Acheron staggered away from Artemis as his rage ripped through him with razor-sharp talons. He put his arm against the wall and watched as his skin turned blue. His breathing was ragged as his teeth grew to large fangs and his vision became cloudy.
He wanted Artemis's blood so badly, he could taste it. More than that, he wanted to rip her throat out.
"Damn you!" he snarled.
"I tried to tell you. I gave her to you and you rejected her."
He spun around to glare at her. "You said, 'I have a baby for you.' Not 'I had your baby,' Artemis. There's a big fucking difference. I thought the baby was nothing more than an offering to you from one of your worshipers that you were trying to pawn off on me to make amends for my dead nephew, and you knew that." All of her handmaidens had come into her service in such a manner. Back then, it was nothing for people to leave infants as offerings to the gods.
He raked his hands through his hair as more hated memories surged and tore through him.
He could see himself again as a young man on the cold stone slab, chained down and held in place by servants as the surgeon came forward with a scalpel.
Acheron hissed and flinched at the remembered pain.
His breathing ragged, he approached Artemis with his hands clenched into fists so that he didn't begin choking her. "They sterilized me. There's no way I could father a child. It's not possible."
Her face hardened. "As a human you were sterile. But on your twenty-first birthday..." His godhood had been unlocked.
He wiped his hands over his face as he remembered that. All the scars on his body had been removed. Physically, he'd been restored.
Obviously it hadn't all been on the surface. That night must have undone their surgery, too. Dammit, how could he have been so stupid?
"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"
She glared at him. "I tried. You wouldn't listen to me or speak to me 'I hate you, Artemis. Go die.' That's all I heard from you for two thousand years."
Ash laughed as bitter grief assailed him. For once, she was right. He'd been the one who ignored her. Dear gods, who would have thought this was what she'd been trying to tell him?
Worse, she had held his daughter out to him and he'd cursed her for it. Now he cursed himself for being so damn blind and stupid. How could he not have known? How could he have allowed his anger at her to blind him to something so important?
He could kill himself for his own stupidity. He had denied his own child. Gods only knew what she must think of him and his rejection.
"It's been eleven thousand years, Artemis. You know, you could have mentioned this to me before now."
Her eyes were filled with tears. "I wanted to hurt you then I held her out to you and you insulted me and refused what I loved more than anything else in this universe. You have no idea what I went through trying to prevent anyone from knowing I was pregnant. I suffered through her birth alone, with no attendants. No one to help me in any way. I didn't have to have her, you know."
Artemis was still trying to hurt him with that last remark, but he wasn't willing to let her get away with it. "Then why did you?"
"She was a part of you and she was mine. The only thing in my life that has ever been purely mine. There was no way I wouldn't have had her. By the time you started talking to me again, she was grown. I didn't see the point of losing you over something I couldn't help when I'd already done everything I knew to do to make you love me."
Ash gave a bitter laugh. "I'm happy for you, Artie. You got to love my daughter and I'm nothing but a stranger to her. Thank you."
"Don't be so surly. I didn't have her long to myself before she went behind my back to find your mother. She's just like her father-ever out to punish me when all I want to do is hold her."
He went cold at her words. You've got to be kidding me...
"My mother knows about her?"
"Of course the bitch does. I had to give up my protection of my daughter to your mother to save you that night in New Orleans when Stryker was about to kill you."
Ash seethed in anger even though he didn't know why. He'd been screwed over by his mother and Artemis more times than he could count. There had never been a woman in his life who hadn't lied and betrayed him.
Not a one.
Simi had been the only pure thing he'd ever known. And even she had gone behind his back to seduce his best friend. She'd lost her innocence and he'd gained an enemy who now had no intention of stopping until Ash was dead.
Or until Ash killed him.
Yeah, women were the very bane of Ash's entire existence. He wished he'd been born gay so that he would have spared himself centuries of pain at their hands.
But there was nothing he could do to change the past. Letting out a long, angry breath, he glared at Artemis. "And where is my daughter now?"
"That's why I'm here. I sent her to kill Sin."
"You what!"
Artemis squeaked and put more distance between them. "Don't worry. She's too much like you and wouldn't do it. So I had to call out Deimos to do it."
Oh, this was going to be good. "Let me guess. Deimos is on the loose now after both of them?"
She nodded. "I told him not to hurt Katra, but he doesn't listen. And somehow he knows she's my daughter."
Now it all made sense. "You want me to stop Deimos."
"I want you to kill him."
He laughed in disbelief.
"Don't shake your head at me," she snapped. "I know you can do it. You're a god-killer. His powers are nothing compared to yours."
He cut a lethal glare at her. "Oh, you have no idea, Artie. Not really. In fact, you're lucky I don't cut you down right now where you stand."
"You can't. You swore you wouldn't."
"Yeah, but I'm thinking right now your death might be worth mine."
"You wouldn't dare."
He growled, knowing she was right. If he died, it would unleash his mother on the world and mankind would go up in a fiery blaze. Damn him for caring about that.
He released a slow breath before he asked Queen Dense the obvious. "So how can I protect my daughter if you won't let me out of here for two more weeks?"
"If Katra needs you, you can go to her. But she has to be in danger first."
Ash paused at hearing his daughter's name for the first time.
"Katra? In Greek, it meant "pure".
Artemis nodded. "She looks just like you." Holding her hand up, she summoned an image of Katra's face so that he could see her.
Tears gathered in his eyes as he saw the beauty of his daughter, but he refused to let them fall. And as he looked at her image, he was stunned to realize that he did know her. It was the face he'd seen in his dreams. The blond woman he couldn't identify. Somehow his mind must have known she was out there and it'd been struggling to tell him.
"Have I ever seen her?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"Just once that I know. She was rushing out with the other koris when you showed up unexpectedly. You glanced at her before I made you look at me."
He remembered that. He'd been struck by the fact that one of the koris was obviously taller than Artemis when he knew that Artemis couldn't stand having a woman taller than her around her. "The tall blonde..."
"Yes."
Ash swallowed the pain that swelled inside of him. To think he'd been that close to her... it cut him deep. "Does she know about me?"
"I never kept the identity of her father from her. It was why she went to visit your mother."
A sick feeling settled deep in his stomach. "What did you tell her, Artie? That I rejected her?"
Her eyes snapped fire at him. "You know, Acheron, I get tired of you hurting me, too. Really tired. Had you been decent to me, you would have known all about her. So don't you dare take that hostile tone with me. I did the right thing. You were the one who walked out on her. I was there for her, raising her, while you were off pouting."
Pouting. Yeah. That was so him. He'd been learning to use his powers and had been trying to control a very young Simi who had never been in the human world before. Those early years after Artemis had brought him back had been hard and frightening.
And he'd had no one to turn to. His mother had been bitter and irrational every time he tried to speak to her. Artemis had nagged without cessation. If Savitar hadn't appeared to him to show him how to channel and use his powers, he'd have been completely lost.
But that was the past and he couldn't change it. All he could do was make sure that no one hurt his daughter from this point forward. "Simi!"
He'd barely finished the call before Simi appeared before him. "Akri!" She beamed in delight. "Can you come home now?"
He cast a malevolent stare at Artemis. "Not right now. But I have an assignment for you."
She looked a bit confused. "You do?"
"Yeah. I apparently have someone I need you to watch over. I want you to make sure nothing at all happens to her. Do you understand? "
Simi paled. "You don't want the Simi to watch over the bitch goddess, do you? 'Cause no offense, akri, that would just be wrong, and I love you, but that's more love than the Simi has for anything. Even Diamonique."
He smiled at her honesty. "Not Artemis, Sim. I need you to watch over a woman named Katra."
She scowled at his request. "Akra-Kat?"
A bad feeling went through him. "You know her"
She became antsy, which was never a good thing.
Artemis made a sound of disgust. "He knows she's his daughter, twit."
Simi turned on her with an arch look. "Twit? Moi? The Simi? Why, I do believe the bitch-goddess has done gone and gotten herself confused. She thinks she's me, not that I blame her. All women want to be me because of my beautoneousness and the fact that I have such stylish clothing and sparkliers. But believe me, I ain't no heifer-goddess."
"Oh, please, you stupid demon. Like I would ever want to be you."
Simi's eyes flashed dark so fast that Ash barely had time to grab her and hold her back from eating the bitch-goddess. "No, Sim. Leave her alone." Then he looked at Artemis. "Insult her again and she's the least of your concerns."
Artemis scoffed. "You can't hurt me."
"You're right. I can't. But you never said I couldn't give you over to my girl here."
Simi laughed happily. "Oooo, I finally get to eat the bitch goddess? Oh, goodie!"
Artemis vanished instantly.
Ash would have taken satisfaction in that if he wasn't so upset. He released Simi and turned her to face him. "You knew about my daughter?"
She lowered her chin like a child afraid of a spanking-something he'd never done to her.
"Is akri angry at his simi?"
He pulled her to him and held her against his chest. "How could I be angry at you?" She was the only thing in his life that had ever loved him without conditions or embarrassment. But it still didn't stop him from being hurt that she'd kept this secret. "I just wish you'd told me."
"But the queen goddess said it would make you cry to know. She said it would hurt you so much-like she hurts 'cause she can't have you with her. I didn't want you to sit and cry like akra does."
He tightened his hold on her. "I know, Sim. It's okay."
She pulled back to look up at him. "Are you sad, akri?"
"A little."
She took his hand into hers. "The Simi didn't mean to hurt you, akri."
"Oh, baby, you didn't hurt me. I'll be all right."
"Okay," she said gently, " 'cause if you're not all right, I'll eat the heifer-goddess for you and make it all better."
He smiled at her. "You can't do that."
She pouted. "Just a little nip? Maybe her heel or a finger. She'd never miss it... unless she went to pick something up and then, well, who cares. Well maybe you, but no one else would."
"No, Sim. Your little nips are the size of a shark bite. I need you to find Katra for me and guard her."
"Oh, the Simi knows right where she is. I just left her."
His jaw went slack. Though to be honest, at this point he didn't know why anything shocked him. "You what?"
"She with that ex-god who hates the heifer-goddess like I do. They asked for me and Xirena to help them fight those gallu demons you used to let me eat. Apparently, there's a bunch of them out now." She reached into her purse and pulled out a bottle of barbecue sauce. "I'm all prepared."
Ash shook his head, trying to understand. "The gallu are loose now?"
She nodded. "Sin said they're coming out by the dozen-just enough to make a good appetizer for us."
Yeah, and enough to do serious damage to the human race. "Go, Simi. Watch over Katra for me."
"Okay, akri. But don't be sad." She blew him a kiss before she vanished.
He let out a tired breath as he surveyed the empty room. Everything on earth was falling apart and he was trapped here because of Artemis's insatiable libido. Where was the justice in that? "What the hell's going on?" He had to know.
Closing his eyes, he tried to locate Sin and the gallu, but all he saw was a haze with no real form or substance. That didn't surprise him, though. He usually had a hard time seeing anything below while he was in Artemis's temple. She didn't want him to know since it would make him even more restless to leave than he already was.
But there was one person who could tell him what he needed to know...
He returned to the balcony outside Artemis's main room and leaned against the railing. Closing his eyes again, he let his ensyneiditos travel out of his body, through the cosmos until he was in his mother's garden. It was the only break he was allowed while here. Because the ensyneiditos was simply the conscious part of himself and not his body, he could use it to visit others while trapped on Olympus.
It was also the only way he could ever visit with his mother. If he ever appeared to her in the flesh, it would release her from her prison and allow her to destroy the world-which was her one goal in life.
His goal was to prevent that.
Floating into Kalosis, he found her sitting near the pool in the back. The obsidian rocks were as iridescent as her pale skin as she scythed by using the black water to make a sfora. His mother had lifted a portion of the water up to form a dark swirling ball in the air.
But what stunned him was the woman who stood beside her. It was a face he'd seen before, but only in his dreams. Her features were similar to his, only there was enough of her mother in that face to mark her for what she was.
His daughter.
"Katra?"
The ball splintered and fell in droplets back to the water as the two of them turned to face him. And when those green eyes looked into his, he wanted to cry. But pain was nothing new to him. He was so used to hiding it that it didn't even require any real effort on his part.
"Apostolos," his mother said breathlessly before she rose to her feet. She looked back and forth between them. "Are you angry?"
Kat couldn't move as she waited for an answer. By the way he'd said her name, she knew someone had told him about her. And she couldn't believe her father was here... with them. But she knew he wasn't really here. He was only an apparition. He couldn't have any real contact with his mother without it freeing her.
Still he was looking at Kat with a stern expression.
She'd dreamt of this moment where he knew her for what she was millions of times in her life. Only in her dreams she was filled with happiness, not trepidation. She'd tried to imagine every possible scenario for their meeting, but none of them had come close to this.
Now she wanted to run to him and hug him. If only she could. His cold demeanor was such that she was afraid to even move.
"Dad?" she asked hesitantly.
He looked away as a single tear fled down his cheek and he faded away from them. It made Kat's own eyes swim as her emotions gathered in her throat to bitterly choke her.
Her grandmother placed a tender hand on her shoulder. "Go to him, Katra. He needs you."
She nodded before she flashed herself from Kalosis to Olympus. She was on the balcony where she'd frolicked and played as a child.
And her father was only a few feet from her.
Kat wasn't sure what to say or do. She wanted to run to him. Or, better yet, say something. But nothing came to mind while she felt his pain and sorrow.
He stood as still as a statue, gazing out on the garden below.
Suddenly he gasped as his consciousness returned to his body. Her heart stopped the instant he turned toward her and met her gaze.
Her tears flowed down her cheeks as her emotions overwhelmed her. She wiped angrily at them. "I don't normally do this. I'm really not that emotional."
Still he didn't speak. He merely walked toward her as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He stopped just before her and stared at her as if she were a wraith.
Up close, he seemed so much larger. Much more powerful. She supposed it was normal for a daughter to be intimidated to a degree by her father. But she was honestly scared.
"Have you had a good life?" he asked in a gentle tone.
That single question only made her cry harder as she nodded. "I only wanted for one thing"
"And that was?"
"You."
Ash couldn't breathe as his own tears fell from his eyes. It infuriated him. He didn't cry. Ever.
Yet the thought of having missed so much of her life, the knowledge that he was a complete stranger to his own daughter, tore him apart.
How many children had he coddled and protected over the centuries? How many had he held, wishing he had his own, but convinced that he was incapable of it? Now to learn that he'd had a daughter all this time...
It was so unfair.
He swallowed as he ached to reach out to touch her but was afraid she'd shove him away like everyone else in his past. Surely she must hate him for his neglect. He wouldn't blame her if she did. God knows, he'd felt that way when he learned about his real parents. He'd despised them for never telling him who they were, for never being there when he needed comfort or love.
Until now, he hadn't realized how hard his first meeting with his mother must have been for her.
"I don't even know what to say to you," he whispered.
"Me, either. I guess we'll just stand here and cry at each other, huh?"
He laughed at her unexpected humor.
Kat wiped at her eyes again. "Can I hug you?"
Ash held his arms out, and before he could move she ran to him. The feel of her there as he wrapped his arms around her rattled him to the depths of his soul. This was his daughter. His true flesh and blood. A wave of possessive pride ripped through him, but the love he felt for her was enough to almost drown him.
Now he fully understood his mother and her anger on the night she'd learned about his past. He wanted to hurt anyone who'd ever hurt Kat.
The guilt over not being there...
Not once in Kat's life had he held her. Never had she cried and felt his comforting touch. She'd lived knowing nothing about him other than the fact that he had donated DNA to make her. His only comfort was that he'd never known about her existence.
How much worse had it been for his mother to know he was out there but to not be able to go to him?
"I'm so sorry," he breathed against Kat's hair as he cradled her head in his palm. "I didn't know."
"I know you didn't."
Still he wanted her to understand just how sorry he felt. "Why didn't you ever come to me?"
"When I was young I was afraid you'd be mad at me. Every time I saw you come here, you were always so angry. You hated Artemis and I was afraid you'd hate me for tying you to her."
He pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. "I could never hate you."
Kat had waited her whole life to hear those words, as more tears gathered in her eyes. To feel the touch of her father. It was so much sweeter than she'd ever imagined. "I love you, Dad."
Ash let out a sob as pain wracked him. Those words tore through every fiber of his being. "I'm so sorry, Katra."
"Me, too. I should have told you. I know that. But I really didn't know what you'd do to Mom. I was afraid you'd kill her."
He gave a bitter laugh. "I probably would have" He shook his head as he looked her up and down. "You're so beautiful. I wish I'd seen you as a child."
She gave him a coy grin. "You didn't miss much. I had buck teeth and stringy hair."
He laughed. "I seriously doubt that."
"It's true, and I was really hideous as a preteen. Tall and gawky. I used to bump my head into everything. Still do sometimes."
He shook his head at her. "You are my daughter."
"Sure I am," she scoffed. "I can't imagine you ever being uncoordinated."
"Oh, I assure you I've nailed quite a few signs with my forehead. It's a wonder 'Exits' isn't permanently imprinted right between my eyes."
Her melodic laugh filled his ears and made his heart ache.
Ash couldn't get over how similar her mannerisms were to his. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing someone else's face in your stead.
But his joy was cut short by another fear as he realized just how similar the two of them were and what that might have meant for Katra growing up. "Has your mother been good to you?"
A slow smile spread across her face. "For her, yeah. I mean other than the fact I could never call her Matisera unless we were alone, she really was good."
How awful to never be able to acknowledge Artemis as her mother in public. He knew that pain well and it made him even angrier that Artemis, having done that to him, would also do it to his child.
How selfish could one person be?
"Is she loving to you?"
Kat swallowed at his question and she knew exactly what he meant by it. He was afraid her mother had been cold to her. But in spite of Artemis's shortcomings, that had never been the case.
Wanting to set his mind at ease, Kat took his hand into hers and closed her eyes so that she could show him.
Ash jerked as he saw Katra's memories in his mind. She was no more than seven and she was alone with her mother in Artemis's bedchamber. They were curled up together in Artemis's bed.
Katra frowned as she laid a tiny hand to Artemis's moist cheek. "Why do you cry, Matisera?"
"You're too young to understand, my little one."
"Then you can tell me why you cry and I won't understand it. Then you'll feel better and be happy again."
Artemis smiled through her tears as she lifted the blanket higher around Kat's shoulders. "I made a horrible mistake."
Her young brow was furrowed in puzzlement. "But you're a goddess. You can't make mistakes."
Artemis took Kat's small hand into hers and placed a tender kiss on it. "Trust me, little one. Everyone makes mistakes. Even the gods, and ours are much worse than those of humans. Unlike humans, we don't suffer alone. Rather, we share the pain with thousands. That's why you must learn to be like your father. To hold in your tears and anger. Try not to punish what you love."
"But you don't punish me, Matisera."
Artemis kissed her on the forehead. "No, Katra, I don't. I love my little treasure."
Still Katra looked confused by her mother's tears. "Am I your mistake, Matisera?"
"Oh, great Olympus, no! Why ever would you think that, child? "
" 'Cause no one can know about me. Aren't you supposed to hide your mistakes?"
"Oh, baby, no. That's not why I have to hide you. I just don't want to share you with anyone. You are mine alone. You will always be my little girl and I don't want to share you with anyone else."
Kat scratched her tiny head. "Do you think my father would love me?"
Artemis rubbed her nose against Kat's before she answered. "Your father would love you even more than I do. He would wake you with tickles and kisses, and send you to bed with a warm hug."
"Then why don't we find him?"
The sadness returned to Artemis's face. "Because he hates me and he wants nothing to do with me."
"Why would anyone hate you, Matisera? You are wonderful and kind. Loving. I can't imagine why someone wouldn't see that about you."
Artemis smoothed her blond curls. "I wronged him, Katra. Greatly." She sighed regretfully. "I had the entire world in my hand at one time and I didn't know it. I let stupidity blind me and I lost him because of that."
"Then tell him you're sorry."
"As your father would say, there are some things 'sorry' can't repair. Some pains run too deep to ever be healed by something as simple as words, no matter how much you mean them."
Katra sat up in bed. "But I can heal anything. I will put my hand over his heart and make it all better. Then he will love you again."
Artemis pulled her close and held her tight. "My little treasure. How I wish that you could. But it's all right. He gave me you, and you I can love without regret."
Kat released Ash and pulled her thoughts away from that memory. "She wasn't always a perfect mother, but I couldn't have had much better. And even when she was less than perfect, I always knew that she loved me."
Ash couldn't speak as the image of them haunted him. It was a side of Artemis that he'd forgotten existed. Since the day Artemis had brought him back from the dead, she'd punished him for the fact that she loved him.
She would pull him into her bed to use his body and then kick him away once they were finished. Even when he'd loved her, her love had been selfish.
She'd blamed him for everything.
But in the beginning, she'd been kind to him. She'd once held him and laughed with him over nothing at all. Now he couldn't remember the last time they'd laughed at anything. The last time she'd just touched him for no other reason than he was near her.
The loss of the friendship stall made him ache.
He took Kat's hand in his. "I'm glad her anger at me never spilled over onto you."
She gave him a teasing smile. "Me, too." She reached up and brushed a strand of hair away from his face. "I can't believe this is real. That you're here, seeing me."
Neither could he. It was surreal.
But for a quirk of fate, they wouldn't be here now.
Which brought another question to him. "Why were you with my mother in her garden?"
"I was trying to help Sin fight the gallu and Dimme. He has a brother-"
"Zakar."
She didn't know why, but she was surprised he knew about Zakar. "You know him?"
Ash nodded. "I've met him a few times. He's a decent enough guy."
That was nice to know. The last thing she wanted to do was unleash another enemy into the world. "Well, he's missing. One of the gallu says that they have him held prisoner. Sin needs to know if that's true."
"Did my mother help you find him?"
"We saw something, but I don't know if that was him or not. It was blurry."
"Yeah, the sfora has its moments." He reached under his hair and removed his necklace. It was a small red glass ball, and it wasn't until he put it around her neck that she realized it was a tiny sfora. "This is a bit stronger than the pond. It has a part of me in it."
Her heart hammering, she closed her hand around it, unable to believe he'd give her something so valuable. With his DNA in it, she could use it not only to see what she needed, but to destroy him.
Given how little he trusted anyone, she understood the total significance of his gift.
He stepped back. "Tell it what you need and it'll guide you to it."
"Thank you."
He inclined his head to her.
Smiling up at him, Kat lifted herself on her tiptoes and placed a kiss to his cheek.
Ash couldn't breathe as he felt her gentle kiss. His daughter's kiss. It was tender and sweet and it made a wave of love well up inside him that he'd only ever known whenever Simi was near him.
He wanted to crush Kat to him, but she was too old to be held like a little girl. His daughter was grown and he'd have to respect her as a woman.
"Be careful," he whispered in her ear.
"You, too."
Ash took another step back and did the hardest thing he'd ever done. He let go of his daughter's hand. "If you need me, call and I will come no matter the cost."
"I know... Thanks, Daddy."
With tears in his eyes, he watched as she vanished and left him alone again in Artemis's room. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.
I have a daughter...
It seemed so unbelievable.
"Are you angry at me, Apostolos?"
He clenched his teeth at the sound of his mother's voice in his head. "No, Metera. I'm just hurt that you kept her from me."
"I would rather you be angry at me. Your hurt makes me ache."
"I'm sorry."
"Why do you apologize when I'm the one in the wrong?"
"Because I would never hurt you for anything."
His mother appeared to him then as a pale Shade. "Come home, Apostolos. Free me and I will make sure you never hurt again."
He shook his head. "I can't, Metera. You know that."
She let out a tired breath. "One day, my child, you will seize the destiny you were born to."
Ash hoped not. If he did, the world would end.
Kat manifested back in Sin's penthouse. He was right where she'd left him by his bar, looking just as gorgeous.
He stood up from the bar stool and crossed the short distance between them. She could see the worry in his eyes. "Did you find him?" he asked anxiously.
She shook her head at the irony. She'd gone to find his brother and instead had found her father.
"Not exactly. But my father gave me this." She lifted the tiny red ball on her chest up so that Sin could see it. "He said it would lead us to Zakar."
A deep scowl marred his brow. "You met your father?"
She nodded.
"Are you all right?" His concern warned her a lot more than it should have. It was so touching.
"Yeah. In a weird way, I think I am."
He approached her slowly and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I really am."
There was a tenderness on his face that she couldn't even begin to fathom. But it only lasted until his next question.
"So did he kill Artemis?"
Well, that was certainly an "ah" mood killer that wasn't helped by the eagerness of his tone. "Sin!"
"What?" he asked, his face a mask of innocence. "It's a legitimate question. I hope he cut her head off and stuck on a pike."
Men! Or more to the point, Sin! He was terrible. "Sorry to disappoint you, but she's still breathing."
"Damn," he said in a low tone. "Just once couldn't he give that-"
She arched a warning brow at him before he used the noun she despised.
"Woman," he said with an expression that let her know he really resented using that word, "that she deserves?"
"Would you punish the mother of your daughter?" No sooner were those words out of her mouth than she realized she'd hit a hard chord in his heart. She could feel his pain and it stung her deep.
Honestly, he looked as if she'd struck him.
"Sin..." She took a step toward him, but he quickly stepped back.
"We need to find Zakar," he said from between clenched teeth.
"Sin, don't change the subject. I want to know what's wrong. Why did my comment hurt you? "
"Let's just say you gave me clarity with one comment and leave it at that."
But she didn't want to leave it at that. She wanted to understand him. "I know your wife cheated on you. I saw it."
"And now you know why I never killed her over it. She was the mother of my children. Any other sore spots you wish to salt? I was once humiliated when I first tried to use my powers of flight as a kid. Instead of soaring over the mountain, I fell down and busted my chin. Why don't we call me incompetent all the way around? I assure you it was much less embarrassing than being a fertility god who couldn't satisfy his own wife."
So that was the source of it...
His shame made her ache for him. She cupped his face in her hands and stared at him so that he could see her sincerity. "And having been in your bed, I can honestly say that there had to have been something profoundly wrong with a woman who wasn't satisfied by you. Maybe it was a birth defect."
He looked at her with hooded eyes. Even so, she could feel the comfort her words had given him. He reached up and covered her hands with his. "I can't believe you're related to... what was the term Simi used? 'Bitch-goddess'?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "I know. I'm the watered-down version and you're lucky for that."
He took her right hand and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "Thank you, Kat."
"Hey, I never say anything I don't mean. It's a curse I inherited from my father."
Sin grinned at her. "I don't think it's a curse so much as refreshing."
Her heart pounded at the light in his dark golden eyes. She had a bad feeling where he was concerned. There was something about him that she found so comforting and she didn't even know why. Something about him that just called out to her. She wanted to ease the pain in his gaze, and at the same time he gave her so much by doing nothing more than looking at her like he was doing right now.
It made her uncomfortable. She brushed her thumb over his fingers before she took a step back. Looking down, she picked up the small sfora. "I don't know if this will work, but are you ready to try?"
"More than ready."
Kat closed her eyes and summoned Simi and Xirena to her side. Sin stiffened as they appeared in the room looking a bit peeved.
Kat smiled at him and his reservations. "We're having to go into who knows what. While I know you can kick serious demon ass and I can kick most demon ass, I still like the idea of having a little cavalry standing at our backs. Especially since they're probably hungry."
He shook his head but didn't say anything.
"Where are we going, akra-Kat?" Simi asked.
"Food?" Xirena asked hopefully. "Watching all that Diamonique made me hungry."
Kat wrinkled her nose at Xirena. "Knowing my luck, there will be many gallu for your dining pleasure tonight "
Xirena and Simi rubbed their hands together in delight.
Kat laughed before she covered the sfora with her hand. "Okay, folks. Fasten your seat belts. This could very well be a bumpy ride." She concentrated and waited with bated breath.
Nothing happened.
"You're not doing it right," Simi said petulantly. "Akra-Kat has to take it off, put it in her palm, and think of who you're trying to find."
"Oh." She glanced to Sin. "Your brother looks like you?"
"Since we're twins... yeah."
"Okay. One sexy Sumerian coming up." Kat took the necklace off and closed her hand around the orb. As soon as she began to imagine Sin in her mind with Zakar's name, the orb began to glow. The rays spread out from between her fingers and danced along the walls like a strobe.
Then the red light slowly encompassed them. Two seconds later, they were in a damp cave. By the heavy earthen smell, it seemed to be deep underground. The sfora's light faded and left them encased in the darkness.
In fact, it was so dark that the only way she could see Simi and Xirena was by their glowing eyes. The silence was only broken by the sound of heavy, angry breathing. Kat tried to peer through the darkness to the source of the sound, but her eyes couldn't focus on it at all.
She reached out and felt Sin's biceps under her hand.
Sin lifted his hand and a small flame appeared from his palm so that they could see in the darkness.
At first all she could see was the earthen walls of the cave. Then the breathing stopped.
And so did hers.
There on the other side of the cave was the body of a man lying on a stone slab. But that wasn't what horrified her. It was how he'd been laid out. His left shoulder was pinned to the slab by a sword that had been buried through his body to the hilt in the stone. His right arm had been lifted and a smaller sword driven through his wrist to pin it down. His legs had been done in a similar fashion, only the swords had been planted through the fleshy parts of his calves.
Bile rose in her throat as they moved toward him.
Sin was silent, but she could feel the anger rolling through him. And once they were close enough, she saw the blood that was running from the wounds and the scars that marred every inch of the man's naked body. His hair was matted and long, as if it'd been years since anyone had washed or combed it. He was clean shaven, but it was easy to see why that one bit of hygiene had been observed.
There were bite marks all over his neck. Some of them were long and jagged, as if the gallu had torn themselves away from his flesh in an effort to cause him as much pain as possible after their feedings.
But the worst was his eyes. Someone or something had seared them shut.
Xirena accidentally touched his leg as she neared him.
The man jerked his head toward her. "Fuck you, gallu," he snarled in Sumerian before spitting in Xirena's direction. He tried to fight.
Kat winced as the swords tore into his flesh.
"Stop it, Zakar," Sin said, moving closer to his brother so that he could hold his brother in place.
Zakar tried to bite him.
Sin cupped his brother's head in his hands. "Stop it. It's me. Sin. I'm here to free you."
"Fuck you," Zakar spat again.
Sin wiped the spittle off his face with the back of his hand. "Stop fighting. You're only hurting yourself more."
Kat cringed as Zakar pulled his wrist up and the sword made a slight scraping noise against the stone. The pain of that action had to be killing him.
Sin held his brother's arm in place before Sin jerked the sword free. Instead of being grateful, Zakar tried to punch him. When that failed, Zakar grabbed Sin by his hair and slammed his head into the stone by his side.
Sin cursed before he twisted out of Zakar's grasp. "Dammit, boy, you better be glad I love you."
As Zakar continued to fight, he ignored Sin.
Kat stepped forward to help Sin. "I'll get the ones in his legs."
"Let us," Simi said as she pushed her back. "Charontes are stronger. We can pull them out in one clean motion and it'll hurt him less."
Kat was grateful for their help--anything to spare the poor man more pain.
Moving to the side, she watched as Simi, Xirena, and Sin pulled the remaining swords free of the stone and Zakar's body. Zakar let out an echoing scream that sent a chill all the way to Kat's soul as he thrashed about in utter misery.
And as soon as he was free, he rolled to the floor and crouched to attack.
"Zakar!" Sin snapped, trying to make him understand. "It's Sin."
Zakar lunged at Sin and wrapped his arms about him before tackling him to the floor.
Kat wanted to help but wasn't sure what would be the best course of action. More than that, she didn't want to hurt Zakar any more.
By Sin's face as he tried to keep his brother from hitting him, she could tell he felt the same way.
"Can we eat him?" Xirena asked.
"No," Simi said quickly. "Eating people is wrong..." She made a face. "The Simi sounds like akri now. But akri's right. Besides, it would make akra Kitty-Kat mad."
Suddenly bright light filled the cavern. Sin and Kat froze as they realized they were no longer alone with Zakar.
"Well, well, looks like more food has arrived."