“Do you think the blood will be enough?”

“Right now I’m sure of it. I think I could take him, if he tried to fight, Lena. I’m brand-new and he’s over a thousand years old. I should never be able to take him. Your blood is a game changer.”

Game changer . . .

“You mean because of the rival gang?”

“Yes. You could clinch Remo’s victory. We were looking for info on them in the SDMP detachment the other day. We think the gang is working with them to wipe Remo and us out.” Her eyes glittered. “You have the upper hand with these negotiations, remember that.”

Beth and Sandy sat crouched on the couch, just like the birds they were, and a thought crossed my mind. “Do you have a computer here?” I asked Dahlia.

She took me upstairs to a room decked out in the newest gadgets, computers, and hardware, most of which I didn’t recognize. “Here.” She sat at the computer and flicked it on. The screen came to life, and Dahlia clicked on an Internet browser. “It’s blocked from social media, but we can get information. What are you looking for?”

“Greek monsters. The two girls . . . the monster in me recognizes them, but I don’t know what they are. Or what they’re capable of.”

“What does it matter?”

I sat down beside her in the only other chair in the room. “I think Merlin is turning people into Greek monsters to be killed by the heroes of old.”

“What? That makes no sense.”

I rubbed my hands on my thighs. “It does in a twisted sort of way. If Merlin turns people he thinks are weak willed, or weak in heart, into monsters, how easy are they to kill? Me and Beth and Sandy . . . he turned us because he didn’t think we had it in us to embrace what he’d made us.”

“But what would be the point? His clientele is based on referrals. There are other warlocks who can turn people; he would lose too much business.” Dahlia sat facing me, her hands unmoving on the keyboard.

“Someone else hired him to do it, I think. Someone with a lot of money and power.” Of course, I was assuming Hera had money.

“You know who it is?” Sandy asked from the doorway.

“Shit, I didn’t hear them.” Dahlia sucked in a quick breath. Neither had I. Good to know they could sneak up on even me.

“I think so”—I grimaced—“but I’m hoping I’m wrong.”

“Because if you’re right?” Beth’s eyes were wide, the dark pupils blending into the dark of her iris.

“If I’m right, I’m not sure I can survive this.” There it was, the words that had been rumbling through my head.

The four of us were quiet. I cleared my voice. “Let’s see if we can figure out what you two are.”

Dahlia moved aside and let me type. The search didn’t take long. After making a few queries and searching one online encyclopedia article, I found a picture and description that fit.

I read it out loud. “Stymphalian birds.”

“Keep going,” Beth said.

“Well, it looks like you two are literally man-eating birds. You should have beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers you can launch at your enemies.”

Sandy leaned forward for a better look. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “So says the monster in me when I see the monsters in you.”

Beth reached out and touched a name on the list of monsters, the picture beside it something I knew all too well. Drakaina. “At least we aren’t that.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of me. “Well, it wasn’t my choice either. But it’s not so bad, it’s come in handy.”

Beth paled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize . . .”

I waved at her. “Don’t worry about it.”

The click of a door opening froze all four of us. I motioned for Beth and Sandy to stay while Dahlia and I headed downstairs.

“You really are kind of a general once you stop being so worried about offending anyone.” Dahlia kept pace with me down the stairs. I smiled.

“Thanks.”

We found Remo in the kitchen, leaning against the sink. He didn’t fit in the room. Not his frame, the piercings in his chin, the tattoos curling across the bit of flesh I could see of his chest, or the heavy army boots he wore.

His smiled, showing off his fangs. “I came not for your blood. But that will be part of the package.”

I drew in a breath. “Dahlia drank some of my blood earlier. To keep her from dying.”

His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. “Are you looking for my thanks? I have a hundred soldiers like her.”

I put my hands on my hips, hoping that Dahlia was right about my blood. “I doubt that. Dahlia. Show him just how much my blood is worth.”

She grinned. “With pleasure.”

I blinked and she was on him, tackling him to the floor like a linebacker gone wild. She followed her body slam with a flurry of punches and kicks, and her teeth dug into the back of his neck while he tried to fight back. He might as well have been a small dog being mauled by a giant wolf even though he was twice her size. The fight was so one-sided as to be laughable.

She pinned him to his belly while holding both his hands with one of hers. “See, Remo? You should want her blood more than anything.”

He stared up at me. “This is not possible.”

“It is. Now. I need help getting my brother out of the stadium. What I want from you is simple.”