Tate laughed evilly. "Brace yourself, boo. He's the son of Aphrodite."
Of course he was . . . Why should anything in the world make sense? Dear Lord, it wasn't like she wasn't sitting beside one of the hottest men on the planet who was a god himself. Or that she had a goofy teenage ghost in her backseat mouthing the words to the Tears for Fears song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
It only made sense that the hottie in the classics department was a demigod, too . . .
"I just knew I wasn't going to like that answer," she muttered. "And to think, all this time I just thought he was a cute teacher."
"And all your students think you're eccentric for talking to yourself when they catch you having conversations with Jesse."
"Of course they do. Okay, how do I find him?"
"Let me give you his number."
Simone repeated the number to Jesse to help her remember it. Hanging up from Tate, she immediately called Julian.
He answered on the third ring.
"Dr. Alexander?"
"Yes?"
"I don't know if you remember me, but we've met at a couple of faculty functions. I'm Dr. Simone Dubois-"
"The ME and pathology professor . . . Yes, I remember you."
That was impressive since she was highly unremarkable. She was average height, average weight, with curly dark brown hair and hazel-brown eyes, and she normally wore beige and browns or a white lab coat. As a rule, she never stuck in people's memories, In fact, her senior high school paper had once voted her Most Likely to Be Forgotten . . . or Sat On By Mistake. The fact that Dr. Alexander remembered her gave her a bit of an unfounded thrill. "Good, 'cause I'm in a bit of a pickle with something."
"And that would be?" Even over the phone she could hear the reservation in his tone.
Xypher snatched the phone from her hand and started speaking to Julian in a language she couldn't even begin to identify. That being said, the smooth, lyrical quality of it was incredibly sexy. It was the kind of tone that could make a woman hot even if he were ordering pizza. And she hated the fact it was affecting her.
Good-looking or not, he was a jerk and the last thing any woman needed to do was feed his massive, pushy ego.
After a few minutes, he held the phone out to her. "He's going to give you directions to his house."
"Thanks," she said dryly. She took the phone from him. "Dr. Alexander?"
"Call me Julian."
She listened as he told her how to find his house. Lucidly, it wasn't too far away.
It didn't take long to find the little bungalow off St. Charles. Simone had barely parked the car before Xypher flashed them to the porch. "You know, that's really obtrusive and disorienting."
"I really don't care." He knocked on the door.
Simone shook her head as Jesse joined her. Jesse looked about as pleased as she did.
Julian opened the door with a less-than-welcoming look. It never failed to shock her exactly how good-looking this man was. And she wasn't the only one to think so. His classes were always filled to the brim by female students who wanted nothing more than to stare at him. The fact he was one of the leading experts in the world about ancient civilizations was just a bonus.
The good doctor narrowed his eyes on Xypher as if he couldn't believe what he saw. "You have emotions."
Xypher curled his lip. "Not really. I only have one. Rage. Unless you count an insatiable need for vengeance. Then it's two."
Julian's scowl deepened. "How can you-"
"Look," Xypher snapped. "I don't have time for this. Get the bracelet off so that I can do what I have to do."
"He's extremely single-minded," Simone explained.
"Yeah, it shows." Julian stepped back. "Come in and let me see it."
Xypher literally shoved his arm in Julian's face. The man was truly obnoxious. "There."
"I suspect he might have been raised by apes," Simone said to Julian.
Julian gave a low laugh before he took Xypher's forearm and examined the bracelet while he stood in the doorway. "This isn't Greek."
Xypher scoffed. "Of course it is. I know the work of Hephaestus."
"So do I and this isn't it." Julian bent Xypher's arm so that he could see the lock. "I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I think this is Atlantian in origin."
Xypher still looked less than convinced. "Are you sure?"
Julian nodded grimly. "Hephaestus is my step-father. I have trinkets from him all over my house . . . and experience with other items of his. Including handcuffs. The lock on this is definitely something else."
Simone wanted to groan in frustration. If Julian couldn't help them, who could? "Do you know what it does?"
"Not really, but if you can come in and get out of view of my neighbors, I can ask."
Xypher's eyes darkened dangerously.
"Don't even try," Julian said. "I've faced down a lot worse than a pissed-off Skotos."
Xypher gave him a menacing stare. "You have to sleep sometime." "So do you."