The man shuffled toward us, barely able to walk, but we both knew that was not the case. When he came around, a little girl stepped out from behind him. He held her hand, the smile on her face forced there, plastic like a Barbie’s.

“Eidolon, I presume?”

He was corporeal. He’d taken a human body. He had blood that could be used to trap him. I slid a hand inside my pocket and wrapped my fingers around the god glass.

He held up a palm to stop me. “Please. I am not half as stupid as my… bestie? If you even think of taking the glass out of your pocket, I’ll snap the girl’s neck.” He sat down and hugged the girl to him, his hand tight around her jaw. But her smile stayed in place. Her eyes remained unblinking. “And if you summon him, she won’t live long enough to see him materialize.”

I could only assume he meant Reyes.

“You’ve already lost one of your precious humans. Although all I see is old leather and a bag of bones.”

The poor man whose body Eidolon had confiscated had died the moment he took it over. The power was too much for the human system. And it would start to decay immediately. Eidolon didn’t have much time.

“I only took him because he was close by and he could hold me long enough to have this chat.” He pointed an aged finger at me. “I know how much you humans like to chat.” He smiled wide and indicated the girl. “Plus, this body came with a ready-made bargaining chip. She is his granddaughter. Two for the price of one.”

The walls of my chest tightened. As did his grip on her jaw. Tears slipped past her lashes and slid like silver ribbons down her face.

“Please let her go. Take me instead.”

“Posh.” He waved off the notion. “You think I don’t know what you are?”

“You’re one, too. You could kill me. Just let her go.”

“Don’t patronize me,” he ordered from between gritted teeth. “I told you. I know what you are, Elle-Ryn.”

I blinked in confusion. A god could kill another god. What did he mean?

“You are thirteen strong. You have gifts passed down from the original seven, made stronger every time you” – he leaned in and chuckled – “conquered another of your brethren. I’ll wait for the right moment, if that’s okay with you.”

“Conquered? I don’t understand. The seven original gods from my plane melded together.”

He burst out laughing. Because of the host he’d chosen, it came out more as a cackle. Did he choose an elderly man to set our minds at ease? To make himself appear harmless? ’Cause it wasn’t working.

“They melded? Who told you that, little god?”

“I’m not little. If what you say is true, I’m stronger than you.”

“That you are. I meant no offense. I only meant that, of all the gods to exist, you are the youngest. Have you not heard what you are called?”

I knew it before he said it.

“You are the god eater. The one to survive a war that raged for eons. The lone survivor, for you eventually ate them all. You are the victor, and to the victor goes the spoils.” He gestured toward Reyes, who was inside working the bar. “And what lovely spoils they are.”

When Shawn inched closer, Eidolon tightened his hold on the girl’s throat. He held her in some kind of a trance. On the outside, she looked perfectly calm. But on the inside, terror ripped her mind to shreds. He was torturing her. Terrorizing her.

Shawn backed down but didn’t relax.

“You’re lying,” I said, racking my brain for some kind of plan. No way could I get to the girl. He’d snap her neck before I got two inches. “My dimension is peaceful. I’ve seen it.”

He roared at that, his false teeth almost flying out. He stuffed them back in. “Jehovah really did a number on you, did He not? A number. Where do they come up with such witty phrases, do you suppose?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You are the most violent of all the war gods from your dimension. And the most cunning. Which would explain why you are here instead of Al-Deesh or Ran-Eeth or Ayn-Eethial or… I could go on. Or perhaps you don’t remember the gods you ate?”

I ate gods? I really was a god eater? In the literal sense? Was I any different than the Colombian who wanted to eat my flesh to absorb my power?

No. He was wrong. Ran-Eeth and Ayn-Eethial merged to form me. That much I did remember. He was lying.

“Why do you think you’re here?” he continued. “Jehovah is babysitting you. Nothing more. Do you think He needed to outsource for the reaper position? He had His choice among billions.”

“You know, every time I talk to one of you gods or an angel or a departed who might know a little more than most, I get a different take on what I am. I’m Charley Davidson. That’s what I am. I don’t go to war. I don’t eat gods. I’m the least violent person you’ll ever meet.”

“Oh yes. I could sense your peaceful nature when you had the Razer kill all those men the other night.”

I startled, surprised he knew about the Colombians.

“It is in every fiber of your being. You devour your enemy without remorse. You make war look like child’s play. The generals of this world would do well to recruit you.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him.

“Then why are you here?” I asked as if I didn’t know. But I had to stall. To come up with a plan. I couldn’t just stop time to try to get to her. It wouldn’t work on him. He’d be right there with me. I didn’t dare try to get Reyes’s attention, although he’d probably figure it out sooner rather than later.

“Ah. Well, as you know, we are gods. We can go anywhere and become anything we desire on any plane as long as we have a way to get there. A portal? And therein lies my problem. Lucifer got us into this dimension. He used Rey’azikeen to do it. But the Razer only works between this dimension and Lucifer’s. Doesn’t do me much good. Therefore, I need a portal that can get me anywhere.”