“Ah, kinda both.”
Cat grinned.“Well, if it helps, people here arepretty cool.There are some douchewads, and some of thestatuesbite if you get too close, but for the most part,Sheoul-gra doesn’t suck.Who are you here with?”
“Hawkyn,” she said.“But I’m notwithhim.I mean,he brought me here, but we aren’t together.Not like that...”Ugh.She wasbabbling like a lunatic.Time to move on, the way she did after she’d massagedall the tension out of one part of a customer’s body.She’d certainly massagedthis subject to death.“So, are you one of his sisters?”
“Nah.”Cat tucked her clipboard under one arm.“I’m a fallenangel.I live in the Inner Sanctum with my mate.”
“The Inner Sanctum...That’s where the souls are kept,right?You live there?”
“Well, my mate, Hades, runs the place—”
“Wait.”Aurora held up her hand.“What?Did you sayHades?”
Cat’s grin was pureate-the-canarysatisfied.“Yep.ThatHades.He’s the Jailor of Souls, so he pretty muchhas tolive in the jail.It’s not my dream home, but you dowhat you gotta do to be with the one you love, right?”
This place just kept gettingweirder andweirder.
“Right,” Aurora said, although she really couldn’t seeherself living someplace like this for anyone.
Hawkyn’s image flashed in her head, which was insane, giventhat she’d only known him for a matter of hours.And she wasnotherewithhim.
Cat cocked her head and studied Aurora with such intensitythat she had to force herselfto notsquirm.“I’m justcurious—and you don’t have to answer—but how do you know Hawkyn?Are you one ofhis Primori?”
Aurora shook her head.“He’s protecting me from his Primori.And he might be protecting his Primori from me, as well.”
For some reason, Cat’s expression became troubled.“I see.Well, I’d better go—”
“Wait.”Careful to avoid hitting the spot on her palm thatmight trigger a flow of energy, Aurora grabbed Cat’s forearm as she turned toleave.“What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing.”Cat smiled reassuringly.“Really.”
Aurora sighed.“Please don’t bullshit me.I’ve had areally roughcouple of days.”
There was a moment of tense silence, and then Cat steppedcloser and lowered her voice.“I love the people here.I admire the workMemitimdo, because I know I couldn’t do it.They’rededicated, passionate, and tough asnails.”Shehesitated, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, and Aurora struggled tocontain her impatience.Finally, Cat blurted, “But they can also be ruthless intheir missions to protect their Primori.They’ll do whatever it takes, even iftheir Primori is a genocidal maniac.”
Aurora knew that.But for the first time, she was trulybecoming aware of what that meant.“You’re saying that if Hawkyn’s Primorineeds to kill me to fulfill his destiny or whatever—”
“Hawkyn will deliver you to him like a pizza.”
“Hey, brother.”Emerico stopped near where Hawkyn wassitting on a park bench with Atticus’s notes about Drayger.“Have you figuredout what you’re going to do about your serial killer predicament?”
Nope.And it was driving him nuts.He always had all theanswers, and for the first time in longer than he could remember, he was at aloss.
“The only thing I can do right now is keep Aurora safe,” hesaid, peering down at the notes that had begun to blur with uselessness.
“You know you can’t keep her here, right?”
Hawk’s gaze cut sharply to his brother.“As long as theCouncil and embassy don’t know she’s here, who cares?”
“Our father cares.”
Alarm clanged inside him.“He knows?”
Hawkyn had figured Azagoth would find out sooner rather thanlater, given that Lilliana had met Aurora, but geez, it had only been a coupleof hours.And Hawkyn didn’t think he’d give a shit anyway.Azagoth didn’texactly follow the rules.
“I just spoke with him,” Rico said.“I guess he saw Suzanneescorting her to Hotel Hell.”
“Yeah, well, Memitim business isn’t his business.What’s itmatterto him if I have her here?”
