They were all different angles of the same property—the French Quarter house, evidently. It was a nice property. One of the two-story houses done in the traditional style the French Quarter was known for—with all the pretty iron stuff and a wrap-around balcony, since it was also a corner house. Quite a score. But then, gods didn't have to worry about money.
Gods. Mr. Average was a god. Silas himself. And there I was, thinking he was an ex from a past life. What was that odd feeling between us? Was he someone from my past? Maybe he was. That would explain why I was the one destined to figure out who the hell he was. Had Silas felt that connection too? Or had he just recognized me as a potential Cerberus mate? That seemed more likely to me. But how had he known I was destined to mate a Cerberus? Did potential mates ooze mate magic? I would have asked Lex, but that would mean confessing to having Silas stalking me. If I did that, they'd never leave me alone again. I'd forever have a hound tail—and I don't mean the wagging sort.
So, I kept my mouth shut and watched Lex work. He knew his stuff. But he'd been around when computers were first invented. If he had followed the progress of human technology, he could easily become proficient. Probably more than that. As I watched his fingers fly over the keyboard, I concluded that Lex was a hacker. The techie of the group. It explained why he hadn't developed the local accent. He probably spent more time online than IRL—that's “in real life” for all of you non-nerds out there.
Yeah, I'm a bit of a closet nerd. I used to play a lot of video games when I was inhabiting Wren. There wasn't much to do in between shopping and seducing our benefactors. Plus, gaming felt a lot like possessing someone. You were in charge of a body that wasn't really yours, making it do things for your amusement.
“He's leaving,” Lex said. “Heading east. I'm following him with traffic cams.”
The feed changed rapidly, Lex trying to guess in what direction Silas would head and then hack into the cameras monitoring that area. He did well. It was impressive. But then Silas went into a cafe and never came out.
“We just parked. Is he still inside?”
“Yeah,” Lex said. “I've been monitoring all the exits. He hasn't left.”
Cyrus and Jake appeared on one of the feeds. They entered the cafe. A few minutes passed.
“He's not here,” Cyrus finally said.
“Damn it!” Lex growled. “He must have teleported away.”
“Teleported,” I murmured, slowly comprehending what kind of danger I'd been in.
Silas could have just popped into my house and grabbed me. So, why hadn't he? Maybe he wasn't sure of who I was. Oh! Maybe he had noticed Hades setting up that house for me and that's why he was watching me. He was waiting to see if I was a sidepiece for Hades or a mate for his hounds. Except if that was the case, why had he looked so surprised to see me that first day?
Lex kept typing, the camera feeds changing over and over, but there was no sign of Silas. There was, however, someone else I recognized.
“Ace?” I whispered and leaned closer.
Lex froze. He followed my stare to the screen. Ace was getting out of his car, looking as handsome as ever. The sun hit him and set his hair to shining. Women passing by stopped to stare at him.
“Where is that?” I asked.
Lex narrowed his stare at me, his jaw clenching, then said, “The other side of town. I was widening the search circle just in case.”
“He's got Bruno with him.”
“Yeah, what a guy. He bought a dog.” Lex rolled his eyes. Then he leaned forward. “Hold on.” A few clicks and the camera zoomed in. “We've seen Silas go into this building before.” He clicked something and said, “Head over to that office building we tracked Silas to the other day. Ace just went inside.”
“On it,” Cyrus said.
“So what?” I waved at the building. “Ace probably has a meeting in there. He runs a pharmaceutical company.”
“It's suspicious.”
“Suspicious? So, you think that Ace, what? He seduced me to lure me to Silas's side? That they're in cahoots?”
Lex shrugged.
“Oh, for fuck's sake.” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. “You're targeting him because of me.”
“Yes, we are.” Lex looked over at me. “Ace showed up and won you over right after we met. That's a hell of a coincidence.”
“A lot of men have tried to get into my pants since I arrived here. Does that make them all suspects?”
“Salina, don't you get it? Silas can win any human over to his cause. Ace may have met you and then Silas saw an opportunity.”
“Ace would never agree to something so underhanded.”
