Hexed

money and did the deeds because he likes money; he’s the ultimate hedonist. I met him a couple of times.” She shuddered. “He knows me; he must have tracked me here.”
    I smiled grimly. “But can this ununculous stand against a god, a dragon, a Stormwalker, and one hell of a witch?”
    Cassandra gave me a deprecating glance. “Oh, yes. It’s likely he’ll welcome the challenge. He’ll enjoy experimenting until he figures out the most satisfying way of killing us, one at a time.”
    I gestured to Coyote, who was still watching Mick fondle the walls.
    “Coyote’s a god . Your ununculous, whatever he might aspire to be, is still mortal. Coyote can unmake him anytime he wants to.”
    Coyote shrugged. “Maybe.”
    I was tired of playing team leader. I got off the couch and headed for the hall that led to my private bedroom and bath. “You three figure something out. I need a shower, even if the water heater is out.”
    “No can do, Janet,” Fremont called to me, coming down the stairs again. “Water’s out completely.”
    I swung around. “What do you mean? Are the faucets still spraying blood?”
    “No, I mean nothing’s coming out. I opened up all the faucets, but they’re bone-dry. That’s all right, though. I can work on the pipes better if the water’s gone.”
    “That does it.” I didn’t discount Cassandra’s worry, but damn it, I wanted a shower. “Coyote, blast the curse and get rid of it. We’ll deal with Cassandra’s ununculous when he shows up to finish the job.”
    Coyote yawned. “As Fremont says, no can do.”
    I marched to the all-powerful god and stuck my finger at his face. “Don’t you dare give me any crap about not interfering in the lives of mortals, because you do it all the time. I’m filthy, it’s getting cold, and there’s a Nightwalker about to rise upstairs while the blood I bought for him slowly spoils in the nonworking refrigerator. Just get rid of the curse. If you are holding out to see how we deal with it, I’ll . . . I’ll tell my grandmother.”
    Coyote’s eyes flickered. “Oh, hey, that’s not fair.”
    My grandmother, from whom I’d inherited my Stormwalker magic, often hung around my hotel parking lot in the form of a crow, watching over me (or watching to see what I did wrong). She didn’t like Coyote. Once upon a time, she’d run him off our place in Many Farms, he in his coyote form, she with a broom. Grandmother had no fear of trickster gods.
    Coyote looked troubled. “I really mean I can’t do it, Janet, sweetie. I seem to have lost my mojo.” He opened his hand and made a throwing motion at the windows, but again, nothing happened. The panes didn’t even rattle.
    My heart squeezed. “You’re a god. Your magic can’t disappear.”
    “Apparently, it can.”
    “You’re tricking me, right? Pretending to be powerless so you’ll see what I’ll do? Some god thing about observing the human condition?”
    Coyote leaned to me until we were face-to-face. His nose had been broken at some time in his human form and hadn’t healed in the best way. Why he hadn’t fixed that, I had no idea. “No, Janet. I truly can’t work any magic.”
    I went cold. If this ununculous was so powerful that his curse could render a god helpless, what could we do against him?
    Fear and rage awoke in me, and that, in turn, stirred the all-powerful, goddess-from-hell magic I fought every day to control. I’d been teaching myself, with the help of my friends, to twine it with my Stormwalker magic, to form a warm and strong power without the side effect of chaotic destruction, but it was tough going.
    There was no storm in the sky right now, and if I chose, I could let the Beneath magic untwine itself and become as hot and crazy and devastating as ever. Coyote didn’t want me doing that—a mortal with god magic was a dangerous thing, he’d told me—but I considered this an emergency.
    “To hell with it,” I said. “Get out of the way, Mick. I’m breaking the curse.”
    Mick stood up, his hand still pressed to the wall. His eyes had gone coal black all the way through, no more trace of blue. “The hex runs pretty deep. If you rip it away from the wards, you might destroy the walls.”
    “I don’t care if I bring down the whole damned hotel. I can rebuild it—I’ve done it before. After I take a shower.”
    Coyote rose, his height and bulk a formidable barrier. “Janet, you know I can’t let you use the Beneath magic.”
    “Make an