My Life From Hell (16 page)

The security gate across the driveway was rising. I stepped forward as if to duck under it. The driver glared at us. Kai gave another affable wave of apology and led me away down the street. “Keep moving,” he said, as I tossed a confused look over my shoulder.

Once we heard the gate shut again, Kai stopped. He waited a moment then began walking back. “Step two,” he continued, as I scrambled after him, “distract the driver so that the annoyed friend of step one fame—”

Theo’s head popped out, as a door beside the security gate opened.

Kai nodded, “Is smart enough to slip inside while the driver isn’t looking.” Kai seemed pretty pleased with himself.

I grinned at him. “And all you needed was the cooperation of a willing and highly kissable female.”

He scrunched up his face. “Really? Where?”

I elbowed him.

“Don’t mind me,” Theo said as we slipped past him into the underground parking lot. “I love being exposed to you two.”

“You’re just grumpy.” I winced as I remembered that Festos had recently stormed off. “In general,” I amended lamely. “Grumpy in general. Oh, look. Elevators!”

“Nice save,” Kai murmured to me.

Theo jabbed at the button. “You think she’ll be home?” he asked as we rode upward.

I checked my watch. “If she’s in town, then yes. She’s home. She likes to freshen up with a drink about now.” If Felicia wasn’t in, well, we’d be stopping by her place in Whistler next.

The elevator opened and we padded down the hall to apartment 2311.

Of all the emotions I figured I might feel at this moment, standing before my front door, absolutely zip was not something I’d considered. It was just a door. One that I was familiar with, but that was about it.

Funny.
That’s
what made me feel sad.

Here we go
, I thought, and slid my key into the lock.

Nine

I was shocked that my key still worked. I pushed the door open quietly and we stepped into the small marble foyer. I could hear voices and laughter coming from the living room at the far end of the apartment.

Theo raised his eyebrows at me and cocked his head toward the living room. I took a step forward, listening intently until I recognized the voices. “It’s Felicia,” I whispered, as we gathered in a tight huddle. “And her best friend, Kiki.”

Theo suppressed a laugh. “You mean I finally get to put a face to the elusive Russian cougar I’ve heard so much about?”

“She’s not that bad.” I actually liked Kiki and her totally-inappropriate-for-kids jokes. Brash, overbearing, and loud she may have been, but she’d always been kind to me, cheering me up on more than one occasion after a fight with Felicia. My mother hadn’t loved our bond but she hadn’t bothered about it either.

“Does she usually stay long?” Kai asked.

Theo brightened. “She’s a cougar. You could be prey.”

Kai elbowed him.

I glared at both of them and motioned for them to follow me.

We crept down the hallway to the bright, all-white living room. “Lovely to see you as always, Felicia,” I said as we stepped up to the threshold.

The shock on Felicia’s face was priceless. As was her choking on her drink.

I took in my mother’s appearance. She was as immaculately groomed as always in a rust-colored cashmere sweater and brown tailored trousers. Her honey hair fell to her shoulders in exact, blunt edges, probably fearful of being a fraction out of line.

“It would mean more, darling, if you didn’t wear rags.” Damn. She’d found her voice.

I turned my attention to Kiki, seated across from Felicia on the sofa. She dragged on her cigarette, one hand patting her pouffed up, red-hennaed hair. Her leopard print shirt, worn over a pair of black slacks, was unbuttoned to best show off her goods. She tucked her bare feet and red painted toes along her side.

Kiki exhaled. Her eyes narrowed as she took the three of us in, brazenly scoping out Theo and Kai. “You visit with such delicious friends, Sophinchka.” Her voice was so gravely that I’d mistaken her for a guy more than once on the phone. But the sound of her familiar Russian accent was comforting.

Kai and Theo exchanged looks. Theo may have shuddered.

“Down, Kiki,” I said. “Theo is gay and both are taken.”

“I appreciate beauty.” Said with the kind of leer that undermined any potential poetry in the statement. Kiki angled her cheek up and tapped her index finger against it. “Sugar me.”

Obediently, I went over and kissed it.

Ignoring Felicia.

Who ignored me.

Kiki tugged me down beside her on the sofa. “What brings you home? Spring break already?”

Felicia shook her head in fond exasperation at her friend. I was very familiar with the gesture, since she’d directed it at me numerous times.

Except without the fond part.

Felicia swirled her drink. “You always encourage her. The only reason Sophie is here is because she wants something.”

Yeah, but I wasn’t about to go blurting out details in front of Kiki. “Could I speak to you privately?” I asked.

Kiki stubbed out her cigarette in a heavy crystal ashtray on top of the wide leather ottoman that served as a coffee table.

Kai and Theo flinched.

Kiki smiled at the boys. “Nichivo,” she said in Russian. “No matter. You can speak freely.”

I frowned, confused.

Kai edged toward me. “Sophie,” he said in an oddly neutral voice, “A little warning that Kiki is Hekate would have been nice.”

Ripping open a new pack of cigarettes, she paused to wink at me.

I open-mouth gaped at Kiki.

Hekate was the Goddess of Night, Magic, Witchcraft, the Moon, and—I racked my brain—Ghosts. Among other things. Hekate had also alerted Demeter when Kai took Persephone to the Underworld, and then been Persephone’s companion. Talk about a long friendship.

“But you’re Russian,” I said, trying to process.

“Da. For now. I needed a new look, and, well, Moskva always provided such amusements.” She slid a cigarette into her mouth with a practiced ease. “Light.”

I picked up the lighter from beside the ashtray and flicked it. Something I’d done many times before. “Who do you like more?” I asked. “Me or Persephone?”

Kiki barked out a laugh. “You. Especially now that you have everyone’s nuts in a twist.” She glanced at Felicia, eyes glinting mischievously. “Present company included.”

Felicia frowned.

I looked over at Kai and Theo, neither of whom looked happy at this turn of events. I couldn’t understand the problem. Okay, there was yet another member of the Greek pantheon to deal with, but this one liked me. What was the big deal? “How’d you know?” I asked instead. They hadn’t recognized her, so something else had given her away.

“The tattoo,” Theo said in a flat voice. “When she stubbed out the cigarette.” He mimed her sleeve riding up.

I glanced at Kiki’s wrist. I’d seen that tattoo so many times that I’d forgotten it was there. The design featured a small circle inside a larger one. Between the two, there was a ring of three semi-circles, almost as if they were trying to keep the small and large circles apart. In the very center of the design, there was a stylized star. I touched the tattoo gently.

“You always did love tracing it,” Kiki said.

I smiled, feeling a brief nostalgia for my younger self. “Hekate’s wheel. Except I didn’t know that then.”

She exhaled again, turning her head so the smoke wouldn’t catch me full-on in the face. “It’s true. You do remember everything.”

I nodded.

“Ochen horosho.”

I was too distracted trying to figure out the dynamic between Theo, Kai, and Kiki to respond to her praise. Kiki patted my hand. “Don’t worry. Kyrillos never liked me having the run of the Underworld.”

“Or my father’s ear,” Kai said.

“I can’t help my charms,” she replied, with a sly smile.

Okay. That made sense for Kai. But Theo was scowling at Kiki with a hatred I’d never seen from him before. The only thing I could think of was …

“Holy crap,” I gasped. Suddenly it all made sense. “You’re the witch that took Theo’s power.”

Kiki tilted her head in agreement.

I grasped her hand, almost desperately. “Give it back. Please.” The difference his power could make, to our battle and to the safety of my friend’s future was enormous.

Kiki’s look was almost sympathetic. “I can’t, Sophinchka. That was the payment. The balance. I gave a human baby goddess power. I had to take a god’s power and render him human.”

“Titan, not god,” said Theo.

“Regardless.” Kiki took another drag. “I can’t just give it back.” She looked shrewdly toward Theo. “But I think you know that already, don’t you Prometheus?”

Felicia had used our little catch-up chat to toss back her drink and get another one. She returned to her chair already making headway on the liquor. “Cut to the chase. What do you want?”

“We’re here to make a deal,” said Theo.

Felicia gave him a totally fake smile. “Delightful. I want to hear my darling daughter offer it.”

Like mother, like daughter. I pasted on a beaming, fraudulent smile of my own. “I’d like nothing better.” Our smiles were plenty broad but our gazes were combative.

“I grow old,” Kiki said. “Speak already.”

I kept eye contact with Felicia. “You wanted power?” I spread my hands wide. “It’s yours. Original deal on the table. Kai and I take out Zeus and Hades, and let you rule.” My throat caught as I choked that out, but choke it out I did.

From the way Felicia’s eyes gleamed, she knew what it cost me to say it.

“Not quite,” Kai piped up.

We all turned to him with varying degrees of surprise and—from me and Theo—a bit of suspicion.

“I want the Underworld.” Kai’s face twisted. “Hades is going down and I want him to know that I have everything he cared about. You can have Olympus and Earth. The Underworld is mine.”

I exchanged an uneasy glance with Theo. This wasn’t part of the plan. For a brief second, I worried that it would be a deal-breaker and that I’d come to Felicia for nothing.

But she lit up, thrilled. “Such bitterness. I can practically feel it eating away at you.” She rested the rim of her glass against her bottom lip as she stared at Kai, thoughtfully. Then she set the glass down. “Don’t worry, darling, it’s an emotion I can appreciate. Agreed. The Underworld is yours. However, I’m simply burning with curiosity to know what’s in this for you?” She swung her piercing gaze back to me.

I leaned forward. “Zeus and Hades warded up the ritual location in Eleusis. We need you to get us inside.”

“Ah, my old stomping grounds.” I swear to God, if she’d had a mustachio to twirl in evil glee at that moment, Felicia would have done it. “It seems that you need me far more than I need you.”

Kiki tsked her, but a sharp look from Felicia kept her quiet.

I sat up straight. Beyond fed up. “Alright, Felicia. What’s it going to take? You want me to beg? I’ll beg. But despite how you feel about me, I know that you’ve always given a damn about the human race. So let’s cut the BS and name your price, so we can stop this war on Earth and stop the human casualties.”

Felicia crossed one leg over the other, as if we were enjoying a cozy chat. Her tone was anything but cozy. “Did you really think you could just waltz in here with old promises that you’d tossed away once before, and win me over so easily? Every action has a consequence. Something I’ve been rather lax in teaching you.”

I ground my teeth so hard that I could hear the enamel destruction.

Felicia picked a piece of invisible lint off her sweater. “My price is this. When this is over, you never see Kyrillos again.”

My breath hitched and, for a second, my heart stopped beating.

She smiled. “Yes. I think that will do nicely.”

Never see Kai again? Intellectually, I knew I had to say yes. What was our love against the fate of the world?

But emotionally? My throat had closed up. A cold sweat beaded my brow and icy fingers of panic clawed at me. I couldn’t say the words.