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CHAPTER ONE
Damien Greystone willed himself not to strangle the redhead bathing in a tub of grape jelly. But he’d be a fool to think he could go up against her, a powerful goddess.
As things stood, the insane deity had him by the balls, and with this power, she’d been slowly turning his life into a circus.
Her latest stunt was the last straw.Completely unforgivable!
“Cimil.” He stared at the bubble machine to his side, avoiding her nakedness. “I understand you are all-powerful and all-knowing; however, you have brought back theonlytwo women I have ever cared for from the dead. Willa was a witch and not a kind one. She will eat Sky alive.” And Sky, being a modern woman, would not stand for being threatened, degraded, or pushed aside. In short, this was a disaster in the making.What the devil was Cimil thinking?
“You’re welcome!” Cimil declared triumphantly.
No. Not welcome. “What I do not understand,” he brushed off the bubbles accumulating on the front of his navy suit, “is why you would then force thembothto work for me.” Cimil had told the women that if they wanted to get back inside living bodies, they each had to sidekick for him.
“Don’t think that just because you’re all,” she waved a hand in his direction, “smokin’ hot with pouty sex lips, that whining will work on me.”
He wasnotwhining. And his looks were irrelevant, though she wasn’t wrong. He was an exceptionally handsome man—tall, physically fit, thick brown hair like all Greystone men.
“Cimil, I am not above using my looks to my advantage when the situation calls for it, but today isnotone of those days. I do not need sidekicks. Especially those two women.”
She inhaled deeply and blew out a breath, sending more bubbles in his direction. “Damien, you are my right hand now—my sheriff—the scrum to my scrumdiddlyumptious plan. That makes these lovely ladies your deputy scrums. But alas, you are right. Having both around will only cause distraction. Therefore, you may choose one.”
“Oh, thank you,” he said dryly. “That is going to sit well with the ladies.” Cimil was loving this, wasn’t she? But that was Cimil. She wasn’t happy if she wasn’t creating chaos (and then coming to the rescue so she could be the hero). Unfortunately, her solutions always came with a price.
Case in point, he had agreed to be Cimil’s right hand in order to bring back Sky—the woman he accidentally ran over with his SUV. He also happened to find Sky insanely attractive. Why wouldn’t he agree to Cimil’s terms?
Little did he know that Cimil would also bring back Willa, his first love from almost two hundred years ago. To be clear, that relationship had not ended well.
“I choose neither,” he replied, “because we both know that anyone who gets close to me miraculously ends up dead.”
Going to whine about me now, brother? You are such a pussy. Some people have three, four, even five souls inhabiting them. You, though? Just one extra. And he’s awesome. You’re also welcome.
Damien ignored the evil twin residing inside him—an inherited trait like his thick dark hair. All Greystone males were born this way. And yes, the twins were always psychotic, murdering assholes.
“Then lucky you,” Cimil said chirpily, “because you get to pick whichever woman you want to keep close.” Her smile melted away, replaced by a savage gleam in her turquoise eyes—a sign of her divinity. He now had the same color eyes, compliments of Cimil, who had demanded he accept her gift of immortality. He guessed it was to make him a little sturdier for the dangerous tasks ahead.
“And if I do not choose?” Damien folded his arms over his chest.
“Then I will kill them both instead of one.”
His stomach lurched. “You-you want tokillthe woman I do not choose?”
“Yes siree, Bob. And just to make it interesting, I willalsokill both women if you fail your next mission.Comprende?”
“You cannot do this.”
“Can. Have. Done. And now you must leave. You’re disturbing my purpling. My man, Roberto, will be home soon, and this is his kinky surprise.” She leaned forward, whispering, “He loves the corpse look. See you back here in one week. You’d best get that fine tailored ass of yours on a plane to Brazil.”
“Brazil?”
“Hellooo? Remember? The last living vampire?” Cimil scooped a bunch of jelly in her hands and smeared it on her face. “He was last spotted hiding in the rainforest. You must find him and convince the hermit-ified vampire to come out of hiding. Bring him here to me. We have a lot of work to do, restarting the entire vampire race.”
A few years ago, most of the supernatural life on the planet had been wiped out in the Great Explosion. Any creatures that were once human, such as vampires, became human again. The other creatures simply died, though a handful survived for unknown reasons. In any case, the event prompted the gods to retire shortly after. With so few supernatural creatures left alive, it seemed like the perfect time to pursue other interests and allow humans to fend for themselves. Now Cimil was secretly breaking her retirement and meddling everywhere, including this next mission to have Damien find the last living vampire.
“Cimil,” Damien said, “you once told me he wants nothing to do with the modern world. Why would I, a man who completely sympathizes, disturb him? Clearly he wishes to be alone.”
Cimil narrowed her eyes. “Because I told you to. Now shoo! Shoo with your shoes. You have one week.”
One week? Fucking goddess.Damien turned to leave and then stopped. “Cimil, there will be a day when this relationship of ours comes to an end. I will not do your evil bidding forever.” The question was, how could he get out from under her thumb?
