“How does he do that?” I asked.
Diesel grinned. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know.”
“Did we just agree to give him the Stone of Avarice?”
“Yeah, and it doesn’t make me happy, but his power is limited as long as we have two stones safely locked away. He needs all seven to do real damage.”
“Wulf mentioned Mammon followers,” I said to Diesel. “Do you think they exist?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. And I can understand why they would gravitate to Ammon as their supreme representative.”
“You don’t suppose he could actually be Mammon, do you?”
“No. I think his parents made an unfortunate choice of a first name.”
“What would these Mammon followers look like?” I asked. “Would they be like a zombie army worshipping Ammon?”
“My money’s on Rutherford,” said Diesel. “He’s always got Ammon in his sights. And if Rutherford is one of them, there are probably other acolytes on the household staff.”
“Rutherford seems unusually devoted to Ammon, but I don’t know if I could see him as a Mammon worshipper. He looks so normal.”
“My Aunt Lydia looks normal, but she belongs to a coven that elected her Goddess of the Daisies.”
“You have a strange family,” I said.
“Not by California standards.”
I poured myself a glass of wine and chugged half. “About tonight.”
Diesel was relaxed against a counter, thumbs hooked into his pants pockets, tie loosened, top button to his shirt open. “You had to drink half a glass of wine before you brought it up?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“Not on my end,” Diesel said.
“Here’s the thing,” I said. “I’m sort of creeped out to stay here by myself. Wulf pops in whenever he wants, and I’m worried that Ammon will realize he’s not a dog, and I have his map.”
“So you want me to spend the
night.”
“Yes.”
“Where am I sleeping?”
“Wherever you want,” I told him.
“This is too easy.”
“I thought you liked easy.”
“I’m good at my job because I have superior instincts, and my instincts tell me this isn’t going to end well.”
“You’re doing me a favor by staying here. The least I can do is offer you my bed…being that you don’t fit on the couch.”
“And?”
“And I’ll sleep down here,” I said.