Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(33)

Tad frowned. “The last Greek hero I dealt with didn’t go so well for me.”

He had a solid line of reasoning there. “Don’t engage him. Or maybe . . .” I had another thought, one I really didn’t like. “What if he’s trying to get my own friends to fight me for him? That’s what Ernie thought might be happening. Then he’d welcome you.”

Dahlia’s eyes shot to mine. “You mean actually get Beth and Sandy to fight you? They would never do that.”

I shivered. “Monster against monster.” I didn’t know if the two girls’ metallic feathers could cut through me, but if I were a betting sort, I’d say yes. “After what I saw last night, I’d believe it. Beth was . . . enthralled with him. And even Sandy was uncertain. I’d just been with them hours before, and they were totally different.”

Ernie groaned. “It’s the arrow with Beth. If they are used the wrong way, it isn’t just love they can induce but obsession. I didn’t see her, but I’d bet that’s what he did. So don’t discount her if it comes to a fight. And Theseus has enough of his own charms to bend Sandy if she’s already not sure.”

Tad nodded slowly. “Okay, so you want me in that enemy camp? I can be your spy guy?”

I swallowed hard, hating that I had to ask him to put himself in danger. “Yes, go and tell Theseus you want to be in his camp.”

“And my reason?” He arched a dark eyebrow.

Dahlia laughed. “Oh, that’s easy.” She swung an arm over my shoulder and kissed my cheek. “I chose her over you.”

Tad rolled his eyes. “You think he’d buy that?”

“If you tell him I used my siren abilities on Dahlia, I think he might.” I slowly warmed to the idea. “Be careful, please. Ernie”—I turned to the cherub—“will you go with Tad? Give him backup?”

Ernie’s face was grim, hardly looking like the cherub of love and sex. “Theseus will take him on, I’m almost sure of it.” Which made me think my general idea of what was happening with Theseus was spot on.

I didn’t think I liked being right in this case. I didn’t want my friends turning against me, even on a good day. I had few enough of them as it was to end up losing more.

Within minutes of the decisions being made, the four of us were off and running in our respective directions.

Buckled into the passenger seat of Dahlia’s little punch buggy car, I glanced across at her when she started the engine up. She had a little glimmer of tears at the edge of her eyes.

“You really love him, don’t you?”

“Damn it, yes,” she muttered. “I don’t want him to die. He came so close with Achilles. You really think he’ll be safe going to Theseus?”

I clung to Ernie’s words about the hero we were dealing with. “Theseus has a different game plan than Achilles. I don’t think he’ll hurt anyone until he’s dealt with me.” I covered my face with both hands. At least I was hoping. “What if I’m wrong?” I whispered.

“We’re a team, Alena.” Her voice firmed even as mine softened. “And Tad can help you by doing this. Let him. He’ll be careful; we’ve all learned from what happened with Achilles. You were right to send him to help, and Ernie will watch out for him too.” She pulled onto the road that took us north. I did my best to push away thoughts of Tad, Beth, and Sandy being hurt, though it wasn’t easy.

Hours later, we crossed through the Wall and continued to head north, leaving the border behind, along with any real civilization.

I looked out around us at the desolate road, the lack of people not lost on me. We were out of the main city and working our way steadily north. “Where does Santos, I don’t know, is ‘live’ the right term? Hole up? Hide out?”

“He’s got a place on Grouse Mountain. The hike up is a total bitch; they used to call it the Grind. There’s a checkpoint at the bottom, and if we get through that, we’ll have a trek ahead of us.”

“He walks up and down every time he makes an attack on Remo?” I lifted both eyebrows.

“Ah, no, he has a gondola that takes him up and down, but it’s heavily guarded.”

“You know a lot about his place.” I glanced at her and she nodded again.

“He snatched me right from Merlin’s, and Remo fought to get me back. I mean, it took me about five minutes in Santos’s group to realize I wanted nothing to do with it.”

“Wait, Remo rescued you?”

“Yes, sort of.”

“Why? I mean, I’m glad he did, but . .”

She sighed. “He’d come to Santos’s place to try and negotiate some sort of deal right after I was turned. Santos agreed to the meeting and the contract between them. They shook hands and everything. But as soon as Remo turned his back, Santos attacked him. There was a fight, and I already knew that Santos was a nutjob, so I knew which side to be on. He’d told me I would be part of his harem, but I never saw any other women, vamps or otherwise. I was scared that he was going to kill me. So I fought at Remo’s side, against Santos. Remo took a blow that would have killed me, but he protected me at his own expense. I carried him out. He’s like the brother I never had.”

Suddenly her utter devotion to him made perfect sense. He’d saved her from Santos, who by my own experience was not someone I would want in my life, never mind as my boss.