Something clattered on the apartment’s balcony, startling Ben awake. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table, the light blue luminous numbers practically screaming at his eyeballs. There was hardly any light coming into his room, it was so early. He was about to go back to sleep until the faint knocking sounded on the sliding glass door.

Groaning, he got out of bed, grabbing a T-shirt to pull on as he went to investigate. As soon as he exited his bedroom, he saw what had made the noise. Mia stood on his balcony, her hands pressed on her hips, and her visible foot tapping its impatient rhythm on the floor.

“Hey,” he said, opening the door as he pulled his T-shirt down, the soft gray material barely providing a barrier against the cold winter wind that rushed in through the opening.

“Hey? Really? That’s all you’ve got?” Her voice was sharp with anger.

“Um, yeah, you woke me up. I need coffee before I can figure out why you’re mad at me.”

“I’m mad at you because not only did you skip out on our training session this week but your phone is dead, and Hades has been trying to reach you with a case.”

“Shit,” Ben said as he rubbed his forehead. “I thought I’d put it on charge when I got home.”

“Well, apparently not. So now I have been sent to pass along the case details.”

“Thanks, Mia.”

“You are going to owe me multiple training sessions for this. Also, you should really keep your balcony clear. It’s hard to land when your shit is all over the place out there.”

He shrugged. His friend avoided teleporting as much as she could, hating the sensation, although he’d never found out why. Her short white-blonde hair was pulled away from her face and a little ratty at the ends, most likely from the wind that had been whipping it about moments earlier. “Coffee?”

She nodded. “Do you mind if I stretch out? It was a long flight.”

“Be my guest,” he said, gesturing to the open area that was his living room. Ben didn’t have a ton of space in his apartment, but it was certainly big enough for her to stretch and make sure her muscles didn’t cramp before her flight home.

He listened to the coffee percolate as she shook her wings out from her back, making them visible once more. They matched her hair in their bright blonde color, but the tips of her feathers were black, as though she’d been dipped in ink. She was a harpy, a messenger of Hades and a hound of Zeus. The king of the gods didn’t really give a shit about anyone but himself these days, so the harpies had become Hades’ tools, his way of keeping an eye on his furies and occasionally bringing people who had popped up on his radar to the furies for punishment.

Her taloned feet clenched on the carpet as she stretched first one long, lean leg, and then the other, while he poured the coffee. When he’d first met Mia, he’d thought she was beautiful. Now that they were friends, she was more like a sister to him, which was good, because he wasn’t the kind of man who could make it through all her bullshit to even try to be in a relationship with her. The woman had issues.

She shook once more, and her talons and wings disappeared, fading into the magic that kept them hidden from mortal eyes and allowed them to wear normal clothing, before coming into the kitchen area. He handed her the steaming mug of coffee.

“As black as your soul, just the way you like it.” He grinned.

He sipped his coffee next to her for a moment, just enjoying the silence and the company of someone he didn’t have to hide from. When a deep sigh escaped her lips, he knew that the coffee was just the way she liked it.

“You awake now?” Her cocky grin dared him to say anything other than yes.

He knew better than to fall for that trap. “Yeah, tell me what I’ve got,” he said before taking a long drink of coffee, letting the hot, dark liquid warm him from the inside out.

“Tommy Bradley. Hades is getting some major bad vibes from the guy. He hasn’t done anything yet that would bring him to our attention, but something is coming. He wants you to follow the guy, see what he’s up to, make sure the vibes are justified, and, of course, once he crosses the line, you can bring him to the Underworld to play,” she said as she handed him the piece of paper with all the pertinent information on it.

“Sounds good.”

“Justice has failed to punish him. Now that task is up to you. Will you take this burden?” She said the familiar phrase required between harpy and fury exchanges.

“I will.” Not that he had any other choice. If he so much as hesitated, then Hades would rescind the option for him to live in the mortal realm and confine him to the Underworld with the exception of hunting and tracking missions, which was definitely something he wanted to avoid.

“Good, now that’s done, I’ll let you get some more sleep. Just as a heads-up, though, the guy has been on the move a lot—don’t know why—but he’ll need a lot of attention.”

“Thanks, Mia.” He hugged his friend, and she went to leave.

As she closed the sliding door, she said, “Oh, and clean off your damn balcony. Or at least charge your phone!” With the door closed and winter trapped on the outside once more, she shook out her wings and took off.

Ben downed the rest of his coffee in two big gulps before heading over to his laptop. He needed to find out who the hell this Tommy Bradley guy was and what could have piqued Hades’ interest.