If Simon didn't trust me to do this and not take him out too, it was all over. "I'm asking you because I've got an alternative for you. Lucifer has sent a couple of demons here to bug me. They've threatened Rafe Valdez and the only way I can get them off his back is to deliver a major soul or dozen to Luc's team."
"Hell's politics. I get an earful of that every time I visit my goddess." Simon made a face. "So?"
"So if you will agree to transfer your allegiance to Luc's team and take your followers with you, Rafe will be off the hook."
"You know I don't give a damn about your dog." Simon examined his nails.
"But you do about your son. I'm just showing you why I have an interest in helping you get rid of your goddess. Tell me how to take her out and I'll do it. Rafe and Blade are in it with me. We will blow her to bits or whatever it takes to free you if you will sign on with Lucifer. You know you're hell-bound anyway, and Freddy won't mind getting involved with you once Honoria is out of the picture. It's the EV thing he objects to."
"How do you know that?" Simon looked up, his eyes gleaming. I knew he was reading my mind and he saw that I was uncertain.
"Guess you could make that part of your terms with Lucifer. And you're clever enough to play the game, act like you've come to your senses and want to start over. Play the good guy." I rolled my eyes. "Why am I bothering to tell you anything? Manipulate. It's your stock-in-trade." The fact that my good friend Freddy would be on the receiving end of that gave me chills. No. I'd warn him. He was smart enough to figure things out himself. And I was smart enough to stop thinking about this because Simon could read my every thought. Argh.
"What makes you think I'd be interested?" Simon lifted his chin. "I have everything I ever wanted. Money, power and the respect being the king of the Energy Vampires brings me."
"Do you have your heart's desire?" I blurted it out.
Simon swallowed. "What do you know about that?"
Wow. For a moment I could just stare. I'd hit a nerve. Go figure. "Lucifer can offer you that. Promise your soul to him and he can deliver anything, anything you've always wanted but might have eluded you." I ran my hands down my body. "He even said he could make me a size six." I laughed. "Stupid, but he did a demo. It works." I grabbed Simon's hand and pulled him into the bathroom. "Look, I have my reflection. As a sign of good faith or to torment me, depending on how you look at it."
Simon stood behind me and examined the evidence. "So I see. Are you telling me you sold your own soul?" Simon's eyes widened. "Bravo. I didn't think you had it in you."
"You're right. I didn't do it. I'm not going to hell. At least not on Lucifer's account. But since you're doomed already, thanks to your work with Honoria, why not play for a new team? Broker a new deal." I pushed past him, already regretting the close quarters of the bathroom. Maybe I was seeing him more as a man, though, because we'd been talking for a while now and he hadn't knocked me down or frozen me. Hey, it had been almost civilized.
"That's impossible, Gloriana. I am never getting away from my goddess. She wouldn't stand for it." Simon stalked to the door. "I'd not live to make any such deal, no matter how much I wanted it."
"What is your heart's desire, Simon?" I was grasping at straws. Thought maybe if I got him to say it, I could somehow work something out, tempt him past logic.
Simon stared at me, obviously thinking about whether he should share something so private with me. "All right. I'll tell you. Not that it will do any good. But I always regretted leaving Cecilia and our child. I wanted . . . a family." His smile was wry. "How plebeian of me. I realize that. But I loved Cecilia. Still do. I doubt that Lucifer could make her love me again. Too much water under that bridge."
I swallowed. My dear friend CiCi with Simon? How was that for a hellish bargain? "I figure with Lucifer, anything's possible. Hammer out a deal.