Page 100 of Playing with Fire

It still shocked me Anubis had stuck around long enough to meet the Sphinx, convince her she wanted him, and make a child together on Earth. It astonished me he had cared enough to come to a courthouse to brawl while I married Quinn.

“You want ambrosia,” the CDC representative repeated.

I really needed to stop woolgathering and start browbeating the woman on the phone so I could hurry and hunt down my wayward husband. “A full vial of ambrosia and the sedative, a jar of honey, and three eyedroppers. Don’t forget the two hundred gel capsules, either.”

“To hunt gorgons.”

“Yes, to hunt gorgons. How else am I supposed to hunt gorgons and destroy their dust if you won’t give me napalm?”

“You intend to kill gorgons with it? Do you have a warrant?”

She should have asked me about a warrant when I first told her I needed the materials to hunt gorgons. Were my requests that shocking? I sighed. “Hey, old man. Can you tell this CDC representative about the gorgon rights and laws crap I know nothing about?” I offered Quinn’s grandfather the phone.

“I have a name.”

Did he? Huh. “I bet you do. It might even be a nice one. I bet Miss CDC Representative would love to hear your name.”

The gorgon and his snakes hissed at me, but he took the phone. “I am Former King Archambault Quinn. I am a gorgon, and the guilty have interfered with a gorgon prince’s bride on their wedding night. This is a grave insult, one covered by gorgon law, condemning the hive to death. Give her all she desires.” He listened for a moment. “I appreciate that, Miss Milson. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble handling any problems.”

Without waiting for an answer, Quinn’s grandfather gave me the phone back. “Since you can’t provide the incubus or succubus for reasons I can understand, how about the phoenix feather, the ambrosia, the sedative, and the other materials I requested?”

The CDC rep made whimpering strangled noises. “What are you trying to do? Cause a disaster?”

After I retrieved Quinn and dealt with the gorgons, their dust, and made certain Audrey McGee never bothered anyone ever again, I needed to have a talk with someone at the CDC about their supply representatives. Miss Milson had no appreciation for the dangers of gorgon dust. “No. I’m going to wipe out a gorgon hive believed to be manufacturing gorgon dust. Since nobody trusts me with napalm, I have to get creative. You could just provide a tanker truck of the best napalm manufactured—the high intensity stuff—and a few strong men to operate the machinery. Then I wouldn’t need to get creative.”

“You’re banned from having napalm of any rating.”

“Then I need to get creative. Can you have everything I requested within an hour?”

“Heaven help us all, but yes. There are no willing succubus or incubus available, so I will procure the rest of your supplies after I contact headquarters for authorization.”

I grimaced at the thought of having to deal with Marshal Clemmends again. “If it greases the wheels, tell Mr. Clemmends Archambault Quinn is involved.”

If using my grandfather-in-law’s reputation smoothed the way for me, I had no problem dropping names. The gorgon and his snakes watched me; I reached over and stroked the nearest coral snake under its chin.

“I’ll make certain upper management is aware there’s a reasonable adult with you.”

“Excellent. Thank you.” Hanging up, I smirked at the receiver before rubbing my hands together. “I have waited my entire adult life for a chance like this. Also, that representative seems to think you’re adult supervision. You obviously have her fooled.”

A bunch of worried cops and an annoyed gorgon stared at me. I smiled and waited. The standoff lasted at least ten minutes.

Quinn’s grandfather sighed. “Very well. I’ll bite. What are you planning?”

“Probably not what you think. I told you I have bad luck, right?”

“You didn’t need to tell anyone you have bad luck, dear. We know. Anyone who has met you knows.”

Yep, Quinn had definitely gotten his smart mouth from at least one of his grandfathers. “There’s a reason for it, and it involves magic. While I’d love to kill Audrey and her brood with the ambrosia, that’s not happening. Too dangerous for anyone nearby.” I shrugged. “What I’m going to do is something a lot worse and bordering on the idiotic.”

I had kept my vanilla human status for a long time. If Quinn could live a relatively normal life, if my magic helped me find him and put an end to Audrey, I could deal with the consequences of changing my status. Meeting the rest of Quinn’s family reassured me my magic rating wouldn’t bother him too much.

“I find that answer rather worrying.”

“I lie sometimes.” There. That was a good start to my confession, although no one seemed impressed with my statement.

“Just explain what you’re planning.”

“I lied when I told people I find things through luck or research. I use magic. Bad things usually happen when I use it, so I try to avoid it. I can also do a few other tricks I don’t think other unicorns can.”