The Dark-Hunters, page 208
Tabitha whirled at the top of the stairs to face him. “His kind? What, an ancient general? Seems like I know two other people who were his kind.” She looked meaningfully from Kyrian to Julian.
“Tabitha,” Amanda said. “Enough. You knew how Kyrian felt about Valerius. How could you do this to us?”
Ash rubbed his head as if he had a headache. “People, leave Tabitha alone. I’m the one who put her with Valerius.”
“Why?” Kyrian, Julian, and Amanda asked in unison.
Ash paused on the top step to give Tabitha a dry stare. “Tabby, what’s your ideal man like?”
“Honestly?”
Ash nodded.
“You,” she said without hesitation. “Someone tall, gorgeous, hip, and Goth.”
“And what do you think of Valerius?”
She glanced hesitantly at her sister. “He’s a stick in the mud, but I really like him.”
Kyrian and Julian cursed.
“Tabitha…” Amanda said in a warning tone.
“Don’t ‘Tabitha’ me. Jeez, I’m tired of all of you jumping on me.” Tabitha descended the stairs and headed for the door to leave.
As soon as she opened it, she met Nick on the steps, who grinned at her before he entered the foyer. He brushed by her before she thought to warn him Ash was in the house …
With Simi.
Gawking, Tabitha turned.
“Hey, Nicky!” Simi said, her face beaming as she danced away from Ash finally to wave at Nick.
Tabitha went cold with dread.
And she knew the instant Ash realized Simi “knew” Nick. His face mottled red with fury.
Nick froze, then gaped.
Simi appeared oblivious to the mayhem she caused. “Nicky,” she said, putting her hands on her hips as she pouted at him. “Why didn’t you meet me tonight like you said you would?”
Nick’s mouth opened and closed as Ash let out a bellow of rage. He grabbed Nick by the throat and slung him against the wall. Nick hit it so hard, he actually went through the plaster.
Tabitha cringed in sympathetic pain as Nick struggled to rise through the powder of the plaster. “I didn’t know she was your girlfriend, Ash,” Nick panted. “I swear it.”
Ash’s silver eyes turned a glowing shade of red. “She’s not my girlfriend, you asshole. She’s my daughter.”
Tabitha wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Nick turned even paler. “But she’s so … so young … you’re so young…” Nick swallowed audibly. “I’m so screwed.”
Ash’s eyes appeared to boil red and yellow as he hit Nick so hard, Nick was knocked back twenty feet into Kyrian.
Marissa started crying from upstairs.
“Amanda, tend your baby,” Ash snarled in a voice that wasn’t human. It was deep and rumbling. Frightening.
While he was distracted, Tabitha ran at Ash, but he held his hand out and she stopped dead in her tracks and was held there by some invisible force.
“Akri!” Simi shrieked. “No!”
Ash moved toward Nick, but before he could take more than two steps Simi was between them.
Tabitha cringed as Ash let out an agonized cry.
“You were never to have carnal knowledge!” he said to his demon.
While the rest of them feared for their lives, Simi was completely unperturbed by his anger.
“Why not?” Simi asked. “Everyone else has it.”
Ash raked his hands through his black hair. “Because, dammit, Simi, now you’ll be like everyone else. I’ll never have any peace from you.”
Simi screwed her face up as if that was the most disgusting thing she’d ever heard. “Pah-lease, akri. You got a big opinion of yourself. That just sick. You been hanging out with that heifer too long. Bleh! I mean, you a good-looking person and all, but you ain’t no Travis Fimmel. Now, he’s fine. But honestly, the Simi didn’t like all that heaving and sweating very much. It seems like an awful lot of work for such a short amount of pleasure. Personally, I’d rather go shopping. It much more fun and you don’t have to shower afterward. Well, not unless you go someplace dirty, but most malls are really clean nowadays.”
Nick opened his mouth as if to refute her words, but was cut off by Talon, who shook his head.
“Boy,” Talon said sharply. “Be damned glad you suck in bed and take the out she’s offering you before you lose your life.”
“Yeah, Nick,” Kyrian added. “Keep your damned mouth shut.”
Ignoring the two of them, Ash pulled Simi to him and held her close as if afraid of letting her go.
Whatever invisible force held Tabitha released her. She took a deep breath as the very air around them seemed to settle down.
But when Ash looked back at Nick, his eyes were still blazing red. “You’re dead to me, Gautier. If I were you I’d kill myself to save me from the trouble of doing it later.”
“Hey!” Tabitha snapped as Ash headed for the door. “That was harsh.”
“Back off, Tabitha,” Ash snarled in warning. “Simi, return to me.”
The demon turned into a fine, black mist before she laid herself over Ash’s arm and became a dragon-shaped tattoo.
Ash immediately slammed out of Kyrian’s house.
Without hesitation, Tabitha ran after him. “Ash!” she snapped, pulling him to a stop in the driveway. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving before I kill Nick.”
“You can’t blame this solely on him.”
“Like hell I can’t. He slept with my Simi.”
“Well, if you want to hate someone, then hate me. I was the one who left them alone together.”
His eyes snapped fire at her. Literally. “Leave me, Tabitha. Now.”
“No,” she said earnestly. “If you want to hurt someone for this, then hurt the one who is really responsible. You and Nick are best friends. Don’t think I don’t know it. He loves you like a brother and you just crushed him.”
“He slept—”
“I heard you the first time. And I also know how ill Nick was when he found out Simi belonged to you. Tell me something, Ash. Why didn’t Nick know about her?”
His jaw worked furiously. “I didn’t want any man to know about her. I knew the day would come when she would…” He winced as if the thought cut through him. “You don’t understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t. I don’t know what happened to you tonight. I don’t know what’s after me. I don’t understand what the hell you turned into a few minutes ago or why your eyes are doing the freaky fire dance now. What are you? ’Cause right now, I’m wondering if you were ever human.”
His eyes flashed red to silver. “I was human, once,” he breathed.
“And now?”
“Now it’s time for you both to die.”
The eerie, threatening words barely registered before something hot pierced Tabitha’s stomach.
Chapter 10
Tabitha gasped as pain engulfed her. She’d never felt anything like this. It was as if something had invaded her body.
Ash cursed as he threw his hand out and blasted her.
Tabitha screamed from the agony of his blast. It was as if something was trying to rip her apart.
Unable to stand against it, she started to fall, only to realize someone was holding her against a strong chest.
“I’ve got you,” Valerius said as he picked her up in his arms and held her close.
Tabitha’s heart soared at his nearness. She didn’t know how he’d gotten there to catch her, she was only grateful that he had.
“Careful,” she said between the teeth she had clenched to keep from moaning out at the pain that overwhelmed her.
Her eyes blurred by tears, she feared the ghost was now trying to move into Ash or Valerius.
“Forget it,” Ash said.
The spirit laughed, then vanished.
Ash was beside her in an instant. “Breathe easy,” he whispered.
Tabitha couldn’t speak anymore as she laid her head against Valerius’s neck and inhaled the warm scent of his skin. She would have never thought to feel this way about anyone.
She felt strangely protected even though she couldn’t fight for herself.
“We need to get her to safety,” Valerius said sharply.
Ash nodded.
One second they were in the driveway outside of Kyrian’s house and in the next they were in Valerius’s room in his home.
Valerius looked relieved as he laid her gently down on his mattress. “Are you all right?”
“I think so,” she whispered. The pain was starting to abate a bit.
He offered her a warm smile before his face hardened and he turned to look at Ash. “What are we facing?”
Ash took a deep breath and appeared to debate what to say for several minutes. “That ghost outside of Kyrian’s house was Desiderius. The good news is he isn’t corporeal … yet.”
“But I fought him in corporeal form,” Valerius said. “He attacked me earlier.”
“When?” Tabitha asked as her terror returned tenfold. “I didn’t see him.”
“He was the one the ghost protected at the end of the fighting. Remember?”
Tabitha shook her head. “That wasn’t Desiderius. Believe me, I remember that bastard’s face.” She touched the scar on her cheek.
“No,” Ash said. “It was his eldest son. According to Urian, they share the same name.”
Tabitha rolled her eyes. “What is it with you ancient people that you only had, what? Three names in the whole family lineage and everybody recycled them?”
“It was tradition,” Valerius said. “One I’m glad to have seen broken. Believe me, I take no joy from a name that reminds you of a cheesy song and a man doing unspeakable things in a high school gym. But I suppose, all things considered, ‘Valerius’ is infinitely better than ‘Newbomb Turk.’”
Tabitha laughed at his unexpected comment, amazed that he’d actually understood her earlier reference to the movie The Hollywood Knights.
“Knowing Tabitha, I’m not even going to ask about that one,” Ash said, rubbing a hand over his eyebrow.
Ash went suddenly rigid. Tabitha could sense his dread.
“Ash?”
“What happened?” Ash whispered without acknowledging her. It was as if he were talking to someone else.
“Ash?”
“You two stay here and do not leave this house again tonight.” He vanished instantly.
She looked at Valerius, whose frown made a mockery of her own. “What was that about?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’s not good.”
* * *
Ash entered his home in Katoteros with a whirlwind maelstrom flowing behind him. The fifteen-foot-tall, solid oak doors echoed menacingly as they slammed shut of their own accord in his wake. The minute he crossed the elegant threshold, his clothes changed from his modern-day Goth to ancient Atlantean. The seams of his jeans turned into tightly woven, crisscrossed laces that held the tight black leather pants perfectly sculpted to his lower body. His shirt and jacket dissolved away into a heavy black silk foremasta, a long duster-like robe that was left to flow regally around his lithe, muscular body. On the back of the foremasta was embroidered the emblem of a golden sun pierced by three silver bolts of lightning.
It was his personal symbol of power and it marked everything he owned.
Without stopping, he walked directly across the large black marbled foyer that held the same design in the center of the floor.
There was no furniture in the circular foyer, but the golden domed ceiling above him was supported by sixteen columns that had been carved into statues of the most prominent of the Atlantean gods.
Gods who had once made this realm their home. In those days, they had gathered affectionately here in this hall to share time with each other as they watched over the human world and protected it.
But those days were long gone.
The ancient gods themselves were long gone.
Ash headed for the throne room that faced the main doors. The doorway to it was flanked by the likenesses of Apollymi the Destroyer and her husband Archon Kosmetas, a surname that meant Order. At one time, the two of them had presided over the nether realms of Katoteros and Kalosis, and in one fit of anger, Apollymi had laid waste to all who dwelled here.
All of them.
Not a single Atlantean god had remained standing after she had swept through this temple in her violent fury. Ash had never understood what could possess her to do such a thing.
But as he entered the throne room of the ancient gods, he was beginning to have enlightenment.
“Urian!” he growled, summoning his servant to him.
Urian popped into the Atlantean throne room ready to take on the devil himself. He drew up short as he caught sight of Ash’s true form while the Dark-Hunter stood before the gilded dais that contained two gold thrones that were carved into the shape of dragons.
Urian was still having trouble dealing with Ash when the man looked like this. The blood-red, flaming eyes were enough to make even a demigod like Urian cringe, and Ash’s iridescent blue-streaked, marbled skin tone …
Errr …
But the most disturbing thing was the deep, vicious scar that ran from Ash’s navel to his throat where someone’s handprint had been branded. It looked as if someone had once held the man down by his throat as they sliced him open.
Urian had learned from Alexion on the day he had arrived at Katoteros that while the hand scar came and went, the vertical scar was only visible in this realm and that he should never react to it.
Not if he valued his life, anyway.
Ash’s unbalanced temper was present in the lightning bolts and thunder that crackled and sparked outside the leaded windows of the temple.
There were very few things in life that frightened Urian. The extremely powerful man before him was one of them.
Not even Ash’s pet pterygsauri would come out to be with their master in this mood. Unlike Urian, the small winged dragon-like creatures had stayed wisely hidden.
“What have you to report?” Acheron asked him, his voice thick with his Atlantean accent.
“Basically that all hell is breaking loose in hell.”
Acheron looked less than pleased by the news. More lightning shot across the sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the thrones. It gave an eerie glow to Acheron’s body. Thunder clapped ominously as it shook the temple floor where Urian stood.
“What is happening?”
Urian bit back his sarcasm as he started to point out that the weather in Kalosis mirrored the weather here in Katoteros. That would most likely be suicidal.
“I don’t know. Desiderius came back to the hall with his son in tow a little while ago. I was told that he said something to Stryker that caused him to reward Desiderius by giving him the ability to reincarnate. Apollymi the Destroyer is locked inside her temple and no one is allowed to see her. Apparently someone did something wrong and she has since sent her Charonte demons off on a blood hunt throughout Kalosis to find the perpetrator. There are Spathis dropping like flies all over the place and everyone is pretty much wetting their pants in fear of her wrath.”
“And your father?”
Urian tensed at the reminder that Stryker, the leader of the Spathi Daimons who were controlled by the Destroyer, had fathered him. “I don’t know. The minute Desiderius left, he flipped out in the main hall and has been tearing the place apart ever since.” His face hardened. “He keeps screaming out my name and I don’t know why. Maybe he learned that I’m alive.”
Acheron looked away from him.
“What’s up with all this, Ash? I know you know.”
“No, I don’t. The Destroyer is silent to me. I hear nothing from her and that’s what concerns me most. She’s never silent in our battles.”
Urian cursed at what that signified. “What could have set them both off at once?”
The muscle in Acheron’s jaw beat an impressive staccato rhythm. “My guess is Stryker sent Desiderius out with a test for me. Once Desi saw that it was effective, he reported it back to Stryker, who had all the confirmation he needed.”
“Confirmation of what?”
Acheron’s gaze cut through him. “What he really is to Apollymi.”
Urian gave a low whistle. “Yeah, that would freak him out. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he and the Destroyer will kill each other.”
Acheron shot him a look that made him take a step back.
“Sorry,” he said quickly.
Acheron started pacing. With his robe flowing eerily out behind him and his silver-soled boots clicking against the black marble floor, he was a spooky sight.
“Why would Desiderius try to take over Tabitha’s body?”
“What do you mean?” Urian asked.
“He tried to take over her while I was there. After I blasted him out of her, he came for me.”
That didn’t make sense. How stupid could … well, it was Desiderius, after all. “Why would he attempt that if he knew what you were?”
Ash gave a low, ominous laugh. “I don’t think Stryker shared that information with Desiderius. He wouldn’t dare. It would undercut his own authority in Kalosis if he did so.”
Good point. “So I guess the real question is who will be the body donor.”
Acheron cocked his head as if he just realized something. “He’s after Kyrian and Amanda. Since he couldn’t get either Tabitha’s body or mine, he’ll probably go after someone else they know and trust. And that’s the next bit I need you to find out. Stryker has me blocked so that I sense nothing in regard to Desiderius.”
“For the record, I’m beginning to feel like cannon fodder here. There are a lot of people in Kalosis who rejoiced the day Stryker cut my throat. If one of them finds out that I’m there spying on them, they’ll send me back to you in pieces.”
Acheron gave him a wry, wicked grin. “It’s okay. I’ll just put you back together again.”
“Thanks, boss. And I find that thought even more disturbing. Humpty Dumpty here doesn’t want to fall off the wall, okay?”
Acheron’s face hardened once more. “Go, Urian.”
Inclining his head, Urian stepped back and willed himself to Kalosis.
“Tabitha,” Amanda said. “Enough. You knew how Kyrian felt about Valerius. How could you do this to us?”
Ash rubbed his head as if he had a headache. “People, leave Tabitha alone. I’m the one who put her with Valerius.”
“Why?” Kyrian, Julian, and Amanda asked in unison.
Ash paused on the top step to give Tabitha a dry stare. “Tabby, what’s your ideal man like?”
“Honestly?”
Ash nodded.
“You,” she said without hesitation. “Someone tall, gorgeous, hip, and Goth.”
“And what do you think of Valerius?”
She glanced hesitantly at her sister. “He’s a stick in the mud, but I really like him.”
Kyrian and Julian cursed.
“Tabitha…” Amanda said in a warning tone.
“Don’t ‘Tabitha’ me. Jeez, I’m tired of all of you jumping on me.” Tabitha descended the stairs and headed for the door to leave.
As soon as she opened it, she met Nick on the steps, who grinned at her before he entered the foyer. He brushed by her before she thought to warn him Ash was in the house …
With Simi.
Gawking, Tabitha turned.
“Hey, Nicky!” Simi said, her face beaming as she danced away from Ash finally to wave at Nick.
Tabitha went cold with dread.
And she knew the instant Ash realized Simi “knew” Nick. His face mottled red with fury.
Nick froze, then gaped.
Simi appeared oblivious to the mayhem she caused. “Nicky,” she said, putting her hands on her hips as she pouted at him. “Why didn’t you meet me tonight like you said you would?”
Nick’s mouth opened and closed as Ash let out a bellow of rage. He grabbed Nick by the throat and slung him against the wall. Nick hit it so hard, he actually went through the plaster.
Tabitha cringed in sympathetic pain as Nick struggled to rise through the powder of the plaster. “I didn’t know she was your girlfriend, Ash,” Nick panted. “I swear it.”
Ash’s silver eyes turned a glowing shade of red. “She’s not my girlfriend, you asshole. She’s my daughter.”
Tabitha wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Nick turned even paler. “But she’s so … so young … you’re so young…” Nick swallowed audibly. “I’m so screwed.”
Ash’s eyes appeared to boil red and yellow as he hit Nick so hard, Nick was knocked back twenty feet into Kyrian.
Marissa started crying from upstairs.
“Amanda, tend your baby,” Ash snarled in a voice that wasn’t human. It was deep and rumbling. Frightening.
While he was distracted, Tabitha ran at Ash, but he held his hand out and she stopped dead in her tracks and was held there by some invisible force.
“Akri!” Simi shrieked. “No!”
Ash moved toward Nick, but before he could take more than two steps Simi was between them.
Tabitha cringed as Ash let out an agonized cry.
“You were never to have carnal knowledge!” he said to his demon.
While the rest of them feared for their lives, Simi was completely unperturbed by his anger.
“Why not?” Simi asked. “Everyone else has it.”
Ash raked his hands through his black hair. “Because, dammit, Simi, now you’ll be like everyone else. I’ll never have any peace from you.”
Simi screwed her face up as if that was the most disgusting thing she’d ever heard. “Pah-lease, akri. You got a big opinion of yourself. That just sick. You been hanging out with that heifer too long. Bleh! I mean, you a good-looking person and all, but you ain’t no Travis Fimmel. Now, he’s fine. But honestly, the Simi didn’t like all that heaving and sweating very much. It seems like an awful lot of work for such a short amount of pleasure. Personally, I’d rather go shopping. It much more fun and you don’t have to shower afterward. Well, not unless you go someplace dirty, but most malls are really clean nowadays.”
Nick opened his mouth as if to refute her words, but was cut off by Talon, who shook his head.
“Boy,” Talon said sharply. “Be damned glad you suck in bed and take the out she’s offering you before you lose your life.”
“Yeah, Nick,” Kyrian added. “Keep your damned mouth shut.”
Ignoring the two of them, Ash pulled Simi to him and held her close as if afraid of letting her go.
Whatever invisible force held Tabitha released her. She took a deep breath as the very air around them seemed to settle down.
But when Ash looked back at Nick, his eyes were still blazing red. “You’re dead to me, Gautier. If I were you I’d kill myself to save me from the trouble of doing it later.”
“Hey!” Tabitha snapped as Ash headed for the door. “That was harsh.”
“Back off, Tabitha,” Ash snarled in warning. “Simi, return to me.”
The demon turned into a fine, black mist before she laid herself over Ash’s arm and became a dragon-shaped tattoo.
Ash immediately slammed out of Kyrian’s house.
Without hesitation, Tabitha ran after him. “Ash!” she snapped, pulling him to a stop in the driveway. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving before I kill Nick.”
“You can’t blame this solely on him.”
“Like hell I can’t. He slept with my Simi.”
“Well, if you want to hate someone, then hate me. I was the one who left them alone together.”
His eyes snapped fire at her. Literally. “Leave me, Tabitha. Now.”
“No,” she said earnestly. “If you want to hurt someone for this, then hurt the one who is really responsible. You and Nick are best friends. Don’t think I don’t know it. He loves you like a brother and you just crushed him.”
“He slept—”
“I heard you the first time. And I also know how ill Nick was when he found out Simi belonged to you. Tell me something, Ash. Why didn’t Nick know about her?”
His jaw worked furiously. “I didn’t want any man to know about her. I knew the day would come when she would…” He winced as if the thought cut through him. “You don’t understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t. I don’t know what happened to you tonight. I don’t know what’s after me. I don’t understand what the hell you turned into a few minutes ago or why your eyes are doing the freaky fire dance now. What are you? ’Cause right now, I’m wondering if you were ever human.”
His eyes flashed red to silver. “I was human, once,” he breathed.
“And now?”
“Now it’s time for you both to die.”
The eerie, threatening words barely registered before something hot pierced Tabitha’s stomach.
Chapter 10
Tabitha gasped as pain engulfed her. She’d never felt anything like this. It was as if something had invaded her body.
Ash cursed as he threw his hand out and blasted her.
Tabitha screamed from the agony of his blast. It was as if something was trying to rip her apart.
Unable to stand against it, she started to fall, only to realize someone was holding her against a strong chest.
“I’ve got you,” Valerius said as he picked her up in his arms and held her close.
Tabitha’s heart soared at his nearness. She didn’t know how he’d gotten there to catch her, she was only grateful that he had.
“Careful,” she said between the teeth she had clenched to keep from moaning out at the pain that overwhelmed her.
Her eyes blurred by tears, she feared the ghost was now trying to move into Ash or Valerius.
“Forget it,” Ash said.
The spirit laughed, then vanished.
Ash was beside her in an instant. “Breathe easy,” he whispered.
Tabitha couldn’t speak anymore as she laid her head against Valerius’s neck and inhaled the warm scent of his skin. She would have never thought to feel this way about anyone.
She felt strangely protected even though she couldn’t fight for herself.
“We need to get her to safety,” Valerius said sharply.
Ash nodded.
One second they were in the driveway outside of Kyrian’s house and in the next they were in Valerius’s room in his home.
Valerius looked relieved as he laid her gently down on his mattress. “Are you all right?”
“I think so,” she whispered. The pain was starting to abate a bit.
He offered her a warm smile before his face hardened and he turned to look at Ash. “What are we facing?”
Ash took a deep breath and appeared to debate what to say for several minutes. “That ghost outside of Kyrian’s house was Desiderius. The good news is he isn’t corporeal … yet.”
“But I fought him in corporeal form,” Valerius said. “He attacked me earlier.”
“When?” Tabitha asked as her terror returned tenfold. “I didn’t see him.”
“He was the one the ghost protected at the end of the fighting. Remember?”
Tabitha shook her head. “That wasn’t Desiderius. Believe me, I remember that bastard’s face.” She touched the scar on her cheek.
“No,” Ash said. “It was his eldest son. According to Urian, they share the same name.”
Tabitha rolled her eyes. “What is it with you ancient people that you only had, what? Three names in the whole family lineage and everybody recycled them?”
“It was tradition,” Valerius said. “One I’m glad to have seen broken. Believe me, I take no joy from a name that reminds you of a cheesy song and a man doing unspeakable things in a high school gym. But I suppose, all things considered, ‘Valerius’ is infinitely better than ‘Newbomb Turk.’”
Tabitha laughed at his unexpected comment, amazed that he’d actually understood her earlier reference to the movie The Hollywood Knights.
“Knowing Tabitha, I’m not even going to ask about that one,” Ash said, rubbing a hand over his eyebrow.
Ash went suddenly rigid. Tabitha could sense his dread.
“Ash?”
“What happened?” Ash whispered without acknowledging her. It was as if he were talking to someone else.
“Ash?”
“You two stay here and do not leave this house again tonight.” He vanished instantly.
She looked at Valerius, whose frown made a mockery of her own. “What was that about?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’s not good.”
* * *
Ash entered his home in Katoteros with a whirlwind maelstrom flowing behind him. The fifteen-foot-tall, solid oak doors echoed menacingly as they slammed shut of their own accord in his wake. The minute he crossed the elegant threshold, his clothes changed from his modern-day Goth to ancient Atlantean. The seams of his jeans turned into tightly woven, crisscrossed laces that held the tight black leather pants perfectly sculpted to his lower body. His shirt and jacket dissolved away into a heavy black silk foremasta, a long duster-like robe that was left to flow regally around his lithe, muscular body. On the back of the foremasta was embroidered the emblem of a golden sun pierced by three silver bolts of lightning.
It was his personal symbol of power and it marked everything he owned.
Without stopping, he walked directly across the large black marbled foyer that held the same design in the center of the floor.
There was no furniture in the circular foyer, but the golden domed ceiling above him was supported by sixteen columns that had been carved into statues of the most prominent of the Atlantean gods.
Gods who had once made this realm their home. In those days, they had gathered affectionately here in this hall to share time with each other as they watched over the human world and protected it.
But those days were long gone.
The ancient gods themselves were long gone.
Ash headed for the throne room that faced the main doors. The doorway to it was flanked by the likenesses of Apollymi the Destroyer and her husband Archon Kosmetas, a surname that meant Order. At one time, the two of them had presided over the nether realms of Katoteros and Kalosis, and in one fit of anger, Apollymi had laid waste to all who dwelled here.
All of them.
Not a single Atlantean god had remained standing after she had swept through this temple in her violent fury. Ash had never understood what could possess her to do such a thing.
But as he entered the throne room of the ancient gods, he was beginning to have enlightenment.
“Urian!” he growled, summoning his servant to him.
Urian popped into the Atlantean throne room ready to take on the devil himself. He drew up short as he caught sight of Ash’s true form while the Dark-Hunter stood before the gilded dais that contained two gold thrones that were carved into the shape of dragons.
Urian was still having trouble dealing with Ash when the man looked like this. The blood-red, flaming eyes were enough to make even a demigod like Urian cringe, and Ash’s iridescent blue-streaked, marbled skin tone …
Errr …
But the most disturbing thing was the deep, vicious scar that ran from Ash’s navel to his throat where someone’s handprint had been branded. It looked as if someone had once held the man down by his throat as they sliced him open.
Urian had learned from Alexion on the day he had arrived at Katoteros that while the hand scar came and went, the vertical scar was only visible in this realm and that he should never react to it.
Not if he valued his life, anyway.
Ash’s unbalanced temper was present in the lightning bolts and thunder that crackled and sparked outside the leaded windows of the temple.
There were very few things in life that frightened Urian. The extremely powerful man before him was one of them.
Not even Ash’s pet pterygsauri would come out to be with their master in this mood. Unlike Urian, the small winged dragon-like creatures had stayed wisely hidden.
“What have you to report?” Acheron asked him, his voice thick with his Atlantean accent.
“Basically that all hell is breaking loose in hell.”
Acheron looked less than pleased by the news. More lightning shot across the sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the thrones. It gave an eerie glow to Acheron’s body. Thunder clapped ominously as it shook the temple floor where Urian stood.
“What is happening?”
Urian bit back his sarcasm as he started to point out that the weather in Kalosis mirrored the weather here in Katoteros. That would most likely be suicidal.
“I don’t know. Desiderius came back to the hall with his son in tow a little while ago. I was told that he said something to Stryker that caused him to reward Desiderius by giving him the ability to reincarnate. Apollymi the Destroyer is locked inside her temple and no one is allowed to see her. Apparently someone did something wrong and she has since sent her Charonte demons off on a blood hunt throughout Kalosis to find the perpetrator. There are Spathis dropping like flies all over the place and everyone is pretty much wetting their pants in fear of her wrath.”
“And your father?”
Urian tensed at the reminder that Stryker, the leader of the Spathi Daimons who were controlled by the Destroyer, had fathered him. “I don’t know. The minute Desiderius left, he flipped out in the main hall and has been tearing the place apart ever since.” His face hardened. “He keeps screaming out my name and I don’t know why. Maybe he learned that I’m alive.”
Acheron looked away from him.
“What’s up with all this, Ash? I know you know.”
“No, I don’t. The Destroyer is silent to me. I hear nothing from her and that’s what concerns me most. She’s never silent in our battles.”
Urian cursed at what that signified. “What could have set them both off at once?”
The muscle in Acheron’s jaw beat an impressive staccato rhythm. “My guess is Stryker sent Desiderius out with a test for me. Once Desi saw that it was effective, he reported it back to Stryker, who had all the confirmation he needed.”
“Confirmation of what?”
Acheron’s gaze cut through him. “What he really is to Apollymi.”
Urian gave a low whistle. “Yeah, that would freak him out. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he and the Destroyer will kill each other.”
Acheron shot him a look that made him take a step back.
“Sorry,” he said quickly.
Acheron started pacing. With his robe flowing eerily out behind him and his silver-soled boots clicking against the black marble floor, he was a spooky sight.
“Why would Desiderius try to take over Tabitha’s body?”
“What do you mean?” Urian asked.
“He tried to take over her while I was there. After I blasted him out of her, he came for me.”
That didn’t make sense. How stupid could … well, it was Desiderius, after all. “Why would he attempt that if he knew what you were?”
Ash gave a low, ominous laugh. “I don’t think Stryker shared that information with Desiderius. He wouldn’t dare. It would undercut his own authority in Kalosis if he did so.”
Good point. “So I guess the real question is who will be the body donor.”
Acheron cocked his head as if he just realized something. “He’s after Kyrian and Amanda. Since he couldn’t get either Tabitha’s body or mine, he’ll probably go after someone else they know and trust. And that’s the next bit I need you to find out. Stryker has me blocked so that I sense nothing in regard to Desiderius.”
“For the record, I’m beginning to feel like cannon fodder here. There are a lot of people in Kalosis who rejoiced the day Stryker cut my throat. If one of them finds out that I’m there spying on them, they’ll send me back to you in pieces.”
Acheron gave him a wry, wicked grin. “It’s okay. I’ll just put you back together again.”
“Thanks, boss. And I find that thought even more disturbing. Humpty Dumpty here doesn’t want to fall off the wall, okay?”
Acheron’s face hardened once more. “Go, Urian.”
Inclining his head, Urian stepped back and willed himself to Kalosis.
