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I smiled. "That's more like it, where do I sign up?"
"We'll talk about that tomorrow," Dex said. "If there's time. Once the Alpha arrives, he'll want to see you."
"And make plans for all the dissenting factions?" I asked.
I remembered Izzy, who escorted me to the Vault on the train. Apparently, she was a part of one of those factions. At the time I assumed she was a spy for the Watcher. Now I wondered if she was working for someone else.
Was she a hemitheos too? I had a feeling she wasn't, but she might be working with them. We were accompanied all the way to Comus' citadel by hired swords. Hades only knew who else they had in their pocket. Their payroll might be bigger than Dex's.
That seemed unlikely. Now I thought about it. He employed a whole, huge residence of people and a bunch of soldiers and guards. I would hate the job of sorting out their weekly wages, or being his accountant. Although, they did things differently here. They might only get food, accomodation and their pick of the CD library, rather than money.
I mean, what else could anyone need?
"I would assume that's on the agenda," Dex said vaguely. Now he sounded like Knox, not wanting to give out any information unless the Alpha said so.
I was starting to dislike this Alpha guy. As far as I could tell, he kept his head down and let Dex take the blame for everything. The Keeper seemed to be the one who made all the decisions. Until now.
I drew in a breath, and their scent with them. Kerina was as calm as ever, but the guys all smelled of anxiety, mixed with bravado and a healthy dose of lust.
That lust was directed at me. It went both ways.
I could draw in a small fraction of power from each of them, but I didn't. Not for now at least. I was confident I was safer here than anywhere else. If any of them wanted me dead, I'd be long dead and left on top of a mountain. Besides, the scent of anxiety made me nauseous.
"Viva." Bain's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Did Comus give you any idea of how he might try to kill Hades?" On the way back to the city, he said he didn't think it was possible. Why was he asking now?
I shrugged. "He didn't say. He just said he would."
"Do you think he's done sending illusions to screw with us?" Kerina said. She looked toward Bain and something passed between them. Whatever it was, he looked amused. She narrowed her eyes at him like a warning.
"I don't know that either," I admitted. "If he pops in for a visit, I'll ask him." After a moment's thought I added, "I think that was just to keep you from stopping the hemitheos from freeing him."
"So he's probably not done," Dex reasoned. "I'd prefer he didn't kill any gods, or would-be gods."
"I think the Temples would prefer that too," I said dryly. It could be slightly awkward asking for favours from a dead god. Not to mention pointless.
"If Hades really is a god, then what would happen to all those souls in his care?" Kerina asked.
This conversation certainly was getting deep.
"That's a good reason to stop Comus," Dex said. "If we can."
"Um." I chewed my lip until everyone looked at me. "He seems to control souls. That would be bad, right?"
"Let's see," Bain said slowly. "An army of pale ones, all under his control. That sounds very bad to me. Swords and knives won't work on them."
"Uh, yeah."No shit. I grimaced.
"Most will have moved on," Dex said. "The rest—well, we'll have to get to him before they get to us." He looked right at me, as if somehow I had the answers.
"He said he'd come back for a chat, but that was about all," I said. "He didn't fill me in on the details. For some reason, he seemed to assume I would help him." I guess being a god would inflate a guy's ego to the point where he didn't think he needed to ask. Shit, a person didn't even need to be a god for that. A hint of power straight to the head would do it.
Dex nodded thoughtfully. "If he comes here, you might need to pretend you're on his side, at least until we get some answers."
Considering Comus wanted to fuck me and for me to have his babies, Dex might be asking more than I could give. I didn't mention any of that, though. The situation was weird enough.
I responded with a half shrug and a cagey, "We'll see. He might not come here at all." And this conversation was making me uncomfortable.
"We'll keep a close eye on you in case he does," Dex said. "You shouldn't be alone, at least until we know what we're up against."
