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A spike of tingles shot to his groin. Zac grabbed Tula and leaned down, kissing her hard. Her lips were warm and soft and sweet. But something had changed. It was almost like, like…her love for him wasn’t the same. Not gone. But different. Was he losing her? Did she think less of him for failing to protect her like he’d promised? Had Maury found a way to undermine her faith in him after all?
Tula pulled away, blinking up at him with wide anxious eyes. “I have to go.”
Everything in his gut told him not to let her leave, but it was like she’d said; he had to have faith in her, even if she was losing faith in him. “Be careful. This place is crawling with demons.”
She smiled. “After hanging out with Cimil, they don’t scare me.”
“Good point. See you at cocktail hour.”
Tula ran up the path toward a cluster of cabins. Zac waited a few moments before returning to the front of the main house to get directions to his yurt.
While he waited for Cindy to finish with the two demon girls, something in the pit of his stomach began twisting into a heavy, festering knot.
Something wasn’t right. Well, besides everything on this island and the entire situation. But Maury was always two steps ahead. Cimil. Fucking Cimil. She had to be helping him. But how? She was still locked away in the underworld dungeon. Maybe she filled Maury in before all this began.
Either way, if Zac wanted to defeat Maury, he had to start outsmarting a devious demon who knew the future. Believe nothing. Expect anything.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Cimil, if it’s the last thing I do, I will murder you,” said Forgetty, the Goddess of Forgetfulness.
“What now?” Cimil dusted pebbles off her dirty, dented-up knees. That had been one hell of a rough ride through the demon portal. The thing spit them out, sending them all flying through the air, almost like it didn’t want them there. Cimil had smacked right into the cave wall, and she suspected the same had happened to her brethren, some of whom were still lying unconscious on the cave floor. Good thing our bodies are so bouncy and resilient.
“Well? What do you have to say for yourself this time?” Forgetty, who was a tall blonde with long legs, pointed to the black-and-yellow bees clinging to her blonde braids. “How could you not warn us? How!”
“It’s not my fault the portal switched everyone’s powers.”
“Oh, come on! You knew this would happen. You literally said, ‘Yippee ki-yay, motherfuckers. Let’s do some power mash-ups!’”
“What I meant was that I hoped to get some dust fairy bits mixed in with mine. Did you know that fairy cooters never get all stretched out? Yes, that’s right. Forever young vages. Who wouldn’t want that?”
Forgetty gave her the death stare with her turquoise eyes—same color as all the gods. But now Forgetty’s had little black and yellow specks in them.
Oops.
“Okay, fine!” Cimil threw her hands in the air. “I may have known that when two or more immortals pass through a demon portal, things get scrambled. But count your blessings, Forgetty. I mean, you could have ended up with Akna’s magical uterus.”
Akna was the Goddess of Fertility. She could make anything multiply, from people and animals to inanimate objects. She came in super handy at parties. Need more snacks? Boom! More chairs? Boom! Akna’s powers were awesome. Of course, the guests were usually unhappy the next morning. Apparently, people didn’t like to wake up magically pregnant. Yeah, that fundraiser we threw for the nunnery in the Middle Ages didn’t go so well.
“Cimil!” Forgetty snapped her fingers to grab her attention. “You have to undo this. There’s a swarm of bees on my head. This is not okay. And just look at Colel! I am literally watching her grow a beer belly as we speak.”
Colel, the Mistress of Bees, rubbed her tummy. “I feel like I’m about to give birth to a keg.”
Belch, God of Wine and Intoxication, woke up and mumbled, “You look fine to me.”
Forgetty ignored him and continued, “And what about Ixtab? She’s throwing up fireballs.” Forgetty pointed to Ixtab, the Goddess of Suicide.
“Maybe she’ll enjoy being the Goddess of Sunshine?” Cimil thought it was pretty handy and entertaining. At the moment, there was plenty of light, and watching Ixy breathe fire reminded her of the circus. Gods, how I miss naked clowns. Over the years, they’d really grown on her. Especially when the Australian circus came to town: Thunder from Down Under the Tiny Car. The things they do with those red noses. Le sigh…
“Cimil!” Votan, who’d been lying on the ground passed out, came to and sprang to his feet. “What have you done? I am experiencing the sudden urge to help people fall in love. Godsdammit!”
