Hermes snatched the message and was gone in a literal flash of light. The air sucked around us, drawing me toward the door. I shut it. “What did you say to Achilles?”

“That you would meet him. But only if your brother remained unharmed.”

I let out a soft breath. “Will he do that?”

The look on Ernie’s face did not ease my worry. Something between a frown and a twist of his lips. “Achilles is a warrior. They can be unpredictable because they don’t always think but instead just rush in with their weapons out and their shields up.”

I looked at the clock. We were supposed to meet Zeus in fifteen minutes. It would take us at least that long to get to the club. I itched to go by the stadium and see if I could at least see Tad and make sure he was okay. But even I knew that was silly. No doubt they’d be inside the stadium, not standing outside like a bunch of scalpers at a Backstreet Boys concert. And it was too far to get to Bellingham and back to Charlie’s Club in the fifteen minutes.

“Don’t worry, you’ll figure this out. Everything will be okay in the end. That’s how these things work, you know.” Ernie flew to my left, so we were eye to eye.

I snorted softly. “Have you read any Greek mythology lately? A happily-ever-after is about the furthest thing from a guarantee. The good guys don’t always win. The world isn’t always saved. People die, Ernie. I can’t lose Tad again. I lost him once; I can’t go through that again. Besides, if you’ll recall, I’m the monster. Not the good guy. I’m supposed to lose.”

He flew around to the passenger side of the car. With his free hand he touched his left earlobe and poofed, for lack of a better word. I blinked at where he’d been only a second before.

Movement inside the car caught my eyes. Ernie waved at me from the passenger seat. Well, that explained that. I slid into the driver’s side and buckled up.

We headed into the city, and it wasn’t long before I noticed the same vehicle behind us. “I think I have a tail.”

“Well you have a tail, that’s for sure. I don’t.” Ernie shuffled his butt deeper into the leather seat.

“No.” I hurried us through a yellow stoplight. “I mean we have someone following us.”

Ernie spun around and leaned over the back of his seat. “You mean the cop car?”

“Yeah.”

“Could just be going our way.”

I frowned. “I’m starting to believe there is no such thing as coincidence. What do you want to bet it’s Officer Jensen?”

“He is kinda cute. Has that exotic mocha skin and dark eyes.” Ernie grinned over at me. “I could shoot him with one of my arrows. Make him fall for you.”

“I think not.” Though I did agree Officer Jensen was a handsome man, he worked for the mob boss who was also a vampire, who’d recently kissed me in a way that made every other man look dull and boring.

Not a mark in Officer Jensen’s favor. “I keep telling you. I’m married. I can’t even think like that until the divorce is final.”

“Which of course is never going to happen since the courts will treat you as if you are dead,” Ernie said.

I glanced at him. “I may not have the paperwork started yet, but it is going to happen. You can bet your chubby butt on that.”

“Except that the human world, where your marriage was performed, considers you a nonentity. If they gave you a divorce, that would be admitting you have rights. That would set off a ripple effect that would go through the entire world. There is no way anyone is going to let that happen. Certainly not a human judge.”

My jaw dropped, and I inadvertently took my foot off the gas pedal. The car coasted to a stop in the middle of the road, and it wasn’t until the police cruiser pulled up behind me and flicked its lights on that I shook myself out of the paralysis that grabbed me.

I steered the car over to the side of the road. Behind me, the officer got out of the car. Mocha skin, dark eyes indeed. Officer Jensen approached my window. I rolled it down and forced a smile up at him.

“Officer, we have to stop meeting like this.”

“I have a report that this car was stolen from a Barbie Bollinger.” He looked down at his notepad and then up at me. “I want to see the license and registration. Now.”

“Hey, I thought we were developing a friendship. You know: your boss likes me so you have to be nice.” Oh dear, did I really just say that out loud?

Officer Jensen’s face went a careful, neutral blank. “License and registration.”

I didn’t have my license with me. I leaned forward and dug around in the glove compartment. I locked eyes with Ernie and whispered, “I don’t have all the paperwork.”

He shrugged. “You don’t need it. Make him forget. You’re a damn siren. Use what you’ve got, girlfriend.”

Use it. Like I’d come with an instruction manual as to being a Super Duper. Well, maybe I had, but I’d left it with Merlin. Dang it all. Then again, it had worked on Steven the receptionist. Kinda.

I drew in a breath and sat back up. I smiled up at Officer Jensen. “I don’t need a license.”

He frowned at me. “Yes. You do.”

“You’re going to let me go and stop following me,” I whispered. He leaned forward.

“If you don’t produce a license and registration in the next ten seconds, I’m going to haul you down to the station.”