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PMS?"
    Deimos gave her a droll stare. "I'm an executioner, Leta, hence my Demon nickname. They send me in to
    take the heads off people and gods who've stepped over the line, usually only because someone has
    PMS. You want justice, Themis's office is down the hall on the left." He flashed an evil grin at her. "You
    want death and dismemberment, I'm your man… or rather god."
    She let out a long-suffering sigh. "So you're not going to answer my question?"
    "I don't have the answer for you. Just because I've been drinking buddies with Dolor in the past doesn't
    mean I know how to stop him, especially since no one has ever sent me in to kill him. I only know he
    prefers double-shot lime-flavored tequilas with bourbon chasers. Sick, I know, but far be it from me to
    mock his tastebuds. I'm just glad they're not mine."
    Aidan stepped forward with a question of his own. "What about you? Could you stop him?"
    Deimos gave him a smug look. "No one stands before me for very long. Dread always trumps pain.
    Besides, I fight dirty. Chess isn't the only thing I cheat at." He leaned back in his chair and folded his
    hands behind his head before he returned his gaze to Leta. "If you really want the inside weakness on
    Dolor, I'd suggest you try his sister, Lyssa."
    Aidan could tell by the look on Leta's face that she'd rather not. "Who's Lyssa?"
    "Personification of Insanity," they answered simultaneously.
    Leta gave Deimos a chiding stare before she elaborated. "She often works as a demon in conjunction
    with other gods, to incite madness in their victims so that the Erinyes or Furies can do their work.
    Because of that, she's a little hard to handle and the madness she used to give to others has nicely taken
    root inside her own mind."
    It figured. "Ooo, perfect. I do believe that in the last twenty-four hours she and I have become really
    good friends."
    Deimos laughed. "I can tell you haven't met her."
    "Maybe not personally, but I've definitely been skating around her block a lot today."
    "Around the block's okay. Just don't stop and knock on her door."
    "Why?"
    Deimos gave him a sinister smirk. "She's special. We used to unleash her on ancient battlefields just to
    see soldiers chop their best friends into pieces before falling on their own swords."
    Leta screwed her face up at his brutal imagery. "You're so sick, Demon."
    He shrugged nonchalantly. "Trust me, they deserved it or I wouldn't have been so mean. Besides, my
    mother is a Fury and my father War. What more would you expect of me?"
    "Compassion," she said softly. "The Erinyes aren't always cruel."
    "True, but not for the wicked. Our job is to punish and that, my cousin, I'm more than capable of doing.
    Grisly though you may think it." He indicated the door with a jerk of his chin. "See Lyssa. If Pain has a
    weakness, she alone would know it."
    "But will she share?"
    He shrugged. "You know her as well as I do. Depends on her mood and degree of clarity when you
    speak to her."
    Aidan frowned. "Degree of what?"
    Instead of answering, Leta took his arm before she flashed them into an Escheresque garden. It was so
    complicatedly intricate, with twisting staircases that defied logic, misaligned arches, and
    backward-growing shrubs, that Aidan couldn't even grasp it. He literally felt as if he'd just stepped into
    Escher's Other World engraving. It made him dizzy to try and make sense of the nonsense around him.
    No wonder Lyssa was nuts. Trying to walk through her garden would drive anyone crazy.
    Leta led him up a small set of stairs that twisted into a dragon's scales before dissolving into a river of
    blood that lapped against the small rock they both stood on.
    "What is this place?" he asked.
    "Lyssa's home. Like Deimos warned, she's not exactly right in the head and hers is a very unique view of
    reality. The garden reflects her quirky nature."
    Quirky? Yeah, she'd blown right past quirky to dive headfirst into all-out strange. He was beginning to
    understand that as the rail