing, even brighter now. Anything on Seph?”

Simeon pulled it from his pocket. “Not a blink.”

“We should sleep. Today’s going to be a marathon.” Emily swallowed. “If I can sleep. I’m not sure I can. What if she’s there—two floors above us? Waiting...”

“We can’t get to her unless Mem gets weaker. This afternoon. Soon.”

Simeon laid back, then rose. “Don’t want to wrinkle the suit.”

In silence, they stripped off their fancy outfits, bodies returning to the bed, curling into one long tangle of love and limbs.

“You’re amazing,” he whispered. “You know that?”

She stared at him for a moment. “No.”

Her answer startled him so much that he let out a laugh, bursting sound right against her lips as he moved to kiss her. “No?”

“No, I never... No one’s told me that but you.”

“And you don’t believe me because I’m a monster?”

“I don’t believe you because I know how I feel inside. Like a failure.”

“You’re not a failure! You tracked me down. You could’ve killed me a million times over by now. You just haven’t. Because you love me.” Simeon pushed the envelope. Tonight might be the last night I can push anything.

“Simeon...”

“You know,” he cupped her cheek and brushed his fingers through her hair, “nothing bad happens when you love someone, Em. Even if you love the worst person in the world, or the best. What happens to them isn’t something you can control, but loving them? That’s always the high road. The hero’s road. Loving something bad means you have good enough for two.”

Emily kissed him, slowly slipping her body on top of his, slowly notching his hardness into her wet depths with a slide that felt unhurried yet urgent. Her muscles instantly clasped him and began to surge, her recently unexplored opening straining around the sudden discomfort of being so full. “You’re not bad.”

He looked up at her, startled. “No?” No caveats? No “but you used to be”? “My girl,” he whispered, hands reaching up to stroke across her breasts.

She didn’t hesitate. “Your girl. My Simeon. My vampire.”

His fangs slid down hard, and her head tipped back as she chased a sudden pleasurable wave. He could feel her walls spasming faster and harder, her essence coming thick and fast.

My beautiful girl, so used to the hardness of life. She doesn’t even realize how it’s become tangled in her head. Calling me her vampire turns her on so much that her sweet little quim could choke my cock right off of my body.

“All yours,” he rasped, fangs forced in before she looked down. “One good one. One for you to keep, Huntress.”

“Yes! Yes, fuck, yes.” Emily pounded her hips against his. “I will keep you, Simeon. I’m not going to let them take you!”

A spiral of pleasure and pain, her orgasm including her nails digging into his skin with desperate clawing motions. “I want to keep you. Forever!” she rasped, half-sobbing.

Then fully sobbing.

Simeon gathered her up in his arms, slowly moving inside of her, riding out his own climax as he kissed away her tears. “Forever? That’s a long time, love.”

“I don’t care.”

“All right, then. Forever.”

If I live through this... I’m gonna marry that girl.

As Simeon rocked Emily against his chest, half-listening to her talk about life, death, love, and fear, all the big things he truly should have been paying attention to with his entire being—he was lost in his own thoughts about the same thing.

Love. Life. Death. Fear. All tangled and torn, then sewn together in my first life, the cause of my second.

Pine Ridge and Emily have been like my third—life as unliving, yet more in love with life than I ever knew was possible.

It could all end tomorrow.

He made soothing noises for both their benefits as his mind raced ahead and rewound.

He had been a virgin until his first and only night with Lilith, who wanted to break in her new plaything. Vampires didn’t marry. Their “culture” was sex, sin, and jealousy between the sires and their favorite creations.

Marriage? Emily might love you. She wouldn’t marry you without a soul. Would she?

What if I ask Hades for it—and not for something for Emily? Is that selfish or unselfish, because maybe that would make her happiest?

“I never had someone to hug me when I was upset before. I don’t like it.” Emily snuggled them under the floral comforter.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t like needing it—but I love having it. Don’t let go?”

He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, feeling her wetness and his trailing down thighs and smearing across middles. Raw. Primal. Human.

“I’m glad I met you, Em. I always thought you were gonna kill me. Turns out, you make me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt in my entire existence. You sleep a little. I’ll keep watch. We’ll get up in a few hours and see what we can do.”