My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

Whatever happened to dinner and a movie? (Part 3)

I felt numb inside. Did I have any chance at all against the love Kai had had with Persephone? Could he even move on when she was still present as a part of me? A constant reminder? Even if the world depended on it?

Kai nudged me sharply. "Get out of your head. It's just an illusion."

An illusion that could still dazzle Kai. I ignored the hollow feeling in my chest and planted myself in a firmer stance to help take her on. "Why would Jack have me, I mean Persephone, attack random intruders?"

"Nothing random about it," Kai said grimly, tensing as Mathilda charged us again. "Different images for different people."

"And maximum mind trip." I pulled left, just as Kai pulled right. We ended up frozen in place for a split second and only Kai's lightning fast reflexes kept us from being pancaked by this supernatural security alarm.

"Pull back on the emotion so we can get free." Kai ordered.

He managed to contort himself to send out a blast of his pointed, scary black light, but it missed her and slashed into a wall, tearing through it like scissors in paper.

"Comforting you is killing my aim," he ground out as Mathilda picked us up and pounded us against the floor.

Through extreme force of will, I managed to pull one of my arms off of Kai. It was the best I could do, but seemed to work. Kai held me in a half-hug and the two of us hit the offensive.

Kai slashed her legs out from under her. They crumbled to toxic ash. But her torso and giant hammer hands kept coming.

"I don't look as good without legs," I commented, as I tried to get a vine around her torso.

"Most girls don't," Kai replied, dodging us out of the way of a strike.

"Most? Seriously?"

Bits of wooden floor flew with each pound of her hammers against them.

"Well, there was this one—"

Mathilda shot forward, slithering toward us like a snake, her arms extending and flailing as we backed up closer and closer to a wall of windows.

Whatever I felt about Persephone, no one else got to rag on her. Or impersonate her.

"You are defiling the memory of my hotness, you fraud," I said, as with my free hand I shot a vine around Mathilda's wrists, binding them together so they were trapped above her head.

This allowed Kai to concentrate a nasty point of light which bisected her into halves. She shuddered and lay still.

Still holding fast to each other, we sidled over. Kai prodded her with a foot.

"Uh-oh."

We jumped back as her bits slithered together.

Tensed and ready to battle again, we watched in amazement as the monster transformed herself back into regular, rigid Mathilda.

She patted a lone stray hair back into place. "May I help you?" she asked in frosty tones.

"God, no," I said and slingshot her into a far wall with one of my vines, hard enough that she blacked out.

We ran (stumbling, since that stupid half-hug didn't make for smooth movement) for Jack's executive office, shutting the door behind us.

"You okay?" Kai asked.

I nodded and separated myself from Kai. To my relief, we were able to let go of each other now that we felt a bit calmer.

Cautiously, I pulled aside the damask drapes covering the office window and peered back into the reception area. Mathilda once more sat at her desk.

The room was busted up, but she was fine. I was glad she'd returned to her normal image. I couldn't have handled it if she'd remained in Persephone's form.

"He's not here," Kai said.

I turned away from the drapes to look.

The office screamed Big Cheese expensive comfort. All ergonomic yet tasteful furnishings, massive bookshelves stuffed with hardcovers, and walls holding art that was understated yet probably priceless.

Jack must have heard us and bolted because the leather blotter on his hand-carved desk was cluttered with papers as if he had left mid-read, an expensive pen tossed haphazardly on top. To the left of the floor-to-ceiling window stood a small bar. On it sat a cut-crystal glass holding a finger of amber liquid, no doubt poured from the open decanter beside it.

Oh good. A daytime drinker. Thanks to Felicia, I could handle those no problem. Except that he wasn't here to deal with. "All that for nothing," I sighed, scrolling idly through Jack's call list on his landline.

Kai came and leaned over my shoulder. "Anything?"

I shrugged. "A bunch of international numbers. Just seemed the CSI thing to do."

"Hang on. Go back."

I glanced at the name. "Who's Maia? New girlfriend?"

"His mom. Who he hasn't spoken to in ages. Their fight was epic."

Her number came up a bunch of times on the display. "So they made up?"

"Or they were never actually fighting in the first place. Just a convenient cover story." He took my hand and tugged on it. "Come on."

We strode past Mathilda, who didn't give us a second glance, and over to the single elevator.

I pressed the button. "Let me guess, we're going to Maia's for a little interrogation?" I put on my best tough guy face.

We stepped into the elevator, which was as nice as the bathroom had been. More marble, classical music tastefully piped in, brass call buttons, and a comfy leather bench. Since we had thirty floors to go down, I oped to take it.

A small TV screen discretely mounted in the corner streamed various business news items. It also showed the time. I did the conversion and realized that it was still Saturday morning back at Hope Park. We had almost a day until my meeting.

Kai sat down beside me.

I angled my body toward him, one hand splayed on the bench, the other casually draped on his thigh. Seriously, great thighs. Then I looked sideways at him, up through my lashes. I'd seen Bethany pull this move and it always seemed to work.

A spark of interest lit his face.