"Hell's politics. I get an earful of that every time I visit my goddess." Simon made a face. "So?"
"So if you will agree to transfer your allegiance to Luc's team and take your followers with you, Rafe will be off the hook."
"You know I don't give a damn about your dog." Simon examined his nails.
"But you do about your son. I'm just showing you why I have an interest in helping you get rid of your goddess. Tell me how to take her out and I'll do it. Rafe and Blade are in it with me. We will blow her to bits or whatever it takes to free you if you will sign on with Lucifer. You know you're hell-bound anyway, and Freddy won't mind getting involved with you once Honoria is out of the picture. It's the EV thing he objects to."
"How do you know that?" Simon looked up, his eyes gleaming. I knew he was reading my mind and he saw that I was uncertain.
"Guess you could make that part of your terms with Lucifer. And you're clever enough to play the game, act like you've come to your senses and want to start over. Play the good guy." I rolled my eyes. "Why am I bothering to tell you anything? Manipulate. It's your stock-in-trade." The fact that my good friend Freddy would be on the receiving end of that gave me chills. No. I'd warn him. He was smart enough to figure things out himself. And I was smart enough to stop thinking about this because Simon could read my every thought. Argh.
"What makes you think I'd be interested?" Simon lifted his chin. "I have everything I ever wanted. Money, power and the respect being the king of the Energy Vampires brings me."
"Do you have your heart's desire?" I blurted it out.
Simon swallowed. "What do you know about that?"
Wow. For a moment I could just stare. I'd hit a nerve. Go figure. "Lucifer can offer you that. Promise your soul to him and he can deliver anything, anything you've always wanted but might have eluded you." I ran my hands down my body. "He even said he could make me a size six." I laughed. "Stupid, but he did a demo. It works." I grabbed Simon's hand and pulled him into the bathroom. "Look, I have my reflection. As a sign of good faith or to torment me, depending on how you look at it."
Simon stood behind me and examined the evidence. "So I see. Are you telling me you sold your own soul?" Simon's eyes widened. "Bravo. I didn't think you had it in you."
"You're right. I didn't do it. I'm not going to hell. At least not on Lucifer's account. But since you're doomed already, thanks to your work with Honoria, why not play for a new team? Broker a new deal." I pushed past him, already regretting the close quarters of the bathroom. Maybe I was seeing him more as a man, though, because we'd been talking for a while now and he hadn't knocked me down or frozen me. Hey, it had been almost civilized.
"That's impossible, Gloriana. I am never getting away from my goddess. She wouldn't stand for it." Simon stalked to the door. "I'd not live to make any such deal, no matter how much I wanted it."
"What is your heart's desire, Simon?" I was grasping at straws. Thought maybe if I got him to say it, I could somehow work something out, tempt him past logic.
Simon stared at me, obviously thinking about whether he should share something so private with me. "All right. I'll tell you. Not that it will do any good. But I always regretted leaving Cecilia and our child. I wanted . . . a family." His smile was wry. "How plebeian of me. I realize that. But I loved Cecilia. Still do. I doubt that Lucifer could make her love me again. Too much water under that bridge."
I swallowed. My dear friend CiCi with Simon? How was that for a hellish bargain? "I figure with Lucifer, anything's possible. Hammer out a deal. Ask for what you want from him. Or the demons he sends." I let Simon see that I was being honest.
"You're assuming Honoria can be killed." Simon sighed. "Fact is, she's always surrounded by her army of loyal followers. No one gets past us." Simon smiled now. "The Energy Vampires not only feed her, we are sworn to protect her. Killing her?" He shrugged. "Difficult, but not impossible."
I stopped in my tracks. He was actually interested. "Tell me."
"First, you'd have to lull her to sleep. That means depriving her of as much energy as you can. I can take most of my men away from the compound on some pretext, but I always have to leave at least ten there as an energy source. Sleeping, they don't give her much energy. That would make her fairly listless. That would be the best time to approach her."
"Okay, maybe I can find a way to knock them out temporarily." Ian might have something for that. "So then what? She's taking a siesta. I heard she's down underground."
"Yes, you walk down a steep trail into the bowels of the earth. It's not pleasant, like walking into hell until you get into her chamber. You'll have to sneak up on her, try not to wake her and then cut off her heads."
"Heads?" My voice was a squeak. "How many are we talking about?"
Simon managed a smile. "Three, Gloriana. Three of the ugliest visages you'd never hope to see. As you can imagine, I would gladly take what Lucifer's offering to get away from an afterlife of sex with that creature. Kill her and you'll not only give me my son, you'll free me from that." He stood. "I'll owe you. And I don't say that lightly."
"Wow." I closed my gaping mouth. "We've got to do this soon, Simon. Give me a night to work this out." I glanced at my watch. It wasn't even ten o'clock yet. I'd have to call Jerry and Rafe. Of course they were champing at the bit, not happy that I'd insisted on this meeting without them.
"Tomorrow night I'd planned to take a large contingent of men to a meeting in Houston. If you could do it then, you would have only a small force to deal with. I could put something in their blood supply to slow them down but I don't dare drug them and knock them out completely. It would be too suspicious. Honoria would know if all her energy suddenly disappeared. She can cause quite a disturbance if that happens." Simon ran his hand over his thinning hair.
I swallowed. Tomorrow night. So soon. But we'd waited long enough. I wanted the demons gone. And couldn't risk Lucifer showing up again either.
"Fine." I held out my hand, something I rarely did to Simon. "You promise to sign with Lucifer once this is done?"
"I give you my word." Simon looked me directly in the eyes and took my hand. "You've made it sound like the thing to do."
I felt the shock of his power and suddenly knew the truth of that promise. "All right then."
"I will know when it is done. Many of my powers will be gone." Simon released my hand. "Fortunately, Lucifer can restore them. So you can relax and know I will follow through on this thing to save your Valdez." He stalked to the door and threw it open. "Good luck, Gloriana. You'll need it. And, Gloriana."
"Yes?" I braced myself. Something in his eyes told me the worst was yet to come.
"If she wakes up, don't be fooled by her. She has many tricks. The men with you . . ." Simon shook his head. "They will be dazzled. She doesn't always look like the monster she really is. That is one of her powers. Be on guard." He stared into my eyes for a moment, then quietly closed the door.
"Damn." I leaned against the door and pressed my hand against my heart, which was pounding pretty hard for an undead vampire. Had I lost my mind making a deal with Simon Destiny? Some of my friends would be shocked if they found out. Shocked? They'd haul me off to the vampire equivalent of a funny farm. Not a cool place. Think coffins in basements with keepers who carried stakes in holsters.
I heard a commotion at the door into the shop and ran to open it.
"There you are." Caryon pushed past me into the back room. "I'm getting the strangest vibe tonight. And no sense of where you were. We don't like to lose touch. Progress report."
I decided the less said about my plans the better. Good thing since Spyte was right behind him.
"I told you she had to be here." Spyte swatted at the air around his head. "What is that?" He shoved Cary into the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Hah! Now we can get to work! They've been trying to steal souls in your shop, Glory. Propositioned some of your best customers." Harvey buzzed past Cary, dousing him with his special water, a heavy stream that was way more than his tiny bottle could logically have held. Heavenly magic, of course.
"Son of a-" Cary stared in horror at his gray suit, which now had steaming holes in it. "Ow! Shit! It's seeping through to my skin! What the hell is that?"
"Our secret weapon, lowlife loser. And there's more where that came from." Emmie threw the contents of her bottle in Spyte's face. "Take that, you sugary-smelling sack of horse manure. You've been tormenting her friends. No more of that, you hear me?"
"My eyes! You burned my eyes!" Spyte clapped his hands over them and screeched, bumping into the table and knocking over my chair.
"You tried to get souls here? That is beyond creepy." I moved my chair so it wouldn't be broken.
"They propositioned that sweet clerk of yours. Almost had her too. Had to throw three purses and a blouse to get him to stop." Emmie grabbed Spyte's hair and pulled him toward the door.
"Bastards!" I pressed myself against the wall and tried to stay out of the way. I loved that the demons were getting what they deserved. "Get them out of here, gang!"