“In case someone gets pulled into a possession,” I concluded.
“Precisely,” Azrael sipped his coffee and took a seat. “And Dad gathered all of those who aren't out looking so that they wouldn't be alone. He's calling in debts left and right; doing anything he can think of to find whoever is behind this.”
“He loves his family,” I said gently. “I'd be doing the same. I'm glad Luke isn't just relying on us to find the killer.”
“Especially since we have to take a break from the search this morning,” Odin said.
“Olympus?” Azrael asked.
“Athena wanted me to go last night, but we were all too tired,” I explained. “I told Alex we'd go today.”
“That put him in a foul mood,” Trevor said with a chuckle.
I giggled.
“I'll go with you,” Azrael said after shaking his head at us. “Maybe Athena will know something helpful.”
“It doesn't hurt to ask,” I said.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ow!” I rubbed at my head as I scowled at Athena. “What the fluff?”
“I summoned you last night!” Athena shouted. “You finally saunter in this morning and you have the nerve to ask me for help before I even tell you why I wanted you here?”
“I figured I'd get this out of the way first and then we could focus on your problem,” I said.
Azrael picked up the gold arm cuff that Athena had thrown at me and calmly walked over to the Mistress of Olympus. He held out the cuff, and although his back appeared relaxed, his expression must have been something entirely different because Athena paled, and the hand she reached out to take the cuff trembled.
“You're obviously going through something disturbing,” Azrael said in his soft, dangerous tone. “I understand, as I'm in a similar situation. But if you ever throw anything at my wife again—even a paperclip—I will tear you to pieces and cast them to your owl to eat.”
“Holy cannolis,” I whispered. “Azrael, that's a bit extreme—”
“The fuck it is,” Trevor growled and cut me off. “How dare you assault our wife after she came here during the midst of our own troubles?”
“You're right; I'm sorry!” Athena held up her hands before Kirill and Odin could get in on the action. “I'm distraught and acting out of sorts. I shouldn't have done that. Children throw things, adults use their words.”
“It's okay, Athena,” I said as I went past Az and took a seat on the couch beside her chair. I glanced up at Azrael and caught the tail end of his eyes fading back to normal. “Jiminy Cricket, Az! Were you using death-angel-eyes on her?”
Azrael stretched his neck and took the seat beside me. He claimed my hand and kissed it before saying, “I'm done being nice; nice doesn't stop people from hurting my family. It's time that everyone understood what I'm capable of... and feared it.”
“I'm a little turned on right now,” I whispered.
Odin cleared his throat.
“I'm sorry about the demons,” Athena rushed on as if Azrael hadn't just done the angelic equivalent of pounding his chest, and I hadn't just inappropriately enjoyed it (inappropriate only because we were in public, otherwise I see no reason a wife shouldn't be turned on by her husband's bad-assness). “I don't know of any soul-eaters offhand. We only have Charon to ferry the dead and Hermes to lead them to Charon; neither of them harvest or consume souls. But I will look into this for you and ponder your problem if you would help me with mine.”
“What's going on, Athena?” I asked.
“Hephaestus and I have been in business together for years now,” Athena began as the rest of the men sat down. “I have several mines, and he uses the precious metals and gemstones I give him to make jewelry.”
“You own mines?” I asked in surprise.
“I'm not only the Goddess of Wisdom,” she said. “I'm also the Goddess of Handicrafts.”
“Jewelry is a handicraft?” I asked.
“When it's made by hand,” she said with an annoyed look.
“Right; sorry,” I muttered. “Go on.”
“Someone has been attacking the mines,” she said. “I met with the rest of the Twelve yesterday, and we went over the security footage meticulously; there isn't anything suspicious in them. I went down to visit the mine myself—along with several other Greeks—and none of us could find a shred of evidence as to who has been doing this. I even asked Artemis to bring her dogs but they couldn't pick up a scent that didn't belong to one of my employees.”
“How bad are these attacks?” Odin asked.
“Several of my employees have been badly injured and a few have died,” Athena said. “There have been cave-ins at every mine I own. I've had to close all of them. That can't be a coincidence.”
“And you want me to go and have a sniff?” I asked.
“I was hoping that your renowned dragon senses could find something that the dogs weren't able to,” she confirmed.
“I'd better take Torrent with me in case I need to track someone through the Aether,” I said.
“He's here with Artemis,” Athena said as she stood. “They both spent the night after Artie took her dogs to the sites. They told me that you were having some family issues so I wasn't surprised when Aleksanteri returned without you. Then Torrent
