I shrugged. "He's still not as strong as he once was if he went from partnering with Hitler to being an actor."
Rohan sputtered a laugh as he drank.
"I wasn't being funny."
He wiped a hand across his mouth. "Do you understand how famous Samson is?"
"Yes," I snapped.
He shook his head. "You don't. Not really. You've never experienced it. That level of fame, you're treated like a god. Anything, anyone you want?" He snapped his fingers. "Yours. There's no door barred to you."
"You'd know."
"I didn't want it," Rohan said.
"What about tasting it again now?"
"I want it even less."
"Even if it gets you your heart's desire?" I asked softly.
Rohan hesitated, his eyes darting away from me for a fraction of a second before he answered. "World domination is not my heart's desire."
Slick avoidance of answering. "No. It's not." Lily was. Maybe I'd arrange for Poppy to meet the good physicist and let her see what she was really up against. I bricked up my sorrow, adding it to the pile of emotions I had no desire to examine or experience.
"There was one last thing I found," I said. "The symbol of the Mesopotamian sun-god Shamash had four straight and four wavy rays. Louis' has both, too. Could Samson be Mesopotamian?"
"Shamash was a god, not a demon. But that sun symbol was present in Babylonian and Assyrian cultures." Drio chugged half his water back in one go.
"That might explain Samson's preference for Semitic-looking women. Personal attraction stemming from point of origin," I said.
"Bhenchod!" Rohan swore, grabbing the laptop away from Drio. The anticipation in the room was palpable as he looked something up. With a shout of victory, Rohan turned the screen around for us to see it.
"Adramelech," I read. "Sun-demon. Is Adramelech his name or his type?"
"Name," Rohan said. "As a sun-demon, he's a Unique." He frowned. "Which means the Brotherhood may not have info on his kill spot. I'll get on that."
Drio leaned back in his chair, nodding. "Babylonian. Nasty bastard. Known for his ambition. Maybe the fact he got burned with politics is influencing his choices now. Like initially he meant to draw power from these charismatic figureheads. When it failed with Louis, Samson tried again with Hitler. Another fail and a new strategy needed."
"Cross-platform." I swirled the plastic bottle, watching the little eddy of water inside while filling them in on my suspicions around why Samson had founded the record label and management company. "Build up. Tear down. With all these available platforms only adding to his power. Social media crosses all national borders and language barriers. For the first time in history, he doesn't require a military leader to allow him to rule the world. He can do it exactly as he is and do it with more reach than any of those rulers ever did. Celebrity trumps politics."
"He's the biggest star with the most reach," Rohan said. "He's in the perfect position to establish himself as an entertainment conglomerate and push his agenda indefinitely." He nodded. "Good work."
Generally his praise warmed me enough to push aside any bullshit between us, but not today. "To figuring it out," I said, hoisting my bottle, and pushing aside my unhappiness.
"To destroying that bastard." Drio clinked his bottle against mine. We looked at Rohan who didn't join in.
"What's wrong? We've got him," I said.
"We've got a name that might be his," Rohan corrected.
"Oh, you mean more conjecture?"
"You were right. Actually," he amended, "I was right in the first place but I had an off day yesterday. No assuming anything until we do the ritual."
"You mean we could still do the ritual and be wrong?"
"Yeah." Rohan closed the laptop which had defaulted into my annoying screensaver of frogs plummeting to the ground. "Though I doubt it."
Drio clapped Rohan on the back. "Playing it smart." The smile he saved for torturing demons bloomed wide. "Then having fun playing."
"Are you still planning to go to set on Tuesday?" Rohan asked.
Off my nod, Drio told me that once I got there, I should arrange a Wednesday meeting with the demon. "I'll give you a time and place as soon as I've made all the arrangements for the ritual."
"How will you get him away from the bodyguards?" I asked.
"We'll take care of them. Piece of cake."