"And you saved yourself," Cass said admiringly. "You're such a badass."
I responded to that with a faint smile. "I wasn't going to let him beat me. Not if I could help it," I said.
Not to mention that, at the time, I had no idea they were so close to finding me. What would I have done if I knew?
Honestly, nothing different. Killing Hypnos was a pleasure. More so than any of the rest of them. The first couple squealed like pigs and one had pissed his pants. Others pleaded for their lives.
Not Hypnos. He'd come after me. Used my own restaurant to trap me. What he did to my sister? That was bad enough. Hypnos made it even more personal. Italmosttook the sting out of Getzoff's death.
"That's my girl," Boner said, leaning over to nuzzle his face into my hair. "You weren't going to take any of it lying down, were you?"
"Not for a moment," I agreed.
"What else happened?" Jules asked. He regarded me with a long, searching look, like he knew I was holding back. He didn't know what or why, but he knew it was something.
"If you're ever stuck inside an industrial vat, remember they have rungs in there so you can climb back out," I said.
Hypnos must not have realized. Maybe he thought I wouldn't know. It was dark in there, I could easily have missed them if I hadn't known to look.
"That's very good to know," Boner said. He looked at Jules like he was trying to figure out what passed between us. Like Jules, he didn't know either.
"Are you planning to jump inside one?" Jules asked him, almost as though he was hoping the answer would be yes.
"Only on a hot day," Boner grinned. "Or a cold day if it's at the right temperature. We could have one installed as a hot tub."
"We wouldn't get it through the door," Archer said.
"That's not a no, if we can figure out a way," Boner pointed out. "Think how useful it would be. I mean, Hypnos tried to boil Harlow. We could boil Zeus." He seemed to like that solution.
"Think how expensive the water bill would be," Jules pointed out.
Boner didn't seem to like that solution anymore. "I guess we can make do with the acid bath and torture box," he said with a sigh. "I was trying to be creative, that's all."
I kissed his cheek. "I appreciate your creativity. It's just not practical in a place like this."
I wasn't sure I wanted to witness someone getting boiled alive either. I'd hate if my mouth watered at the smell of it.
Apparently I found another limit. I didn't want to cook predator soup. Not that kind of predator anyway. I'd stick to the regular kind, like chickens.
If you don't think chickens are predators, you've never watched them establish their pecking order. Those critters can get vicious.
"I'll think of something else," Boner concluded. "Something that'll match up with a serial killer name for me."
It seemed now I had one, he was on a mission to get one of his own. Neither Cass nor Jules seemed inclined to want one for themselves. Of course, Cass still hadn't killed anyone. Jules had, defending us, not hunting alongside us. They seemed more or less content to leave the killing to the rest of us. That suited me fine. I didn't think Boner or Archer would complain either. We did what we were good at and so did they.
Between the five of us, we made a pretty good crew most of the time. I still had to figure out what I was going to do about Zeus and where they'd fit into it. Sooner or later, I was going to have to let them in on it. I'd promised not to go off alone, and I wasn't going to break that promise, not when I knew Zeus was going to come after me.
No, I'd take some time to think about it. Then I'd explain everything.
I hoped like hell keeping this secret for a little while wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass.
CHAPTER 2
HARLOW
Iwoke slowly with the feeling something was very, very wrong.
I took a moment before I opened my eyes to think. The surface under me was mattress-y. The blankets over me were warm and soft. The pillow under my head smelled like me.
