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Nothing to do at all.
Of course, any plans I had to bump into the bad-luck priest—perhaps repeatedly and in a horizontal position—would have to be put on hold now that I had a petite sidekick who would be sharing my room with me.
Guess Sido didn’t need to send Leo along as my chaperone after all.
The Fates were probably laughing their asses off over this. Seemed like the kind of thing they’d get a real kick out of.
We registered at the front desk, getting side-by-side rooms for Leo and me. I suspected from her exaggerated pout that the kid was a bit disappointed she didn’t get her own suite, but fat fucking chance of that. Simply because the rooms were discounted didn’t mean I was made of money. And getting her a little party suite of her own wasn’t on my to-do list.
This wasn’t a vacation. This was supposed to be a life lesson, and maybe, just maybe, an opportunity for her to discover where she really belonged. Part of me hoped she wouldn’t find the temple she had been destined for because then she could go back home to Yvonne and live a normal life.
But I also knew that if I hadn’t made it to Seth’s temple, I wouldn’t be the person I was today. I might be happier, or I might not be, but the temple had become my home, for better or worse. The Fates had meant me for this life, and they’d meant for Sawyer to have a home too. If I could help put her on that path, I had to believe it was the right thing to do.
In any other situation I’d have never considered bringing her along. A normal job for Seth was so dangerous even I tended to fear for my safety. No way would I put a teenager in that position. Plus, with all these murders it would be foolish to put her in the spotlight, potentially risking her life. Especially now that I knew she was meant to be an initiate.
The convention was different.
I couldn’t think of a safer place for her to be. It was the one time of year every cleric was required to be on their best behavior, and the security surrounding the event was second to none. We were important people, and our safety was everyone’s top concern.
There weren’t many more secure places in the entire country for Sawyer to be right then.
We got upstairs, and I showed her into our suite, and all the shoe-scuffling and scowling from the lobby vanished.
The room was huge, divided into two sections by a partial wall in the middle that gave the illusion of the one large room being two smaller ones. On one side was a pale gray sofa sectional, a desk, and a wall-mounted TV. On the other side of the wall were two luxuriously appointed queen-size beds with overstuffed pillows and duvets, and another TV set.
The bathroom was a whole other story in over-the-top. It had a soaker tub and a walk-in shower decked out with smooth river rock and a rain showerhead.
Someone had come up before us and p
ut a fancy dog bed next to the couch, giving Fen his very own place to crash.
Spoiled.
Him and me both.
I dropped my duffle bag on the bed by the window and pulled my black dress out. Jersey might be durable, but it was probably a good idea to hang the thing up anyway. Sawyer was busy going from one room to the other and back again announcing the different things she was discovering. “There’s a built-in stereo!” she exclaimed, wrestling through her bag for her iPhone.
“I know.”
Before I could stop her, the sound of a funky soul track started playing through the in-room surround sound.
Stevie Wonder.
I’d been expecting some terrible boy bands or pop acts, the kind who would be headlining shows at the nearby casinos all week. Instead the kid had to go and surprise me by playing something decent.
Maybe I should stop being so judgmental.
Nah.
I deposited my dress and heels in the closet at the entrance and filled a glass tumbler with water from the sink. The room-service menu was on display, showing enough delicious-looking twenty-five-dollar cheeseburgers and steaks to make my stomach rumble.
If forced to pick something I loved most about Las Vegas, I would tell you it was the buffets.
The glorious, never-ending buffets, where you could load your plate with king crab and melted butter, then go back for pecan pie, then finish it off with twelve different kinds of cheese.
Buffets were how the gods blessed the hungry, and Vegas was where the blessings came endlessly.
My stomach growled a little louder.
