Sin City Goddess by Barbra Annino

he had to blindfold her. Gagged her too, because her spitting habit was disgusting. She was tied up good and tight as a reminder to the others that there were fates worse than death.
    Fate: what a funny concept. As if fate had anything to do with anything. Were these women fated to cross his path at just the right time? Were they fated to become his playmates, his tools for the upcoming party?
    He laughed at that and sipped his coffee. Then again, maybe they were. What were the odds of finding five women who all fit the profile? Not very good, he imagined. Then again, this was Vegas. The house always won.
    He finished the coffee, spitting a few grounds back into the cup. He stood up and rinsed the cup out in the sink. The smell of rotten eggs flowed from the loose faucet. He’d have to fix that soon.
    Then he smiled. Soon. It would all happen very soon. And once the stars aligned and everything was in place, the real fun would begin. For there was debt to collect. Punishments to dole out.
    He lit a candle. Vanilla scented. And waited for his partner to arrive.

Chapter 16

    The entire journey back to the room, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t right. Every once in a while, I would spot something that reminded me of home. A griffin here, a minotaur there. Just for a second, a flash, and then it would be gone. My feathers were ruffled, my eyes were burning, and my adrenaline was pumping.
    It was the same reaction my body had whenever it prepared for battle. A tiny voice inside my head said,
War is coming
.
    I shook it off. That couldn’t be. It was impossible. There hadn’t been an immortal war in this realm in almost three millennia.
    No. I banished the thought. Whatever this was, it was bad, but that wasn’t it. Still, I could swear I had seen a Stymphalian outside the tunnel. The birds were the worst of the worst. More horrific than a rabid dragon, fiercer than Harpies, even. These monsters were gigantic, with bronze beaks that could pierce armor, razor-sharp feathers, and an insatiable appetite. They ate everything and anything. I once saw one eat a shark and then circle back for its friends.
    But their favorite meal was humankind.
    I watched as Archer turned on the electronic computer device, wondering how he and I would be any match for a fight with a Stymphalian. I couldn’t imagine it ending well.
    If the bird was indeed here, we needed help, we needed weapons.
    We needed the gods.
    Then again, Archer hadn’t even seen it. As a reanimated shade, he should be able to see any demon. Even one that had been banished to Tartarus.
    Oh, I so wanted to go for a fly. Stretch my wings, feel my muscles.
    Archer fiddled with a couple of cords, and the giant screen hanging on the wall fizzled to life.
    He turned to me. “All right. Let’s go through this.” He stopped, looked at me intently. “What’s wrong?”
    I was sitting on the curved black sofa, a crimson pillow in my lap. I was wearing the same clothes I had slipped into that morning, but the shoes were in the garbage can.
    “Nothing. Just waiting for my clothes.” I smiled.
    One good thing about Vegas, I had discovered, was that besides women and food, one could also order clothing. Some of the finer hotels had personal shoppers. Within the walls of Caesars Palace was something called the Forum Shops—miles and miles of stores where one could purchase anything from handcrafted jewelry to lingerie to comfortable shoes. My personal shopper was on the hunt while I relaxed in our suite, sipping another orange drink. They were addicting. Gatorade, it was called.
    Archer narrowed his eyes at me. “No. That’s not it. You’ve been awfully quiet since we left the tunnel. You hardly asked me a thing about Tommy’s story, and you didn’t even tell me why crazy Maybel seized your footwear.”
    I sighed. “I didn’t want to talk about Maybel because I’d like to just forget the whole thing. And there wasn’t much todiscuss as far as Tommy was