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“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.”
—Robert Frost
THE FATES’ NEW LIST boiled down to a single stop. The thirteen names all belonged to the same coven in Minneapolis, and they were having a ritual tonight—with a human sacrifice.
“Leave it to Tantalus,” I mused as we waited atop a picnic table in a forgotten corner of a state park. “Please tell me these witches of yours aren’t cannibals.”
“They used to eat dogs,” Hecate confessed. “But not humans.”
“Joy.” I shuddered and silently thanked Khadija that my hounds were invisible to mortal eyes. Saul and Coreen patrolled the perimeter of the clearing where the witches were due to arrive at any moment. Gabriel and the only two nephilim guards Ross could spare had taken up perches in the higher trees, keeping a lookout for hellcats and Ninurta’s nightmare of a hybrid mount.
“I should have known that Inanna was behind this.” Hecate sighed and reclined on her elbows, the long sleeves of her robe dragging across the splintered tabletop. She’d skipped her modern business attire in favor of traditional ritual wear tonight since it was one of the rare occasions when her most loyal disciples would see her. “She tried to take over several of the underworlds during the First War,” Hecate explained. “She even went after her sister’s domain.”
That didn’t sound so out of the ordinary for the old gods and their old ways, but I kept my mouth shut. I hadn’t come along until a thousand-plus years later. What did I know?
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’d rather not rub elbows with Tantalus when we’re done here,” I said, changing the subject to one closer to home.
“Oh, the Fates gave up on that one.” Hecate sighed as if she were as relieved as I was by the news. “They found an old friend of mine whom the gods once turned into a polecat. I suspect her original soul won’t mind returning to my side in her human form for a change.”
“What did she do to earn the wrath of the gods—no, wait. Don’t tell me,” I said, deciding I was better off not knowing. I could deal with that revelation another day.
“Here they come,” Hecate whispered as a line of women dressed in black robes filed into the clearing. The shadows of their hoods hid their eyes, but their mouths moved as they chanted a prayer to Hecate to watch over their sister as she passed through the veil and into the grove. I guessed the goddess hadn’t explained that there’d be an Uber ride or two along the way.
As the women set up their altar and began calling the cardinal directions, Hecate’s eyes took on the blue sheen that heralded her power. It reminded me of the lagoon water on the northern isle. Whatever spark of soul matter tied her to her followers also darkened the sky. She was a nocturnal goddess, after all. And one whose energy was deeply rooted in the underworld. Which was likely why it attracted hellcats so well.
Gabriel saw them first and shouted a warning cry as the beasts rushed into the clearing. There were so many of them, coming from all directions. And Ninurta’s mount led the way. Hecate dragged me off the table just as the creature’s stinger splintered through the boards I’d been sitting on.
“Come on!” The goddess dragged me toward the circle of women. “You have to identify the original believer so I know whose soul to sever.”
Gabriel’s wings hissed against my back as he dropped out of the sky, putting himself between me and the advancing hoard. “‘I am in the midst of lions,’” he shouted over the roaring din of wings as hellcats and nephilim struggled in the air above us. “‘I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts,’” he bellowed, reciting the scripture as his battle cry.
Hecate pushed me in front of a robed woman, but her eyes were closed in meditation. This was impossible.
“Hey!” I shouted, remembering the antics I’d been forced to preform throughout our previous searches. “What’s that in the sky? A bird?”
One of the women pushed the hood of her robe back and squinted at me—just as a hellcat shoved me to the ground in the middle of the ritual circle. A nephilim swooped out of the sky and skewered the beast on his spear.
My sigh of relief came too soon. A stinger the size of a football stabbed the earth beside my head, throwing dirt in my eyes. I screamed and kicked at the beast’s underside.
“Catch!” a guard shouted overhead. I opened my hand in time to catch the spear he dropped, using the handle to bat away the next strike of the stinger. Then I angled the tip at the beast’s throat and loosed a war cry as I drove the spear into its heart.
“Rest later, reaper,” Hecate hissed as she dragged me upright by one arm. “You’re not done yet.”
The woman who had seen me now lay across the altar between the other women, her soul glowing faintly beneath the surface of her skin. I ran a trembling hand down her chest and stepped back to watch the same liquid illusion that had taken place in Texas. Only this time, the soul was at peace and ready to depart.
“Come along, dark one,” Hecate said, taking the woman by the hand. “The lampads await.”
“I hear they host the very best orgies,” the woman replied. She groaned and closed her eyes as she threw back her head. “I can’t wait to see them again.”
I shot Hecate a dirty look. “Well, there goes the neighborhood.”