Styxx paused outside her door. He listened to the song she was singing. It was country, so not familiar to him, but the way she was singing it intrigued him.

"…But the wheels of fate had started to turn, and for me there was no way out, and it wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly what my Mama'd been talkin' about.

"I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow; that I's gonna be a lady someday, though I didn't know when or how. But I couldn't see spending the rest of my life with my head hung down in shame; you know I might have been born just plain white trash, But Fancy was my name."

Styxx knocked gently on the door. "You about ready?"

Fancy opened the door, grinning. "Nice collection of clothes you got here," She said, leaning against the doorjamb, still softly humming the song.

Styxx couldn't help flicking his gaze over her. She was in dark rinse skinny jeans and a scoop neck black tank. She'd pulled a black leather duster over it and completed the look with knee-high black leather boots. "I don't think very many people could pull that look off like you do, though."

She'd pulled her long auburn hair back into a ponytail and one hand was tucked into her pocket. A thin gold chain held a gold heart-shape locket with a red gold rose on it was around her neck. A thin gold ring with another red gold rose was on her right ring finger. Styxx knew neither piece was his. She kissed his cheek, but her lipstick didn't leave a mark. "You certainly are a charmer, Styxx," she said. She linked her arm with his again. "So. Where're we going?"

"One of my favorite places. You'll see when we get there." Styxx led her out to his garage. "Take your pick, my lady," he said, gesturing to the collection of cars.

"You never cease to amaze me, Styxx. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you've got my car. I love Lamborghinis and Ferraris as much as the next person, but I'm a pony girl, all the way."

"Oh? What year?"

"'92. Convertible. Dark blue, black interior. And it's gotta purr."

"And you're sure I don't have it? I happen to like the '92 Mustangs." He gestured to a dark blue car set apart from the others.

Fancy gaped at it. "No way." She dashed over to it, running her hands lovingly over the car. "Oh, Styxx, you're amazing!" she exclaimed, her eyes greedily drinking in the car.

Styxx took the keys off the wall and opened the garage door. "Let's go."

Fancy hopped into the passenger seat and buckled herself in. Styxx slid into the driver's seat and tore out of the driveway. Fancy whooped, excited. She laughed giddily, ecstatic. "Styxx, this is amazing," She gushed as he spun into a parking spot.

He grinned, opening the door for her and helping her out of the car. He led her to the front of the club. The bouncer greeted him. "Hey, Styxx. First time I've seen you come with a girl. You gonna want your table?"

Styxx nodded. "Make sure the guys know she's off-limits, though. I'm not having any guys taking hits on her, period."

The bouncer nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure the others still remember the last time you protected someone. They'll know." He spoke into his walkie and let Styxx and Fancy in.

Styxx led Fancy up the stairs to a closed off table. The music from below was muted but still loud enough to be heard clearly. There were already two beers open on the table. Styxx nodded to the waitress by the door before entering the room.

"You gonna have your usual, Styxx?" The waitress asked, still by the door.

"Yeah. I'll call you up if we need anything else."

The waitress nodded and left.

"You're treated like royalty here too. Is there anywhere where people don't worship at your feet?"

"New Orleans." The answer was out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about it.

"Really?" Fancy sounded amused. "And why's that?"

"I made a menace of myself one Mardi Gras a number of years ago. That, and everyone worships at Ash's feet. Of course, if I dye my hair black and wear sunglasses, no one notices the difference."

"Ash is your brother?"

Styxx nodded. "I might have redeemed myself last fall, but I'm not willing to test the theory. Bad news travels faster than good."

Fancy nodded, falling silent as the waitress returned with food. Styxx nodded to her, ad she left again.

"Any reason why they worship you?"

"I own half the city."

"You are loaded." Her walls were up again. He could understand why; she was raised with nothing, while he always had everything. She could probably see him going bad, being spoiled as he was, but he had his brother's experiences still fresh in his mind and wasn't going to live off his money like he had before.

"Perhaps, but my brother's been a good influence on me. Like I said, I've changed."

Fancy nodded, glancing out over the club. She sipped her beer in silence. Suddenly, she asked, "You keep talking about having changed. What changed? You never said."

Styxx sighed, flinching at the memory. "I was sent to a small cell in Tartarus by the goddess Artemis when I helped Dionysus and the Celtic god Camulus try and release the Atlantean destroyer. To do so, they needed the blood of an Atlantean. That Atlantean…"

"But I thought you were born in Didymos?" Fancy said, her confusion showing.

"How'd you know it was Ash?"

Fancy shrugged. "Intuition. So how was he Atlantean if you were born in Didymos?"

Styxx shrugged. "He's a god. The only son of Apollymi."

"Don't tell me. Apollymi's the Atlantean Destroyer."

Styxx nodded. "Good intuition. Oddly enough, Artemis is in love with Acheron and banished me to Tartarus. Mnimi was there, and gave me Acheron's memories to live with. I was trapped there for three years."

"Mnimi? Odd. A god I haven't heard of."

"She's half Atlantean, which would be why. She's the goddess of latent memory."

"And Ash had a history bad enough for you to regret trying to kill him?"

Styxx's blue eyes became haunted. "Everything that I had been brought up to believe was a lie. Everything." He pinned her to her seat with his intense gaze. "The one person I trusted implicitly had lied to me my entire life. How would you feel?"

Fancy nodded, taking a deep draught of beer. "I guess I'd regret it, too. So… what was so bad about his life that made you believe you'd been wrong all these years?"

"He was forced into prostitution by my uncle, though he was supposed to be heir to the throne. The throne I had been raised heir to." Styxx, looked down at his beer bottle as he turned it in his hands. "He was firstborn. I didn't find that out until…"

"Until Mnimi showed you."

Styxx nodded. "I was told Acheron had chosen that route. I was a spoiled prince. I didn't believe anything I didn't want to, and I didn't have to. My uncle spoiled me, so there was no way he could have done anything so horrible. He was my father's brother, so of course my father believed him, as well. Ryssa had discovered the truth, but none of us would believe her. I blamed him for my parents falling apart, because they were happy before him, so he must have been the only reason they weren't happy anymore. After Estes died, Ryssa wanted to bring him home. We found him…"

"Doing business, because he didn't know he didn't have to." Fancy downed the rest of her beer. She shrugged. "It happens."

"Father turned him out. Wearing nothing. I don't know what happened, but Father overheard a few senators talking about him, and he was arrested. Both Ryssa and Artemis interfered and tried to make his life better, and both seemed to make it worse. Father and I didn't help much." His clear blue eyes were troubled, and he couldn't meet her gaze.

She reached out and took his hand in hers. He glanced up at her, surprised. She smiled softly at him. "It was years ago, wasn't it?"

Styxx nodded. "Lifetimes," he whispered.

"And you know the truth now, right?"

He nodded again.

"And, even though it'll take your brother a long time to get over it – maybe another few lifetimes – he knows you've recognized your faults?"

He nodded again.

"Then you've done all you can do. Put it behind you and let him come to terms with it. You said you've redeemed yourself partially. How'd you do that?"

"I saved his live by taking a dagger that was meant for him."

"Damn. That sounds interesting." She scooted her chair closer to his, still holding his hand. "I wanna hear that story."

Styxx smiled shyly at her.

They spent hours at the club, swapping stories before leaving. Styxx noticed a hesitancy in her steps as they started towards the door. She caught the waitress' attention and shared a few words with her. She motioned for Styxx to continue. He slid into the shadows while her back was turned. The waitress returned with a bag. Styxx realized what she was doing; she was buying food for the other girls on the street. He came up behind her and folded her cash back into her hand, paying for it himself. Fancy glared at him. "This doesn't concern you."

"You need the money more than I do." She didn't notice the extra couple hundred he'd slipped into her cash roll. He nodded to the waitress and led Fancy out.

"You didn't have to do that," Fancy murmured.

"But I did anyway," he responded, pulling to a stop a block from the girls were. "Go on. I'll wait. They don't need to know who funded it, yeah?"

She smiled at him. "Yeah."

He watched her get out of the car and walk down to her friends. She passed the food around, laughing and chatting as the girls split the food between them. He noticed she'd slipped some money into their hands as well. He shook his head, not understanding her generosity at all. She needed the money as much as they did, but she was willing to split everything evenly to take care of the other girls on the streets as well.

She returned, smiling. "Don't think I didn't notice the money you slipped me. They need it as well."

"But you need it."

"We're not just girls on the street, Styxx," she explained calmly as he pulled away and returned to his estate. "We're a family. We look out for each other. Money and food are both hard to come by, and we split it all so we all have enough. Hell, most of us live together. I've got six other girls in my one-bedroom apartment, and we all split rent and food and water and any leftover money. We don't leave anyone out. If another girl comes along and needs a place to stay, we welcome her in, cuz that's more money to go around." She smiled sadly. "We take in under-aged girls and virgins, a lot. No one deserves to have their first time be selling her body."

Styxx flinched at another one of Acheron's memories. "No. No one should loose their virginity to prostitution."

"Which is why it's so hard to find someone benevolent enough for our virgins. We don't let any old person take them. We watch out for each other. We're not your everyday Bourbon Street hookers." She sighed. "All I want is for my girls to be able to hold their heads high. If I had money like yours, I'd give them all lodgings and money for school. Some of these girls didn't even get the chance to graduate high school. Boo and I are the ones who really watch out for the others. And Boo didn't even get to her junior year of high school. Got her GED and tried to get a job, but couldn't. She moved up here from New Orleans to try and start fresh, but ended up on the streets, about the same time I started. She took me in until we had too many, and I rented out the apartment next to hers so we could split the group."

Styxx took her hand in his. "You have a very giving heart, Fancy," he said.

She smiled, squeezing his hand gently. "Lotsa people have told my that would be my downfall."

Styxx shook his head. "No. That will take you places, Fancy. Trust me on that." If only Acheron would speak to me…