And if he was like Jo, how would MizB handle her precious son drinking blood?

Rune said, “If you don’t have a computer, then we’ll go to a library.”

Jo visited them often—alone. With Rune there, it would be the hardest place to disguise an inability to read. “Or we could head to an internet café near the local college.” Still dicey.

“Lead on.”

Outside the café, Jo watched Rune extricating himself from a throng of female admirers. Women had lined up to show him how to Google.

Jo had continually thought, I just got off with this guy. And yet he’d flashed each one his panty-melting grin.

With one girl’s help, they’d learned about Mount Hua, a towering mountain in China. Rune believed Nïx’s note referred to the tea house on Mount Hua’s soaring summit.

To reach it, one had to inch along a rickety patchwork of boards nailed to the sheer face of the mountain. The ascent was considered the world’s deadliest hike. Treacherous sections of the trail had names like Thousand-Foot Precipice, Sparrow Hawk Flipping Over, and Black Dragon Ridge.

Mortals fell to their deaths all the time. Jo was amped to travel to such an exotic and exciting place; Rune had seemed far less enthusiastic.

Now all they had to do was find a demon to get them to China.

Finally, Rune emerged. “Let’s get somewhere secluded so I can trace us.”

If she’d been alone, she would’ve disappeared in front of anybody. With a shrug, she strolled alongside him. “The guy who worked in the internet café knew tons about computers, but you chose a random coed to help us?” Jo would bet Rune didn’t play well with anyone who had a dick. She couldn’t picture him having a lot of guy buddies.

“The female mortal had sexual interest in me, and so was particularly motivated to help with my queries.”

“Do you always boil everything down to sex?”

He blinked at her. “When I want something from someone? Yes.”

Could she really expect anything different? Rune the Insatiable had used seduction as a weapon for ages. Still did.

Jo frowned up at him. Does he have ulterior motives for seducing me?

THIRTY-FIVE

The Nephele are close,” Rune said. He’d traced Jo to a meadow beneath a star-strewn sky.

With no city lights, the stars appeared so much brighter. After that memory flash during the fight with Nïx, would Jo ever look at them the same way? She was growing convinced the answers to her past resided in the stars.

“Ahead is the covey.” Rune pointed to a dense patch of fog. “They enjoy mating earthbound creatures, so much so they brought their clouds to the ground.”

As a fog bank.

He took her elbow, and they started toward it. Here I go. Into the Lore. She could handle this.

She squinted through the mist, murmuring, “Why do you think Nïx went to Mount Hua?”

“You didn’t read the history?”

She gazed away. “Got distracted.”

“Pilgrims used to seek immortality among the peaks of that region. Maybe there’s a grain of truth to the tales, and something is drawing her in. Maybe she wants to test herself on a deadly climb. It’s best not to contemplate the motives of the mad, or you’ll wind up mad yourself.”

Music and laughter carried through the fog. Like a stray drumbeat, groans rang out.

“Do you truly think she’s insane?”

“The human who brought us that note reeked of fear. She must’ve demonstrated her power to him, outing herself, and for no discernible reason? That alone proves her insanity.”

“It’s that bad for us to demonstrate power in front of humans?” Like crushing a guy’s balls one-handed while chewing gum? In front of all the folks in the neighborhood? Enough to get a supervillain name?

“You’re jesting, right? It’s the one law in the Lore all factions respect. The gods could rain down punishment for any infraction. At the very least, outing oneself to humans is thought to bring horrible luck.”

Hunting always seemed to get her in trouble. So why couldn’t she stop?

“Have you been attracting attention?” he asked. “Besides shoving me through a building?”

She shrugged. “Sometimes I punish humans a little. When I move to a place, I feel like it’s my territory—and like the people within it are mine too. If pimps and drug dealers and gang bangers mess with what’s mine, I hunt them. Hurt them. Disappear them.”

He looked unsurprised. “Vampires are notoriously territorial.”

We are? No wonder she’d been compelled to hunt! “I’m kind of a protector of prostitutes.”

He stiffened beside her. “Is that meant to be funny?”

She blinked at him. “No. I really am.” She’d need to plan a maintenance visit soon. “So why do the gods get mad when we out ourselves?”

“This is the mortals’ world. Though Loreans like to believe it’s theirs as well, it isn’t. They trespassed when they colonized here. Deities look the other way as long as Loreans don’t change the course of human history.”

“Why do beings come here then?” The fog grew increasingly thick, the grass wetter.

Rune placed his warm palm on the small of her back to guide her. Not as good as when they’d held hands, but a promising start. “Gaia is all but a heaven plane,” he said. “Life is very easy here compared to the home dimensions of many species. Immortals gather in certain Lore-rich cities—such as New Orleans. Established communities benefit them further.”