Sin City Goddess Read Online Free Page A

just saying those words brought up painful memories that boiled my blood.
    Hades said, “You’re correct. Normally, we wouldn’t send you or anyone, wouldn’t even be monitoring the humans, but this is an important case.”
    I looked at the screen. I would rather dig out my own eyeballs and feed them to a raccoon through a straw than go to Las Vegas. I had to think fast. “By order of the Fates, all missions of duty by any god or goddess must be approved by them. Surely they would never agree that I, a daughter of the night, travel to such an aesthetically offensive locale. They would fear that my decision making would be compromised.” I didn’t add,
Like last time
. To this day, I cannot look at a clown without wanting to strangle him with my bare hands.
    “The Fates have offered their full support,” Zeus said. “It has to be you.”
    I snapped my head toward him. “Why me? Why not Athena or Apollo?” Athena smiled at me patiently, shook her head. Heavens help me, this was not going well. “We don’t even know if the women have been harmed. And why, for the love of Gaia, would the Fates approve of this cause?”
    “Because I asked them to.” It was a woman’s voice, coming from behind me.
    I spun around to see my sister Megaera step into the room.
    “Meg? What are you doing here? I thought you were on holiday.”
    “I was. I’m home now.” She sniffled and looked down for a moment, then steadied herself.
    I rushed to her. Meg rarely showed emotion. She was a rock, a Fury. I grabbed her hands.
    “What is it? Why would you request that I complete this task?”
    Her stormy eyes met mine. She said, “It’s Sister.”
    “Alecto? What about her? Is she all right?”
    “She’s… gone.”

Chapter 4

    It turned out Meg and Alecto had been on holiday in Las Vegas.
    “We knew you wouldn’t come, Tisiphone—you never travel with us to the outer plane—so we didn’t bother asking you to join us. It was to be a short excursion anyway.” She was right. I left home only if I was forced to.
    Meg went on to explain that they had both posed as mortals enchanted with a hazing spell designed by Hecate the sorceress. You see, humans cannot gaze upon the gods in our natural state—it would blind them—so we use disguises to protect their tender eyes. We still generally look like ourselves, but our normal attire is altered, our skin dulled, and our coloring toned down to match that of the humans. My hair was actually blue-black with threads of pure silver running through it, my skin a shimmering white, and my eyes a vibrant shade of purple, but no mortal had ever seen my true colors, so to speak.
    Shortly after arriving in Sin City, as Meg called it, my sisters had met a man who offered them work as dancers (a job for the Graces, if you asked me, but my sisters were more free-spirited than I was) at the Shadow Bar.
    “He said his girls never showed up that night. We were there having a blue cocktail, and the next thing I knew, we were behind the screen, performing for patrons. It was actuallyquite exhilarating.” She smiled feebly; then her emerald-green eyes flashed red, and I could smell the anger like lava bubbling beneath her skin. And… something else. Regret? Guilt?
    “Then what happened?” I asked.
    Meg looked at me sincerely. “I honestly don’t know. We ate, drank, and danced for a few days, and then one night she just didn’t show up in our suite.”
    I sat back in my chair and stared at her, my knee bobbing up and down so frantically it rattled the table. I stood, paced, trying to control my anger, but I was losing patience with my middle sister.
    “Well, do you think someone took her?” I shouted. “Was she cross with you? Did she take a lover?” I slammed my fist down onto the table, shattering its leg. Somewhere, Cerberus barked. “Think, Meg.”
    Hades stepped forward and gently squeezed my shoulder. I took a deep breath and dropped my head into my hands. I could feel my wings