Kat turned at the growling tone that was similar to Kessar's voice. The demon looked a lot like him, but his hair was darker and his eyes were coal black. If that weren't enough to warm her day, there were six more demons behind him. Five men and one female.
"How cute," the female said as she came around the men to stand in the front. "The blood slave has friends."
Before Kat could even blink, the demons vanished only to reappear directly in front of each of them.
Except for Sin. The leader and two of the male demons surrounded him.
She tried to watch Simi and Xirena as their wings came out of their backs and they attacked the demons in front of them, but her vision was blocked by the female in front of her. Gah, in demon form, the gallu were really an unattractive race. The female's eyes were sharp and beady, and her lower jaw was distorted by the double row of fangs. Curling up with one of the gallu would be like getting close to Stephen Sommers's Mummy after only two kills.
Ew...
The female tilted her head and smiled, showing off her fangs. "How wonderful. An Atlantean to eat."
Kat snorted. "How wonderful. A bitch to declaw."
The female ran at Kat, who quickly sidestepped, grabbed her arm, and slammed her into the cavern wall. That really had to hurt. Good. It was almost enough to make Kat smile.
Shrieking, the female gallu turned back to face her. Kat kicked her back and slugged her hard. She then stabbed the gallu straight in the heart and waited for her to explode.
She didn't.
"Between the eyes," Sin snarled at her. "You can't take them out like a Daimon."
Duh, how could she have forgotten that so soon? So much for her training.
The demon lunged at the same time Kat recovered her dagger and shoved it straight between the demon's eyes. The demon let out a piercing sound before she exploded all over Kat.
Ugh, gross... Give her a Daimon any day over one of these. At least Daimons didn't smell when they exploded.
Disgusted, Kat shook it off and turned to see Simi and Xirena "eating" their gallu demons. Oh yeah, she'd never order pizza again after seeing that.
Note to self. In the future tell Simi to bring a bib along with the barbecue sauce.
Trying not to watch them as they feasted on body parts she could no longer even identify, Kat went to help Zakar, who was blindly stabbing at the demon who was tormenting him like a cat with a stray ball. Sin had two of his attackers dead at his feet and was working on the third as she ran across the room.
Zakar narrowly missed her with his slash.
The demon laughed. "That's right, slave. Kill your rescuer." The demon came at her, but she twisted in his arms and lifted him up. Instead of her crashing into Zakar as the demon intended, it was the demon who did. Zakar slashed the demon's throat. He screamed out.
Kat caught Zakar's wrist and pulled the knife from his hand before she used it to finish off the demon. She'd just killed him when Zakar grabbed her from behind and sank his teeth into her shoulder. Yelping, she barely caught herself before she struck him.
Suddenly Sin was there, pulling him away. Zakar fought like a man possessed by unreasoning fury. He grabbed handfuls of Sin's hair and pulled with all his strength.
"Stop it!" Sin shouted in his ear. "It's your brother."
"Fuck you, gallu, fuck you!"
Realizing there was nothing else to do, Kat held her hands out and blasted Zakar with a kind, but no less stunning, god-bolt. He instantly collapsed into Sin's arms.
Her and Sin's gazes met and she saw the gratitude in his eyes as he swung his brother up into his arms. "Let's get out of here before more of them come."
She nodded in agreement. "Simi? Fry all the other demons and let's get out of here."
Simi pouted. "But I'm still hungry."
"We'll order Diamonique as soon as we get back."
Simi's bloody face lit up immediately. "Ooo, that's so much better than gallu." She and Xirena quickly set fire to the demons before Kat and Sin flashed them back to his penthouse.
Kat used her powers to conjure a large bag of Diamonique, which she handed over to Simi and Xirena once they joined them. Squealing, the demons ran to their hotel room to gobble up the stones and left Kat alone with Sin and his brother.
Thank the gods for Diamonique. That should keep the demons occupied for a little while.
His face sad and bitter, Sin carried his brother toward the sofa, which unfolded itself to make a queen-sized bed. The covers pulled back an instant before he laid Zakar on top of the white sheets.
"Is he going to be okay?"
Sin couldn't speak as he looked at the vicious scars on his brother's body. What had they done to him? He looked as if they'd been feeding from him for centuries.
Sin wanted blood for this. Kessar's... the gallu's.
But most of all, Sin wanted Artemis. If not for her, he'd have been there to stop this. He'd have had the power to protect Zakar from their brutality.
No, he took that back. It wasn't Artemis's fault. It was his own and he knew it. If only he hadn't wanted acceptance. Wanted companionship. None of this would have happened. It was his own weakness that had wounded his brother. There was no one else to blame but him.
His stomach shrank from the weight of pain and guilt that gnawed at him.
He felt Kat gently pulling him back. He started to snap at her, but the intent look on her face kept him silent. Rubbing her hands together, she neared Zakar. She placed the palms of her hands against his eyes as she whispered in Atlantean.
A translucent yellow glow spread out from her hands to cover his body. As the glow moved over Zakar, it knitted his wounds closed and healed the deep scars that marred his skin... even his missing finger was repaired.
Relief and gratitude poured through Sin's body as he watched her heal Zakar.
That she would do this without Sin's asking... it meant the world to him.
When she pulled back, he saw that Zakar's eyes were no longer seared closed. His eyelids and lashes lay against his cheeks in perfect repose. With the exception of the long, gnarled hair, this was the brother Sin remembered.
"Thank you," he breathed, grateful for what she'd done.
She inclined her head before she moved away from the bed. "They'd punctured his eardrums. I think that's why he didn't respond when you told him who you were. He was deaf."
Sin cursed as more rage filled him. "I want them dead. All of them."
Her face said she agreed completely. "I hate to say this, but I give Stryker credit. At least he has a code of ethics, screwy though it is at times, that he follows. I can't imagine him doing something like this."
"It's why we can't let the gallu loose on humanity. They are completely without compassion, mercy, or decency."
"I agree. But I'm not sure Zakar will be able to help us now. He looks pretty battered, and there's no telling what's been done to him mentally that I can't fix with a simple healing spell."
Sin hated to admit it, but she might be right. The man on the bed wasn't in any kind of fighting shape. He looked gaunt and weak. They'd be lucky if Zakar could even stand without help. "I wonder how long they've had him."
"I don't know. But by the looks of it, it's been a while." Kat brushed at Sin's hair before she rubbed the small of his back. "Are you all right?"
He glanced down at her, his heart heavy. "If he were your brother, how would you answer?"
She didn't hesitate with her answer. "I'd be out for blood."
"Then you understand me."
She nodded before she gave a comforting squeeze to his arm. "And I'll be right here, helping you collect it."
Emotions and tenderness for her choked him at her words. At the fact that she'd been by his side through all this. That she'd healed Zakar...
In a weird way, it'd been like a dream.
Unable to cope with it, Sin pulled her against him and kissed her with everything he had.
Kat sighed at the taste of Sin. She could feel his turmoil even while he held her like she was the most important thing in the world to him, and she wished she could ease it. He'd had a rotten day. But even so, he tasted of heaven and man. How she wished things had turned out better for him and Zakar. They still had the gallu to deal with and Deimos. None of whom would rest until Sin was dead.
It felt as if the whole world was against them. But right now, in his arms, she felt strong enough to take them all on.
Sin growled as he pulled away from her lips to bury his face against her neck. He loved the scent of her skin and breath, the feel of her body against his. For once he didn't have to practically double over to kiss a woman. She was a perfect height for him, and her strength amazed him.
"I think I'm becoming addicted to you."
She laughed. "You barely know me."
"Yes," he said with a wicked grin, "but I know parts of you better than anyone ever has."
She blushed at that. "You're incorrigible."
"Not true, I'm highly encourageable. I take very little prodding most days."
She kissed his cheek before she moved away. "I can't believe you're this playful considering what's going on."
He let out a tired breath before he raked his hands through his dark hair. "I'm trying to distract myself from the utter misery of guilt and doubt that's plaguing me. There, for a second, it was actually working."
Kat went immediately to his side to put one hand on his hard stomach and the other on his back. She looked at him with a pained expression. "Oh, hon, I'm sorry. Should we get naked now?"
He rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. "Forget it. Too much of a cock-kill."
She stepped back, laughing. "Cock-kill, huh? What an interesting expression you've developed." She gave him a devilish smile. "Perhaps a little mouth-to-mouth resuscitation could bring it back?"
He took his earlier comment back; she was her mother's daughter. She could torment a man with the best of them. "You are evil taunting me like this."
"I know. I'd apologize, but the agonized look on your face makes it all worth it."
He lifted his hand to touch her hair. It was like silk on his skin. Rubbing it between his forefinger and thumb, he remembered the feel of her on top of him. "I still don't understand you. Why you're here with me. Helping me. It doesn't make sense."
"Maybe it's your compelling personality that draws me to you like a moth to a flame."
Sin snorted. "Repellent, you mean."
She arched a brow as if surprised by his words. "Is that self-deprecation from a god?"
"Ex-god."
"Even so, it's not something one usually finds in your breed."
He rubbed her cheek with the backs of his fingers, savoring the soft texture of her skin. "Neither is a heart or a soul. Yet you seem to have both.'"
Kat shivered at the lender look on his face. Warmth spread through her at the sensation of his hand on her flesh. He was delectable. "I keep telling you I'm not a god."
"Yeah... but you would have been had your mother not been afraid of the other gods finding out she was sleeping with your father."
Perhaps, but Kat wasn't into titles or power trips. Pantheon politics had worn her down eons ago. She truly wanted no part on that. She just wanted...
Honestly she didn't know. She'd spent most of her life serving her mother's whims. Kat hadn't been born to a world when dreams or ambitions turned out well. Usually those two things resulted in someone's ultimate humiliation or a grand disembowelment.
It'd been her life's ambition to save herself the pain of both. Truly, she'd never even dreamt of knowing a man at all. It seemed inconceivable to her now. But she had been living her life blindly, with no thoughts of a future. The world, her world, just was. Sin had changed that.
For the first time she did want something, and that actually scared her, because she knew he would never share himself with her that way. It wasn't in him to settle down and have a family. He was a warrior who wanted nothing to do with her mother's pantheon, and though Kat wasn't a goddess in it, she was still a part of it.
Trying to force the issue would only lead to her humiliation. She was sure of it.
"So what were you like as a god?" she asked, trying to imagine him all those centuries ago. He didn't seem like he'd be any better at their politics than she was.
He shrugged. "Like all the others, I suppose."
She couldn't believe that. "No. I don't think you were ever like them. I know from my glimpse into your life that you never cheated on your wife even though she cheated on you. Why is that?"
A veil fell over his face, obscuring his thoughts and emotions from her. She felt nothing but emptiness.
"I went to Artemis, intending to cheat."
Kat looked away as she summoned what she'd felt while in his past. He was lying. "No, you didn't."
"How do you know?"
Not wanting him to know what she was doing, she met his gaze. "I don't believe you'd be faithful all that time and then toss it to the wind on a whim. There was another reason you went to Artemis."
Anger darkened his brow, before he moved away.
"Sin?"
There was no mistaking the wrath in his gaze as he looked at her. "What?"
An intelligent person wanting to live would have dropped the subject, but Kat was more suicidal than most. "Why were you on Olympus?"
His eyes were hollow. "Do you really want the truth?"
"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."
He left her then and went to the bar to pour himself a double shot of whisky-it appeared that was always his answer when something truly disturbed him.
He tossed the drink back and grimaced before he glared at her and answered, "I was lonely." The pain on his face actually stole her breath. "I didn't sleep around for one simple reason. I was tainted. Half human, half god, I didn't fit in anywhere, and believe me, the Sumerian gods were quick to point that out. Ningal, my wife, had abandoned our bed centuries before. She only married me because I was exotic and different. But once the others started in on her for being with a mongrel, she banned me from her bed. After all, what kind of children would she breed with someone who wasn't a full- blooded god?"
He clenched his teeth as if the pain were more than he could bear before he spoke again. "I thought something had to be wrong with me. Whoever heard of a fertility god not sleeping around? A fertility god whose wife was never in his bed? But I wasn't about to become my father and prey on a human woman who wouldn't be able to resist me. It's wrong to use people that way, and I knew how much pain my father's lust had caused my mother. Then Artemis appeared one day while I was out riding in Ur. She was surrounded by deer, looking peaceful and, don't laugh, sweet. I'd never seen a more beautiful woman, so I stopped to chat with her, and then next thing I knew, we were laughing. And in no time, we were friends."
It made sense to Kat. They were both gods of the moon. They probably had a lot in common. "What made you go to her that night on Olympus? Really?"
He looked away. "Anger. Ningal had humiliated me and I was tired of being laughed at. I was a powerful god, but not the most powerful of my pantheon. I knew there was no way I could confront them and win. They would have united against me. So I went to Artemis, wanting her to help me weaken my own pantheon. I thought that if she really loved me as she claimed, we could join forces against them."
He laughed bitterly. "Be careful what you wish for you, you just might get it. I wanted all of them destroyed for what they'd done to me, and they were. I just didn't see my own downfall as part of that plan."
Guilt tore through her at the agony she heard in his voice, the self-loathing she saw in his gaze. She'd never meant to hurt him or anyone else. "Artemis is incapable of giving what you sought."
He scoffed. "Thanks, but I'll let you in on a secret. I learned that three thousand years ago when she bound me up and sucked me dry."
Wanting to soothe him, Kat crossed the room to take his hand before he poured himself another shot. "You do realize what you've just done, don't you?"
"Insulted your intellect?"
"No." She took his hand into hers. "You've opened yourself up to me. Trusted me."
Sin grew silent as he realized she was right. He'd told her things he'd never told anyone else. But it was so easy to talk to her. Unlike others, she didn't seem to judge him for his past or his mistakes.
She made him forget to be guarded.
"I guess you and your mother will have a good laugh at me then when you talk later."
Her expression changed instantly to one of indignation. "I would never tell someone what you've told me here. Ever. What kind of person do you think I am?"
He didn't answer. "Perhaps we should go back to insulting each other. I think that was easier."
She shook her head at him. "Not easier. Just safer."
Damn, she was intelligent. Sometimes more so than was good for his peace of mind. "I like safety."
Kat laughed out loud. "This from a man who fights demons single-handedly? Are you really that afraid of me?"
"Unlike you, demons are easy." They didn't make him want to hold them.
"How so?"
"They only take your life."
She arched a single brow. "And me?"
You could easily take my heart. The truth of that seared him right where he stood. He hadn't felt like this in thousands of years.
Thousands.
Then again, he wasn't sure if he'd ever felt this way about a woman. He could barely remember courting his wife. If he'd ever had any feelings for her, they had been killed by her callousness.
But Kat...
She was honest and caring. Two things his wife had never been. When Kat touched him, his body reacted viciously. A single smile from her could make his entire being burn. One touch from her hand and he was undone. It was terrifying to think of how much power this one person had over him. How one single gesture from her could affect him so profoundly.
Still, she held that playful look on her beautiful face. "You didn't answer me, Sin."
He stepped away from her. "Answer you about what?"
"Why you're afraid of me?"
Could she be more relentless? Unwilling to confess his feelings, he gave her a flippant response. "You command two demons with barbecue sauce. Who in their right mind wouldn't be afraid of you?"
She tsked at him. "Why are you hiding?"
"Who says I'm hiding?"
"That nervous look you keep casting to the door like you're wanting someone to come through it and rescue you." She made bock-bock animal noises at him as she bent her arms and flapped them like wings.
Sin was aghast by her actions. "You're not seriously calling me chicken?"
The playful look on her face was extremely attractive. "If the beak fits..."
He should be angry, but a foreign part of him was amused by her audacity. "You live to taunt me, don't you?"
"We have to live for something, and I have to say it's quite amusing to watch the confusion in those gorgeous eyes of yours. They just sparkle whenever I nettle you."
He was stunned by her unexpected compliment. "My eyes are gorgeous?"
"Yes. Very striking."
That should have no effect on him whatsoever and yet her words set him on fire. He didn't know why the thought of her finding him attractive should even register. Millions of women, literally, had found him attractive all throughout history. They used to worship him by the thousands.
But her words made his heart speed up. Made his palms sweat. Made him so hard that he could barely stand being around her.
She took his hand in hers.
"C'mon." She tugged him toward the bedroom.
"What are you doing?"
"You need to rest. It's been a long day and I intend to tuck you into bed."
A smile quirked up the right side of his mouth as he hardened even more. "Really? Can I tuck myself into you?"
"If you play your cards right and stop with the cheesy lines it might be possible."
Kessar blinked twice at Nabium, who'd interrupted his feeding. He raised up from the dead showgirl on the floor and wiped the blood from his lips with a linen napkin. "What do you mean the Hayar Bedr is missing?"
The demon who was tall and dark haired gulped audibly as he noted the fury in Kessar's tone. "The god Nana went to the cavern and-"
"Ex-god," he corrected Nabium.
Nabium cleared his throat. "Ex-god, and he took him."
Kessar cursed at the timing. It pissed him off that Sin had found some way into their hole and found one of his favorite toys. Not that it mattered. They could still free the Dimme, but owning the Moon had made their succession as the dominant life force on the planet a little easier.
"Where's my brother?"
Nabium grew quiet.
Kessar let out a sound of disgust at his younger brother and his libido. He had never learned a sense of timing. "Tell him to get off whatever female he's found and come here. Now."
"I-I can't, my lord."
"Why not?"
Nabium took a step away from him before he gulped again, and then spoke. "They killed him."
Kessar couldn't breathe as that news registered. It couldn't be. "What?"
"He died fighting them, my lord. I am so sorry."
Kessar felt his fangs come out as rage filled him. He wanted blood for this.
As he walked toward the closet, Nabium practically bolted in fear. Not that Kessar would ever hurt his second in command. No, Kessar needed someone weak to torture.
Opening the closet, he pulled the college student out he'd captured earlier after they'd left Sin's casino. She was short, with long mousy brown hair and beady blue eyes that were rimmed with small, round glasses. Her mouth was taped so that she couldn't scream, and her hands and feet were tied. She was dressed in a pair of faded jeans, black boots, and a black Boondock Saints T-shirt that showed off her beefy upper arms.
But what he found fascinating, and the main reason he'd captured her, was that she had a small bow and arrow tattoo on her wrist. Before he'd taken her, she'd told him the bow and arrow was to protect her from nightmares. Strange, really, since it was also the mark of Artemis and as such made the student a prime target for them.
Using his powers, he muffled the room so that no one in the hotel could hear her scream. Then he ripped the tape from her mouth.
She cried out. He shoved her into Nabium's arms. "Hold her still."
"P-p-please," she begged as her gaze fell to the body of the other woman. "I'm pregnant."
"Like we care?" Kessar felt his face shifting over to that of his real demon form.
She screamed even louder, exciting him even more.
Kessar picked her up and latched onto her neck, tearing through the flesh so that her blood would fill his mouth. As soon as she stopped fighting, Nabium joined him by tearing into the other side.
When she was dead and drained, they threw her to the ground. Kessar frowned as he saw a small leather bracelet on her right arm. Jerking it off, he read her name.
Scoffing, he tossed it on top of her body and wiped his mouth.
His good humor restored, he pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it over her body before he manifested another one.
Nabium duplicated the gesture before he returned to their previous topic. "At least the good news is we have negated Zakar. He will be worthless to them now."
Possibly, but Kessar wasn't the kind of demon who counted on things going as planned. "Never underestimate Nana. He travels with an Atlantean."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. How else would he be able to destroy my brother?" Kessar's grief was gone now. The kill had placated him. If his brother was stupid enough to die at the hands of them, then he deserved it.
"What do we do now?" Nabium asked.
"We have to find some way to negate Sin's powers."
"He's already stripped of them."
"Not enough. He is the only thing standing in the way of the Kerir. We must get Zakar back and get that Atlantean bitch and convert her."
"How?"
Kessar smiled. "The same way we captured Zakar. We infect her. Then we'll have both Zakar and Nana, and there will be no one to stand in our way."
Nabium laughed until he realized the humans were starting to stir. "Speaking of infection..."
Kessar looked at the women. "They're too ugly to keep, especially the short bitch. Cut their heads off and throw them in a ditch somewhere."
He watched as Nabium covered the women with a jacket to disguise the blood on their clothes before he led them out of the room and to wherever he'd finish them off.
Humans. They disgusted him.
Soon, though, they would all be under the thumb of their masters. But first, he had to get Sin and Zakar...