Just then, the woman Dionysus had ordered to leave earlier burst into the suite.
“She’s dying! There’s a girl in the bathroom, and she’s dying!”
Hades and Dionysus exchanged a look before leaving the room, scrambling for the restroom located at the end of the hall. Dionysus was the first to enter, throwing open the door with such force that it crashed against the wall. There, on the tiled floor, lay an unconscious woman whose life force was indeed fading, and the only reason she had yet to pass was due to the efforts of another woman who hovered over her, administering CPR. Hades recognized her immediately.
Ariadne.
“Get out of the way,” Dionysus commanded, kneeling beside the woman.
“Fuck you!” Ariadne shot back.
“I said move!” the god roared, and Ariadne fell back, wedged between the wall and the countertop.
Dionysus produced a syringe from the inside pocket of his jacket and stuck the needle straight into the muscle of the girl’s arm. When he was finished, he reached for Ariadne, dragging her back to the girl by the wrist.
“Do your compressions until she’s breathing again.”
She blinked, stunned, and while it took her a second to comply, she resumed without argument.
Shocking, Hades thought.
A few minutes passed, then Ariadne spoke. “She’s breathing.”
At that, the doors opened and two men entered, each lifting the woman up by an arm draped over their shoulders.
“Where are you taking her?” Ariadne demanded, rising to her feet. “She still needs medical assistance.”
“My, you are presumptuous,” Dionysus said.
“You expect me to believe you will see to her care?”
“I saved her life!”
“Excuse me? You are the reason she was in that state.”
“I don’t recall telling anyone to overdose.”
“No? Then why do you carry Narcan?”
“Will you two shut the fuck up?” Hades snapped, unable to take any more of their verbal sparring. He had work to do, and they were both fucking around.
Both Dionysus and Ariadne looked at him.
“What the hell are you doing here, Detective?” Hades asked.
Dionysus narrowed his eyes as she responded.
“What does it look like?” she countered. “And where were you? I didn’t see you jumping to help us save that girl’s life, God of the Dead.”
“I highly doubt you wanted my intervention, Detective. It’s in the name.”
Silence followed his comment, and Ariadne crossed her arms over her chest.
“I take it you two are acquainted?” Dionysus asked tightly.
“We met briefly when Detective Alexiou accused you of trafficking women. Care to explain?” Hades thought they might as well cut to the chase. He saw no reason to keep Ariadne’s secret, given that she had obviously decided to continue her own investigation. “By the way, it seems you had no trouble getting into Bakkheia on your own, Detective.”
She glared.
“Trafficking women?” Dionysus asked, and Hades noted an edge to his voice that Ariadne did not seem to pick up on. Perhaps that was due to her line of work. He was certain she was used to being lied to, as well, much as Hades was.
“Megara Alkaios has been missing for two weeks,” Ariadne said. “Her friends say she came here and never left.”
“That is one woman,” Dionysus pointed out.
“I have reason to believe you’re also responsible for the disappearances of many more.”
“Does reason equate to evidence, or is that just your opinion of me, Detective Alexiou?”
Hades knew very well she had no evidence and yet he found her response particularly amusing.
“If you were innocent, you would have said so, yet I don’t hear you denying a thing.”
“I’m not interested in gaining your favor,” Dionysus replied.
“Well, you should be interested in gaining mine,” Ariadne snapped.
That made Dionysus laugh, and he took a step closer to the mortal woman. Her head tilted back in defiance, and the tension between them grew as he asked, “Are you saying you have something to offer, Detective?”
“I have a lot to offer,” said Hades, once more interrupting. “Including a stay in Tartarus if I have to hear this exchange any longer.”
“No one said you had to stay,” Ariadne shot back, glaring at Hades, then returned her gaze to Dionysus once she heard him chuckle. “Is something funny?”
“Oh yes,” he said. “Something is definitely funny.”
A woman entered the bathroom and hesitated at seeing it occupied by the three, but her expression quickly morphed to interest, and she sauntered inside.
“Want a fourth?” she asked.
Ariadne lifted the hem of her dress and drew a gun. “Get out.”
The woman’s eyes widened, and she fled just as Dionysus’s hand clamped down on the weapon, wrenching it from Ariadne’s hands.
“Tsk, tsk, Detective. Don’t you know the rules? No weapons in the club.”
“I see you pick and choose your morals.”
“Like all gods,” he said, and his eyes traveled down her frame. “Hiding anything else under that dress?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“By the gods, I think I’m going to vomit,” Hades said.
“Now you know how the rest of us feel about you and your lover,” Dionysus said, finally looking at Hades.
He clenched his jaw at the comment, which only succeeded in reminding him once more of all the mistakes he’d made in the past couple of weeks.
There was a beat of silence as Dionysus placed Ariadne’s gun inside his coat. “Follow me.”
Dionysus left the bathroom first, and Hades gestured for Ariadne to follow.
“Ladies first,” he said.
“What a gentleman,” she replied dryly.
They followed Dionysus down the hall to an elevator tucked away in an alcove off the staircase. Once inside, he took out a key that gave him the ability to choose a level below the first floor that was unmarked. Hades wasn’t surprised to discover that this club had a basement. If he had to guess, it had an underground tunnel too and likely connected to other properties owned by Dionysus.
As he suspected, when the door opened, it was to a large, concrete tunnel. A stripe of fluorescent lights ran down the center, casting the place in a painful, yellow light.